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••V 


r 


^-•^ 


VOLUME  xra. 


France,  i8i  5-1904;  Netherlands. 


Comers;  Hunting  Horn,  symbol  of  Princes  of  Orange. 

Groundwork;  Billets. 

Crown;  Royal  Crown  of  Netherlands. 

Skidd;  No.  i.    Arms  of  Holland. 

No.  2.    Flanders. 

No.  3.     Zealand. 

No.  4.     Brabant. 

Center  shield,  Nassau,  royal  arms  of  the  reigning  family 
of  Holland. 
Supporters;     Right  side,  Lion  of  Flanders. 

Left  side,  Lion  of  Nassau. 


THE    HISTORIANS* 

HISTORY 

OF    THE   WORLD 


-^^^ 


686220 


COPTBIOHT,  1904, 1907 
Bt  henry  smith  WILLIAMS 


ALL  KUlBn  EBUKTBD 


Contributors,  and  Editorial  Revisers 

Prof.  Adolf  Erman,  TJniTerHity  of  Berlin. 

Prof.  Joaeph  Hal^ry,  College  of  France. 

Prof.  Thomaa  K.  CheTne,  Oxford  TTniverBity. 

Prof.  Andrew  C.  McLaughlin,  UniverBity  of  Michigan. 
Prof.  David  H.  MQiler,  University  of  Vienna. 

Prof.  Alfred  Rambaad,  University  of  Faria. 
Oapt.  F.  Brinkley,  Tokio. 

Prof.  Edaard  Meyer,  Univeraity  of  Berlin. 

Dr.  James  T,  Shotwell,  Golambia  University. 

Prof.  Theodor  Noldeke,  University  of  Strasbnrg. 
Prof.  Albert  B.  Hart,  Harvard  University. 

Dr.  Panl  Br5nnle,  Royal  Asiatic  Society. 
Dr.  James  Gairdner,  G.B.,  London, 

Prof.  Ulrich  von  Wilamowita  MfiUendorfif,  University  of  Berlin. 
Prof.  H.  Marczali,   Univeraity  of  Budapest. 

Dr.  O.  W.  Botaford,  Columbia  University. 

ProL  Jolius  Wellhaaaen,  Univeraity  of  Gdttingen. 

Prof.  Franz  R.  von  Krones,  University  of  Graa. 
Prof.  Wilhelm  Soltan,  Zabem  University, 

Prof.  B.  W.  Rogers,  Drew  Theological  Seminary. 
Prof.  A.  Vambfiry,  University  of  Budapest. 

Prof.  Otto  Hirsohfeld,  University  of  Berlin, 

Dr.  Frederick  Robertaon  Jones,  Bryn  Mawr  College. 

Barou  Bernardo  di  San  Severino  Quaranta,  London. 
Dr.  John  P.  Peters,  Kew  York. 

Prof.  Adolph  Harnack,  University  of  Berlin. 

Dr.  S.  Rappoport,  School  of  Oriental  Languages,  Paris. 
Prof.  Hermann  Diels,  University  of  Berlin, 

ProL  C.  W.  C.  Oman,  Oxford  University. 

Prof.  W.  L.  Fleming,  University  of  West  Virginia, 
ProL  L  Goldziher,  University  of  Vienna, 

Prof.  R.  Koser,  Univeraity  of  Berlin. 


CONTENTS 


VOLUME  XIII 
BOOK  IIL    FRANCE  APTER  1815 

THE  POLITICAL  EVOLUTION   OF  FRANCE  AFTER  1815 

A  PRKTATORT  CHARACTERISATION  BY   ALFRED  ROIBAUD        .  .  .  . 


1 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Bourbon  Restoration  (1815-1824  a.d.)  ....     9 

Laznartine's  view  of  the  restoration,  9.    Excess  of  the  royalisU  and  the  invaders, 
11.    The  "Whit«  Terror  "of  1816,  12.    Richelieu  the  new  minister,  14.    Treaty  of 

1815,  15.  Execution  of  Marshal  Ney  and  others,  16.  Death  of  Murat,  18.  La  Cham- 
bre  Introuvable,  18,    The  division  of  parties,  10,    The  coup  d^Hat  of  September  5th, 

1816,  20.  The  new  chamber,  22.  The  ministry  of  Decazes.  23.  Assassination  of  the 
duke  de  Berri  and  its  results.  24.  Events  in  Europe,  25.  The  Congregation  and  the 
Jesuits,  25.  The  Carbonari,  26.  The  ministry  of  Vill^le  and  the  Spanish  Crusade, 
28.  The  ministry  of  Vill^le.  30.  Alison  on  the  kst  days  of  Louis  XVIII,  31.  La- 
martine's  estimate  of  Louis  XVIII,  32. 


CHAPTER  n 

ChABLBS  X   AND  THE  JtTLT  REVOLUTION  OF  1880 


34 


First  mistakes  of  the  new  government,  36.  Growing  discontent,  38.  The  min- 
istry of  Martignac,  39.  The  ministry  of  Polignac,  41.  War  with  Algeria,  42.  The 
ordinances  of  Polignac  and  war  with  the  Press,  44.  Pelletan's  account  of  the  three 
days  of  July,  45.  Charles  X  deposed,  47.  The  duke  of  Orleans  made  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  kingdom,  49.  Hillebrand's  parallel  between  the  revolution  of  1688  and 
1830,  50.     Martin  on  the  July  revolution,  53. 


CHAPTER  ni 
LouiB  Philippe  and  the  Revolution  op  1848  (1830-1848  a.d.)  . 


54 


State  of  the  country  and  first  acts  of  the  reign,  55.  Socialistic  movements,  56. 
Lftffllte^s  ministry,  57.  Casimir-Perier  and  foreign  affairs,  59.  Lom6nie*s  estimate 
oi  Oasimir-P^er,  61.     Succeeding  ministries,  62.     Fieschi's  Infernal  Machine  and 


Tui  CONTENTS 

run 

the  "  September  Laws,"  63.  The  rise  of  Thiers  and  Guizot,  65.  War  with  Abdul- 
Kadir,  67.  Ministerial  crises,  69.  The  Strasburg  Bonapartist  plot,  70.  The  Soult 
ministry,  71.  The  return  of  Napoleon's  remains,  72.  The  eastern  question,  73. 
Louis  Napoleon's  second  attempt  at  a  coup  SHat^  73.  Bvents  from  1840-184S,  76. 
War  with  Abdul-Kadir,  76.  The  Spanish  marriages.  77.  Rising  discontent,  79.  The 
banquet  of  1848^  79.  The  revolution  of  1848, 8L  The  king  abdicates  and  takes  flight, 
88.    Alison's  estimate  of  Louis  Philippe,  83. 


CHAPTER  IV 
The  Repubuo  or  1848 


The  provisional  government,  85.  The  first  problems  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment, 9Q.  The  national  workshops  and  other  expedients,  91.  The  republic  estab- 
lished, 94.  The  insurrection  of  May  16th,  1848,  96.  Civil  war  in  Paris,  99.  The 
"days  of  June,"  100.  The  dictatorship  of  Cavaignac,  103.  The  new  constitution 
and  the  plebiscite,  103.  The  candidacy  of  Louis  Napoleon,  105.  The  elections  of 
December,  1848, 105.    Victor  Hugo's  portrait  of  *'  Napoleon  the  Little,"  107. 


CHAPTER  V 

LoTTis  Napoleon  as  President  and  Ekpebob  (1849-1870  a.d.)  .       .  110 

End  of  the  constituent  assembly,  1849,  111.  Siege  of  Rome,  112.  Struggle 
between  the  president  and  the  legislative  assembly,  113.  The  coup  dPHat  of  Decem- 
ber 8nd,  1851, 116.  Victor  Hugo's  account  of  the  Boulevard  Massacre,  117.  Severities 
of  the  government,  120.  The  appeal  to  the  people,  122.  Exile  by  wholesale,  124. 
The  constitution  of  1852,  126.  Napoleon's  address  at  Bordeaux,  1852,  126.  The  ac 
cession  of  Napoleon  IH,  127.  Napoleon's  marriage,  128.  Erskine  May  on  the  court 
life,  128.  The  Crimean  War,  129.  The  congress  of  Paris,  130.  Internal  affairs,  131. 
Orsini's  attempt  to  kill  the  emperor,  132.  The  "  new  terror"  of  1858,  133.  War  in 
Italy:  Solferino,  135.  Expeditions  and  wars  in  Syria,  China,  Cochin  China,  and 
Mexico,  137.  The  rise  of  Prussia,  139.  Fyffe  on  Napoleon's  new  policy,  139. 
French  and  Prussian  dispute  over  Luxemburg,  140.  New  friction  with  Prussia,  144. 
The  ministry  of  Ollivier,  144.    Cause  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  146. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Franoo-Pbussian  War  (1870-1871  a.d.)  .       ,147 

The  preparedness  of  France,  148.  Opening  of  the  war,  149.  The  battles  of 
Worth  and  Spicheren,  150.  Bazaine  at  Metz,  153.  Battle  of  Mars-La-Tour,  154.  Bat- 
tle of  St.  Privat,  155.  Confusion  at  Paris,  156.  Battle  of  Sedan,  157.  The  surrender 
of  Napoleon  HI  and  the  army,  160.  The  third  republic  proclaimed,  162.  The  siege 
of  Paris,  163.  Q-irard's  account  of  Ch&teaudun,  165.  Continued  German  successes, 
167.  Martin  on  the  surrender  of  Metz,  174.  The  uprising  of  Paris,  175.  Paris  suf- 
fers from  cold,  hunger,  and  bombardment,  176.  The  last  sortie,  177.  The  end  of  the 
war,  179. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VII 
Thk  TnniD  Kkpitbuc  (1871-1903  a.d.> 


.  180 


The  central  committee,  183.  The  commune  of  1871  or^nised,  183.  The  recap- 
tore  of  Paris,  184.  The  administration  of  Thiers,  186.  MocMahon  becomes  president, 
188.  Martin  on  the  constitution  of  1875,  188.  Simon's  ministry,  189.  The  coup 
d'etat  of  May  16th,  190.  Grevy  becomes  president,  191.  The  last  days  of  Qambetta; 
ascendency  of  Ferry,  192.  The  presidency  of  Camot,  194.  The  presidencies  of  Casi- 
mir-Pfirier  and  Faure,  196.  The  Dreyfus  trial,  196.  Colonial  wars,  197.  The  separ- 
ation of  church  and  state,  198. 

CHAPTER  Vm 

The  Social  Evolution  of  France  since  1815       .       .       .  900 

The  labour  question,  200.  Sad  state  of  the  working  classes,  202.  Early  strikes 
and  revolts.  203.  Utopian  philosophies.  204.  The  national  workshops  and  their  con- 
sequences, 206.  The  working  classes  under  Louis  Napoleon,  209.  The  commune  of 
1871,  211.  Recent  legislation  for  the  betterment  of  labour,  214.  Present-day  doc- 
trines, 216. 

Beukp  Reterence-Libt  of  Autborities  bt  Chapters 219 

A  OESrSRAXi  BlBUOQRAPHY  OF  FRENCH  HlSTORIT 221 

A  Chrokolooioal  Suvmary  of  THE  History  of  France,  from  the  Treaty 
OF  Verdun 235 


paet  xvii.  the  history  of  the 
]st:therlands 


Historical  Introduction  to  the  History  of  the  Netherlands 


S87 


The  land,  267.  The  early  peoples,  2C8.  Early  forms  of  government  and  religion, 
S70.  Relations  with  Home,  272.  The  Batavian  hero  Oivilis,  273.  Fall  of  Rome  and 
rise  of  the  Prankish  Empire,  276.    OoTemment  and  civilisation  of  feudal  times,  279. 


CHAPTER  I 
The  First  Counts  of  Holland  (843-1299  a.d.) 


283 


The  periods  of  Dutch  history,  284.  Holland  as  a  German  fief.  285.  The  first 
Dirks,  I-IV,  286.  Wars  with  Utrecht,  Flanders,  and  the  empire,  287.  Floris  I  to 
rV,  288.  An  early  charter,  292.  Count  William  II,  emperor  of  Germany,  293.  The 
constitution  of  Holland,  294.  Constitution  of  the  guilds.  295.  The  nobility,  296. 
The  estates,  298.  Taxation.  298.  Floris  V,  300.  The  great  flood.  301.  The  kidnap- 
ping of  Floris,  302.    John  I,  the  last  of  the  counts,  304. 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  n 

Eablt  HiffroRY  OF  BELaiuM  AND  Flanders  (61  B.O.-1384  a.d.)  .       .  306 

Theodore  Juste  on  Belgium^s  place  in  history,  306.  Primitive  history,  308.  Under 
the  Romans,  308.  Under  the  Franks  and  the  dukes,  309.  Brabant,  309.  Luxem- 
burg and  Lidge,  310.  Flanders  :  its  early  history,  310.  Rise  of  the  Belgium  com- 
munes, 311.  Flanders  versus  France,  314.  The  '* Bruges  Matins,"  316.  Battle  of 
the  Spurs,  317.  I^ust  years  of  Guy's  reign,  318.  Robert  of  Bethune,  319.  Louis  of 
Nevers  at  war  with  the  people,  330.  The  communes  defeated  at  Cassel,  330.  Van 
Artevelde  appears,  333.  Froissart's  account  of  Artevelde  and  his  death,  334.  Kervijn 
de  Lettenhove's  estimate  of  Van  Artevelde,  336.  The  reign  of  Louis  of  Male,  337. 
Philip  Van  Artevelde  chosen  as  leader,  328.  Battle  of  Roosebeke,  and  fall  of  the 
guilds,  339. 

CHAPTER  ni 

Holland  under  the  Houses  of  Hainault  and  Bavaru  (1399-1436  a.d.)   331 

The  sway  of  Hainault,  333.  William  HZ,  334.  William  IV,  334.  Margaret  and 
the  disputed  claim,  336.  Wars  of  the  "cods''  and  "  hooks,"  336.  Wenzelburger  on 
the  wars  of  the  "  cods  "  and  "  hooks  ",  337.  The  Bavarian  house  in  power,  339.  Wil- 
liam VI,  341.  The  romantic  story  of  Jacqueline,  343.  Jacqueline's  letter  to  her  hus- 
band, 344.    Last  days  of  Jacqueline,  345. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Netherlands  under  Bubgundy  and  the  Ebipirb  (143(^1566  a.d.)  .  360 

The  rise  of  Burgundy,  360.  Philip  the  Bold,  351.  Philip  at  war  with  England, 
363.  Art  and  culture  of  the  period,  357.  Charles  the  Bold,  358.  Motley's  estimate 
of  Charles  the  Bold,  361.  Mary  and  the  Great  Privilege,  363.  MairimiliaTi,  364. 
Philip  the  Handsome,  366.  Margaret,  governess  for  Charles  V,  367.  Charles  V,  36& 
The  Reformation,  368.  Motley's  estimate  of  Charles  V,  370.  Prosperous  condition 
of  the  cotmtry,  373. 


CHAPTER  V 

Philip  H  and  Spanish  Oppression  (1555-1667  a.d.}  .  .376 

Early  Netherland  heresy,  376.  Severe  punishment  of  heresy  :  the  anabaptists, 
377.  A  backward  glance,  379.  The  accession  of  Philip  II,  380.  First  deeds  of  Philip, 
381.  Schiller's  portrait  of  William  of  Orange,  384.  Count  Egmont,  386.  Margaret 
of  Parma,  regent  of  the  Netherlands,  387.  Granvella  and  the  regency,  889.  The 
Inquisition,  393.  The  compromise  of  February,  396.  The  "request"  of  the  '* beg- 
gars," 397.  The  Calvinist  outbreak,  400.  Strada's  account  of  the  image-breaking 
frenzy,  403.  The  sack  of  the  Antwerp  cathedral,  403.  Results  of  the  outbreak  ;  the 
accord,  406.  A  brief  respite,  407.  Early  failures  of  the  rebels,  409.  William  of 
Orange  withdraws,  410. 


CONTENTS 


xi 


CHAPTER  VI 
Alva  (1667-1573  a.d,) 


PAOS 

412 


The  arrival  of  Alva,  414.  The  bloody  council  of  Troubles,  416.  Departure  of  the 
regent,  419.  Trial  and  fate  of  Egmont  and  Horn,  421.  The  first  campaign,  424, 
Oppressive  taxation  ;  the  amnesty,  425.  The  '*  sea  beggars  *'  take  Briel,  427.  The 
revolt  of  the  towns,  430.  The  states-general  at  Dort,  431.  First  successes,  433.  Col- 
lapse of  William's  plans.  435.  Spanish  atrocities,  435.  The  siege  of  Haarlem,  438. 
Bevival  of  Dutch  efforts.  438.  The  recall  of  Alva,  440.  Motley's  estimate  of  Alva, 
441. 


CHAPTER  Vn 

PRoaRsas  TOWARDS  Union  (1573-1579  a.d.)  ....  444 

Cost  of  the  war,  445.  Military  affairs,  445.  The  siege  of  Leyden,  447.  The  slad- 
holder's  powers  enlarged,  452.  A  Spanish  exploit,  455.  Independence  declared,  456. 
Death  of  Requesens,  457.  The  rise  of  Flanders  and  Brabant,  467.  The  Spanish  fury 
at  Antwerp,  459.  The  pacification  of  Ghent,  462.  Don  John  of  Austria,  464.  Con- 
ciliatory policy  of  Don  John,  465,  Orange  made  ruward  ;  Matthias  governor,  467. 
Outbreak  of  war.  469.  The  disaster  of  Qembloux,  470.  Administration  of  the  duke 
of  Parma.  471.     The  union  of  Utrecht,  472. 


CHAPTER  Vni 


The  Last  Tkars  of  Wiluam  the  Silent  (1579-1584  a.d.) 


476 


Parma  besieges  Maestricht,  477.  Subterranean  fighting.  477.  Orange  becomes 
atadholder  of  Flanders,  479.  Further  secession  from  the  cause,  480.  The  "ban" 
against  William,  483.  The  '*  apology  "  of  William,  483.  Allegiance  to  Philip  formally 
renounced,  485.  William  becomes  sovereign  of  Holland,  487.  The  sovereignty  of 
Anjou,  490.  Attempts  to  assassinate  William,  491.  The  constitution  of  1583,  494. 
Anjou's  plot  and  the  "  French  fury."  496.  Further  attempts  on  Williaui's  life,  498. 
Motley's  estimate  of  William  the  Silent,  501. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Lkicestkb  in  the  Low  Codntries 


.  506 


^ 


The  situation  after  the  death  of  Prince  William,  608.  The  activity  of  Parma, 
B09.  Antwerp  besieged,  1584,  611.  Motley's  portrait  of  Olden-Bameveld,  515.  The 
embassy  to  Elizabeth,  516.  The  English  under  Leicester  in  Holland,  517.  Deatlt  of 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  521.  The  failure  of  Leicester,  522.  The  Spanish  Armada,  524- 
The  military  genius  of  Maurice.  527.  The  death  of  Parma  :  his  successor,  528.  The 
archduke  Albert,  630.  The  provinces  ceded  to  Albert  and  Isabella,  531.  The  death 
of  Philip  II,  532. 


zii  CONTENTS 

CHAFTER  X 

tAO> 

Thx  Swat  of  Oldek-Babnsvsld  (1698-1605  a.d.)    .       .       .533 

Battle  of  Nieuport,  586.  The  siege  of  Ostend,  638.  The  campaigns  of  1605-1606, 
640.  Heemakerk  at  Gibraltar,  548.  The  Twelve  Yean*  Truce,  647.  Dutch  coznmezve 
and  ezploratioiu,  547.    Arctic  exploration,  548.    The  Dutch  East  India  Company,  560. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Prirob  Macriob  m  Powsr  (1609-1625  a.d.).  .653 

The  Arminian  controversy,  664.  Bameveld  outwits  Eing  James,  555.  Maurice 
versus  Bameveld,  or  Autocracy  versus  Aristocracy,  667.  The  arrest  of  Bameveld, 
661.  The  synod  of  Dort  (or  Dordrecht),  662.  The  trial  of  Bameveld,  564.  The  exe- 
cution of  Bameveld,  666.  Religious  persecutions,  667.  The  escape  of  Grotius,  569. 
End  of  the  truce,  670.  The  plot  of  Bameveld's  scms,  571.  The  last  acts  of  Maurice, 
679.    Prosperity  of  the  period,  673. 


CHAPTER  Xn 

CoNCLUBioir  or  the  Eighty  Yeabs'  Wab  (1625-1648  a.d.)  .  576 

Alliance  with  France  :  Belgian  efforts  for  freedom,  679.  Marriage  of  William 
and  Mary,  681.  Death  of  Frederick  Henry  ;  Ascension  of  William  n,  582.  Treaties 
of  Monster  and  Westphalia,  588.  Davies*  review  of  the  war  and  the  Dutch  charac- 
ter, 686. 

CHAPTER  Xm 

8GEKH0B,  IjTERATUBK,  AlVD  ABT  IK  THK  NSTHKRLAVDS  •         •  590 

Spinosa,  591.  Golden  Age  of  Dutch  Literature,  693.  The  Visscher  Family,  593. 
Hooft  and  Vondel,  594.  Oats  and  Huygens,  596.  Hugo  Grotius,  696.  Taine  on 
Flemish  art,  698.  Peter  Paul  Rubens,  599.  Fromentin*s  estimate  of  Vandyke,  601. 
David  Tenien,  603.  Dutch  art,  603.  Taine*s  estimate  of  Rembrandt,  603.  Fromen* 
tin's  estimate  of  Frans  Hals,  605.  Public  paintings,  606.  Terburg  and  other  painters 
of  the  Dutch  school,  606.  Terburg,  Van  Ostade,  and  Steen,  607.  Landscape,  still 
life,  and  animal  painters,  607.    Decline  of  Dutch  art,  608w 


CEULPTEU  XIV 

Ted  Di  Wim  ahd  thk  Wab  with  Eiioi.aiii>  (164&-1678  A.D.).       .  610 

The  ambitions  of  William  II,  611.  Foreign  relations,  618.  Losses  of  the  war 
with  England,  613.  The  act  of  navigation,  1661,  €16.  Urst  naval  engagement,  617. 
War  openly  declared,  617.  Death  of  Tromp,  690.  Jan  de  Witt,  6SS^  Peace  with 
England,  683.  War  with  Sweden,  683.  England  declares  war,  684.  Richer's  ac- 
ooont  of  the  great  FOur  Days'  Battle,  685.  The  English  win  a  victory,  689.  The 
F«aee  of  Breda,  630.  War  with  Louis  XIV,  638.  Guiaot's  account  of  the  late  of  the 
brothers  De  Witt,  634. 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  XV 

WUXUX  ni  AND  THK  WAR  WITH  FRAHOB  (1673  A.D.)  .         .  686 

England  withdraws  from  the  war,  637.  The  last  battle  of  De  Buyter,  687.  Wil- 
liam marries  Princess  Mary  of  Ens^land,  640.  The  Peace  of  Ximeguen  and  the  Augs- 
burg League,  640.  Williiun  becomes  king  of  England,  643.  War  with  France,  643. 
Peace  of  Ryswiok,  644.  Death  of  William  m,  646.  Davies'  estimate  of  William  III, 
645.  The  stadholderate  abolished,  646.  The  triumvirate  against  France,  643.  Trouble 
with  England,  661.  The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  and  the  Barrier  Treaty,  663.  The  decline 
of  Holland,  653. 


BOOK   III 
FRANCE   AFTER   1815 

THE   POLITICAL   EVOLUTION  OF  FRANCE  AFTER   1815 

Wkitteh  Spboiallt  for  the  pRSBEirr  Work 

By  ALFRED  RAMBAUD 

ProfcAsor  in  the  University  of  PariSf  Member  of  tbe  Institute 

PROBLEMS  OF  THE  RESTORATION^ 

blem  which  none  of  the  revolutionary  assemblies  and  forms  of 
government — the  con.stituent  and  legislative  assemblies,  tlie  convention, 
directory,  considate,  or  empire  —  had  been  able  to  solve,  and  which  consisted 
in  providing  France  with  an  adequate  and  solid  constitution,  confronted  the 
governments  that  immediately  followed  the  Revolution. 

Louis  XVIII  "conceded''  the  charter  of  1814,  which  was  an  offshoot  of 
the  British  constitution.  Thin  cliarter  gave  the  executive  power  into  the 
hands  of  a  king  declared  non-responsible,  who  was  to  be  assisted  by  respon- 
sible ministers;  the  legislative  power  was  to  be  divided  between  the  king 
and  two  chambers  composed  —  one  of  hereditary  pcere,  the  other  of  deputies 
j»aying  one  thousand  francs  of  tlirect  taxes  and  cliosen  by  electors  who  paid 
five  hundred  francs. 

Louis  X-VIII  had  merely  to  "lie  dowTi  in  the  bed  of  Napoleon,"  to  find 
himself  invested  with  all  the  prerogatives  necessary  to  a  king,  and  to  come 
into  possession  of  such  a  police  and  administrative  system  as  tlic  world  liad 
never  seen  before.  The  latent  despotism,  however,  was  held  in  check  by 
the  ministerial  responsibility,  by  the  rights  of  the  chambers,  by  the  very 
rudimentary  liberties  of  the  people,  and  finally  by  the  king's  ovm  strong 
common  sense.  Under  such  a  rule  France  might  have  enjoyed  the  period 
of  peace  needed  after  twenty-five  years  of  turmoil  and  upheaval,  ha<l  the 
pasaions  of  the  different  parties  —  the  royalists,  the  liberals,  the  Honapartists 
.who  later  coalesced  with  the  earlier  republicans  —  permitted  such  repose. 

*  nifftones  of  the  Restoration  hare  been  written  by  de  Vaiilabelle.  Lamartine,  Viel-C«Rtel, 
Fettement,  Hamcl ;   of  the  nionan-hy  of  July,  by  rx>uis  Blaiic,  Klias  Regnault,  de  Nouvion» 
"iiirefta  Dangin,  with  tho  Mhnuires  of  Guizot,  duke  de  Broglie,  Doctor  V^ron,  Victor  Huro 
[CAnjt«  \'iiftt) ;  of  the  revolution  of  1848,  by  I)ani*»l  Stern.  A.  Delvau,  Normanby.  K.  Spuller. 
CasUiie,  Victor  Pienr,  P.  de  ta  Gorce  ;  of  the  Second  Empire,  by  Taitile  Delord,  P.  de  la 
;  of  the  third  reptiblic,  by  E.  Zevort,  G.  ilanotaux.     Fauatin  Hfelie,  Le»  Constitutions  de  la 
mee;  Duvergier  de  Hauranne,  HUtoite  de  r/ourernemfnt  parlhnentaire. 
n.  w.  —  VOL.  XIII.  H  1 


2  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1814-183S  X.V.] 

The  experiment  was  furthermore  disturbed  by  Napoleon's  return  from 
Elba  and  the  consequent  defection  of  almost  all  of  his  former  troops,  and  by 
the  "  Hundred  Days  "  of  Waterloo  with  their  disastrous  consequences.  Na- 
poleon, running  his  last  adventure  as  a  despot,  at  least  paid  homage  to  the 
new  ideas,  all  strange  to  him,  which  had  arisen,  and  gave  the  state  a  consti- 
tution bearing  the  name  of  Additional  Act  that,  like  the  charter  of  Louis 
XVIII,  might  have  been  thought  a  copy  of  the  constitution  of  Great  Britain. 
In  this  act  he  promised  to  the  people  freedom  of  the  press  as  well  as  all  other 
liberties. 

Napoleon  was  no  sooner  embarked  for  St.  Helena  than  legitimate  royalty 
returned  and  with  it  the  charter  of  1814,  Under  its  provisions  France 
might  at  last  have  grown  accustomed  to  the  use  of  liberty,  had  not 
Charles  X  conceived  the  idea  of  searching  out,  in  Article  14,  which  charged 
him  to  enforce  the  laws,  a  clause  which  gave  him  the  right  to  violate  them. 
The  revolution  of  1830  ensued. 

THE  MEASURES  OP  LOUIS  PHILIPPB 

The  sovereignty  which  issued  from  this  struggle  was  a  compromise  be- 
tween the  monarchic  and  the  republican  ideas;  Louis  Philippe,  though  a 
descendant  of  St.  Louis,  and  even  of  Hugh  Capet,  was  the  son  of  a  regicide 
and  member  of  the  convention,  and  had  himself  fought  at  Valmy,  Jemmapes, 
and  Neerwinden  under  the  folds  of  the  tricolour.  Thereby,  he  offered  guar- 
antees to  the  men  of  1789.  On  the  other  hand,  the  legitimists  reproached 
him  with  his  father's  regicidal  vote  and  with  his  own  usurpation,  the  repub- 
licans utterly  refused  to  see  in  his  reign  the  "  best  of  republics "  as  La 
Fayette  desired,  and  the  Bonapartists  held  themselves  in  reserve  for  Napo- 
leon II. 

Here  again  the  violence  of  political  passions  made  a  liberal  form  of  gov- 
ernment very  difficult  to  maintain.  Plots  and  insurrections  followed  fast 
upon  each  other.  The  kine  was  made  the  object  of  twenty-three  murderous 
attempts,  the  most  terrible  being  that  of  Fieschi  and  the  infernal  machine, 
which  wounded  or  killed  forty-two  persons,  among  whom  was  the  marechal 
Mortier.^  Louis  Philippe  used  to  say  of  himself  that  he  was  the  ^'only  game 
that  could  be  hunted  at  every  season  of  the  year." 

The  charter  was  amended  in  a  somewhat  more  democratic  sense,  and 
Article  14,  which  had  been  so  unfortunately  construed  by  Charles  X,  was 
annulled^  The  office  of  peer  was  henceforth  to  be  held  for  life  and  not  to 
be  hereditary.  The  electoral  qualification  or  fee  was  reduced  from  three 
himdred  to  two  hundred  francs  (to  one  hundred  in  the  case  of  officers  and 
members  of  the  institute);  and  the  qualification  of  eligibility  was  reduced 
from  one  thousand  to  five  hundred.  The  number  of  electors  was  increased 
from  90,000  to  200,000 ;  later,  in  1847,  to  240,000  — a  small  enough  number 
for  a  nation  of  thirty-five  million  souls  I 

The  charter  formally  abolished  "preliminary  authorisation"  and  press 
censure,  and  referred  to  a  jury  all  offences  of  the  press.  Even  after  various 
organs  had  been  guilty  of  excess,  and  had  instigated  regicide  and  insurrec- 
tions, these  provisions  were  steadfastly  observed.  The  only  extra  stringency 
to  be  adopted  was  the  enactment  of  September  9th,  1836,  which  gave  a 
clearer  definition  of  press  misdemeanors  and  imposed  new  penalties. 

It  was  in  the  matter  of  meetings  and  associations,  however,  that  this 
government,  otherwise  so  liberal,  displayed  the  most  timidity,  and  not  with- 

'  Prince  de  JoinviUe  (who  assisted  at  this  terrible  scene),  VUux  Souvenirs,  Chap.  XII. 


^ 

^ 

^ 


w 


^  FEAJ^CE  AFTER  1815  T^^^"  S 

[1830-1834  A.D.] 

out  rca«on.  The  law  of  the  10th  of  April,  1834,  wa,s  intended  to  supply  any 
detlcieiicies  that  might  have  escaped  the  discerniug  eye  of  Napoleon :  for 
JMainple,  in  his  Penal  Code,  he  had  in  view  only  meetings  and  associations 
Brover  twenty  persons ;  the  law  of  1834  reached  those  which  were  subdivided 
into  fractions  of  less  than  twenty  members.  Napoleon  had  aimed  exclusively 
at  *' chiefs,  adnnuistnitors,  or  directors"  ;  the  law  of  1834  fell  upon  aimplo 
members.  The  penalty  named  by  Napoleon  had  been  a  fine  of  from  sixteen 
to  two  hundred  francs  ;  this  fine  was  hencefortli  to  be  five  times  greater,  and 
there  was  a  risk  attached  of  from  two  months'  to  a  year's  imprisonment,  etc. 

We  must  not  overlook  the  fact  tliat  neither  Napoleon's  life  nor  his  throne 
had  ever  been  endangered  by  associations,  whereas  certain  powerful  societies, 
either  open  or  secret,  had  been  at  work  undermining  the  sovereignty  of 
Philippe  and  instigating  attempts  on  his  life.  It  was  no  small  honour 
this  king  should  have  bestowed  upon  France  the  maximum  of  liberties 
it  had  ever  enjoyed  while  he  himself  was  being  made  each  year  the  object  of 
one  or  more  murderous  attempts. 

The  monarchv  of  July  rested  upon  three  institutions : 

(1)  Qualified  suffrage.  In  1830  the  modification  of  the  electoral  quali- 
fication and  that  of  eligibility  had,  in  effect,  caused  the  preponderance  to  pass 
from  rural  to  urban  electors,  and  from  social  forces  pertaining  to  agriculture 
to  industrial  and  commercial  forces. 

(2)  A  qualified  national  guard.  The  national  guard  had  been  suppressed 
under  the  Restoration  because  of  its  turbulent  deniunstrutions  against  the 
prime  minister  of  Charles  X,  M.  dc  Villdle.  To  be  revenged  it  fought 
against  the  royal  troops  on  the  barricades  of  July,  1830.  From  this  moment, 
however,  it  became  the  pn»p  of  order»  the  defender  of  the  charter  and  of  the 
citizen-king ;  and  upon  it  devolved  the  duty  of  carrying  the  barricades. 
This  band  of  merchants,  of  licensed  traders,  of  Parisian  shop-keepers,  many 
of  whom  had  taken  part  in  tlie  previous  wars  and  who  wore  the  great  shako 
with  all  the  ease  of  Napoleon^s  seasoned  "grumblers,'*  fought  valiantly 
against  the  rioters,  whose  bravery  equalled  theii^  own.  More  lluiu  two  thou- 
sand members  of  the  national  guard,  most  of  whom  were  heads  of  families, 
fell  in  the  street  combats,  shedding  their  blood  freely  for  tlie  dynasty  they 
themselves  had  raised  up.  Louis  XVITI  and  Charles  X  had  eaeli  had  a 
special  royal  guard  partly  comj^osed  of  Swiss ;  Louis  Philippe  would  liave 
about  him  no  other  body  than  the  national  guard,  knowing  well  how  much 
he  owed  each  individual  member.  Thus  at  every  review  held  by  him  crosses 
of  the  Legion  of  Honour  were  freely  distributed  among  them.  The  national 
euard  elected  its  own  non-commissioned  officers  and  commissioned  olliuers 
below  the  rank  of  captain  ;  appointments  to  all  the  higher  grades  were  made 
by  the  king  from  a  list  of  ten  names  proposed  by  the  battalion.  In  order 
to  preserve  to  the  organisation  its  bourgeois  character  and  to  prevent  any 
admixture  of  the  popular  element,  it  was  simply  necessary  to  exact  the  wear- 
ing of  a  uniform.  The  national  guard  was  both  a  militia  and  an  opinion  ; 
at  the  king's  reviews  it  manifested  by  its  silence  or  by  its  acclamations  what 
it  thought  of  politics.     Hence  it  was  called  "the  intelligent  bayonets.'* 

(3)  The  same  class  from  which  were  recruited  electors  and  members  of 
the  national  guard  also  furnished  members  of  the  jury  before  whom  were 
arraigned  all  the  enemies  of  the  government,  whether  accused  of  conspiracy 
and  attempt  at  assassination  or  ofsome  misdemeanor  of  the  press. 

Thus  it  was  the  same  men  who  sustained  the  monarchy  of  July  by  their 
Voters,  their  bayonets,  and  their  decisions.  They  constituted  what  was  then 
the  ^^  legal  nation."    The  rest  of  the  people  were  forbidden  all  share  in  public 


4  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1848  A.D.] 

affairs.  When  therefore  these  electors,  national  guardsmen,  and  jurors  began 
to  show  hostility  or  even  simple  indifference  towards  the  government  they 
had  helped  to  found,  that  government  fell  of  itself.  When,  on  the  28th 
of  February,  1848,  Louis  Philippe  saw  himself  abandoned  by  his  faithful 
national  guard,  he  refused  to  sanction  further  bloodshed ;  his  power,  based 
on  the  favour  of  public  opinion,  could  not  stand  once  that  support  had  been 
withdrawn.  Hitherto  his  reign  had  had  to  do  chiefly  with  the  "legal  nation"; 
over  the  true  nation  he  did  not  feel  himself  competent  to  rule. 

The  government  of  Louis  Philippe  had  shown  itself  as  liberal  as  the  ideas 
of  the  times  would  permit ;  it  had  assured  to  France,  to  all  Europe  in  fact, 
despite  certain  provocations  from  the  old  "  Holy  Alliance,"  eighteen  years  of 
honourable  and  profound  peace;  it  had  endowed  France  with  its  richest 
colony,  Algeria,  and  under  it  the  country's  agriculture,  industry,  commerce, 
and  all  the  branches  of  public  prosperity  had  attained  enormous  development. 

THE  MISTAKES  OF  1848 

The  misunderstanding  which  finally  led  to  rupture  between  the  nation, 
even  the  "legal  nation"  and  the  monarchy,  arose  out  of  a  question  relating 
to  the  extension  of  suffrage.  The  revolution  of  the  24th  of  February,  1848, 
was  unquestionably  the  least  justified  and  least  justifiable  in  the  history  of 
France.  Its  consequences  were  even  more  disastrous  to  the  country  in 
general  than  to  the  reigning  dynasty.  Those  who  advocated  extension  of  the 
right  of  suffrage  were  soon  to  experience  sharply  what  evils  an  electoral 
body  —  suddenly  increased,  without  preparation  or  gradation,  from  241,000 
voters  to  ten  millions  —  could  inflict  upon  the  land ;  and  those  who  accused 
the  well-disposed  king  of  illiberalism  were  shortly  to  taste  the  joys  of  a 
revival  of  Csesarism. 

The  personages  whom  the  revolution  of  the  24th  of  February  bombarded 
into  power  as  the  "provisory  government"  were  men  of  high  intelligence, 
giving  evidence  of  the  very  best  intentions  but  totally  devoid  of  political 
experience.  They  exhausted  their  eloquence  and  talents  in  criticising  and 
reviling  power,  without  in  the  least  knowing  what  were  its  essential  attributes. 
One  of  their  first  acts  was  to  proclaim  universal  suffrage,  being  forced  thereto 
possibly  by  the  circumstance  that  the  revolution  had  removed  all  restrictions 
standing  in  its  way,  and  that  new  ones  could  not  be  invented  by  any  small 
body  of  men  had  they  the  wish.  The  provisory  government,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  accorded  to  all  the  right  to  vote,  opened  the  way  to  wider  mem- 
bership in  the  national  guard  by  abolishing  the  uniform.  Later  the  second 
constituent  assembly,  by  a  decree  issued  the  27th  of  August,  1848,  admitted 
nearly  the  whole  number  of  electors  to  jury  rights  ;  thus  the  pillars  of  the 
monarchy  of  July  were  employed  to  strengthen  and  consolidate  the  demo- 
cratic power.  The  provisory  government  also  annulled  aU  laws  restricting 
freedom  of  the  press  and  the  right  to  form  unions  and  associations,  and 
abolished  titles  of  nobility  as  well  as  capital  punishment  for  political  offences. 

By  the  transformation  of  the  national  guard,  all  the  opinions  of  the 
different  political  parties  into  which  the  country  was  divided  took  the  form 
of  armed  opinion,  of  opinion  bloodthirsty  and  crossbelted,  with  gun  in  hand 
and  cartridge  box  on  back.  Political  feeling  was  indeed  everywhere  excited 
to  excess,  owing  to  the  hatching  of  innumerable  revolutionary  newspapers, 
and  the  opening  of  the  clubs  ("  red  "  clubs,  be  it  understood)  all  over  Paris. 
When  the  provisory  government  shortly  after  retired  to  give  place  to  a 
constituent  assembly,  the  latter — first-fruit  as  it  was  of  universal  suffrage 


■  ^^^  FKA^CK   AFTER   1815  ^^^  5 

(lSta~18K!  ad] 

and  composed  of  members  far  too  numerous  (about  nine  hundred),  who 
.were  scarcely  known  to  each  other  and  were  seated  for  the  first  time  in  an 
■Bserably  —  gave  proof  of  inexperience  equal  to  that  of  the  provisory  govern- 
Snent ;  or  rather  it  professed  deep  contempt  for  any  political  experience  that 
liad  ever  been  gained. 

The  constitution  this  body  voted  contained  two  noteworthy  provisions, 
either  of  which  would  have  been  sufficient  to  destroy  it:  (1)  Opposite 
the  president  of  the  republic  wiis  to  be  a  single  chamber  called  legislative, 
with  no  intermediary  power  between  it  and  the  president.  This  arrangement 
had  already  been  tried  by  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  1791.  One 
single  assembly  had  then  destro^^ed  the  king;  this  time  it  was  the  president 
who  was  to  destroy  the  single  assembly.  (2)  The  election  of  the  president 
of  the  republic  was  to  be  effected  by  universal  suffrage;  what  power  was  it 
possible  lor  any  assembly  to  possess  in  face  of  a  2>resiiJent  who  held  his  oflice 
by  virtue  of  a  veritable  plebiscite  ? 

There  remained  one  last  folly  to  be  committed,  and  that  by  the  agency  of 
universal  suffrage.  On  the  10th  of  December,  1848,  it  elected  as  president 
Prince  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

What  happened  had  to  happen  —  it  was  decreed  on  the  10th  of  December, 
1848.  In  just  what  manner  it  happened  it  is  needless  to  detail.  The  coup 
cTHat  of  the  2nd  of  December,  1851,  made  the  president  who  had  been  faith- 
less to  his  vow  master  of  France.  At  first  the  nation  had  no  other  constitu- 
tion than  the  terror  diffused  by  the  Paris  massacres  and  the  bloody  acts  of 
repression  that  took  place  throughout  the  provinces.*  When  Louis  Napoleon 
finally  bethouglit  himself  of  the  necessity  of  providing  a  constitution  (that 
of  the  14th  of  January,  1852),  he  had  but  to  seek  inspiration  in  the  example 
of  his  uncle.  Just  as  under  the  first  empire,  there  was  appointed  for  leading 
functions  a  council  of  state ;  next,  ranking  sufficiently  high,  a  senate ;  and 
lastly  a  corp»  ligiilatif^  which  seemed  to  exist  solely  for  show,  composed  as  it 
was  of  members  elected  under  pressure  of  the  prefects,  having  no  initiative 
in  matters  of  law  or  of  state  finance  and  sitting  under  a  president  elected 
by  the  prince  and  ministers  not  responsible  to  it.  All  civil  and  military 
officials  were  obliged  under  pain  of  revocation  to  take  an  oath  to  the  man 
who  had  violated  his.  Ten  months  had  not  elapsed  after  the  proclamation 
of  that  constitution,  before  the  (tenatu^  vonBult^  of  the  7tli  of  November,  1862, 
made  the  prince-president  eiiiperur  of  the  French,  a  dignity  which  was  con- 
firmed by  the  plebiscite  of  the  20th-21st  of  November. 


NAPOLEON    III   IS  ELECTED   EMPEKOR 

Naturally  all  liberties  were  suppressed.  In  the  matter  of  meetings  and 
Ittsociations,  Article  291  and  the  law  of  1834  reappeared  in  vigour,  and  the 
press  was  subjected  to  the  harshest  rule  it  had  known  since  the  first  empire. 
AU  rigours,  fiscal,  preventive,  and  repressive,  were  brought  to  bear  upon  it; 
ft  security  of  from  15,000  to  50,000  francs  was  demanded,  and  a  stamp-tax  of 
six  centimes  for  Paris  and  three  centimes  for  the  provinces  on  every  number 
of  a  newspaper.  No  organ  could  exist  without  "  preliminary  authorisation  " 
by  the  government.  Jurisdiction  in  press  misdemeanors  was  withdrawn 
m  the  jury  and  given  to  criminal  judges  who  held  their  office  from  the 
vereign.  Administrative  repression  was  added  to  or  supplemented  judi- 
cial repression ;  every  newspaper  that  received  two  notices  from  the  police 

>  T^not.  PttriM  «n  Dictmbre  1861  tt  la  province  en  DUtmbre  1851 ;  Victor  Hiigo.  Hist^ite 
iTjin  Crimt. 


6  THE  HISTOBY  OF  FEANCB 

[186a-1875A.D.J 

within  two  years  was  immediately  suppressed.  Even  books  were  made  the 
subject  of  exceptional  rules,  L'histoire  de$  princes  de  CondS^  by  the  duke 
d'Aumale,  being  seized  without  process  of  law  (1863), 

Such  was  the  "  authoiitative  empire  "  ;  it  subsisted  until  1867.  It  would 
be  idle  and  tedious  to  relate  by  what  successive  concessions  on  the  part  of 
the  imperial  power,  ma(^e  under  pressure  of  political  opinion  that  took  its 
colour  from  the  blunders  of  Mexico,  Sadowa,  etc.,  the  "authoritative  empire" 
was  gradually  transmuted  to  the  liberal  empire,  that  restored  to  the  legisla- 
tive body  many  of  its  legitimate  prerogatives ;  softened  the  rule  that  bore  so 
heavily  on  the  press;  took  the  risk  even  of  authorising  (by  the  enactment  of 
June  6th,  1868)  meetings  that  were  non-political  in  character,  and  also  of 
public  meetings  held  in  view  of  legislative  elections. 

The  empire  had  been  able  to  exist  at  all  only  on  condition  that  the 
particulars  concerning  its  origin  should  be  kept  from  view ;  the  publication 
of  the  books  by  Tenot  describing  the  violences  that  attended  the  coup  d'Stat 
both  in  Paris  and  the  provinces,  and  the  wide  diffusion  of  Victor  Hugo*8 
Napoleon  le  petit^  together  with  his  mighty  poetical  pamphlet,  Les  ChdttTnenta^ 
recalled  to  the  old  and  revealed  to  the  young  in  what  waves  of  blood  had 
been  effaced  the  oath  sworn  to  the  republic  by  the  president,  Louis  Napoleon. 
Thereafter  every  new  form  of  liberty  bestowed  on  the  nation  by  the  emperor 
awoke  —  not  gratitude,  but  the  determination  to  use  it  as  an  arm  against 
him.  Still  it  is  probable  that  the  second  empire  would  have  prolonged  its 
existence  by  yet  a  few  more  years  had  it  not  ventured,  by  the  declaration  of 
war  against  Germany,  to  face  a  violent  death. 

THK  THIfiD  BEPUBIilC 

The  trials  that  France  underwent  during  the  "  terrible  year  "  are  too  well 
known  to  need  narration;  no  horrors  were  spared  her,  neither  those  of  civil 
nor  of  foreign  war.  Borne  down  by  disaster  and  by  the  weight  of  financial 
ruin  precipitated  by  the  demand  of  the  invaders  for  five  thousand  millions  of 
francs,  the  most  difficult  and  complicated  of  all  problems  was  the  reorganisa- 
tion of  the  government.  How  the  national  assembly,  elected  on  February 
8th,  1871,  composed  two-thirds  of  royalists,  was  ever  brought  to  consent  first 
to  a  "  head  of  the  executive  power  of  the  French  Republic,"  then  to  a 
"  president  of  the  French  Republic,"  and  finally,  even  after  the  overthrow  of 
M.  Thiers,  even  under  the  presidency  of  Marshal  MacMahon,  to  vote  the 
republican  constitution  of  February  25th,  1875,  is  a  mystery  that  can  be 
explained  only  by  the  force  of  circumstances.  Certainly  the  royalists  had 
the  majority  in  the  assembly ;  but  they  were  divided  into  two  nearly  equal 
camps,  lefi^timists  and  Orleanists,  who  could  never  bring  about  a  fusion 
between  the  two  branches  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  Henceforth  the  republic 
which,  contrary  to  expectations,  had  offered  for  five  months  a  resolute 
resistance  to  invasion,  which  had  showed  itself  sufficiently  powerful  to  quell 
an  insurrection  twenty  times  more  redoubtable  than  those  to  which  the 
monarchies  had  succumbed — the  republic  which  had  inspired  Europe,  the 
whole  world  in  fact,  with  confidence  sufficient  to  obtain  for  it  the  prodigious 
loans  it  needed  for  the  liberation  of  its  territories — the  republic,  we  say,  was 
looked  on  as  the  form  of  government  most  natural  to  the  land,  the  one  already 
firmly  established  there,  antedating  the  national  assembly  itself.  The 
complementary  elections  of  July,  1871,  and  all  the  partial  elections  which 
followed,  testified  to  the  obstinate,  unalterable  attachment  of  the  French 
people  to  the  republican  idea.     Even  the  rash  act  of  the  assembly  on  the 


■^  -^^^^r^         FRAJNCE   APTEK   1815  ^^^  7 

(larrs  a  j>.] 

24th  of  May,  and  later  that  o£  Marslml  MacMahon,  which  seemed  to  place 
the  t^uestiqn  of  a  republic  once  more  iii  the  biilauce,  served  but  to  exalt  the 
passion  of  democracy  and  galvanise  republican  energies. 

The  constitution  of  1875,  gift  of  the  national  assembly  to  the  republic,  is, 
all  things  considered,  tlie  best  that  France  has  ever  had.  Tlie  country  seems 
to  have  profited  by  the  experience,  favourable  or  the  reverse,  of  tlie  past,  to 
steer  safely  past  the  reefs  that  wrecked  the  constitutions  of  1791  and  1848. 
Like  the  constitutions  of  all  the  free  peoples  of  Europe,  this  creation  of  the 
national  assembly  was  plainly  inspired  by  the  old  constitution  of  Great 
Britain;  it  also  recalls  the  charter  of  1830,  but  with  an  added  democratic- 
republican  character.  Certain  it  is  that  the  president  of  the  republic,  like 
Louis  Philippe,  "  reigns  but  does  not  govern,"  and  that  like  him  also  he  has 
ministers  who  are  responsible  to  the  chambers.  Of  these  chambers  one  is  the 
product  of  universal  suffrage  and  furnishes  the  motive  power  for  the  entire 
machinery  of  state,  president  and  senate  being  but  wheels  to  regulate  the 
action.  The  senate  is  elected  by  a  special  body  composed  mainly  of  delegates 
from  the  different  communes,  which  is  wliy  Ganibetta  called  it  the  "grand 
council  of  the  communes  of  France."  Since  the  reforms  eflfected  in  1884 
there  are  no  longer  any  life-senators,  all  being  appointed  for  a  term  of 'nine 
years.  No  one  of  the  great  powers  of  the  state  can  encroach  upon  the  others. 
If  a  president  violates  his  oath  of  office  he  can,  by  vote  of  the  chamber,  bo 
impeached  before  the  senate ;  if  the  chamber  shows  a  disposition  to  exceed 
its  proper  authority  it  can  be  dissolved  by  the  president,  with  the  affirmative 
vote  of  the  senate.  The  senate  enjoys  the  advantage  of  having  its  member- 
ship renewed  only  to  the  extent  of  one-third  every  third  year,  and  con- 
sequently may  be  said  to  be  a  permanent  assembly,  .whereas  the  office  of 
president  receives  a  new  incumbent  every  seven  and  the  chamber  entire  new 
membership  every  four  years.  Nevertheless  this  triennial  change  of  personnel 
is  quite  sufficient  to  keep  the  senate  within  the  bounds  of  its  legitimate 
authority. 

Such  was  at  least  the  theory  of  the  French  constitution  of  1875;  but  no 
constitution  is  worth  more  than  the  men  who  i)ut  it  into  practice.  It  is  plain 
that  if  the  chamber  of  deputies  were  made  up  from  elections  falsified  under 
official  pressure,  by  fraud  at  the  baJlot-bt)xea,  or  by  giiueral  eorru])tion;  or  if 
the  senate,  instead  of  being  composed  of  picked  men,  as  should  be  the  case 
with  any  assembly  of  high  functions,  recruited  its  senators  from  among  the 
miscellaneous  candidates  presented  by  universal  suffrage  or  the  ranks  of 
village  notabilities;  if  on  the  occasion  of  a  presidential  election  all  candidates 
possessing  high  character  or  intelligence  were  carefully  rejected  —  that 
constitution  would  be  thrown  out  of  gear  in  every  cog.  Not  upon  its  authors 
could  the  blame  be  made  to  fall,  but  upon  those  who  strove  to  disfigure  and 
pervert  the  original  conception. 

One  reproach  can  be  raised  against  the  constitution  of  1875 — it  is  based 
upon  an  English  instead  of  an  American  prototype.  Has  not  a  great  and 
prosperous  republic  like  the  United  States  ofiPered  the  best  model  for  the 
constitution  of  the  most  powerful  democracy  of  the  Old  World?  Has  not 
ils  type  been  adopted  by  all  the  republics^  even  the  Latin,  nf  the  New  World  ? 
This  thesis  lias  been  sustained  in  France,  particularly  by  M.  Andrieux,  former 
deputy  from  Lyons  and  prefect  of  police,  who  made  it  the  object,  in  1884, 
of  m  proposed  law,  Tlie  chief  drawback  to  its  adoption,  however,  seemed  to 
be  that  France  occupied  a  territory  of  only  625,000  square  kilometres,  while 
that  covered  by  the  United  States  is  9,854,000.  Hence  the  France  of  to-day, 
product  as  it  is  of  a  thousand  years  of  history,  of  the  old  regime,  of  the 


8  THE  HISTORY  OF  FBAifCE 

[1881-1001 A  J>.] 

Revolution,  of  the  Napoleonic  empires,  is  a  highly  concentrated  state,  essen- 
tially a  unit.  It  has  reached  this  condition  of  unity  hy  reason  of  its  situa- 
tion in  the  midst  of  powerful  neighbours,  who  all,  at  one  time  or  another, 
have  had  to  be  resisted ;  the  United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  has  no  anxiety 
of  war.     From  these  observations  certain  consequences  undeniably  follow. 

We  can  still,  however,  envy  the  United  States  its  Supreme  Court,  which 
guarantees  to  every  citizen  his  essential  rights  in  the  face  of  any  possible 
arbitrariness  on  the  part  of  Congress  or  executive  power.  In  the  matter  of 
our  essential  rights  the  law  of  July  29th,  1881,  is  all  that  can  be  desired  as 
regards  the  press ;  moreover,  the  law  of  June  30th,  1881,  authorised  all  public 
meetings  on  presentation  of  a  simple  declai-ation  signed  by  two  citizens. 
Associations  in  the  interests  of  public  charities,  commerce,  or  the  sciences 
had  long  been  allowed  to  form  with  perfect  freedom,  and  the  law  of  March 
21st,  1884,  completely  broke  down  all  previous  legislation  in  favour  of  asso- 
ciations having  the  character  of  sjrndics.  Also  the  law  of  the  2nd  of  July, 
1901,  would  certainly  have  endowed  France  with  the  greatest  possible  liberty 
of  association,^  if  it  had  not  borne  so  arbitrarily  upon  congregations. 

Save  on  this  latter  point  it  can  be  affirmed  that  French  democracy,  if  by 
that'term  is  understood  the  nation  in  its  entirety  and  not  a  few  detached 
revolutionary  groups,  has  evolved  in  our  more  recent  laws  and  constitution 
the  most  perfect  of  all  political  formulas.  It  seems  indeed  that  the  end  of 
the  mighty  struggle  begun  in  1789  has  been  reached.  A  social  system  such 
as  ours  could  hardly  attain  to  a  greater  degree  of  liberty  and  equality  ;  it 
is  rather  in  the  matter  of  fraternity  that  there  still  remains  something  to 
accomplish. 

Having  set  forth  the  political  evolution  that  has  taken  place  in  France 
since  1815, 1  shall  later  show  how  society  has  become  transformed  during  the 
same  period. 

^The  law  of  the  2nd  of  July,  1901,  abrogates  not  only  articles  291  and  following  of  the 
Penal  Code  and  the  law  of  1834,  but  it  repefids  the  act  of  March  14th,  1872,  pFoscribing  the 
Workers*  International  Union,  Article  7  of  the  law  of  the  30th  of  June,  1881,  forbidding  dubs, 
the  law  of  the  28th  of  July,  1848,  prohlbitiog  secret  societies,  etc. 


CHAPTER   I 


THE   BOURBON   RESTORATION 


[1816-1824  A.i>.] 

France  had  now  strupsled,  suffered,  and  bled  for  flve-and-twenty 
yean,  through  a  fearful  revolution  and  niinouH  wan*;  and  what  were 
the  results  ?  Her  enemies  were  in  possession  of  her  capital :  all  her 
conqaestB  were  surrendered ;  and  the  Bourbons  were  restored  to  the 
tbroDO  of  their  ancestors.  But  these  were  not  the  only  consequences  of 
the  late  cunvuluions,  to  France  or  to  Europe.  France^  indeed,  was 
governed  by  another  Bourbon  king  ;  but  the  anclen  rfgime  was  no 
more:  the  oppressive  privileges  of  feudalism  had  bDen  abolbdied  ;  and 
a  CoustiCutionai  cltart^^r  was  granted  by  Louis  XVlIt.  But  all  these 
benefits  had  been  secured  in  the  tirRt  two  years  of  the  Revolution, 
before  the  monarchy  had  been  destroyed,  williout  a  reign  of  terror, 
and  without  desolating;  wars.  She  had  pained  nuttung  by  her  crimes, 
her  tuadnoss,  her  sacriflcea,  and  liur  sufFcringR,  since  the  constituiion 
of  the  14th  September,  1701.  Upoa  Europe,  the  effects  of  the  Revo- 
Intion  were  conspicuous.  Tlie  oUJ  regime  of  France  was  Bubverted  ; 
and  in  most  European  states,  where  a  similar  system  had  been  main- 
tained, since  the  Middle  Ages,  its  foundations  were  nhaken.  TIte  prin- 
ciples of  the  Revolution  awakened  the  minds  of  men  to  political 
thought ;  and  the  power  of  absolute  governments  was  controlled  by 
tbe  force  of  public  opinion.  — Sir  Thomas  Erski.vb  &Ut.6 


LAMARTINE  S   VIEW   OF  THE   RESTORATION 

Nations  are  like  men  ;  they  have  the  same  passions,  vicissitudes,  exagger- 
ations, indecisions,  and  uncertainties.  That  which  is  called  public  opinion 
in  free  governments  is  only  the  movable  needle  of  the  dial  plate  which  marks 
by  turns  the  variations  in  this  atmosphere  of  human  affairs.  This  instability 
is  still  more  sudden  and  prodigious  in  France  than  in  tlie  other  nations  of 
the  world,  if  we  except  the  ancient  Athenian  race.  It  has  become  a  proverb 
of  Europe. 

The  French  historian  ought  to  acknowledge  this  vice  of  the  nation,  whose 
ricissitudes  he  recounts,  as  he  ought  to  point  out  its  virtuen.  Even  this 
instahility  belongs  to  a  quality  of  the  great  French  race  —  imagination  ;  it 
forms  part  of  its  destiny.  In  its  wars  it  is  called  impulse;  in  its  arts, 
genius;  in  its  reverses,  despondency;  in  its  despondency,  inconsistency;  and 

9 


10  THE  HISTOEY  OF  FRANCE 

[1789-181A  X.i>.; 

in  its  patriotism,  enthusiasm.  It  is  the  modem  nation  which  has  the  most 
fire  in  its  soul;  and  this  fire  is  fanned  by  the  wind  of  its  mobility.  We  can- 
not explain,  except  by  this  character  of  the  French  race,  those  frenzies  — 
which  simultaneously  seem  to  seize  upon  the  whole  nation  after  the  lapse  of 
some  months  —  for  principles,  for  men,  and  for  governments  the  most  opposed 
to  each  other. 

We  are  on  the  ere  of  one  of  those  astonishing  inconstancies  of  public 
opinion  in  France.  Let  us  explain  its  causes :  The  gleam  of  those  philo- 
sophical principles,  the  whole  of  which  constitute  what  is  called  the  Revolu- 
tion, had  nowhere,  so  much  as  in  France,  dazzled  and  warmed  the  souls  of 
the  people,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  At  the  voice  of  her  writers, 
her  orators,  her  tribunes,  and  her  warriors,  France  took  the  initiative  in  the 
work  of  reformation,  without  considering  what  it  would  cost  in  fatigues, 
treasure,  and  blood,  to  renew  her  institutions,  vitiated  by  the  rust  of  ages, 
in  religion,  legislation,  civilisation,  and  government.  The  throne  had  crum- 
bled amidst  the  tumult,  pulled  down  like  a  counter-revolutionary  flag  raised 
in  the  midst  of  the  Revolution.  The  country,  however,  was  beginning  to 
know  itself,  to  purify  itself,  to  constitute  itself  into  a  tolerant  democracy 
under  the  republican  government  of  the  Directory,  when  Bonaparte,  personi- 
fying at  once  in  himself  the  usurpation  of  the  army  over  the  laws  and  the 
counter-revolution,  violently  interrupted,  on  the  18th  Brumaire  (November 
9th),  the  silent  work  of  the  new  civilisation,  which  was  elaborating  and  culling 
out  the  elements  of  the  new  order  of  things.  To  divert  the  nation's  thoughts 
from  its  revolution  he  launched  it  and  led  it  on  to  the  conquest  of  Europe. 
He  exhausted  it  of  its  blood  and  population,  to  prevent  it  from  thinking  and 
agitating  under  him.  He  had  made  it  apostatise  by  his  publicists,  by  his 
silent  system,  and  by  his  police,  from  all  the  principles  of  its  regeneration  of 
1789.  While  he  was  hurling  kings  from  their  thrones,  he  declared  himself 
the  avenger  and  restorer  of  priesthoods  and  royalties. 

France  had  begun  to  breathe  after  his  first  fall  in  1814.  The  charter 
had  resumed  the  work  of  Louis  XVI,  and  promulgated  the  principles  of  the 
constituent  assembly.  The  Revolution  had  gone  back  to  its  first  glorious 
days.  It  had  no  longer  to  apprehend  either  the  intoxication  of  illusions,  or 
the  resistance  of  the  church,  of  the  court,  of  the  nobility,  or  the  crimes  of 
the  demagogues. 

The  return  of  Bonaparte,  thanks  to  the  complicity  of  the  army,*  had 
again  interrupted  this  era  of  renovation,  of  peace,  and  of  hope.  This 
violence  to  the  nation  and  to  Europe  had  been  punished  by  a  second 
invasion,  which  humbled,  ruined,  and  decimated  France ;  and  even  threat- 
ened to  partition  it  into  fragments.  Bonaparte,  in  quitting  his  army  after 
his  defeat  at  Waterloo,  and  in  abdicating,  had  carried  away  with  him  the 
responsibility  of  this  disaster  ;  but  he  had  left  behind  him  the  resentment  of 
the  nation  against  the  army,  against  his  party,  his  accomplices,  and  against 
his  name.  Everybody  had  a  grievance,  a  resentment,  a  mourning,  or  a  ruin 
to  avenge  upon  this  name  of  one  man.  The  paroxysm  of  anger  compressed 
by  the  presence  of  the  army,  by  dread  of  the  imperial  police,  and  by  the  hope 
of  a  repetition  of  that  glory  with  which  he  had  for  a  moment  fascinated 
France  before  Waterloo,  burst  forth  from  every  heart,  except  those  of  his 
soldiers,  immediately  after  his  fall.    Public  opinion  threw  itself,  without 

[1  Seignobose  speaks  of  "  the  Episode  of  the  Hundred  Days"  which  compassed  Napoleon^s 
return  from  Elba  and  his  fall  at  Waterloo,  as  "  nothing  but  a  military  revolt,  a  pronuncictmetUo 
of  the  army  of  Napoleon."  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  a  very  luge  part  of  the 
army  did  not  respond  to  this  call  or  take  part  in  the  last  disaster.  1 


I 


■ 


I 


■^  THE    BOURBON   RESTORATION  U 

[1810  AJ>,] 

reflection,  without  foresight,  and  without  discretion,  into  the  opposite  party 
in  the  elections.  Public  opinion  in  France,  when  irritated,  listens  neither 
to  middle  courses,  nor  to  intrigues,  nor  to  prudence;  it  goes  direct  from 
one  side  to  the  other,  like  the  ocean  in  its  ebh  and  flow.  This  is  the  whole 
explanation  of  the  elections  of  1815,  wliich  sent  up  to  the  crown  a  chamber 
more  counter-revolutionary  than  all  Europe,  and  more  royalist  than  the 
V\ng.d 

EXCESSES   OF  THE   ROYALISTS  AND  THE  liJVADEKS 

Louis  XVIII,  being  too  indififerent  and  too  fond  of  repose  to  be  vindictive, 
bad  re-entered  the  city  with  the  disposition  to  be  moderate  ;  that  was  also 
the  attitude  of  the  ministry  which  he  had  given  himself.  It  was  for  the 
interest  of  Talleyrand  and  Fouche  that  there  should  bo  no  reaction  and 
the  other  ministers.  Baron  Louis,  Pasquier,  Marslml  Gouvion-vSiiint-('yr  who 
had  been  chosen  by  the  king  because  he  had  not  rallied  to  Napoleon  during 
the  Hundred  Days,  were  by  character  and  reason  opposed  to  all  excess. 
But  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  king  would  be  powerless  to  keep  the 
royalists  within  bounds  and  that  the  niinistera  wonhl  be  left  licliind  and 
disregarded.  The  new  emigration  was  returning  from  Ghent  eager  for 
vengeance,  and  its  friends  in  the  interior  had  awaited  no  signal  to  let  loose 
their  rage  against  everything  which  in  any  way  held  to  the  Revolution  or 
the  empire.  The  ultras  made  I'aris  resound  with  their  outbursts  of  shameful 
joy  and  insulted  those  in  the  street  who  wnuld  not  join  them,  while  the 
capital  was  at  the  same  time  brutally  trodden  under  foot  by  foreigners. 
The  royalist  journals  heaped  abuse  on  the  French  army  and  spoke  only  of 
punishment  and  proscription. 

If  the  king  and  his  ministers  were  unable  to  restrain  the  royalists,  with 
still  greater  reason  they  were  not  in  a  condition  to  protect  the  city  and 
country  from  the  allied  armies.  The  foreign  occupation  offered  a  sinister 
contrast  to  what  it  had  been  in  1814.  It  was  Bliicher,  the  fiercest  enemy  of 
France,  who  with  his  Prussians  occupied  the  interior  of  Paris,  while  the 
English  were  encamped  in  the  Bais  de  Boulogne.  The  very  evening  of  his 
re-entry  Louis  XVIII  was  warned  tliat  the  Prussians  were  preparing  to 
blow  up  the  bridge  of  Jena,  the  name  of  which  recalled  their  great  disaster 
in  1806.  In  vain  did  the  king  have  recourse  to  Wellington.  Tlie  fierce 
Blucher  listened  to  no  one.  Fortunately  the  first  explosion  of  the  mines 
wa«  not  sufficient  to  overthrow  the  piles,  and  the  arrival  of  the  Russian  and 
Austrian  emperors  with  the  king  of  Prussia  on  July  10th  prevented  Bliicher 
from  recommencing.  Emperor  Alexander  intervened  ;  the  bridge  was  saved 
and  the  one  hundred  million  francs  which  Blucher  proposed  to  demand  of 
Paris,  regardless  of  the  capitulation,  were  reduced  to  eight. 

The  presence  of  foreign  rulers,  Mobile  it  encumbered  Paris  with  new 
masses  of  troops,  at  least  diminished  Homewhat  the  disorder  caused  by  the 
occupation  within  the  capital;  but  without,  the  invaded  departments  were 
everywhere  exposed  to  pillage.  Never  had  the  abuse  of  victory*  with  which 
the  French  had  been  accused  in  (itn'uiany,  approached  what  took  jilace  in 
France.  In  the  wars  beyond  the  Rhine,  Napoleon's  severe  character  imposed 
a  certain  order  even  on  the  requisitions  ;  here  the  military  chiefs,  great  and 
small,  acted,  each  on  his  own  account,  like  leaders  of  the  old  bands  of  invad- 
ing barlmrians  ;  they  plundered  their  hosts,  despoiled  cities  and  villages,  laid 
hands  on  the  public  treasuries,  and  when  the  ollieials  of  the  ro^^al  govern- 
ment tried  to  hinder  their  pillaging,  they  arrested  them  and  sent  them  as 
prisoners   across  the    Rhine.     The   Prussians  put  a  feeling  of   implacable 


12  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1815  A^.] 

vengeance  into  their  excesses.  But  the  violence  and  depredations  of  the 
Prussians  were  at  least  equalled  by  those  who  had  nothing  to  avenge,  by 
those  Germans  of  the  south,  the  Swabians  (the  inhabitants  of  Baden  and 
Wiirtemberg)  and  Bavarians,  who  were  now  pillaging  France  in  the  name  of 
the  coalition  as  they  had  shortly  before,  in  the  name  of  France,  pillaged 
Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia,  much  more  violently  than  the  French.  Popular 
Russian  tales  of  1812  show  what  a  difference  Russian  peasants  made  between 
French  soldiers  and  the  German  allies  of  France.  French  peasants  in  de- 
spair responded  here  and  there,  as  those  of  Russia  had  done,  by  sanguinary 
acts  of  retaliation  and  resorted  to  the  woods  to  carry  on  a  guerilla  warfare. 

The  numbers  of  the  invaders  increased  daily.  All  the  reserves  of  every 
country  arrived  on  the  scene.  Germany  especially  passed  over  the  Rhine  as 
a  whole  to  come  and  live  at  the  expense  of  France.  At  one  time  there  were 
as  many  as  1,240,000  soldiers  on  French  territory. 

Emperor  Alexander  and  the  duke  of  Wellington,  the  one  out  of  humanity, 
the  other  out  of  a  spirit  of  discipline  and  fear  of  provoking  a  general  uprising 
of  the  French  people,  tried  to  put  an  end  to  this  immense  disorder  and,  acting 
on  their  proposition,  the  four  great  powers  attempted  to  regulate  the  occu- 
pation by  a  convention  agreed  upon  on  the  24th  of  July.  The  danger  of  pro- 
voking France  to  desperation  was  very  real.  Besides  the  army  of  the  Loire, 
the  French  had  still  several  corps  under  arms,  under  Marshal  Suchet  and 
other  generals.  Free  companies  in  the  departments  of  the  east  were  ener- 
getically harassing  the  enemy,  and  most  of  the  strongholds  were  still  intact 
and  maintained  a  threatening  attitude.  The  defence  of  Hiiningen  has 
become  celebrated:  General  Barbanegre  sustained  a  long  siege  in  this  little 
place  with  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  soldiers  against  twenty-five  thousand 
Austrians. 

The  French  army  at  that  time  had  been  disbanded  for  fifteen  days.  The 
troops  separated  in  a  spirit  of  sad  resignation,  without  attempting  a  resistance 
which  would  only  have  aggravated  the  misfortunes  of  their  country.  Thus 
came  to  an  end  the  most  illustrious  army  the  modern  world  has  ever  seen. 
The  royal  ordinance  which  had  dissolved  the  army  had  fixed  the  basis  upon 
which  a  new  army  was  to  be  organised. 

THE  "WHITE  terror"   OF   1815 

In  the  meantime  two-thirds  of  France  was  occupied  by  strangers  and 
the  part  which  was  exempt  from  invasion  was  afflicted  by  another  scourge, 
by  a  violent  reaction.  The  triumphal  return  of  the  "usurper,"  the  enforced 
submission  to  the  restored  empire,  which  had  undergone  feeble  attempts  at 
resistance,  had  aroused  an  ill-contained  rage  in  the  heart  of  the  royalists  of 
the  south ;  it  broke  out  at  the  news  of  Waterloo.  At  Marseilles,  beginning 
with  the  25th  of  June,  furious  bands  had  pillaged  several  houses  and  massa- 
cred the  owners  who  were  partisans  of  the  emperor.  Others  had  thrown 
themselves  on  the  poor  quarter  where  lived  a  certain  number  of  mamelukes, 
brought  back  from  Egypt  by  Napoleon.  These  unfortunates  were  butch- 
ered together  with  their  wives  and  children. 

From  Marseilles  the  murders  and  conflagrations  spread  to  Avignon,  Car- 
pentras,  Nimes,  and  Uzes.  The  17th  of  July  at  Nimes  a  small  garrison  of 
200  men,  very  much  hated  by  the  ultras  because  they  had  kept  up  the  tricol- 
oured  flag  until  the  15th  of  July,  capitulated  before  an  urban  and  rural  mob. 
Scarcely  had  the  soldiers  surrendered  their  arms,  when  the  "royal  volun- 
teers "  shot  them  down  at  the  end  of  the  muzzle.     Crowds  of  fanatics  and 


THE  BOURBON  RESTORATION 


13 


[1S15  A.P.] 


til 


during  several  days,  plunderii 


houses 


marauders  overran 

rich  Protestants ;  several  were  assassinated. 

Murder,  devastation,  and  conflagration  overflowed  into  the  country; 
houses  were  burned,  tlie.  olive  trees  and  gnipe-vincs  of  the  **  wrong  think- 
ers" were  cut  down.  Tlie  royal  authorities  were  powerless  or  else  in  league 
with  the  movement.  Hundreds  of  persons  were  arrested  on  all  sides  arbi- 
trarily by  the  marauding  bands.  The  military  commander  and  the  under 
prefect  at  Uzos  disgraced  themselves  by  delivering  up  eight  of  their  prison- 
ers to  the  chief  of  the  assassins  at  Uzea,  called  Graffan,  who  had  them  shot 
without  the  form  of  a  trial,  after  having  massacred  a  certain  number  of  the 
inhabitants  in  their  homes. 

The  reaction  reunited  all  kinds  of  infamy ;  obscenity  was  joined  to  rapac- 
ity and  ferocit}*.  On  tlio  15th  of  August,  the  day  of  the  fSte  of  the  Virgin, 
at  Kuues  the  wives  of  the  brigands  who  ruled  in  the  department  of  the 
Gard  dragged  in  the  streets  the  Protestant  women  they  could  get  hold  of, 
subjecting  them  to  the  most  dishonourable  insults. 

The  ^' White  'I^error '*  of  1815  exceeded  in  ignominy  the  reaction  in 
Therraidor  of  the  year  III.  It  wan  not,  as  in  the  latter,  crime  against  crime, 
terror  after  terror.  The  Hundred  Days  had  seen  neither  bloodshed  nor 
proscriptions,  and  the  reactionary  J^arty  of  1816  had  noticing  to  avenge. 
The  worst  days  of  the  League  were  recalled  by  the  alliance  of  tlie  ultra-aris- 
tocracy with  the  depraved,  lazy,  and  santruinary  populace,  which  ferments 
under  the  feet  of  the  real  peoj^le,  and  which  statisticians  speak  of  as  "the 
dangerous  classes." 

Jutliciary  persecution  was  soon  added  to  the  massacres.  The  victims 
who  had  escaj>ed  the  knife  of  the  assassin  were  now  to  be  confronted  with 
the  judges  of  the  reaction.  The  king  and  the  ministers  were  innocent  of  the 
riots  and  brigandage  of  the  south,  which  they  Juid  nut  been  able  to  prevent 
and  which  they  had  not  tlie  strength  to  chastise.  They  seem  on  the  other 
band  to  be  responsible  before  history  for  the  terrible  succession  of  political 
trials  which  they  ordained.  There  again,  however,  they  endured  rather 
than  inspired  to  action ;  not  only  the  whole  court,  the  whole  royalist  party,  but 
even  the  foreign  powers  demanded  imperiously  that  those  who  were  called 
the  '*  conspirators  of  March  20th  "  should  be  pursued  to  the  utmost.  An 
erroneous  appreciation  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  "  return  from  the 
island  ai  F^lha"  contributed  mucli  to  incite  the  second  restoration  to  those 
deeds  of  implacable  vengeance  Avhicli  gave  it  such  a  sanguinary  character. 
The  foreigners,  like  the  royalists,  imagined  that  the  20th  of  March  had  been 
the  result  of  an  immense  conspiracy  embracing  the  whole  army  and  most  of 
the  officials.  That  was  the  reason  of  the  redoubling  of  envenomed  hatred 
which  the  leaders  of  tlie  coalitimi  felt  for  the  French  army.  What  had  been 
pure  impulse  was  taken  to  be  the  result  of  a  plot,  and  it  was  not  known  that 
the  only  conspiracy  which  took  place  before  the  20th  of  March  had  a  wholly 
different  aim  than  the  re-cstablishmcnt  of  the  emperor.  The  foreigners  had 
now  but  one  idea,  and  that  was  to  do  away  with  Napoleon  and  the  French 
army  and  to  inspire  the  French  military  spirit  with  a  terror,  which  as  they 
said  would  insure  the  repose  of  Europe. 

While  the  prisons  were  filling  up,  while  political  trials  were  beginning 
on  all  sides,  the  constitutional  government  was  being  reorganised  under  had 
auspices.  The  peerage  was  reconstituted  by  the  nomination  of  ninety-four 
new  peers  and  declared  hereditary.  The  electoral  colleges  had  been  con- 
voked on  August  14th.  The  ordinance  of  convocation  established  new 
rules  provisionally.     The  colleges  of   the  arrondissoment  were  to  present 


14  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1S15  A  J>.] 

candidates  and  the  colleges  of  the  department  were  to  name  the  deputies, 
half  from  among  the  candidates,  half  from  their  own  free  choosing.  This 
was  puttin?  the  election  in  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy.  The  age  of  eligi- 
bility was  lowered  to  twenty-five  years,  that  of  the  electorate  to  twenty- 
one,  and  the  number  of  deputies  increased  from  253  to  402.  All  that 
concerned  electoral  conditions  was  to  be  submitted  to  revision  by  the  legis- 
lative power.  The  elections  were  carried  out  everywhere  under  the 
influence  of  authorities  dominated  by  the  ultras  and  in  the  south  at  the  point 
of  the  dagger.  Massacre  had  begun  again  at  Nimes  on  the  eve  of  the  elec- 
tions. It  was  found  necessary  to  occupy  four  departments  of  the  south  with 
Austrian  troops,  at  the  moment  when  the  Protestants  were  organising  to 
resist  the  butchery  and  when  civil  war  was  on  the  point  of  succeeding 
assassination. 

The  elections  gave  the  majority  to  the  ultras.  The  royal  government 
was  placed  between  the  fury  of  its  partisans,  whom  it  could  not  control, 
and  the  menacing  demands  of  the  allies  who  humiliated  and  oppressed  it. 
Louis  XVIII  had  hoped  that  after  the  overthrow  of  the  "  usurper  "  Europe 
would  maintain  the  treaty  of  May  30th,  1814,  which  was  already  so  hard  for 
France.  He  was  very  much  mistaken.  The  foreigners,  making  light  of  their 
declarations  and  their  promises,  dreamed  only  of  a  new  dismemberment  and 
of  the  ruin  of  France.* 

The  ministry  was  at  that  moment  very  near  its  fall.  Fouche  was  the 
first  to  be  attacked.  The  ultras  of  the  provinces  had  never  accepted  him, 
and  those  of  the  court,  having  no  more  need  of  him,  abandoned  him.  Wel- 
ling^n's  protection  sustained  him  for  some  time  ;  but  he  soon  felt  the  im- 
pos^biiity  of  maintaining  himself  before  the  chambers.  He  resigned  and 
accepted  the  insignificant  post  of  minister  of  France  at  the  court  of  the  king 
of  Saxony.* 

The  whole  ministry  soon  followed  him.  Furious  counter-revolutionary 
addresses  came  from  a  large  number  of  electoral  colleges  and  from  general 
and  municipal  councils  which  heralded  the  storm  which  would  burst  at  the 
opening  of  the  chambers.  The  king  gave  way  to  the  current  which  was  set- 
ting in  against  the  ministry,  without  difficulty ;  Talleyrand  displeased  him 
as  much  as  Fouche,  and,  knowing  him  to  be  at  variance  with  the  emperor 
Alexander,  he  saw  no  reason  for  keeping  him.  Talleyrand,  having  offered 
his  resignation  and  that  of  his  colleagues  more  or  less  sincerely,  the  king 
took  him  at  his  word.  This  man,  whose  egoism  had  contributed  to  aggravate 
the  ills  of  France,  was  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  its  affairs  as  long 
as  the  restoration  lasted./ 


RICHELIEU  THE  NEW  MINISTER 

Along  with  Talleyrand  there  retired  from  the  ministry  Louis,  Pasquin, 
Jaucourt,  and  Gouvion-Saint-Cyr.  The  ministry  required  to  be  entirely 
remodelled ;  and  the  king,  who  had  long  foreseen  the  necessity  of  this 
step,  and  who  was  not  sorry  for  an  opportunity  of  breaking  with  his  revolu- 
tionary mentors,  immediately  authorised  Decazes,  who  had  insinuated  him- 
self into  his  entire  confidence,  to  offer  the  place  of  president  of  the  council, 
corresponding  to  the  English  premier,  to  the  duke  de  Richelieu. 

ii  We  have  already  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter  the  results  of  the  treaties  of  1816.] 
*  Having  accepted  the  trifling  and  distant  embassy  to  Dresden,  Foucb6  hastened  to  depart, 
eft  Paris  under  a  disguise  which  he  only  changed  when  he  reached  the  frontier,  fearful  of 
being  seen  in  his  native  land,  which  he  was  fated  never  again  to  behold.  — Qdizot.«] 


w 


BP  THE  BOURBON  RESTOKATION  Ifi 

tlM5  A.D.] 

Arraand,  duke  de  Richelieu,  graud-nepliew  by  his  Bister  of  the  cardinal 
of  the  same  name,  was  grandson  of  the  marshal  de  Richelieu,  so  celebrated 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV  as  the  Alcibiades  of  France.  When  called  to  the 
ministry,  in  1815,  he  was  forty-nine  years  of  age.  Consumed  from  his  earli- 
est years,  like  so  nianj^  other  great  men,  by  an  ardent  thirst  for  glory,  he  had 
joined  the  Russian  army  in  1785,  and  shared  in  the  dangers  of  the  assault 
of  Ismail  under  Suvaroff.  When  the  French  Revolution  rent  the  nobles 
and  the  people  of  France  asunder,  he  had  hastened  from  the  Crimea  to  join 
the  srmy  of  the  emigrant  noblesse  under  the  prince  of  Condt^,  and  remained 
with  it  till  the  corps  was  finally  dissolved  in  1794.  He  had  then  relurneii 
to  Russia.  On  the  accession  of  Alexander,  Richelieu  was  selected  to  carry 
into  execution  the  philanthropic  views  which  he  had  formed  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  southern  provinces  of  his  vast  dominions. 

The  progress  of  the  province  intrusted  to  his  care  was  unparalleled,  its  pros- 
perity unbroken  during  his  administration.  To  his  sagacious  foresiglit  and 
prophetic  wisdom  Russia  owes  the  seaport  of  Odessa,  the  great  export  town 
of  its  southern  provinces,  which  opened  to  their  boundless  agricultural  plains 
the  commerce  of  the  world.  The  French  invasion  of  1812  recalled  him  from 
his  pacific  labours  to  the  defence  of  the  country,  and  he  shared  the  intimacy 
and  counsels  of  Alexander  during  the  eventful  years  which  succeeded,  till 
the  taking  of  Paris  in  1814.  Alternately  at  Paris,  at  Vienna,  or  at  Ghent, 
he  had  represented  his  sovereign*  and  Hcrvcd  as  a  link  between  the  court  of 
Russia  and  the  newly  established  throne  of  Louis  XVIII. 

His  character  qualified  him  in  a  peculiar  manner  for  this  delicate  task, 
and  now  for  the  still  more  perilous  duty  to  which  he  was  called  —  that  of 
standing,  like  the  Jewish  lawgiver,  between  the  people  and  the  plague.  lie 
was  the  model  of  the  ancient  French  nobility,  for  he  united  in  his  person  all 
their  virtues,  and  he  was  free  from  their  weaknesses.  He  was  considered, 
alike  in  the  army  and  in  diplomatic  circles  at  home  and  abroad,  as  the  most 
pure  and  estimable  character  that  had  arisen  during  the  storms  of  the  Revo- 
lution. His  fortunate  distance  from  France  during  so  long  a  period  at  once 
preserved  him  from  its  dangers,  and  caused  him  to  bo  exempt  from  its  delu- 
sions. His  talents  were  not  of  the  iirst  order,  but  his  moral  qualities  were 
of  the  purest  kind.ff 

Treaty  of  1815 

The  first  duty  of  the  new  minister  was  to  negotiate  the  treaty  with  the 
enemy  which  was  signed  on  Noverab(?r  20th,  1815.  The  cuudilions  of 
the  treaty,  unfortunately  agreed  to  beyond  the  necessity  of  the  case,  by  the 
pliancy  of  Talleyrand,  and  the  impatience  of  the  court  for  the  throne  at  any 
price,  were,  however,  modified  within  limits  which  a  statesman  might,  with- 
out being  satisfied,  submit  to.  Richelieu,  in  despair  at  not  being  able  to 
obtain  more  advantageous  conditions,  still  considered  them  too  unfavourable, 
and  obstinately  refused  to  sign  them.  The  king,  who  saw  the  chambers, 
then  about  to  open,  disposed  to  call  him  to  account  for  his  sterile  inter- 
vention for  the  pacification  of  the  country,  and  who  saw  on  the  other 
aide  Austria,  Prussia,  Holland,  and  the  powers  of  the  Rhine  crushing 
his  j)eople  under  the  devastations  of  800,000  men,  sent  for  the  duke  de 
Richelieu,  one  night,  by  Decazes,  and,  bedewing  the  hand  of  his  prime  min- 
ister with  tears,  implored  him  for  the  sacrifice  whicli  is  dearest  to  a  man  of 
honour  —  that  of  his  name.  The  duke  de  Richelieu  went  away,  moved 
and  vanquished  by  this  conference  with  his  unhappy  master,  and  signed  the 
treaty. 


16  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRAI^CE 

[1815  A.D.] 

This  treaty  left  France  in  possession  of  its  frontiers  of  1790,  as  we  have 
seen,  with  the  exception  of  some  unimportant  portions  of  territory  enclosed 
within  other  states,  and  of  Savoy,  a  conquest  of  the  Revolution  which  had 
been  respected  by  the  treaty  of  1814.  It  imposed  an  indemnity  to  Europe 
of  700,000,000  francs  for  the  last  war  commenced  by  Napoleon,  an  armed 
occupation  for  ^ve  years  of  150,000  men,  the  generalissimo  of  which  was 
to  be  nominated  by  the  allied  powers,  and  the  fortress  to  be  delivered  up  to 
this  garrison  of  security.  This  occupation  might  terminate  in  three  years,  if 
Europe  considered  France  sufficiently  pacified  to  offer  it  moral  guarantees  of 
tranquillity.  The  prisoners  of  war  were  to  be  given  up,  and  the  liquidation 
of  the  700,000,000  indemnity  was  to  be  effected  day  by  day.  Besides  this  war 
indemnity,  France  recognised  the  principle  of  the  indemnities  to  be  assigned 
after  its  liquidation  to  each  power  for  the  ravages,  the  requisitions,  or  the 
confiscations  that  each  of  these  states  had  sustained,  during  the  last  wars, 
by  the  occupation  of  the  French  armies.  France  was  further  burdened  with 
the  pay  and  the  subsistence  of  the  150,000  men  of  the  army  of  occupation,  left 
by  the  allied  powers  upon  its  territory.  The  national  penalty  incurred  by 
France  for  Napoleon's  return  from  Elba  was,  in  money,  about  1,600,000,000 
francs  ;  in  national  strength,  its  fortresses ;  in  bloodshed  in  the  field,  60,000 
men ;  and  in  honour,  the  disbanding  of  its  army,  and  a  foreign  garrison  to  keep 
a  close  watch  over  an  empire  in  chains.  This  is  what  the  last  aspiration  of 
Bonaparte  to  the  throne  and  to  glory  cost  his  country.  Eleven  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  foreign  soldiers  were  at  that  moment  trampling  under  foot 
the  soil  of  France.** 


EXECUTION  OF  MARSHAL  NET  AND  OTHERS 

Among  the  distinguished  victims  of  royalist  fury  were  Marshal  Bnine, 
who  was  assassinated  while  on  his  way  to  Paris  to  swear  allegiance,  and 
Colonel  Labedoyere,  whose  defection  at  Grenoble  had  admitted  Napoleon  to 
France  from  Elba,  and  who,  refusing  the  opportunities  proffered  him  for 
escape,  was  tried  and  condemned  by  judges  who  wept  while  they  condemned 
him.  His  last  words  were,  "  Fire,  my  friends,"  to  the  soldiers  who  shot  him. 
The  next  victim  of  high  distinction  was  Ney,  who  had  also  gone  over  to 
Napoleon  after  joining  Louis  XVIII.  Immediately  after  the  capitulation  of 
Paris  he  had  made  his  escape  with  a  false  name  and  false  passport,  but  re- 
turned and  was  arrested  at  the  chateau  of  Bossonis,  among  the  mountains  of 
Cantal.  Curiously  enough,  he  was  discovered  by  means  of  a  Turkish  sabre 
of  peculiar  form  and  exquisite  workmanship,  a  present  from  Napoleon,  which 
he  had  carelessly  left  on  a  table  in  the  salon  of  the  chateau.  General  Mon- 
cey  refused  to  preside  at  the  military  trial,  and  was  imprisoned  for  three 
months.  Richelieu  then  accused  Ney  of  treason  before  the  chamber  of 
Peers,  in  spite  of  the  capitulation  of  Paris  which  promised  amnesty  for  all 
who  took  part  in  the  Hundred  Days.  Ney  himself  declared  :  "  The  article 
was  so  entirely  protective  that  I  relied  on  it ;  but  for  it,  can  anyone  believe 
that  I  would  not  have  died,  sword  in  hand!"  The  peers  disclaimed  the 
capitulation  concluded  between  foreign  generals  and  a  provisional  govern- 
ment to  which  the  king  was  a  stranger.  As  a  last  resort,  Ney's  counsel 
pleaded  that  he  was  no  longer  a  Frenchman,  his  birthplace  having  been 
detached  from  France  by  a  recent  treaty,  but  Ney  checked  him  exclaim- 
ing :  "  I  am  a  Frenchman  and  will  die  a  Frenchman.  I  am  accused  in 
breach  of  the  faith  of  treaties,  and  I  imitate  Moreau.  I  appeal  from  Europe 
to  posterity." 


I 


^  THE  BOURBON  RESTORATION  17 

f  18U  A.D.] 

He  was  nevertheless  condemned  to  die.  When  his  death-warrant  was 
read  with  its  long  preamble  and  his  many  titles,  as  duke  of  Elchingen  and 
prince  of  the  Moskova,  he  broke  forth  :  "Come  to  the  point  I  say  simply 
Michel  Ney  soon  a  little  dust."  Importunate  appeals  were  made  to  the 
king,  and  even  to  the  duke  of  Wellington,  for  a  commutation  of  the  capital 
penalty,  but  in  vain.^ 

He  was  not  taken  to  the  usual  place  for  military  executions  (the  plain  of 
Grenelle)  because  a  popular  rising  was  feared.  They  took  him  from  the 
Luxembourg,  where  he  had  been  imprisoned,  to  the  avenue  de  TObserva- 
toire.  A  platoon  of  veterans  awaited  him  there,  on  the  spot  where  his 
statue  stands  to-day.  The  marshal  cried,  ^^  I  j>rotest  before  my  country 
gainst  the  judgment  which  condemns  me,  I  appeal  to  posterity  and  God, 
Vive  la  France!"  Then,  putting  his  hand  on  his  breast,  he  called  in  as  firm 
a  voice  as  though  commanding  a  charge^  **  Soldiers,  straight  to  the  heart." 

The  commanding  oflicer,  awestruck,  horrilied.  had  not  courage  to  give 
the  word.  A  courtier,  a  colonel  on  the  staff,  took  his  place.  The  marshal 
fell  riddled  with  balls  (December  Tth,  1816).  Ney's  appeal  to  posterity 
has  been  heard.     France  has  never  pardoned  the  murder  of  this  hero./ 

The  death  of  Ney  was  one  of  the  greatest  faults  that  the  Bourbons  ever 
committed.  His  guilt  was  self-evident ;  never  did  criminal  more  richly 
deserve  the  penalties  of  treason.  Like  Marlborough,  he  had  not  only 
betrayed  his  sovereign,  but  he  had  done  so  when  in  high  command,  and 
when,  like  him,  he  had  recently  before  been  prodigal  of  protestations  of 
fidelity  to  the  cause  he  undertook.  His  treachery  had  brouglH  on  his  coun- 
try unheard-of  calamities — defeat  in  battle,  conquest  by  Europe,  the 
dethronement  and  captivity  of  its  sovereign,  occupation  of  its  capital  and 
provinces  by  1,100,000  armed  men,  contributions  to  an  unparalleled  amount 
from  its  suffering  people.  Double  trcacliery  had  marked  his  career  ;  he  had 
first  abandoned  in  adversity  his  fellow-soldier,  benefactor,  and  emperor,  to 
take  service  with  his  enemy,  and,  having  done  so,  he  next  betrayed  his  trust 
to  that  enemy,  and  converted  the  power  given  him  into  the  means  of  de- 
stroying his  sovereign.  If  ever  a  man  deserved  death,  according  to  the  laws 
of  all  ci\*ilised  countries  —  if  ever  there  was  one  to  wliom  continued  life 
would  have  been  an  opprobrium  —  it  was  Ney.  But  all  that  will  not  justify 
the  breach  of  a  capitulation.     He  was  in  Paris  at  the  time  it  was  concluded 

—  he  remained  in  it  on  its  faith  —  he  fell  directly  under  its  word  as  well  as 
its  spirit.  To  say  that  it  was  a  military  convention,  which  could  not  tie  up 
the  hands  of  the  king  of  France,  who  was  no  party  to  it,  is  a  sophism  alike 
contrary  to  the  principles  of  law  and  the  feelings  of  honour.  If  Louis 
XVHI  was  not  a  party  to  it,  he  became  such  by  entering  Paris,  and  resum- 
ing his  throne,  the  ver^'  day  after  it  was  concluded,  without  firing  a  shot. 
The  throne  of  the  Bourbons  would  have  been  better  inaugurated  by  a  deed 
of  generosity  which  would  have  spoken  to  the  heart  of  man  through  every 
succeeding  age,  than  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  greatest,  though  also  the  most 
guilty,  hero  of  the  empire. tf 

Two  other  generals,  Mouton-Duvernet  and  Chartrand,  who  had  aided 
Napoleon's  re-entry  to  Italy,  were  executed,  and  Lavalette,  who  in  Alison'si; 
phrase  "was  in  civil  administration  what   AhirHlial  Ney  had  been  in  military 

—  the  great  criminal  of  the  Hundred  Days,"  and  whose  seizure  of  the  post- 
office  had  been  of  greatest  assistance  to  Napoleon,  was  also  condemned,  but 
escaped  from  prison  in  liis  wife's  clothes  and  made  his  way  out  of  the  country 
with  the  aid  of  tliree  Englishmen  who  underwent  three  months'  imprisonment 
for  their  chivalry. <» 


It      u-    ~    VOL.    TLllU   C 


18  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1815  A  J>.] 

DEATH  OF  MURAT   (1816  A.D.) 

It  is  fitting  to  speak  here  of  the  catastrophe  which  terminated  the  days 
of  another  of  the  most  illustrious  companions  of  Bonaparte's  exploits.  King 
Joachim  Murat  had  taken  refuge  in  France,  during  the  Hundred  Days,  and 
after  the  failure  of  his  expedition  against  Austria.  He  had  not  advanced 
nearer  than  Provence,  when  the  battle  of  Waterloo  condemned  him  to  a  life 
of  exile.  After  having  been  twenty  times  on  the  point  of  being  arrested,  he 
managed  to  embark  for  Corsica.  The  welcome  he  received  in  that  island 
raised  his  confidence  to  too  high  a  degree.  He  dared  to  entertain  the  idea 
of  once  more  ascending  the  throne  of  Naples.  He  set  out  on  this  expedition 
with  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  six  ships.  On  his  way  to  Naples  he 
met  with  much  disloyalty  and  received  sinister  warnings.  His  resolution 
wavered;  he  would  have  liked  to  disembark  at  Trieste  and  place  himself 
under  the  protection  of  Austria,  who  had  offered  him  hospitality,  but  con- 
trary winds  and  also  perhaps  treacherous  advice  prevented  him  from  doing 
this.  On  October  8th,  1815,  he  landed  at  Pizzo,  in  Calabria,  with  forty 
followers.  He  was  the  first  to  leap  ashore,  was  recognised  by  some  peasants, 
and  at  first  was  received  with  interest.  He  asked  for  a  guide  to  conduct 
him  to  Monteleone,  and  a  soldier  offered  his  services ;  but  the  so-called  guide 
was  none  other  than  the  colonel  of  the  armed  police,  who  intended  to  deliver 
him  up  to  the  king.  At  a  certain  spot  the  colonel  made  a  sign  to  a  band  of 
peasants,  who  fell  on  Murat  and  his  companions.  Murat,  after  some  resist- 
ance, sacrificed  himself  in  order  to  save  his  friends  from  the  fury  of  the 
crowd.  Soon  a  military  commission  condemned  this  marvellously  intrepid 
captain  to  be  shot,  and  he  underwent  the  penalty  in  that  same  country  where 
he  had  so  long  exercised  royal  authority. a 

LA  CHAMBRE  INTEOUVABLE   (1816-1816   A.D.) 

The  chambers,  which  had  been  convoked  in  August,  met  at  Paris,  Octo- 
ber 16th,  1815.  The  chamber  of  deputies,  which  included  an  immense 
majority  of  royalists,  decided  on  making  no  compact,  and  having  no  trans- 
actions with  either  Bonapartists  or  Revolutionists.  Laine  was  elected 
president.  Louis  XVIII,  seeing  it  more  royalist  than  he  had  imagined, 
christened  it  by  a  name  it  retained  —  La  Ohambre  IntrouvableA 

It  began  by  making  exceptional  or  emergency  laws.  It  forbade  seditious 
cries ;  suspended,  in  certain  cases,  individual  liberty.  It  instituted,  on  the 
5th  of  December,  courts  of  provosts,  composed  of  a  military  provost  assisted 
by  five  civil  judges,  who  went  wherever  troubles  arose,  to  judge  the  authors 
of  them  summarily.  Liberal  writers,  in  protesting  against  these  severities, 
are  wrong  in  trymg  to  make  the  chamber  of  1815  responsible  for  the  sad 
conditions  which  it  had  not  caused.  It  had,  moreover,  merits  with  which  it 
should  be  credited,  combining  a  fierce  independence  with  pitiless  honesty. 
It  abolished  divorce,  which  was  struck  out  of  the  civil  code.  It  opposed 
excess  of  centralisation  and  all  that  was  contrary  to  true  liberty. 

[}  The  chambers  opened  on  October  7th.  Louis  XVIII,  on  learning  that  the  elections  had 
been  entirely  "royalist,"  had  at  first  appeared  very  well  content  thereat,  and  had  let  fall  a 
remark  which  became  celebrated  :  "  We  have  found  a  chambre  introuvable.^*  He  very  soon  had 
cause  to  regret  having  '^ found*'  it,  and  the  name  has  had  a  very  different  meaning  in  history 
than  the  one  he  gave  it.  —  Martin/  The  play  on  words  is  haurd  to  transfer  to  English.  In 
effect  Louis  XVIII  said  :  *'  We  have  found  (trouvS)  the  thing  unfiudable  (introuvable)^^^  that  is, 
a  completely  royalist  chamber  in  Revolutionary  France.] 


■^  THE  BOURBON  RESTOEATIOK  19 

pSlfi  A.D.J 

The  chamber  of  1815  did  not  limit  itself  to  reclaiming  for  the  clergy  neces- 
sary guarantees  and  influence.  It  showed  an  intemperance  in  religious  zeal 
that  alarmed  many.  Not  content  with  taking  the  part,  to  a  legitimate  extent, 
of  the  men  set  a^ide  by  the  Revolution,  it  ap])eared  animated  by  a  desire  of 
assuring  domination  to  one  class  to  the  prejudice  of  all  others.  It  did  not 
haggle,  however,  concerning  the  increased  taxes  that  the  cost  of  the  war  and 
the  treaty  had  rendered  inevitable,  and  it  created  a  sinking  fund  that  would 
some  day  render  these  taxes  unnecessary.  It  recognised  hH  pnljlic  debts 
without  regard  to  their  origin,  in  spite  of  opposition  frimi  an  obstinate 
faction.  The  session  ended  April  25th,  1816,  the  ministry  feelin":  itself 
incompetent  to  act  with  a  chamber  it  could  not  control.  In  this  chamber 
was  a  group  of  not  inconsiderable  men,  strangers  at  first  to  one  another,  but 
tending  to  unite  in  forming  a  constitutional  party.  The  principal  were 
Pasquier,  Serre,  Barante,  Beugnot,  Simeon,  Saint-Aulaire,  Royer-Collard, 
and  Camille  Jordan.  Although  reduced  to  lie  low  and  adapt  themselves  to 
circumstances,  reckoning  on  the  passions  of  those  among  wliom  they  were 
thrown,  they  sought  nevertheless  to  establish  the  doctrines  of  parliamentary 
government  conforming  to  the  charter  —  efforts  which  gained  them  the  title 
of  doctrinaires  J 

THE  DIVISION  OP   PAUTIBS 

From  this  moment  were  formulated  the  two  opposing  doctrines  which 
will  reappear  in  the  time  of  Louis  Philippe  under  the  name  of  '^constitu- 
tional monarchy"  and  "parliamentary government."  The  "  constitutional  " 
doctrine  recognises  in  the  king  tlio  right  to  choose  his  ministers  according 
to  his  plciisure,  even  against  Hit;  will  of  tlie  chamber,  provided  that  Ihi^y  do 
not  govern  contrary  to  the  constitution  ;  it  leaves  him  master  of  the  execu- 
tive power,  the  only  real  force,  and  by  consequence  master  of  the  country  ; 
the  chambers  have  no  other  hold  over  him  than  the  illusory  right  to  bring  the 
ministers  to  trial  for  violation  of  the  constitution.  The  *' parliamentary" 
doctrine  declares  the  king  obliged  to  take  his  ministers  from  the  majority  ; 
it  places  the  executive  power  under  the  domination  of  the  parliament,  who 
may  compel  its  withdrawal  by  a  vote  of  want  of  confidence  ;  it  indirectly 
transfers  the  sovereignty  to  the  chamber.  In  181 6  the  ultra-royalists  were  sup- 
porting the  doctrine  of  the  righta  of  the  parliament  against  the  king,  and  the 
liberals  were  defending  the  king's  prerogatives  against  the  royalists. 

On  the  electoral  question  the  ultras  demanded  election  by  two  stages,  in 
the  canton  and  the  df  partment,  and  for  the  electors  of  the  canton  the  lower- 
ing of  the  qualification  to  fifty  francs;  that  is  to  say  the  extension  of  the 
suffrage  to  nearly  two  milli4>ns  of  electors;  they  demanded  a  numerous 
chamber  and  the  complete  renewal  of  the  chamber  at  the  end  of  ^\e  years. 
The  king  and  the  liberal  minority  wished  to  preserve  direct  election  by  a 
very  restricted  electoral  body  (less  than  100,000  electors),  while  exacting 
a  qualification  of  three  hundred  francs  in  taxes;  they  demanded  partial 
renewal  and  a  reduction  of  the  number  of  deputies.  The  electoral  law 
proposed  by  tlie  ultras  was  voted  by  the  chamber  and  rejected  by  the 
chunber  of  peers  (March-April,  1816).  The  ultras  also  wished  to  diminish 
the  power  of  the  prefects  and  to  give  the  local  administration  to  the  land- 
owners.    The  liberals  defended  the  centralisation  created  by  the  empire. 

Thus  the  roles  seemed  reversed ;  it  was  the  party  of  the  old  regime 
which  wished  to  weaken  the  king  to  the  profit  of  the  parliament,  to  enlarge 
the  electoral  body  and  to  increase  local  self-government ;  it  was  the  liberal 
party  which  was  supporting  the  king's  supremacy,  the  power  of  the  prefect.s. 


so 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PRAXCE 


and  the  limitation  of  the  snfTnge.  The  fact  was  the  parties  regarded  the 
political  mechauism  solelj  as  an  instrtunent  for  secaring  power  for  them-, 
seh'es  and  were  less  anxious  about  the  form  of  govemmeat  than  the  direo- 
tloD  given  to  politics:  the  ultras  wished  to  restore  the  power  to  tho  mral 
nobility^  who,  through  the  fifty-franc  electors,  would  have  been  masters  of  the 

chamber,  in  order  to  re-establish  an 
aristocratic  regime;  tbeliberals  were 
anxious  to  preserve  the  supremacy 
to  the  king,  the  prefects,  and  the 
three-hundred- franc  electors,  be- 
cause they  were  known  to  be  favour- 
able to  the  maintenance  of  the  social 
order  to  which  the  Revolution  had 
given  birth. 

Louis  XVI 11,  supported  by  the 
foreign  governments,  retained  his 
ministers  and  resbted  the  chamber; 
he  began  by  closing  the  session 
^^  (ApriL  1816)  and,  without  again 
^^  convoking  it*  dissolved  it  in  i>ep- 
tember.  For  the  future  chamber  the 
ordinance  of  dissolution  re-estab- 
lished the  number  of  2oS  deputies 
as  in  1814.  The  king,  by  a  simple 
ordinance,  changed  the  composition 
of  the  chamber;  it  was  a  coup  tT^tat, 
analogous  to  that  of  1830.  To  make 
stire  of  the  chamber  of  peers  he 
created  new  peers,  ex-generals  and 
officials  of  the  empire.  During  this 
struggle  between  the  king  and  the 
chamber,  the  party  of  the  tricolour 
flag,  reduced  to  nine  deputies,  had 
taken  no  direct  action.  The  plots 
to  overturn  the  monarchy  (Didier's  at  Grenoble,  the  '^patriots'"  at  Paris) 
were  merely  isolated  attempts  unknown  to  the  party  or  disavowed  by  it.« 


Loris  xvni 

(17U-1S24) 


THE  COUP  D'^AT   of  SEPTEMBER  6lh,  1816 

The  king  had  finally  made  up  his  mind.  The  secret  was  well  guarded. 
A  royal  ordinance  published  September  5th,  1816»  surprised  the  ultras  like 
a  thunderbolt.  It  declared  that  none  of  the  articles  of  the  charter  under 
discussion  should  be  reviseil  and  that  the  chamber  was  dissolved.  To  the 
cries  of  fury  that  rose  from  the  aristocratic  faubourg  Saint- Germain, 
responded  an  explosion  of  public  joy  that  recalled  the  9th  Theniiidor; 
people  kissed  each  other  in  the  streets.  In  the  ensuing  elections  a  majority 
of  the  upper  middle  class  and  of  tlie  ofiicials  replaced  the  majority  of  ffrandB 
Metffneura  of  the  old  regime  and  the  provincial  nohles  who  had  dominated 
the  ahambre  introuvable.  The  attempt  at  restoring  the  old  regime  had 
miscjirried  ;  what  followed  was  a  first  attempt  at  a  bourgeois  monarchy 
by  an  understanding  between  tho  bourgeoisie  and  the  legitimatists./ 

It  is  worthy  of  observation  how  early  the  French  nation,  after  they  had 
attained  the  blessing,  had  shown  themselves  unfitted,  either  from  character 


■^  THE   BOURBON  RE8T0BATI0N  21 

[UlS-1816  JlJ>.] 

or  circumstances,  for  the  enjoyment  of  constitutional  government.  After 
the  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  scarcely  a  year  had  passed  which  was  not 
marked  by  some  coup  d'^taU  or  violent  infringement,  by  the  sovereign, 
of  the  constitution.  The  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  in  1815  was  imme- 
diately attended  by  the  creation  of  sixty  peers  on  the  I'oyalist  side,  and 
the  expulsion  of  as  many  from  the  democratic  ;  this  was  followed,  within 
four  years,  by  the  creation  of  as  many  on  the  liberal.  The  whole  history 
of  England  prior  to  1832  could  only  present  one  instance  of  a  similar 
creation,  and  that  was  of  twelve  peers  only,  in  1713,  to  carry  through  the 
infamous  project  of  impeaching  the  duke  of  Marlborough.  It  was  threatened 
to  be  repeated,  indeed,  during  tlie  heat  of  the  reform  contest ;  but  the  wise 
ad\'ice  of  the  duke  of  Wellington  prevented  such  an  irretrievable  wound 
being  inflicted  on  the  constitution.  The  French  chamber  of  deputies  was 
first  entirely  remodelled,  and  133  new  members  added  to  its  numbers,  by 
a  simple  royal  ordinance  in  1815  ;  and  again  changed  —  the  added  members 
being  taken  away,  and  the  suffrage  established  on  a  uniform  and  highly 
democratic  basis  —  by  another  royal  ordinance,  issued,  by  tlie  sole  authority 
of  the  king,  the  following  year.  Changes,  on  alternately  the  one  side  or 
the  other,  greater  than  were  accomplished  in  England  by  the  whole  legis- 
lature in  two  centuries,  were  carried  into  execution  in  France  in  the  very 
outset  of  its  constitutional  career,  by  the  sole  authority  of  the  king,  in  two 
years. 

What  is  still  more  remarkable,  and  at  first  sight  seems  almost  unaccount- 
able, every  one  of  those  violent  stretches  of  regal  power  was  done  in  the  inter- 
cst^  and  to  gratify  the  passions,  of  the  majority  at  the  moment.  The  royalist 
creation  of  peers  in  1815,  the  democratic  addition  of  sixty  to  their  numbers 
in  1819,  the  addition  of  133  members  to  the  chamber  of  deputies  in  the  first 
of  these  years,  tlieir  withdrawal,  and  tlie  change  of  tlie  electoral  law  by  the 
coup  tTit^ii  of  September  Sth,  1816,  were  all  done  to  conciliate  the  feelings, 
and  in  oljedience  to  the  fierce  demand,  of  the  majority.  That  these  repeated 
infringements  of  the  constitution  in  so  short  a  time,  and  in  obedience  to 
whatever  was  the  prevailing  cry  of  the  moment,  would  prove  utterly  fatal  to 
the  stability  of  the  new  institutions,  and  subversive  of  the  growth  of  any- 
thing like  real  freedom  in  the  land,  was  indeed  certain,  and  has  been  abun- 
dantly proved  by  the  event. 

But  the  remarkable  thing  is  that,  such  as  they  were,  and  fraught  with 
these  consequences,  they  were  all  loudly  demanded  by  the  majority;  and 
the  power  of  the  cro^vn  was  exerted  only  to  pacify  tlie  demands  which  in 
truth  it  had  not  the  means  of  resisting. f/ 

The  royal  ordinance  of  September  5th  dissolving  the  cKamhrt  introuv- 
M(.  also  announced  that  another  chamber,  less  numerous,  composed  of  only 
250  deputies,  would  be  immediately  elected  by  the  electoral  corporations.  A 
provifiionary  electoral  law,  the  work  of  Laine,  who  had  replaced  Vaublanc  as 
minister  of  the  interior,  fixed  the  bounds  of  the  departments,  of  which  the 
numbers  were  diminished.  Deputies  were  required  to  be  at  least  forty  years 
of  age,  and  their  taxes  must  amount  to  1^000  francs.  The  measure  was  a  bold 
one.  It  caused  great  excitement  among  the  ultras,  and  was  the  subject  of 
violent  recriminations,  above  all  from  Chateaubriand,™  who  had  constituted 
himself  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Bourbons  in  his  work  '•^  La  Monarchie  aelon 
la  Charte^^^  but  who  mingled  with  wavy  exalted  ideas  concerning  constitu- 
tional government  e(pially  absurd  ones  born  of  an  ill-regulatetl  imagination. 
However,  his  exaggerations  often  missed  their  aim.  The  royahst  party 
remonstrated  and  submiUed. 


22  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

THE  HEW  CHAMBER  (1816-1818) 

The  new  chamber  opened  its  session  on  the  4th  of  November,  1816. 
Many  members  of  the  preceding  one  were  there,  but  the  general  feeling  was 
no  longer  the  same.  The  doctrinaires,  on  whom  Decazes  relied,  returned 
stronger  and  better  grouped. 

The  first  law  to  be  made  was  an  electoral  one.  Laine  presented  a 
project  which  would  abolish  the  two  degrees  of  election ;  establish  direct 
election  bj  all  tax-payers  paying  three  hundred  francs  taxes,  and  substitute 
for  a  general  election  renewal  by  one-fifth.  The  charter  declared,  without 
directly  specifying  anything,  that  all  tax -payers  paying  three  hundred  francs 
might  be  electors.  The  object  of  the  law  was  to  create  an  important  electoral 
body  to  the  number  of  about  100,000  members  possessing  guarantee  of 
fortune,  conservative  interest  and  intelligence  generally,  of  what  was  called 
the  middle  class,  in  contradistinction  to  the  aristocracy.  By  this  partial 
renewal  they  hoped,  by  keeping  the  chamber  au  courant  with  the  changes 
of  public  opinion,  to  avoid  those  brusque  changes  which  might  agitate  the 
country  and  transform  legislative  spirit  too  suddenly. 

After  a  discussion,  the  detaib  of  which  furnish  curious  reading  to-day, 
showing  how  very  different  ideas  on  this  subject  were  in  those  days,  the  law 
was  passed  in  both  chambers,  but  by  a  very  feeble  majority  (January  30th, 
1817). 

The  financial  scheme  of  Corvetto  was  voted.  Opponents  were  quieted 
by  the  grant  of  4,000,000  francs  to  the  clergy  as  compensation  for  the  forest 
land  which  it  was  wished  to  give  as  pledge  for  a  loan.  The  bu<^t,  com- 
piled with  great  care  and  resting  on  a  large  sinking  fund,  assured  the  finan- 
cial future  of  the  country.  Credit,  until  that  time  paralysed,  again  revived. 
The  dividends  rose  from  fifty-four  to  sixty  francs,  and  a  loan,  the  most  con- 
siderable ever  raised,  was  obtained  to  hasten  the  liberation  of  state  lands. 
The  foreign  houses  of  Baring  and  Hope  undertook  it,  at  the  rate  of  fifty-five 
francs.  No  banks  in  France  were  at  that  time  sufficiently  powerful  to  do 
this  alone. 

Order  and  calm  seemed  to  be  re-established.  But  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather  and  a  very  bad  harvest  caused  profound  misery.  There  were  dis- 
turbances in  several  market  towns,  but  no  serious  trouble  occurred  except  at 
Lyons,  where  three  assassinations  took  place  on  the  same  day,  June  8th,  and 
these,  coinciding  with  risings  in  several  neighbouring  villages,  were  taken 
as  a  signal  for  revolt.  The  authorities,  however,  who  were  quite  ready,  had 
foreseen  the  disorders  and  took  vigorous  measures.  The  national  guard 
was  disarmed.  The  court  of  provosts  pronounced  many  condemnations. 
The  elections  of  1817  brought  to  the  chamber  a  group  of  liberals,  such  as 
Laffitte,  Voyer  d'Argenson,  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  and  Casimir  Perier.  They 
were  dubbed  "  the  independents."  The  important  question  of  this  session 
was  the  re-organisation  of  the  army.  Marshal  Grouvion-Saint-Cyr,  having 
replaced  the  duke  de  Feltre  as  minister  of  war  (because  the  latter  was  lack- 
ing in  initiative)  made  an  excellent  law  which  became  the  base  of  the  French 
military  system.  This  law  consisted  of  three  parts  :  (1)  forced  recruit- 
ment ;  (2)  a  reserve  made  up  of  former  sub-officers ;  (3)  fixed  rules  for 
promotion.  Gouvion-Saint-Cyr  defended  his  law  with  vigour  and  obtained 
a  complete  success.  The  chambers  joined  with  him  in  the  homage  he  ren- 
dered the  French  troops  —  homage  which  the  marshals  supported  with  their 
authority  and  Chateaubriand  with  his  eloquence.  It  was  really  a  reconcilia- 
tion of  the  Restoration  and  the  army.     It  was  also  a  decisive  step  towards 


THE  BOURBON   RESTORATION  23 

[1818  A.D.] 

removing  foreign  troops  which  were  no  longer  necessary  to  defend  France 
Against  herself. 

The  chambers  approved,  moreover,  the  figure  at  which  fttreign  credit  had 
been  regulated  by  diplomacy.  Riclielieu  had  long  had  a  fixed  idea  —  that  of 
obtaining  the  evacuation  before  the  five  years  which  had  been  stipulated  for 
in  the  treaty  of  1815.  Thanks  to  his  activity,  the  sovereigns,  united  in  con- 
ference at  Aachen  (Aix-la-Cliai)elle),  signed,  on  the  9th  of  October,  a  dec- 
laration announcing  the  departure  of  their  troops  for  the  30th  of  November. 
A  loan  of  141,000,000  francs,  issued  at  sixty -seven  per  cent,  and  raised  by 
public  subscription,  allowed  tlie  indemnities  to  be  paid. 

Richelieu  now  considered  bin  tusk  ended,  and  thought  only  of  retiring. 
When  the  elections  of  November,  1818,  returned  La  Fayette,  Manuel,  and 
other  liberals  of  the  Hundred  Days,  he  was  alarmed  at  the  results  of  the  elec- 
toral law,  and  resolved  to  change  it.  But  after  vain  efforts  to  find  colleagues 
and  draw  up  a  common  programme,  he  retired  on  the  '2nd  of  December.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Decazes  who  composeJ  a  ministry  of  constitutionalists.  A 
remarkable  journalistic  war  ensued.^ 


THE  MINISTBY   OF  DECAZES 

Decazes,  so  hostile  to  the  ultras,  was  not  a  liberal.  He  was  the  man  of 
that  system  of  balance  (baicule)  or  the  "see-saw,"  as  it  has  been  cidled,  which 
consists  in  keeping  the  balance  between  parties  and  in  giving  the  government 
the  greatest  possible  authority  but  using  it  with  caution./ 

Decazes  saw  himself  more  involved  with  the  liberals  than  he  wished  to  be, 
and  these  became  exacting.  The  royalists,  even  such  moderates  as  Laine  and 
Roy,  gave  him  little  sympathy.  Tliey  were  alarmed  at  seeing  successive  elec- 
tions introduce  into  parliament  men  who,  while  professing  attachment  to  the 
Bourbons,  put  certain  absolute  principles  above  fidelity  to  their  king. 

The  chamber  nf  peers  pronounced  in  favour  of  the  re-establishment  of  the 
electoral  law  of  two  degrees.  Decazes,  still  using  his  ministerial  prerogative, 
on  the  6th  of  March  formed  a  batch  of  sixty-one  new  peers,  of  whom  half  were 
chosen  from  among  the  peers  unseated  in  1815,  or  from  the  marshals,  gener- 
als, and  ministers  of  the  empire.  Thus  \w.  re-opcncd  the  doors  of  government 
to  the  most  noted  men  wlio  had  been  excluded,  and  so  tried  to  bring  about  a 
reconciliation  between  the  parties.  The  ministry  passed  several  laws  that 
were  liberal  enough,  among  others  throe  laws  regarding  the  press,  which  are 
still  the  basis  of  actual  French  laws,  although  experience  has  since  shed  light 
on  many  points.  The  Restoration  arrived  at  the  happy  result  of  doing  away 
with  exceptional  laws — a  result  which  no  government  had  before  obtained. 
While  giving  proof  of  liberalism  the  ministry,  nevertheless,  on  certain  points 
made  a  firm  stand  against  revolutionary  exactions,  stoutl}'  rejecting  an  organ- 
ised petition  for  the  recall  of  regicides  and  exiles. 

Thus  in  spite  of  apparent  agitations —  the  necessary  consequence  of  a  free 
government  —  in  spite  of  frequent  struggles  between  the  tribune  and  the  press, 
in  spite  of  a  certain  re-awakening  of  parties  and  a  spirit  of  fermentation 
reigning  in  the  schools,  France  had  a  renascence  to  prosperity.  One  could 
look  forward  with  more  confidence  to  the  futui-e.  The  budget  was  sound, 
With  the  abandonment  of  exceptional  laws  rovolutiouiiry  traces  began  to 
disappear.  The  new  laws  seemed  to  echo  public  wishes  ;  minds  gradually 
became  habituated  to  a  free  government.  The  certitude  of  order,  the  free- 
ing of  lands,  the  re-opening  of  foreign  markets,  all  tended  to  prosperitj'. 
Wtirk  abounded.     Agriculture  and  industry  took  a  new  flight,  putting  to 


24  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[181»-1S20aj>.] 

full  use  scientific  discoveries  and  particularly  that  of  steam.  The  move- 
ment which  was  taking  place  was  analogous  to  that  of  the  first  days  of  the 
consulate.  Decazes  reinstated  on  a  wider  basis  councils  to  discuss  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  and  commerce  generally.  He  opened  an  industrial 
exhibition,  and  at  the  same  time  an  exhibition  of  painting.  Strangers 
flocked  to  Paris,  especially  the  English. 

The  elections  of  1819  were,  like  the  preceding  ones,  favourable  to  the 
liberals.  The  return  of  the  regicide  abb^  Gregoire  for  Grenoble  by  a  ma- 
noeuvre hostile  to  the  ministry  caused  a  scandal.  The  deputies,  however, 
took  advantage  of  the  irregularity  of  the  election  to  refuse  admission  to  the 
candidate. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  DUKE  DE  BERBI  AND  ITS  BEST7LTS   (1820  A.D.) 

Matters  stood  thus,  when,  on  the  13th  of  February,  1820,  the  duke  de 
Berri  [the  second  in  succession  to  the  crown]  was  assassinated  by  a  fanatic 
named  Louvel  as  he  was  coming  from  the  opera.  This  frightful  crime  stupe- 
fied people  generally,  and  produced  an  outburst  of  royalist  fury.' 

In  tne  midst  of  the  general  confusion,  those  even  who  must  have  been 
the  most  deeply  affected  by  it,  sought  to  find  the  triumph  of  their  party  in 
this  outrage.  From  early  the  following  morning,  Decazes,  the  principal 
author  of  the  unpopular  decree  of  September  5th,  was  spoken  of  in  most 
severe  terms.  He  was  blamed,  as  minister  of  the  interior,  and  therefore 
[  responsible  for  the  safety  of  the  state,  for  not  having  kept  watch  over  the 

'  dangers  which  surrounded  the  prince.     One  of  the  daily  newspapers,  Xe 

;  Drapeau  hlanc^  hurled  the  most  abominable  accusations  against  the  minister. 

The  assassination  of  the  prince  was  represented  as  the  result  of  a  vast  con- 
spiracy covering  the  whole  of  Europe,  which  was  in  favour  of  a  policy  bene- 
ficial to  the  enemies  of  royalty.  They  pretended  that  his  royal  highness, 
the  duke  de  Berri,  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  aversion  he  had  always  shown 
to  a  policy  which  insured  neither  the  honour  nor  the  safety  of  his  family. 
;  On  the  benches  of  the  Left,  the  sorrow  was  great ;  a  presentiment  of  the 

fatal  consequence  to  liberty  was  added  to  the  horror  of  the  crime. 

M.  Clausel  de  Goussergues  ascended  the  tribune  and  in  a  loud  voice 
uttered  these  words  :  "  Gentlemen,  there  is  no  law  referring  to  the  mode  of 
accusing  ministers,  but  the  nature  of  such  an  act  warrants  its  taking  place 
in  a  public  meeting  and  before  the  representatives  of  France ;  I  propose 
therefore  before  the  chamber,  the  impeachment  of  M.  Decazes,  minister  of 
the  interior,  as  accomplice  in  the  assassination  of  his  royal  highness,  the 
duke  de  Berri,  and  I  claim  permission  to  explain  my  proposition."  A  cry 
of  indignation  broke  out  from  every  part  of  the  house.  De  Labourdonnaie 
ascended  the  tribune  and  in  his  turn  said  that  he  could  only  see  the  instru- 
ment of  an  infamous  party  in  the  obscure  assassin,  who  without  personal 
hatred,  without  ambition,  had  struck  down  the  descendant  of  kings — him 
whose  duty  it  was  to  continue  the  race ;  this  deed  being  committed  with 
the  intention,  openly  admitted,  of  preventing  its  perpetuation.  He  asked 
for  strong  measures  to  destroy  in  its  infancy  such  execrable  fanaticism,  and 
once  more  to  stifle  the  revolutionary  spirit  which  an  iron  hand  had  sup- 
i  pressed  for  so  long  ;  the  unscrupulous  writers  whose  unpunished  doctrines 

had  provoked  the  most  odious  crimes  should  be  especially  severely  dealt 
with. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  chiefs  of  the  liberal  party  came  to  hear  of  the 
sombre  agitation  which  reigned  at  court.     They  felt  torn  between  the  hor- 


r  THE  BOURBON   RESTORATION  3B 

U830-18S1  A.O.] 

ror  of  the  exceptional  laws  and  the  fear  of  seeing  the  fall  of  a  minister, 
victim  of  his  devotion  to  the  charter.  The  duke  de  Richelieu  ohstinately 
refused  the  court*s  appeal  to  re-ent^3r  the  ministry.  He  was  more  hurt  than 
anyone  at  the  charges  made  against  a  young  minister  of  whose  goodness  of 
heart  he  was  thoroughly  convinced. 

This  heart-breaking  state  of  affairs  seemed  likely  to  prolong  itself. 
Decazes  insisted  upon  retiring  ;  tlie  king  conferred  ii  dukedom  upon  him, 
and  made  him  ambassador  to  London.  The  duke  de  Iliche!ieu*s  resistance 
was  overcome  ;  and  he  was  again  nominated  president  of  the  council,  but 
would  not  accept  any  particulur  departniciil.A 

From  this  moment  the  liberal  party  loses  the  direction  of  affairs.  Power 
ifl  going  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  royalists,  and  France,  attacked  almost  con- 
tinuously by  a  series  of  anti-national  measures,  destroying  its  liberty,  will 
not  emerge  from  the  retrograde  path  into  which  a  rash  hand  has  thrust  her 
except  in  overturning  the  throne  upon  the  torn  charter. 

EVENTS  IN  EUROPE 

The  largest  part  of  Europe  was  at  that  time  in  a  state  of  violent  eflFer- 
▼escence and  the  celebrated  prediction,  "The  French  Revolution  will  make 
the  round  of  the  world,"  was  being  fulfilled.) 

A  revolution  at  the  same  time  burst  out  in  Spain.  Ferdinand,  the  basest 
of  poltroons  and  crudest  of  tyrants,  luid  refused  the  reforms  lie  had  sworn  to 
introduce.  The  constitution  of  1812  (an  imitation  of  the  French  constitu- 
tion of  1791)  was  proclaimed.  The  example  was  followed  by  Naples,  which 
had  a  similar  king  to  complain  of.  The  states  of  the  church  threw  ofE  the 
hated  yoke  of  the  cross-keys  and  the  three-crowned  hat,  and  Benevento  and 
Pontecorvo  declared  themselves  republics.  Piedmont  was  not  left  behind 
in  its  figlit  for  freedom  (1820).  A  cry  was  heard  even  at  the  extreme  cast 
of  Europe  for  a  new  life  and  a  resuscitation  of  ancient  glories.  It  came 
from  Greece,  which  for  centuries  liad  been  trampled  down  by  the  brutal  and 
utterly  irreclaimable  Turks  ;  and,  in  fact,  an  outcry  for  change  and  improve- 
ment arose  from  all  the  nations  whiiih  had  aidi^d  or  even  wished  the  fall  of 
Napoleon.  The  countrymen  of  iMilliades  were  fiivourably  regarded,  or  at 
least  not  forcibly  repressed,  by  tlie  classical  potentates  —  who,  besides,  were 
not  displeased  at  the  commencement  of  the  dismemberment  of  Turkey;  but 
the  Neapolitans,  Romans,  and  Piedmontese  had  no  dead  and  innocuous 
Demosthenes  to  plead  their  cause,  and  the  armies  of  Austria  were  employed 
in  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  freedom  from  Turin  to  Naples.* 

In  France  individual  liberty  was  suspended,  the  censorship  re-established, 
and  the  ''double  vote"  instituted  iu  order  to  make  political  influence  pass 
into  the  hands  of  the  large  land-owners  who  voted  twice,  with  the  depart- 
ment and  the  arrondissement.  The  birth  of  the  duke  de  Bordeaux,  posthu- 
mous son  of  the  duke  de  Berri  (Sept.  29th,  1820),  and  the  death  of  Napoleon 
(.May  5th,  1821),  augmented  the  hopes  of  the  ultra-royalists,  which  brought 
Villele  and  Corbiere  into  the  ministry.' 


THE  CONGREGATION   AND   THE  JESUITS 

At  the  same  time  an  occult  power  was  taking  hold  of  the  court,  of  the 
chambers,  and  of  all  branches  of  public  administration. 

For  ten  years  men  of  sincere  piety  like  Montmorency  and  the  abbe 
Legris-Duval  had  formed  an  influential  society  in  France,  whose  primary 


i 


26  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1815-1822  AJ>.} 

object  had  been  to  perform  good  works  and  acts  prescribed  by  a  fervent 
devotion.  The  Restoration  opened  the  political  field  for  their  society,  which, 
imbued  with  the  ultramontane  and  other  royalist  principles  under  the  pat- 
ronage of  Polignac  and  Riviere,  became  the  most  redoubtable  obstacle  to  the 
ministries  of  Decazes  and  Richelieu.  Generally  designated  by  the  name  of 
"Congregation,"  it  allied  itself  with  the  Jesuits.  The  latter,  not  being 
allowed  to  live  in  France  in  the  capacity  of  members  of  their  order,  again 
established  their  power  in  the  state  under  the  name  of  "Fathers  of  the 
Faith." 

From  the  moment  when  they  began  to  direct  the  Congregation,  intrigue 
exercised  a  sovereign  influence  over  it  and  a  crowd  of  ambitious  men  made 
their  way  into  it.  Montrouge,  whither  the  Jesuits  had  transferred  the  place 
of  residence  for  their  novices,  became  the  centre  for  all  the  schemes  of  the 
court  and  church  against  the  charter  and  French  institutions.  The  Jesuits 
had  powerful  supporters  even  in  the  royal  family;  and  Louis  XVIII,  con- 
stantly assailed  by  petitions  in  their  favour,  consented  to  tolerate  them, 
although  without  recognising  their  existence  as  legal.  The  Jesuits  founded 
schools  called  petits  seminairea,  in  which  children  of  the  most  distinguished 
families  of  the  realm  were  placed ;  they  dominated  the  court,  the  church,  the 
majority  in  the  chamber.  Missionaries,  affiliated  with  the  Congregation  and 
imbued  with  its  doctrines,  traversed  the  kingdom.  Almost  everywhere  they 
were  the  occasion  or  the  involuntary  cause  of  strange  disorders. 

The  French  unfortunately  blamed  religion  for  the  scandals  of  those  who 
outraged  while  they  invoked  her  ;  they  were  seized  with  indignation  against 
her  on  account  of  the  shameful  yoke  which  had  roused  their  anger,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  force  to  protect  the  missionaries  against 
the  infuriated  populace.  At  Paris,  at  Brest,  at  Rouen,  in  all  the  great 
towns,  they  preached  under  the  protection  of  swords  and  bayonets,  and  men 
beheld  the  spectacle  of  priests  calling  down  the  chastisements  of  human 
justice  on  those  whom  they  had  been  unable  to  convince  by  the  authority  of 
their  words.i 

THE  CARBONAKI 

Parallel  to  the  Congregation  grew  another  secret  society  absolutely  dif- 
ferent. This  was  that  of  the  Carbonari,^  or  "  Charbonnerie,  which,  stamped 
out  in  Italy,  took  root  in  France  and  established  there  its  methods  of  organ- 
isation and  conspiracy.  La  Fayette  and  his  friends  joined  it,  and  Carbo- 
narism  spread  rapidly,  its  members  uniting  with  another  secret  association  in 
the  west  under  the  title  of  "  Knights  of  Liberty."  La  Fayette  thought  that 
if  an  insurrection  succeeded,  a  constituent  assembly  would  choose  between  a 
republic  and  a  constitutional  monarchy.  It  was  scarcely  practicable  to  think 
of  a  revolution  while  the  country  was  so  unsettled. 

The  Carbonari  made  preparations  for  a  double  military  and  popular 
rising  in  Alsace  and  the  west.  The  second  of  these  plots,  which  was  to 
break  out  at  Saumur,  was  discovered  by  accident  and  many  pupils  in  the 
military  college  of  this  town  were  arrested.  The  Carbonari  hoped  for  better 
success  in  Alsace.  La  Fayette  Avent  secretly  to  direct  the  movement  person- 
ally.    The  Belfort  garrison  was  to  rise  on  the  night  of  the  Ist  of  January, 

[^ The  word  carbonari  means  in  Italian  "charcoal-makers,**  and  the  name  rose  from  the 
prevalence  of  charcoal-making  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  Italy  where  tiie  malcontents 
gathered  and  organised  into  secret  societies,  using  terms  from  the  charcoal  trade  as  well  as 
from  Christian  ritual  for  their  passwords.  As  Lamartine  f' said :  **Carbonarisra,  the  origin  of 
which  is  lost  in  the  night  of  the  Middle  Ages,  like  freemasonry^  of  which  it  was  by  tarns  the 
ally  and  the  enemy,  was  a  sort  of  Italian  Jacobinism/*] 


I 


^^^■^^  THE   BOURBON   RESTOKATION  27 

[1K32  A.D.] 

1822.     There,  again,  a  misunderstanding  divulged  the  plot  to  the  military 

authorities  some  iiours  earlier.  The  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers 
who  were  compromised  escaped,  and  La  Fayette,  who  was  not  far  o£f,  was 
warned  in  time. 

The  oppressive  laws  voted  by  the  Right  were  the  cause  of  fresh  plots 
among  the  Carbonari.  The  movement  which  had  failed  at  Saumur  was  tried 
again.  A  retired  general,  Berton,  raised  tlio  tricolour  (lag  at  Thoujirs  and 
marched  to  Saumur  at  the  head  of  a  little  body  of  insurgt^uta.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  places  through  which  he  passed  showed  indecision.  He  reckoned  on 
the  national  guard  at  Saumnr  and  on  the  pupils  of  the  military  school,  but 
these,  when  they  saw  so  small  a  force,  did  not  stir.  Bcrton's  companions 
dispersed;  he  himself  hid  in  the  I'ouutry,  hoping  for  better  success  another 
time  (February  24th).  For  the  third  time  the  Saumur  plot  was  set  going, 
but  this  time  its  execution  did  not  even  arrive  at  a  beginning.  General  Ber- 
ton,  betrayed  by  a  non-commissioned  odicer  who  had  really  only  joined  the 
Carbonari  to  betray  them,  was  arrested  in  the  country  with  two  of  his  friends 
(June  17th), 

A  retired  officer,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Caron,  tried  to  revive  the  movement 
in  Alsace.  There  the  authorities  carried  out  their  former  action  on  a  larger 
scale.  They  introduced  Canuel's  methnd  at  Lyons,  (^uron  was  allowed 
perfect  freedom  of  action.  On  the  2iid  of  July  a  squadron  of  mounted 
lancers  came  from  Colmar  and  put  themselves  under  Caron*s  orders;  a 
second  squadron  soon  rejoined  the  first.  They  made  for  MiUhausen,  crying 
"  flw  Napoleon  II!  A  haa  les  Bourbons!"  Suddenly,  towards  dusk,  when 
at  some  distance  from  Miilhausen,  oflicers  in  disguise  who  led  the  pretended 
insurrection,  gave  the  signal:  Carun  was  seized,  and,  the  next  day,  taken 
back  to  Colmar  gagged,  to  cries  of  "  live  !e  rot !  '* 

Berton  and  his  accomplices  were  brought  before  the  court  at  Poitiers. 
The  procureur-general,  Mangin,  in  the  writ  of  accusation,  denounced  La 
Fayette  and  the  principal  leaders  of  the  Left,  including  many  who  were 
quite  strangers  to  Carbonarism,  as  General  Foy,  Benjamin  Constant,  and 
Laffitte  the  banker.  These  latter  were  indignant  and  demanded  an  investi- 
gation. La  Fayette  himself  showed  no  indignation  but  only  proud  con- 
tempt, though  he  supported  the  demand  for  an  investigation.  This  was  not 
granted. 

The  procureur-general  answered  the  demand  of  the  deputies  with  insult, 
and  in  the  trial  of  the  case  at  Poitiers  shamefully  outraged  the  accused. 
The  prosecution  employed  the  language  of  1815.  The  Poiticra  jury,  com- 
posed wholly  of  ultras  and  emigres,  condemned  Kcrton  and  the  greater 
number  of  those  accused  with  him.  Berton  and  two  others  were  executed. 
A  fourth  committed  suicide  (October  5th). 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Caron  had  been  executed  a  few  days  before  at  Col- 
mar. The  details  of  his  case  had  raised  a  storm  of  reprobation ;  the  army 
was  dishonoured ;  whole  squadrons  had  been  made  to  play  the  part  of  gov- 
ernment spies  in  the  midst  of  the  people  of  Alsace. 

Another  affair  which  had  excised  exceptional  interest  had  ended  the 
month  before.  This  was  the  SAse  of  the  "four  sergeants  of  Rochellc" — 
Bories,  Goubin,  Pommier,  and  RaouL  These  four  young  men,  enrolled 
amongst  the  Carbonari,  had  been  arrested  for  a  plot  in  which  they  had 
joined  with  certain  men  not  in  the  army,  and  brought  before  the  tribunal 
in  Paris.  Their  age,  their  bearing,  and  generous  sentiments  had  touched 
public  opinion.  There  had  been  no  beginning  of  carrying  the  plot  into  effect 
on  their  part,  but  they  were,  all  the  same,  condemned  to  death.     "France 


28  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1821-1822  A.O.] 

will  judge  us  I  **  said  Bories,  the  one  of  them  most  remarkable  by  his  intelli- 
gence and  character. 

La  Fayette  and  his  friends  did  their  utmost,  but  in  vain,  to  insure  the 
escape  of  these  four  condemned  men.  They  were  executed  the  21st  of  Sep- 
tember. A  great  display  of  military  force  rendered  useless  every  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  Carbonari  to  save  them.  They  died  crying,  "  Vive  la 
libertS/^*  That  same  evening  a  grand  birthday  fete  was  given  at  the  Tuile- 
ries  for  the  duke  de  Berri's  daughter.  The  contrast  produced  a  sinister 
effect.  The  memory  of  the  four  Rochelle  sergeants  has  remained  popular 
from  among  all  those  of  the  political  victims  of  this  time.  Every  year,  on 
le  jour  des  morts  [All  Souls'  Day],  the  Parisians  cover  with  flowers  and 
wreaths  the  tomb  erected  to  them  in  the  cemetery  of  Mont-Pamasse  after 
the  revolution  of  1830. 

Many  other  malcontents  had  been  put  to  death  and  numbers  of  others 
had  suffered  severe  penalties.  This  was  the  end  of  the  bloody  executions  of 
the  Restoration.  Carbonarism  was  discouraged  and  in  fact  dissolved.  The 
struggle  against  the  Restoration  took  other  forms./ 

THE  MINISTRY  OF   VILL^LE   AND  THE  SPANISH  CKUSADE  (1821-1823  A.D.) 

At  the  opening  of  the  session  of  1821  the  Congregation  redoubled  its 
efforts  against  Richelieu's  ministry.  The  liberals  felt  obliged  to  unite  with 
the  ultra-royalists  to  overturn  the  cabinet,  in  the  dangerous  hope  that  the 
majority,  if  it  came  to  the  head  of  affairs,  would  perish  as  in  1815  through 
its  own  excesses.  The  address  in  the  chamber,  composed  by  that  majority, 
was  hostile  and  insulting  to  tlie  monarch.  Richelieu  having  demanded  new 
restrictions  of  the  press,  the  royalists,  whose  most  immediate  interest  was  to 
vanquish  him,  pretended  a  great  horror  of  the  censorship,  an  ardent  zeal 
for  the  liberty  he  was  attacking.  The  position  of  the  ministry  was  no 
longer  tenable,  and  it  retired  on  December  15th,  1821,  after  twenty-three 
months  of  existence. 

Madame  du  Cayla,  a  woman  whose  patronage  favoured  the  associate  of  the 
Congregation,  and  who  kept  Louis  XVI II  under  the  charms  of  her  fascination 
up  to  the  end  of  his  da3's,  was  not  a  stranger  to  the  foundation  of  the  new 
cabinet,  the  most  influential  members  of  which  were  Peyronnet,  keeper  of 
the  seals;  Villele,  minister  of  finance;  Corbiere,  minister  of  the  interior.  The 
viscount  Mathieu  de  Montmorency  had  received  the  portfolio  of  foreign 
affairs,  and  the  duke  de  Bellune  [formerly  the  Napoleonic  marshal  Victor], 
that  of  war.  Villele  already  exercised  a  great  influence  in  the  council  and 
soon  became  its  chief.  His  fortune  had  been  rapid;  endowed  with  a 
great  talent  for  intrigue  and  with  a  remarkable  capacity  for  affairs,  he  had 
neither  the  lofty  views  of  a  statesman  nor  force  of  character  sufficient  to 
escape  the  influence  of  a  faction  whose  fatal  blindness  he  deplored.  In  a 
word,  he  thought  he  could  fight  against  the  sympathies  and  the  political  and 
moral  demands  of  a  great  people,  by  means  of  ruse  and  corruption.  The  Con- 
gregation understood  that  it  could  dominate  in  spite  of  him,  while  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  pious  viscount  de  Montmorency  assured  its  triumph.  Its 
allies  immediately  took  possession  of  the  offices  and  seized  the  prominent 
posts  of  every  ministry. 

From  that  moment  the  chamber  of  deputies  and  the  government  marched 
hand  in  hand  towards  a  counter-revolution.  The  Jesuit*  first  attacked  their 
most  serious  enemy,  the  university,  by  causing  the  oourst^s  given  by  Cousin 
and  Guizot  to  be  suppressed  (1822).     To  intimidate  the  press  a  law  was 


■ 


THE   BOURBON   RESTORATION  29 

[I8S2-1S23  A.D.] 

made  which  made  it  possible  to  bring  suit  not  for  one  particular  offence,  but 
for  the  general  tendency  of  opinion  of  a  journal.  Royer-Collard,  who  was 
not  a  revolter»  described  the  situation  in  a  word:  "The  government  is  in  a 
sense  the  inverse  of  society. "J 

The  victors  of  1814  and  1815,  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  had  formed 
the  "  Holy  Alliance  "  for  the  purpose  of  smothering,  to  their  common  advan- 
tage, the  ideas  of  liberty  wliich  the  Revolution  had  thrown  into  the  world, 
and  which  were  fermenting  everywhere.  They  were  violently  suppressed  in 
Germany.  Naples,  and  Piedmont,  and  the  French  government,  which  had  just 
prevented  their  return  by  laws  and  punishments,  received  from  the  congress 
of  Verona  (1822)  a  strange  task. ' 

To  try  the  firmness  of  Louis  XVIII  in  eiupi»ort  of  the  monarchic  cause, 
the  sovereigns  assembled  at  Verona  committed  to  France  the  task  of  putting 
down  the  Spanish  liberals  who  still  maintained  their  constitution  of  1812, 
and  reinstating  Ferdinand  on  his  absolute  throne.^ 

A  hundred  thousand  men  crossed  the  Pyrenees  (1823)  under  the  command 
of  the  duke  d'Angouleme,2and  were  joiiu.'d  by  the  remains  of  a  CHtholic  army 
called  the  "army  of  the  faitli,"  which  the  priests  and  other  absolutists  had 
raised  in  defence  of  the  irresponsible  cro\vii. 

These  allies  brought  more  dishonour  and  dislike  on  the  invading  forces, 
by  their  cruelty  and  insulMirdination,  thun  wore  conipcnsatt'd  ff>r  by  their 
numWrs  or  moral  weight  in  the  country.  The  cortes  carried  Ferdinand  in 
honourable  durance  with  them  to  Seville. 

Angouleme  entered  JIaili'id,  and,  after  heroic  resistance  on  the  part  of 
Mina,  Quiroga,  and  Halhistoros,  HUot'L'cded  in  thu  object  of  his  n^ission  [as 
has  been  already  described  at  U^ngth  in  the  history  of  Spain].  The  consti- 
tutional regenc}'  was  dissolved,  and  a  loose  given  to  the  feuds  and  pas- 
sions of  the  triumphant  army  of  tlie  faith.  But  Angouleme  was  a  French 
gentleman,  and  not  a  Spanish  butcher.  He  bridled  the  lawlessness  of  both 
mob  and  army,  and  placed  the  late  rebels,  and  all  who  were  suspected  of  dis- 
affection, under  the  protection  of  French  tribunals  and  impartial  law. 
Impartiality  in  the  eyes  of  the  Spanish  enthusiasts  was  worse  than  hostility ; 
and  a  royalist  insurrection  was  with  dilHculty  prevented  against  the  protec- 
UiTs  of  rnyalt}',  since  they  would  not  condescend  to  be  also  the  oppressors  of 
the  people. 

At  length  the  struggle  came  to  an  end.  The  king  was  liberated,  free- 
dom withdrawn,  and  a  frantic  mob  received  their  monarch  when  he  returned 
to  his  capital  with  cries  of  "Long  live  the  absolute  kingl  Death  to  the 
liberals!  Perish  the  nation  !"  By  an  unfortunate  coincidence,  though  per- 
haps designed  by  his  admirers,  the  duke  d'Angouleme  madu  liis  entry  into 
Paris  on  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  (December  2nd,  1823), 
The  arch  of  triumph,  which  forms  so  splendid  a  termination  to  the  view 
from  the  Tuileries,  had  been  left  uncom]tlete<l  on  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  ; 
but  wooden  scaffoldings  were  rained  im  the  uulinished  walls,  painted  carpets 
were  suspended  from  the  top,  and  the  arch  itself  garlanded  with  laurels. 
The  ridicule,  however,  was  not  of  the  duke*s  seeking,  and  even  Beranger 
spared  him  for  the  sake  of  his  moderation  and  love  of  justice. 


[  1  Sacb  a  policy  vu  repufi:nant  to  the  liberal  party  in  France,  and  throuf^bout  Europe  ;  bat 
miUury  glory  haa  war  rallu'd  tlio  Firrich  people  round  their  rulors  \vhcttier  royal  or  republican. 
For  A  time  Uie  moiittrcliy  wnu  Klrengtlieiied  by  ihis  Huccebs  ;  but  the  preteiititoii8  of  the  royalists 
were  dani^eroajily  encouraged.  France  had  accepted  the  represRJve  (wilicy  of  the  Holy  Alliance  ; 
:ii)d  ber  rulets  were  to  become  yet  more  defiant  of  the  prinoipleu  of  the  Revolution.  — EttsttivB 
M»T.M 

[^The  duke  d* Angouleme  was  the  son  of  the  heir  to  the  tbroDC,  the  count  d'Artoia.] 


30  THE  HISTOEY  OF  FRANCE 

The  monarchy  appeared  strengthened  for  a  while  by  the  Spanish  crusade,* 
and  the  minister,  YUlele,  thought  he  might  venture  on  the  introduction  of 
various  measures.^ 

THE  MINISTBY  OF  VIIxiLE 

Villele  carried  out  the  traditional  administration  of  his  predecessors. 
As  to  politics,  he  wanted  to  steer  clear  of  emergency  laws  and  expedients. 
He  proposed  a  press  law  —  no  longer  preventive,  but  repressive,  and  more 
severe  than  that  of  1819 — transferring  from  the  jury  to  the  magistracy  the 
judgment  of  the  greater  number  of  law-suits  and  multiplying  penalties  of 
suspension  and  suppression  of  the  newspapers. 

Count  Mole,  who  had  acquired  in  his  high  offices  a  profound  knowledge 
of  the  administration,  of  government  and  men  generally,  said  to  the  peers  : 
"  Those  institutions  which  would  have  prevented  the  Revolution  of  1789  are 
now  the  only  methods  of  ending  it."  Without  a  press  and  publicity  all  sorts 
of  abuses  would  be  possible.  Other  peers  supported  these  ideas.  The 
chamber,  in  voting  for  the  project,  introduced  important  amendments. 
Although  the  government  could  thenceforth  count  on  success,  Villele  con- 
tinued to  exercise  power  without  too  much  demonstration.  He  had  a  great 
end  in  view,  a  vast  financial  operation,  destined  to  end  the  debate  on  the 
national  lands.  He  flattered  himself  that  he  would  thus  forever  destroy  one 
of  the  most  irritating  causes  of  the  struggles  and  recriminations  of  opposite 
parties,  and  proudly  believed  himself  destined  to  put  an  end  to  revolution. 
But  he  was  not  yet  sure  of  support  from  the  chamber  of  deputies,  mutilated 
by  the  resignation  of  the  Left,  and  influential  members  of  the  Right  kept  a 
most  independent  attitude.  He  obtained  a  decree  of  dissolution  from  the 
king  on  December  24th,  and  made  every  possible  effort  to  get  deputies 
favourable  to  himself  elected  in  the  following  January. 

Assured  henceforth  of  a  loyal  majority,  Villele  resolved  to  keep  it,  and 
govern  for  several  years  without  fresh  elections.  With  this  object  he  formu- 
lated a  law  which  made  the  government  septennial  —  the  only  way,  he  urged, 
to  give  it  a  spirit  of  continuity  and  cut  short  the  uncertainty  of  majorities 
which  annual  elections  constantly  raised.  He  met  with  much  opposition, 
some  urging  very  reasonably  the  inconvenience  of  general  elections  which 
disturbed  the  whole  country  and  threatened  it  with  changes  otherwise  per- 
fect. Royer-CoUard,  however,  went  a  little  too  far  when  he  declared  that 
representative  government  ought  to  be  an  organised  mobility.  Opinions 
were  very  diverse,  but  as  the  deputies  were  as  interested  as  the  minister  in 
passing  the  bill  it  was  passed. 

Villele  then  advanced  a  project  for  the  conversion  of  five  per  cent,  stock  to 
three  per  cent.,  ofFering  fund-holders  a  diminution  of  income  with  an  aug- 
mentation of  capital.  Government  bonds  were  at  par,  a  proof  of  public 
prosperity  and  definitively  established  confidence  ;  this  was  a  necessary  con- 
dition of  the  measure.  His  idea  was  to  obtain  a  thousand  million  francs, 
which  he  intended  to  employ  in  indemnities  to  emigres  whose  estates  had 
been  confiscated  during  the  Revolution.  The  financial  side  of  the  project 
was  skilfully  planned ;  but  competent  financiers  opposed  it,  and  orators  on 
the  Left,  judging  from  another  point  of  view,  reproached  him  with  destroy- 

P  There  had  been  some  resistance  to  the  vote  of  a  hundred  million  francs  for  the  war,  and 
one  deputy  named  Manuel  had  been  dragged  out  of  the  chamber  by  the  gendarmes  for  opposing 
intervention  in  the  Spanish  quarrel,  in  a  speech  which  was  taken  to  be  of  regicide  spirit.  The 
entire  I^ft,  including  Ia  Fayette,  Foy,  Caaimir- Purler,  and  fifty-nine  others,  departed  from  the 
chamber  and  did  not  return.] 


THE   BOUEBON  BESTORATION  SI 

[18M  A.D.] 

ing  under  pretext  of  consolidating  the  work  of  the  Revolution,  and  of  making 
a  retrograde  act.     Villele  adjourned  his  project,  but  did  not  renounce  it. 

The  ministry  lacked  necessary  homogeneity.  The  decided  character  of 
Corbiere  was  cause  of  dispute.  Chateaubriand,  who  affected  independence, 
and  rendered  himself  insupportable  to  everyone  and  particularly  to  the  court 
by  his  desire  to  outshine  and  bis  immense  self-esteem,  was  dismissed  Jiine 
6th.  To  please  the  clergy,  Villele  created  a  Ministry  of  Public  Worship 
and  Instructioni  and  gave  the  post  to  a  prelate. 

After  the  close  of  the  session  on  August  4th,  he  re-established  the  censor- 
ship. He  wiis  obliged  to  buy  over  papers  to  defend  his  policy,  and  he  over- 
whelmed those  who  attacked  him  with  law-suits.  Neither  the  ordinary  law 
court  nor  the  superior  courts  had  condemned  as  frequently  or  as  severely  as 
he  desired  J 

ALISON   ON   THE   LAST   DATS  OF   LOUIS  XVIII 


During  this  year  Louis  XVIII  lived,  but  did  not  reign.  His  mission 
was  accomplished  ;  his  work  wan  done.  The  reception  of  tiie  duke 
d*Angouleme  and  his  triumphant  host  at  the  TuiLehes  wa^  the  la^t  real  act  of 
his  eventful  career ;  thenceforward  the  royal  functions,  nominally  his  own, 
were  in  reality  performed  by  others.  It  must  be  confessed  he  could  not  have 
terminated  his  reign  with  a  brighter  ray  of  glory.  The  magnitude  of  tlie 
services  he  rendered  to  France  can  only  be  appreciated  by  rt^colliicting  in 
what  state  he  found,  and  in  what  he  left  it.  He  found  iL  divided,  he  left 
it  united  ;  he  found  it  overrun  by  conquerors,  he  left  it  returning  from  con- 
quest ;  he  found  it  in  slavery,  he  left  it  in  freedom  ;  he  found  it  bankrupt, 
he  left  it  in  aflfiuence  ;  he  found  it  drained  of  its  heart's  blood,  ho  left  it 
teeming  with  life  ;  he  found  it  overspread  witli  mourning,  he  left  it  radiant 
with  happiness.  An  old  man  had  vanquished  the  Revolution  ;  he  had  done 
that  which  Robespierre  and  Napoleon  had  left  undone. 

He  had  ruled  France,  and  showed  that  it  could  be  ruled  without  either 
foreign  conquest  or  domestic  blood.  Foreign  bayonets  had  placed  him  on 
the  throne,  but  his  own  wisdom  maintained  him  on  it*  Other  sovereigns  of 
France  may  have  left  more  dui-able  records  of  their  reign,  for  they  have  written 
them  in  blood,  and  engraven  them  in  characters  of  fire  upon  the  minds  of 
men  ;  but  none  have  left  so  really  ghmous  a  monument  of  their  rule,  for 
it  was  written  in  the  hearts,  and  might  be  read  in  the  eyes,  of  his  subjects. 

This  arduous  and  memorable  reign,  however,  so  beset  with  difliculties,  so 
crossed  by  obstacles,  so  opposed  by  faction,  was  now  drawing  to  a  close. 
His  constitution,  long  oppressed  by  a  complication  of  disorders,  the  result  in 
part  of  the  constitutional  disorders  of  his  famil}',  was  now  worn  out.  Unable 
to  earry  on  the  affairs  of  state,  sinking  under  the  load  of  goveriinieul,  he 
silently  relinquished  the  direction  to  De  Villele  and  the  count  d'Artois,  who 
really  conducted  the  administration  of  affairs.  Madame  du  Cayla  w*as  the 
organ  by  whose  influence  they  directed  the  royal  mind.  [Louis  said  to  one 
of  his  ministers,  "  My  brother  is  impatient  to  squander  my  realm.  I  hoj>e 
he  will  remember  that  if  be  does  not  change,  the  soil  will  tremble  beneath 
him.'*  On  his  death-bed  he  warned  his  brotlier  against  the  royalists,  painted 
for  him  in  words  feeble  and  broken  the  difticulties  of  his  reign,  the  means  of 
escaping  the  reefs  that  a  too  great  exaltation  of  royalist  opinion  could  pro- 
duce, and  added,  "Do  as  I  have  done  and  you  will  arrive  at  the  same  peace- 
ful aud  tranquil  end."  —  Capefigi'e.] 

Though  abundantly  sensible  of  the  necessity  of  the  support  of  religion  to 
the  maintenance  of  his  throne,  and  at  once  careful  and  resi>ectful  in  its  out- 


32  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[182i  A  J>.] 

ward  observances,  Louis  was  far  from  bein^  a  bigot,  and  in  no  way  the  slave 
of  the  Jesuits,  who  in  his  declining  days  had  got  possession  of  his  palace. 
In  secret,  his  opinions  on  religious  subjects,  though  far  from  sceptical,  were 
still  farther  from  devout :  he  had  never  surmounted  the  influence  of  the 
philosophers  who,  when  he  began  life,  ruled  general  opinion  in  Paris.  He 
listened  to  the  suggestions  of  the  priests,  when  they  were  presented  to  him 
from  the  charming  lips  of  Madame  du  Cayla ;  but  he  never  permitted 
themselves  any  nearer  approach  to  his  person. 

At  length  the  last  hour  approached.  The  extremities  of  the  king  became 
cold,  and  symptoms  of  mortification  began  to  appear ;  but  his  mind  con- 
tinued as  distinct,  his  courage  as  great  as  ever.  He  was  careful  to  conceal 
his  most  dangerous  symptoms  from  his  attendants.  "  A  king  of  France," 
said  he,  "  may  die,  but  he  is  never  ill ; "  and  around  his  death-bed  he  re- 
ceived the  foreign  diplomatists  and  oflficers  of  the  national  guard,  with  whom 
he  cheerfully  conversed  upon  the  affairs  of  the  day.  "  Love  each  other," 
said  the  dying  monarch  to  his  family,  ''and  console  yourselves  by  that 
affection  for  the  disasters  of  our  house.  Providence  has  replaced  us  upon 
the  throne  ;  and  I  have  succeeded  in  maintaining  you  on  it  by  concessions 
which,  without  weakening  the  real  strength  of  the  crown,  have  secured  for 
it  the  support  of  the  people.  The  Charter  is  your  best  inheritance ;  pre- 
serve it  entire,  my  brothers,  for  me,  for  our  subjects,  for  yourselves  ;  "  then 
stretching  out  his  hand  to  the  duke  de  Bordeaux,  who  was  brought  to  his 
bedside,  he  added,  "  and  also  for  this  dear  child,  to  whom  you  should  trans- 
mit the  throne  after  my  children  are  gone.  May  you  be  more  wise  than 
your  parents." 

Louis  XVIII,  who  thus  paid  the  debt  of  nature,  after  having  sat  for  ten 
years  on  the  throne  of  France,  during  the  most  difficult  and  stormy  period  in 
its  whole  annals,  was  undoubtedly  a  very  remarkable  man.  Alone  of  all 
the  sovereigns  who  have  ruled  its  destinies  since  the  Revolution,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  conducting  the  government  without  either  serious  foreign  war  or 
domestic  overthrow.  In  fliis  respect  he  was  more  fortunate,  or  rather  more 
wise,  than  either  Napoleon,  Charles  X,  or  Louis  Philippe  ;  for  the  first  kept 
his  seat  on  the  throne  only  by  keeping  the  nation  constantly  in  a  state  of 
hostility,  and  the  last  two  lost  their  crowns  mainly  by  having  attempted  to 
do  without  it.  He  was  no  common  man  who  at  such  a  time,  and  with  such 
people,  could  succeed  in  effecting  such  a  prodigy.  Louis  Philippe  aimed  at 
being  the  Napoleon  of  peace  ;  but  Louis  XVIII  really  was  so,  and  succeeded 
so  far  that  he  died  the  king  of  France.  The  secret  of  his  success  was,  that 
he  entirely  accommodated  himself  to  the  temper  of  the  times.  He  was  the 
man  of  the  age  —  neither  before  it,  like  great,  nor  behind  it,  like  little  men. 
Thus  he  succeeded  in  steering  the  vessel  of  the  state  successfully  through 
shoals  which  would  have  in  all  probability  stranded  a  man  of  a  greater  or 
less  capacity.  The  career  of  Napoleon  illustrated  the  danger  of  the  first, 
that  of  Charles  X  the  peril  of  the  last.  9 

lamaktine's  estimate  of  loots  xvni 

The  natural  cast  of  his  mind,  cultivated,  reflective,  but  quick  withal, 
stored  with  recollections,  rich  in  anecdotes,  ripe  with  philosophy,  full  of 
reading,  ready  at  quotation,  but  by  no  means  of  a  pedantic  character,  placed 
him  at  that  period  on  a  level  with  the  most  celebrated  geniuses  and  literary 
men  of  his  age.  Chateaubriand  had  not  more  elegance,  Talleyrand  more 
fancy,  or  Madame  de  Stael  more  brilliancy. 


I 


n 


^ 


^  THE   BOURBON   RESTORATION  33 

(18M  A.D.] 

Since  the  suppers  of  Potsdam,  the  cabinet  of  a  prince  had  never  been  the 
Hanetuary  of  more  philosophy,  more  literature,  more  wit,  jiuJ  more  lively' 
sallies.  Louis  XVIII  would  have  served  for  a  king  of  Athens  equally  as  well 
aa  a  king  of  Paris ;  for  his  nature  was  Grecian  more  than  French,  universal, 
elastic,  artistic,  deliciite,  graceful,  feminine,  sceptical,  somewhat  corrupted 
by  the  age,  but  if  not  capable  of  doing  everything,  capable  at  least  of  under- 
standing and  expressing  everything  with  propriety,  Sach.  without  any 
flattery,  was  the  mind  of  Louis  XVIIL  His  intimac}'  with  Madame  du 
Cayla,  which  her  wit  and  allurement  made  every  day  more  necessary  to  his 
heart,  was  no  longer  a  mystery  to  anyone.  Hut  Matlame  du  Cayla  was  not 
merely  the  affectionate  friend  and  comforter  of  the  king  ;  she  was  the  eonii- 
deutial  minister,  and  the  secret  negotiator  of  a  triple,  or  quadruple  intrigue. 
An  emissary  of  the  clerical  i^rty,  like  Madame  de  Maintenon,  in  the  cabinet 
of  the  king,  the  pledge  and  the  instrument  of  favour  for  the  houses  of  La 
Kochefoucauld  and  Montmorency,  the  hidden  link  between  the  policy  of  the 
count  d*Artois  and  the  heart  of  his  royal  brother,  and  finally,  the  iuter- 
mediute  agent  between  Villele,  the  clerical  party,  the  count  d'Artoia,  and 
the  king  himself;  she  was  the  multiplied  connection  between  these  four 
diversified  intluences,  the  accordance  of  which  formed  and  maintained  the 
harmony  of  the  government.  No  woman  ever  had  so  many  and  such  deb- 
c&te  strings  of  intrigue  and  policy  to  manage  In  the  same  baud. 

Posterity,  when  it  approaches  too  closely  the  memory  of  a  deceased  mon- 
arch, is  influenced  in  its  judgment  of  that  memory  by  tlie  prejudices,  the 
partialities,  and  the  party-feelings  which  prevailed  during  liis  life;  and  by 
tho6e  posthumous  feelings  the  reign  of  Louis  XVIII  has  been  hitherto 
judged.  Almost  all  men  were  equally  interested  in  misrei) resenting,  depre- 
ciating, and  lessening  the  merit  of  his  life  and  person.  The  partisans  of  the 
empire  had  to  avenge  themselves  ujjon  him  for  the  fall  of  their  idol ;  and  to 
eclipse  disdainfully  under  the  military  glory  of  Napoleon,  and  the  splendour 
of  his  reign,  the  civil  and  modest  merits  of  policy,  of  peace,  and  of  freedom. 
It  was  necessar}^  to  debase  the  king  in  order  to  elevate  the  hero  ;  to  sacrifice 
z  memory  to  exalt  a  fanaticism  ;  and  they  have  accordingly  continued  to 
pour  forth  sarca.sm  instead  of  history. 

No  king  ever  bore  with  more  dignity  and  constancy  dethronement  and 
exile,  tests  which  are  almost  always  fatal  to  men  who  are  elevated  only  by 
their  situation  :  no  king  ever  waited  with  more  patience,  or  more  certainty, 
the  restoration  of  his  race  :  no  king  ever  re-ascended  the  throne  under  cir- 
cumstances of  greater  dilliculty,  ct)niirmed  himself  upon  it  against  greater 
obstacles,  or  left  it  to  his  family  with  a  fairer  prospect  of  maintaining  it  long 
after  bis  death. << 


a.  w.  —  vou  xin.  D 


cO- 


CHAPTER  II 


CHARLES  X  AND  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  OF  1830 


Charles  X  was  neither  a  fanatic,  a  slave,  nor  a  persecutor,  bat  he 
was  a  believer.  Hla  zeal,  unknown  to  himself,  influenced  his  policy ; 
and  he  thought  ho  owed  a  portion  of  his  reign  to  his  religion.  The 
people  were  misled  by  thiit;  it  was  supposed  that  he  wished  to  restore 
France  to  the  church;  and  the  first  of  the  liberties  conquered  by  the 
Revolution,  the  freedom  of  the  human  mind,  felt  itself  threatened. 
Heuce  arose  the  disquietude,  the  disafFection,  the  brevity,  and  the 
catastrophe  of  this  reign.  He  wa^  destined  to  fall  a  victim  to  his  faith. 
Thil  was  not  the  fault  of  his  conHcience.  but  of  hiti  reason.  In  him  the 
Christian  was  destined  to  ruin  the  kin^ — Lahartinb.'' 

Never  did  a  monarch  ascend  a  throne  with  fairer  prospects  and  greater 
advantages  than  the  count  d'Artois,  who  took  the  name,  Charles  X ;  never 
was  one  precipitated  from  it  under  circumstances  of  greater  disaster.  Every- 
thing at  tirst  seemed  to  smilo  on  the  new  sovereign,  and  to  prognosticate  a 
reign  of  concord,  peace,  and  happiness.  The  great  contests  wliich  had  dis- 
tracted the  government  of  his  predecessor  seemed  to  be  over.  The  Spanish 
revolution  had  exhausted  itself;  it  had  shaken,  without  overturning,  the 
monarchies  of  France  and  England,  and  led  to  a  campaign  glorious  to  the 
French,  which  on  the  peninsula,  so  long  the  theatre  of  defeat  and  disaster, 
had  restored  the  credit  of  their  arms  and  the  lustre  of  their  influence.  In 
Italy,  the  efforts  of  the  revolutionists,  for  a  brief  season  successful,  had  ter- 
minated in  defeat  and  ignominy.  After  infinite  difficulty,  and  no  small  danger*- 
the  composition  of  the  chamber  of  deputies  had  been  put  on  a  practical  foot- 
ing, and  government  was  assured  of  a  majority  sufficient  for  all  purposes,  ia 
harmony  with  the  great  bod}'  of  the  peers,  and  the  principles  of  a  constitu- 
tional monarchy.  Internal  prosperity  prevailed  to  an  unprecedented  degree; 
every  branch  of  industry  was  flourishing,  and  ten  years  of  peace  had  both 
healed  the  wounds  of  war,  and  enabled  the  nation  to  discharge,  with  honour- 
able fidelity,  the  heavy  burdens  imposed  on  it  at  its  termination.  After 
an  arduous  reign  and  a  long  struggle,  Louis  had  reaped  the  reward  of  hia 
wisdom  and  perseverance. 

The  character  and  personal  qualities  of  Charles  X  were  in  many  respeota 
such  as  were  well  calculated  to  improve  and  cultivate  to  the  utmost  these 
advantages.  Hurke  had  said,  at  the  very  outset  of  the  French  Revolution, 
that  if  the  deposed  race  was  ever  to  be  restored,  it  must  be  by  a  sovereign 

84 


CHARLES   X   AND   THE  JULY   REVOLUTION   OF   1830  36 

wbo  could  sit  eight  hours  a  day  on  horseback.  No  sovereign  could  be  so  far 
removed  from  this  requisite  as  Louis  XVII I,  whose  figure  wiis  so  unwieldy 
and  his  intirmities  so  great,  that,  for  some  years  before  his  death,  he  had  to 
be  wheeled  about  his  apartments  in  an  arm-chair.  But  the  case  was  very 
different  with  his  successor.  No  captain  in  his  guards  managed  his  charger 
with  more  skill  and  address,  or  exhibited  in  greater  perfection  the  noble  art 
of  horsemanship  ;  no  courtier  in  his  saloons  was  more  perfect  in  all  the  graces 
which  dignify  manners,  and  cause  the  inequalities  of  rank  to  be  forgotten,  in 
the  courtesy  with  which  their  distinctions  are  thrown  aside. 

Many  of  the  sayings  lie  made  use  of,  in  the  most  important  crises  of  his 
life,  became  historical ;  repeated  from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other,  they 
rivalled  the  most  celebrated  of  Henry  IV  in  warmth  of  heart,  and  the  most 
felicitous  of  Louis  XIV  in  terseness  of  expression.  But,  with  all  these  valu- 
able qualities,  which,  under  other  circumstances,  might  have  rendered  him 
one  of  the  most  popular  monarchs  that  ever  sat  upon  the  throne  of  France, 
he  was  subject  to  several  weaknesses  still  more  prejudicial,  which,  in  the  end, 
precipitated  himself  and  his  family  from  the  throne.  He  was  extremely  fond 
of  the  chase,  and  rivalled  any  of  his  royal  ancestors  in  the  passion  for  hunt- 
ing;  but  with  him  it  was  not  a  recreation  to  amuse  his  mind  amidst  more 
serious  cares,  but,  as  with  the  Spanish  and  Neapolitan  princes  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon,  a  serious  occupation,  which  absorbed  both  the  time  and  the  strength 
that  should  have  been  devoted  to  affairs  of  state.  A  still  more  dangerous 
weakness  was  the  blind  submission,  which  increased  with  his  advancing  years, 
that  he  yielded  to  the  priesthood. 

No  change  was  made  by  the  new  sovereign  in  the  ministers  of  state,  who 
indeed  were  as  favourable  to  the  royal  cause  as  any  that  he  could  well  have 
selected.  But  from  the  very  outset  of  his  reign  tliere  was  a  Camarilla,^  or 
secret  court,  composed  entirely  of  ecclesiastics,  who  had  more  real  influence 
than  any  of  the  ostensible  ministers,  and  to  whose  ascendency  in  the  royal 
council  the  misfortunes  in  which  his  reign  terminated  are  mainly  to  be 
ascribed.  The  most  important  of  these  were  the  cardinal  Latil,  archbishop 
of  Rheims,  who  had  been  the  king's  confessor  during  the  time  he  was  in  exile, 
and  earnestly  recommended  to  liim  by  his  mistress,  Madame  de  Pollastron, 
who  possessed  the  greatest  influence  over  his  mind  ;  the  pope's  legate, 
Lambruschini,  a  subtle  and  dangerous  ecclesiastical  diplomatist ;  and  Quelen, 
archbishop  of  Paris,  a  man  of  probity  and  worth,  but  full  of  ambition,  and 
ardently  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  order.  To  these,  who  formed,  as  it 
were,  the  secret  cabinet,  that  directed  the  king,  and  of  which  he  took  counsel 
in  all  cases,  were  added  all  the  chiefs  of  the  ultra-Royalist  and  ultra-Cath- 
olic party,  who,  like  a  more  numerous  privy  council,  were  summoned  on 
important  emergencies.  The  most  important  of  these  were  the  duke  de 
Riviere  and  Prince  Polignac.  Such  was  the  secret  council  by  which  Charles 
was  from  the  first  almost  entirely  directed,  and  the  history  of  his  reign  is 
little  more  than  the  annals  of  the  consequences  of  their  administration. 

The  king  made  his  public  entry  into  Paris  on  the  27th  of  September. 
The  day  was  cloudy,  and  the  rain  fell  in  torrents  as  he  moved  through  the 
streets^  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  cortege  ;  but  nothing  could  damp  the  ardour 
of  the  people.  Mounted  on  an  Arab  steed  of  mottled  silver  colour,  which  he 
managed  with  perfect  skill,  the  monarch  traversed  the  whole  distance 
between  St.  Cloud  and  the  palace,  bowing  to  the  people  in  acknowledgment 
of  their  salutations  with  that  inimitable  grace  which  proclaimed  him  at  once, 

[1  Ttiis  term  is  laken  from  the  htstory  of  the  contemporaaeoua  Spanish  Bourbons.  See  the 
falADiy  of  Sp&in.] 


36  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

like  the  prince-regent  in  England,  the  first  gentleman  in  his  dominions.  His 
answers  on  his  way  to  and  when  he  arrived  at  the  palace  were  not  less  felici- 
tous than  his  manner.  When  asked  if  he  did  not  feel  fatigued,  he  replied, 
"No ;  joy  never  feels  weariness."  "No  halberts  between  my  people  and  me," 
cried  he  to  some  of  his  attendants,  who  were  repelling  the  crowd  which 
pressed  in  too  rudely  upon  his  passage  —  an  expression  which  recalled  his 
famous  saying  on  AprU  12th,  1814,  "There  is  but  one  Frenchman  the 
more."  *  Never  had  a  monarch  been  received  with  such  universal  joy  by  his 
subjects.  "  He  is  charming  as  hope,"  said  one  of  the  numerous  ladies  who 
were  enchanted  by  his  manner.  Some  of  his  courtiers  had  suggested  the  pro- 
priety of  taking  some  precautions  against  the  ball  of  an  assassin  in  the 
course  of  his  entry.  "Why  so?"  said  he:  "they  cannot  hate  me  without 
knowing  me;  and  when  they  know  me,  I  am  sure  they  wiU  not  hate  me." 
Everything  in  his  manner  and  expressions  towards  those  by  whom  his  family 
had  been  opposed,  seemed  to  breathe  the  words,  "  I  have  forgotten."^ 

FIRST  MISTAKES  OF  THE  NEW   GOVERNMENT 

Charles  introduced  his  son  the  duke  d*Angoulerae  into  the  government, 
by  giving  him  the  supreme  direction  of  the  array,  whose  esteem  this  prince 
had  justly  acquired.  Eager  for  that  popularity  of  which  he  had  just  tasted 
the  nrst*f  ruits,  he  himseli  proposed  to  the  council  of  ministers  to  abolish  the 
censorship  of  the  public  journals,  which  was  an  odious  restriction  that  had 
been  impatiently  submitted  to  during  the  last  few  months  of  the  late  reign. 
The  press  responded  to  this  generous  act  by  an  effusion  of  gratitude  which 
raised  the  enthusiasm  of  Paris  to  a  pitch  of  delirium.  "  A  new  reign  opens 
upon  us,"  exclaimed  the  journalists  who  had  been  most  bitter  against  the 
Bourbons;  "the  king  is  desirous  of  doing  good;  his  wisdom  scatters  at 
the  first  word  the  cloud  under  which  bad  governments  conceal  their  evil 
thoughts ;  there  is  no  snare  to  apprehend  from  one  who  himself  invokes  the 
light."  6 

But  in  granting  liberty  to  the  press,  Charles  X  did  not  at  all  repudiate 
the  acts  of  a  ministry  which  had  been  stigmatised  by  it.  He  accepted  it  on  the 
contrary,  declaring  his  formal  intention  of  keeping  it  in  power.  Those  who 
had  been  too  quick  in  hoping  were  disabused  and  public  opinion  pronounced 
with  terrifying  rapidity  against  a  series  of  unpopular  projects  presented  to 
the  chambers  by  the  crown.  One  of  them,  in  connection  with  which  the 
ministry  had  skilfully  formed  the  plan  of  converting  government  bonds  to 
a  three  per  cent,  rate,  gave  a  billion  francs  indemnity  to  the  emigres;* 
another  re-established  religious  communities  for  women;  a  third  attached 
infamous  and  atrocious  penalties  to  profanities  and  thefts  committed  in 
churches,  in  certain  cases  the  sacrilege  was  to  be  punished  by  the  penalty 
of  parricide.**  Some  moderate  and  rational-minded  men  in  the  chamber  of 
peers,  the  Moles,  the  Lally-Tollendals,  the  Broglies  and  Chateaubriand 
himself,  revolted  in  the  name  of  human  reason,  of  humanity,  and  of  religion 
against  this  unjust  and  barbarous  law.  In  the  chamber  of  deputies,  Royer- 
Collard  vindicated  reason,  liberty  of  conscience,  humanity,  and  the  Deity, 

El  This  epigram,  as  we  have  seen,  he  had  borrowed  from  a  courtier.] 
>  In  fact  this  law,  very  unpopular,  and  onerous  to  the  national  finances,  was  adrantageooa 
to  the  owners  of  the  properties  formerly  held  by  the  ^migrfe.  The  fear  of  seeing  the  titles  con- 
tested vanished  and  with  it  the  inferiority  in  market  value  of  these  properties  to  other  estates. 
As  for  the  families  of  the  ^migr^s,  the  poor  provincial  ^ntry  had  had  but  little ;  but  the  people 
of  the  court  who  had  already  largely  regained  their  i^uence,  redoubled  it  and  though  lacking 
the  immoderate  luxury  of  old,  yet  found  themst'lrea  richer  than  ever. — Mabtih.«] 


r  CHAKLES  X  AJ^D  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  OF  1830  37 

[183i-lB27  A.D.] 

all  outniged  by  this  law  in  one  of  the  most  powerful  speeches  ever  inspired 
at  the  French  tribune  by  philosoph}*,  religion,  and  elaquence.& 

But  the  project  which  wounded  the  greatest  number  of  interests  and 
aroused  tlie  greatest  resentment  tended  in  put  a  stop  to  the  division  of 
estates  by  creating  in  the  law  of  inheritance  the  right  of  primogeniture,^  in 
default  of  a  wish  formerly  expressed  by  the  testator.  All  these  proposed 
laws,  dictated  under  the  influence  of  the  old  emigres  and  the  Congregation, 
were  conceived  in  a  spirit  contrary  to  that  of  the  Kevolution.  The  chamber 
of  deputies  adopted  them,  the  peers  fought  some  of  them  with  success,  suc- 
ceeded in  eliminating  the  most  objectionable  clauses,  and  for  some  time 
shared  popular  favour  with  the  royal  courts. 

These  governmental  acts  were  interrupted  in  1825  by  the  solemnities  of 
the  coronation.  Charles  X  appeared  ut  Rheims  surrounded  by  the  ancient 
app&rel  of  royal  majesty.  There  he  took  oath  on  the  charter  and  received 
the  crown  from  the  hands  of  the  archbishop,  in  the  midst  of  the  ancient 
ceremonial  which  was  not  at  all  in  harmony  with  the  customs  of  the  cen- 
tury, and  in  which  the  new  generation  saw  only  an  act  of  deference  to  the 
clergy. 

The  liberal  party  was  growing,  and  drawing  new  force  from  all  the  faults 
of  the  party  in  power.  It  saw  with  pride  men  like  Benjamin  Constant, 
Roy er-Col lard,  and  Caaimir  Perier  at  its  head  in  the  elective  chamber.  One 
immense  loss  was  to  be  deplored,  Foy,  the  general  of  Napoleon,  the  states- 
man of  Restoration  times,  was  no  more.  A  hundred  thousand  citizens,  the 
elite  of  trade,  of  the  bar,  of  literature,  and  of  the  army  followed  his  cortege 
and  energetically  protested  against  the  procedure  of  government,  by  adopt- 
ing his  children  in  the  name  of  their  country,  on  the  still  open  tomb  of  their 
father,  who  had  been  the  most  redoubtable  and  the  most  eloquent  adversary 
of  the  ministers. 

In  the  first  days  of  1827  Peyronnet  presented  to  the  chamber  of  deputies 
the  law  under  which  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  to  perish.  He  defended 
it  against  the  desperate  attacks  of  the  Left  [wliich  called  it  the  "Vandal 
Law"]  by  calling  it  the  "law  of  justice  and  love."  It  hardly  became  known 
before  it  caused  a  general  uprising  of  public  opinion.  The  French  Academy 
did  itself  honour  by  protesting  against  it  on  the  motion  of  Charles  de 
I.«acretelle,  actively  supported  by  Chateaubriand,  Lemercier,  Jouy,  Michaud, 
Joseph  Droz,  Alexandre  Duval,  and  Villemain.  A  commission  was  appointed 
from  their  midst  to  beg  the  king  to  withdraw  so  fatal  a  project,  Charles  X 
refused  to  receive  the  commission  and  answered  by  punishing  this  act  of 
courageous  independence.  He  removed  from  office  Villemain,  Lacretelle, 
mnd  Michaud  himself,  the  author  of  History  of  the  Crumdesy  and  one  of 
the  oldest  8uj»porters  of  the  raonareliy.  The  law,  adopted  by  the  chamber 
of  deputies,  met  with  violent  opposition  in  that  of  the  peers.*  The  ministry 
understood  that,  even  if  the  latter  should  adopt  it,  it  would  at  least  eliminate 
its  roost  rigorous  clauses.  The  project  was  withdrawn  without  being  sub- 
mitted to  this  dangerous  test. 

The  people  did  honour  to  the  monarch  for  this  wise  measure.  Paris  was 
illuminated  and  cries  of  "  Vive  le  roil"  were  heard  in  the  midst  of  bonflres 
and  popular  acclamations. <2 


P  The  law  vras  more  timid  than  its  title  and  cast  only  a  moderate  reproach  on  the  existing 
law,  out  feeble  as  It  was  this  reproach  was  an  enormous  fault.  Nothing  wu  worse  conceived 
than  thla  challenge  to  **  Equality,"  the  grand  passion  of  the  nation.  — Dabestb./] 

[*  MOller  A  apeaJia  of  the  law  as  one  *'  which  sought  to  smother  all  education  and  reason,  turn 
Pranoe  Into  a  Jesuit  machine,  and  set  it  back  tA  tlic  days  of  the  Inquisition.^*] 


38 


THE  HI9T0EY   OF  FRANCE 


GBOWIKG   DISCONTENT 


(1627  A.D.] 


The  masses  seemed  to  wish  to  open  to  the  king  a  peaceful  issue.  An 
expression  of  Casiniir  Perier  nunle  u  great  stir.  Some  members  of  the  Left 
alone  rising  in  favour  of  a  liberal  petition,  the  Right  cried,  *^  There  are  only 

six  of  them."  Casimir  Perier  replied, 
"  We  are  only  six  in  this  place,  but 
there  are  thirty  million  men  in  France 
who  rise  with  us.'* 

The  partial  elections  were  to  the 
advantage  of  the  liberals,  and  the  return 
of  La  Fayette  was  a  sign  of  the  time. 
Charles  X,  uneasy  and  chagrined,  could 
not  conceal  his  unpopularity.  He 
thought  to  regain  it  in  Paris  by  review- 
ing the  national  guard.  Villele  waa 
greatly  alarmed  ;  the  dauphin  advised 
iiguitmt  the  review,  but  the  guard  waa 
summoned  on  the  Champ  de  Mars 
AprU  29th,  1827.  The  word  had  been 
passed  to  the  soldiers  to  cry  nothing 
hut  "  I W  le  Roi!^" and  *^ live le charts!'* 
At  certain  phices,  however,  tliey  cried, 
"  j1  has  lesminhtres!  A  has  le8J49uite$r* 
To  one  national  guardsman  who 
repeated  tbis  cry  near  him,  the  king 
answered,  "  I  came  to  receive  your 
homage,  not  your  instructions."  On 
returning  from  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
tumultuous  groups  surrounded  the  car- 
riages of  the  princesses  crying,  "j4  baM 
les  jSs^uitesses!^^  Two  legions  of  the 
national  guard  cried  violently,  "j4  has  llllele!  A  has  Peyromut!''  in  passing 
the  ministers  of  finance  and  of  justice. 

Villele  advised  the  king  to  disljand  the  national  guard  of  Paris  and  double 
the  garrison.  Tlie  majority  of  the  ministers  agreed.  The  ordinance  of  dis- 
bandment  appeared  the  next  day.  The  liberal  journals  protested  fiercely 
against  this  measure  and  the  opposition  on  the  Right  associated  itself  with 
the  liberals.  The  act  alienated  irrevocably  the  entire  middle  class  of  Paris. 
The  majority  was  lost  in  the  chamber.  Tiie  session  terminated  June  22nd  ; 
it  was  the  fourth  and  ought  to  have  been  the  last  of  the  "septennial"  cham- 
ber; besides,  this  chamber  was  used  up  and,  as  it  were,  decomposed. 

The  day  after  the  closing,  the  censorship  was  re-established  despite  the 
dauphin's  wishes.  The  minister  instituted  above  the  bureau  of  censure  a 
council  of  supervision  presided  over  by  De  Donald,  the  implacable  enemy  of 
the  liberty  of  the  press  as  of  all  liberty.  The  illustrious  scientist  Guvier, 
who  had  shown  in  the  council  of  state  much  administrative  capacity  but 
till  now  little  independence,  refused  to  take  part  in  the  committee  of  super- 
vision ;  nor  would  two  of  the  nominees  for  the  bureau  of  censure  serve. 
The  censure  fell  into  odious  ridiculous  excesses  which  called  forth  Chateau- 
briand and  a  throng  of  other  writers  in  pamphlets  full  of  ironic  and  indignant 
vigour. 

A  crisis  was  imminent,  and  the  approaching  elections  looked  ominous.    A 


Chablks  X 
(1757-1836) 


CHARLES  X   AND  THE  JULY  KEVOLUTION  OF  1830 


39 


■ 


i 


[tflSr-lKZB  A.D.] 

powerful  society  was  formed  to  prepare  the  country,  under  the  significant 
name  of  "Heaven  helps  those  ti»at  help  themselves"  (^Aide-toiy  le  cielVaidera). 
Guiznt  was  president  of  the  governing  committee.  An  allied  society  of 
republican  tendencies  was  formed,  the  "  Free-speakers. '*« 

When  the  duke  de  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,  a  liberal  member  of  the 
chamber  of  Peers,  died,  some  of  the  old  pupihi  of  the  Academy  of  Chalons, 
to  whom  he  had  been  very  kind,  endeavoured  to  show  their  gratitude  to 
their  neighbour  and  benefactor  by  bearing  his  body  to  the  Barrier,  where 
the  hearse  was  waiting  to  convey  it  to  his  estate.  In  the  church  of  the  Made- 
leine the  police  seized  the  coffin  —  unwilling  that  such  a  mark  of  respect  should 
be  aliown  to  a  member  of  the  opposition  ;  the  pupils  resisted:  in  the  struggle 
the  coffin  fell  to  the  ground,  and  the  authorities  in  triumph  carried  it  off.^ 

Later  a  similar  scene  was  enacted  on  a  greater  scale  at  the  funeral  of 
Manuel  the  expelled  deputy.  The  irritated  crowd  was  hardly  prevented  from 
a  pitched  battle  with  the  troops.  The  discourse  spoken  over  the  grave  by 
La  Fayette  was  of  a  very  different  character  from  that  which  signalised  the 
funered  of  General  Foy.  Under  this  not  yet  lawless  struggle,  one  felt 
revolution.* 

Seventy-six  new  peers  were  named ;  the  chaml>er  of  Deputies,  from  which 
still  less  subserviency  was  expected,  was  dismissed  (Nov.  6th,  1827);  and  the 
gauntlet  was  fairly  thrown  down. 

In  this  year  the  battle  of  Navarino  (Oct.  20th,  1827)  had  practically 
delivered  Greece  from  its  oppressors,  and  was  hailed  as  the  first  national 
resurrection  to  freedom  since  the  reaction  had  begun.  The  English  and 
French  navies,  which  were  united  with  the  Russian  in  t!ie  entire  destruction 
of  tlie  Turkish  fleet,  took  also  different  views  of  the  result  of  their  valour 
and  preponderating  force.  France  was  so  enraptured  with  a  naval  victory, 
however  obtained,  that  even  the  supporters  of  the  ministry  rejoiced  in  an 
action  which  greatly  excited  tlie  liberal  hopes  throughout  Europe.  The 
English,  on  the  other  hand,  perceived  too  late  the  fault  they  had  committed 
in  exposing  Turkey  unprotected  to  the  maritime  attacks  of  Russia,  and 
called  the  victory  of  Navarino  **  an  untoward  event.'*  Yet,  as  naval  victories 
•were  of  more  importance  to  France  than  England,  an  opportunity  was  found 
for  another  triumph  in  an  expedition  against  the  dey  of  Algiers.  Success- 
ful to  a  certain  degree,  but  not  so  brilliantly  decisive  as  its  promoters  had 
expected,  the  squadron  came  back  with  its  work  only  Iialf  performed,  but 
furnishing  information  which  led  to  a  greater  effort  and  more  satisfactory 
result  in  a  future  year.  In  spite  of  government  influence,  which  was  unscru- 
pulously used,  the  elections  of  1828  returned  a  majority  for  the  liberals. 
There  were  riots  and  loss  of  life  in  Paris  and  other  towns.  The  Villele 
ministry  retired  for  fear  of  the  coming  storm. i? 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  MAKTIGNAC    (1828-1829  A.D.) 

Charles  X  was  obliged  to  form  a  liberal  government.  The  Restoration 
again  found  itself  obliged  to  rely  on  the  support  of  the  left  benches.  The 
first  time  this  hain>ened  it  was  the  result  of  the  initiative  of  Louis  XVIII; 
this  second  time  it  was  due  to  the  will  of  the  electors. 

The  new  ministry  was  formed  Jan.  4th,  1828,  with  Martignac  as  leader 
of  the  cabinet.  Possessed  of  undoubted  eloquence  and  an  attractive  manner, 
he  bad  more  charm  than  strength.  Although  he  was  a  man  of  moderate 
mind  he  had  been  one  of  the  majority  of  Villele,  With  him,  Portalis,  Roy, 
and  soon  afterwards  Hyde  de  Neuville  and  Feutrier,  the  bishop  of  Beauvais, 


40  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRAITCE 

[1828  A.D.] 

made  up  a  cabinet  wMcli  the  public  at  first  considered  lacking  in  weight  and 
in  authority.' 

The  king  had  made  haste  to  say  to  his  new  ministers,  "  M.  de  Villeie's 
system  is  mine  " ;  and  the  chamber  made  haste  to  write  down  in  its  address 
that  M.  de  VillSle's  system  was  "deplorable."  The  whole  history  of  the 
Restoration  is  epitomised  on  this  simple  juxtaposition  of  facts.  How  was 
the  chamber  to  be  prevented  from  exercising  the  paramount  strength  it  pos- 
sessed? And  what  should  hinder  the  head  of  the  state  from  crying  out» 
under  the  exasperation  of  insult,  as  did  Charles  X  upon  the  presentation  of 
the  address,  "  I  will  not  suffer  my  crown  to  be  flung  into  the  mire  I  "  What 
then  remained  to  be  tried  ?  To  side  completely  with  the  elective  power  ? 
Martignac  could  not  do  so  without  declaring  war  against  royalty.  To  serve 
royalty  in  accordance  with  its  own-  views?  He  could  not  do  so  without 
declaring  war  on  the  chamber.  To  combine  these  two  sorts  of  servitude^ 
and  to  hold  the  reins  of  government  on  the  tenure  of  being  doubly  a  slave  ? 
He  tried  this.i 

The  Martignac  ministry  began  by  suppressing  the  "  black  cabinet,"  where 
letters  were  opened  for  the  police,  and  by  passing  a  liberal  law  with  regard 
to  the  press.  In  Greece,  France  received  from  the  two  other  powers  the 
glorious  charge  of  putting  an  end  to  the  struggle  which  was  going  on.  A 
Force  of  14,000  men  under  the  orders  of  General  Maison  landed  in  the 
Morea  on  the  29th  of  August.  Ibrahim,  who  had  been  sent  by  his  father 
the  pasha  of  Egypt  as  commander  of  the  Egyptian  troops,  to  help  the  sultan 
of  Turkey,  made  no  attempt  to  fight ;  on  the  9th  of  September  he  sailed 
away  with  his  troops.  The  only  case  in  which  force  had  to  be  employed 
was  in  the  taking  of  Fort  Morea,  and  Greece  was  delivered.  Two  burning- 
questions  occupied  the  public  mind :  one  was  that  of  an  inquiry  into  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Villele  ministry,  a  measure  on  which  the  liberals  insisted ; 
the  other  the  enforcing  of  the  laws  against  the  Jesuits,  which  was  demanded 
by  a  strong  wave  of  public  opinion,  by  a  decision  of  the  court  in  Paris, 
and  by  the  new  chamber.  The  ministry  decided  on  carrying  out  the  latter 
measure  in  order  to  avoid  the  former.  They  prepared  two  ordinances^ 
in  which  the  name  of  the  Jesuits  was  not  so  much  as  mentioned.  The  first, 
which  was  countersigned  by  Portalis,  deprived  them  of  their  educational 
establishments ;  the  second,  which  was  inspired  by  the  bishop  of  Beauvais,. 
dictated  the  necessary  precautions  to  be  observed  in  order  to  exclude  them 
from  the  management  of  ecclesiastical  schools  (June  19th,  1828). 

Thus  the  throne  seemed  anxious  to  be  reconciled  to  the  liberal  party. 
But  this  was  only  apparently  true.  Between  the  two  parties  who  were 
struggling  for  possession  of  the  country,  one  supported  by  the  king,  the 
other  by  the  people,  one  wishing  to  go  back  to  the  eve  of  '89,  the  other  to 
march  forward  with  the  century,  there  was  no  room  for  equivocation  or  for 
compromise.  Those  who  were  anxious  to  conciliate  both  parties  ran  the  risk 
of  being  crushed  between  the  two.  Martignac,  in  spite  of  his  wonderful 
eloquence,  his  charm,  and  the  sympathy  he  inspired,  was  looked  upon  with 
suspicion  by  both  camps. 

As  for  Charles  X,  he  submitted  to  this  ministry  as  to  a  personal  defeat ; 
he  was  still  the  ardent  partisan  of  the  cabinet  which  had  been  overthrown.  It 
was  therefore  most  obnoxious  to  him  to  have  to  sign  the  ordinances  against 
the  Jesuits.  The  ministers  were  obliged  to  threaten  to  resign  in  order  to  get 
him  to  do  it.  The  furious  outcry  raised  by  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,, 
the  maledictions  of  the  bishops  directed  even  against  the  bishop  of  Beauvais,. 
brought  the  devout  frenzy  to  a  climax. 


CHARLES   X   AJJD   THE  JULY   REVOLUTION    OF  1830  41 

[UM-1S20  A.O.] 

He  could  only  endure  this  .return  to  liberalism  for  a  time  by  nursing 
tboughU  of  revenge.  But  he  still  had  patiently  to  endure  the  session  of 
jl829,  which  was  occupied  by  discussions  on  the  organisation  of  the  depart- 
lents  and  the  communes,  in  which  the  cabinet  was  weakened  by  several 
reverses.  Hardly  had  the  chambers  dissolved  when  the  king  dismissed  hi» 
ministers.  The  session  had  closed  on  the  30th  of  July  ;  on  the  9th  of 
August  the  list  of  the  new  ministry  was  published.! 

When  the  names  were  made  known  a  cry  of  indignation  broke  out  from 
one  end  of  Franco  to  the  other  :  Polignac,  Labourdonnaie,  Bounnont. 
The  patriots  who,  from  piLssion  or  principlps,  had  never  admitted  tlie 
possibdity  of  a  compromise  with  the  old  dynasty,  experienced  that  sort  of 
satisfaction  which  a  soldier  feels  on  the  eve  of  a  decisive  battle.  Those  who 
bad  dreamed  of  liberty  with  monarchy  were  now  overwhelmed  with  con- 
sternation. "Seel"  cried  Royer-Collard,  '^  Cliarles  X  is  still  the  count 
d'Artois  of  1789." 

The  lil)eral  journals  in  general  responded  by  an  explosion  of  anger 
and  menaces  to  the  defiance  which  had  just  been  nung  at  the  nation.  Tha 
Journal  de»  DibaU^  attached  to  tho  Bourbons  by  bonds  which  its  ardent 
opposition  had  not  hitherto  broken,  terminated  an  article  full  of  an  elo- 
quent suffering  by  the  cry  so  often  quoted  :  '*  Unhappy  France  !  Unhappy 
king  I" 

The  ministry  brought  a  suit  against  it.  Answer  was  made  by  a  violent 
attack  from  a  young  eilitor,  Saint-Marc  (iirardin,  on  Folignac,  "  the  man  of 
C'oblenz  and  the  counter-revolution,"  on  Bourmont,  *^  the  deserter  of  Waterloo 
now  exposed  on  the  scaffold  of  the  ministry,"  and  on  Labourdonnaie,  the 
man  who  in  the  White  Terror  of  1816  had  constantly  demanded  irons,  hang» 
men,  and  executious.ff 

THE  MTKTSTRY  OF  POUGNAC 

The  president  of  the  new  cabinet,  Jules  de  Polignac,  son  of  the  chief 
equerry  of  Louis  XVI  and  of  the  duchess  de  PoFignae,  who  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  Marie  Antoinette,  was  a  sort  of  incarnation  of  the  old  regime,  lie 
had  been  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  amongst  the  emigres  and  later  hud 
become  a  leading  member  of  the  Congregation.  He  was  perhaps  the  most 
ardent  adherent  that  body  possessed.  His  minister  of  war,  Bourmont,  had, 
in  1816,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  deserted  Napoleon*s  army  for 
that  of  the  enemy,  and  had  thus  gained  the  rank  of  marshal. 

It  was  certain  that  such  a  minister  would  advocate  extreme  measures. 
The  country  prepared  for  a  struggle.  Societies  were  formed  quite  openly, 
at  first  in  Brittanyand  then  throughout  France,  with  the  purpose  of  refusing 
to  pay  the  taxes  in  case  the  cabinet  should  attempt  to  force  any  violent 
measure  on  the  country.  The  papers  which  advertised  these  associations 
were  in  every  case  prosecuted,  but  were  either  acquitted  or  very  lightly 
punished.  The  courts  themselves  seemed  to  condemn  in  advance  the  projecta 
with  which  the  ministry  was  credited.' 

This  was  indeed  a  ministry  of  madness.  Not  only  every  libei-al  senti- 
lent  but  every  national  sentiment  was  defied.  The  unfortunate  Charles  X 
ras  so  much  a  stranger  to  his  age  and  country  that  he  did  not  understand  that 
France  would  take  the  siimmons  of  Bourmont  to  the  head  of  the  army  as  the 
most  deadly  of  outrages.  He  believed  that  in  order  to  justify  the  deserter 
of  Fleurus  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  it  would  suffice  to  give  out  that  he  had 
the  king's  orders. 


42  THE  HISTORY  OF  FEANCE 

If  the  king  and  his  advisers  had  been  capable  of  reflection,  the  attitude 
of  the  country  would  have  made  them  tremble.  At  this  moment  La  Fayette 
paid  a  visit  to  Auvergne,  his  native  province,  and  then  to  Dauphine  and  Lyons. 
In  the  towns  of  Dauphine,  especially  in  VizLlle,  the  little  place  famous  for 
having  given  the  signal  for  the  revolution  of  1789,  La  Fayette  was  welcomed 
by  demonstrations  which  recalled  that  great  epoch  ;  at  Grenoble  the  popu- 
lation offered  him  an  oak  wreath  *^  as  a  witness  of  the  people's  gratitude  and 
as  the  emblem  of  the  force  which  the  people  of  Grenoble,  following  his 
example,  would  be  able  to  bring  into  action  to  maintain  their  rights  and  the 
constitution."  At  Lyons  he  made  a  truly  royal  entry  :  the  whole  city  went 
out  to  meet  him,  deputations  from  the  neighbouring  departments  waited  on 
him.  At  the  banquet  which  was  given  him  La  Fayette  declared  that  he  was 
happy  to  receive  proof  of  the  determination  of  that  great  and  patriotic  city 
to  resist  all  the  attempts  of  the  incorrigible  counter  revolution.  The 
ofBoial  journals  of  this  party  had  said  recently  *^  no  more  concessions."  "  No 
more  concessions  "  says  in  its  turn  the  French  people,  which  knows  its  rights 
and  will  know  how  to  defend  them.  Then  he  added,  "  How  are  the  pro- 
jects with  which  the  people  are  threatened  to  be  executed  ?  By  means  of 
the  chamber  of  deputies  ?  It  would  show  itself  faithful  to  patriotism  and 
honour.  Bv  a  dissolution?  The  electors  would  have  something  to  say  to 
that.  By  simple  ordinances  ?  The  partisans  of  such  measures  would  then 
learn  that  the  strength  of  every  government  lies  only  in  the  arms  and  the 
purse  of  the  citizens  which  compose  the  nation." 

The  triumphant  journey  of  La  Fayette  afforded  royalty  an  alarming  con- 
trast to  the  reception  which  the  dauphin  and  dauphiness  received  about  the 
same  time  in  Normandy.  Silence  and  a  desert  surrounded  them  everywhere. 
At  Cherbourg  the  authorities  could  not  even  organise  a  ball  in  their  honour.« 

On  the  2ud  of  March,  1830,  Charles  X,  displaying  for  the  last  time  all 
the  pomp  of  royalty,  declared  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  deputies  and 
iKiors  his  intention  to  preserve  intact  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown  and 
French  institutions.  The  address  of  the  deputies  in  response  to  the  speech 
from  the  throne  showed  the  king  that  the  composition  of  his  new  cabinet 
was  dangerous  and  menacing  to  public  liberty.  Two  hundred  and  twenty- 
ono  members  as  against  186  voted  for  this  memorable  address.  The  king 
was  indignant.  He  complained  in  his  response  of  a  lack  of  support  and  con- 
cluded by  stating  that  his  resolves  were  known  and  were  unchangeable. 
The  chamber  A\'as  prorogued  and  then  dissolved. 

However,  the  council  had  tried  to  acquire  some  popularity  by  means  of  a 
military  success,  and  an  insult  offered  to  the  French  consul  by  the  dey  of 
Algiers  furnishtHl  the  ministers  a  favourable  opportunity  to  clear  the  sea 
of  barl>arv>us  pirates.*' 

WAR  WITH    ALGERIA 

The  Algerian  dey,  Hussein,  had  tH>me  into  power  in  1818.  No  dey  had 
been  so  well  obeveil.  His  foreign  ixtlioy  was  less  fortunate,  because  he  had 
illusions  alnnit  liis  own  stnMigth  and  thought  he  could  brave  the  European 
lowers  with  impunity.  This  error  caused  his  downfall.  The  relations  with 
France,  interrupte^l  Iluring  the  empire,  were  renewetl  in  ISIO  ;  but  the  un- 
derstanding was  never  very  oi^niial,  esj^e^nally  after  the  accession  of  Hussein. 
He  wished  the  annual  re\*euue  ^^aid  for  the  l^>niV;!!sdons  to  amount  to  300,000 
frauosk  according  to  the  oouvention  made  in  1817  with  the  dey  Omar:  France 
wi&hcii  to  keep  to  the  amount  of  iH\000  franca,  which  was  the  revenue  paid 
to  Ali  Khodja.  who  rtngne^l  Wtwe«n  Omar  and  Hussein.    The  dey  would  not 


CHARLES   X    AND   THE  JULY   REVOLUTION   OF   1830  43 

[iai9-1830  AJ>.] 

consent  to  the  fortifying  of  the  French  establisliinents  ;  the  execution  of  some 
works  of  defence  had  greatly  annoyed  him.  But  the  Bakri  aflfair  caused  him 
more  annoyance  than  anything  else. 

Baki'i  and  Busnah,  two  Algerian  Jews^  had  furnished  the  Directory  with 
a  large  amount  of  corn  which  hnd  not  been  entirely  paid  for;  the  empire 
gave  some  instalments.  In  ISli*  the  credit  was  fixed  at  seven  millions,  but 
the  convention  then  concluded  expressly  reserved  the  rights  of  certain 
Frenchmen  of  whom  Bakri  and  Busnah  were  debtors.  Opposition  arose, 
and  a  part  of  the  sura  was  kept  back  while  awaiting  the  decision  of  the 
tribunals. 

Hussein,  who  had  large  interests  in  the  business,  and  who  understood  noth- 
ing of  the  complicated  forms  of  French  justice,  was  indignant  at  the  delay.  At 
a  solemn  audience  he  questioned  the  French  consul  sharply  and  then  hit  him 
with  Ills  fan  and  sent  him  out  of  hts  presence  ;  a  more  prudent  and  dignified 
consid  would  not  have  provoked  such  a  scene ;  but  Deval  represented  France  ; 
a  reparation  was  necessary. 

A  naval  division  appeared  before  Algiers.  Hussein  absolutel}'  refused 
satisfaction;  June  15th,  1827,  war  was  declared;  immediately  tlie  French 
settlements,  which  they  had  taken  the  precaution  to  evacuate,  were  pillaged 
and  destroyed.  A  cruising  expediticm  then  began ;  but  the  blockade  soon 
proved  useless  ;  it  imposed  a  diflicult  and  dangerous  service  on  the  French 
navy,  it  cost  upwards  of  twenty  millions  in  three  years,  and  the  dey  appeared 
no  more  disposed  to  give  in  than  on  the  first  day. 

Since  1827  Clermont-Tonnerre,  then  minister  of  war,  had  been  inclined 
to  act  vigorously ;  England  made  almost  imperious  representations,  which 
were  answered  as  they  should  have  been.  Even  in  France,  the  opposing 
parties  disapproved  of  an  ex[)editiou;  they  saw  in  this,  not  without  some 
reason,  a  politiuid  artihee  to  turn  men's  minds  from  interior  ufTairs,  but  they 
also  forgot  that  national  honour  was  engaged. 

An  admiral,  Duperre,  at  hist  decided  to  accept  the  command  of  the  fieet. 
Bourmont,  minister  of  war,  kept  that  of  the  army  for  himself,  with  the  sole 
direction  of  the  enterprise.  It  was  decided  to  fortify  the  peninsula  to  make 
it  into  an  entrenched  camp,  a  place  of  refuge  in  case  of  defeat.  The  enemy, 
however,  had  taken  its  forces  to  Staoueli;  Ibrahim,  Hussein's  son-in- 
law,  took  with  him  the  Turkish  militia,  some  Kolougis  and  Moors  of 
Algiers,  the  contingent  of  the  beys,  and  some  thousand  Kabyles.  Among  the 
eye-witnesses,  some  enumerate  this  army  at  60,000  men,  others  only  at  20,000. 
The  confused  manoeuvring,  the  rapid  and  disorderly  movements  of  the 
Arabian  cavalry,  must  have  promoted  the  illusion  of  an  immense  multitude. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Turks  all  these  undisciplined  troops  presented  a 
poor  appearance  when  drawn  up  in  battle  order.  The  first  shock,  however, 
was  terrible;  on  the  morning  of  the  19th  iill  the  French  lines  were  assailed, 
but  the  attack  told  more  on  the  wings,  weaker  and  not  so  well  posted  as 
the  centre.  The  left  was  exposed  for  a  moment;  the  Turks  fought  with 
incredible  ardour;  the  horsemen  spurred  their  horses  and  sprang  over 
the  entrenchments.  But  the  French  army  had  the  advantage  of  tactics 
and  discipline.  After  a  desperate  fight  the  Algerians  retreated  to  their 
camp. 

The  dey  and  the  inhabitants  of  Algiers  had  no  doubt  of  success ;  there 
was  consternativ'>n  at  the  arrival  of  the  fugitives.  The  Algerians  hastened 
to  defend  Fort  Empert>r,  which  protected  the  town  on  the  southwest.  Emis- 
saries were  sent  on  all  sides  to  rally  the  Arabs,  the  Ulemas  preached  the 
holy  war. 


44  THE  HISTOEY  OF  FRANCE 

[1830  A.i>.) 

On  the  24th  the  French  lines  of  Staoueli  were  attacked ;  the  French  army 
easily  repulsed  the  aggressors,  pursued  them,  and  established  itself  on  the 
plateau  of  Sidi-Khaled.  The  days  of  the  25th,  26th,  27th,  and  28th  were 
difficult  and  murderous.  On  the  29th,  before  day,  the  offensive  movement 
commenced  all  along  the  line.  The  fleet  cannonaded  the  place  and,  without 
causing  much  damage,  added  by  this  opportune  demonstration  to  the  con- 
sternation of  the  population.  On  July  4th,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  entrenchment  was  opened  against  Fort  Emperor;  the  French  batteries 
then  uncovered  and  destroyed  it  with  their  fire. 

The  garrison  made  a  brave  defence,  but  the  contest  of  the  two  artilleries 
was  too  unequal ;  at  the  end  of  a  few  hours  the  Turks  had  their  embrasures 
demolished,  their  guns  dismounted,  their  gunners  disabled. 

Fort  Emperor  once  taken,  Algiers  could  no  longer  hold  out ;  Hussein 
signed  a  capitulation.^ 

The  victory,  however,  was  little  heeded  at  home  and  war  was  declared 
between  France  and  monarchy.  The  struggle  had  been  desperate  on  both 
sides.  The  opposition  brought  out  a  new  paper,  the  National^  edited  by 
Thiers  and  Mignet,  the  two  historians  of  tlie  Revolution,  and  Armand 
Carrel,  who  had  begun  his  public  career  as  leader  of  an  armed  conspiracy- 
This  paper  propagated  the  views  of  the  opposition  with  extreme  ardour. 
On  the  other  side  the  king  vainly  threw  his  name  and  his  influence  into  the 
scale.  The  result  was  a  crushing  defeat.  The  opposition  had  fought  for 
the  221  deputies  who  had  condemned  the  Polignac  ministry,  as  in  1877  they 
were  to  fight  for  the  863.  They  were  all  returned  again  and  fifty  more  elec- 
tions were  also  gained. 

The  Ordinances  of  Polignac  and  War  with  the  Pressy  18S0  A.D, 

The  defeated  ministry  prepared  a  coup  d'etat.  Taking  as  a  pretext  the 
wording  of  Article  14  of  the  charter,  they  resolved  to  suppress  the  liberties 
of  the  coimtry.  Three  ordinances  signed  by  all  the  ministers  formed  the 
reply  of  Charles  X  to  the  French  nation.  One  of  these  dissolved  the  cham- 
ber before  it  had  ever  met ;  so  that  the  country  had  been  consulted  and  had 
given  its  answer,  but  that  answer  was  treated  with  contempt.  Another 
abolished  liberty  of  the  press.  Henceforth  every  paper  would  be  forced 
to  obtain  the  royal  sanction ;  otherwise,  it  would  not  only  be  forbidden  to 
appear,  but  its  plant  would  be  destroyed.  The  third  created  a  new  electoral 
system.  It  would  no  longer  be  a  sufficient  qualification  for  a  vote  to  pay 
300  francs  in  taxes ;  patents  were  no  longer  to  be  taken  into  account ;  and 
all  electors  who  were  engaged  in  commerce  or  manufactures  were  to  be 
deprived  of  their  votes. 

The  last  two  ordinances  were  manifestly  unconstitutional :  they  violated 
the  laws  and  usurped  their  functions.  The  king's  pleasure  was  substituted 
for  the  votes  of  the  chambers.  This  was  a  return  to  absolute  monarchy. 
This  attempt  at  violence  was  made  in  incredible  ignorance  of  the  actual  situ- 
ation. Up  to  the  time  of  the  elections  the  ministers  had  thought  themselves 
certain  of  a  majority,  and,  even  after  the  results  were  known,  seemed  to 
have  an  inexplicable  confidence  in  the  measures  they  were  preparing.  They 
had  only  19,000  men  at  their  command  to  subdue  Paris. 

Secrecy  was  most  carefully  observed.  Nobody,  except  those  who  had 
drawn  them  up  and  signed  them,  knew  the  contents  of  the  ordinances,  when, 
on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  25th  July,  they  were  handed  over  to  the  chief 
editor  of  the  Moniteur  for  publication  the  following  morning.    The  editor 


■  CHARI*ES  X  AND  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  OF  1830  46 

|p|i|AJ>.] 

gimced  over  them,  and  turning  pale  said  to  the  minister:  ^^I  am  fifty-seven 
yeftrs  of  age ;  I  have  passed  through  all  the  revolutious,  but  I  now  withdraw 
overwhelmed  with  fear."  On  the  morning  of  the  26th  of  July^  1830,  the 
ordinances  publi^tied  in  tlie  Moniteur  burst  on  the  nation  like  a  thunderbolt. 
At  first  people  seemed  stupefied.  The  press  had  the  honour  of  setting  an 
example  of  action. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  one  of  the  edicts  suppressed  all  the  opposi- 
tion papers.  That  very  day  all  their  editors  signed  a  protest  of  which  the 
following  words  contain  the  gist :  To-day  the  government  lias  lost  that  con- 
stitutional character  which  alone  commands  obedience.  And  they  added 
that  they  would  use  every  possible  means  to  publish  their  papers  in  defiance 
of  the  authority  of  the  government.  Among  the  young  writers  who  perhaps 
risked  their  lives  by  affixing  their  signatures  to  this  bold  protest,  were  some 
who  were  destined  to  play  an  important  part  in  public  affairs.  The  protest 
was  signed  by  Thiers,  Mignet,  Armand  Carrel,  Remusat,  and  Pierre  Leroux, 
This  intrepid  action  of  tlie  press  was  the  first  reply  to  the  coup  d'etat. 
Their  actions  were  as  bold  as  their  words;  and  when  on  the  following  day 
the  police  attempted  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  ordinance,  the  com- 
missary of  police  found  the  proprietor  of  the  paper,  with  tite  law  in  his  hand, 
threatening  the  agent  of  the  government  with  the  punishment  due  to  theft 
aggravated  by  housebreaking.     A  crowd  collected  and  protested  loudly. 

The  locksmith  who  had  been  summoned  to  break  up  the  phint  refused  to 
do  80,  and  was  heartily  applauded.  Another  was  sent  for,  wlio  also  refused. 
Not  a  workman  could  be  found  who  was  willing  to  raise  his  himd  against  the 
instrument  of  public  liberty.  It  was  found  necessary  at  last  to  have  recourse 
to  the  wretch  whose  duty  it  was  to  aliix  the  fetters  worn  by  convicts. 

Sucli  was  the  laAvful  resistance  which  most  politicians  of  that  time,  whether 
journalists  or  deputies,  considered  the  only  possible  eouise. 

PELLETAN'S   account  op  the  three  days   op  J0LY 

The  first  day,  the  wrath  of  Paris,  kept  in  check  by  amazement,  had  the 
appearance  of  hesitation ;  people  were  waiting  and  consulting.  The  next 
day,  July  2Tth,  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  city  became  articulate.  The  mid- 
dle classes  and  the  working  people  began  to  express  their  feelings;  street 
orators  were  active,  and  stones  were  thrown  at  the  police  outside  the  Palais 
Uoyal.  A  barricade  was  raised  near  the  French  Theatre ;  men  formed  them- 
aelves  into  bands ;  shots  were  fired  and  the  pavements  had  begun  to  be  stained 
with  blood;  but  the  movement  had  begun  outside  the  popular  quarters  of 
the  town ;   the  mass  of  the  people  had  not  yet  joined  it. 

However,  the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun  shone  on  a  well-nigh  forgotten 
sight  —  an  unknown  man  ran  along  the  quays  waving  a  strip  of  blue»  white, 
and  red  stuff.  This  was  the  tricolour  flag,  which  had  formerly  sprung  from 
the  ruins  of  the  Bastille  to  wave  over  a  nation  rescued  and  delivered  from 
tyranny.  This  was  the  flag  of  the  convention  and  the  empire,  which,  borne 
by  the  regiments  from  Madrid  to  Moscow,  from  Cairo  to  Amsterdam,  had 
shaken  liberty  from  its  folds  in  its  passage  through  the  nations.  This  was 
the  proscribed  flag,  which  througliout  Europe  lay  hidflen  in  the  depths  of 
men^s  memories,  as  the  symbol  of  liberties  destroyed  and  nations  remorse- 
leaaly  crushed. 

Whoever  the  unknown  man  was  who  first  waved  the  tricolour  in  the 
sunlight^  he  had  thoroughly  grasped  the  spirit  of  the  situation.  The  ques- 
tion at  issue  had  ceased  to  be  the  maintenance  of  a  royal  constitution,  the 


46  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

downfall  of  a  minister,  or  the  re-establishment  of  a  king:  above  all  these 
more  limited  ideas,  the  cause  of  popular  liberty  was  now  supreme.  A  father- 
land whioh  had  been  assailed,  a  revolution  which  had  been  defeated,  had  now 
to  be  reckoned  with. 

The  question  at  issue  was  between  the  people  and  the  Bourbons.  On 
the  28th  the  people  rose  in  arms.  Workmen,  citizens,  students,  marched 
out  pell-mell  to  fight.  A  student  from  the  Polytechnic  who  had  been  ex- 
pelled for  having  sung  the  MaraeillaiBe  —  Charras,  afterwards  a  minister 
under  the  republic,  and  one  of  the  most  celebrated  among  those  who  were 
proscribed  under  the  second  empire  —  had  informed  his  comrades  the  day 
before  of  what  was  to  take  place,  and  they  had  forced  the  gates  of  the  school 
in  order  to  be  present  at  the  battle.  None  of  the  people  had  any  weapons, 
and  they  were  obliged  to  equip  themselves  as  well  as  they  could.  Here  an 
armourer's  shop  was  broken  into  and  pillaged,  there  a  military  post  was  sur> 
prised,  or  barracks  were  attacked  ;  and  manufacturers  and  merchants  might 
be  seen  distributing  muskets. 

To  the  open  space  in  front  of  the  Exchange  two  carriages,  driven  by 
jStienne  Arago,  brought  a  store  of  guns  and  uniforms,  which  were  being 
used  at  the  Vaudeville  in  a  military  play.  Next  the  Musee  d'Artillerie  waa 
attacked,  and  military  equipments  which  had  belonged  to  warriors  of  the 
Middle  Ages  were  seized  ;  so  for  this  epic  battle  the  people  borrowed  theat- 
rical properties  and  the  rusty  uniforms  of  ancient  knights. 

Since  the  day  before,  the  government  had  understood  that  they  reqidred 
an  efficient  military  leader :  they  had  chosen  Marshal  Marmont,  duke  de 
Raguse.  His  was  a  very  unpopular  name.  In  1814,  at  the  time  of  Napoleon's 
first  defeat,  Marmont,  whilst  negotiations  were  going  on,  had  prematurely 
yielded  to  the  enemy  some  important  positions  before  Paris.  This  shadow 
of  a  terrible  suspicion  hung  over  him.  Besides,  having  served  as  a  soldier 
under  the  republic  and  the  empire,  he  was  now  about  to  shed  French  blood 
in  support  of  a  coup  d'etat  of  which  he  did  not  approve.  His  plan  of 
action  was  soon  made  ;  from  the  Tuileries  where  he  was,  two  columns  of 
troops  would  drive  back  the  insurgents,  one  by  the  boulevards,  the  other  by 
the  quays.  A  body  of  troops  posted  at  the  market  of  the  Innocents,  and 
clearing  the  whole  length  of  the  rue  St.  Denis,  would  maintain  communica- 
tions between  the  two  columns. 

But  on  all  sides,  in  that  close  network  of  streets  and  alleys  which  formed 
the  heart  of  Paris,  and  which  were  not  yet  intersected  by  the  wide  thorough- 
fares which  exist  in  the  present  day,  in  front  and  behind  the  lines  of  troops, 
combatants  seemed  to  spring  up  in  myriads  as  if  they  rose  out  of  the  very 
ground  ;  the  streets  were  bristling  with  barricades,  and  a  battle  was  waging 
at  every  cross-road.  The  columns  were  both  stopped,  one  at  the  Hotel-de- 
ViUe  and  one  at  the  Bastille ;  the  troops  at  the  market  of  the  Innocents 
were  surrounded  and  cut  off ;  the  army  seemed  lost  in  this  immense  rising 
of  Parisians. 

What  an  heroic  crowd  it  was  I  After  fifteen  years  of  peace,  the  citizens 
of  1830  proved  themselves  worthy  of  the  soldiers  of  Jeramapes,  Fleurus, 
and  Austerlitz.  A  fine  sense  of  a  fraternity  in  courage  and  enthusiasm 
united  the  rich  and  the  poor.  The  Paris  street-boy  shared  in  the  perils  of 
the  day  with  his  usual  saucy  intrepidity.  During  the  battle,  a  boy  of  fifteen 
brought  a  packet  of  cartridges  to  Charras,  saying,  "  We  will  go  shares,  but 
only  on  condition  that  you  will  lend  me  your  gun  so  that  I  may  take  my 
turn  at  firing."  Certain  of  the  combatants  had  not  money  to  buy  bread  ; 
in  the  rue  St.  Joseph  a  citizen  saw  a  workman  who  was  fighting  at  his  side 


r  CHARLES  X  AND  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  OF  1830  47 

stagger,  and  said  to  him:  "You  are  -wounded?"  "No,  I  am  starving." 
The  other  offered  him  a  Hve-franc  piece.  Then  the  workman  puUed  out 
from  his  blood-stained  shirt  a  strip  of  the  royaliat  flag,  saying:  '*  I  will  give 
vou  this  in  exchange/*  A  hundred  incidents  proved  that  the  combatants 
felt  that  the  same  blood  was  flowing  in  their  veins,  though  they  were  fight- 
ing on  different  sides.  In  one  case  an  otticer  had  received  a  dangerous  l)low 
from  an  iron  bar,  but,  with  his  face  batlied  in  blood,  he  warded  off  with  his 
svford  the  bayonets  which  were  about  to  pierce  the  man  who  had  struck  him. 
In  another  place  the  corpse  of  an  insurgent  was  lying  near  the  tricolour  flag; 
some  soldiers  passed  by  and  they  and  their  officers  all  saluted. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  war  that  raged  all  over  Paris. 
On  the  28th  the  thick  of  the  fight  had  been  at  the  market  of  the  Innocents 
id  round  the  Hotel-de-Ville.  To  reach  it,  it  wiis  necessary  to  cross  the 
ispension  bridge,  which  was  under  a  constant  fire.  A  young  man  sprang 
forwanl  with  a  tricolour  flag  in  his  hand:  "If  I  fall,'*  he  criea,  "remember 
that  my  name  was  Arcole."  Hia  name  was  given  to  tlie  bridge  which  was 
consecrated  by  his  heroic  death.  Nightfall  interrupted  the  fighting. 
Silence  and  solitude  descended  on  the  bloody  streets,  on  the  deserted  barri- 
cades, and   on   the  corpses   lying  in  the  shadow.     Nothing  disturbed  the 

It  solemnity  of  that  terrible  night  but  the  footsteps  of  the  troops  as  they 
'Bcuated  the  town  in  order  to  mass  themselves  round  the  Tuileries, 

On  the  morning  of  the  29th,  fighting  began  again.  Two  battles  took 
place  that  day,  both  against  the  Swiss  Guard.  This  foreign  guard  was  the 
last  resource  of  the  monarchy,  just  as  it  had  been  on  the  occasion  of  the  10th 
of  August,  1792.  The  Swiss  troops  belonged  to  the  king,  not  to  the  nation. 
On  the  left  bank  of  the  river  the  Polytechnic  school,  at  the  head  of  several 
cobimns  of  workmen  and  students,  laid  siege  to  the  Babylon  barracks. 
Charras  led  one  of  the  columns.  Vaneau  was  killed  by  a  bullet  in  the  head, 
and  the  street  where  he  fell  was  called  after  him.  The  barracks  were  taken, 
but  a  more  decisive  struggle  had  taken  place  elsewliere. 

On  the  right  bank,  the  people  had  only  to  get  possession  of  tlie  vast 
enclosure  of  the  palace  formed  by  the  Louvre  and  the  Tuileries.  Since  the 
day  before  they  had  been  besieging  the  front  of  the  Louvre  before  St.  Germain 
TAuxerrois.  The  Swiss,  posted  in  the  colonnade,  directed  a  murderous  fire 
on  the  assailants.  A  blunder,  made  while  changing  the  battalion  posted 
there,  left  the  colonnade  unprotected  :  in  an  instant  the  people  stormed  tlie 
entrance  and  broke  in  through  the  windows,  firing  from  those  which  looked 
on  to  the  courtyard.  The  Swiss,  taken  by  surprise,  were  seized  with  a 
panic,  the  officers  were  unable  to  restore  order,  and  they  were  chased  by  the 
people  as  far  as  the  place  de  la  Concorde.  The  crowd  then  for  the  second 
time  made  their  way  into  the  conquered  palace.  They  had  already  entered 
it  on  the  10th  of  August,  1792,  and  they  were  to  enter  it  again  in  February, 
1848,  and  in  September,  1870. 


Charles  X  deposed 

Each  of  these  visits  signified  the  fall  of  a  monarchy.  And  this  time,  as 
on  every  similar  occasion,  was  seen  the  spectacle  of  a  crowd  of  starving  men 
keeping  guard,  without  attempting  to  touch  it,  over  the  wealth  of  treasure 
which  was  passing  from  the  king  to  the  nation.  Thus  ended  that  most  glori- 
ous struggle,  the  result  of  which  was  greeted  by  universal  acclamations. 
Where,  during  those  terrible  days,  were  the  men  who  on  one  side  or  the 
other  represented  the  principles  for  which  France  was  fighting? 


48  THE  HISTORY  OF  FKAHCE 

[1830  Aj>.] 

Charles  X  was  at  St.  Cloud.  The  day  the  ordinances  appeared  (July 
26th)  he  was  stag-hunting  until  the  evening  at  Rambouillet.  Partly  owing 
to  an  incomprehensible  carelessness  and  partly  to  avoid  the  unpleasantness 
of  the  struggle,  he  had  kept  out  of  reach  of  the  storm  which  had  assailed  his 
crown.  He  was  told  :  "  Stocks  have  fallen  " ;  and  replied,  "  They  will  go 
up  again."  Then  they  said,  *'  Paris  is  in  a  state  of  anarchy."  To  this  he 
answered,  "  Anarchy  will  bring  her  to  my  feet."  The  most  faithful  royal- 
ists, trying  to  make  the  king  realise  his  position,  found  him  incredulous. 
Even  on  the  29th,  when  the  revolutionists,  after  three  days'  fighting,  were 
driving  the  army  from  Paris,  Charles  X,  six  miles  away,  kept  on  repeating 
that  every  measure  was  being  taken  to  suppress  the  insurrection. 

Three  days'  war  had  raged ;  officers  and  men  alike  sad  at  heart  had  found 
themselves  obliged  to  shed  French  blood.  Men  who  should  have  been  the 
glory  of  their  country,  politicians,  artists,  and  philc^ophers,  had  been  made 
the  mark  for  French  bullets ;  the  people  and  the  army  had  covered  the 
streets  with  corpses,  and  all  the  time  the  king  refused  to  believe  what  was 
happening. 

It  was  only  on  the  evening  of  the  29th,  when  the  army  returned  to  St. 
Cloud  and  he  heard  of  their  defeat,  that  he  agreed  to  withdraw  the  ordinances 
and  change  the  ministry.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  a  game  of 
whist  that  he  played,  whilst  Mortemart,  who  was  to  be  the  new  minister, 
was  awaiting  his  instructions.  Ten  hours  later  Charles  X  was  still  hesitat- 
ing, and  it  was  only  at  daybreak  on  the  30th  of  July  that  the  king  made 
up  his  mind — just  twenty -four  hours  after  the  triumph  of  the  Revolution. 

The  next  evening,  after  two  long  days  of  hesitation,  in  the  midst  of 
troops  decimated  by  desertion,  Charles  X  at  last  resolved  to  retire  to  Ram- 
bouillet ;  this  was  the  first  stage  on  his  way  to  exile.  Most  of  the  men  who 
were  looked  upon  as  the  leaders  of  the  victorious  party  had  done  little  more 
fighting  on  their  side  than  Charles  X  had  done  on  his.  When  they  met  on 
the  very  day  the  edicts  were  issued  there  was  division  in  the  camp.  If  some, 
notably  La  Fayette,  were  anxious  for  revolt,  others  not  only  did  not  desire  it, 
but  actually  feared  it.  All  the  deliberations  of  the  deputies  and  other  influ- 
ential persons  during  these  three  days  were  fruitless,  as  no  decision  was 
reached.  At  last,  on  the  28th  of  July,  they  sent  five  of  their  number  to 
Marshal  Marmont,  who  was  already  being  urged  by  the  great  astronomer 
Arago  to  put  a  stop  to  bloodshed.  Polignac  refused  to  see  the  five  deputies, 
and  while  they  were  opening  tardy  negotiations  with  St.  Cloud,  the  people 
completed  their  victory. 

On  the  evening  of  the  28th,  the  monarchy  being  abolished,  there  was  no 
recognised  authority  in  Paris. ^  An  unknown  man  named  Dubourg,  dressed 
in  a  general's  uniform  borrowed  from  a  theatre,  and  the  journalist  Baude 
who  appointed  himself  secretary  to  a  provisional  government  which  did  not 
exist,  had  only  to  take  their  places  in  the  H6tel-de-Ville,  which  the  troops 
had  abandoned,  in  order  to  exercise  a  certain  amount  of  power.  On  the 
evening  of  the  29th  La  Fayette  took  possession  of  the  H6tel-de-Ville  and  was 
reinforced  by  a  commission  consisting  of  Casimir  Perier,  Lobau,  Schonen, 
Audry  de  Puyraveau,  and  Mauguin ;  Laffitte,  whose  house  had  been  latterly 
the  headquarters  of  the  victors,  and  General  Gerard,  who  continued  to  be  the 
military  chief  of  the  new  government,  declining  to  join  the  commission. 

[1  Men  who  had  received  their  warrant  from  themselves  alone,  installed  themselves  in  the 
Hfttel-de-Ville  as  representatives  of  the  provisional  government ;  and  in  that  capacity  they 
parodied  the  majesty  of  command,  signed  orders,  distributed  employments,  and  conferred  dig- 
nities. Their  reign  was  short,  because  those  who  would  dare  greatly  must  be  able  to  do  greatly ; 
but  it  was  real,  and  gave  occasion  to  scenes  of  unexampled  buffoonery.  —  Louis  Blano.^J 


P  CHARLES  X  A^D  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION   OF  1830  49 

[1830  A.D.] 

THE    DUKE    OF  ORLEANS    MADE    LIEUTENANT-GKNKBAL    OF    THE    KINGDOM 

Those  who  Ijad  taken  no  part  in  the  Oghting  wished  to  take  advantage  of 
the  victory.  Most  of  them  had  already  begun  to  think  of  the  duke  of  Orleans. 
As  often  happens  in  reigning  families  the  Orleans  branch,  the  younger  branch, 
was  always  in  a  state  of  rivalry  with  the  elder  branch  of  Bourbons.  Since 
1789  the  duke  of  Orleans  had  supported  the  revolutionary  party;  whilst  his 
cousins  were  amongst  the  emigres,  he,  a  member  of  the  convention,  having 
given  up  using  his  title  and  assumed  the  name  of  FhiUp])e  Egalite,  voted  in 
favour  of  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  His  son,  duke  of  Orleans  in  1792,  had 
fought  under  the  tricolour  with  Dumouriez  at  Jeinmapes.  Though  he  had 
emigrated  afterwards,  yet  on  the  Restoration  ho  had  again  declared  himself 
a  liberal.  The  family  has  always  maintained  this  variable  attitude,  some- 
times supporting,  sometimes  deserting  the  revolutionary  party. 

After  1815  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  sometimes  a  prince  of  the  blood, 
sometimes  the  hope  of  the  revolutionists.  He  alternately  claimed  the  largest 
share  of  the  indemnity  paid  to  the  emigres,  or  openly  took  tlie  part  of  Beranger 
and  General  Foy;  he  at  one  time  obtained  from  Charles  X  tlie  title  of  Royal 
Highness,  and  at  another  would  pose  as  a  citizen-prince. 

The  example  of  England  was  in  everybody's  mind.  It  wfis  by  detlironing 
the  lawful  king  and  putting  in  his  place  a  prince  of  a  lateral  branch  that  the 
English  had  gained  their  liberties  in  1688.  For  a  long  time  many  jieople 
had  been  hoping  that  a  similar  change  might  bring  about  a  similar  result  in 
France. 

On  the  80th  Thiers  and  Mignet  hurried  to  Neuilly  where  the  prince  lived, 
but  he  was  not  there.  In  the  morning  the  deputies  met  at  the  house  of 
Laffitte,  and  decided  to  hold  a  session  at  noon  at  the  Bourbon  palace.  There 
it  was  decided  to  offer  the  "lieutenanc}'  of  the  kingdom"  to  the  duke  of 
Orleans.  He  hesitated,  tried  to  gain  time,  and  was  finally,  it  is  said,  per- 
suaded by  the  advice  of  Talleyrand.     On  the  31st  he  accejrted. 

The  Revolution  was  sacrificed  for  his  benefit.  But  would  those  who 
had  brought  it  about  permit  this?  It  was  doubtful.  The  duke  of  Orleans 
decided  to  confront  the  danger  by  going  through  Paris  to  the  H6tel-de-Ville. 
A  good  deal  of  dissatisfaction  was  manifested  in  the  streets.  People  were 
saying  to  themselves,  "What?  Another  Bourbon  !"  His  life  was  at  the 
mercy  of  the  populace.  An  adverse  movement  seemed  imminent,  but  it  did 
not  take  place.  At  the  H6tel-de-Ville  La  Fayette  appeared  on  the  balcony 
and  was  received  with  acclamations;  the  duke  of  Orleans  embraced  htm  and 
was  applauded  too.     Ho  had  gained  the  crown. 

Charles  X  had  finally  abdicated  in  favour  of  a  child,  the  duke  de  Bor- 
deaux. His  was  a  strange  destiny.  He,  whom  the  royalists  called  Henry  V, 
was  only  to  reign  for  one  day  an<i  that  at  the  age  of  ten  I  The  old  king  was 
convinced  that  the  duke  of  Orleans  had  only  accepted  the  *'  lieutenancy  of 
the  kingdom  '*  for  the  purpose  of  re-establishing  legitimate  authority  in  the 
person  of  Henry  V.  The  duke  found  himself  in  a  difiicult  position  between 
the  revolutionists  who  had  offered  him  a  throne,  and  Charles  X,  to  whom  he 
owed  so  much  I  Very  opportvinely,  owing  to  an  alarm  raised  in  Paris,  on 
the  3rd  of  August  a  little  band  of  Parisians  marched  on  Runibouillet.  It 
vas  a  strange  jumble  of  national  guards,  volunteers,  students  with  soldiers^ 
belts  over  their  black  coats,  workmen  wearing  helmets,  many  of  them  in 
omnibuses  or  cabs  chartered  for  the  occasion.  This  disorderly  troop  set  out 
on  a  march  of  forty-five  miles  without  victuals  and  quite  unprepared  for  any 
emergency.     At  the  same  time  the  duke  of  Orleans  sent  Marshal  Matson, 

IL   W.  —  VOL.   XUl.    B 


60  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1688-1830  A.l>.] 

Schonen,  and  Odilon  Barrot  to  Rambouillet.  He  had  eiven  the  Parisians  to 
understand  that  Charles  X  might  prove  dangerous,  and  he  warned  Charles  X 
that  sixty  thousand  Parisians  were  marching  against  him,  and  that  he  had 
better  provide  for  his  safety.  Thus  he  got  rid  of  the  old  king.  Charles  X 
and  his  family  were  accompanied  as  far  as  Cherbourg  by  his  cousin's  three 
envoys.  Thence  he  went  into  exile  where  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons 
was  to  die  out.  On  the  9th  of  August,  1830,  the  duke  of  Orleans  was 
solemnly  proclaimed  king  under  the  name  of  Louis  Philippe  I,  king  of  the 
French.* 

HILLEBBAND'S  parallel  between  the  revolution  op  1688  AND  1830 

The  French  1688  was  accomplished :  the  kingdom  of  God*s  grace  had 
made  way  for  a  kingdom  of  conventions.  Whilst  the  ^'Glorious  Revolu- 
tion "  had  sealed  the  representative  system  in  England,  the  "  Great  Week  " 
forever  put  an  end  to  it  in  France.  Instead  of  the  balance  of  power  between 
the  crown,  the  house  of  peers,  and  the  house  of  commons,  the  real  or  seem- 
ingly unlimited  authority  of  the  latter  stepped  in.  The  victory  of  the  221, 
that  is  to  say  the  majority  of  the  house,  was  like  that  of  Pyrrhus,  as  is  every 
victory  which  is  only  due  to  the  assistance  of  uncertain  confederates.  Their 
leaders  would  infallibly  have  come  into  power,  even  if  the  throne  had  not 
been  overturned,  and  they  would  have  taken  over  the  government  under 
circumstances  far  more  favourable  to  themselves  and  the  land,  if  the  irre- 
sponsibility of  the  throne  had  been  regarded,  and  the  dangerous  support  of 
the  street  riots  disdained. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Charles  X  was  the  last  monarch  of  France  who 
attempted  to  oppose  his  will  to  the  majority  of  the  House.  From  hence- 
forth not  only  did  the  minister  require  a  similar  majority  so  as  to  retain  his 
office,  but  also  the  leaders  of  the  state  —  king,  emperor,  or  president  —  were 
dependent  on  Parliament,  the  fiction  of  an  irresponsible  leader  of  the  state 
was  forever  ended,  and  the  upper  house  was  practically  a  thing  of  the  past. 
According  to  this  it  was  only  natural  and  right  that  from  henceforth  all 
leaders  of  the  state  should,  if  only  artificially,  seek  to  assure  the  majority  in 
the  Commons  and  to  accustom  themselves  to  consider  every  opponent  of  tneir 
minister  as  their  own  opponent,  views  which  the  nation  ^ared  and  still 
shares. 

At  times  the  capital  which  helped  the  parliamentary  majority  to  win  in 
1830  may  have  fought  and  conquered  this  majority,  as  in  the  years  1848 
and  1870,  but  only  to  withdraw  her  taxes  after  a  short  interregnum.  Iii 
England,  the  House  of  Commons  only  became  all-powerful  a  century  after 
the  Revolution,  and  the  irresponsibility  of  the  crown  is  still  undisputed 
to-day.  The  convention  of  1688  was  the  voluntary  agreement  of  two 
equally  powerful  contractors ;  the  convention  of  1830  was  a  one-sided  and 
conditional  offer  to  which  the  one  party  submitted  and  which  the  other 
simply  signed. 

In  other  respects  the  popular  comparison  between  1688  and  1830  was  no 
less  sound.  The  eminent  German  statesman  Stein  at  that  time  wrote  to 
Gagern  that  only  the  spirit  of  falsehood  and  deception  could  find  a  resem- 
blance between  Charles  X  and  James  II.  He  asks,  "Where  is  the  barbarian 
Jeffreys?  Where  are  the  endeavours  and  attempts  to  establish  a  strange 
church  in  the  place  of  the  national  church  ?  Where  is  the  treaty  with  a 
strange  monarch  to  destroy  the  administration  and  religion  of  his  own 
land  ?    Where  is  the  money  that  the  stranger  will  receive  for  this  purpose  ? 


^ 


I 


^ 


^^— ^CHARLES  X  AND  THE  JULY  REVOLUTION  OF  1830  51 

^^^^BO  A.D.] 

And  we  might  further  ask  :  Avherein  lay  the  future  danger  ?  Was  Henry  V 
born  into  a  church  hostile  to  his  own  country,  and  baptised  like  James  III? 
Did  the  Parisian  workers  and  students  —  whose  political  wisdom  had  at  first 
discovered  and  made  known  the  inconsistency  of  the  eip^ht  hundred  years 
of  national  dynasty  with  the  interests  and  views  of  France,  whilst  the 
entire  nation  held  contrary  views  —  possess  the  same  importance  as  the 
experienced  statesmen  who,  in  1688,  amidst  the  rejoicings  of  the  middle 
classes  and  people  of  the  land,  and  assisted  by  the  church  and  aristocracy, 
called  the  daughter  of  James  II  to  the  throne  of  Enjrland  ?  Did  Louia 
Philippe  gain  his  crown  against  foreign  armies,  as  William  fought  for  his 
at  the  bloody  battle  of  tlie  Boyne,  after  having  at  th«  head  of  his  troops 
obtained  it  by  defiance  from  the  politicians  who  would  so  willingly  have 
made  of  him  prince  consort  and  their  creature?  And  William  was  not 
content  with  the  acts  of  Parliament  but  also  made  his  own.  The  childless 
monarch  only  acted  in  the  interests  of  the  statesmen,  not  in  that  of  his  own 
person  or  of  the  family,  and  considering  his  childless  position,  as  well  aa 
his  Dutch  disposition  and  the  confessional  side  of  his  rdle,  one  might  well 
gay;  William  of  Orange  as  regent  for  his  brfither-iu-law  a  minor — in  the 
guardianship  of  whom  none  could  have  excelled  him  —  could  nt'ver  attain 
that  which  he  attained  as  king,  and  thiit  Louis  Pliilij>pe  on  his  side  would 
have  attained  without  trouble,  had  he  reigned  in  his  own  name,  instead  of 
in  that  of  the  minor  Henry  V  for  whom  he  had  been  appointed  regent." 

The  insurrection  which  served  as  motive  for  the  violation  of  the  con- 
stitution on  the  25th  of  July,  was  artfully  called  forth  by  some  secret  cove- 
nanters and  journalists;  but  when  after  long  procrastination  it  really  broke 
out,  the  whole  of  the  middle  class  of  France  backed  up  the  July  combatants, 
although  they  took  no  active  part  in  the  fight  —  for  seldom  in  history  has  a 
deed  been  so  firmly  corroborated  by  eye-witnesses  on  all  sides,  as  the  inac- 
tivity of  the  middle  class  in  this  fight.  Even  after  they  had  been  carried 
away  by  a  moral  if  not  active  participation  they  only  wished  to  defend  the 
constitution,  at  the  most  to  extend  it  and  to  prevent  its  being  attacked  — 
not  to  change  the  dynasty.  Certainly  the  sense  of  the  insurrection  was 
first  falsified  by  the  conspirators  —  republicans  and  Orlcaniats  —  who  made 
themselves  masters  of  the  situation,  and  under  pretext  of  protecting  the 
threatened  sUitutes  undertook  to  dismiss  the  kiug*s  guilty  counsellors,  to  do 
itxTAy  with  his  law  and  the  king  himself.  Thus  the  nation  remains  respon- 
Bible  to  history  for  the  result,  as  the  wearer  of  the  new  crown  accepted  the 
responsibility  of  what  had  happened,  although  throughout  the  whole  affair 
be  lud  been  more  sinned  against  than  sinning.  And  if  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  had  often  dreamed  of  the  throne,  there  is  no  proof  that  he  ever 
aspired  to  it  through  conspiracy  or  intrigue. 

For  in  public  as  in  private  life  we  not  only  act  by  what  we  do,  but  also 
by  what  we  allow  to  be  done,  how  much  more  by  that  which  is  termed  good- 
ness. When  and  where  did  a  people  acknowletlge  having  done  something 
more  energetically  and  unconditionally  than  the  French  after  the  July  days? 

Not  only  those  who  were  late  in  liastening  to  the  fight  but  also  those  not 
concerned  in  it  wished  to  acknowledge  this  as  a  great  national  event ;  and 
if  the  feeling  shown  towards  the  new  monarch,  almost  unknown  to  the  mass 
of  the  nation,  was  less  spirited  and  less  genera!  than  that  shown  for  this 
event,  the  nation  nevertheless  imposed  on  it,  and  in  no  way  reacted- against 
it  as  it  did  against  the  republic  in  1848,  towards  which  it  would  have  acted 
differently  in  1830.  And  it  not  only  confirmed  this  change  by  silent 
acknowledgment  but  also  by  the  expressed  oath  of  representatives  of  the 


52  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

(1688-1830  A.l>.] 

people,  of  the  House  of  Lords,  of  almost  all  military  and  civil  state  officii 
above  all  by  tbe  loud  and  unanimous  respect  shown  by  all  towiis»  plaoe8>^ 
villages,  and  communities  of  the  land. 

The  old  dynasty  which  had  been  estranged  from  the  nation  by  the  twenty- 
five  years  of  revolution  and  empire  had  not  yet  sufficiently  grown  accustomed 
to  it,  and  Charles  X  had  placed  every  difficulty  in  the  way  of  approximation. 
No  doubt  tlie  nation  would  have  liked  to  see  the  reigning  family  retained, 
but  as  they  were  only  drawn  to  it  by  considerations  of  profit  and  fear 
of  overthrow,  and  not  by  a  feeling  of  warm  attachment  or  a  deep  insight 
into  the  afifairs  of  the  kingdom,  they  gave  it  up  with  all  the  cheerfulness 
so  peculiar  to  the  French  in  public  affairs.  No  idea  was  formed  as  to  the 
extent  of  this  change  ;  the  kingdom  still  existed  ;  that  its  life-giving  roots 
had  been  cut  off  wiia  not  taken  into  consideration.  They  were  only  too 
glad  to  have  been  let  off  so  .cheaply.  This  feeling  effaced  all  regret  as 
well  as  all  feai-s,  which  the  fall  of  the  old  kingdom  might  have  instilled 
into  less  unscrupulous  minds. 

The  July  Revolution  was  generally  felt  to  be  a  liberation  and  was  accepted 
with  enthusiasm ;  and  no  less  outside  of  France,  and  rightly ;  for  tliia  revolu- 
tion was  more  protitable  to  foreign  parts  than  to  the  country  which  made  it. 
Europe  breathed  again  as  after  a  nightmare.  Everywhere  nations  awoke  at 
this  earl}' call,  stirred  and  stretched  Uiemselves  in  their  chains,  and  although 
they  were  not  yet  to  succeed  looked  to  see  where  they  could  cast  them  off, 
for  the  long,  long  night  was  over.  It  had  been  a  gloomy  time  for  Europe: 
fifteen  years  of  darkness  only  illimiinated  by  the  reflection  of  princely 
feasts  and  congresses,  fifteen  years  of  silence  only  broken  by  tbe  melodious 
voices  of  incomparable  artists  who  seemed  to  wish  t-o  sing  the  people  into 
a  deeper  slt^ep.  For  Franre  it  had  Loun  a  bright  and  alert  time  which  was 
now  so  suddenly  interrupted  :  a  time  of  lighting  for  the  highest  treasures, 
strong  reliance  in  the  victory  of  the  good,  and  of  pure  enthusiasm  for 
ideal  aims.     Now  all  this  was  ended. 

The  July  Revolution  was  the  last  flicker  of  the  flame  of  1789,  and 
although  a  great  deal  of  deception  was  mixed  in  the  enthusinsni,  and  pathos 
and  declamation  were  less  naive  than  forty  years  before,  "  the  great  week  ** 
rightfully  lives  in  the  traditions  of  the  nation  as  the  most  heroic  and  glorious 
of  all  the  great  battles  of  the  past  ninety  years,  not  so  much  because  the 
victory  was  more  unsullied,  sacrificing,  and  magnanimous  than  all  others, 
but  because  the  elevation  was  the  sublimest  of  all. 

With  this  elevation,  the  poetry  of  the  Revolution  ended,  the  hour  of  prose 
had  struck.  There  began  a  bitter  strife  for  power  and  gain,  a  life  in  the 
moment  and  for  the  moment,  a  mastery  of  phrases  such  as  had  never  been  seen 
before  and  which  in  the  end  degenenited  into  conscious  lies.  For  the  entire 
movement  was  the  outcome  of  the  great  reaction  of  Rousseau  and  his  times 
against  the  calmness  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  it  lasted  until  the  fresh 
calmness  stepped  in,  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  All  the  inspira- 
tions of  the  times  were  hollowed  out  into  empty  words  during  those  twenty 
years  ;  instead  of  the  thoughts  and  sentiments  which  had  filled  the  race,  there 
arose  vain  forms,  behind  which  covetousness  and  pure  egotism  were  hidden. 
These  were  not  to  be  dethroned  after  tbe  cooling  down  of  1849-1850,  but 
they  were  unmasked,  and  it  is  characteristic  of  our  times  that  after  the 
extinction  of  enthusiasm  and  want  of  idealism,  under  the  ever  more  grasping 
rule  of  a  sceptical  and  positive  comprehension  of  life,  they  have  at  least  the 
courage  to  honour  the  truth,  on  which  the  former  race,  either  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  laid  so  little  stress.  I 


CHARLES  X  AND  THE  JULY  EEVOLUTION  OF  1830  53 

(1830  AJ).] 

MABTIK   ON  THE  JULY   BEVOLXJTION 

It  mast  be  recognised  that — given  the  conditions  of  French  history 
since  '89,  and  the  social  state  of  France  being  what  it  was,  and  so  different 
from  that  of  England —  after  the  national  sovereignty  had  ouce  been  re-estab- 
lished, the  republic  must  also  take  its  turn.  In  1830  the  question  however 
was  not  to  know  if  the  republic  were  the  last  word  of  the  French  Revolution, 
but  if  the  time  were  come  to  pronounce  that  word  irrevocably. 

France  was  not  then  at  all  ready.  Memories  of  the  Terror  oppressed  the 
im^ination  and  were  stiU  generally  confounded  with  the  idea  of  a  republic  ; 
an  irresistible  current  carried  the  liberal  citizenry  to  an  imitation  of  the  Eng- 
lish revolution  of  1688  and  the  trial  of  an  elective  monarchy .  As  for  the 
popular  masses,  they  had  in  the  highest  degree  the  national  sentiment,  which 
had  raised  again  with  passion  the  tricoloured  flag,  but  they  had  little  senti- 
ment for  universal  suffrage  which  is  inseparable  in  the  modem  world  from 
the  republican  idea. 

The  regime  established  August  9th,  1830,  has  then  its  raison  d'Stre  in 
French  history,  but  could  be  only  a  transition,  and  the  blame  that  attaches 
to  its  authors  is  that  of  neglecting  to  introduce  in  the  Charter  a  means  of 
operating  this  transition  peacefully  by  giving  the  nation  the  power  to  revise 
its  constitutional  laws,  a  faculty  inalienable  and  inseparable  from  national 
8elf-governmeut.« 


CHAPTER  III 
LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848 

[1830-1848  AO.,] 

The  reTolution  of  July  middenly  frustrated  the  ropressive  policy  of 
the  great  powers,  and  was  the  commencement  of  a  new  era  in  the  lib- 
erties of  Europe.  It  Kave  an  impulse  to  the  revolution  in  Belgium ;  to 
the  insurrection  in  Poland ;  to  the  democratic  constitutions  of  Switzer- 
land ;  to  political  refonns  in  scvenil  of  the  statve  uf  Germany  ;  aud  to 
parliamentary  reform  in  England.  Its  Inlluence  was  felt  in  ItAly,  in 
Spain,  and  Portugal ;  in  Hunjraryj  and  in  the  Slavonic  provinces  of 
Austria.  And,  even  beyond  Uie  bounds  of  Europe,  it  reached  from 
Eg>pt  and  Syria,  in  the  east,  to  South  America,  In  the  west.  The 
period  of  reaction  was  now  closed,  to  be  succeeded  by  the  progressiva 
development  of  conslilutioual  freedom.  —  Sih  Tuohas  EasKiific  Mat.6 


Placed  as  Louis  Philippe  was  between  the  past  and  the  future*  between 
the  ancient  monarchy  c.rumblod  without  hope  of  return  and  the  republic 
brought  forward,  then  adjourned,  his  position  was  complex  and  his  spirit 
contradictory.  He  was  at  the  same  time  a  prince  at  heart  and  a  bourgeois 
in  form  ;  revolutionary  by  his  memories,  and  reactionary,  or  at  least  station- 
ary, from  the  fear  which  these  very  memories  inspired  in  him,  as  well  as  by 
his  royal  memories. 

**  King-citizen,'*  promeiuiding  Paris  in  round  hat  and  with  an  umbrella^ 
not  only  by  cidculation,  but  by  taste  as  well,  he  was  at  the  same  time  a 
descendant  of  Louis  XIV  —  the  issue  of  the  brother  of  Louis  XIV,  on  the 
male  side;  he  descended  on  the  female  side  from  the  Grand  Monarch  himself 
and  Mme.  de  Monteapan.  He  had  kept  from  Voltairianism  sentiments  of 
humauity  and  religious  scepticism,  but  nothing  more  from  that  great  breath 
of  the  eighteenth  century  which  had  for  a  moment  animated  his  youth  and 
inspired  the  entire  life  of  La  Fayette. 

One  of  the  men  who  did  most  to  enthrone  Louis  Philippe  was  Thiers, 
who  has  defined  the  constitutional  monarchy  in  tlie  i)hrase,  *'  It  reigns  but 
it  does  not  govern/*  Tlie  new  king  never  accepted  this  maxim  and  aspired 
from  the  first  day  to  rule  in  all  things,  less  from  any  theory  of  monarchy 
than  from  a  passion  for  atfairs,  big  or  little,  and  above  all  from  a  conviction 

54 


LOUIS  PHILirPE  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848  55 

[1830  A.D.] 

of  iLe  superiority  he  fancied  he  held  over  his  ministers*  even  when  he  had 
before  him  a  Casimir  Perier  or  a  Thiers.  He  could  not  even  delegate 
authority  as  Napoleon  did  and  Charles  X  wanted  to  do.  It  was  necessary 
then  that  he  govern  by  address  and  by  artifice,  not  by  imposing  and  order- 
ing, but  by  reducing  and  dividing,  by  subalternising  his  ministers  and  gaining 
his  parliamentary  majorities  by  interesting  groups  and  individuals.  Such  a 
policy  was  incompatible  with  sincerity  towards  persons  and  things  ;  incaj^able 
of  violating  the  laws,  Louis  Philippe  used  all  his  skill  to  contract  the  laws 
and  to  undermine  free  institutitniH.  These  dangerous  tendencies,  however, 
manifested  themselves  but  gradually .« 


STATE  OK  THE  COUNTEY   AND   FIEST   ACTS  OF  THE   REIGN 

Although  the  political  revolution  was  over,  and  the  throne  of  Louis 
Philippe,  so  far  as  external  appearances  went,  firmly  established,  tlie  interior 
of  society  was  in  a  very  different  state,  and  the  seeds  of  evil  which  were  des- 
tined in  the  end  to  overturn  it  were  beginning  to  germinate.  The  state  of  the 
working-classes,  especially  in  the  great  towns,  which  had  rapidly  degenerated 
since  and  in  consequence  of  the  first  revolution,  had  been  brought  to  a  per- 
fect climax  of  horror  by  the  effects  of  the  second.  The  almost  entire  stop- 
page of  purchiises  and  expenditure  in  France,  in  consequence  of  the  terrors 
which  had  seized  all  the  affluent  classes,  combined  with  the  corresponding 
reductions  in  the  English  market,  from  the  effect  of  the  simultaneous  reform 
agitation  in  that  country,  had  reduced  all  who  were  engaged  in  the  produc- 
tion of  luxuries  —  that  is,  the  immense 
majority  of  the  working-classes  —  to  the 
last  stages  of  destitution.  Jt  was  hard  to 
say  whether  the  vine-groweraof  the  Gironde, 
the  silk-weavers  of  Lyons,  the  cotton-spin- 
ners of  Rouen,  the  jewellers  or  the  printers 
of  Paris,  were  in  the  greatest  distress.  In 
Bordeaux  there  were  twenty-two  thousand 
workmen  out  of  emplo^'ment ;  in  Paris  the 
number  exceeded  sixty  thousand.  At 
NImes  the  fancy  silks  had  sunk  to  a  third 
in  price,  while  the  wages  of  the  work- 
men had  undergone  a  simihir  diminution. 
Moutpellier,  which  depended  ehiefiy  on  the 
sale  of  wines,  was  in  the  utmost  distress, 
and  loudly  complained  of  the  recent  rise  in 
the  octroi  on  that  article  ;  and  in  Lyons  the 
suffering  had  become  such  that  the  only 
question  seemed  to  be  when  a  half  of  the 
entire  inhabitants  were  to  expire  of  famine. 
Nor  was  the  condition  of  the  masters  more 
consoling,  foreven  at  the  low  rates  of  wages, 
such  had  been  the  fall  of  prices  In  the  manu- 
factured article  that  they  could  not  work 
at  a  profit ;  and  numerous  failures  among 

the  most  considerable  both  threw  numbers  of  workmen  out  of  employment 
and  fearfully  augmented  the  general  conHternatiou.d 

The  first  acts  of  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe  were  prudent  and  modest. 
He  modified  and  completed  the  ministry  which  he  had  formed  during  his 


hoxra  PmLtpFB 
(1773-1830) 


56  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1830  A.D.] 

lieutenant-generalsbip.  He  called  Mole  to  take  charge  of  the  foreign  affaitB 
and  Broglie  to  the  ministry  of  public  instruction.  The  other  ministers 
remained.  Laffitte,  Casimir  Perier,  Dupin,  and  Bignon  were  members  of  the 
cabinet  of  ministers  without  portfolios.  There  was  no  president  of  the 
council,  neither  Laffitte  nor  Casimir  Perier  accepting  this  high  post.  This 
ministry  included  very  opposite  tendencies. 

The  chambers,  in  accord  with  the  government  during  the  month  of 
August,  voted  certain  measures  which  were  the  natural  result  of  the  July 
Revolution.  Political  condemnations  from  the  time  of  the  restoration  were 
annulled.  Aid  and  recompense  were  voted  for  the  July  combatants;  for 
the  wounded  and  for  the  families  of  the  dead.  The  Pantheon,  which  under 
the  empire  had  become  the  church  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  was  restored  to  the 
destination  given  it  in  1791,  which  was  to  receive  the  remains  of  great  men. 
The  double  vote  was  suppressed,  also  the  great  electoral  colleges,  or  depart- 
mental colleges,  which  the  restoration  had  founded  as  citadels  of  the 
aristocracy  to  control  the  electoral  bourgeoisie. 

However,  difficulties  were  beginning  for  the  new  government.  Commer- 
cial affairs  had  weighed  heavy  before  the  Revolution ;  they  became,  as  we 
have  seen,  worse  after  it.  The  working-classes  were  surprised  and  angry  to 
find  themselves  more  unhappy  the  day  after  than  on  the  eve  of  the  "  great 
days  "  which  owed  so  much  to  their  courage  and  devotion.  They  gathered 
together  in  the  streets  and  on  the  squares  to  command  the  government  to 
procure  for  them  diminution  of  labour  or  increase  of  wages.  The  less 
enlightened  wanted  to  break  the  machines  which)  they  said,  suppressed  the 
em^uoyment  of  their  arms.^: 

SOCIALISTIC  MOVEMENTS 

Although  mischievous  to  society  (the  return  and  repose  of  which  they 
delayed)  and  troublesome  to  the  authority  which  as  yet  wanted  the  power  to 
repress  them,  these  palpable  irregularities  would  have  signified  little,  if 
beyond  and  above  street  demonstrations,  other  causes  of  disorder,  older  and 
more  deeply  rooted,  had  not  taken  possession  of  many  minds.  The  revolu- 
tion of  July  had  not  confined  itself  to  the  overthrow  of  a  dynasty,  and  the 
modification  of  a  charter :  it '  had  given  rise  to  pretensions  and  hopes,  not 
alone  in  the  political  party  who  desired  for  France  a  form  of  government 
opposed  to  monarchy,  but  in  all  the  schools,  and  in  every  sect,  through  aU  the 
varied  divisions  of  life,  whether  prominent  or  obscure,  who  were  dreaming 
of  another  state  of  social  organisation  quite  distinct  from  that  which  France 
had  received  from  her  origin,  her  Christian  faith,  and  her  fourteen  ages  of 
political  existence. 

Besides  the  republicans  —  and  divided  between  a  desire  to  join  and  to 
separate  from  them  —  the  Saint  Simonians,  the  Fourierists,  the  socialists,  and 
the  communists,  much  opposed  to  each  other  in  principle  and  unequal  in 
strength,  as  in  intellectual  power,  were  all  in  a  state  of  ambitious  effervescence. 

The  secret  societies  of  the  Restoration  had  transferred  themselves  into 
revolutionary  clubs,  thus  combining  the  remains  of  silent  discipline  with  the 
extravagant  enthusiasm  of  unbridled  speech.  There  at  daily  and  public 
meetings,  all  events  and  questions,  whether  of  principle  or  incidental  occur- 
rence, were  warmly  discussed.  All  designs,  hopes,  and  dreams  were  boldly 
investigated.  The  entire  government,  the  monarchy,  the  chambers,  the 
magistracy,  the  administration,  were  attacked  with  undissembled  violence. 
Their  total  overthrow  was  unreservedly  proposed.     Working-people  and 


■^  LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE   REVOLUTION  OF  1848  57 

[1830  k.D.] 

you^iB,  casual  passers-by,  entered  into  these  places  of  assembly  as  to  a  public 
spectacle,  enjoying  their  audacious  license ;  and  rouni.1  the  leaders  of  these 
old  republican,  Bunapartist,  socialist,  or  other  associations,  advocates  of  the 
popular  party  were  grouped,  ready  to  declare  against  the  existing  authori- 
ties, which  from  day  to  day  they  were  in  the  habit  of  hearing  insulted  and 
denounced  as  enemies. « 

The  chamber  of  deputies  voted  a  credit  of  five  millions  for  public  works, 
one  of  thirty  millions  to  make  advances  to  commercial  houses.  Disturbances 
at  home  and  abroad  united  to  prevent  the  resumption  of  affairs.  These 
alarms  were  confirmed  by  the  continued  low  state  of  public  funds.  Four  of 
Charles  X's  ministers,  among  them  Poliguac  and  Peyronnet,  had  been 
arrested  and  confined  at  Vincennes.  The  expectation  of  their  trial  agitated 
people's  minds.* 

Foreign  affairs  caused  the  most  lively  anxiety.  Louis  Philippe  and  the 
men  who  surrounded  him  realised  llmt  the  counter  action  of  the  July  Revo- 
lution would  inevitably  make  itself  felt  abroad,  and  that  the  new  regime 
would  not  subsist  in  France  if  it  i>ermitted  the  Holy  Alliance  to  recom- 
mence, in  respect  to  the  French,  what  the  Restoration  had  done  in  Spain. 
The  English  minister  was  the  first  to  announce  an  intention  to  recognise  the 
new  government  in  France,  on  condition  that  it  respected  existing  treaties. 
Public  opinion  in  England  had  been  very  sincere  and  active  in  favour  of  the 
July  Revolution.  Prussia  and  Austria  also,  in  spite  of  the  displeasure  and 
anxiety  of  Metternich,  had  received  the  communications  of  the  new  govern- 
ment, properly  although  with  reserve.  The  great  question  was  the  attitude 
whicli  Russia  would  take.  Against  all  expectation  Nicholas  repulsed  Louis 
Philippe's  advances  rudely,  almost  brutally.  When  to  his  great  regret  Eng- 
land, Austria,  and  Prussia  had  recognised  the  new  government,  he  consented 
to  keep  relations  of  peace  and  friendship,  but  he  refused  to  give  the  title  of 
"brother"  to  the  king  of  the  French,  and  recalled  his  ambassador.c 

Belgium  had  separated  itself  from  Holland  and  offered  itself  to  France, 
but  was  refuse*l  in  order  not  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  England.  Spanish 
refugees  wanted  to  attempt  a  revolution  iu  their  country.  They  were 
arrested  at  the  frontier  in  order  not  to  violate  international  rights,  even  with 
a  prince  who  was  a  secret  enemy.  Poland*  delivered  for  a  short  period  by  a 
heroic  effort,  called  to  the  French.  Was  it  possible  to  save  lier  by  arms? 
As  she  herself  said  in  the  midst  of  her  great  sufferings  :  **  God  is  too  high 
and  France  is  too  far."  Only  isolated  assistance  was  sent,  which  did  not 
prevent  Warsaw  from  succumbing.  Its  fall  found  a  sad  echo  in  the  heart  of 
France. 

The  approach  of  the  trial  of  the  ministers  was  causing  a  fermentation  in 
Pans.  Guizotand  liroglie  retired  from  the  ministry,  their  demission  entail- 
ing that  of  Mole,  Louis  and  Casimir  Perier.  Laftitte  at  the  urgent  insist- 
ence of  the  king  accepted  the  task  of  forming  a  new  ministry  (November 
2nd,  1830)./ 

laffitte's  ministry 

On  the  15th  of  December  the  ministers  of  Charles  X  were  tried.  La 
Fayette  took  every  precaution  to  preserve  order.  Taken  from  Vincennes 
to  the  Luxembourg  they  defended  themselves  before  the  chamber  of  peers, 

[  ^  The  populace  demanded  the  death  of  ihcuu-.  who,  by  signing  the  ordfnancGfl,  had  brought 
the  Revolution,  and  were  therefore  indirectly  the  cause  of  au  many  deatliR.    But  even  La  Fay- 
opposed  this,  being  generous  enough  to  wiah  their  escape,  especially  hecaiiAe  they  were  his 
enemiea.     Tbla  alao  OMised  a  dissension  in  the  cabinet.  -^  Muller.] 


58  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1830-1831  X.D.] 

being  represented  by  their  advocates,  Martignac,  Hennequin,  Sauzet,  and 
Cremieux. 

For  three  days,  from  the  18th  to  the  20th  of  December,  the  mob  besieged 
the  Luxembourg,  accusing  the  government  of  treason.  Paris  was  terrified. 
La  Fayette  tried  to  negotiate  with  the  ringleaders.  On  the  20th  the  inner 
court  of  the  Luxembourg  was  forced  and  the  peers  were  obliged  to  suspend 
their  sitting.  By  the  21st  the  riot  had  become  more  formidable.  Before  pro- 
nouncing sentence,  Montalivet,  minister  of  the  interior,  went  at  the  head  of 
the  detachment  which  reconducted  the  prisoners  to  Vincennes.  The  sentence, 
read  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  condemned  the  ministers  to  imprisonment 
for  life.  On  account  of  the  "clemency"  of  this  verdict  a  new  riot  occurred 
on  the  22nd,  which  was  suppressed  by  the  national  guards  and  the  troops.  ^ 

At  the  moment  when  these  new  tumults  burst  forth  the  chamber  of  depu- 
ties was  busily  engaged  in  discussing  the  bill  for  the  organisation  of  the 
national  guards.  This  bill  naturally  brought  into  question  the  position  of  La 
Fayette.  After  a  long  debate  the  chamber  adopted  the  article  suppressing 
the  functions  of  commandant-in-general  of  the  national  guards  of  the  king- 
dom (December  24th).  Without  delay  La  Fayette  sent  in  his  resignation 
to  the  king,  who  resolved  to  accept  it.« 

On  the  22nd  of  January,  1831,  there  was  a  riot  among  the  students  at  the 
Sorbonne  against  the  academic  council  assembled  to  forbid  collective  demon- 
strations. The  13th  of  February  a  memorial  service  was  held  in  St.  Germain- 
I'Auxerrois  in  memory  of  the  assassination  of  the  duke  de  Berri ;  there  the 
legitimists  made  an  imprudent  demonstration  in  honour  of  the  duke  de  Bor- 
deaux. The  crowd,  thoroughly  roused,  pillaged  the  presbytery,  profaned 
the  church,  and  committed  many  acts  of  vandalism.  In  the  evening  the 
republicans  promenaded  carrying  arms.  Dupin  was  threatened  in  his  house. 
The  14th  saw  the  archbishop^s  palace  pillaged.  There  were  fresh  scenes  of 
vandalism  :  the  archbishop's  country  house  at  Confians  was  sacked ;  the 
church  of  Bonne  Nouvelle  was  pillaged,  and  several  public  buildings  were 
attacked.  Baude,  prefect  of  police,  and  Odilon  Barrot,  prefect  of  the  Seine, 
were  perfectly  inert.  Their  complacent  proclamations  only  touched  the 
counter-revolutionists  and  the  legitimists.  The  fleurs-de-lis  were  torn  down 
everywhere,  and  the  scenes  of  anarchy  were  not  limited  to  Paris. 

Those  who  loved  order,  and  had  hailed  the  government  as  a  saviour,  began 
to  doubt  its  strength  and  even  its  will.  On  the  17th  of  February  Delessert 
denounced  the  negligence  and  weakness  of  the  ministry  in  the  chamber. 
There  was  yet  time  to  act  vigorously  against  the  plotters  of  sedition,  and 
prevent  civil  war.  Baude  and  Odilon  Barrot  made  a  very"  poor  defence  and 
criticised  the  retrograde  methods  hitherto  pursued.  Guizot  wanted  the 
government  to  free  itself  from  all  illegal  pressure,  and  to  act  in  harmony 
with  the  chamber,  putting  itself  at  the  head  of  society  and  not  at  the  tail, 
renouncing  a  popularity  both  impossible  and  compromising.  Laffitte  still 
avoided  expressing  his  opinion,  and  contented  himself  by  replacing  Baude 
and  Odilon  Barrot  by  Vivien  and  Bondy.  His  position  personally  became 
more  and  more  false ;  even  the  other  ministers  acted  without  him. 

The  risings  continued;  strikes  spread  ;  credit  was  low.  Laffitte  obtained 
on  the  5th  of  March  two  hundred  million  special  credit  with  difficulty ;  but 
the  chamber  refused  him  a  vote  of  contidence.  His  friends  persuaded  him  to 
retire,  and  he  was,  moreover,  obliged  to  do  so  owing  to  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments and  the  losses  sustained  by  his  banking  house.* 

One  of  the  direct  causes  of  Laffitte's  fall  was  his  position  on  the  Italian 
question,  the  minister  wishing  to  aid  an  insurrection  against  Austria  which 


I 


r  LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848  59 

[1831  A.O.] 

was  on  foot  there.  But  the  king  was  even  more  unwilling  to  intervene  for 
the  independence  of  Italy  than  he  had  been  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of 
Belgium.  The  king  had  gone  behind  the  back  of  liis  minister  and  made  an 
agreement  with  Austria,  on  learning  of  which  Laflitte  resigned  March  9th, 
183La 

CASIMIB  rfiKlEU   AND   FOREIGN   AFFAIRS   (1831-1832  A.D.) 

Casimir  Perier,  the  new  minister,  had  been  endowed  with  a  gift  at  the 
same  time  very  striking  and  almost  universally  appreciated,  namely  a  force 
of  character  which  amounted  almost  to  heroism.  President  of  the  chamber 
before  he  became  prime-minister,  he  was  the  man  of  the  majority.  His 
policy  may  be  very  briefly  summed  up :  order  at  home  maintained  by  such 
means  as  were  authorised  by  the  charter  an<i  the  law;  peace  abroad,  with- 
out sacrificing  in  the  slightest  degree  the  honour  of  the  natiim ;  in  foreign 
affairs  three  great  Questions  claimed  the  attention  of  the  French  govern- 
ment—  Belgium,  Poland,  and  Italy.  Wlien  Casiniir  Perier  was  called  upon 
for  a  statement  of  his  policy  before  the  chambers,  he  said  :  "The  principle 
already  laid  down  of  non-intervention  is  the  one  wo  will  adopt,"  and  his 
actions  verified  his  words. 

In  1831  the  centre  of  Italy  was  occupied  by  the  Anstrians  on  the  pre- 
text of  overcoming  revolution.  On  tlie  2nd  of  February  the  conclave 
proclaimed  Gregory  XVI  sovereign  pontiflF.  In  oi-tk^r  to  pacify  men's 
minds,  the  European  powers  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  pope  in  which 
they  pointed  out  such  reforms  as  seemed  to  them  likely  to  appease  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  his  subjects.  The  j>ope  refused  to  pledge  himself,  so  secret 
societies  were  again  formed  and  reliellion  broke  out  anew.  Gregory  XVI 
appealed  to  the  Austrians  for  help.  Austria  by  granting  it  violated  the 
principle  of  non-intervention. 

Casimir  Perier,  in  the  name  of  France,  protested  in  a  way  that  might 
have  brought  about  war ;  on  the  7th  of  February  a  French  fleet  carrying  a 
line  regiment  left  Toulon  and  arrived  on  the  22nd  within  siglit  of  Ancona. 
The  troops  landed  during  the  night  ami  thti  town  was  tjiken.  1''he  pope, 
indignant,  cried,  **Sucli  an  attempt  has  not  bet^n  nnide  against  the  holy  see 
since  the  time  of  the  Saracens."  The  government  made  known  its  intentions. 
It  would  protect  the  holy  father  even  against  attacks  from  within,  but  it 
would  not  suffer  Austria  to  rule  in  his  states ;  to  the  foreign  ambassadors, 
who  in  the  name  of  public  justice  called  upon  him  for  an  explauatiou,  Casimir 
Perier  replied,  "  It  is  I  who  defend  the  rights  of  Europe  at  large.  Do  you 
think  it  is  easy  to  keep  the  peace  and  insist  on  the  observance  of  treaties? 
The  honour  of  France  must  be  maintained,"  The  pope  soon  agreed  to 
what  he  was  powerless  to  prevent.  Austria  did  not  pick  up  the  gauntlet 
which  had  been  thrown  down.  The  Austrian  troops  evacuateti  the  legations 
and,  on  the  24th  of  October,  1838,  the  French  soldiers  set  sail  for  France. 

Poland  had  attempted  in  1830  to  release  herself  from  the  iron  grasp  of 
Russia.  The  institutions  granted  by  the  czar  Alexander  and  guaranteed  by 
Europe  in  1815  had  fallen  one  by  one  under  the  p^^'Histenl  attacks  of  the 
Russian  government.  When  the  emperor  Nicholas  came  to  Warsaw  to  be 
crowned  in  1829,  he  refuse<l  to  revoke  the  measures  of  which  Poland  com- 
plained. In  the  evening  of  the  29th  of  November,  1830,  at  a  signal  given 
by  means  of  two  fires,  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Warsaw  and  the  RuHsian 
army  retired.  Hut  the  Poles  were  divided  amongst  themselves,  and  the 
emperor  of  Russia  took  advantage  of  the  time  wasted  by  them.  A  desperate 
battle,  lasting  for  two  days,  did  not  shake  the  determination  of  the  Poles, 


60  TRE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1831-1832  XJ>.] 

who  resisted  the  Russians  for  several  months.  In  the  meantime  they 
cliiimed  help  from  the  western  nations,  especially  from  France,  who  made 
them  understand  that  they  must  not  expect  any  support  from  her  arms. 
At  the  same  time  France  reminded  Russia  of  the  sacredness  of  treaties,  and 
proposed  to  act  as  a  mediator.  She  begged  the  other  European  nations  to 
succour  the  Poles,  but  without  result. 

After  the  disaster,  all  she  could  do  was  to  open  her  arms  to  the  exiles. 
This  she  did  eagerly,  and  gave  an  asylum  to  ten  thousand  Polish  refugees. 
In  the  streets  the  mob  constantly  cried:  "Poland  forever  !"  and  pursued 
witli  this  cry  the  great  administrator.* 

Ca-simir  P^rier  wiui  the  only  man  capable  of  controlling  the  situation 
and  of  directing  what  was  called  the  party  of  the  opposition.  But  he 
was  not  inclined  to  make  himself  the  tool  of  anyone.  He  had  demanded, 
together  with  the  presidency  of  the  council,  the  ministry  of  the  interior. 
He  declared  that  he  intended  to  preside  actively  over  the  council  and  that 
the  king  should  not  be  present.  He  thought  that  where  responsibility  is 
located,  there  should  also  be  the  power  of  action.  He  was  resolved  to  prac- 
tice the  principle  laid  down  by  Thiers  in  Le  Natiotial  before  the  Days  of 
July:   "The  king  reigns,  but  does  not  govern. ''c 

He  plainly  stated  two  things:  that  he  wished  legal  order  and  that  he 
would  consequently  fight  the  republicans  and  legitimists  to  the  death ;  that 
he  would  not  precipitate  France  into  a  universal  war,  and  consequently  that 
he  would  make  all  sacrifices  to  the  peace  of  the  world,  which  were  com- 
patible with  the  honour  of  the  country.  This  language  sounded  proud; 
action  confirmed  it.f 

Dom  Miguel  in  Portugal  had  treated  two  Frenchmen  outrageously. 
A  fleet  forced  its  way  through  the  straits  of  the  Tagus,  hitherto  consid- 
ered impregnable,  and  anchored  at  tliree  hundred  toises  from  the  quays  of 
Lisbon.  The  Portuguese  ministers  humbled  themselves,  and  a  just  repara- 
tion was  made.  The  Dutch  had  invaded  Belgium  ;  fifty  thousand  French- 
men advanced  thither  and  the  Dutch  flag  gave  way. 

In  the  interior  the  president  of  the  council  followed  with  the  same  energy 
the  line  dI  conduct  he  had  laid  down  for  hiraaelf.  Legitimists  agitated 
the  departments  of  the  west.  Mobile  columns  extinguished  the  revolt.  The 
working-classes  of  Lyons,  incited  by  too  severe  suffering,  but  also  by  agita- 
tors, had  rebelled,  inscribing  on  their  banner  this  sad  and  sinister  device : 
"Live  in  working  or  die  in  fighting."  After  a  frightful  melee  in  the  city 
itself,  they  were  disarmed  and  order  appeared  re-established  on  the  surface. 
Grenoble  in  its  turn  ran  with  blood." 

In  Paris  the  different  parties  were  not  wanting  in  energy.  Two  legiti- 
mist plots  broke  out — first,  that  of  "  the  Towers  of  Notre-Dame."  Six  indi- 
viduals secreted  themselves  in  the  bell-tower  of  the  cathedral  toringtlie  tocsin 
and  thus  give  the  signal  for  insurrection.  They  were  arrested  and  imprisoned. 
The  following  month  a  new  conspiracy  was  (uscovered,  that  of  the  "  rue  des 
Prouvaires."  The  agent  Poncelet  had  managed  to  enrol  twentv-five  hundred 
men  in  Paris.  At  a  given  moment  these  men  were  to  rise  and  carry  off  the 
royal  family  by  force.  They  were  arrested  in  rue  des  Prouvaires.  However, 
the  government  was  attacked  by  the  papers  of  all  parties  with  an  ever- 
increasing  bitterness.  In  speaking  of  Frenchmen  M.  de  Montalivet  used 
the  word  "subjects,"  and  someone  cried  :  "What  about  the  minister?"  and 
a  deputy  added :  "  Men  who  make  kings  are  not  subjects." 

Soon  after  this  the  overwhelming  anxiety  caused  by  a  terrible  epidemic 
of  cholera  absorbed  the  thoughts  and  attention  of  the  whole  nation.     The 


• 


F  LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE  KEVOLUTION   OF  1848  CI 

IISS2  A^,] 

scourge,  which  came  originally  from  India,  had  already  spread  all  over  the 
Old  World  froin  China  and  Russia  to  England.  It  spread  from  town  to  town 
and  from  capital  to  capital  defying  all  efforts  to  arrest  its  progress.  It  broke 
out  in  Paris  on  the  26th  of  March,  1832,  raged  for  a  hundred  and  etghty-nine 
da^-s  and  carried  off  nineteen  thousand  persons. ^  It  spread  through  twenty- 
seven  departments.  Casimir  Perier  had  visited  the  hospital  with  the  duke 
of  Orleans  ;  two  days  afterwards  lie  was  conlined  to  his  bed.  His  health 
had  for  some  time  been  feeble,  and  he  died  on  the  10th  of  May  after  severe 
and  protracted  suffering.  When  Louis  Philippe  heard  of  his  death  he  said 
to  one  who  waa  present :  "Casimir  Perier  ia  dead  :  is  it  a  blessing  or  a  mis- 
fortune? The  future  will  show."  The  king  was  not  always  quite  comfort- 
able with  such  an  imperious  minister.^ 

LOMfeXIE's   ESTIMATE  OF   CASIMIR   pfeRIEB 

No  man  better  understood  or  did  more  to  maintain  representative  gov- 
ernment than  Perier.  That  is  to  say  he  thought  the  government  should  be 
carried  on  under  an  open  sky,  so  to  speak,  and  always  under  the  eyes  and 
control  of  the  country.  It  has  been  truly  said  of  him  that  he  governed  from 
the  tribunal^  and  that  he  was  sometimes  indiscreet  in  his  fear  of  not  being 
sufficiently  frank.  No  statesman  ever  had  a  stronger  sense  of  the  duties  or 
of  the  rights  apj^ertaining  to  responsibility  and  the  exercise  of  power.  He 
wished  the  throne  to  be  respected  and  to  be  worthy  of  respect  as  the  chief 
magistracy  of  the  kingdom,  but  he  wished  it  to  remain  inviolable  and  strictly 
within  its  own  exalted  sphere,  ruling  over  parties  without  mixing  in  them. 

An  open  enemy  of  what  has  since  been  called  personal  government, 
Perier  was  no  less  hostile  to  emergency  laws ;  he  refused  them,  with  equal 
firmness  before  the  entreaties  of  his  friends  and  the  representations  of  his  ene- 
mies. His  courageous  confidence  in  public  oi>inion  always  made  him  look 
on  the  common  law  euergeticully  administered  as  the  only  instrument  which 
could  be  suitably  employed  by  the  "government  of  July."  "  Our  system  of 
home  policy,"  he  would  say,  "  is  to  make  the  laws  of  the  land  our  constant 
rule  of  action,  to  support  the  government  by  restoring  to  it  tlie  power  and 
unity  which  it  lacks,  to  reinstate  and  tranquillise  all  sorts  of  interests,  by 
giving  them  guarantees  of  order  and  stability,  to  respect  the  laws  and  to 
draw  from  our  legislative  system  and  the  moral  strength  which  arises  from 
it,  all  our  methods  of  action  and  of  influence  ;  it  is  in  short  never  to  consent 
to  form  a  party  government  and,  while  keeping  a  strict  watch  over  any 
intrigues  that  may  be  woven  in  secret,  never  to  yield  to  the  temptation  of 
crushing  the  vanquished  ;  for,  in  so  doing,  victory  is  dishonoured." 

In  his  dealings  with  other  nations  the  language  and  behaviour  of  the 
statesman  of  the  13th  of  March  were  always  worthy  of  France.  He  desired 
peace  but  he  would  not  have  sacrificed  either  the  interests  or  honour  of  his 
country  to  preserve  it.  He  would  not  nishly  enter  upon  a  quarrel  but  when 
once  he  had  declared  himself  he  never  drew  back,  and  when  he  considered 
the  moment  for  action  had  arrived,  he  acted  quite  independently  without 
the  sanction  of  anyone  else.  Thus  he  entered  Belgium  entirely  on  his  own 
initiative  and  without  waiting  for  the  conference  of  London  to  authorise 
him  in  doing  so.  Thus  he  blockaded  and  took  the  port  of  Lisbon,  without 
troubling  himself  about  the  dissatisfaction  of  England.  It  was  thus  that  in 
order  to  convince  Austria  that  she  had  better  retire  from  the  Ilomau  states 
he  could  find  no  better  way  than  forcing  an  entry  into  Ancona  and  establish- 

[i  la  the  whole  of  France  it  oouated  120,000  victims  \n  I832.c] 


62  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1833-1834  A.D.] 

ing  himself  there.  Thus  it  was  in  short  that  he  was  capahle,  with  a  vivacity 
which  was  characteristically  French,  of  reducing  to  silence  a  Russian  ambas- 
sador who  dared  to  speak  to  him  about  the  "  decisions  "  of  the  emperor. 

To  sum  up  :  whatever  judgment  we  may  form  of  the  political  career  of 
Casimir  Perier,  it  would  be  impossible  for  any  unprejudiced  person  to  fail 
to  recognise  in  him  two  valuable  qualities  which  essentially  distinguished 
him,  namely  :  energy  and  loyalty.' 

SUCCEEDING  MINIBTBZES 

Montalivet  replaced  Casimir  Perier  in  the  office  of  minister  for  home 
affairs,  but  not  in  the  presidency  of  the  council.  Louis  Philippe  did  not 
care  to  share  the  power  with  a  viceroy.  Laborious,  intelligent,  gifted  with 
a  line  sense  of  honour,  unimpulsive,  courageous  as  he  was  merciful  and  easy- 
tempered,  the  king  was  impressed  by  his  own  superiority,  and  wished  to 
direct  the  government  himself,  and  to  establish  what  he  called  his  'system.' 
He  was  too  inclined  to  attribute  the  merit  of  success  to  himself.  For  a  Ipng 
time  he  sought  to  place  at  the  head  of  the  cabinet  a  president  who  would 
inspire  confidence  in  foreign  nations,  and  to  induce  orators  to  enter  who  could 
defend  his  politics  victoriously  before  the  chambers.  His  ideas  led  to  the 
resignation  of  Sebastian!  and  Montalivet,  looked  upon  as  court  followers ; 
the  formation  of  the  ministry  of  October  11th,  composed  of  Marshal  Soult  the 
president,  with  Broglie,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  Thiers,  home  secretary ; 
Guizot,  minister  of  education,  Humann,  minister  of  finance,  Admiral  de 
Rigny,  Barthe,  and  d'Argout;  and  the  creation  of  sixty-two  new  peers.* 

Meanwhile  society  had  been  moved  to  Its  lowest  depths  by  the  partisans 
of  Saint-Simon  and  of  Fourier,  who  demanded  another  social  order.  They 
themselves  still  played  the  part  of  mere  apostles  of  peace,  but  the  insurrec- 
tion at  Lyons  had  shown  that  among  the  proletariat  there  was  a  whole  army 
ready  to  apply  their  doctrines.  The  national  guard  energetically  defended 
the  monarchy,  when,  in  consequence  of  the  obsequies  attending  the  funeral 
of  General  Lamarque,  the  republicans  gave  battle  behind  the  barricades  of 
St.  Merry  on  the  5th  and  6th  of  June.  This  check  arrested  their  party  for 
some  time.  A  month  later  (July  22nd,  1882)  the  death  of  Napoleon's  son, 
the  duke  of  Reichstadt,  relieved  the  Orleanist  dynasty  of  a  redoubtable  rival 
and  the  marriage  of  Princess  Louise  with  the  king  of  the  Belgians  seemed 
to  give  it  an  added  support. 

Another  pretender  also  lost  her  cause.  The  duchess  de  Berri,  who  had 
landed  secretly  on  the  coasts  of  Provence  with  the  title  of  regent,  was  come 
to  stir  up  civil  war  in  the  west,  in  the  name  of  her  son  Henry  V.  But  there 
were  no  longer  either  Vend^ans  or  royalists  of  the  Loire  (Chouans)  in 
existence.  The  new  ideas  had  made  way  there  as  elsewhere,  and  more  than 
elsewhere  even,  "  Those  people  are  patriots  and  republicans,"  said  an  officer 
charged  to  combat  them.  A  few  nobles,  some  refractory  persons,  few  peas- 
ants responded  to  the  call.  The  country,  overrun  with  troops,  was  quickly 
pacified,  and  the  duchess,  after  wandering  for  a  long  time  from  farm  to 
farm,  entered  Nantes,  disguised  as  a  peasant.  This  adventurous  attempt 
showed  the  weakness  of  the  legitimist  party.  To  complete  its  ruin  Thiers, 
who  was  at  that  time  minister,  instituted  an  active  search  for  the  duchess.^ 

[}  MUller^says  that  she  waa  betrayed  to  the  authorities  by  a  Jew  named  Deuz  who  was  paid 
600,000  francs.  *'  Her  relative  Louis  Philippe  was  relieved  from  his  predicament  as  to  her  diapiMal 
by  her  giving  birth  to  a  daughter  whose  paternity  she  could  not  satisfactorily  explain.  She  was 
allowed  to  go  to  Palermo  and  the  legitimists  ceased  for  a  time  to  be  willing  to  risk  their  heroes  aad 
heroines  on  the  slippery  ground  of  France.    They  fixed  their  only  hope  on  a  general  reaction."] 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AK'D  THE   KEVOLUTIOK  OF  1848  G3 

tl832-lKW  A.D.] 

Discovered  on  the  7tli  of  November  and  imprisoned  at  Blaye,  she  was  obliged 
to  confess  to  a  secret  marriage  which  made  any  other  attempt  of  the  same 
kind  impossible  for  the  future. 

The  capture  by  French  soldiers  of  the  citadel  of  Antwerp  which  the 
Dutch  refused  to  give  up  to  the  Belgians  put  an  end  to  the  critical  situation 
from  which  war  might  result  at  any  moment  (December  23rd,  1832).  The 
occupation  of  Arzeu,  of  Mostaganera,  and  of  Bougie  confirmed  the  French 
occupation  of  Algeria,  and  these  expeditions  to  the  border  of  the  Schelde 
and  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  brought  some  glory  to  French 
arms. 

In  Portugal,  Dom  Miguel,  absolutist  prince,  bad  been  dethroned  in  the 
interests  of  Donna  Maria,  who  gave  the  people  a  constitutional  charter.  In 
Spain,  Ferdinand  VII  was  on  the  point  of  death,  excluding  from  the  crown, 
with  the  aWishraent  of  the  Salic  law,  his  brother  Don  Carlos,  who  was  sus- 
tained by  the  retrograde  party.  Thus  the  whole  peninsula  escaped  from  an 
absolutist  party  at  the  same  time./ 

In  the  discussion  on  the  budget  of  1833  the  opposition  combated  the 
idea  of  raising  detached  forts  round  Paris,  *' making  a  Bantille  of  it."  In 
such  an  act  they  saw  a  danger  to  liberty.  The  revolutionists  appealed  to 
the  national  guard  and  the  working-classes,  and  prepared  to  celebrate 
the  July  anniversary.  The  plot  was  unearthed  by  the  police,  who  seized  the 
stores  of  arms  aud  arrested  several  heads  of  sections.  Later  on,  nearly  all  the 
accused  were  acquitted  l>ecause  the  |>lot  had  been  without  result.  The  acquit- 
ments led  to  deplorable  results.  The  republicans  organised  strikes.  On 
October  23rd,  the  Sociiti  de»  droits  de  Vhomme  published  a  manifesto  in  La 
Tribune  and  put  themselves  under  the  patronage  of  ttobcapierre. 

The  new  session  opened  December  2'2ndi  1833.  The  republicans  who 
Lad  signed  the  Tribune  manifesto  were  called  upon  to  declare  themselves. 
New  repressive  laws  were  passed:  one,  17th  February,  1834,  against  street- 
criers  ;  this  was  followed  on  tlie  24th  by  a  rising,  which  was  promptly  sup- 
pressed. On  March  25th  a  severe  law  was  issued  against  associations.  Not 
more  than  twenty  persons  were  to  meet.  The  cognisance  of  political  offences 
committed  by  them  belonged  to  a  jury ;  that  of  infractions  of  the  law  to  the 
ordinary  tribunes,  and  attempts  against  the  safety  of  the  state  to  the  cham- 
ber of  peers.  The  opposition  vainly  brought  all  their  forces  to  weaken 
these  provisions,  but  the  majority  was  a  strong  one  and  obtained  a  decisive 
triumph.  A  law  was  passed  against  the  fabrication  or  storing  of  arms  and 
ammunition.  The  government  was  henceforward  armed  with  every  possi- 
ble means  of  resistance,  and  yet  these  were  not  called  emergency  laws. A 

The  Treaty  of  the  (Quadruple  Alliance,  signed  April  22nd,  1834,  between 
the  courts  of  Paris,  London,  Lisbon,  and  Madrid^  promised  to  the  new  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  governments  the  sure  support  of  two  great  constitutional 
countries,  against  the  ill-will  of  the  northern  courts.  In  France  these  prom- 
ises even  led  to  some  effect.  To  sustain  the  young  queen  lsal>ella,  in  case 
of  need,  against  the  Spanish  legitimists,  the  natural  allies  of  the  FVench 
legitimists,  an  army  corps  of  fifty  thousand  men  was  organised  at  the  foot 
of  the  Pyrenees.  / 

riESCHfS   INFERNAL  MACHINE   AND   THE  "SEPTEMBER   LAWS " 

For  some  time  rumours  of  plots  against  the  king's  life  had  been  in  circu- 
hition.  There  was,  so  to  speak,  a  presage  of  evil  in  the  air.  The  public  was 
onensy.     The  republican  and  legitimist  newspapers  attributed  these  reports 


64  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[18S5  A.D.] 

to  tlie  police  ;  but  they  had  too  real  a  foundation.  The  police  had  not  in- 
vented conspiracies,  but  had  prevented  many;  now  it  wan  said  in  France  and 
abroad  that  there  would  be  an  attempt  upon  the  life  of  Louis  Pliilippe  dur- 
ing the  annual  review  of  July  28th.  This  might  have  no  other  origin  than 
the  thought  of  the  opportunity  that  this  day  offered  to  the  king's  enemies  ; 
but  from  Jnly  2t)th  to  2TtIi,  the  rumours  grew  more  distinct ;  the  police  was 
warned  that  an  infernal  machine  had  been  constructed,  and  that  the  blow 
would  be  struck  near  the  boulevard  du  Temple  ;  they  made  diligent  search 
but  without  success.  It  was  most  imprudent  to  pass  the  troops  in  review  on 
the  boulevards,  where  an  unexpected  atta.ck  would  be  so  easy,  rather  than 
in  the  Champ  de  Mars. 

The  information  by  which  the  police  had  been  unable  to  profit  was  unfor- 
tunately not  imaginary.  At  the  moment  when  the  royal  procession  reached 
the  boulevard  du  Temple,  on  the  spot  where  the  Jardin  Turc  then  was,  the 
king  perceived  a  puff  of  smoke  burst  forth  from  beneath  the  shutters  of  a 
house  on  the  boulevard.  He  quickly  exclaimed  to  one  of  his  sons  who  was 
besitLe  him,  "Joinville,  that  is  intended  for  me." 

A  loud  detonation  was  heard,  the  roadway  was  strewn  with  slain  and 
wounded;  more  than  forty  people  fell.  Aniong  the  dead  was  Marshal  Mor- 
tier,  who  had  escaped  so  many  battles  to  perisli,  murdered  in  Paris,  by  a 
blow  intended  for  another.  With  liim  were  killed  a  general  officer,  superior 
officers  of  the  army  and  of  the  national  guard,  some  old  men  and  women, 
Five  other  generals  were  wounded.  The  horses  of  the  king  and  the  prince 
de  Joinville  had  been  struck,  but  the  projectiles  whistled  around  the  king  and 
his  sous  witliout  touching  them. 

In  the  midst  of  the  universal  terror,  Louis  Philippe  said  composedly, 
"Now,  gentlemen,  let  us  proceed.'*  And  he  finished  nis  progress  amongst 
the  acclamations  of  the  national  guard  and  the  indignant  populace.  The 
police  hastened  to  the  spot  whence  the  explosions  had  proceeded;  it  proved 
to  be  a  small  house  of  mean  appearance,  No.  50,  boulevard  du  Temple.  They 
found  here  a  machine  composed  of  twenty-four  gun-barrels  arranged  like 
organ-pipes.  There  was  no  one  in  the  room  ;  but,  in  a  neighbouring  court- 
yard, a  man  who  had  descended  from  the  roof,  by  means  of  a  rope,  was 
arrested.  He  was  covered  with  blood  and  mutilated  —  he  had  been  wounded 
by  his  own  machine,  several  of  the  gun-barrels  having  burst.  He  said  his 
name  was  Girard,  but  it  was  soon  discovered  that  he  was  a  Corsican,  called 
Fieschi. 

The  public  feeling  was  one  of  horror  at  this  outrage,  which  as  in  the  case 
of  the  first  infernal  machine  directed  against  Bonaparte  had  indiscriminately 
struck  80  many  victims  whilst  attempting  to  reach  the  intended  one.  The 
reaction  produced  was  profitable  to  the  king,  whose  brave  composure  was 
praised.  Tlie  population  took  part  with  emotion  in  the  solemn  obsequies  of 
the  dead,  which  were  held  on  July  28th.     Then  followed  the  same  conse- 

?[uence8  as  after  the  assassination  of  the  duke  de  Berri ;  free  institutions  paid 
or  Fieschi's  crime,  as  they  had  paid  for  that  of  Louvel.  On  August  4th,  in 
imitation  of  the  royalist  ministry  of  1820,  Louis  Philippe's  ministers  pre- 
sented to  the  chamber  of  deputies  a  number  of  restrictive  and  reactionary  laws. 
After  the  catastrophe  which  had  just  terrified  Paris  and  France,  it  was 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  all  possible  precautions  should  be  taken  to  protect 
the  king's  person  against  hatreds  which  were  manifested  in  so  terrible  a  man- 
ner, but  far  more  than  this  was  intended.  The  bills  interdicted  not  only  all 
offensive  aUusion  to  the  king^s  person,  but  all  discussion  regarding  his  claims 
to  the  throne,  and  the  principle  of  his  government.     It  was  forbidflen  to 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE   REVOLUTION  OF  1848  65 

pass  A.D.] 

assume  the  name  of  repnblican,  and  to  express  a  desire  for  the  restoration  of 
the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons.  The  number  of  votes  necessary  for  the 
condemnation  of  accused  persons  was  reduced  from  eight  to  seven  out  of 
twelve  in  the  jury  ;  it  was  tl»e  simple  majority  instead  of  the  two-thirds. 
The  offences  of  exciting  hatred  or  contempt  of  the  king's  person,  or  of  his 
constitutional  authority,  were  in  these  bills  made  crimes  liable  to  be  brought 
before  the  court  of  peers.  The  penalties  were  increased  in  extravagant  pro- 
portions. Terms  of  imprisonment  were  much  lengthened  and  fines  were 
raised  from  ten  thousand  to  fifty  thousand  franca.  In  proportion  as  the 
penalties  were  increased  the  difficulty  of  escaping  them  was  augmented  not 
only  by  changes  in  jurisdiction,  but  by  the  introduction  of  a  ilood  of  new 
definitions. 

The  deposits  required  of  newspapers  were  considerably  increased.  All 
the  illustrations  and  engravings  were  submitted  to  preliminary  autliorisation, 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  censorship.  Some  republican  artists  of  much  talent  had 
made  caricature  a  perfect  implement  of  war  against  Louis  Philippe  and 
against  all  men  of  the  Juste  Milieu;  they  had  far  surjjassed  the  English  in 
this  style  of  polemicSf  the  sharpest  and  most  incisive  of  all.  The  new  laws 
broke  this  weapon  in  their  hands. 

The  constitutional  opposition  resisted  energetically;  it  felt  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  July,  by  seeking  to  exaggerate  its  actual  strength^  was  risking 
its  future.  There  was  deep  emotion  in  the  assembly  when  Royer-Collard, 
the  aged  head  of  the  doctrinal  school,  recalled  to  constitutional  principles  his 
disciples,  Broglie  and  Guizot.  He  worthily  crowned  his  career  by  his  grand 
and  aiustere  defence  of  legitimate  liberty.  One  seemed  to  have  gone  back 
to  the  Restoration,  and  it  was  the  doctrinaires  and  one  of  the  liberal  parties 
who  replaced  Villele  and  Peyronnet. 

Dupin,  M'ith  less  haughtiness,  but  plenty  of  common-sense  and  logic, 
also  supported  the  cause  of  press  and  jury.  But  all  in  vain.  The  majority 
was  maddened  by  Fieschi's  attempt,  and  voted  for  everything ;  evcji  increas- 
ing the  terms  proposed.  The  chamber  of  peers  followed  the  chamber  of 
deputies.  There  also,  however,  eloquent  protests  were  made ;  Viliemain, 
Guizot's  former  and  celebrated  colleague  at  the  Sorbonne,  made  a  brilliant 
but  ineffectual  defence  of  liberty.  The  laws  against  press  and  jury  were 
termed  the  "laws  of  September,"  because  the  decisive  vote  took  place  on  the 
9th  of  that  month.     The  republicans  called  them  the  ^^Fleschi  luwB."^ 


THE   RISE  OF  THIERS   AND   GUIZOT 

Amongst  the  prominent  possibilities  for  ministerial  power  two  were  spe- 
cially prominent  —  Guizot  and  Thiers.  Guizot  was  a  Protestant  and  a 
native  of  Ntraes.  He  was  still  quite  young  in  1815,  but  had  already  occu- 
pied important  positions.  At  first  an  enthusiastic  royalist^  the  extremist 
members  of  his  party  had  driven  him  to  join  the  opposition.  As  a  professor 
of  history  he  had  won  the  applause  of  his  pupils.  His  mind  was  dry  but 
powerful ;  as  a  writer  he  was  stiff  but  dignified  ;  in  the  tribune  the  ideas  he 
expressed  were  methodically  formiihit^nl  and  his  style  was  cold  and  haughty  ; 
in  public  life  he  maintained  an  attitude  of  proud  severity.  Since  Royer- 
Collard  had  grown  too  old  for  public  functions  Guizot  had  been  the  leading 
man  of  the  "theoretical  politicians."  This  name  was  given  at  the  Restora* 
tion  to  a  party  of  men  whose  power  consisted  more  in  their  talents  than  in 
their  number  (a  wag  had  said  that  the  whole  j>arty  could  sit  on  one  sofa). 
The  name  did  not  imply  that  they  were  consistently  attached  to  the  same 
R.  w.  —  vou  XI  u.  r 


and 

I 


W  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRA^'CK 

[1833-lMO  A. 

theories  for  long  together,  but  there  was  a  certain  Bententiouanesa  in 
language  which  justified  the  title. 

Guizot  wa**  the  historian  and  the  theoretical  exponent  of  the  policy 
whose  statesman  had  been  Casiniir  Perier.     He  had  founded  a  historical  and 
philosophical  system  on  the  power  given  to  the  upper  middle  class,  that  is: 
say  on  the  most  ephemeral  of  expedients.     His  past  life  and  his  opiiii< 
constituted  him  the  most  conservative  of  the  Orleanist  party. 

Thiers  was  just  tlie  reverse;  at  that  time  he  was  young  and  modern 
little  rotund  man,  with  a  pecidiar  face  already  adorned  by  the  traditional 
spectacles,  sparkling  with  wit  ami  vivacity,  very  supple  minded,  clever  in 
adapting  himself  to  circumstances,  understanding  or  at  least  in  toucli  with 
everything,  drawn  to  the  people  by  the  poverty  of  his  early  life  and  by  his 
ardent  enthusiasm,  imbued  with  the  history  of  the  empire,  an  ardent  admirer 
of  military  exploits  and  of  strong  measures,  he  formed,  during  six  years  of 
uninterrupted  rivalry,  the  strongest  possible  contrast  to  Guizot.  ^m 

Guizot  and  Thiers  both  became  members  of  the  same  government  that^l 
the  11th  uf  October,  1833.     This  ministry  passed  through  many  vicissitudes, 
was  modified  several  times,  and  had  many  different  chiefs. 

The  marked  feature  of  all  succeeding  combinations,  the  union  of  Guizot 
and  Thiers,  disappeared  in  1836.  For  a  short  time  Thiers  wtis  alone.  But 
the  king  had  mada  a  plan  of  his  owu,  and  on  the  15th  of  April,  1837,  as  we 
shall  see,  he  made  Mole  prime  minister.  Mole's  chief  merit  in  the  king's 
eyes  was  that  lie  was  ready  to  do  as  he  was  told ;  in  short,  he  acknowledged 
the  king  as  his  master.  The  idea  of  a  personal  government  made  men  of 
all  shades  of  opinion,  and  even  those  who  were  bitter  rivals,  unite  against 
the  new  minister.  Thiers,  Guizot,  and  the  man  who  wished  to  bring  the 
new  regime  back  to  the  traditions  of  the  Revolution  of  1830,  Odilon  Barrot, 
formed  a  coalition  which  included  men  of  every  party  who  had  united  with 
all  those  who  hud  taken  leading  parts  in  the  government  of  July.  Mole 
tried  to  make  himself  i)opuliir.  He  set  free  political  prisoners,  and  resolved 
to  grant  the  amnesty  which  everyone,  as  everyone  always  doe^,  had  declared 
to  be  impossible,  but  which  everybody,  and  this  too  is  a  common  occurrence, 
applauded  as  soon  as  it  was  accomplished.  The  amnesty  reflects  credit  on 
the  Mole  ministry,  but  it  did  not  save  it.  It  succumbed  in  1839  beneath  the 
repeated  attiicks  of  its  opponetits. 

The  latter  split  up  into  sections  immediately  after  their  victory.  A 
crisis  which  seemed  interminable  supervened.  For  two  months,  abortive 
measures  and  manoeuvres  which  became  the  laughing-stock  of  the  news* 
papers  perpetually  proclaimed  the  inefficacy  of  the  government.  It  was  only 
when,  during  an  insurrection,  the  sound  of  firing  was  lieard,  that  a  ministry 
was  formed  in  which  neither  of  the  leaders  of  tlie  party  had  a  place.  Tliis 
was  the  last  expedient  of  the  reign.  Soon,  after  so  many  short  ministrii 
there  was  to  be  one  which  was  too  durable  and  which  was  to  put  an  end 
the  existing  state  of  things. 

The  struggle  between  Thiers  and  Guizot  occupied  the  closing  years 
the  reign.     On  the  1st  of  March,  1840,  Louis  Philippe  decided  to  requ( 
Thiers  to  form  a  government.     In  doing  this  the  king  acknowledged  himself 
defeated:  first  because  Thiers  was  most  intolerant  of  the  king*s  interference 
in  affairs  of  state,  and  secondly  because  he  represented  the  boldest  elemei 
the  section  which  was  most  nearly  allied  to  the  Left  benches,  of  the  OrleanI 
party,    Louis  Philippe  resigned  fiimself,  not  without  misgivings,  to  this  sts^ 
of  things,  and  Guizot  agreed  to  absent  himself  from  the  debates  in  the  cham- 
ber, and  even  to  serve  under  his  rival  by  accepting  the  embassy  in  Lond< 


lUS 

I 

self 

nee 


I 


I 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE   REVOLUTION   OF  1848  67 

[lS3t-l{H0  A.D.} 

And  what  was  Thiers  going  to  do  that  would  not  have  been  done  by  a 
docile  instrument  of  the  king?  He  gave  up  all  the  reforms,  and  all  the 
principles  in  whose  name  he  had  just  made  such  a  determined  opposition. 
The  minister's  language  was  different,  his  relations  with  the  left  benches 
were  dissimilar,  but  the  policy  was  the  same.  Thiers  began  by  refusing 
either  to  change  anything  in  the  repressive  laws  made  during  the  previous 
ten  years,  or  to  undertake  any  electoral  reform.  One  or  two  hundred 
thousand  rich  men  would  continue  to  vote  and  to  govern*  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  ten  million  citizens ;  and,  in  order  to  keep  the  latter  in  subjection,  all 
the  weapons  which  had  been  forged  during  the  government  of  July  for  the 
maintenance  of  authority  were  preserved. 

Outside  the  kingdom  Thiers  did  nothing  more  ;  indeed  he  could  do  noth- 
ing. The  fact  was  it  was  difficult  enough  for  him  to  get  the  king  to  accept 
him  at  all.  Unpopular  and  feeling  his  position  continually  threatened  at 
the  Tuileries,  he  dared  not  act.  He  governed,  but  was  paralysed  by 
opposition. 

Only  two  measures  were  prepared  by  him,  and  he  had  not  time  to  carry 
them  through.  He  formed  the  plan  for  the  fortification  of  Paris,  a  plan 
which  was  variously  regarded  by  different  parties.  The  liberals  looked 
upon  it  as  a  military  precaution  against  foreign  foes ;  the  court  as  a  means 
of  subduing  Paris  in  case  of  need.  The  events  of  1870  sufTicieutly  proved 
that,  from  a  national  point  of  vieAv,  Thiers  was  right.  The  plan  was  revived 
by  Mai'shal  Soult  during  the  next  ministry  and  was  sanctioned.  Thus, 
thirty  years  later,  Paris  was  able  to  defend  herself. 

With  Thiers,  too,  originated  the  idea  of  briut^^ing  back  the  remains  of 
Napoleon  I  in  triumph  from  St.  Helena  and  placing  them  in  the  Invalides. 
Tlius  more  warlike  ideas,  which  would  have  given  France  a  prouder  position 
amongst  the  nations  of  Europe,  but  which  were  held  in  check  by  the  king, 
and  which  the  minister  found  himself  obliged  to  abandon  one  after  another, 
were  all  merged  in  a  sort  of  funeral  procession  in  honour  of  the  conqueror 
who,  in  the  name  of  France,  had  dictated  laws  to  the  whole  world.*  We 
may  now  review  in  some  detail  the  ministries  from  1836  to  1840,  first  noting 
the  war  with  Abdul-Kadir.a 


WAR  WITH   ABDUL-KADIB 

In  the  province  of  Oran  a  new  power  had  arisen,  one  very  dangerous  to 
the  French,  that  of  a  young  Arab  chief,  full  of  courage  !in<l  intelligence,  the 
descendant  of  a  family  which  exercised  a  hereditary  religious  influence. 
Abdul-Kadir  presented  himself  to  the  Moslem  tribes  as  being  tlie  man  whom 
the  prophet  Mohammed  had  destined  to  deliver  ihem  from  the  **  Rumis  " 
(Christians).  General  Desmichels,  wlio  commanded  at  Oran  was  imprudent 
enough  to  treat  Abdul-Kadir  as  an  equal  and  to  recognise  liim  as  the  emir, 
the  prince  of  all  the  Moslems  of  that  country  (February  25th,  1834).  French 
authority  thus  imposed  Abdul-Kadir  on  those  very  Moslems  who  till  then 
had  not  wished  to  submit  to  him.  He  was  not  content  with  dominating  the 
province  of  Oran,  where  the  French  occupied  only  a  few  points  ;  he  presumed 
to  establish  his  lieutenants  even  in  the  province  of  Algeria. 

A  rupture  was  inevitable  ;  and,  at  the  battle  of  the  Macta,  a  small  French 
force  commanded  by  General  Trezel  disengaged  itself  only  with  gi*eat  diffi- 
cqlty  and  loss  from  the  midst  of  large  numbers  of  Arabs  united  Tinder  Abdul- 
Kadir  (June  26th,  1835).  The  French  government  decided  finally  to  send 
loto  Africa  General  (later  Marshal)  Clausel,  accompanied  by  the  duke  of 


68  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1S3S-1R37  A.D.J 

Orleans.  Marshal  Clausel  took  the  offensive  against  Abdul-Kadir,  scored  a 
victory  at  Mascara,  the  residence  of  the  emir,  and  occupied  Tlemcen  (Novem- 
ber, 1835-January,  1836),  These  were  the  two  principal  cities  of  the 
province  of  Oran. 

The  marshal,  however,  had  not  received  sufficient  forces;  Abdul-Kadir 
might  continue  the  war,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  bey  of  Constantine,  who 
ruled  in  the  east  of  Algeria  and  constituted  another  independent  power  in 
that  region,  was  defying  and  harassing  the  French.  Clausel  returned  to 
Paris  to  ask  for  reinforcements.  It  was  during  the  ministry  of  Thiers,  who 
had  understood  the  necessity  of  putting  an  end  to  half-measures.  He  would 
have  enabled  Clausel  to  act  on  a  large  scale.  Unfortunately  he  fell  and  hia 
successors  did  not  inherit  his  broad  views.  Clausel  did  not  have  at  his  dis- 
posal all  the  resources  which  he  thought  necessary  to  make  an  attack  upoa 
Constantine.  There  was  necessity  for  it,  however,  if  all  authority  in  the 
eastern  province  was  not  to  be  lost.  The  weather  was  bad,  the  season 
advanced.     Clausel  decided  nevertheless  to  risk  the  expedition. 

The  marshal  set  out  from  Bona  November  8th,  1836,  with  a  small  force  of 
less  than  nine  thousand  men,  including  some  native  auxiliaries.  He  arrived 
before  Constantine  on  the  21st,  after  having  crossed  the  Little  Atlas  with 
great  difficulty  in  the  midst  of  winter  rains  which  made  tliis  rugged  country 
almost  impassable.  As  Ahmed  Bey  wjis  un2)opular,  it  had  been  hoped  that 
the  Kabyle  and  Arab  tribes  would  join  the  French.  But  upon  seeing  the 
numerical  weakness  of  the  French,  they  remained  on  the  side  of  the  bey  and 
the  French  troops  saw  them  upon  their  flanks  while  the  city  was  defended 
by  a  strong  garrison  well  provided  with  artillery.  The  ground  was  so  soft 
that  it  had  not  even  been  possible  to  bring  up  the  light  field-guns  on  this 
kind  of  isthmus. 

A  double  attack  failed.  Provisions  and  even  munitions  were  growing 
scarce.  Retreat  became  inevitable.  It  was  forty  leagues  to  Bona  and  the 
French  troops  must  cross  the  mountains  harassed  by  thousands  of  Arab 
horsemen.  The  Arabs  tried  to  destroy  the  rearguard,  where  a  weak  battal- 
ion of  the  2nd  light  cavalry  was  protecting  the  ammunition  wagons  loaded 
with  the  wounded.  The  Arab  cavalry  threw  themselves  in  a  body  upon 
this  handful  of  men.  The  commandant  Changarnier  gave  orders  to  form  a 
square  and  resolutely  await  the  multitude  of  enemies.  The  fire  of  two  ranks 
at  pistol  range  covered  the  ground  with  men  and  horses.  The  Arabs  were 
thoroughly  tired  of  the  charge  and  contented  themselves  henceforth  with 
sharpshooting  at  a  distance.  This  incident  made  the  military  fortune  of 
the  commandant  Changarnier. 

Marshal  Clausel  conducted  the  retreat  to  Bona  with  much  vigour  and 
skill.  The  ministry,  with  which  he  was  not  in  favour,  made  him  bear  all 
the  responsibility  of  this  defeat  and  recalled  him.  Tliey  appointed  General 
Damremont  to  succeed  him,  but  returned  to  the  bad  system  of  having  a 
general  at  Oran  who  was  independent  of  the  governor  of  Algiers.  General 
Hugeaud,  who  had  the  reputation  of  an  energetic  officer,  was  sent  to  Oran  ; 
there  was  reason  to  hope  that  he  would  dispose  of  Abdul-Kadir.  But  he 
allowed  himself  to  be  entangled  in  the  diplomatic  schemes  of  the  Arab  chief 
and  signed  a  new  treaty  with  him  worse  than  that  of  his  predecessor,  Des- 
michels.  In  return  for  a  vague  acceptance  of  the  sovereignty  of  France, 
Bugeaud  recognised  Abdul-Kadir  as  emir,  not  only  of  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  province  of  Oran,  but  of  the  province  of  Titery,  intermediate  between 
the  provinces  of  Oran  and  Algiers  ;  he  even  conceded  to  him  a  part  of  the 
territory  of  Algiers.     Abdul-Kadir's  authority  extended  then  beyond  Medea, 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE   REVOLUTION  OF  1848 


69 


r 


[183&-]87r  4.D.1 

to  the  last  chain  of  the  Little  Atlas,  above  BliJa,  in  fact,  into  the  Metidja 
itself-  The  wretched  Treaty  of  the  Tafiia  thus  meant  a  precarious  peace 
which  gave  the  erair  the  means  and  the  time  to  organise  a  strong  opposition. 
The  governor  of  Algiers  at  least  made  use  of  it  to  operate  in  the  province 
of  Constantine  and  repair  the  losses  of  Ciausel ;  for  it  had  been  felt  to  be 
impossible  to  remain  quiet  under  this  blow. 

General  Damremout  had  not  a  much  larger  force  than  Ciausel  — 10,000 
men  altogether ;  but  ho  set  out  much  earlier  in  the  season,  well  provisioned 
and  eqaip|>ed  with  siege  guns.  The  army  arrived  before  Fort  Constantino 
in  the  best  of  condition  on  the  6th  of  October.  The  autumn  rains  had  be- 
gun. Unprecedented  efforts  were  necessary  to  drag  the  cannon  up  Coudiat- 
Aty.  The  breach,  nevertheless,  was  opened  the  11th  of  October.  On  the 
following  morning  General  Damremont  approaclied  to  reconnoitre  the 
breach.  He  was  instantly  killed  by  a  bullet.  The  loss  of  tliis  brave  leader, 
instead  of  disheartening  the  army,  inspired  it.  An  old  soldier  of  the  repub- 
lic, the  artillery-general  Valee,  took  the  command,  immediately  ordered  the 
firing  to  recommence,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  ISth  sent  three  columns  to 
the  assault.  The  first  was  in  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Lamoriciere, 
and  was  composed  principally  of  Zouaves.  This  corps,  since  become  so 
famous,  had  originally  been  formed  of  native  auxiliaries  and  retained  its 
picturesque  oriental  costume,  though  recruited  with  Frenchmen  and  fre- 
quently with  Parisians.  Lamoriciere  imjjetuously  spurred  on  his  men, 
scaled  the  breach,  and  penetrated  into  the  city,  supported  by  the  other  two 
columns.  A  bloody  struggle  was  kept  up  from  house  to  house  in  the 
narrow  streets  and  amid  the  ruins  made  by  the  cannon.  Lamoriciere  was 
cruelly  burned  by  the  explosion  of  a  powder  magazine,  but  he  survived  and 
had  a  brilliant  military  career. 

When  the  French  columns  had  united  in  the  middle  of  the  city,  what  was 
left  of  the  Mussulman  authorities  surrendered,  and  the  firing  ceased.  A 
frightful  scene  marked  the  end  of  resistance.  A  great  number  of  the 
inhabitants  had  madly  attempted  to  escape  from  the  city  by  descending  tho 
jagged  rocks  of  the  gorge  of  the  Ruuimel.  Many  of  these  unfortunates 
tumbled  from  rock  to  rock  and  were  dashed  to  pieces  in  the  bed  of  the  tor- 
rent. The  conquest  of  the  ancient  capital  of  Nuraidia  gave  France  a  firm 
base  for  the  future  in  the  interior  of  Algeria.  The  event  did  the  army  much 
honour ;  but  the  ministry  did  not  derive  from  the  amnesty  nor  from  the 
taking  of  Constantine  the  hoped-for  effect  upon  the  elections. c 


MINISTERIAL  CRISES    (I83G  A.D.) 

Between  183G  and  1840,  the  cabinet  was  modified  five  times  successively: 
its  leaders  were  Thiers,  Count  Mole,  Broglie,  Marshal  Soult,  and  once  again 
Thiers. 

In  the  first  ministry  of  Thiers  the  cabinet  did  not  last  long.  Thiers 
soon  settled  the  internal  difficulties  ;  he  succeeded  in  adjourning  the  eon- 
vpi-sion  of  stock,  and  was  supported  by  the  majority  of  the  chamber.  It 
was  during  this  ministry  that  one  of  the  men  who  were  to  a  great  extent 
responsible  for  the  revolution  of  July,  having,  with  Thiers  and  Mignet, 
'  tunded  Le  Natxonah  disappeared  from  the  scene.  Armand  Carrel,  sep- 
ited  from  his  former  colleagues,  had  ardently  embraced  republican  doc- 
trines of  which  his  paper  soon  became  the  mouthpiece  ,  he  had  however 
rejected  communism.  A  political  quarrel  with  M.  de  Girardtn  who  had  just 
founded  La  Presne  brought  about  a  duel  in  which  the  editor  of  Le  National 


70  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[I83e-183T  A.X).l 

was  mortally  wounded.  He  died  at  St.  Mandc,  after  having  refused  the 
consolations  of  religion,  saying  tliat  be  died  in  the  faith  of  Benjamin  Con- 
stant, of  Manuel,  and  of  liberty.  The  home  policy  of  Thiers  was  very  judi- 
cious but  his  foreign  policy  was  a  failure.  Wishing  to  restore  France  to  the 
position  she  had  formerly  occupied  amongst  tlie  powers  of  Europe,  Thiers 
was  anxious  for  the  French  government  to  interfere  in  Spanish  affairs  by 
sending  troops  to  put  a  stop  to  the  civil  war  in  Spain,  by  repulsing  Don 
Carlos  and  by  supporting  the  young  queen  Isabella  II.  The  king  took  fright 
at  the  idea  of  an  expedition  into  the  Peninsula.  "Let  ua  help  the  Spaniards 
from  without,"  he  said,  "  but  do  not  Itit  us  embark  on  their  ship  ;  if  we  do 
we  shall  certainly  have  to  take  the  helm,  and  God  knows  what  will  happen." 
Thiers  sent  in  his  resignation  and  was  succeeded  by  Mole  and  Guizot. 

The  union  of  these  two  ministers  did  not  last  long  and  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  au  important  event. 

THE  STRASBURG  BONAPARTIST  PLOT 

This  ministry  had  not  been  in  existence  two  months  when  the  attempt 
made  at  Strasburg  by  Louis  Bonaparte  took  place. 

The  nephew  of  Napoleon  I  had  been  living  for  some  years  at  the  castle 
of  Arenenberg  in  Switzerland  with  bis  mother,  and  was  a  captain  of  artillery 
in  the  Swiss  array.  The  continual  risings  which  took  place  in  France,  and 
the  letters  of  his  partisans,  made  him  believe  that  the  time  had  come  for 
attempting,  by  means  of  a  military  revolution,  to  replace  on  the  throne  the 
Napoleonic  dynasty  of  which  he  was  the  head  now  that  the  duke  of  Reich- 
stadt  was  dead.  He  had  succeeded  in  opening  communications  with  the 
garrison  of  Strasburg.  On  the  29th  of  October,  IHliiy,  he  arrived  at  Stras- 
burg.  The  next  day  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Colonel  Vaudrey 
presented  him  to  the  fourth  artillery  regiment.  For  a  few  moments  he 
succeeded  in  arousing  t!ie  enthusiiism  of  the  soldiers  who  cried  "Long  live 
Napoleon  I  Long  live  the  Emperor!"  But  the  46th  line  regiment,  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Taillandier,  tiirned  a  deaf  ear  to  these  outcries  and 
remained  faithful  to  their  duly.  By  order  of  their  commanding  ofticer,  the 
infantry  surrounded  Louis  Bonaparte  and  took  him  prisoner.  Louis  Philippe 
sent  him  to  America.  The  other  conspirators  were  brought  to  trial  and 
acquitted,  for  the  jury  were  unwilling  to  pronounce  them  guilty  when  the 
chief  culprit  luid  been  sent  away  unpunished. 

This  acquittal  made  the  government  uneasy  and  the  "bill  of  Separation," 
or  law  of  Disjunction,  was  brought  I)efore  the  chambers.  This  bill  pro- 
vided that  wlien  civil  and  military  offenders  were  both  implicated  in  the 
same  plot,  the  former  only  should  be  tried  at  the  assizes,  and  the  others  by 
a  court  martial.  The  bill,  which  was  fiercely  attacked  by  Berryer,  was 
rejected.  The  ministry  \vei*e  unable  to  survive  this  reverse.  A  ministerial 
crisis  supervened,  and  ten  days  were  spent  in  intrigues  and  negotiations,  but 
eventually  the  court  party  led  by  Mole  carried  the  day. 

Mole  remained  in  power  nearly  two  years.  Four  important  events 
relating  to  foreign  policy  took  place  during  this  ministry.  The  first  was  the 
marriage  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  the  king's  eldest  son.  This  young  prince 
married  on  the  30th  of  May,  1837,  the  Lutheran  princess  Helen  of  Mecklen- 
burg. It  was  on  the  occasion  of  this  marriage  that  the  galleries  of  Versailles, 
containing  sculptures  and  paintings  illustrating  the  chief  events  of  French 
history,  were  thrown  open  to  the  public.  An  amnesty  was  granted  to  all 
criminal  and  political  offenders  who  were  then  in  prison.    The  second  public 


P  LOUIS   PHILIPPE   AND   THE   REVOLUTION   OF   1848  71 

^838-1810  A.D.] 

act  of  the  ministry  was  their  intervention  in  America.  The  Mexican  govern- 
ment refused  to  make  any  reparation  for  injuries  buffered  bjj  Frenuh  merchants. 
^  fleet  comraauded  by  Rear- Admiral  Baudin  and  the  prince  de  Joiiiville  bom- 
Ibarded  the  fort  of  San  Juan  de  Ulua  near  Vera  Cruz.  JJy  tlie  treaty  of 
March  9th  Mexico  granted  the  claims  of  France.  An  intervention  of  the  same 
kind  took  place  in  Huenos  Ayres,  but  it  was  many  years  before  the  required 
reparation  was  obtained. 

The  republic  of  Haiti,  formerly  under  French  rule,  had  obtained  its 
independence  in  1825  by  paying  an  indemnity  of  150,000,000  francs  to  the 
original  colonists.  The  payment  of  this  indemnity  was  so  long  delayed  that 
it  was  found  necessary  to  send  a  fleet  to  these  parts  also.  The  republic  thus 
intimidated,  yielded  and  agreed  to  pay  60,000,000  francs,  which  sum  the 
French  consented  to  accept.  The  other  two  events,  which  have  been  already 
recorded,  were  the  recognition  of  Belgium  and  the  evacuation  of  Ancona. 

The  ministry  ^vas  keenly  attacked  by  the  coalition.  The  heads  of  par- 
tiea  in  the  chaml)er,  Thiers,  Guixot^  and  Odilon  Barrot,  united  against 
M.  Mole.  Tlie  debate  on  the  address  in  reply  to  the  king's  speech  wim  very 
heated  (January,  1839).  AL  Mole  obtained  only  a  very  slight  majority  in 
favour  of  the  amendments,  which  he  himself  proposed,  to  this  document, 
which  was  drawn  up  in  a  spirit  very  hostile  to  the  ministry.  He  wished  to 
retire,  but  the  king  retained  him  and  dissolved  the  chamber.  The  elections 
went  in  favour  of  the  coalition.  Mole  retired  on  the  Stli  of  March,  1839. 
Parliamentary  tradition  triumphed  over  monarchical  tradition.  The  deputies 
had  vanquished  the  king,  of  whom  Thiers  said  "he  reigns  but  he  does  not 
govern.** 

For  two  months  all  aorta  of  ayatema  and  plana  were  discussed.  Tlie 
three  chiefs  could  not  agree  ;  each  one  wished  to  Lave  the  chief  power. 
The  king,  who  did  not  much  relish  being  ruled  by  them,  jmt  tliem  aside  saying, 
••  Gentlemen,  try  to  como  to  an  agreement."  Provisional  ministers  were 
appoint^3d  to  carry  ou  the  necessary  business.  Their  names  were  greeted 
by  peals  of  laughter  and  by  gibes.  The  disorder  became  so  great  that  the 
republican  party  took  advantage  of  it  to  raise  an  insurrection.  Ou  the 
12th  of  May  the  society  called  "-The  Seasons,"  led  by  Barbes  and  Blanqui, 
attacked  an  armourer's  store.  Being  rt-pnlscd,  they  entrenched  themselves 
behind  a  barricade.  After  a  desperate  resistance,  they  were  almost  all  killed 
or  taken  prisoners.  Barbes  and  Blanqui  were  condemned  to  death,  but 
their  punishment  was  commuted  to  imprisonment  for  life.  However,  they 
were  released  in  1848.  On  tlie  very  evening  of  this  attempted  rising  a 
regular  ministry  was  formed. 


THE  80T7LT  MINISTEY 

This  ministry  lasted  only  ten  months.  At  this  period  the  Eastern  ques- 
tion began  to  occupy  public  attention,  but  its  difliculties  wore  not  the  cause 
of  the  fall  of  the  ministry,  which  was  due  to  the  disagreements  on  the  ques- 
tion of  a  royal  dowry.  The  marriage  of  the  duke  de  Nemours  seemed  to 
Louis  Philippe  a  suitable  occasion  for  demanding  for  his  son  an  income  of 
lialf  a  million,  to  l)e  provided  from  the  i)ublic  treasury.  Public  opinion  was 
very  hostile  to  such  demands  for  money.  Numerous  petitions  called  ou  the 
chamber  to  refuse  the  dowry.  The  day  for  deciding  the  question  by  vote 
arrived-  The  ministr}',  feeling  certain  of  success,  did  not  defend  the  meas- 
ure, and  realised  what  an  error  had  been  committed  only  when  the  votes 
were  counted  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  black  balls  were  announced 


72  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1»10a.d.] 
against  two  hundred  white  ones.  The  ministry  went  out  of  office.  M. 
Thiers  loved  revojutions,  glory,  and  fighting,  and  professed  a  sort  of  cult 
for  the. genius  of  the  emperor.  These  predilections  being  in  accordance 
with  popular  feeling,  he  was  recalled  to  power. 

Since  1792  Louis  Philippe  had  been  fearing  lest  a  victory  of  his  foreign 
foes  might  encourage  them  to  march  on  Paris,  which  was  uudefended.  In 
1814  and  in  1817  he  had  vainly  tried  to  induce  Louis  XVIII  to  render  the 
heart  of  France  invulnerable,  by  the  adequate  fortification  of  Paris.  Since 
1830  all  propositions  in  favour  of  carrying  out  this  scheme  had  been  frus- 
trated. At  length,  however,  the  march  of  events  supplemented  the  king's 
convictions  and  perseverance.  France  was  apprehensive  of  a  war  with  the 
whole  of  Europe.  A  French  defeat,  and  a  bold  march  on  the  part  of  the 
enemy  might  lead  to  the  taking  of  Paris.  A  bill  was  passed  for  encircling 
Paris  with  ramparts  protected  by  enormous  forts.  This  work,  which  was 
carried  out  in  less  than  seven  years,  cost  140,000,000  francs. 

THE   EETURN  OF  NAPOLEON's   REMAINS 

Either  as  a  mefina  of  exciting  patriotic  feeling  or  in  accordance  with  the 
policy  which  wished  to  found  the  government  of  July  on  the  renown  of  tlie 
first  Napoleon,  the  king,  in  accordance  with  his  ministers,  resolved  to 
demand  from  England  the  ashes  of  the  emperor,  who  had  died  at  St. 
Helena.  Lord  Palmcrston  granted  tlie  demantl,  and  the  prince  de  Joinville, 
on  board  the  frigate  Belle  Poule^  went  to  fetch  these  precious  relics.' 

The  frigate  made  a  gixid  passage,  and  arrived  in  safety  at  St.  Helena.  The 
officers  intrusted  with  the  melancholy  duty  were  received  with  the  utmost 
respect  by  the  English  garrison,  and  every  preparation  was  made  to  give  due 
solemnity  to  the  disinterment  of  the  emperor's  remains.  The  soHtary  tomb 
iindtir  the  willow  tree  was  opened,  the  winding-sheet  rolled  back  with  pious 
care,  and  the  features  of  the  immortal  hero  exposed  to  the  view  of  the 
entranced  spectators.  So  perfectly  had  the  body  been  embalmed  that  the 
features  were  undecayed,  the  countenance  serene,  even  a  smile  on  the  lips, 
and  hia  dress  the  same,  since  imriiortalised  in  statuary,  as  when  he  stood  ou 
the  fields  of  Austerlitz  or  Jena.  Borne  first  on  a  magnificent  hearse,  aud 
then  down  to  the  harbour  on  the  shoulders  of  the  British  grenadiers,  amidst 
the  discharge  of  artillery  from  the  vessels,  batteries,  and  all  parts  of  the 
island,  the  body  was  lowered  into  the  French  frigate,  and  England  nobly 
and  in  a  right  spirit  parted  with  the  proudest  trophy  of  her  national  glory. 
The  Belle  Poule  had  a  favourable  voyage  home,  and  reached  Havre  in  safety 
in  the  beginning  of  December.  The  interment  was  fixed  for  the  15th  cj 
the  same  month  —  not  at  St.  Denis,  amidst  her  ancient  sovereigns,  but  in 
the  church  of  the  Tnvalides,  beside  the  graves  of  Tnrenne,  Vanban,  Lannes, 
and  the  paladins  of  France;  and  every  preparation  was  made  for  giving  the 
utmost  magnificence  to  the  absorbing  spectacle. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  enthusiasm  and  excitement  which  prevailed  in 
Paris  when  the  day  fixed  for  the  august  ceremony  arrived.  The  weather 
was  favourable ;  the  sun  shone  forth  in  unclouded  brilliancy,  but  a  piercing 
wind  from  the  north  blew  with  such  severity  that  several  persons  perished 
of  cold  as  they  were  waiting  for  the  funeral  procession.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  the  15th,  the  coifin,  which  had  been  brought  by  the  Seine  to 
Courbevoie  the  preceding  evening,  was  placed  on  a  gigantic  funeral-car,  and 
at  ten  it  began  its  march,  attended  b}'  an  immense  and  splendid  military 
escort,  and  amidst  a  crowd  of  six  hundred  thousand  spectators.     So  dense 


I 


^  LOUIS  PHILIPPE   AND  THE  REVOLUTION   OF  1848  73 

[1840  AJ>.] 

was  the  throng  tliat  it  was  half-post  one  when  the  procession  reached  the 
place  de  la  Concorde,  from  whence  it  passed  by  the  bridge  of  the  same  name 
to  the  church  of  the  Invalides,  where  it  was  received  by  the  king,  the  royal 
family,  with  the  archbishop  and  all  the  clergy  of  Paris,  "Sire,"  said  the 
prince  de  Joinville,  who  approached  at  the  head  of  the  coffin,  "I  pi*esent  to 
you  the  body  of  the  emperor  Napoleon.'*  "(leneral  Bertrand,"  said  the  king, 
"I  command  you  to  place  the  sword  of  the  emperor  on  his  coffin."  When 
this  was  done,  he  said,  "  General  Gourgaud,  place  the  hat  of  the  emperor  on 
his  coffin."  Tliis  also  was  done  ;  an<l,  tlio  king  having  withdrawn,  the  coffin 
was  placed  on  a  magnificent  altar  in  the  centre  of  the  church,  the.  funeral 
service  was  {jerformed  with  the  utmost  solemnity,  and  the  Dies  Iros  chanted 
with  inexpre^ble  effect  by  a  thousand  voices.  Finally,  the  coffin,  amidst 
entrancing  melody,  was  lowered  into  the  grave,  while  every  eye  in  the  vast 
assemblage  was  wet  with  tears,  and  the  bones  of  Napoleon  '^finally  reposed 
on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  amidst  the  people  v^hom  he  had  loved  so  well."<{ 

THE   EASTERN    QUESTION 

France  intervened  in  the  interests  of  the  pacha  of  Egypt,  for  whose  suc- 
cess she  was  anxious,  though  she  did  not  desire  the  destruction  of  Turkey. 
The  pacha  checked  the  march  of  his  victorious  army.  France  and  England 
ought  to  have  come  to  an  understanding,  for  their  interests  were  aimihir; 
but  England  was  jealous  of  France's  position  in  Egypt.  Besides,  the  czar 
Nicholas  hated  Louis  Philippe.  In  Loudon  a  conference  met  to  discuss  the 
affairs  of  the  East;  Russia,  England,  Austria,  and  Prussia  signed  a  treaty 
without  deigning  to  include  France.  When  this  insult  became  known,  pop- 
ular feeling  was  aroused,  and  a  sentiment  of  keen  irritation  spread  through 
Franc-e.  It  was  suggested  that  the  nation  sliould  rise  in  arms  to  avenge  this 
insult  to  the  national  honour,  Thiers  made  preparations  for  war,  and  called 
out  the  national  guard.  This  was  a  dangerous  attitude  for  France  to  adopt 
for  it  was  imjMJssible  to  declare  war  on  the  whole  of  Europe.  Louis  Philippe 
understood  this,  and  when  Thiers,  having  drawn  up  a  statement  which  assumed 
war  to  be  imminent,  asked  the  immediate  convocation  of  the  clmnibera  to 
support  this  polic3\  the  king  refused  to  follow  his  advice.  This  was  equal 
to  dismissing  the  minister  and  Thiers  resigned.  A  short  time  after,  the 
Eastern  difficulty  was  settled  by  tlie  Convention  of  the  Straits,  which  was 
signed  by  Franco  as  well  as  by  the  other  powers.  Tliis  treaty  forba*ie  all 
vessels,  of  whatever  nationality,  to  enter  the  Dardanelles,  and  made  Egypt 
subject  to  Turkey.  France  had  thus  regained  her  position  in  Europe.  There 
followed  the  ministry  which  lasted  from  the  29th  of  October,  1840,  till  the 
24th  of  February,  1848. 

Marshal  Soult  was  directed  to  form  a  ministry.  This  cabinet  had  more 
stability  than  those  which  preceded  it  and  lasted  till  the  fall  of  Louis  Philippe, 
M,  Guizot  had  complete  management  of  affairs,  and  relied  constantly  on  the 
support  of  the  majority  in  the  chamber,  without  taking  into  consideration 
either  the  wishes  or  opinion  of  the  country.* 

louis-napoleon's  second  attempt  at  a  coup  d'Atat 

Louis  Philippe  left  Paris  for  his  castle  of  Eu,  where  he  had  given  a  ren- 
dezvous to  MM.  Thiers  and  Guizot  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  Eastern 
affairs.  There  he  received  strajige  tidings:  Louis  Napoleon  had  landed  at 
Boulogae  on  August  6th,  1840.     The  latter,  since  he  had  transferred  his 


74  THE  HISTORY  Or  FRANCE 

[\^%0  A.D.] 

residence  to  England,  had  recommenced  the  same  operations  as  in  Switzer- 
land ;  bribing  newspapers,  distributing  pamphlets,  tampering  with  officers 
and  sergeants.  He  believed  he  cnuld  count  upon  the  commander  of  the 
departement  du  Nord,  General  Magnan,  an  equivocal  character,  to  whom  he 
had  offered  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  who,  later  on,  was  to  be  one  of  his 
chief  accomplices  on  December  2ntl.  He  had  even  entered  into  relations 
with  a  higher  official,  Marshal  Clausel.  He  determined  to  land  near  Bou- 
logne, purposing  to  capture  the  small  garrison  of  that  town,  to  seize  the 
castle,  which  contained  a  gun  magazine,  then  to  direct  his  steps  towards 
the  departement  dn  Nord,  and  from  thence  to  Paris. 

He  prepared  declamatory  prnclamations  wherein  he  promised  to  the 
soldiers  **  glory,  honour,  wealth,"  and  to  the  people  reduction  of  taxes, 
order,  and  liberty.  *'  Soldiers,"  he  said,  "  the  great  spirit  of  Najxileon 
speaks  to  you  through  me.  Traitors,  be  gone,  the  Napoleonic  spirit,  which 
cares  but  for  the  welfare  of  the  nation,  advances  to  overwhelm  you ! " 

He  asserted  that  he  had  powerful  friends  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  who 
had  promised  to  uphold  him  ;  this  was  an  allusion  to  Russia,  whose  support 
he  believed  he  possessed  and  from  whom  he  had  very  probably  received  some 
encouragement.  In  a  sketch  of  a  decree,  lie  named  Thiers  president  of  the 
provisional  government,  and  Marshal  Clause!,  commander  of  the  Army  of 
Paris.  His  plans  thus  laid,  lii^  left  London  hy  steamer,  with  General  Mon- 
tholon,  several  officers,  about  sixty  men,  and  an  eagle,  destined  to  play  the 
part  of  a  living  symbol  in  the  forthcoming  drama. 

The  expedition  landed  at  night  at  Vimereux,  north  of  Boulogne,  and 
proceeded  to  that  town-  The  confederates  entered  the  courtyard  of  the 
l)arrackH  (if  the  42nd  regiment  of  the  line.  A  lieutenant,  who  was  for 
Napoleon,  had  mustered  the  men  and  told  them  that  Louis  Plulippe  reigned 
no  longer ;  then  Louis  Bonaparte  harangued  them.  Confused,  fascinated, 
they  were  beginning  to  shout  **  Long  live  the  emperor,"  when  there  appeared 
upon  the  scene  a  captain,  who,  breaking  through  the  confederates,  and  regard- 
less of  their  threats,  summoned  the  non-commissioned  officers  and  men  to  his 
side.  Louis  Bonaparte  lired  a  pistol  at  him,  but  it  missed  him  and  wounded 
a  grenadier  ;  the  soldiers  rallied  roimd  their  captain. 

The  confederates  left  the  barracks  without  delay,  and  ascended  to  the 
castle,  but  they  were  unable  to  break  in  the  doors.  None  of  the  townspeople 
had  joined  them.  The  rappel  was  sounded,  and  the  national  guard  assembled, 
but  against  them.  They  left  the  town  and  retreated  to  the  foot  of  the  column 
raised  in  Napoleon's  time  in  honour  of  the  Grande  Armee.  The  national 
guard  and  the  line  regiment  advanced  upon  them.  They  disappeared. 
I^uis  Bonaparte  and  a  few  of  Iiis  followers  fled  towards  the  sea  and  swam 
to  a  yawl,  in  which  they  attempted  to  regain  their  vessel. 

The  national  guards   opened  iire  upon  the  fugitives,  several  of  whom 
were  severely  wounded  ;  the  yawl  capsized  and  a  spent  bullet  struck  Louia 
Bonaparte.     Two  of  his   accomplices   peri.shed,    one    was   shot,    the   other  •" 
drowned.     Louis  Bonaparte  survived  for  the  sorrow  of  France. 

The  pretender  was  this  time  arraigned  with  his  accomplices  before  the 
court  of  peers,  which  condemned  him  to  imprisonment  for  life  (October  6th)- 
He  was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Ham,  in  the  same  chaml>er  where  Polignac 
had  been  confined.  This  non-capital  sentence  confirmed  in  effect  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  death  penalty  in  political  affairs,  which  had  been  implied  in  the 
pardon  of  Barbes. 

This  attempt,  even  more  feebly  conceived  than  that  of  Strasburg,  had 
thus  failed  still  more  miserably.     The  pretender  had  made  himself  ridicu- 


^  LOUIS  PHILIPPE   AND  THE   UEVOLUTIOX  OF  1848  75 

[IftWVlM5  A.D.] 

lous  in  the  eyes  of  the  enlightened  and  educated  classes.^  who  perused 
the  newspapers  and  knew  the  details  of  his  adventures.  But  it  was  a 
great  mistake  to  look  upon  him  now  as  harmless,  and  to  forget  that  the 
majority  are  not  in  the  habit  of  reading.c 

EVENTS   FROM  1840-1842 

On  the  13th  of  July,  1842,  an  unfortunate  event  cast  a  gloom  over  the 
whole  country  without  distinction  of  party.  The  duke  of  Orleans,  a  kind 
and  justly  loved  prince,  was  thrown  from  his  carriage  and  killed.  At  his 
death,  his  right  of  succession  passed  to  his  son,  tlie  comte  de  Paris,  and  a 
child  of  four  years  became  the  heir  of  the  heaviest  crown  that  could  be 
borne.  From  tliat  day  the  legitimistH  charted  to  hope.  The  liberals  and  the 
republicans  expected  everytliing  for  the  triumph  of  their  ideas  from  the 
inevitable  weakness  of  a  regency. 

The  chambers  were  convoked  at  once.  They  were  present-ed  with  a  law 
which  in  advance  named  the  duke  de  Nemours  regent.  This  prince  did  not 
have  the  brilliant  reputation  of  tlie  duke  of  Orleans,  the  popularity  which 
the  prince  de  Joinville  had  acquired  by  his  services  off  San  Juan  de  Uliia, 
nor  the  budding  renown  which  the  capture  of  Abdul-Kadir's  smala  had 
brought  to  the  duke  d'Aumaie.  The  law  was  psissed  but  without  public 
concurrence. 

During  several  3^ears  France  had  enjoyed  a  period  of  remarkable  pros- 
perity attested  by  a  budget  of  receiptn  amounting  to  1,343,000,000  francs. 
Popular  instruction  was  advancing;  the  penal  code  had  been  lightened  in 
severity  and  the  lottery  suppressed.  The  law  of  expropriation  for  the  cause 
of  public  utility  prevented  work  undertaken  in  the  interest  of  the  general 
good  from  beiug  impeded  by  private  intereHls.  Industry  took  a  new  start 
from  the  introduction  of  machinery  and  commerce  was  extending.  The 
coasts  began  to  be  lit  up  by  lighthouses,  the  primitive  roads  to  be  improved, 
and  a  vast  network  of  railways  was  planned*  But  this  plan  once  conceived, 
instead  of  first  ooni-entrating  all  the  energy  of  France  on  the  chief  artery  of 
the  country,  from  Boulogne  to  Marseilles,  the  resources  were  scattered  on 
all  the  lines  at  once  for  the  sake  of  satisfying  every  locality  and  of  thus 
preparing  favourable  elections. 

These  enterprises,  as  often  happens,  gave  rise  to  boundless  speculation. 
The  evil  went  far,  for  a  minister  of  the  king  had  been  condemned  for  hav- 
ing sold  his  signature,  a  peer  of  France  for  having  bought  it. 

National  sentiments  had  been  deeply  wounded  by  the  events  of  1840. 
Guizot  sought  a  compensation  for  French  pride.  lie  caused  the  Marquesas 
Islands,  sterile  rocks  in  the  Pacitic  Ocean,  to  be  occupied  (May,  1842). 
New  Zealand  was  more  worth  while.  The  French  were  about  to  descend 
upon  it  when  England,  being  forewarned,  took  possession  and  began  to 
show  jealous  susceptibilities.  A  French  officer  placed  the  flag  of  France  on 
the  large  oceanic  island  of  New  Caledonia;  the  ministry  had  it  torn  down. 
Tlie  states  of  Honduras  and  Nicaragua  claimed  French  protection.  Santo 
Domingo  wished  the  same.  It  was  refused  and  England  seemed  to  have 
imposed  the  refusal.  On  the  Society  Islands,  which  the  French  also  took, 
their  commercial  interests  were  not  sufficient  to  necessitate  an  expensive 
establishment.  The  cession  of  Mayotte  (1843)  was  a  better  negotiation 
because  that  island  offered  a  refuge  to  French  ships  which  Bourbon  could 

P  A  tame  cowrie,  which  he  carried  to  suggest  tbo  Napolconfc  eagles,  was  captured,  and  put  in 
the  Zoi^logical  Gardens  of  I'aris,] 


76  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1843-1845  A.V.] 

not  give  them,  and  a  naval  station  in  the  ricinity  of  Madagascar.  On 
Tahiti,  in  the  Society  Islands,  an  English  missionary,  Pritchard,  stirred  up 
the  natives  against  the  French./ 

Queen  Poinare,  who  governed  the  island  of  Tahiti,  placed  herself  under 
French  protection.  But  Pritchard,  the  Englishman,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  consul,  Protestant  missionary,  and  dispensing  chemist,  fearing  to  lose 
his  influence  over  the  natives,  urged  the  queen  to  pull  down  the  French  flag 
and  rnus^d  the  natives  to  rebeliiun ;  many  French  sailors  were  massacred. 
The  admiral,  indignant  at  this  conduct,  had  Pritchard  arrested,  and  he  was 
set  at  liberty  only  on  condition  that  he  would  go  to  tlie  Sandwich  Isles. 
The  English  government  claimed  that  it  had  been  insulted,  and  demanded 
satisfaction.  The  king  refused  first  of  all;  then,  fearing  a  rupture,  disavowed 
the  admiral's  act  and  oflered  a  pecuniary  indemnity  to  England,  which  was 
accepted. 

Public  opinion  considered  that  the  dignity  of  the  country  had  been  com- 
promised by  this  act.  People  were  tired  of  always  yielding  to  England. 
In  the  address  to  tlie  throne  in  1845,  a  majority  of  only  eight  votes  pre- 
vented the  expression  of  severe  censure  on  the  conduct  of  the  government 
in  the  Pritchard  affair.' 

The  right  of  mutually  inspecting  ships,  agreed  upon  with  England  in 
1841,  for  the  reprcsaion  of  the  slave-trade,  was  another  concession  to  the 
proud  neighbours  of  France.  This  time  the  opposition  in  the  country  was 
80  active  that  the  chamber  forced  the  minister  to  tear  up  the  treat)'  and, 
by  new  conventions,  to  replace  the  French  marine  under  the  protection  of 
the  national  flag  (May,  1845). 


War  with  Ahdul-Kadir 

The  chamber,  impelled  in  this  direction  by  public  opinion,  wanted  at 
least  to  continue  the  conquest  of  Algeria.  The  ministry  had  the  merit  nf 
choosing  an  energetic  and  skilful  man.  General  Bugeaud,  who  succeeded  in 
impressing  botli  respect  and  terror  on  the  Arabs. 

Abdul-Kadir  had  violated  the  Treaty  of  Tafna,  proclaimed  the  holy  war, 
and  by  the  rapidity  of  his  movements  spread  terror  in  the  province  of  Oran, 
and  even  brought  inquietude  to  the  very  gates  of  Algeria.  The  general 
pursued  him  without  relaxation  clear  to  the  mountains  uf  the  Ouarensenis, 
pacified  this  diflicult  region  and  crowded  the  enemy  back  into  the  desert. 
It  was  in  his  flight  towards  the  Sahara  that  the  emir,  attacked  by  the  duke 
d'Aumale,  lost  his  gmala  (his  family  and  flocks).  May,  1843. 

Taking  refuge  in  Morocco,  the  emir  engaged  the  emperor  in  his  cause. 
England,  perhaps,  was  not  a  stranger  to  this  resolve.  French  territory  was 
violated  on  several  occasions  and  an  army  wliich  seemed  formidable  was 
collected  on  the  banks  of  the  Muluiah.  France  responded  to  these  provoca- 
tions by  the  bombardment  of  Tangiers  and  Mogador,  which  the  prince  de 
Juinville  directed  under  the  eyes  of  the  irritated  English  fleet,  and  by  the 
victory  of  Isly,  which  General  Bugeaud  gained  with  8,500  men  and  1,400 
horses  over  2.5,000  horsemen  (August  14th,  1844).  The  emperor,  being  so 
severely  punished,  signed  the  peace  —  whicli  was  not  made  onerous  for  him, 
since  France  was  rich  enough,  said  the  ministry,  to  pay  for  its  glory.  The 
principal  clause  of  the  treaty,  providing  that  Abdul-Kadir  be  oocU&ned  to 
the  west,  remained  for  a  long  time  unexecuted ;  but  after  a  new  and  vain 
attempt  upon  Algeria  the  emir  tried  to  establish  a  party  in  the  empire 
itself.      This  time  Abd  ar-Rahman,  being   directly   threatened,  bethought 


W  LOUIS  PHILIPPE   AIJD  THE  REVOLUTION   OF  1848  77 

[lftlO-lS47  A.D.] 

himself  of  his  treaty  with  the  French,  and  Abdul-Kadir,  thrown  back  on  the 
French  advance  posts,  was  reduced  to  surrendering  to  General  Lamoriciere 
(November  23rd,  1847). 

In  Morocco,  as  at  Tahiti,  England  had  been  found  opposed  to  France. 
Thus  the  English  alliance,  too  eagerly  sought  after,  hud  brought  only 
trouble.  But  it  was  said  that  it  assured  the  peace  of  the  world.  However, 
a  marriage  came  near  breaking  it  —  that  of  the  duke  of  Montpenaier  with 
the  sister  of  the  queen  of  Spain. 

The  Spanuh  Marriages 

Queen  Christina,  then  regent  of  Spain,  feeling  herself  entirely  depend- 
ent on  the  liberal  party  for  the  preservation  of  her  daughter's  throne,  and 
being  well  aware  that  it  was  in  France  alone  that  she  could  find  the  prompt 
military  assistance  requisite  to  support  her  against  the  Carltsts,  who  formed 
a  great  majority  of  the  Spanish  population,  naturally  bethought  herself  of 
the  favourable  opportunity  presented  by  the  marriageable  condition  of  the 
princes  of  one  country  and  the  princesses  of  the  other,  to  cement  their 
union  by  matrimonial  alliances.  With  this  view,  although  the  princesses, 
her  daughters,  were  as  yet  too  young  for  marriage,  she  made  formal  pro- 
posals before  1840  to  Louis  Philippe  for  a  <louble  marriage,  one  between  the 
duke  d^Aumale,  the  king's  tliird  son,  and  Queen  Isabella,  her  eldest  daugli- 
ter,  and  another  between  the  duke  of  Montpenaier^  his  fourth  son,  and  tlie 
infanta  Luisa  Fernanda,  her  second  daughter. 

How  agreeable  soever  these  proposals  were  to  Louis  Philippe,  who 
desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  see  his  descendants  admitted  into  the  family 
of  European  sovereigns,  he  was  too  sagacious  not  to  perceive  that  the  hazard 
with  which  they  were  attended  more  than  counterbalanced  the  advantages. 
It  was  evident  that  such  a  marriage  of  the  duke  d*Aumale  with  the  queen 
of  Spain  would  at  once  dissolve  the  ejitenic  cordiah  with  Great  Britain,  on 
which  the  stability  of  his  throne  so  much  depended;  for  however  much  the 
liberal  government  of  Eiiglan<l  might  desire  to  see  constitutional  monarchies 
established  in  the  peninsula,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  it  wuukl  like  to  see 
the  crown  of  Spain  placed  on  the  head  of  a  French  prince.  It  was  already 
surmised,  too,  that  the  cabinet  of  London  had  views  of  its  own  for  ttie  liand 
of  the  younger  princess.  He  therefore  returned  a  coui'teous  answer,  declining 
the  hand  of  the  queen  for  the  duke  d'Aumale,  but  expressing  the  satisfac- 
tion it  would  afford  him  to  see  the  duke  of  Montpensier  united  to  the  infajita. 

The  next  occasion  on  which  the  subject  of  the  Spanish  marriages  was 
brought  forward  was  when  Queen  Christina  took  refuge  in  Paris,  during  one 
of  the  numerous  convulsions  to  which  Spain  had  been  subject  since  the 
attempt  was  made  to  introduce  democratic  institutions  among  its  inhabit- 
ants. Louis  Philippe  then  declared  to  the  exiled  queen-regent  that  the 
most  suitable  spouse  for  her  daughter  the  queen  would  be  found  in  one  of 
the  descendants  in  the  male  line  of  Philip  V,  king  of  Spain,  the  sovereign 
on  the  throne  when  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  was  signed.  The  object  of  this 
proposal  was  indirectly  to  exclude  the  preteimionH  of  the  prince  of  Coburg, 
Gousin-german  to  Prince  Albert,  whom  rumour  had  assigned  as  one  of  the 
suitors  for  the  hand  of  the  young  queen,  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  excit- 
ing the  jealousy  of  the  British  government  by  openly  courting  the  alliance 
for  a  French  prince. 

Matters  were  in  this  situation,  with  the  question  still  open^  so  far  as 
diplomatic  intercourse  was  concerned,  but  the  views  and  interests  of  the  two 


7S  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1842-lft46  A.D.} 

cabinets  were  well  understood  by  the  ministers  on  both  sides,  when  Queen 
Victoria  in  the  autumn  of  1842  paid  a  visit  to  the  French  monarch  at  the 
chateau  d'Eu  in  Normandy,  which  was  followed  next  spring  by  a  similar  act 
of  courtesy  on  the  part  of  Louis  Philippe  to  the  queen  of  England  in  the 
princely  halls  of  Wiiidsm-.  Fortunately  the  pacific  inclinations  of  the  two 
sovereigns  were  aided  by  tlie  wisdom  and  moderation  of  the  ministers  on 
both  sides ;  and  under  the  direction  of  Lord  Aberdeen  and  Guizot  a  com- 
jiromise  was  agreed  on  of  the  most  fair  and  equitable  kind.  It  was  stipu- 
hited  that  the  king  of  France  should  renounce  all  pretensions,  on  the  part  of 
any  of  his  sons,  to  the  hand  of  the  queen  of  Spain  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  royal  heiress  should  make  her  selection  among  the  princes  descend- 
ants of  Philip  V,  which  excluded  the  dreaded  competition  of  a  prince  of 
the  lumse  of  Coburg.  And  in  regard  to  the  marriage  of  the  duke  of  Mont- 
pensier  with  the  infanta  Dona  Luisa  Fernanda,  Louis  Philippe  positively 
engaged  that  it  should  not  take  place  till  the  queen  was  married  and  had 
had  children  (den  enfant$).  On  this  condition  the  queen  of  England  con- 
sented to  waive  all  olijcctions  to  the  marriage  when  these  events  liad  taken 
place  ;  and  it  was  uudernLood  that  this  consent  on  both  sides  was  to  be  depend- 
ent on  the  hand  of  the  queen  being  bestowed  on  a  descendant  of  Philip  V 
and  no  other  competitor./ 

The  sagacious  Louis  Philippe  now  discovered  a  certain  half-idiotic  cousin 
of  IsabtOla  of  Spain,  delkient  in  every  power  both  of  body  and  mind;  and  in 
a  secret  and  underhand  manner  he  celebrated  the  wedding  of  tlus  miserable 
being  with  the  queen  ;  and  immediately  afterwards  that  of  his  son  with  the 
handsome,  blooming,  and  wealthy  Luisa  Fernandii,  who,  in  addition  to  her 
present  possessions,  which  were  very  large,  carried  to  her  husband  the 
succession  to  the  Spanish  crown,  in  the  absolute  impossibility  of  any  issue 
from  her  sister^s  unhappy  marriage.  Hard  feeling  and  political  opposition 
were  roused  by  this  degrading  trickery — and  England  learned,  with  a  senti- 
ment of  regret  and  compassion,  that  Guizot,  whose  talents  and  character  had 
hitherto  commanded  her  respect,  had  been  deluded  by  the  crowned  tempter 
at  liis  ear  to  dcftead  his  conduct  on  the  quibble  that  the  marriages  were  not 
celebrated  at  the  same  time  —  some  little  interval  having  occurred  between 
thera  —  and  that  tliis  was  all  he  had  promised.  Suspicion  and  jealousy- 
took  the  place  of  the  former  cordial  relations.  Losing  tlie  fervent  friend- 
shij)  of  the  only  constitutional  ncighi)our  on  whom  it  could  rely,  France,  like 
8  beggar  with  its  bonnet  in  its  hand,  waited  at  the  gates  of  Austria  and 
Russia,  and  begged  the  moral  support  of  the  most  despotic  of  the  powers. 
The  moral  support  of  Austria  and  Russia  there  was  but  one  way  to  gain,  and 
that  was  by  an  abnegation  nf  all  the  principles  represented  by  the  accession 
of  Louis  Philippe,  and  an  active  co-operation  in  their  policy  of  repression. 

At  this  time  the  Swiss  broke  out  into  violent  efforts  to  obtain  a  reform. 
Austria  quelled  the  Swiss  aspirations  with  the  strong  hand,  an<l  took  up 
a  menacing  attitude  towards  the  benevolent  pontiff,  Pius  IX.  France  was 
quiescent;  and  the  opposition  rose  into  invectives,  which  were  repeated  in 
harsher  language  out  of  doors. 

The  stout  shopkeeper  who  now  occupied  the  throne  of  Henry  IV  thought 
that  all  the  requirements  of  a  government  were  fulfilled  if  it  maintained 
jmace  with  the  neighbouring  states.  Trade  he  thought  might  flourish  though 
honour  and  glory  were  trampled  under  foot.  He  accordingly  neglected,  or 
failed  to  understand,  the  disaffection  of  the  middle  class,  whose  pecuniary 
interests  he  was  supposed  to  represent,  but  whose  higher  aspirations  he  had 
insulted  by  his  truckling  attempts  to  win  the  sympathy  of  the  old  aristocracy 


r  LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1848  79 

IlMi-lMS  A.i>.] 

and  the  foreigri  despots.  Statesmen  like  Tluers  and  Odilon  Barrot,  when 
the  scales  of  office  fell  from  their  eyes  and  the  blandishments  of  the  sover- 
eign were  withdrawn,  pereeived  that  the  parliamentary  government  of  the 
charter  had  become  a  mockery,  and  that  power  had  got  more  firmly  consoli- 
dated in  royal  hands  under  these  deceptive  forms  than  in  the  time  of  the 
legitimate  kings.  A  cry  therefore  suddenly  rose  from  all  quarters,  except 
the  benches  of  the  ministrj',  for  electoral  and  parliamentary  reform  ;  and 
there  was  also  heard  the  uniformly  recnrritic;'  exclamation,  premonitory  of  nil 
serious  disturbance,  for  a  diminution  of  the  taxes.  The  cries  were  founded 
on  justice,  and  urged  in  a  constitutional  manner.  Corruption  had  entered 
into  all  the  elections;  parliamentary  purity  had  become  a  byword  under  the 
skilful  manipulation  of  the  purse-bearing  king;  and  tlio  expenses  of  the 
country  far  exceeded  its  income,  owing  to  the  extravagant  building  of  forts 
and  palaces,  with  which,  in  the  years  of  his  prosperity,  he  had  endeavoured 
to  amuse  the  people.  J 

RISING   DISCONTENT   (1847-1848  A.D.) 

The  state  of  the  budget,  which  was  threatened  with  a  yearly  deficit, 
increased  tlio  difTicultyof  the  situation  which  was  still  further  aggravated 
by  a  scarcity  of  |)rovisious.  The  method  of  taxing  corn  made  it  diilicult  to 
provision  the  country,  a  matter  which  was  never  easy  in  times  previous  to 
the  construction  of  railwaj's.  There  was  a  succession  of  bad  harvests,  and  in 
the  winter  of  1847  a  famine  resulted.  There  were  riots  in  all  directions, 
and  bands  of  men  tramped  thnuigh  ttie  country.  At  Buzant^ais,  ca^es  of  death 
fn>m  starvation  occurred.  ThuH  everything  combined  to  make  the  people 
dissatisfied  with  the  government.  And  there  was  indeed  little  to  be  said  in 
it«  favour.  It  had  achieved  nothing  and  no  progress  had  been  made.  "To 
carry  out  such  a  policy  as  this,'*  said  Lamartine,  "a  statesman  is  not  required, 
a  finger-post  would  do."  And  one  of  the  moderate  party  summed  up  the 
work  done  by  this  ministry  as:  •'•Nothing,  nothing,  nothing." 

In  short,  this  strange  result  was  all  that  Guizot  could  boast.  Little  by 
little  public  opinion  unanimously  turned  against  him,  and  the  more  unpopu- 
lar he  became,  the  more  solid  became  his  majority  in  the  chamber,  thanks  to 
the  system,  which,  placing  the  country  in  the  hands  of  a  handful  of  rich  men, 
made  the  elections  a  mere  mockery.  Then  a  universal  outcry  arose,  and  the 
demand  for  progress  and  democracy  seemed  to  be  concentrated  on  one  point  : 
"electoral  reform." 

Guizot  opposed  an  obstinate  refusal  to  this  demand.  Yet  very  little 
was  asked  for  —  not  universal  suffrage  (and  Guixot  said  "the  day  for  uni- 
versal sufifrage  will  never  come"),  but  some  reform,  however  slight  it  might 
be.  Guizot  refused  to  give  the  vote  even  to  jurymen  and  academicians !  The 
opposition  appealed  to  public  opinion.  Banquets  were  organised  in  many 
different  places  for  the  discussion  of  reform,  at  Paris,  then  at  Colmar,  Stras- 
burg,  Soissons,  St.  Quentin,  and  Macon. 


THE   BANQUET   OF   1848 

It  could  not  be  denied  that  the  excitement  was  singularly  out  of  propor- 
tion to  the  idea  which  was  its  ostensible  cause.  The  spirit  of  democracy  in 
France  had  been  aroused.  Lamartine*s  book  Le»  Q^irondins  added  the  charm 
of  lyric  poetTy  to  the  recollections  of  the  Revolution.  The  spectacle  offered 
by  the  July  monarchy  had  gradually  influenced  the  great  poet  to  espouse 


80  THE  HISTORY   OF  FRANCE  

the  cause  of  popTilar  progress.  lu  Lis  slrikmg  speech  at  the  banquet  of 
MaQon,  which  was  organised  as  a  tribute  to  him  in  honour  of  his  G^iroruling 
in  the  midst  of  a  violent  thunderstorm  which  had  not  deterred  a  crowded 
audience  from  coming  to  hear  him  speak,  he  threatened  Guizot*8  retrograde 
government  with  "a  revolution  of  scorn." 

The  year  1848  opened  with  heated  debates,  in  the  course  of  which  Gui- 
zot'a  whole  policy  was  denounced.  A  banquet  on  a  vast  scale  was  organised 
in  Paris  immediately  after  for  the  purpose  of  forwarding  electoral  reform. 
A  large  piece  of  ground  enclosed  by  walls  near  the  Champs-Elysees  had  been 
taken  for  the  ooctision. 

The  ministry,  with  less  tolerance  than  it  had  shown  in  the  preceding 
year,  claimed  the  right  to  forbid  this  banquet.  This  involved  the  question 
of  the  liberty  of  holding  public  meetings.  This  right  had  never  yet  been 
contested,  but  Guizot  wished  to  take  one  more  retrograde  step. 

Orleaiiists,  liberals,  republicans,  and  legitimists  all  united  in  defending 
their  rights.  Parliament  rang  with  the  vehement  discussions  which  ensued 
and  in  whicJi  Ledru-RoUin  showed  all  his  great  oi*atorical  powers.  In  spite 
of  the  tlireats  of  the  government,  it  was  decided  to  meet  at  the  Madeleine 
and  proceed  from  there  to  the  banquet.  Tlie  very  evening  before  the 
banquet  was  to  take  place  this  plan  was  changed  for  fear  of  bringing  about 
a  massacre.  It  was  stated  in  the  morning  papei*s  that  the  meeting  was 
put  off,  and  instead  of  the  demonstration  which  they  had  been  obliged 
to  abandon,  the  opposition  members  signed  a  vote  t>f  censure  on  Guizot. 
But  the  people  nevertheless  assembled  at  the  appointed  time  in  front  of  the 
Madeleine. 

History  repeats  itself  strangely.  It  had  been  the  chief  anxiety  of  Louis 
Philippe  to  avoid  another  1830,  and  yet  he  was  noAv  about  to  undergo,  in 
every  detail,  the  experience  of  Charles  X.  The  rising  of  the  people  to  sup- 
port the  claims  of  the  opposition,  but  soon  leaving  these  behind  them  ;  a 
disturbance  indefinite  at  first,  but  developing  into  a  fierce  struggle  ;  a  king 
obstinate  at  first,  then  willing  to  make  one  concession  after  another,  but 
never  agreeing  to  make  them  until  it  was  too  late  ;  then  the  flight  across 
France  and  the  departure  for  England  :  such  was  the  history  of  both  these 
revolutions. 

Two  things  increased  Louis  Philippe's  confidence  :  Firstly,  he  had  not 
>'iolatL'(l  the  hotter  of  the  law.  Though  he  had  in  a  metisure  twisted  the 
revolution  of  1830  to  his  own  purposes,  he  had  done  so  by  ruling  his  miuLs- 
tersi  and  by  gaining  over  the  electoral  bod}'.  He  did  not  realise  that  he  was 
in  the  long  run  preparing  a  lasting  disgrace  for  himself.  His  fall  was  none 
the  less  certain  because  instead  of  violating  the  rights  of  the  people  he  had 
merely  distorted  them.  His  fall  would  only  be  the  more  petty  for  that. 
Secondly,  he  had  in  Paris,  what  Polignac  had  so  signally  lacked,  a  strong 
and  numerous  army. 

Had  he  not  easily  succeeded  in  suppressing  all  risings  which  had  taken 
place  ?  He  forgot  that  troops  which  are  always  firm  and  always  victorious 
when  dealing  with  the  revolt  of  part  of  a  nation,  are  useless  when  the  people 
as  a  whole  are  actuated  by  the  same  opinion.  LTnder  such  circumstances 
revolution  pervades  the  air  and  paralyses  the  powers  of  the  army.  The  troops 
hesitate,  and  sometimes  recede.  However  this  may  be,  on  the  22nd  of 
February,  while  the  deputies  of  the  opposition  were  pi*eparing  to  ask  Guizot 's 
majority  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  on  Guizot,  an  enormous  crowd  surged 
round  the  Madeleine,  the  populace  began  to  parade  the  streets,  and  columns 
were  formed  at  various  points. 


[1U8  a.dJ} 


to 


LOUIS  PHILIPPE  AND  THE  REVOLUTION   OF  1848 


THE  REVOL0TION    OF   1848 


81 


Among  the  troops  called  out  to  defend  the  government,  the  municipal 
guards,  tlien  very  unpopular,  made  a  vigorous  charge  and  several  on  the 
other  side  were  wounded.  The  army  began  to  hesitate.  At  one  place  the 
crowd  awaited  an  attack  crying,  "  The  dragoons  forever  !  "  The  dragoons 
sheathed  their  swords.  The  government  was  afraid  to  call  out  the  national 
guards,  whom  they  mistrusted  :  wherever  they  were  called  out  they  cried, 
"  Reform  forever  !  '  and  tried  t^  interpose  between  the  troops  and  the  people. 
But  though  a  storm  was  brewing  it  did  not  burst  yet.  The  streets  were 
crowded  with  an  infuriated  mob,  demonstrations  were  continually  taking 
place,  and  now  and  then  there  was  a  skirmish  witli  the  troops.  That  was 
all,  80  far,  but  the  more  enthusiastic  amoug  the  republicans  were  making 
st-eady  efforts  to  get  the  populace  to  rise. 

The  king  slept  that  evening  confident  that  nothing  serious  would  happen. 
During  tlie  night  the  troops  bivouacked  in  tlie  silence  of  Paris  beneath  a 
rainy  sky,  and  tlie  cannon  were  fixed  ready  for  use.  The  next  morning 
(February  23rd)  the  troops,  who  had  spent  the  night  in  the  mud,  were  Aveary 
and  discontented. 

Barricades  had  been  hastily  raised  in  all  parts  of  the  town.  There  was 
no  desperate  struggle  like  that  of  1830.  The  barricades  were  attacked 
without  much  spirit  and  were  soon  deserted  only  to  be  reconstructed  at  a 
little  distance.  However  —  in  the  part  where  risings  usually  took  place,  in  the 
populous  heart  of  Paris — the  battle  raged  more  fiercely  :  the  veterans  of  St. 
Merry  were  fighting  against  the  municipal  guard.  At  the  Tuileries  no  anxiety 
was  felt:  "What  do  you  call  barricades  ?"  said  the  king,  "do  you  call  an 
overturned  cab  a  barricade  ?"  However,  General  Jacqueminot  resolved  on 
that  day  to  call  out  the  national  guard. 

During  a  reign  which  was  virtually  that  of  the  bourgeoisie,  the  national 
guard,  like  the  electoral  boJy,  cinisisted  only  of  bourgeois.  The  governing 
class  alone  carried  arms,  just  as  they  only  were  allowed  to  vote.  Therefore 
in  the  elections  previous  to  1840  the  national  guard  Lad  been  the  faithful 
ally  of  the  government.  They  had  shown  themselves  no  less  energetic 
against  the  barricades  of  the  first  lialf  of  the  reign  than  the  rest  of  the 
troops.  But  times  had  changed  and  everyone  was  thoroughly  sick  of 
Guizot's  policy.  When  the  soldiers  wxre  called  out,  they  assembled  crying, 
"  Reform  forever  I  "  One  regiment  had  inscribed  this  on  its  tlag  ;  another 
refused  to  cry  "God  save  the  king  I"  A  third  sent  a  deputation  to  the 
Bourlwn  palace  to  try  to  overcome  the  resistance  of  the  ministry.  At 
another  place  when  the  municipal  guards  were  going  to  charge  the  crowd, 
the  national  guard  opposed  them  with  their  bayonets.  When  the  news  of 
all  this  reached  the  king  at  the  Tuileries  he  was  filled  with  surprise  and 
^ef.  He  realised  that  he  had  lont  the  allegiance  of  the  national  guard  in 
which  he  had  such  absolute  confidence,  the  men  for  whose  sake  he  bad 
governed  I 

He  then  made  a  first  concession  agreeing  that  Mole  should  form  a  min- 
istry. It  was  not  much  of  a  concession,  for  the  difference  between  Guizot 
and  Mole  was  only  a  difference  in  mental  capacity  and  the  rivalry  for  power 
which  existed  between  them.  Besides  Mole  had  already  represented  the 
personal  policy  of  the  king.  The  king  liked  him,  and  in  calling  him  to  the 
ministry  ho  merely  changed  the  surname  of  his  minister.  But  there  are 
times  when,  if  a  certain  name  has  become  universally  hateful,  such  a  change 
iB  sufficient  to  pacify  the  public.     Besides  Mole  was  obliged  to  choose  his 


—  roL.  xui.  o 


82  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1848  A.D.} 

cabinet  in  a  conciliatory  spirit.  Paris,  delighted  to  think  that  the  strife 
was  at  an  end,  put  on  a  festive  appearance ;  the  streets  were  illuminated^ 
and  gay  crowds  filled  the  boulevards  when  a  spark  re-ignited  the  fiame  of 
faction. 

Near  the  Madeleine,  troops  barred  the  way.  A  column  of  demonstrators 
wished  to  pass  through,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  peaceable  feelings  just 
then  prevailing  in  Paris,  to  fraternise  with  the  soldiers.  The  officer  in  com- 
mand gave  the  order  to  fix  bayonets  :  a  shot  was  fired  —  whether  by  the  sol- 
diers or  by  the  crowd  is  not  known.  How  many  times  in  French  history 
have  such  accidents,  the  source  of  which  is  wrapped  in  mystery,  proved  the 
cause  of  terrible  bloodshed  I  What  sinister  results  may  ensue  from  the 
chance  which  causes  a  gun  to  go  off  and,  at  the  same  time,  gives  the  signal 
for  a  battle ! 

A  soldier  had  been  wounded  —  the  troops  fired  ;  a  storm  of  bullets  rid- 
dled the  peaceful  crowds  on  the  boulevards.  At  first  there  was  a  cry  of 
terror,  then  a  cry  of  furious  rage,  as  here  and  there  iben  fell  dead,  and  the 
street  was  sprinkled  with  blood. 

Some  men  then  improvised  a  sort  of  theatrical  background  for  the  mas- 
sacre, with  the  genius  that  Parisians  certainly  possess  for  giving  dramatic 
effect  even  to  their  most  painful  emotions.  A  cart  was  stopped,  and  the 
corpses  were  placed  upon  it ;  men  walking  beside  it  carried  torches  which 
illumined  the  ghastly  cargo.  The  procession  passed  on  through  Paris  while 
a  man  standing  on  the  cart  lifted  up  and  showed  to  the  people  the  dead  body 
of  a  woman  whose  face  was  horribly  mutilated  by  bullets.  This  frightful 
spectacle  aroused  a  frenzy  of  rage  throughout  the  city  and  Paris  was  again 
plunged  into  civil  war.  The  real  battle  was  that  of  the  24th.  On  this  occa- 
sion the  king  had  placed  Marshal  Bugeaud  in  command  of  the  royal  forces. 
Bugeaud  was  the  best  of  the  African  generals,  but  at  the  same  time  he  was 
the  one  whose  name  was  most  dreaded  by  the  people ;  he  had  the  reputation 
of  having  gained  some  most  bloody  victories  over  insurgents  on  former 
occasions. 

This  time  Paris  was  covered  with  barricades  ;  the  fighting  continued  all 
the  morning.  Whenever  the  army  seemed  likely  to  yield  or  retreat,  the 
king,  who  but  a  short  time  since  was  so  full  of  confidence,  and  to  whom  the 
marshal  had  promised  a  brilliant  victory,  made  some  fresh  concession.  First 
he  agreed  that  Thiers  should  form  a  ministry,  then  Odilon  Barrot,  as  if  the 
shades  of  difference  which  separated  the  centre  of  the  chamber  from  the  left- 
centre  or  the  left-centre  from  the  dynastic  centre  were  of  any  importance  in 
this  mortal  struggle  between  the  people  and  the  monarchy. 

THE   KING   ABDICATES   AND  TAKES  FLIGHT 

All  these  flimsy  negotiations  were  going  on  amidst  the  smoke  of  battle. 
Now  Thiers,  now  Odilon  Barrot  was  to  be  seen  rushing  from  one  barricade  to 
another  announcing  the  king's  last  concession.  Ministerial  episodes  mingled 
with  the  episodes  of  battle,  and  raised  their  weak  voice  amid  the  thunder  of 
the  cannon.  Then,  one  after  another,  these  political  personages  gave  up  what 
was  an  impossible  task ;  and,  like  Charles  X,  Louis  Philippe  abdicated  in 
favour  of  a  child,  his  grandson,  the  count  de  Paris. 

The  battle  at  this  moment  was  brought  to  an  end  by  its  most  bloody 
episode :  the  attack  on  the  cb&teau  d'Eau  opposite  the  Palais  Royal.  The 
people  on  one  side  and  the  municipal  guard  on  the  other  showed,  at  thia 
point,  indescribable  energy,  and  fought  with  the  courage  of  desperation. 


LOUIS   PHILIPPE   AND   THE   REVOLUTION   OF   1848  83 

[IMS  JLo.] 

HulleU  were  dealing  out  death  all  around,  and  all  the  staunchest  republicans 
were  there,  including  Caussidiere,  Albert,  and  Lagrange.  By  two  o  clock  the 
people  had  gained  the  victory. 

Loui-s  Philippe  and  his  family  fled  from  the  Tuileries.  There  was  some 
difficulty  in  finding  a  cab  to  take  him  as  fur  aa  St.  Cloud.  The  crowd 
allowed  this  fallen  king  to  pass,  while  behind  him,  the  people  for  the  third 
time  invaded  the  Tuileries  where  they  wrote,  "  Death  to  robbers  !  " 

The  duchess  of  Orleans  had  gone  with  her  son  to  the  chamber.  The  sight 
of  a  child  and  an  unhajipy  woman,  surrounded  by  sympathy,  might  induce  the 
people  in  a  moment  of  emotional  excitement  to  agree  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  monarchy.  Some  seemed  ready  to  accept  a  regency.  Lamartine  felt  the 
weakness  and  inadequacy  of  such  a  solution  of  the  difficulty.  Meantime  the 
crowd  was  taking  possession  of  the  palace.  The  duchess  of  Orleans  fol- 
lowed the  old  king  into  exile. 

The  latter  was  going  abroad  like  Charles  X,  but  he  had  more  to  make  him 
anxious.  He  was  obliged  to  conceal  himself,  was  often  suspected,  and  some- 
times had  not  enough  money  to  supply  his  needs.  When  at  last  he  reached 
the  little  Norman  port  which  was  his  destination  hi*  found  a  stormy  sea,  and 
could  not  for  a  long  time  get  any  vessel  to  take  hiiu  across  the  Channel  ; 
finally,  having  disguised  himself,  he  secured  a  passage  from  Havre  on  board 
an  English  ship. 

On  leaving  the  chamber  the  leaders  of  the  people  had  gone  to  the  Hotcl- 
de-Ville.  Crowds  assembled  from  every  direction,  crying  out  in  favour  of 
ten  different  ministries  at  the  same  time;  contradictory  lists  were  made,  but 
in  the  end  the  government  was  composed  of  Lamartine,  Dupont  de  TEure 
Arago,  Ledru-Rollin,Cremieux,  Marie,  Garnier- Pages,  thedei^uties  of  the  Left 
l>enches  to  wliora  were  added  lat-cr  Louis  Blanc,  Albert  a  working-man, 
Flocon,  and  Armand  Marrast.* 


ALISON  S   ESTIMATE  OF  LOUIS   PHILIPPE 

Louis  Philippe,  who  by  the  force  of  circumstances  and  the  influence  of 
dissimulation  and  fraud  obtained  possession  of  the  throne  of  France,  is,  of  all 
recent  sovereigns,  the  one  concerning  whose  ciiaracter  the  most  difference  of 
opinion  has  prevailed.  By  some,  who  were  impressed  with  the  length  and 
general  success  of  his  reign,  he  was  regarded  as  a  man  of  the  greatest 
capacity;  and  the  "Napoleon  of  peace"  was  triumphantly  referred  to  aa 
having  achieved  that  which  the  "Napoleon  of  war"  had  sought  in  vain  to 
effect.  The  prudent  and  cautious  statesman  who,  during  a  considerable 
portion  of  his  reign,  guideei  the  affairs  of  England,  had,  it  is  well  known,  the 
highest  opinion  of  his  wisdom  and  judgment.  By  others,  and  especially  the 
royalists,  whom  he  had  dispossessed,  and  the  republicans,  whom  he  had  dis- 
appointed, he  was  regarded  as  a  mere  successful  tyrant,  who  won  a  crown  by 
perfidy,  and  maintained  it  by  corruption,  and  in  wliom  it  was  hanl  to  say 
whether  profound  powers  of  dissimulalion,  or  innate  selfishness  of  disposi- 
tion, were  most  conspicuous.  And  in  tlie  chise  of  all,  his  conduct  belied  the 
assertions  and  disappointed  the  expectations  of  both  ;  for,  when  he  fell  from 
the  throne,  he  neither  exhibited  the  vigour  which  was  anticipated  by  his 
admirers,  nor  the  selfishness  which  was  imputed  to  him  by  his  enemies. 

In  truth, however,  he  was  consistent  throughout;  and  when  his  character 
comes  to  be  surveyed  in  the  historic  mirror,  the  same  features  are  everywhere 
conspicuous.  His  elevation,  his  duration^  and  his  fall  are  seen  to  have  been  all 
brought  about  by  the  same  qualities.     He  rose  to  greatness,  and  was  long 


84  THE  mSTORY  OF  FEAXCE 

[1848  A  J>.] 

maintained  in  it  because  he  was  the  man  of  the  age ;  but  that  age  was  neither 
an  age  of  heroism  nor  of  virtue,  but  of  selfishness. 

The  vicissitudes  of  his  life  had  exceeded  everything  that  romance  had 
figured,  or  imagination  could  have  conceived.  The  gallery  of  portraits  in  the 
sumptuous  halls  of  the  Palais  Royal  exhibited  him  with  truth,  successively 
a  young  prince  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  rank  and  opulence  at  Paris,  a 
soldier  combating  under  the  tricolour  flag  at  Valmy,  a  schoolmaster  instruct- 
ing his  humble  scholars  in  Switzerland,  a  fugitive  in  misery  in  America,  a 
sovereign  on  the  throne  of  Frauce. 

These  extraordinary  changes  had  made  him  as  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  ruling  principles  of  human  nature  in  all  grades  as  the  misfortunes  of  his 
own  house,  the  recollection  of  his  father  guillotined  had  with  the  perils  by 
which,  in  his  exalted  rank,  he  was  environed.  Essentially  ruled  by  the  self- 
ish, he  was  incapable  of  feeling  the  generous  emotions ;  like  all  egotists,  he 
was  ungrateful.  Thankfulness  finds  a  place  only  in  a  warm  heart.  He  was 
long  deterred  from  accepting  the  crown  by  the  prospects  of  the  risk  with 
which  it  would  be  attended  to  himself,  but  not  for  one  moment  by  the  reflec- 
tion that,  in  taking  it,  he  was  becoming  a  traitor  to  his  sovereign,  a  renegade 
to  his  order,  a  recreant  to  his  benefactor.  His  hypocrisy,  to  the  last  moment, 
to  Charles  X  was  equalled  only  by  his  stern  and  hard-hearted  rigour  to 
his  family,  when  he  had  an  opportunity  of  making  some  return  for  their 
benefactions. 

His  government  was  extremely  expensive ;  it  at  once  added  a  third  to 
the  expenditure  of  Charles  X,  as  the  Long  Parliament  had  done  to  that  of 
Charles  I ;  and  it  was  mainly  based  on  corruption.  This,  however,  is  not 
to  be  imputed  to  him  as  a  fault,  further  than  as  being  a  direct  consequence 
of  the  way  in  which  he  obtained  the  throne.  When  the  "  unbought  loyalty  of 
men  "  has  come  to  an  end,  government  has  no  hold  but  of  their  selfish  desires, 
and  must  rule  by  them ;  and  when  the  "  cheap  defence  of  nations  "  has  ter- 
minated, the  costly  empire  of  force  must  commence.  As  a  set-off  to  these 
dark  stains  upon  his  moral  character,  there  are  many  bright  spots  on  his 
political  one.  He  stood  between  Europe  and  the  plague  of  revolution,  and, 
by  the  temperance  of  his  language  and  the  wisdom  of  his  measures  at  once 
conciliated  the  absolute  continental  sovereigns,  when  they  might  have  been 
expected  to  be  hostile,  and  overawed  the  discontented  in  his  own  country 
when  they  were  most  threatening.^ 


CIL\PTER  IV 


THE  REPUBLIC   OF   1848 


Perh»p«  ttere  is  no  event  in  lier  hiBtory  which  ba*  done  more  to 
lower  France  in  the  estrniation  of  the  world  than  the  revohitvon  of 
1848.  The  old  monarchy  had  u  glamour  and  brilllaiicj'  which  gave  it 
a  high  place  in  the  world's  afTairt^  a«  they  stood  then,  hut  the  evUs 
and  the  injustice  which  it  hrought  about  furniuhed  some  excuBca  for 
the  first  Revolution,  even  in  tlie  eyes  of  those  who  most  hitterly  con- 
demned that  event.  The  first  empire,  though  infinitelv  more  dinaHtrons 
to  Prance  than  the  Revolution,  covered  its  Hius  in  a  Llaze  of  military 
glory.  The  revolution  of  183U  had  its  explanation,  if  m»l  juHtiRcntion, 
m  the  inquietude  and  th^  reactionary  character  of  Clmrle>4  X  and  hin 
Burroundings.  The  errors  and  calamities  of  IHTO-Tl  were  condoned  by 
the  courage,  the  endurance,  and  the  elasticity  of  the  French  people. 
But  in  1848  Franco  had  enjoyed  eighteen  years  of  constitutional  gov- 
ernment. It  had  maintained  |>eace  abroad  and  in  gwHl  measure  at 
home,  and  the  country  had  advanced  greatly  in  we-alth  and  prtisperity. 
The  king  was  humane,  liberal,  and  well  Inlentioned.and  it  seemed  as  if 
gradual  reform  might  have  reme<iied  the  moderate  comparative  dis- 
advantages from  which  the  country  Kuflferod.  But  all  this  was  over- 
turned at  a  blow,  the  country  ])luugt^d  into  auarcby,  civil  war  averted 
odIt  by  fierce  IdwKlshed  in  Paris,  and  after  a  fnw  years  of  hesitation 
ana  fear  the  nation  was  handed  over  to  despotiBm  almost  as  mean  and 
contemptible  as  that  of  Louis  XV. — Uamalibl  Bradford.^ 


THE   PROVISIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

It  was  the  24th  of  February;  the  hour  was  half  past  one.  The  king  had 
gone,  and  the  dynasty  had  now  no  representative.  The  count  de  Paris  was 
a  child»  with  no  immediate  right  to  (he  throne.  The  duke  de  Nemours, 
investeil  legally  with  the  regency,  had  followed  the  king^s  example  and  ab- 
dicated; the  duchess  of  Orleans  was  not  yet  regent.  The  king,  out  of  respect 
to  l^ality,  had  not  appointed  her;  and  she  had  not  been  recognised  by  any 
public  power.  Some  friends  ha<l  gone  with  her  to  the  chamber  of  deputies 
m  the  hope  of  renewing  in  her  favour  the  election  of  1830.  To  support  this 
monarcliy  with  no  constitutional  title,  there  was  neither  armv,  ministry, 

85 


86  THE   HISTORY  OF  FRANCE   . 

[1848A.D.J 

nor  ministers.  Thiers  felt  himself  left  behind,  and  abandoned  the  struggle. 
Odilon  Barrot  alone,  an  obstinate  minister  with  only  undefined  and  tem- 
porary powers,  had  made  himself  minister  of  the  interior.  But  such  was 
the  effect  of  the  Revolution  that  in  the  midst  of  all  the  news  he  knew  nothing; 
in  the  very  centre  of  action,  he  was  quite  devoid  of  power.  Influence,  au- 
thority, power  were  elsewhere — in  the  open  street,  at  the  discretion  of  the 
first  comer. 

Moreover,  Armand  Marrast,  thanks  to  his  tact  and  quick  decision,  had 
managed  for  some  weeks  both  the  intrigue  and  the  intriguers.  He  knew, 
as  a  true  disciple  of  Aristophanes,  that  the  people  love  to  be  flattered  and 
led;  that  they  vote  and  applaud,  but  must  have  matters  decided  for  them. 
In  a  secret  coimcil,  which  was  held  a  few  days  before  the  Revolution,  Marie 
had  suggested  the  advisability  of  naming  a  provisional  government.  This 
advice,  when  adopted,  became  the  signal  for  order.  Le  National  hastened 
to  name  those  who  should  compose  the  government:  Dupont  (de  I'Eure), 
Francois  Arago,  Marie,  Gamier-Pag^,  Ledru-Rollin,  Odilon  Barrot,  and 
Marrast;  a  compromise  list,  doubtfess,  since  Armand  Marrast  figured  by 
the  side  of  Ledru-Rollin  and  the  latter  with  Odilon  Barrot.  But  it  was  a 
list  with  a  double  tendency,  favouring  both  the  republic  and  the  regency. 

Emmanuel  Arago,  who  brought  the  corrected  list  to  Le  Nationalf  amved 
at  the  Palais  Bourbon  and  went  m  at  the  same  time  as  the  duchess  of  Orleans. 
This  latter  placed  herself  in  the  semicircle  at  the  foot  of  the  tribune,  having 
beside  her  the  duke  de  Nemours  and  her  two  sons,  the  count  de  Paris  and  the 
duke  de  Chartres.  Dupin  spoke,  interrupted  by  acclamations  from  the 
national  guard,  the  army,  and  the  people  who  had  thronged  round  the  duchess 
as  she  passed  from  the  Tuileries  to  the  Palais  Bourbon  and  in  the  palace 
itself.  He  demanded  a  formal  act  of  prociu^ation.  Cheers  burst  out  again, 
while  on  the  other  hand  they  cried,  "A  provisional  govemmenti" 

Lamartine  demanded  that  the  sitting  be  suspended  "  out  of  respect  to 
the  national  representation  and  the  duchess  of  Orleans."  "  It  was  almost 
the  same  thing,"  says  Dupin,  "as  proposing  to  put  the  young  kmg  and  his 
mother  out  of  the  hall  as  intruders  who  \md  no  right  to  be  present  at  the 
sitting.  But  this  same  sitting,  because  the  king  was  present,  was  in  reality 
a  royal  one."  Sauzet  suspended  the  sitting,  but  the  duchess  did  not  leave 
the  hall.  She  only  went  to  the  higher  seats  in  the  amphitheatre.  An  outburst 
of  enthusiasm  in  the  chamber,  the  presence  of  the  duchess,  the  concurrence 
of  several  resolute  men  might  have  determined  for  a  r^ency.  Like  those  of 
1830,  the  barricades  of  1^8  might  have  served  to  support  a  throne.  The 
men  of  Le  National  felt  the  perfl.  La  Rochejaquelein  demanded  an  appeal 
to  the  people:  "You  count  for  nothing  here;  you  are  no  longer  in  power," 
he  said  to  the  deputies;  "the  chamber  of  deputies  as  a  chamber  no  longer 
exists.    I  say,  gentlemen,  that  the  nation  should  be  convoked,  and  then 


Here  the  nation  indeed  interrupted  by  an  irruption  of  the  crowd,  which 
now  for  the  first  time  came  pourmg  in,  uttering  cries  of  "Dethronement! 
Dethronement! "  The  cause  of  the  regency  was  lost.  Crowd  followed  crowd, 
orator  followed  orator.  Cr^mieux,  Lamartine,  Ledru-Rollin  contested  the 
tribune  with  invaders  from  the  people.  "No  more  Bourbons!  Down  with 
traitors!"   they  cried. 

Lamartine  succeeded  Ledru-Rollin  in  the  tribime.  Even  before  he  began 
to  speak  they  cheered  and  applauded  him,  as  if  to  win  him  over  forever  to 
the  republic.  In  1842  he  had  defended  the  regency  of  the  duchess  of  Orleans, 
but  he  dismissed  this  inopportune  recollection.    He  let  fall,  however,  a  sym- 


THE    HEPUBLIC    OF   1848  87 

(1848  A.i>.] 

pathetic  phrase  about  "this  augast  princess  and  her  innocent  son."  Then 
fearing,  from  the  murmurs  which  arose,  that  he  woulil  he  taken  for  a  partisan 
of  the  monarchy,  he  hastened  to  demand  a  provisional  government.  He 
made  no  distinction  between  *'  national  representation  and  representation  by 
citizens  from  the  people,  but  accepted  the  competency  of  tliis  multitude  and 
drew  up  the  programme  of  a  government  which  would  first  restore  public 
peace  and  then  convoke  all  t!ie  citizens  in  popular  assemblies.  At  the-se 
words,  and  as  if  touched  by  one  common  impulse,  new  combatants  invaded 
the  assembly — men  from  the  chateau  d'Eau,  pillagers  and  deva.stators  of  the 
Tuileries,  who  came  to  soil  with  their  presence  the  palace  of  national  repre- 
sentation as  they  had  soiled  the  royal  abode. 
The  dynastic  deputies  slipped  out.  Sauzet  put 
on  his  hat.  rang  his  bell,  and  ordered  silence;  not 
obtaiiiing  it,  he  declared  the  sitting  closed  and 
ouitt4xl  Uie  chair.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the 
Guchess  of  OrleanB  escaped  with  her 
children. 

Dupont  de  I'Eure.  venerated  Nestor 
of  the  repubhcjin  party,  consented  to 
preside  over  this  horde  of  excited  con- 
stituents. But  what  human  voice  had 
power  to  dominate  the  tumult?  Bas- 
tide  thought  of  writhig  on  an  imuienbe 
sheet  of  paper,  with  a  finger 
dipped  in  ink,  the  five 
names  of  those  who  should 
compose  the  government; 
but  the  sheet  slipped  and 
fell  down  from  the  rail 
where  it  was  hung.  The 
list  was  pafised  to  Lamar- 
tine:  "I  cannot  read  it," 
he  sai<i ;  **  mv  own  name  is 
there."  They  asked  M. 
Crtmieux:  "  I  cannot  read 
it,"  he  answered ;  "my  name 
is  not  there."  Atlast,  aff4?r 
many  fruitless  efforts^  while 
rejxrated  cries  of  "  No  more 
Bourbons!  We  want  a  re- 
public!" arost\  Dupont  de  I'Eure  succeeded  in  reading  out  the  names  of 
Lamartine,  Ledm-Rollin,  Aragn,  DuT)ont  ile  TEure,  and  Marie,  which  were 
accepted  unanimously.  A  voice  cried:  "The  members  of  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment must  shout  *  Vive  la  R^publique*  before  being  named  and  nrceptcd." 
But  Socage,  the  democratic  actor,  cried, "  To  the  H5to]-de-Ville  with  Lamartine 
at  our  head!"  and  lamartine,  accompanied  by  Bocage  and  a  large  number 
of  citizens,  left  the  hall. 

While  this  tumultuous  proclamation  was  being  matlc  in  the  chamber  of 
deputies,  Louis  Blanc  in  the  office  of  La  R^forme  was  holding  a  meeting  of 
the  eilitors  of  the  journal  and  some  political  friends,  He  also  was  drawing 
up  a  list  for  a  provisional  government. 

However,  the  provisional  government  wandered  about  the  nation's  palace 
without  finding  any  spot  where  they  could  deliberate  in  peace,  or  where  they 


LAMAKTIWR  DKMANOIVO   a  PROVTSIOXAL  GnVKRVUKXt 


88  THE   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE 

[1848  A.D.] 

would  he  free  from  the  importunate  sovereignty  of  the  people?.  They  shut 
themselves  up  in  a  room^  but  petitioners  hunted  them  out;  they  hid  in  another, 
certain  delegates  intonxned  with  authority;  with  much  trouble  they  found 
refuge  in  a  third.  Lamartine  drew  up  the  first  proolamation  to  the  French 
nation;  then  the  members  of  the  government  disposed  of  the  ministerial 
offices.  Dupont  de  TEure,  on  account  of  his  age,  was  exempted,  but  was 
given  the  title  of  president  of  councU.  Lamartine  became  foi*eign  minister; 
Arago,  head  of  the  admiralty;  Cn5mieux,  soHcitor-general;  Marie,  minister 
of  public  works;  Ledru-Rollin,  minister  of  the  interior  (home  secretary). 
Gamier-Pages  was  confirmed  in  his  office  of  mayor  of  Paris. 

Towards  half  past  eight  Louis  Blanc,  Marrast,  and  Flocon  were  intro- 
duced into  the  deliberating  asaembly.  Louis  Blanc  im|x*riously  demanded 
the  inscription  of  his  name  and  those  of  Marrast  and  Flocon  on  the  list  of 
members  of  the  provisional  government.  He  was  offered  the  post  of  secre- 
tary. He  refused  at  first;  then,  seeing  himself  abandoned  by  Marrast  and 
Flocon,  he  retracted  his  refusal. 

Thus  the  government  was  finally  completed.  Every  shade  of  republi- 
canism was  represented:  mo*!crate  opinions,  by  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Araeo, 
and  Marie;  adaptability,  bv  Garnier-Pag^s  and  Cr^mieux;  socialism,  oy 
Louis  Blanc;  communism,  by  Albert;  recollections  of  the  convention,  by 
Ledru-Rollin  and  Flocon;  republican  bourgeoisie,  by  Armand  Marrast. 
Lamartine,  who  by  his  pa*Ht,  his  name,  and  his  aristocratic  connections  was 
looked  on  with  the  least  favour  by  the  public,  personified  in  himself  the 
diverse  characters  of  his  colleagues.  He  was  not  exactly  the  adversary  nor 
the  ally  of  any  of  them,  but  was  donnnated  by  a  superior  impartiality.  But 
this  same  impartiality  which  constituted  his  strength  was  also  a  source  of 
weakness.  Sometimes  he  resisted,  sometimes  he  yielded — less  from  force  of 
conviction  than  from  a  spirit  of  tolerance,  and  in  order  to  evade  imme<iiate 
embarnussnient  or  peril.  Among  the  mendx^rs  there  wius  one  whose  ideas 
and  sentiments  were  totally  opposed  to  these — Louis  Blanc.  According  to 
him  the  Revolution  ought  to  call  itself  the  republic,  and  tlie  republic  ought  to 
realise  high  ideals.  He  would  allow  no  temporising,  no  concession.  We 
have  seen  h'un  exact  the  inscription  of  his  name  on  the  goverimient  list:  we 
shall  see  him  in  the  council  oppose  himself  to  all,  supporter:!  in  his  isolation 
by  the  intervention  of  the  masses,  and  succeed  in  dictating  measures  most 
fatal  to  the  republic. 

In  short,  from  the  first  hour,  such  was  the  critical  situation  of  the  pro- 
visional government,  which  owed  its  origin  to  popular  sovereignty,  that  it 
was  constantly  in  dispute  with  that  sovereignty.  Tlie  crowd  had  encroached 
upon  royalty;  it  now  began  to  complain  that  the  provisional  govermnent 
encroached  upon  its  domain.  First  it  had  applauded;  then  it  asked  arro- 
gantly by  what  right  they  had  seized  the  power. 

"By  what  right?"  cried  Lamartine,  who  facfxl  the  danger;  "by  the  right 
of  the  blood  which  flows,  of  the  fire  which  devours  your  buildings,  of  the 
nation  without  leaders,  of  the  people  without  a  guide  or  orders,  and  to- 
morrow, perhajxs,  without  bread.  By  right  of  our  most  devoted  and  cour- 
ageous citizens.  Since  I  must  say  it,  in  right  of  those  who  were  the  first 
to  yield  their  souls  to  suspicion,  their  blood  to  the  scaffokl,  their  heads  to 
the  vengeance  of  peoples  or  kings  to  save  the  nation."  The  provisional  gov- 
ernment, after  it  had  acquired  power,  paid  for  it  at  the  price  of  complaint, 
opposition,  and  hostility  from  the  crowd.  In  the  narrow  place  where  they 
deliberated  their  electors  besieged  tliem,  kept  them  prisoners.  None  of  their 
decrees  reached  their  destination  \\ithout  having  passed  through  the  hands 


• 


'  ^^^  THE    BEPUBLIO    OF    1848  8» 

of  strict  censors  who  took  note  of  their  contents  and  their  destination.  It 
was  the  puiiislimeut  of  thase  wlio  all  their  lives  had  invoked  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  to  be  suddenly  left  face  to  face  witli  them,  with  no  alternative 
save  to  bow  before  their  decrees  or  perish  under  their  blows.'' 

THE    FIRST   PROBLEMS    OF   THE    PROVISIONAL   GOVERNMENT 

The  first  care  which  devolved  upon  tlie  provLsional  government  was  to 
make  head  against  the  violence  of  its  own  support-ers.  DurinE  the  three 
tlays  that  Paris  had  been  in  a  state  of  insun*ection,  no  work  had  been  any- 
where done;  and  as  the  great  bulk  of  the  labouring  classes  were  alike  destitute 
of  capital  or  credit,  they  already  began  to  feel  the  pangs  of  hunger  on  the 
nioming  of  the  2,')th,  when  the  provLsional  government,  ha\'ing  sunnounted 
the  storms  of  the  night,  was  bcguming  to  discharge  its  functions.  An  enor- 
mous crowd,  amoiuiting  to  above  one  hundred  thousand  persons,  filled  the 
place  de  Gr<^ve  and  surrounded  the  lifttol-de-V'ille  on  every  side,  as  well  as 
every  passage,  stair,  and  ai)artment  in  that  spacious  edifice  itself.  So  {iense 
was  the  throng,  so  severe  the  pressure,  that  the  members  of  the  government 
itself  could  scarcely  breathe  where  they  sat;  and  if  they  attempted  to  go  out 
to  aildress  the  people  outside,  or  for  any  other  cause,  it  Wiis  only  by  the  most 
\iolent  exertion  of  personal  strength  that  their  purpose  could  be  effected. 

Decrees  to  satisfy  the  mob  were  drawn  up  every  quarter  of  an  hour,  an<l, 
when  signed,  were  passed  over  the  heads  of  the  throng  into  an  adjoining 
apartment,  where  they  were  instantly  thrown  off  by  the  printers  of  Le  Moni- 
teuTf  and  thence  plac-arded  in  Paris,  and  sent  by  the  telegraph  over  all  France. 
Under  these  influences  were  brought  forth  the  first  acts  of  the  provisional 
government,  some  of  which  wore  singularly  trifling,  but  very  descriptive  of 
the  pressure  under  which  they  had  been  drawn  up.  One  issued  on  the  25th 
of  February  changed  the  placing  of  the  colours  on  the  tricolour  flag,  putting 
the  blue  where  the  red  had  Fjeen;  a  second  abolisheii  the  expressions  Alonsieur 
and  Mad/ime,  sut)8tituting  for  them  the  words  Ciloyen-  and  Ciioyeiine:  a  third 
liberated  all  functionaries  from  their  oaths  of  allegiance;  a  fourth  directed 
the  words  LiherUy  KgalUij  FralemitS  to  be  inscribed  on  all  devices  and  on  all 
the  walls  of  Paris,  and  changed  the  names  of  the  streets  and  squares  into 
otliers  of  a  revolutionary  sound  and  meaning.  This  was  followed  on  the  27th 
by  others  of  a  more  alarming  import,  or  deeper  signification.  One  ordered 
everyone  to  wear  a  red  rosett^e  in  his  button-hole;  another  directeil  trees  of 
liberty  to  be  planttnl  in  all  the  public  squares,  and  reopened  the  clubs;  a 
third  changed  the  names  of  the  colleges  of  Paris,  and  of  the  titles  of  general 
officers;  and  a  fourth  abolished  all  titles  of  nobility,  forbidding  anyone  to 
assume  them. 

But  the  provisional  government  soon  found  that  it  was  not  by  such  decrees 
that  the  passions  of  the  people  were  to  be  satiated,  or  their  hunger  appeaseil. 
Alreatly,  on  the  morn'mg  of  the  25th,  before  tliey  hud  had  time  to  do  any- 
thing, the  well-known  features  of  popular  insurrection  had  displayed  them- 
selves. The  Tuiieries  antl  the  Palais  Royal  had  bwn  abaniloned  to  the 
populace  the  evening  before,  as  in  truth,  after  the  king  had  abdicated,  there 
was  no  longer  any  government  to  withstand  their  excesst^s.  Tliese  august 
palaces  were  sacked  from  top  to  bottom,  their  splendid  furniture  was  burnwl 
or  thrown  out  of  the  windows,  the  ceflars  were  emptictl  of  all  the  wines  which 
they  contained.  Tlic  presence  of  tlie  national  guard  and  troops  of  the  line, 
who  were  still  under  arms,  prevented  these  excesses  going  further  in  the 
metropolis;  but  tlrnt  only  caused  the  storm  to  burst  with  the  more  fury  on  the 


I 


00  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRA^TE 

[IMS  ▲.D.l 

comparatively  unprotected  buildings  in  the  country  around  it.  Over  a 
circle  formed  by  a  radius  of  thirty  leagues  round  Paris,  all  the  railway  sta- 
tions were  sacked  and  bume<i;  the  bridges  were  in  great  part  broken  down, 
or  set  on  fire;  even  the  rails  in  many  places  were  torn  up  and  scattered  about. 
The  beautiful  chateau  of  Neuilly  near  Paris,  the  favourite  abode  of  the  late 
king,  was  plundered  and  half-burned.  Versailles  was  threatened  with  a 
similar  fate,  which  was  only  averted  by  the  firm  attitude  of  the  national 
guard,  which  turned  out  for  the  protection  of  that  palace,  no  longer  of  kings 
but  of  the  fine  arts.     But  the  magnificent  chdteau  of  RothscliiUi  near  Su- 

resnes  was  sacked  and  burned  by 
a  mob  from  Melun,  at  the  very 
time  when  that  banker  was  put- 
ting at  the  dispxjsal  of  the  pro- 
visional government  fifty  thou- 
sand francs,  to  assuage  the 
sufferings  of  the  wounded  in  the 
engagements. 

Imagination  may  figure,  but 
no  w^ords  can  convey,  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  tremendous  pressure 
exercised  on  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment during  the  first  days 
succeeding  their  installation.  But 
of  all  the  pressing  cases,  by  far 
the  most  urgent  was  to  pacify 
and  feed  the  enormous  multitude 
of  destitute  workmen  whom  the 
Revolution  had  throw7i  out  of 
employment,  and  who  crowded 
into  tlie  place  de  Gr6ve,  threat- 
enbig  the  government  with  de- 
struction if  they  did  not  instantly 
give  them  bread  and  work.  They 
nunidated  the  salle  du  govveme- 
mentj  and  extorted  from  the  over- 
whelmed members  a  decree  '*  guar- 
anteeing employment  to  all,  and 
bestowing  on  the  combatants  on 
the  barricades  the  million  of 
francs  eavetl  by  the  tennination 
of  the  civil  list.'^  Though  this  decree  was  a  vast  concession  to  the  working' 
classes,  and  indicated  not  ol>scurely  the  commencement  of  that  socialist  pres- 
sure on  the  government  which  was  ere  long  felt  so  severely,  yet  it  was  far 
from  meeting  the  wishes  of  the  angrj'  and  famishing  crowd  who  filled  the 
place  de  Gr^ve  and  all  the  adjoining  streets.* 

Har<:Uy  hai:l  they  publishe<.l  the  proclamation  on  the  labour  question,  when 
a  great  uprising  broke  forth  on  the  square  of  the  H6tel-de-\'ille.  New 
bands  sallied  forth  firing  off  their  muskets  and  crying,  "Theral  flag!  the  red 
flag!"  They  penetrated  into  the  hotel,  a  red  banner  at  their  head.  It  was 
a  decisive  moment.  It  was  important  to  know  whether  the  flag  of  the  Revo- 
lution anfl  of  modern  France  were  t«  disappear  Ijefore  a  factional  standard; 
if  all  tradition  were  broken,  and  society  plunged  into  an  unknown  abyss. 
Lamartme  forced  his  way  to  the  grand  staircase,  from  the  top  of  which, 


BtTRMixo  or  A  Cratbac 


I 


^  ^^^  THE   REPUBLIC    OF    1848  91 

(1848  A.D.] 

siter  the  most  heroic  efforts,  he  made  himself  heard  by  the  crowd.  He  en- 
deavourrtl  to  calm  this  seething  muUihide  by  appeahn^  to  the  sentiments 
of  harmony  and  humanity  which  they  had  sho\\Ti  in  the  victory  of  the  previous 
evening;  he  Lmplonxl  the  people  riot  to  impose  on  his  government  a  standard 
of  civil  war,  not  to  force  it  to  change  the  flag  of  the  nation  and  the  name  of 
France:  "The  government,"  cried  he,  "will  die  rather  than  dishonour  itself 
by  obeying  you — I  will  resist  unto  the  end  this  flag  of  blood.  The  rod  flag 
has  made  but  the  tour  of  the  Champ  de  Mars,  bedraggled  witli  the  blood  of 
the  people  in  '91;  the  tricolouretl  flag  had  made  the  tour  of  the  world,  with 
the  name,  the  glory,  and  the  liberty  of  the  countrj'."  These  men,  passionat-e 
but  easily  influence*.!,  broke  fortli  mto  cheers.  Lamartine  had  conquered 
them.     They  tore  down  their  red  flag. 

The  high  stature,  the  noble  an<l  handsome  face  of  Lamartine,  his  fine 
gestures,  his  grave  and  sonorous  voicC;  his  serene  attitude  during  the  most 
violent  demonstrations  of  the  unruly  populace,  had,  as  much  as  his  elr>quent 
wonJs,  seized  the  imagination  and  touched  the  heart  of  his  stormy  audience. 
These  scenes,  which  occurred  many  times,  made  of  Lamartine.  for  several  weeks, 
one  of  the  most  original  and  most  majestic  figures  in  the  history  of  France. 
He  resembled  perhaps  more  the  ancient  orators  than  those  of  tlie  Revolution./ 

THE   NATIONAL  WORKSHOPS  AND   OTHER  EXPEDIENTS 

But  although  the  danger  of  a  bloody  republic  was  got  over  at  the  moment, 
yet  it  was  evident  to  all  that  some  lasting  measures  were  indispensable  in 
order  to  provide  security  for  tlie  government,  and  the  employment  of  the 
idle  and  violent  persons  who  were  assembled  in  the  streets.  The  municipal 
guard  had  been  disbanded,  and  the  whole  military  ha<l  been  sent  out  of  the 
city  by  the  provisional  government,  in  order  to  appease  the  |>eople  and  avoid 
the  risk  of  collisions,  which  might  be  highly  dangerous.  Thus  the  govern- 
ment was  entirely  at  the  mercy  f)f  the  mob,  and  the  only  protection  they  could 
invoke  consisted  in  two  battalions  formed  of  volunteers,  who  had  pbiced  their 
bayonets  at  the  disposal  of  the  authorities. 

They  decreed  the  forniati*>n,  accordingly,  of  a  new  urban  corps  called  the 
garde  mobilet  to  be  compose^l  of  those  who  had  been  most  fletermined  on 
the  barricades;  and  the  plan  would,  it  was  hoped,  enrol  on  the  side  of  the 
government  the  most  fonniihible  of  those  who  had  recently  iK'cn  leagued 
together  for  its  overthrow.  It  perfectly  succeeded.  High  pay — (.louble 
that  of  the  troops  of  the  line — soon  attracted  into  the  ranks  the  most  ardent 
of  those  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  hit^  disturbances,  ami  the  garde  mobile, 
which  soon  consisted  of  twenty-four  battalions,  and  mustered  fourteen  thou- 
sand bayonets,  rendered  essential  service  to  the  cause  of  order  in  the  subse- 
quent convulsions. 

Several  other  mea.sures,  less  creditable  to  the  authorities  but  not  less 
descriptive  of  the  pressure  umler  which  they  laboured,  emanated  at  the  same 
time  from  the  busy  legislative  mill  in  the  II6tel-<le-Ville.  Acts  of  accusa- 
tion were  launched  forth  against  Duchatel,  Salvandy,  Montebello,  and  all  the 
members  of  the  late  ministry,  March  1st;  but  this  was  a  mere  feigned  cortces- 
sion  to  the  passions  of  the  people;  the  provisional  government,  to  its  honour 
be  it  spoken,  ha<l  no  intention  of  proceeding  seriously  against  them.  Gra- 
tuitous tickets  to  the  opera  were  largely  distributed  among  the  people;  but, 
as  well  observed,  it  was  poor  consolation  for  a  man  who  had  gi»t  no  iliuiier 
to  be  presented  with  an  opera  ticket.  The  licentious  mob  who  had  plundered 
and  kept  possession  of  the  Tuileries  were  at  length  got  out  March  6th,  but 


I 


92  THE    HISTORY    OF    FRANCE 

[1848  A.D.] 
only  by  a  great  display  of  military  force,  and  on  the  express  condition  that 
they  were  to  be  taken  to  the  Hitel-de-V^ille,  thanked  for  their  patriotic  con- 
duct, and  presented  with  certificates  of  good  behaviour. 

A  fresh  element  of  discord  soon  arose  from  the  liberation  of  Blanqui, 
Barb^s,  Bernard,  Huber,  and  all  the  political  prisoners  in  Paris,  whom  long 
confinement  had  roused  to  perfect  frenzy  against  authority  of  every  kind. 
Then*  first  measure  was  to  reopen  all  the  chibs,  whicli  soon  resountled  with 
declamations  as  violent  as  any  which  had  ushered  in  the  horrors  of  the  Reign 
of  Terror.  A  hundred  of  them  were  opened  in  a  few  days,  chiefly  in  the  worst 
parts  of  Paris,  and  every  night  crowded  by  furious  multitudes.  The  gov- 
ernment, in  compliance  with  their  demands,  authorised  the  planting  of  trees 
of  liberty,  in  imitation  of  the  orgies  of  the  first  revolution. 

But  the  provisional  government  had  soon  more  serious  cares  to  occupy 
them.  Distrust  aiul  distress,  the  inevitable  attendants  on  successful  revo- 
lution, ere  long  appeared  m  their  most  appalling  form.  The  government, 
having  guaranteeu  employment  and  sufficient  wages  to  every  citizen,  soon 
found  thcm.selvcs  embarrassed  to  the  very  last  degree  by  the  mullitndes 
every  day  thrown  upon  them.  Credit  was  at  a  stand;  the  manufactories 
and  workshops  were  closed,  and  the  thousands  who  earned  their  bread  in 
them  were  thrown  destitute  upon  the  streets.  So  violent  was  the  panic,  so 
strong  (he  desire  to  realLs<\  that  the  five-per-cents  fell  in  the  l>eginning  of 
March  to  forty-five! 

"Nothing,"  says  Lord  Normanbyjjr  "surprised  me  more,  in  the  wonderful 
changes  of  the  last  few  days,  than  the  utter  destruction  of  all  conventional 
value  attached  to  articles  of  luxiuy  or  display.  Pictures,  statues,  plat-e, 
jewels,  shawls,  furs,  laces,  all  one  is  accustomed  to  consider  property,  became 
as  useless  lumber.  Ladies,  anxious  to  realise  a  smaU  sum  in  order  to  seek 
safety  in  flight,  have  in  va'm  endeavoured  to  raise  a  pittance  upon  the  most 
costly  jewels.  What  signifietl  that  they  were  *rich  and  rare,'  when  no  one 
couLl  or  would  buy  them?"  It  was  melancholy  to  see  the  most  civilised  cap- 
ital in  the  world  suddenly  re<iuced  to  the  primitive  condition  of  barter. 

In  these  circumstances  it  was  vain  to  think  of  the  ordinary  channels  of 
employment  being  reopene<l,  and  nothing  remained  but  for  the  government 
to  take  upon  themselves,  in  the  meantime  at  least,  the  employment  of  the 
people.  For  this  jjurpose,  on  the  27th  and  2Sth  of  February,  decrees  were 
passed  appointing  great  workshops  called  aieliers  nationuux,  where  all  the 
unemploycil  nuight  be  set  to  work.  As  the  idle  were  the  very  men  who  had 
mtule  the  Revolution,  it  was  indispensable  to  keep  them  ingood  humour,  and 
for  this  purpose  the  wages  given  were  two  francs  a  day.  This  was  more  than 
the  average  rate  even  in  prosperous  periods,  and  it  had  the  effect  of  bringing 
a  host  of  needy  and  clamorous  claimants,  not  only  from  Paris  but  all  the  towns 
in  the  neighbourhood.  The  numbers  in  the  first  week  were  only  five  thousand, 
but  they  soon  increased  in  a  fearful  progression;  from  the  Ist  to  the  15th  of 
April  they  swelletl  to  36,250,  and  at  length  reached  the  enormous  number  of 
IIT.CKX)!  The  daily  cost  of  their  maintenance  exceeded  two  hundred  thou- 
sand francs.  Thus  enormous  expenditure  was  necessary,  for  the  universal 
prostration  of  credit,  hoarding  of  specie,  and  disappearance  of  capital  ren- 
dered it  impossible  to  get  quit  of  workmen  once  enrolled  in  the  brigades  of 
the  unemployed;  the  government  were  obliged  to  add  much  from  the  secret- 
service  money  to  support  them,  in  addition  to  the  vast  sums  publicly  applied 
to  their  relief;  and,  m  truth,  they  were  kept  up  as  well  from  the  desire  always 
to  have  a  huge  army  of  dependants  reatly  to  support  the  revolutionary  gov- 
ernment as  from  Uie  necessities  of  their  situation. 


THE   REPtJBLIC   OF   1848 


98 


[1848  4.D.J 

'  In  these  huge  workshops  were  collected  a  crowd  of  workmen,  all  of  difFercrit 
traties;  and  they  were  all  set  to  the  same  emplojinent,  which  was  generally 
that  of  removing  nuisances,  levelling  barricades,  or  taking  away  dunghills. 
Even  these  humble  employments  were  soon  done:  nothing  remained  for  the 
enormous  multitude  to  do;  for  as  to  making  articles  of  luxury,  or  even  con- 
venience, for  the  public,  that  was  out  of  the  question  at  a  time  when  no  one 
was  purchasing  more  than  the  absolute  necessaries  of  life.  Thus  the  ateliers 
nalionaiix  soon  turned  into  vast  pay-shops^  where  idle  crowds  hung  about  all 
day,  receiving  two  francs  a  day  for  doing  nothing.  In  the  latter  period  of 
their  existence  there  were  not  two  thousand  actually  at  work  out  of  110,000 
on  the  public  rolls.  There  was  no  one  concerned  in  the  administration  who 
was  to  blame  for  this  state  of  things.  It  was  unavoidable  in  the  circum- 
stances, just  as  was  the  employing  of  two  hundred  thousand  starv^ing  labourers 
on  the  public  roads  in  Ireland,  at  the  same  time. 

\\Tien  the  increasing  necessities  of  the  numeroTis  classes  whom  the  Revo- 
lution had  deprived  of  breatl  forced  the  subject  of  their  maintenance  on  an 
unwilling  government,  the  cry  was  for  the  appointment  of  a  minister  pour 
V organisation  de  travail;  and  the  public  voice,  exprea^ed  on  an  hundred 
banners  reared  aloft  in  the  place  de  Gr^ve,  designated  Louis  Blanc,  whose 
socialist  prmciples  had  long  been  known,  for  the  high  office.  To  avoid  the 
danger,  and  yet  escape  the  obloquy  of  openly  resisting  a  demand  so  supported, 
they  fell  upon  the  device  of  appointing  Louis  Blanc  president  of  a  commission 
appointed  to  sit  at  the  Luxembourg  and  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the 
working  clas.ses  anrl  the  means  of  relieving  their  distresses.  They  avssociateil 
with  Louis  Blanc  in  this  commission  the  acknowledged  chiefs  of  all  the  sects 
of  socialists  and  communists.  The  ateliers  nationaux^  however,  were  not  put 
under  their  direction.  They  remained  under  the  orders  of  Marie,  the  minister 
of  commerce;  and  in  consequence  of  this  not  being  generally  adverted  to, 
and  the  Luxembourg  being  regarded  as  the  centre  of  the  communist  action 
and  the  source  of  communist  measures,  much  unjust  obloquy  has  been  brought 
upon  Louis  Blanc  and  his  socialist  supporters. 

Three  circumstances  distinguished  this  revolution  from  both  of  those 
which  had  preceded  it.  The  first  is  the  entire  absence  of  all  religious  jeal- 
ousy or  rancour  by  which  it  was  distinguished.  No  one  needs  be  told  that 
the  very  reverse  was  the  case  in  the  first  revolution.  The  same  was  the  case, 
though  in  a  lesser  degree,  in  the  revolution  of  1830.  Hatred  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  je^dousy  of  the  influence  they  were  supposed  to  be  acquiring  in  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  educational  establishments  of  the  country,  were  the  chief 
causes  of  the  overthrow  of  Charles  X.  But  on  this  occasion,  this,  the  most 
deadly  poison  that  can  be  mixed  up  with  the  revolutionary  passions,  was 
entirely  wanting.  The  old  animosity  of  the  revolutionists  against  the  clergy 
seemed  to  have  disappeared.  The  Revolution  was  ardently  supported  by  the 
clergy,  in  the  first  instance  at  least,  esiK*cially  in  the  rural  districts.  The  priests 
blesse<l  the  trees  of  liberty  which  were  planted  in  the  villages  and  squares; 
fer\'ent  prayers  were  offered  up  for  the  republic  from  the  altars;  the  priests, 
surrounded  by  their  flocks,  marchetl  to  the  polling-places  for  the  elections 
for  the  assembly  when  they  came  on.  This  cliange  is  very  remarkable^  and 
suggests  much  matter  for  reflection;  but  it  is  easily  explained  when  we  rec- 
ollect that  the  Church  had  lost  all  its  property  during  the  first  revolution, 
and  ceased  to  be  either  an  object  of  ^xwy  from  its  wealth,  or  of  jealousy 
from  its  power.  Thrown  upon  their  flot^ks  for  support,  since  the  miserable 
pittance  of  forty  pounds  a  year  allowed  by  the  government  barely  sufficed 
lor  existence,  the  clergy  had  identified  themselves  with  their  interests  and 


94  THE  HISTORY  OF  FEANCE 

[1848^1).} 

shared  their  desires.  The  government  of  Louis  Philippe  had  been  so  hostile 
to  religion  that  they  in  secret  rejoiced  at  its  overthrow. 

The  second  circumstance  which  distinguished  this  revolution  was  the 
sedulous  attention  now  paid  to  the  demands  and  interests  of  labour.  It  was 
the  interests  of  capital  and  the  bourgeoisie  which  were  chiefly,  if  not  exclu- 
sively, considered  m  the  revolution  of  1830.  Robespierre  and  Saint-Just  had 
professed,  and  probably  felt,  a  warm  interest  in  the  concerns  of  the  working 
classes;  but  they  could  see  no  other  way  of  serving  them  but  by  cutting  off 
the  heads  of  all  above  them.  The  lapse  of  thirty-three  years'  peace  smce 
1815,  and  the  vast  increase  of  industry  which  had  in  consequence  taken 
p^ce,  had  now,  however,  given  a  more  practical  direction  to  men's  thoughts. 
They  no  longer  thought  that  they  were  to  be  benefited  by  placing  the  heads 
of  the  rich  under  the  guillotine;  they  adopted  a  plan,  in  appearance  at  least, 
more  likely  to  be  attended  with  the  desired  effect,  and  that  was  to  put  their 
own  hands  into  their  pockets.  Encouraged  by  the  conferences  at  the  Lux- 
embourg and  the  socialist  declamations  of  Louis  Blanc,  as  well  as  the  decrees 
of  the  government,  which  guaranteed  employment  and  full  wages  to  all  the 
working  classes,  they  all  imited  now  in  demanding  from  their  employers  at 
once  an  increase  of  wages  and  a  diminution  in  the  hours  of  labour!  By  a 
decree  of  the  government,  the  hoiu^s  of  labour  of  all  sorts  in  Paris  were  fixed 
at  ten  hours  a  day,  though  in  the  provinces  they  were  left  at  twelve  hours. 
Tliese  demands,  too,  were  made  at  a  time  when,  in  consequence  of  the  panic 
consequent  on  the  Revolution,  and  the  imivei^  hoarding  of  the  precious 
metals  which  had  ensued,  the  price  of  every  species  of  industrial  produce,  so 
far  from  rismg,  was  rapidly  falling,  and  sale  of  everything,  except  the  mere 
necessaries  of  life,  had  become  impossible!  The  consequence,  as  might  have 
been  anticipated,  was  that  mostly  all  the  master-manufacturers  closed  their 
workshops;  and  in  the  first  two  weeks  of  March,  above  an  hundred  thousand 
were  out  of  employment  in  Paris  alone,  and  thirty  or  forty  thousand  in 
Rouen,  Lyons,  and  Bordeaux! 

A  third  effect  which  ensued  from  the  peculiar  character  of  this  revolution, 
as  the  revolt  of  labour  against  capital,  was  the  strongest  aversion  on  the  part 
of  all  its  promoters  to  the  principles  of  free  trade,  and  a  decided  adherence 
to  that  of  protection. 

But  all  other  consequences  of  the  Revolution  fade  into  insignificance 
compared  with  the  commercial  and  monetary  crisis  which  resulted  from  its 
success,  and,  in  its  ultimate  results,  was  attended  with  the  most  important 
effects  upon  the  fortimes  of  the  republic.  The  panic  soon  spread  from  the 
towns  to  the  country;  the  peasants,  fearful  of  being  plundered,  either  by 
robbery  or  the  emission  of  assignats,  hastened  to  hide  their  little  stores  of 
money;  specie  disappeared  from  the  circulation. 

THE  REPUBLIC  ESTABLISHED 

The  time  was  now  approaching  when  something  definite  required  to  be 
adopted  by  the  provisional  government  in  regard  to  the  future  constitution 
of  the  republic.  With  this  view  the  government  felt  that  it  was  necessary 
to  convoke  a  national  assembly;  but  before  that  could  be  done,  the  basis 
required  to  be  fixed  on  which  the  election  of  its  members  should  proceed. 
In  these  moments  of  republican  fervour,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  prin- 
ciple which  required  to  be  adopted.  The  convention  of  1793  presented  the 
model  ready  made  to  their  hwids.  The  precedent  of  that  year  accordingly 
was  followed,  with  a  trifling  alteration,  merely  in  form,  which  subsequent 


THE   KEPUBLIC    OF    1848 


95 


[1848  A«D.] 

experience  had  proved  to  be  necessary.  The  number  of  the  assembly  was 
fixed  at  nine  hundred,  hicluding  the  representatives  of  Algeria  and  the  other 
colonies,  and  it  was  declared  that  the  members  should  Ijc  distributed  in  exact 
proiX)rtion  to  the  popuhition.  The  whole  was  to  form  one  assembly,  chosen 
by  universal  suffrage.  Every  person  was  to  be  atlmitted  to  vote  who  had 
attained  tlie  age  of  twenty-one,  who  had  resided  six  months  in  a  commune, 
and  had  not  been  judicially  deprived  of  his  suiTrage.  Any  Frenchman  of 
the  age  of  twenty-five,  not  judicially  deprived  of  his  rights,  was  declared 
eligible  as  a  representative.  The  voting  was  to  be  secret,  by  signing  lists; 
and  no  one  could  be  elected  unless  he  had  at  least  two  thousand  votes.  The 
deputies  were  to  receive  twenty-five  francs  a  day  for  their  expenses  during 
the  sitting  of  the  assembly.  This  was  soon  followed  by  another  decree, 
which  ordered  all  prisoners  for  civil  or  conunercial  debts  to  be  inunetliately 
aet  at  liberty. 

The  provisional  government,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Lamartine^  were 
at  the  same  time  labouring  courageously  and  energetically  to  coerce  the  vio- 
lent party,  and  direct  tlie  RevoKiHon  into  comparatively  safe  and  pacific 
channels.  Tlie  first  act  whicli  evinced  the  objects  of  this  section  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  obtained  the  concurrence  of  the  whole,  was  a  nio.st  important 
and  noble  one — the  abolition  of  the  punishment  of  death  in  purely  political 
cases.  This  great  victory  of  humanity  and  justice  over  the  strongest  pas- 
sions of  excited  and  revengeful  man  was  achieved  by  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment in  the  very  first  moments  of  their  installation  in  power,  and  when 
surrounded  by  a  violent  nioh  loudly  clainouring  Utr  the  drapfau  rouge  and 
the  conmicncement  of  foreign  war  and  the  reign  of  blo<xi.  Wliatever  may 
be  said  of  the  tricolour  flag  making  the  tour  of  the  globe,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  great  and  just  innovation  will  do  so.  To  regard  internal 
eneniies,  provided  they  engage  only  in  open  and  legitimate  warfare,  in  the 
same  manner  as  external  foes,  to  slav  them  in  battle,  but  give  quarter  and 
treat  them  as  prisoners  of  war  after  the  conflict  is  over,  is  the  first  great  step 
in  lessening  the  horrors  of  civil  conflict.  On  the  contrary,  the  full  merit  of 
their  noble  and  courageous  conduct  will  not  be  appreciated  unless  it  is  recol- 
lected that,  without  guards  or  protection  of  any  sort,  tliey  were,  at  the  very 
time  they  passed  this  decree,  exposed  to  the  hostility  of  a  bloodthirsty  fac- 
tion, loudly  clamoiu-ing  for  the  restoration  of  the  guillotine,  a  s<M'ond  reign 
of  terror,  and  a  forcible  propagandism  to  spread  revolution  through  foreign 
nations. 

Though  the  republic,  generally  speaking,  was  received  in  silent  submis- 
sion in  the  provinces  when  the  telegraph  announced  its  establishment  in  Paris, 
yet,  in  those  places  where  the  democratic  spirit  was  peculiarly  strong,  it  was 
not  inaugurated  without  verj'  serious  disorders.  At  Lyons  it  was  proclaimed 
at  ei^ht  at  night,  on  the  2oth  of  February,  1848,  by  t^irchlight;  and  before 
midnight,  the  incendiar>'  torch  had  been  applied  to  the  religious  and  chari- 
table establishments  of  the  Croix  Rouge,  FourvierCj  and  the  faubourg  du  Paix. 

Delivered  over  to  the  rule  of  u  tutniiltnous  mob,  the  condition  of  Lyons 
for  several  months  was  miserable  in  the  extreme;  and  though  perfectly  aware 
of  these  disorders,  the  government  did  not  venture  to  attempt  their  suppres- 
sion. In  the  midst  of  this  universal  excitement  and  fever,  a  very  serious 
run  took  place  on  the  savings  banks,  and  these  establishments  soon  found 
that  they  were  unable  to  pay  the  deposits  in  specie. 

When  such  elements  of  discord  existed,  not  only  in  the  state  but  in  tlie 
provisional  government  itself,  it  was  only  a  qucf^tion  of  time  when  an  open 
rupture  was  to  take  place  between  them.    It  was  brought  on,  however, 


96  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1848  A.D.] 

somewhat  sooner  than  had  been  expected,  by  an  ordinance  of  Ledru-RoUin, 
published  on  the  14th  of  March,  ordering  the  dissolution  of  the  flank  com- 
panies, or  campagnies  d*dite  as  they  were  called,  of  the  national  guard,  and 
the  dispersion  of  their  members,  without  distinction  or  equipment,  among 
the  ordinary  companies  of  the  legion.  The  object  of  this  was  to  destroy 
the  exclusive  aspect  and  moral  influence  of  these  companies,  which,  being 
composed  of  the  richer  class  of  citizen,  formed  the  nucleus  of  a  body  which 
naturally  inclined  to  conservative  principles,  and  mi^ht  impede  the  designs 
of  the  extreme  revolutionary  partv.  To  "democratise,"  as  it  was  called, 
the  whole  body,  the  decree  ordered  these  companies  to  be  dispersed  among 
the  others,  and  the  whole  to  vote  together  for  the  election  of  the  officers, 
which  was  to  take  place  in  a  few  days.« 

On  the  16th  of  March,  these  61ite  companies  of  the  old  national  guard 
made  a  demonstration  in  a  body  twenty-flve  thousand  strong  at  the  H6tel- 
de-Ville  in  order  to  test  the  strength  of  the  forces  at  the  disposal  of  the  peo- 
ple. In  revenge,  on  the  following  day,  the  workmen's  corporations,  the 
del^ates  to  the  Luxemboui^,  and  the  national  workshops,  excited  by  leaders 
who  wished  to  drive  them  to  extremes,  organised  a  counter-demonstration 
in  favour  of  the  proletariat.  The  provisional  government,  whose  members 
dung  together  in  spite  of  internal  rivalries,  was  obliged  every  day  to  deliver 
speeches  and  proclamations  which  gave  Lamartine  an  ever-increasing  but 
ephemeral  popularity.  In  order  not  to  leave  the  capital  tmdefended  in  the 
hands  of  the  factionists,  the  provisional  government  ordered  back  to  Paris 
some  battalions  of  the  army  which  had  left  humiliated  on  the  23rd  of  Feb- 
ruaiy. 

After  a  new  socialistic  demonstration  which  repulsed  the  national  guard 
and  a  feast  of  fraternity  on  the  21st  of  April  which  reconciled  no  one,  the 
electoral  colleges  met  on  Sunday,  the  23rd  of  April.  The  elections  were 
held,  for  the  first  tune,  by  universal  suffrage.  This  meant  passing  from 
222,000  electors  to  9,000,000 — a  sudden  upheaval  of  political  life  which  had 
not  been  expected  and  which  would  inevitably  cause  disaster. 

The  election  of  Lamartine  in  ten  departments  characterised  this  moment 
of  the  Revolution.  The  4th  of  May  the  constituent  assembly  met  and  sol- 
emnly proclaimed  the  republic;  and,  despite  the  remembrance  of  the  feeble- 
ness of  the  Directory,  it  imprudently  placed  the  agreement  in  the  hands  of 
an  executive  commission  composed  of  five  members:  Arago,  Gamier-Pagte, 
Marie,  Lamartine,  and  Ledru-Rollin. 

It  seemed  that  nothing  was  left  but  to  frame  a  constitution.  Unfortu- 
nately, every  day  the  Revolution  was  interpreted  in  a  different  way.  Some 
held  that  it  was  exclusively  political  and  tried  to  restrict  it  to  a  few  modifica- 
tions in  the  form  of  government,  while  others  wanted  it  to  be  social  and  aimed 
at  transforming  society.  Many  even  spoke  of  returning  to  the  monarchy, 
and  some  dreamed  of  entirely  demolishing  all  public  authority. 

They  began  by  an  attack  on  the  national  assembly.  The  15th  of  May, 
under  the  pretext  of  carrying  to  the  deputies  a  petition  in  favour  of  Poland, 
a  movement  was  made  against  the  chamber.^ 

THE   INSURRECTIOX   OF  MAY   15TH,    1848 

The  petitioners  assembled  at  the  place  de  la  Bastille,  and  began  their 
march  about  11  o'clock.  Their  attitude  was  not  hostile;  but,  on  the  boule- 
vard du  Temple,  Blanqui  and  his  club  awaited  their  coming,  quickly  placed 
themselves  at  the  head  of  the  coliunn,  and  moved  forward  with  the  greatest 


THE    REPUBLIC    OF    1848 


•7 


(IMS  A-D.] 

rapidity.  The  assembly  came  forth  on  the  place  de  la  Madeleine  much  earlier 
than  they  were  expected.  The  national  guard,  weary  of  being  summoned 
so  often  in  vain,  had  not  responded  in  a  large  number  to  the  call  upon  them; 
in  spite  of  this  they  would  have  been  able  to  avert  the  danger  had  they  con- 
centrated. Insteatl  of  taking  thia  necessary  measure  at  once,  General  Cour- 
tais  ha<l  the  unfortunate  idea  of  overtakmg  this  mass  of  people — he  imagined 
he  could  stop  them  by  kind  words.  In  the  first  lines  were  the  most  violent 
characters;  amongst  Ihein  were  some  armed  men.  Tliese  paid  no  attention 
to  Courtais,  but  passed  on;  the  rest  followed.  The  crowd  bordered  the  place 
de  la  Concorde  and  advanced  toward  the  bridge.  In  a  short  time  it  hurled 
itself  against  the  gratings  of  the  assembly. 

Lamartine  and  Ledru-Rollin  attempted  to  harangue  the  multitude  from 
the  top  of  the  stairs  where  the  assembly,  some  days  before,  had  come  to  mix 
hs  republican  acclamations  with  those  of  the  people  of  Paris.  The  eloquence 
of  the  poet  and  of  the  tribune  did  not  have  the  same  a^scendency  at  this 
moment  as  at  the  H6te!-vie-\*ille.  The  multitude  continued  to  shake  the 
gratings  and  cry,  "Down  with  the  bayonets!"  Courtais  gave  the  command 
to  a  thoasand  of  the  national  j^ard  and  the  garde  mobile  Ui  slu-athe  their 
bayonets;  then  he  had  a  grating  ofx-ned  to  admit  twenty  delegates:  a  much 
larger  number  followed  Blanqui.     The  crowd  went  round  the  palace  to  the 

Elace  de  Bourgogne;  there  they  joined  the  club  de  Barb^s,  not  to  invade 
ut  to  ob8er\'e.  VVhen  they  were  sure  that  Blanqui  had  entered  they  wished 
also  to  enter;  there  took  place,  on  the  place  de  Bourgogne,  a  m*'Ue,  a  terrible 
stampede.  The  gratings  on  that  side  were  forced:  the  multitude  poured 
into  the  a&sembly  room;  others  enteretl  directly  by  forcing  the  doors.  At 
the  moment  of  the  invasion  the  assembly  were  discussing  Poland  and  Italy. 

In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  which  followed,  Louis  Blanc,  with  the  permis- 
sion of  the  president,  began  to  s|ieak;  he  demanded  silence  in  onk-r  that  the 
petition  in  favour  of  Poland  might  be  read,  and  the  right  of  petition  sanc- 
tioned. In  spite  of  the  protest-ations  of  a  number  of  representatives,  Raspail, 
who  was  not  a  member  of  the  assembly,  mounted  the  tribune  and  read  the 
petition.  The  president,  Buchez,  asked  the  crowd  to  leave  and  allow  the 
assembly  to  deliberate.  Barbes,  seeing  Blanqui  at  the  foot  of  the  tribune, 
hastened  to  make  the  first  move,  and  preased  the  assembly  to  carry  out  the 
wishes  of  the  people  for  Poland.  "Citizens,^'  cried  he,  "you  have  done  well 
to  come  and  exercise  your  right  to  petition,  and  the  duty  of  the  asvsembly 
is  to  execute  what  you  demand,  which  is  the  wish  of  France;  but  in  order 
that  she  should  not  appear  violent  it  is  necessary  that  you  retire.'* 

Cries  of  "Nol  No!'*  were  heard,  and  Blanqui  on  the  other  hand  demanded 
of  the  assembly  a  decree  that  France  should  not  put  her  sword  in  the  scab- 
bard until  Poland  had  attained  her  independence.  He  added  that  the  jieople 
came  also  to  demand  justice  for  the  mas.sacres  of  Rouen  and  claim  from  the 
assembly  that  it  should  see  that  they  had  work  and  bread.  Contradictory 
cries  broke  forth:  "Poland!  we  are  interested  only  in  Pohmd!"  and  "The 
minister  of  work,  immcfliately!" 

The  struggle  was,  in  fact,  between  those  Wlio  wished  to  continue  the  in- 
vasion of  the  assembly  and  those  who  wished  it  to  cease.  Raspail,  who 
found  himself  carried  there  without  intending  it,  joined  Ledru-Hollin  and 
Barb^  in  trying  to  clear  the  assembly  room;  Hiiber  himself,  the  promoter 
of  the  manifestation,  tried  to  induce  the  people  to  retire  before  the  assembly, 
whose  representatives  had  held  their  posts  with  dignity  in  the  midst  of 
this  chaos.  The  party  of  Blanfjiii  resisted,  the  struggle  became  intense  in  this 
close  atmosphere — when,  from  outside,  was  heard  the  sound  of  drums. 


R.  W.— TOU  SHI.  U 


08 


THE   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE 


[1848  A.O.J 

Garnier-Pag^  had  sent,  in  the  name  of  the  executive  commission,  the 
order  to  beat  to  arms  all  the  legions.  At  the  news  of  what  liad  luipjx'ned 
the  national  jG^iiard  gathered  in  great  throngs.  The  crowd,  on  the  contrary, 
around  the  Palais  Hoiirbon,  on  the  bridge,  at  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  began 
to  thin.  All  those  who  had  come  with  no  evil  intentions  became  disquieted, 
grieved;  and  one  by  one  they  went  away.  In  the  interior  of  the  hall,  among 
the  invatlers,  many  were  exhausted,  some  even  fainted.  Barb^s'  head  was 
turned.  He,  who  had  no  intention  but  to  defend  the  a.ssembly  against 
Blanqui,  declared  that  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  vote,  at  that  sitting, 
the  sending  of  an  army  to  Poland,  a  tax  of  a  thou.sand  millions  on  the  rich, 
and  that  they  should  forbid  the  caU  to  arms;  if  not,  the  representatives 
would  l>e  declared  traitors  to  the  country!  He  and  those  around  him  were 
delirious.  The  clamours  redoubled  at  the  same  time  for  Poland  and  for  tJie 
organisation  of  work.  "We  wish  IjOuis  Blanc,"  cried  someone,  and  Louis 
Blanc  was  brought  forward,  against  his  will,  in  triumph;  harassed,  almost 
fainting,  he  protested  in  vain  and  felt  that  he  vit\s  lost.  The  fury  increaised 
in  a  measure  at  the  sound  of  the  drums.  Armed  men  with  sinister  faces 
surrounded  and  threatened  the  president  Huchez,  who  had  remained  im- 
movable on  his  seat,  and  the  vice-president  Corbon,  who  had  eorne  to  join 
Buchez  at  his  perilous  post.  The  president  was  called  on  to  give  the  order 
to  stop  the  call  to  arms.  He  resisted.  The  commands  became  frantic.  An 
officer  of  the  national  guard  carne  to  the  president  to  tell  him  that  the  legions 
would  be  ready  to  act  before  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

Tlie  onler  to  the  mayors  to  cease  the  call  to  arms  could  no  longer  have 
any  result.  The  refusal  to  give  this  order  would  inevitably  have  led  to  a 
catastrophe.  Men  of  unquestioned  courage  amongst  the  rej)resentatives 
counselled  the  president  to  gain  a  (juarter  of  an  hour  at  anj'  price  and  to  accede 
to  the  wishes  of  the  people.  He  signed  the  orders.  This  action  without 
doubt  prevented  violent  acts,  hut  did  not  quiet  the  tumult,  as  the  invaders 
seemed  to  be  possesses!  by  an  uncontrollable  fury.  Amidst  the  stamping 
and  howling  of  the  crowd,  Huber  suddenly  mounted  the  tribune  and  declared 
the  national  a^ssenibly  dissolved.  A  grouji  of  the  most  frantic  hurled  them- 
selves on  the  desk  and  threw  tlie  jjresitlent  from  his  seat.  The  president  and  the 
vice-president  at  last  went  forth  accompanied  by  most  of  the  representatives. 

The  invaders,  remaining  masters  of  the  Iiall,  commenced  to  argue  on 
the  candidates  for  a  new  provisional  government,  when  the  tlrums  Ix'gan 
echoing  in  the  interior  of  the  palace.  ''The  garde  mobile!"  they  cried;  a 
panic  seized  the  invaders  and  the)'-  fled  in  disorder  from  the  hall,  crying, 
"To  the  H6tol-de-Ville!"  This  political  orgy  had  last4?d  nearly  four  hours. 
A  little  after  four  o'clock,  the  garde  mobile  and  the  national  guard  entered 
and  finished  clearing  the  hall./ 

The  assembly  came  back  and  reop)ened  the  sitting.  Lamartine  and  Ledru- 
Rollin,  at  the  head  of  the  repre.sentatives  and  of  the  national  guard,  marched 
to  the  H6tel-de-VilIe,  where  Marrast,  the  mayor  of  Paris,  had  seized  a  new 
provisional  government  which  had  attempted  to  install  itst^lf  there;  the 
agitators  were  sent  to  Vincennes.  This  riot,  a  sad  and  senseless  parody  of 
the  too  famous  days  of  the  first  revolution,  ha<l  the  result  of  putting  the 
assembly  in  a  position  of  defiance  against  the  Parisian  populace.  It  was 
decided  to  dissolve  the  national  workshops,  which  formed  an  army  of  one 
hundred  thousand  labourers  having  arms,  officers,  and  discipline.  This  news 
excited  the  anger  of  the  agitators  who  were  still  free,  and  the  despair  of  the 
workmen  who  had  been  misled  by  dangerous  Utopian  ideas.^' 

In  June  there  were  several  new  elections,  and  Paris  returned  Proudhon 


THE    T^EPUBLIC    OF    1848 


99 


(1848  AJ>.] 

and  other  socialist  leaders.  The  general  result  of  these  elections,  however, 
was  not  favourable  to  that  party;  wliile  CVmnt  Mol^,  Thiers,  and  several  other 
statesmen  of  the  monarchy  recovered  seats  in  the  assembly,  and  at  the  same 
time  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  was  elected  by  no  less  than  four  departments- 
He  had  been  supjwrted  not  only  by  Bonapartists  but  by  red  republicans, 
and  even  by  communists  to  whom  his  speculative  writings  had  commended 
him.  Many  parties  confronted  one  another  in  the  assembly,  but  tlie  ultra- 
democrats  formed  an  insignificant  minority.  Growing  more  desperate  as 
political  power  Hudetl  their  grasp,  tliey  were  plotting  anotliiM-  insurrection, 
when  the  assembly  determined  to  disperse  the  idle  and  dangerous  workmen 
in  the  national  workshops^  who  had  now  risen  to  one  humlred  and  twenty 
thousand.  This  moment  of  tliscoideiit  was  promptly  seized  upon.  The 
clubs  and  the  red  republican  leaders  appealed  to  the  workmen^  to  the  revo- 
lutionary proletairists  and  to  the  formats,  and  Paris  flew  to  arms.* 


CIVIL  WAR   IN   PARIS   MUN*E   22ND-25TH,   1848) 

Every  symptom  indicated  the  approaching  movement.  It  broke  out  on 
the  22nd  of  June  at  ten  at  night.  The  gcivernment,  warnetl  of  the  rioting 
and  clamour  which  attemled  the  first  steps  that  had  been  taken  for  dis- 
tributing a  portion  of  the  workmen  through  the  departments,  a.ssembied  at 
the  Luxeridjourg.  In  the  course  of  the  evening  numerous  mobs  had  several 
times  assailed  the  palace  with  furious  shouts  of  **A  has  Marier'  "A  has 
LamaHvte! ''  Tlie  government  had  appointed  General  Cavaignac  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  troops  of  tlie  iiati<»nal  guard,  with  the  view  of  concentrating 
the  whole  plan  and  the  unity  of  its  execution  in  a  single  individuaL 

The  night  was  tranquil;  it  waa  spent  in  arrangements  for  the  attack  and 
defence.  Neither  the  socialists  nor  the  anti-republican  party  joined  in  the 
insurrection.  Everytliing  in<licate<i  that  this  vmdecided,  feeble  movement, 
incoherent  in  its  principle,  had  been  organised  and  planned  in  the  heart  of 
the  national  workshops  themselves.  It  was  a  plebeian  and  not  a  popular 
movement,  a  conspiracy  of  subalterns  antl  not  of  chiefs,  an  outbreak  of 
servile  and  not  of  civil  war. 

At  seven  o'clock  on  the  23rd  of  June,  the  government  received  informa- 
tion that  mol>8,  forming  altogether  an  assemblage  of  from  eight  to  ten  thou- 
sand men,  liad  collecteti  oa  tlie  place  du  Pantiit'-on  to  attack  the  Luxem- 
bourg. The  occupants  of  the  national  workshops  poured  down  from  the 
barriers,  and  the  populace,  excited  by  some  of  their  armed  leaders,  threw  up 
barricades.  Their  leaders  were,  for  the  most  jKirt,  tlie  men  who  Jicted  a.s 
brigadiers  of  the  national  workshops,  and  who  were  agents  of  the  seditious 
clubs.  They  were  irritated  by  the  proposed  disbandment  of  their  corps, 
whose  wages  passed  through  their  hands,  and  some  of  them,  it  was  alleged, 
did  not  scruple  to  divert  the  money  from  its  destined  object,  for  the  purpose 
of  paying  sedition.  From  the  barriers  of  Charenton,  Bercy,  Fontainebleau, 
ana  MeniJmontant,  to  the  very  heart  of  Paris,  the  capital  was  almost  totally 
defenceless,  and  in  the  power  of  a  few  thousand  men. 

General  Cavaignac  resolved  to  concentrate  his  troops  (as  had  lieen  de- 
termined beforehand)  in  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  in  the  Champs  filya^es, 
on  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  on  the  esplana<Ie  des  Invalide,s,  and  round  the 
puluce  of  the  representatives.  Meanwlale,  the  conflict  had  commenced  on 
the  boulevards.  Two  detachments  of  volunteers  of  the  1st  and  2nd  legions 
attacked  two  barrica<les  erected  on  that  point.  Most  of  these  brave  volun- 
teers perished  heroically  under  the  first  fire  of  the  insurgents. 


100  THE   HISTORY   OF   FBANCE 

[1848  A.i>.] 

Duvivier  commanded  the  central  part  of  Paris  at  the  H6tel-de-Ville. 
Dumesne  and  Lamoricifere,  who  seemed,  as  it  were,  to  multiply  themselves, 
performed  prodigies  of  resolution  and  activity  with  the  mere  handful  of  men 
at  their  disposal.  By  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  Dumesne  had  cleared  and 
made  himself  master  of  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine,  and  had  overawed  the 
whole  mass  of  insurrectionaiy  population  in  the  quarter  of  the  Fanth^n. 

Lamorici^re,  invincible,  though  hemmed  in  by  two  hundred  thousand  of 
the  insurgents,  occupied  the  space  extending  from  the  rue  du  Temple  to  the 
Madeleine,  and  from  Clichy  to  the  Louvre.  He  was  incessantly  galloping 
from  one  point  to  another,  and  always  exposing  himself  to  receive  the  first 
shot  that  might  be  fired.    He  had  two  horses  killed  under  him. 

A  sunmier  storm  was  at  that  moment  breaking  over  Paris,  General 
Cavaignac,  surrounded  by  his  staff,  with  Lamartine,  Duclerc,  and  Pierre 
Bonaparte  (son  of  Lucien),  and  followed  by  about  two  thousand  men,  ad- 
vanced amidst  flashes  of  lightning  and  peals  of  thunder,  mingled  with  the 
applauding  shouts  of  the  well-disposed  citizens,  as  far  as  the  chateau  d'Eau. 
Alter  repeated  assaults,  kept  up  for  the  space  of  three  quarters  of  an  hour, 
and  amidst  an  incessant  shower  of  balls  and  bullets,  decimating  both  officers 
and  men,  the  barricades  were  carried.  Lamartine  felt  as  though  he  could 
have  wished  for  death  to  release  him  from  the  odious  responsibilitv  of  blood- 
shed which  pressed  upon  him  so  unjustly,  but  yet  so  unavoidably.  Four 
hundred  brave  men  lay  killed  or  wounded  in  diflferent  parts  of  the  faubourg. 
Lamartine  returned  to  the  chateau  d'Eau  to  rejoin  General  Cavaignac. 

Accompanied  only  by  Duclerc,  and  a  national  guard  named  Lassaut,  who 
had  been  his  companion  the  whole  of  the  day,  Lamartine  passed  the  line  of 
the  advanced  posts,  to  reconnoitre  the  disposition  of  the  people  on  the  boule- 
vard of  the  Bastille.  The  immense  crowd,  which  fell  back  to  make  way  for 
him  as  he  proceeded,  still  continued  to  shout  his  name,  with  enthusiasm 
and  even  amidst  tears.  He  conversed  long  with  the  people,  pacing  slowly 
and  pressing  his  way  through  the  crowd  by  the  breast  of  his  horse.  This 
confidence  amidst  the  insurgent  masses  preserved  him  from  any  manifesta- 
tion of  popular  violence,  'fiie  men,  who  by  then*  pale  countenances,  their 
excited  tone,  and  even  their  tears  bore  evidence  of  deep  emotion,  told  hun 
their  complaints  against  the  national  assembly,  and  expressed  their  regret 
at  seeing  the  revolution  stained  with  blood.  They  declared  their  readiness 
to  obey  him  (Lamartine),  whom  they  had  known  as  their  counsellor  and 
friend,  and  not  as  their  flatterer,  amidst  the  misery  they  had  suffered  and 
the  destitution  of  their  wives  and  children.  "We  are  not  bad  citizens, 
Lamartine,"  they  exclaimed,  "we  are  not  assassins,  we  are  not  factious 
agitators!  We  are  unfortunate  men,  honest  workmen,  and  we  only  want  the 
government  to  help  us  in  our  misery  and  to  provide  us  with  work !  Govern 
us  yourself!  Save  us!  Command  us!  We  love  you!  We  know  you!  We 
will  prevail  on  our  companions  to  lay  down  their  arms!" 

Lamartine,  without  having  been  either  attacked  or  insulted,  returned 
to  rejoin  General  Cavaignac  on  the  boulevard.  At  midnight  the  regiments 
nearest  to  the  capital  and  the  national  guards  of  the  adjacent  towns  entered 
Paris  in  a  mass,  marching  through  all  the  barriers.  Victory  might  still  be 
tardy,  yet  it  was  now  certein.^ 


"the   days  of  JUNE  " 


On  the  morning  of  the  24th  matters  looked  very  serious,  and  the  assembly, 
which  had  endeavoured  to  ignore  the  danger,  was  forced  to  recognise  ana 


THE    EEPUBLIC    OF    1848 


101 


(1848  I.P.] 

take  measures  to  avert  it.  The  iiie/!iciency  of  the  exf^cutive  commiesion 
and  the  distrust  they  \\Sid  inspired  in  theiiational  guard  having  become 
painfully  conspicuous,  a  motion  was  made,  at/ noon  on  tlie  24th,  to  oonfcr 
absolute  power  on  a  dictator;  and  General  Cavaignac  was  suggested  and 
approved  almost  unanimously.  The  executive  contmlsaion,  finding  them- 
selves thus  superseded,  resigned  their  appointments,  and  ubsolute  uncon- 
trolled authority  was  vested  in  tlio  dictator. 

The  effects  of  this  great  change  were  soon  apparent.  Inuften.^o'.'WP^  the 
difference  between  the  hesitation  and  disunited  action  of  five  civilians  m 
presence  of  danger,  and  the  decided  conduct  of  one  single  experienced:  rrufi- 
tary  chief.  The  first  object  was  to  rejK'l  tin*  enemy  from  the  vicinity  of  the 
HAtel-de-Ville.  The  task  was  no  easy  one,  for  the  strcet-s  around  it  swarmed 
with  armed  men;  every  window  was  filled  with  tirailleurs^  and  from  the 
summit  of  barricades,  which  were  erect^^d  across  the  narrow  thoroughfares 
at  every  hundre^l  yards,  streamed  a  well-directed  antl  deadly  fire  of  musketry. 
At  length,  however,  after  a  dreadful  struggle,  the  nearest  streets  were  carrietl, 
and  the  HdteWe-Ville  was  put  for  the  time  in  a  state  of  comparative  sfifety. 

The  attack  was  next  carried  into  the  adjoining  quarters  of  the  Eglise  St. 
Gervais  and  the  rue  St.  Antoine,  while  General  Lamoriciere  pushed  on  towards 
the  faubourg  St.  Denis,  and  then,  wheeling  to  his  left,  commenced  an  assault 
on  the  faulK)urg  Poissouniere.  The  insurgents  defeudetl  each  barricade  as  it 
was  attacked,  as  long  as  possible,  and  when  it  was  about  to  be  forced  they 
quickly  retired  to  the  next  one  in  rear,  generally  not  more  than  one  or  two 
hundred  yards  liistant,  wliicli  was  stulihornly  hM  in  like  manner;  while  upon 
the  column  which  advanced  in  pursuit  a  heavy  and  murderous  fire  was  di- 
rected from  the  windows  of  the  adjoining  hoUvses. 

It  was  not  surprising  that  the  progress  even  of  the  vast  and  hourly- 
increasing  military  force  al  the  di-^pusid  of  the  dictalor  had  been  so  slow; 
for  the  task  before  them  was  immense,  and  to  appeiinmce  insurmountable 
by  any  human  strength.  The  number  of  barricades  had  risen  to  the  enor- 
mous and  almost  inrredible  figure  of  :i,H88,  nearly  all  of  which  were  stoutly 
defended.  The  great  strongholds  of  the  insurgents  were  in  the  clos  St. 
Lazare  and  the  faubourg  St.  Antoine,  each  of  which  was  defeniled  by  gigantic 
barricades,  constructed  of  stones  having  all  the  solidity  of  regular  fortifica- 
tions, and  held  by  the  most  determined  and  fanalicul  bands. 

The  night  of  the  24th  was  terrible;  the  opposing  troops,  worn  out  with 
fatigue  and  parched  with  thirst,  sank  down  to  rest  within  a  few  yards  of 
each  other  on  the  sunmiit  of  the  barricatles,  or  at  their  feet,  and  no  sound  was 
heard  in  the  dark  but  the  cry  of  the  sentinels.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the 
25th  the  conflict  was  renewed  at  all  points,  an<l  ere  long  a  frightful  tragetly 
signalised  the  determination  and  ferocity  of  the  insurgents.  General  Brea 
humanely  went  with  a  f]i\^  of  truce  to  the  headfjuiirters  of  the  insurgents. 
He  was  overwhelmed  with  insults,  shot  down,  and  left  for  dead  on  the  ground; 
his  sidenle-camp,  Captain  Mauguin,  was  at  the  same  time  put  to  death,  and 
his  remains  mutilat^ni  to  such  a  degree  that  tlie  huinarj  form  could  hardly 
be  distinguished.  After  waiting  an  hour  for  the  return  of  his  general^  Colonel 
Thomas,  the  second  in  command,  having  learneil  his  fate,  and  annoimced  it 
to  his  soldiers,  made  preparations  for  an  aasault.  Infuriated  by  the  treach- 
erous massacre  of  their  general,  the  men  rushed  on,  and  carried  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet  seven  successive  barricatles.  All  their  defenders  were  put  to 
the  sword,  to  avenge  their  infamous  treachery. 

But  ere  the  attack  commenced,  a  sublime  instance  of  Christian  heroism 
and  devotion  occurred,  whicli  shines  forth  like  a  heavenly  glory  in  the  midst 


102  THE   HISTORY   OF   PRANCE 

[1848  I.D.] 

of  these  terrible  seasons  of  carnage".  fMonseigncur  AfTre,  archbishop  of  Paris, 
horror-struck  with  the  slaujhf^  which  for  three  days  had  [)een  going  on 
witliout  Lutemiission,  rfif<)lv5^1"  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  the  con- 
temiijig  parlies,  or  i?erish  tn  the  attempt.  Ha\ing  obtained  leave  from 
General  Cavaignacl to-seimir  to  the  headtjiiarters  of  the  insurgents,  he  set 
out,  dressed,  in  "hlfl*  pontifical  robes,  having  the  croas  in  his  hand,  accom- 
panied by,  twp  vicars,  also  in  full  canonicals,  and  three  intrepi<l  niernbers  of 
the  asSeRit)ly'  Deeply  affected  by  this  courageous  act,  which  they  well 
knew.^as'ahnost  certain  ileath,  the  people,  as  he  walked  through  the  streets, 
.'"f^fert  their  knees  and  besought  him  to  desist,  but  he  j)ersisted,  sayine;,  "It 
'fs  iny  duty.  Bonus  pastor  dat  vUam  suam  vro  ovibus  suis.''  At  seven  m  the 
evening  ho  arrived  in  the  place  de  la  BastiUe,  where  the  Bring  was  extremely 
warm  on  both  sides. 

Undismayed  by  the  storm  of  balls,  the  prelate  advanced  slowly,  attended 
by  his  vicars,  to  the  summit  of  the  barricade.  He  had  descendefl  three  steps 
on  the  other  side  when  he  was  pierced  through  the  loins  l^y  a  sliot  from  a 
window.  The  insurgents,  horror-struck,  approached  him  when  he  fell, 
stanched  the  wound,  which  at  once  was  seen  to  be  mortal,  and  carried  him 
to  tlie  iielghl)ouririg  hosjiilal  of  Quatre-Vingts.  When  t^jld  he  had  only  a 
few  minutes  to  live,  he  said.  "God  l:>e  praised,  and  may  he  accept  my  life 
as  an  expiation  for  my  omissions  tiuring  my  episcopacy,  and  as  an  offering 
for  the  salvation  of  this  misguided  people";  and  with  these  words  he  ex- 
pired. 

Immediately  after  his  decease,  proposals  came  for  a  capitulation  from 
the  insurgents,  on  condition  of  an  absohite  and  imqualilied  amnesty.  Gen- 
eral Cavaignac,  liowever,  would  listen  to  nothing  but  an  unconditional  sur- 
remler.  All  attacks  proved  successful,  and  at  last  the  enemy  capitulated. 
With  this  the  terrible  insurrection  came  to  an  end.  The  losses  on  either  side 
in  this  memorable  conflict  w('re  never  accurately  known;  for  the  insurgents 
could  not  estimate  theirs,  and  the  government  took  care  not  to  publish  their 
own.  But  on  both  sides  it  was  imniense,  as  might  have  been  expected,  when 
forty  or  fifty  tliousiirul  on  a  side  fought  with  the  utmixst  courage  and  desper- 
ation for  four  days  in  the  streets  of  a  crowded  capital,  with  nearly  four  thou- 
sand barricades  erected  and  requiring  to  be  stormed.  General  N^grier  was 
killed,  and  Generals  Duvivier,  Dumesne,  Koste,  Lafontaine,  and  Foncher 
were  w^ouniled  mortally — General  Bedeau  more  sliglitly.  Ten  thousand 
bodies  were  recognisfHl  and  buried,  and  nearly  as  many,  especially  on  the 
side  of  the  insurgents,  thrown  unclaimed  into  the  Seine.  At  the  close  of  the 
contest  nearly  fifteen  thousand  prisoners  were  in  the  hands  of  the  victors, 
and  crowded,  almost  to  suffocation,  all  places  of  confinement  in  Paris.  Three 
thousand  of  them  died  of  jail  fever;  but  the  immense  multitude  which 
remained  created  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  with  which  for  long  the 
government  had  to  contend. 

The  concourse  of  troops  and  national  guards  who  flocked  together  from 
all  quarters,  on  the  27th  and  28th,  enabled  the  dictator  to  maintain  his 
authority,  and  restore  order,  by  tiie  stern  iliscipline  of  the  sword.  The  as- 
sembly tlivided  the  prisoners  into  two  classes:  for  the  first,  who  were  the 
most  guilty,  deportation  to  Cayenne,  or  one  of  the  other  colonies,  was  at 
once  adjudged;  the  second  were  condemned  to  transportation,  which  with 
them  meant  detention  m  the  hulks,  or  in  some  maritime  fortresses  of  the 
republic.  But  all  means  of  detention  ere  long  provetl  inade<]uate  for  so 
profligious  a  multitude,  and  many  were  soon  liberated  by  the  government 
from  absolute  inability  to  keep  tliem  longer.     This  terrible  strife  cost  France 


THE    REPUBLIC    OF    1848  103 

(1M8  A.D.] 

more  lives  than  any  of  the  battles  of  the  empire;  the  number  of  generals 
who  j)erished  in  it^  or  from  the  wounds  they  had  received,  exceeded  even 
those  cut  oflf  at  Borodino  or  Waterloo. 

THE   DICTATORSHIP  OF  CAVAIGNAC 

Tlie  victory  once  decidedly  gained,  Cavaignac  lost  no  time  in  abdicating 
the  dictatorial  powers  conferred  upon  him  during  the  strife.  But  the  assem- 
bly were  too  well  aware  fif  the  narrow  esc^npe  which  they  had  made,  to  enter- 
tam  the  thought  of  resuming  the  powers  of  soveroignty.  If  they  had  lieen 
so  inclined,  the  accounts  froia  (he  provinces  would  hiive  been  sufficient  t(t 
deter  them,  for  the  insurrection  in  Paris  was  contemporary  with  a  bloody 
revolt  at  Marseilles,  occasioned  by  the  same  attempt  to  get  quit  of  the  bur- 
densome pensioners  at  the  ateliers  nationaux,  which  was  only  put  down 
after  three  days'  hard  fighting  by  a  concentration  of  troops  from  all  the 
adjoining  departments. 

At  Kouen  and  Bordeaux  the  agitation  was  so  •violent  that  it  was  evident 
nothing  but  the  presence  of  a  large  military  force  prevented  n  rebellion  from 
breaking  out.  Taught  by  these  events,  the  national  assembly  unanimously 
continued  to  General  Cavaignac  the  powers  already  conferred  uiK>ti  him,  and 
prolonged  the  state  of  siege  in  the  metropolis.  The  powers  of  the  dictator 
were  to  last  till  a  permanent  president  was  elected  either  by  the  assembly  or 
the  direct  voice  of  the  citizens;  and  in  the  [ueantime  General  Cavaignac 
proceeded  to  appoint  his  ministers,  who  immediately  entered  upon  their 
several  duties. 

The  first  care  of  the  new  government  was  to  remodel  the  armed  force  of 
the  metropolis,  and  extinguish  those  elements  of  insurrection  which  had 
brought  such  desolation,  bloodshed,  and  ruin  upon  tlic;  country.  The  ateliers 
nationaux  were  immevliately  tlissolved:  this  had  now  become,  comparatively 
speaking,  an  easy  task;  f<}r  t!ie  most  formidable  part  of  their  number,  and 
nearly  all  who  had  actually  appeared  with  arms  \n  their  hands,  had  either 
been  slain  or  were  in  the  prisons  of  the  republic.  Those  legioas  of  the  national 
guard  which  had  either  hung  baek  or  openly  joined  the  insurgents,  on  occasion 
of  the  late  revolt,  were  all  dissolved  and  ^hsarmed.  -"Vlready,  on  June  25th, 
when  the  iiLsurrection  was  at  lU  height,  a  decree  was  issue<l,  which  suspendetl 
nearly  all  the  journals  of  a  violent  character  on  either  side,  and  even  Emile 
de  Girardin,  an  able  writer  and  journalist  of  moderate  character,  was  ar- 
rested and  thrown  into  prison.  These  nieasure^,  how  rigorous  soever,  were 
all  ratified  by  a  decree  of  the  assembly  on  the  1st  of  August,  and  passed 
unanimously.  *'The  friends  of  li!>erty/'  says  the  contemporary  annalist, 
"observed  with  grief  that  the  republic  had  in  a  single  day  struck  with  im- 
punity a  severer  blow  at  the  liberty  of  the  press  than  the  preceding  govern- 
ments had  done  during  tliirty  years."  At  the  same  time  the  clubs,  those 
great  fountains  of  treason  and  disorder,  were  closed.  Thus  was  another 
proof  added  to  the  innuinernhle  ones  which  history  had  previously  afforded, 
that  popidar  licentiousness  luui  insurrection,  from  whatever  cause  originatmg, 
must  ever  end  in  the  despotism  of  the  sword. 


THE   NEW  CONSTITUTION  AND  THE  PLEBISCITE 

The  duty  of  framing  a  constitution  had  been  intrusted,  in  the  beginning 
of  June,  to  a  committee  composed  of  the  most  enlightened  members.  The 
discussion  commenced  on  the  2nd  of  July,  and  was  oidy  concluded  by  tlie 


104  THE   HISTORY   OF   FEANCE 

[1848  A.D.] 

formal  adoption  of  the  constitution,  as  then  modified,  on  the  23rd  of  October. 
On  the  important  question  whether  the  le^slature  should  be  in  one  or  two 
chambers,  the  debate  was  conducted  by  two  distinguished  men,  Lamartine 
and  Odilon  Barrot. 

The  assembly,  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  decided  in  favour  of  one 
chamber  by  a  majority  of  530  to  289.  The  "sovereign  power"  of  le^lation 
accordingly  was  vested  in  a  single  assembly,  and  Lanmrtine,  who  was  not 
without  a  secret  hope  of  becoming  its  ruler,  was  triumphant.  But  the  all- 
important  question  remained — by  whom  was  the  president  of  the  chamber  to 
be  appointed,  and  what  were  to  be  his  powers  as  the  avowed  chief  magis- 
trate of  the  republic?  Opinions  were  much  divided  on  this  point,  some  ad- 
hering to  an  election  by  the  assembly,  others  to  a  direct  appeal  to  the  people. 
Contraiy  to  eiroectation,  M.  de  Lamartine  supported  the  nomination  by 
the  entire  population  of  France. 

He  could  not  be  convinced  of  the  fatal  blow  which  his  popularity  had 
received  from  his  coalition  with  Ledru-Rollin.  He  still  thought  he  was  lord 
of  the  ascendant,  and  woiJd  be  the  people's  choice  if  the  nomination  was 
vested  in  their  hands.  By  extending  the  suffrage  to  all  France,  the  revolu- 
tionists had  dug  the  grave  of  their  own  power.  The  result,  accordingly, 
decisively  demonstrated  the  strength  of  this  feeling  even  in  the  first  assembly 
elected  imder  universal  suffrage,  and  how  well  foimded  were  the  mournful 
prognostications  of  Lamartine  as  to  the  approaching  extinction  of  liberty 
by  the  very  completeness  of  the  triumph  of  its  supporters.* 

The  formation  of  the  constitution  havmg  been  at  length  concluded,  it 
was  finally  adopted,  on  the  4th  of  November,  by  a  majority  of  737  to  thirty 
votes,  Among  the  dissentients  were  Pierre  Leroux  and  Proudhon,  extreme 
communisms,  and  Berryer  and  La  Rochejaquelein,  royalists.  Victor  Hugo 
and  Montalembert  were  also  in  the  minority,  though  no  two  men  could  be 
foimd  whose  opinions  on  general  subjects  were  more  opposite.  On  the  even- 
ing of  the  day  on  which  it  was  adopted  by  the  assembly,  the  intelligence  was 
communicated  to  the  Parisians  by  101  guns  discharged  from  the  Invalides. 
Tlie  soimd  at  first  excited  the  utmost  suarm,  as  it  was  feared  the  civil  war 
was  renewed;  and  when  it  was  known  that  it  was  only  the  announcement 
of  a  constitution,  the  panic  subsided,  and  the  people,  careless  and  indifferent, 
dispersed  to  their  homes. 

By  the  constitution  thus  adopted,  the  form  of  government  in  France  was 
declared  to  be  republican,  the  electors  bein^  chosen  by  universal  suffrage, 
and  the  president  in  the  same  way.  The  right  of  the  working  classes  to 
employment  was  negatived,  it  being  declared,  however,  that  the  government, 
so  far  as  its  resources  went,  was  to  furnish  labour  to  the  imeraployed.  The 
punishment  of  death  was  abolished  in  purely  political  offences.  Slavery  was 
to  be  abolished  m  every  part  of  the  French  dominions.  The  right  of  associa- 
tion and  public  meetmg  was  guaranteed;  voting,  whether  for  the  representa- 
tives or  tne  president,  was  to  be  by  ballot;  the  representatives  once  chosen 
might  be  re-elected  any  number  of  times.  The  president  required  to  be  a 
French  citizen,  of  at  least  thirty  years  of  age,  and  one  who  had  not  lost  on 
any  occasion  his  right  of  citizenship.    He  was  to  be  elected  for  four  years, 

1^'  An  expression  of  tlie  pliilosopher  Jean  Rejnaud  daring  "  the  Days  of  June  "  characterised 
the  situation  with  poignant  truth  :  "  We  are  lost  if  we  are  conquered  ;  lost  if  we  conquer."  It 
was  too  true  :  the  Republic  was  stabbed  to  the  heart.  Victorious,  the  body  politic  drifted,  in  a 
few  months,  to  a  monarchic  csesarism  by  the  path  of  reaction  ;  vanquished,  it  had  drifted,  in  a 
few  days,  to  a  demagogic  csesarism  by  the  path  of  anarchy.  Like  the  Janus  of  fable,  Bona- 
partism  was  ready  to  present  the  one  or  the  other  of  its  two  faces  to  France  doomed  to  be  it& 
prey.— filABTiB./] 


THE   REPUBLIC    OF    1848  105 

[1848  A.D.] 

and  a  simple  majority  was  to  determine  the  election.  The  president  was 
re-eligible  after  having  served  the  first  four  years;  he  was  to  reside  in  the 
palace  of  the  assembly,  and  receive  a  salary  of  six  hundred  thousand  francs 
a  year.  All  the  ministers  of  state  were  to  be  ap[X)inted  by  the  presiilent, 
who  also  was  to  command  the  armed  force,  declare  peace  and  war,  conduct 
negotiations  with  foreign  powers,  and  generally  exercise  all  the  powers  of 
sovereignty,  with  the  exception  of  appointing  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
coui'ts  m  Paris,  who  were  to  be  named  by  the  assembly,  and  to  hohl  their 
offices  for  life. 

Disguised  under  the  form  of  a  republic,  this  constitution  was  in  reality 
monarchical,  for  the  president  was  invested  with  all  the  substantial  power 
of  sovereignty;  and  as  he  was  capable  of  being  re-elected,  his  t**.nure  of  office 
might  be  prolonged  for  an  indefinite  i>eriod.  Though  there  were  several  can- 
didates for  the  high  office,  yet  it  was  soon  apparent  that  the  suffrage  would 
really  come  to  be  divided  between  two— General  Cavaignac  and  Prince  Louis 
Napoleon. 

THE    CANDIDACY  OF   LOUIS  NAPOLEON 

The  door  had  already  been  opened  to  the  latter  by  an  election  which  took 
place  at  Paris  on  the  17  th  of  September,  when  the  young  prince  was  again 
elected  by  a  lar^e  majority.  Four  other  departments  in  the  country  had 
already  elected  bim.  On  this  occasion  he  no  longer  hesitated,  but  accepted 
his  election  for  the  department  of  the  Seine.  He  took  his  seat  on  the  26th 
of  September,  and  made  the  following  speech  on  the  occasion,  which  was  very 
favourably  received  by  the  assembly: 

CmzKN  Reprrsbntatives  : 

After  ihree-and-thlrty  years  of  proscription  and  exile,  I  at  length  find  rovBelf  among  yon,  I 
again  re^ia  my  country  and  my  ripbts  a-s  one  of  its  citiMus.  It  is  to  tbo  repuhlic  tliat  I  owe 
that  b&ppinpi>8  :  let  the  rr'public  iben  rcffive  my  oatb  of  gratitude,  of  devotion  ;  and  let  my 
geoerou^  fellow-citizens,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  my  peat  in  lis  legislaliire,  feel  assured  tbut 
Twill  strive  to  justify  their  suffrage;!,  by  labouring  with  you  for  the  maintenance  of  tranquillity, 
the  first  neceaaity  of  the  country,  and  for  the  development  of  the  demorratic  institutioriH  which 
the  country  is  entitled  to  reclaim.  My  conduct,  ever  guided  by  a  senae  of  duty  and  respect  for 
the  laws,  will  prove,  in  opjiositinn  t/i  the  passions  by  wbidi  I  have  been  maligned  and  hi  ill  am 
blackened,  that  none  is  more  anxious  than  1  am  tu  devote  myseU  to  tbe  defence  of  order  and  thu 
oonsolidation  of  the  repablic' 

THE   ELECTIONS  OP  DECEMBER,    1848 

Both  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  General  Cavaignac  had  ex- 
ceptional advanUiges:  the  first,  that  of  a  great  name;  the  second,  that  of 
the  immense  resources  with  which  exe(*.utive  power  is  necessarily  invested. 
But  in  addition  to  the  advantage  of  his  name,  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte belonged  to  no  party  wliatsoever.  Isolatetl  between  the  army  of  social- 
ism and  the  "party  of  ordc-r/'  he  offered  in  his  very  person  a  sort  of  com- 
proniLHc.  His  attitude,  his  remoteness  from  the  stiinny  debaU^s  of  the  cham- 
ber rendered  his  conduct  conformable  with  his  situation.  In  his  seclusion 
at  Auteuil,  he  had  hekl  conferences  with  men  of  all  parties.  All  could  place 
some  of  their  hoj)es  on  hirn,  without  his  binding  himself  to  any  single  one. 
He  belonged  at  the  same  time  to  the  democracy,  on  account  of  the  worship 
of  the  proletariat  for  the  name  of  Napoleon ;  to  socialism,  by  a  few  of  his  pam- 
phlets; and  to  the  party  of  order  by  the  religious  and  rnilitary  tendencies 
ol  his  policy:  and  this  is  what  no  one  in  those  times  of  blindness  perceived. 

A  serious  incident  of  far-reaching  consequences  dealt  a  terrible  blow  to 
tiie  candidateship  of  General  Cavaignac — the  sitting  of  the  national  asscm- 


106 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 


[1848  A.D.] 

bly  of  November  25th,  1848.  As  the  terror  of  the  June  Days  faded  away, 
the  exammation  of  facts  had,  little  by  little,  convinced  many  that  General 
Cavaignac,  during  those  terrible  days,  had  disdained  the  means  of  quelling 
the  insiirrection  in  its  infancy;  that  he  had  served  as  an  instrument  for  the 
seditious  mutinies  against  the  executive  commission;  that,  in  consequence 
of  his  calculated  nervelessness  and  inaction,  the  insurrection  had  assimied 
formidable  proportions,  and  the  general  had  been  obliged  to  shed  the  blood 
of  France  in  torrents.    As  he  had  greatly  benefited  by  this  same  bloodshed, 

and  owed  his  inconceivable  elevation 
to  it,  public  feeling  traced  in  this  en- 
semble the  manoeuvres  of  criminal 
ambition.  These  rumours  soon  ac- 
quired such  consistency  that  General 
Cavaignac  thought  he  ought  to  give 
an  explanation  m  the  tribune  of  the 
national  assembly.  The  debate  took 
place  at  the  sitting  of  November  25th. 
When  General  Cavaignac  had  chal- 
lenged his  adversaries  to  declare  if  he 
had  in  any  way  betray^ed  his  trust, 
Barth^lemy  Saint-Hilaire  ascended 
the  tribune  and  asked  permission  of 
the  assembly  to  read  an  unpublished 

Eage  of  history.  This  statement  em- 
TBced  an  accumulation  of  the  most 
damaging  evidence  against  the  vacil- 
lations of  General  Cavaignac  and 
against  the  faction  which  had  striven 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  executive 
commission. 

General  Cavaignac  defended  him- 
self with  the  skill  of  a  barrister.  The 
danger  of  his  position  sharpened  his 
wits.  In  spite  of  the  affirmations  of 
Gamier-Pag^  and  Ledru-Rollin,  Gen- 
eral Cavaignac  came  through  this  dan- 
gerous debate  with  the  appearance 
of  havmg  triumphed.  An  alleged 
order  of  the  day,  presented  by  Du- 
pont  (de  I'Eure),  was  adopted  by  a 
napoubok  in  very  large  majority.     The  order  of 

the  day  was  expressed  thus:  "The 
national  assembly,  persevering  in  the  decree  of  June  28th,  1848 — thus  worded, 
'General  Cavaignac,  chief  of  the  executive  power,  deserves  well  of  his  coim- 
try'— passes  on  to  the  usual  business  of  the  day." 

"  The  country  will  judge,"  many  voices  exclaimed  when  General  Ca- 
vaignac ended  the  discussion  by  vaunting  his  devotion  to  the  republic;  and 
indeed  the  coimtry  was  not  slow  in  formulating  its  judgment. 

In  the  election  of  December  10th,  1,448,302  votes  were  returned  for 
General  Cavaignac,  whilst  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  obtained  5,534,520; 
Ledru-Rollin  had  371,434  suffrages,  Raspail  36,964,  and  Lamartine,  who  had 
once  been  simultaneously  elected  by  ten  departments,  received  a  dole  of 
17,914  votes. 


I 


r  THE    REPUBLIC    OF    1848  107 

flMSA.D  J 

The  election  of  Louis  Napf)lpon  Bonaparte  gre^itly  surprised  many  zealous 
minds;  and  seriously  disturwd  the  dreamers.  Like  carrion  crows  wheeling 
round  to  seek  their  route  and  filling  the  air  with  their  cries,  they  were  seen 
raising  their  heads  and  scenting  the  wind,  seeking  the  meaning  of  an  event 
they  could  not  comprehend.  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  appeared  upon  the 
scene  like  Fortinbras  at  the  end  of  Hamlet.  Brutal  in  fact,  his  election  cut 
the  knot  of  a  thousiind  intrigues.  The  people,  by  their  vote,  had  expressed 
tlie  idea  of  a  great  popular  dictntnrphip  which  put  an  end  to  the  quarrels 
of  the  citizens,  to  the  subtlety  of  Utopians,  to  i)arty  rancour,  and  guarried 
them  against  the  endlessly  ifcurring  crises  engendered  by  the  parliamentary'' 
regime  amongst  nations  with  whom  sentiment  dominates  reason,  action  and 
discussion.  The  poll  also  expressed  an  ardent  desire  for  unity.  The  pro- 
letariat knows  well  that  what  takes  place  in  the  republic  of  hamsters  and 
landlords  concerns  it  but  little.  It  was  by  analogous  n'a.sons  that  Oavsar 
triumphed  in  Rome.  Having  nothing  to  gain  from  party  struggl  >s,  knowing 
by  experience  that  for  them  the  only  result  is  lack  of  work,  miprisonment, 
exile,  or  death,  the  people  always  aspire  to  rise  above  them,  Fjoiiis  Bona- 
parte, in  his  electoral  aildress,  was  can^ful  to  give  expression  to  this  tliought: 
**  Let  ua  be  men  of  the  country/'  he  said,  "  not  men  of  a  party!  " 

Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  proclaimed  president  of  the  republic  on 
December  20th  at  four  o'ehjck,  by  the  president  of  the  national  a^ssembly. 
We  know  the  political  oatli  had  been  abolislied  by  the  February  revolution, 
which  thus  seemed  to  confesi?  its  absence  of  l>eiief.  But  by  a  miserable  dem- 
ocratic equivocation,  the  oath  was  still  taken  by  one  man,  by  the  president 
of  the  republic.  The  contract  was  not  a  iiuitiial  (uie.  Ea  h  one  reserved 
to  himself  imphcitly  the  right  of  violating  the  constitution,  and  we  shall  see 
that  the  national  assembly  did  not  fail  to  do  so;  but  each  one  desired  at  the 
same  time  that  the  president  of  the  republic  should  be  bound  tliereby  as  with 
a  strait-jacket.  The  least  fault  of  this  vain  ceremonial  was  its  lack  of  com- 
mon sense,  the  constitution  Ix^ing  fatally  and  necessarily  violated.^ 

MOTOR  Hugo's  P0RTit.\iT  of  "  napoleon  the  little  " 

It  was  about  four  in  the  afternoon  of  December  20th,  1848;  it  was  grow- 
ing dark,  and  the  immense  hall  of  the  assembly  having  become  involved  in 
gloom  the  chandeliers  were  lowereil  from  the  ceiling,  and  the  messenger 
placeil  the  lamps  on  the  tribune.  The  president  made  a  sign,  the  door  on 
the  right  openftl,  and  tlien?  wa-s  seen  to  enter  the  hall,  and  rapidly  ascend 
the  tribune,  a  man  still  young,  attired  in  black,  having  on  liis  breast  the 
badge  and  riband  of  the  Legion  of  Honour. 

All  eyes  were  turned  towards  this  man.  His  face  wan  and  pallid,  its 
bony,  emaciated  angles  develope^l  in  prominent  relief  by  the  shaded  lamps; 
his  nose  large  and  long;  his  upper  lip  covered  with  moustaches;  a  lock  of  liair 
waving  over  a  narrow  forehead;  his  eyes  small  and  ilull;his  attitii<i(*  timid 
id  anxious,  bearing  in  no  respect  a  resemblance  to  the  emperor — this  man 
'as  the  citizen  Charles  Louis  Napolf^m  Bonaparte.  During  the  murmurs 
which  arose  upon  his  entrance,  lie  remained  for  some  instants  standing,  his 
ri^ht  hand  in  the  breast  of  his  buttonetl  coat,  erect  and  motionless  on  the 
tribune,  the  front  of  which  bore  this  date — 22nd,  23rd,  24th  of  February; 
and  above  which  was  inscribed  these  three  words^Liberty,  Equality,  Fra- 
ternity. 

Prior  to  being  elected  president  of  the  republic,  Charles  Louis  Na]>t)leon 
Bonaparte  ha».l  been  a  representative  of  the  people  for  several  months,  and 


108  THE   HISTORY   OF  i^HAWCK 

[1818  ▲.!>.) 

though  he  had  rarely  attended  a  whole  sitting,  he  had  been  frequently  seen 
in  the  seat  he  had  selected,  in  the  upper  benches  of  the  left,  in  the  fifth  row  in 
the  zone,  commonly  designated  the  Mountain,  behind  his  old  preceptor,  the 
representative  Vieiflard.  This  man,  then,  was  no  new  face  in  the  assembly, 
yet  his  entrance  on  this  occasion  produced  a  profound  emotion.  It  was  to 
all,  to  friends  as  to  foes,  the  future  that  had  entered  on  the  scene,  a  future 
unknown.  Through  the  space  of  immense  munnur,  formed  by  the  concur- 
rent voices  of  all  present,  his  name  circulated  in  connection  with  the  most 
opposite  estimates.  His  antagonists  recalled  to  each  other  his  adventures, 
his  coups-de-^maiiit  Strasburg,  Boulogne,  the  tame  eagle,  and  the  piece  of 
meat  in  the  little  hat.  His  friends  uiged  his  exile,  his  proscription,  his  im- 
prisonment, a  well-compiled  work  of  his  on  artillery,  his  writings  at  Ham, 
impressed  with  a  certam  degree  of  liberal,  democratic,  and  socialist  spirit, 
the  maturity  of  the  graver  age  at  which  he  had  now  arrived;  and  to  those 
who  recalled  his  follies,  they  recalled  his  misfortunes. 

General  Cavaignac,  who,  not  having  been  elected  president,  had  just  re- 
signed his  power  mto  the  hands  of  the  assembly  with  that  tranquil  laconism 
which  befits  republics,  was  seated  in  his  customary  place  at  the  head  of  the 
ministerial  bench,  on  the  left  of  the  tribune,  ana  observed,  in  silence  and 
with  folded  arms,  this  installation  of  the  new  man. 

At  length,  silence  became  restored,  the  president  of  the  assembly  struck 
the  table  before  him  several  times  with  his  wooden  knife,  and  then  the  last 
murmurs  of  the  assembly  having  subsided,  said:  "I  will  now  read  the  form 
of  the  oath." 

There  was  an  almost  religious  halo  about  this  moment.  The  assembly 
was  no  longer  an  assembly,  it  was  a  temple.  The  immense  significance  of 
thb  oath  was  rendered  still  more  impresave  by  the  circumstance  that  it  was 
the  only  oath  taken  throughout  the  extent  of  the  territory  of  the  republic. 
February  had,  and  rightly,  abolished  the  political  oath,  and  the  constitution 
had,  as  rightly,  retained  only  the  oath  of  the  president.  This  oath  possessed 
the  doubfe  character  of  necessity  and  of  grandeur.  It  was  the  oath  taken 
by  the  executive,  the  subordinate  power,  to  the  legislative,  the  superior 

Eower;  it  was  stronger  still  than  this — the  reverse  of  the  monarchical  fiction 
y  which  the  people  take  the  oath  to  the  men  invested  with  power,  it  was  the 
man  invested  with  power  who  took  the  oath  to  the  people.  The  President, 
functionary  and  servant,  swore  fidelity  to  the  people,  sovereign.  Bending 
before  the  national  majesty,  manifest  in  the  omnipotent  assembly,  he  re- 
ceived from  the  assembly  the  constitution,  and  swore  obedience  to  it.  Hie 
representatives  were  inviolable;  he,  not  so.  We  repeat  it:  a  citizen  respon- 
sible to  all  the  citizens,  he  was,  of  the  whole  nation,  the  only  man  so  bound. 
Hence,  in  this  oath,  sole  and  supreme,  there  was  a  solemnity  which  went  to 
the  inmost  heart  of  all  who  heard  it.  He  who  writes  these  pages  was  present 
in  his  place  in  the  assembly,  on  the  day  this  oath  was  taken;  he  is  one  of 
those  who,  in  the  face  of  the  civilised  world,  called  to  bear  witness,  received 
this  oath  in  the  name  of  the  people,  and  still,  in  their  name,  retain  it. 

Thus  it  runs:  "In  presence  of  God,  and  before  the  French  people,  repre- 
sented by  the  national  assembly,  I  swear  to  remain  faithful  to  the  democratic 
republic,  one  and  indivisible,  and  to  fulfil  all  the  duties  imposed  on  me  by 
the  constitution." 

The  president  of  the  assembly,  standing,  read  this  majestic  formula; 
then,  before  the  whole  assembly,  breathlessly  silent,  intensely  expectant,  the 
citizen  Charles  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  raising  his  right  hand,  said,  with 
a  firm,  full  voice,  "I  swear  it," 


THE    REPUBLIC    OF    1848  10ft 

(1M8A.D.) 

The  representative  Boulay  (de  la  Mcurthe),  since  vice-prcsuient  of  the 
republic,  and  who  had  known  Charles  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  from  his 
childhood,  exclaimed:   "He  is  an  honest  man,  he  will  keep  his  oath." 

\Mien  he  had  done  speaking,  the  constituent  assembly  rose,  and  sent  forth, 
as  with  a  single  voice,  the  grand  cry,  "Long  Hve  the  repubhc!"  Louis  Na- 
poleon Bonaimrte  descended  from  the  tribune,  went  up  to  General  Cavaignac, 
ajid  offered  him  his  hand.  The  General,  for  a  few  instants,  hesitated  to  ac- 
cept the  pressure.  Al!  who  had  just  heartl  the  speech  of  Louis  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  pronounced  in  an  aeeent  so  redolent  of  candour  and  good  faith^ 
blamed  the  general  for  his  !iesitation. 

The  constitution  to  which  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  took  the  oath  on 
the  20th  of  December,  1848,  *'  in  the  face  of  God  ami  man,"  contained,  among 
other  articles,  these: 

Article  38.  Tbe  represeoUtives  of  tbe  people  are  Inriolable.  Article  37.  Ther  may  not  be 
arrest«d  in  criminal  mattem  unleH-s  they  are  taken  in  the  fact,  nor  proRecutf^d  without  the  per- 
miasioD  of  the  au»emb)y.  lirut  obtained.  Article  68.  Every  act  by  which  the  president  of  tbe 
republic  ithall  diHsnlve  the  national  assembly,  prorngue  it,  or  impede  the  exercise  of  ita  decrees, 
ib  a  crime  of  high  treason. 

By  such  act.  of  itself,  the  president  forfeits  his  functions,  the  cUlxens  are  bound  to  refuse 
to  him  obedience,  and  tbe  execntive  power  passes,  nf  full  ri^ht,  tn  the  natitmal  assembly.  The 
judgea  of  the  supreme  court  »haU  thereupon  immediately  assemble,  under  penalty  of  forfeiture  ; 
thej  ahaU  convokes  the  jurors  in  such  place  as  they  himll  apiKiint.  to  proceed  to  tbe  trial  of  tbe 
preddent  and  his  accomplices,  and  tbe/  shall  thcuisclvcs  appoint  ma^isirates  to  fulfil  the  func- 
tioofl  of  tbe  state  administration. 


In  less  than  three  years  after  this  memorable  day,  on  the  2nd  of  Decem- 
ber, 1851,  at  daybreak,  there  might  be  read  at  the  corners  of  all  the  streets 
of  Paris  this  notice: 

In  ibo  name  of  the  French  jwople,  the  president  of  the  rppuhlic  decrees  :  Article  1.  The 
national  attsembly  \a  dissolved.  Article  2.  Universal  suffrage  is  re-established.  Tbe  \&w  of  the 
H\%l  uf  May  is  repealed.  Article  3.  The  French  people  are  convoked  in  their  comitia.  Article  4. 
The  stale  of  siege  18  decreed  throughout  the  extern  of  the  first  military  division.  Article  5.  The 
council  of  state  is  dissolved.  Article  0.  The  minister  of  the  interior  is  charged  with  tbe  execu- 
tion of  the  present  decree. 

Done  at  the  PaUoe  of  tbe  £lys£e,  December  2nd,  1851. 

Louis  Napoleon  Bonatarts. 


At  the  same  time  Parii?  learned  that  fifteen  of  the  inviolable  representa- 
tives of  the  f>eop!e  had  l>cen  arresUnI  in  their  homes,  in  tiic  eour.se  of  the 
night,  by  order  of  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte.''" 


CHAPTER  V 

LOmS   NAPOLEON   AS   PRESIDENT   AND   EMPEROR 

[1846-1870  A.D.] 

On  the  20tb  of  P«!eml»er,  1^48,  commenced  the  government  of  that 
maD  to  whom  Frauce  delivered  herself  in  an  acoeBa  of  diKziDeaa  and 
who  was  to  preside  over  her  destinies  till  the  2nd  of  September,  1870. 
"  Thia  unfortunate  people,"  according  to  the  expression  of  a  great 
national  historian,  Michelet,  "stabbed  itself  with  its  own  hand.** 
CAvaijBfnac,  a  man  whose  ideas  were  simple  and  hiH  words  sincere, 
was  replaced  by  a  sacocssor  with  whom  all  was  ulterior  pnrpoee  and 
Bubterrauean  Kcheme.  Since  Louis  Na[M)leou's  admission  to  the  con - 
Btltueiit  assembly,  nothing  was  vii^ible  in  his  ^K)litic»  but  u  double 
eflort  to  reassure  the  conservatlveu  and  yet  flatter  the  popular 
hopes.  —  Martin. *» 


Thk  immense  majority  by  which  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  had  been  created 
president  of  Ihe  rej)iiliUc*,  addend  greatly  to  the  power  of  the  executive,  and 
was  an  important  .step  in  the  restoration  of  order  aft^r  the  Revolution;  but 
it  was  far  from  a])pea^ing  the  parties,  or  proilucing  a  similar  union  in  the 
a-si^MTihly.  It  was,  in  tnitli,  a  fleclaration  of  France  a£;niri.st  the  Revolution, 
and  bespoke  the  anxious  ilesire  of  the  inhabitants  to  terminate  the  disorders 
which  it  had  introduced,  and  return  to  tlie  occupations  of  peaceful  industry. 
But  to  the  legislature,  or  at  least  a  large  part  of  its  members,  it  was  a  serious 
blow,  and  was  felt  the  more  severely  that  it  had  been  so  completely  unex- 
pected. 

The  executive  power — so  important  in  all  countries,  so  powerful  in  every 
age  in  France — had  Ix^n  apix»intod  over  their  heads  by  the  general  voice  of 
tlie  people;  the  president  was  no  longer  their  officer  or  administrator,  but 
the  nominee  of  a  rival  power,  and  might  be  expected  on  a  crisis  to  be  sup- 
|»rted  by  the  army,  which  looked  to  him  for  promotion,  employment,  and 
glory.  The  seeds,  in  this  way,  not  merely  of  discontent  and  division,  but 
probably  of  strife,  were  sown  in  the  very  outst't  of  the  pre^sident's  power; 
the  balance  between  a  popular  chief  magistrate  and  an  ambitious  but  dis- 
contented legislature  coulu  not  long  be  preserved;  and  as  the  nation  would 

110 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS    PRESIDENT    AND    EMPEROR  111 

certainly  not  again  go  back  to  the  republic,  it  was  already  foreseen  that  it 
must  go  fonv'ani  to  the  empire. 

The  first  care  of  the  president,  after  installation  in  office,  was  to  organise 
a  powerful  army  under  the  command  of  Marshal  Bugeuud  at  Lyons  and  the 
adjacent  provinces  near  the  Alps.  It  was  now  raisetl  to  seventy-two  thousand 
infantr>'  and  eight  thousand  horse.  The  threatening  aspect  of  affairs  in  the 
north  of  Italy  amply  justified  these  precautionary  measures;  and  it  was 
mainly  owing  to  the  formidable  front  thus  presented  that  the  Austrians, 
after  their  successes  over  the  Piedmontosc,  ha<l  been  prevented  from  crossing 
the  Ticino,  But  the  anny  was  destined  also  for  another  object:  it  was  to 
this  powerful  force  that  Louis  Napoleon  mainly  looked  for  the  support  of 
his  authority,  in  the  event  of  that  breach  with  the  assembly  and  democratic 
party  which,  it  was  evident,  sooner  or  later,  must  ensue. 

Public  opinion  meanwhile  in  France  was  so  rapidly  turning  against  the 
legislature  that  it  was  foresc-en  its  existence  could  not  be  long  continued. 
The  general  feeiiiig  was  forcibly  expressed  in  nieetings  held  in  Rennes  and 
Lille.  ''It  will  no  longer  do,"  said  an  orator  in  the  former  city,  "for  Paris 
to  send  us  down  revolutions  by  the  mail-coach;  for  it  is  now  no  longer  po- 
litical but  social  revolutions  with  which  we  are  visited.  The  departments  in 
Jura  have  shown  unequivocally  that  ihey  are  determined  to  put  an  end  to 
this  system.  Reflect  on  the  days  which  we  denominate  by  the  24th  of  Feb- 
ruary, the  15th  of  May,  the  23rd  of  June.  Is  it  to  Ix?  borne  that  we  are  still 
doomed  to  ^o  to  bed  at  night  without  knowing  whether  we  shall  ever  waken 
in  the  mornmg?" 

**  It  is  unprecedented  in  history/'  said  a  speaker  in  Lille,  "  that  a  few  thou- 
sand turbulent  adventurers,  ever  ready  for  a  coup  de  main,  should  have  suc- 
ceeded on  so  many  occasions  in  j>utting  in  hazard  the  <leHtinies  of  a  i>eopIe  so 
advanced  in  ci\'ilisation  as  that  of  France.  \A'e  present  to  Europe  tne  extra- 
ordinary spectacle  of  a  nation  of  thirty-five  million  of  men  ever  ready  to 
take  the  yoke  from  twenty  thousiind  or  thirty  thousand  creators  of  revolu- 
tions, who  descend  into  the  streets  at  a  signal  given  by  a  few  ambitious  leaders, 
and  treat  France  as  a  conquered  country.  A  unannnous  resistance  has  now 
declared  itself  against  the  Parisian  tyranny;  a  violent  desire  to  shake  off 
its  yoke  has  made  it-self  felt  even  by  the  central  government.  It  is  not  a 
conspiracy,  still  less  a  dream  of  a  fetierative  government;  it  is  an  open  and 
deliberate  movement  by  the  provinces  of  France,  a-s  the  old  ones  of  Gaul 
were  determined  that  their  interests  should  no  longer  be  swallowed  up  in 
those  of  Rome." 

END   OF  THE   CONSTITUENT  ASSEMBLY    (1849) 

The  general  wish  foimd  vent  in  a  motion  made  by  Rateau,  that  the  gen- 
eral election  should  take  place  on  the  4(fi  of  next  May,  and  the  existing  as- 
sembly lx»  dissolved  on  the  19th  of  that  month.  The  republicans  were  fjuite 
aware  that  it  would  annihihxte  their  ascciulency,  anil  they  resolved  to  an- 
ticipate the  legal  dissolution  of  the  assembly  by  a  cou-p  d'etai  against  the 
president.  This  was  a  direct  appeal  to  a  civil  war,  and  an  invitation  to  a 
coitpd'ital;  for  the  president,  having  been  elected  by  the  direct  votes  of  the 
people,  and  not  by  the  assembly,  could  not  be  removed  but  by  the  same 
authority  which  had  created  him,  before  the  legal  period  of  his  tenure  of 
office  expire*!. 

It  was  the  hoisting  of  the  signal  for  insurrection  that  was  really  intended; 
and  this  design  was  carried  into  execution  on  the  29th  of  January,  1849.  It 
took  plac^  accordingly,  but  proved  a  miserable  failure-    Tlic  fire  of  democracy 


112  THE    HISTORY    OF   FRANCE 

in  the  great  body  of  the  people  was  burned  out.  The  government  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  whole  plan  of  the  conspirators,  and  from  an  early  hour 
of  the  morning  ail  their  places  of  rendezvous  were  occupied  by  large  bodies  of 
troops,  who,  far  from  joming  them  as  they  expected,  forcibly  prevented  any 
attempt  at  assembling.  Foiled,  disconcerted,  anrl  utterly  overmatched,  the 
conspirators,  who  came  up  in  considerable  numl)ers  from  the  clubs,  ha<l  no 
alternative  but  to  retire,  and  they  did  so  worse  than  defeated  —  turned  into 
ridicule. 

The  days  of  the  assembly  lieing  now  numbered,  its  legislative  acts  ceased 
to  be  an  object  of  any  consideration;  and  the  regulations  for  the  approaching 
election  having  been  passetl  without  a  division  on  tlie  15th  of  February,  the 
clubs  were  closed  after  a  stormy  debate  on  the  20th  of  March  following,  by  the 
slender  majority  of  nineteen  votes  —  the  numbers  being  378  to  'A59.  This 
was  the  last  important  act  of  the  constituent  assembly.  It  rejected,  on 
May  15th,  by  a  majority  of  thirty-seven,  a  motion  to  the  effect  that  the 
ministry  had  lost  the  confidence  of  the  comitry,  and  four  days  afterwards 
came  to  an  end.  Every  eye  was  now  fixed  on  the  approaching  general 
election,  fraught  as  it  was  with  the  future  destinies  of  France.*^ 

The  corislitution  of  the  Tith  of  Novemlxir,  1S4K,  was  not  fitted  to  survive 
in  the  time  and  conditions  in  which  it  was  produced.  The  executive  and 
deliberative  powers  had  one  origin,  since  they  both  proceeded  from  universal 
fiuffrage  and  were  renewed,  the  one  after  three,  the  other  after  four  years' 
exercise.  But  the  pi-esident  had  this  advantage  —  that,  being  elected  by 
millions  of  suffrages,  he  seemed  to  represent  the  entire  nation;  whilst  the 
assembly  consislerl  only  of  deputies,  each  of  whom  represented  some  thou- 
sands of  votes.  Moreover,  whilst  tlie  ftuuidntions  were  laid  for  an  inevitable 
antagonism,  the  idea  had  been  to  subordinate  the  executive  to  the  legislative. 
Thus  the  president  made  appointments  to  innumerable  offices  in  the  ad- 
ministration: he  negotiated  treaties  and  had  the  array  at  his  disposition: 
but  he  could  not  be  re-electetl ;  he  had  neither  the  right  to  take  command  of 
the  troops  nor  that  of  dissolving  the  assembly  or  to  oppose  a  bill  which  might 
seem  to  him  pernicious.  He  had  too  much  or  too  little;  and  with  the  tempta- 
tion to  rcKunie  the  usual  prerogatives  of  public  authority,  he  had  been  given 
the  means  to  acquire  them. 

Nevertheless,  tlie  president  and  the  assembly  maintained  an  understand- 
ing so  long  as  it  was  a  question  of  restoring  order  and  restraining  the  extreme 
parties.  Thus  on  the  29th  of  January,  as  we  have  seen,  and  again  on  the 
13th  of  June,  1849,  the  army  of  Paris  under  their  direction  triumphed  over 
revolt  without  blooilshed. 

filEGE   OF  ROME 

A  matter  concerning  a  foreign  nation  had  caused  the  latter  conflict. 
The  Eurof)ean  revolutions,  to  which  the  revolution  of  February  had  given 
birth,  hafl  been  promptly  put  down  by  the  kings  whom  they  had  alarmed. 
Already  Austria,  victorious  in  Hungary,  thanks  to  the  Russians,  had  defeated 
the  king  of  Sardinia,  Charles  All)ert,  at  Novara;  anti  Lombardy  had  again 
faUon  into  its  power.  The  republic  proclaimed  at  Rome,  after  the  flight  of 
the  poix?,  vainly  endeavoured  to  make  the  walls  of  the  Holy  City  the  last 
rampart  of  the  independence  of  the  peninsula.  Victorious  for  an  instant, 
six  months  before,  Italy  hacl  refused  the  aid  of  France;  now  that  she  was 
vanquished  and  threatened  by  a  heavier  yoke,  policy,  and  the  solicitations 
of  the  Catholics  who  were  then  dominant  in  the  chamber  an<^l  the  ministry, 
made  it  a  duty  of  the  government  to  protect  the  Italian  {)eninsula  and  the 


LOUIS    NAPOLKON    AS    PRESIDENT   A^^)   EMPEROR 


US 


I 


holy  set^  against  the  revolutionarirs  who  wished  to  suppress  the  pope's  tem- 
poral roydty.  An  amiy  coinnianded  by  General  Oudinot  was  sent  into 
Italy  to  restore  Rome  to  the  pontiff. 

The  repubhcans  of  Paris  endeavoured  by  an  insurrection  to  save  the 
repiiblic  of  Rome.  A  tnenibc*r  of  the  former  provisional  government,  Ledru- 
RolUn,  was  with  them.  On  the  13th  of  June,  1849,  a  timely  display  of  troops 
nipped  the  rising  in  the  bud.  This  riot  cost  the  party  its  leaders,  wlio  were 
condemned  by  the  liigli  court  of  Versailles,  anti  the  Romans  their  last  hope. 
On  the  2nd  of  Jul^'  General  Oudinot,  after  showing  the  utmost  dtHtTction  in 
the  siege  of  the  place,  entered  Rome,  where  the  pope  was  reinstated.  Tlie 
legislative  assemoly^  which  had  succeeded  the  constituent  a.ssembly.  May 
28th,  1849,  although  less  unanimous  on  this  question,  nevertheless  approved 
the  president's  conduct  and  it  was  ik^cided  that  the  troops  should  remain  in 
Home  for  the  protection  of  the  pope.  From  that  day  France  had  one  anu 
occupied  m  Italy,  to  the  advantage  of  the  ultramontanea  but  to  the  detriment 
of  her  general  interests.'' 

STRUGGLE    BETWEEN   THE   PRESIDENT   AND    THE    LEGISLATrVE    ASSEMBLY 

The  first  thing  the  assembly  attacked  was  education,  just  as  the  ultra- 
royalists  had  done  under  t!ie  Restoration.  A  curious  spectacle  presented 
iteelf:  those  of  the  Orleanists  who  were  best  known  for  never  having  lieen 
devout,  but  wlio  liad  shown  themselves  rather  tlie  reverse,  as  Thiers,  for 
instance,  were  among  the  most  enthusiastic  in  helping  on  this  work  for  the 
Church.  All  conservatives,  fearing  the  influence  which  was  pushing  the 
democratic  section  into  the  anns  of  the  advanced  republicans,  courted  the 
alli:me(»  of  the  clergy,  and  intrui*ted  tlieni  with  the  mental  training  of  France. 
Mont4ilemlx»rt  put  the  question  in  these  terms:  "^Vo  mast  choose  tetween 
socialism  and  Catholicism," 

This  was  the  idea  wliirh  influenced  the  best  known  of  the  followers  of 
Voltaire  to  return  to  the  church.  They  thought  the  elementary  teachers 
were  dangerous  to  the  cause  of  order.  They  looked  upon  the  unassuming 
conscientious  men  who  taught  the  people  to  read  as  the  forerunners,  if  not 
as  apostles  of  revolution.  Therefon*  the  first  law  dealing  with  education 
withdrew  from  them  the  sanctions  which  the  monarchy  of  July  hati  granted 
them.  The  prefects  had  full  power  to  deal  with  them,  and  a  law  treatmg 
them  as  *' suspects"  was  passt^d. 

Nor  was  the  University  any  more  favourably  regarded;  another  law 
placed  it  imder  the  supervision  of  a  superior  council,  m  which  the  bishops 
were  largely  represented.  Some  time  after^  tlic  classes  held  by  the  great 
historian  Michelet  were  closed.  It  was  not  long  Ix^fore  universal  suffrage 
WM  attacked.  Some  elections  had  taken  place,  ant!  the  assembly  was  alarmed 
to  find  that  tlie  country  had  changed  its  opinions,  and  now  gave  a  majority 
to  the  advanced  republicans.  On  the  10th  of  May  Paris  nominated  its  can- 
didates —  Camot,  Vidal,  and  Flotte.  In  all  France,  out  of  twenty-eight 
elections,  the  advanced  party  gained  eighteen. 

It  was  impossible  openly  to  attack  universal  suffrage  itself;  but  a  resi- 
dence of  three  years  wxis  required  to  entitle  a  man  to  vote;  ami  this  could 
only  be  proved  by  certiiin  methods  —  for  iiistancCj  by  the  payment  of  taxes. 
This  measure  involved  the  political  fall  of  the  greater  part  of  the  working 
population.  Figures  will  give  us  an  exact  idea  of  the  effect  of  the  law:  before 
It  was  passed,  there  were  9,98H,000  electors  in  France;  afterwards  there  were 
only  6,709,000.    With  a  stroke  of  the  pen  the  aasembly  had  suppressed  a 

n.  w.  — vol*,  xni.  i 


xu 


THE    HISTORY   OP   FRANCE 


third  part  of  the  nation  —  3,200,000  citizens  who  had  had  votes  since  1848. 
Thiers  stamped  this  mutilation  of  the  suffrage  with  its  true  character  when 
he  made  use,  during  the  debate,  of  the  notorious  words  "vile  multitude/' 
These  were  the  principal  achievement's  by  which  the  assembly  showed 
the  kind  of  spirit  that  animated  it.  It  would  take  up  too  much  time  to 
recount  the  details  of  this  long  reaction.  We  will  onl^'  quote  a  law  on  trana- 
j>ortation  which  was  described  by  the  tragic  expression  *'  a  bloodless  guillo- 
tine." This  meant,  for  the  party  threatened  by  the  assembly,  death  in  a 
distant  country,  with  all  the  physical  suffering  which  the  deadly  mists  of  a 
tropical  climate  hold  in  reserve  for  political  offenders.  Of  course  the  press 
was  not  overlooked,  and  measures  were  passed  limiting  its  liberties. 

All  these  laws  were  brought  about  by  an  alliance  between  Louis  Napoleon 
and  the  majority.  Tlie  latter  did  not  foresee  how  the  former  woulii  be  able 
to  turn  their  joint  work  against  them  in  the  future.      Of  the  two,  which 

became  unpopular?  The  assembly.  And 
when,  on  the  2nd  of  December,  the  president 
wished  to  get  rid  of  the  assembly,  what  pre- 
text did  he  allege?  The  kw  of  the  3 1st  of 
May,  supported  by  liimself.  Louis  Bona- 
parte, the  president,  had  assisted  through 
his  ministers  in  the  mutilation  of  univer^ 
suffrage.  Louis  Napoleon,  wishing  to  be- 
come emperor,  gave  as  his  motive  for  the 
coup  d'etat  his  desire  to  re-establish  univer- 
.sal  suffrage. 

Nothing  now  remained  but  to  substitute 
a  monarchy  for  the  republic.  It  was  on 
this  po'mt  that  the  president  and  the  ma- 
jority in  the  assembly,  who  were  united 
against  the  republican  spirit,  were  to  dis- 
agree. Natunilly  tlie  Bonapartists  wished 
to  reinstate  the  empire;  and  the  majority  of 
the  Right  benches  only  desired  a  monarchy. 
The  schism  had  begun  less  than  a  year  after  the  prcsidentiid  election.  TJl 
then,  tin*  president,  Louis  Napoleon,  had  allowed  the  united  Orleaixists  and 
legitimist  parties  to  goveni,  under  the  name  of  Odilon  Barrot.  On  the  Slst  of 
October,  1849,  with  a  suddenness  that  was  almost  melodramatic,  he  dismissed 
his  ministers;  and  saying  that  France  desireil  "to  feel  the  hand  and  the  will 
of  him  who  had  been  electeii  on  the  10th  of  December" —  that ''  the  name  of 
Napoleon  in  itself  constituted  a  programme,''  he  formed  a  Bonapartist  min- 
istry, including  Baroche,  Rouher,  Fould,  Ferdinand  Barrot,  and  others. 

This  did  not  prevent  the  Bonapartist  ministry  and  the  royalist  majority 
from  working  together,  in  1850,  in  their  work  of  reaction  against  the  republic, 
by  means  of  the  laws  we  have  just  mentioned.  But  as  soon  as  the  assembly 
was  dispersed,  on  his  return  from  a  journey  through  France,  the  president 
reviewed  the  army  at  Satory.  The  cavalry  cried,  "Long  live  the  emperor!" 
but  the  infantry  was  silent.  And  as  proof  that  this  demonstration  was  made 
to  order  is  the  fact  that  on  inquiry  the  peneral,  having  asserted  that  the  troops 
ought  not  to  have  uttered  this  cry  while  under  arms  and  that  they  had  thus 
prevented  the  infantry  from  joining  in  it,  was  immediately  deprived  of  his 
command. 

In  this  way  plans  for  a  restoration  of  the  empire  were  revealed;  and  a 
visit  paid  by  Berryer  to  the  count  de  Chambord  at  Wiesbaden,  and  the  fact 


AdolpDC  Thikbh 


LOinS    NAPOLEON    AS    PRESIDENT    AND   EMPEROR 


XV 


[1860-1861  A.D.] 

that  Thiers  made  a  journey  to  Claremont  to  visit  the  Orleans  family/  aiul 
energetic  attempts  to  reconcile  the  two  branches  of  the  Bourbons,  who  ha<l 
been  estranged  since  1830,  showed  that  the  royalists  also  were  planning  a 
restoration.  The  imperialists  rallictl  round  the  president,  while  the  royalists 
fixed  their  hopes  on  Genera!  Changamier,  who  was  in  command  in  Paris. 
Louis  Napoleon  had  him  dismissed  by  the  government^  in  which  he  had  just 
made  some  changes.  Thus  showed  what  his  plans  were  and  a  storm  arose  in 
the  assembly.  "  If  you  yieJd/'  siiid  Thiers,  '*  the  empire  will  \yQ  established." 
The  assembly  overthrew  the  ministry,  but  the  president  replaced  it  by  another 
Bonapartist  ministry,  rather  more  insignificant  than  its  predecessor.  Chan- 
gamier,  however,  was  not  reinstated. 

Monarchists  of  all  shades  of  opinion  were  warmly  petitioning  for  a  re- 
vision of  the  constitution  —  the  Bonapartists  in  order  to  prolong  the  powers  of 
Louis  Napoleon,  who  was  about  to  stand  for  re-election;  the  royalists  in 
onier  to  t^ke  the  rej)ublic.  Tlu*  diseuasion  was  a  brilliant  oratorical  strug- 
gle between  the  partisans  of  monarchy  and  the  republicans.  Berryer  was 
the  chief  mouthpiece  of  the  former.  The  republican  party,  ab-eady  weak- 
ened by  exile,  had  still  quite  a  constellation  of  orators,  from  Jules  Favre  to 
Mailier  de  Montjau.  The  chief  of  these  heirs  of  Ledru-Rollin  was  Michel 
de  Bourges,  who,  in  debate  on  the  revision,  rose  to  splendid  heights  of  oratory. 

Tlie  advanced  democrats  liad  a  still  more  famous  orator:  Victor  Hugo 
had  devoted  himself  entirely  to  tlie  republic.  His  genius,  which  liad  at  first 
taken  little  interest  in  politics,  but  which  had  blossomed  in  the  royalist  camp, 
had  marched  with  the  times.  The  sight  of  the  reaction  of  1850  had  made  him 
a  radical.  He  was  soon  to  show,  amidst  the  bullets  of  the  cmip  iTHat  and 
in  exile,  his  loyalty  and  intrepidity  in  the  cause  of  the  people.  His  great 
speeches  on  the  reactionary  laws  and  his  sj^eech  on  the  revision  are  among 
the  most  brilliant  and  most  solid  of  his  works.  It  was  in  the  latter  speech 
that  he  called  the  presiilent,  soon  to  be  emjjeror,  "Napoleon  the  Little.*' 

The  struggle  between  the  latter  and  the  ro>;alist  majority  became  more 
desperate.  Even  before  the  debate  on  the  revision,  at  the  opening  of  a  rail- 
way, he  haxi  openly  atUicketl  the  assembly.  From  the  tribune  Cnangarnier 
had  replied  that  the  soldiers  would  never  march  against  the  national  repre- 
sentatives, adding  emphatically,  "Representatives  of  the  country,  continue 
your  deliberations  in  peace."  But  these  empty  words  did  not  allay  the 
anxiety  that  was  felt,  and  at  the  end  of  1851,  the  quaestors  of  the  chamber 
proposBd  to  promulgate  as  a  law,  and  to  affix  in  the  barracks,  the  clause  in 
the  decree  of  1848  giving  the  president  of  the  chamber  the  right  to  call  out 
the  troops  and  compelling  the  officers  to  obey  him. 

The  republicans,  equally  distrusting  the  royalists  who  made  the  proposi- 
tion and  the  Bonapartists  against  whom  it  was  directed,  made  the  mistake 
of  voting  against  it.  Michel  de  Bourges,  in  his  blind  confidence,  spoke  of  the 
**  invisible  sentinel  who  guards  the  republic  and  the  people."  The  proposition 
was  rejected. 

The  coup  d'etat  had  been  long  prepared.  General  Magnan^  minister  of 
war.  liad  already  soundctl  and  gainecl  over  the  generals  under  his  orders.  The 
president  Louis  Napoleon  was  only  waiting  for  a  propitious  moment  to  break 
the  oath  which  he  had  sworn  to  the  republic.  Many  times  rumours  had  been 
set  afloat,  and  many  times  the  republicans  hati  taken  their  precautions;  and 
there  was  actually  a  question  of  risking  the  coup  d^^tat  earlier.     But  the 

['  The  chief  of  the  Orleans  braach,  Ia>iiIk  Philippe,  died  in  exi!e  August  20tb,  1850,  at  the 
agv  of  serentj-bix.  As  Martin  ^  sayn,  "  France  has  not  cherished  a  hostile  feeling  toward  his 
memory  ;  If  he  erred  in  his  |>oIicy,  he  made  hitter  expiation."] 


116  THE   HISTORY   OF    FRANCE 

[1861  A.D.] 

wisest  of  the  party  resolved  to  wait  until  the  vacation  of  the  assembly  had 
begun.« 

THE  COUP  d'etat  OF  DECEMBER  2ND,   1R51 

All  Wits  retuly.  At  the  last  moment  Louis  Napoleon  began  to  hesitate. 
Bold  in  his  projects,  undecided  in  execution,  a  man  of  conrti>iracy  without 
being  really  a  man  of  action,  he  was  capable  of  allowing  the  moment  for 
action  to  go  by;  anti  yet  both  he  and  his  were  at  the  end  of  their  pecuniary 
resources.  Persi^y^  who  thought  he  might  take  any  lilKTty  in  con8i(ieration 
of  his  absolute  devotion,  subjected  the  president  to  a  violent  scene.  Morny 
and  8aint-Arnaud  also  made  him  feel  that  the  time  for  tlreaming  had  gone 
by.    The  day  and  hour  were  fixetl. 

There  were  grouj^s  in  the  assembly  composed  of  Bonapartists  and  of  men 
desiroiLs,  from  other  motives,  to  come  to  terms  with  the  president,  who  now 
at  the  last  moment  also  meditated  an  unconstitutional  revision  of  the  con- 
stitution, but  at  the  hands  of  the  jLSsernbly  itself.  Some  politicians,  rather 
clfrical  than  legitimist  or  Orleanist,  such  as  Montalembert  and  F'alloux,  were 
working  m  this  direction.  A  Bonapartist  historian  (Granier  de  Cassagnac)/ 
has  asserted  that  on  the  evening  of  the  1st  of  December  Falloux  made  Louis 
Napoleon  an  offer  to  take  the  initiative  at  the  triliune  in  proposing  a  prolonga- 
tion of  the  president's  powers  by  a  simple  majority,  if  it  were  necessary  to 
have  recourse  to  force  in  case  the  Left  resisted.  Louis  Napoleon  is  said  to 
have  postponed  liis  answer  till  the  following  day.  Falloux  has  protested 
against  this  inculpation;  in  the  evening  Morny,  Saint-Amaud,  and  Maupas 
arrived  at  the  £lys6e  and  in  concert  with  the  president  took  all  the  steps  for 
the  coup  d'etat  the  next  morning.  Louis  Napoleon,  who  paid  a  superstitioas 
attention  to  aiuiiversaries,  hati  clu)son  that  of  his  uncle's  coronation  and  of 
the  day  of  Austorlitz,  the  2nd  of  December.^ 

On  that  day^  the  prince  went  out  on  horseback,  accompanied  by  a  brilliant 
escorts  of  generals;  tliey  passed  through  the  Chanips-filys^is,  along  the 
streets  and  the  Ixjulevanls,  greeted  by  the  troops  and  by  some  of  the  people. 
It  was  the  seal  of  his  victory. 

However,  the  struggle  was  not  ended,  lawful  resistance  was  followed  by 
riots,  which  had  no  chance  of  success  with  a  government  and  generals  who 
were  decidetl  on  action.  Both  the  representatives  of  the  Mountain  —  who 
had  declared  so  proudly  on  the  17th  of  November  that  the  assembly  was 
under  its  ])rotection  —  and  the  people  had  tried  in  vain  on  December  2nd  to 
organise*  nvsistance.  On  the  morning  of  the  ,Srd,  a  barricade  was  raised  in 
the  faubourg  St,  Antoine;  it  was  eiusily  de.stroyed  by  the  troops  after  a  brief 
fire,  during  which  a  delegate,  Baudin,  was  killed.  In  the  course  of  the  day 
and  in  the  evening  new  barricatles  were  erected  in  the  districts  of  St.  Martin 
and  the  Temple;  they  offered  but  a  slight  resistance  to  the  troops.  Measures 
had  been  carefully  taken,  and  "the  people"  replied  but  faintly  to  the  appeal 
of  its  represent-atives. 

The  following  day,  December  4th,  was  more  serious  though  without  en- 
dangering the  new  state  of  affairs.  The  troops  had  returned  to  their  barracks, 
either  because  General  Saint-Amaud  believed  that  resistance  had  come  to  an 
end,  or  because,  following  the  example  of  Cavaignac  in  June,  he  did  not  wish 
to  (iisperse  his  troops,  or  else  because  he  wished  to  give  the  rebels  an  oppor- 
timity  to  form  their  army  so  that  he  might  destroy  it  by  a  single  blow:  bar- 
ricades were  erected  freely  in  the  usual  quarters;  the  troops  were  not  brought 
out  till  the  afternoon.  There  took  place  what  has  been  called,  not  without 
exaggeration,  "  the  boulevard  massacre."    A  body  of  troops,  which  had  been 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS   PREvSIDENT   AND   EMPEROR         117 

[1861  A.T>.] 

fired  on,  returned  the  fire  without  orders.?  Many  onlookers  were  countetl 
among  the  dead.  Victor  Hugo,  who  was  banished  for  his  opposition  to 
Napoleon,  ^Tote  in  exile  an  account  of  this  massacre,  from  which  we  quote. 


VICTOR  HUGO*8  ACCOUNT  OF  THE   BOUT^BVARD   MASSACRE 

A  little  after  one  o'clock,  December  4th,  the  whole  length  of  the  boule- 
vards, from  the  Madeleine,  was  suddenly  covered  with  cavalry  and  infantry, 
presenting  a  total  of  16,410  men.  Each  brigiule  had  its  artillery  with  it. 
Two  of  the  cannon,  with  their  muzzles  turned  different  ways,  had  been 
pointed  at  the  ends  of  the  rue  Montnmrtre  and  the  faubourg  Montmartre 
rc*sfH*ctively;  no  one  knew  why,  aH  neither  the  street  nor  the  faubourg  pre- 
sented even  the  appearance  of  a  barricade.  The  spectators,  who  crowded 
the  pavement  and  the  windows,  looked 
with  affright  at  ail  these  cannon,  sa- 
bres, and  bayonets,  which  thus  blocked 
up  the  street. 

"The  troops  were  laughing  and 
chatting,"  says  one  witness.  Another 
witness  says^  "The  sokhers  had  a 
strange  look  about  them."  Most  of 
them  were  leaning  upon  their  muskets, 
with  the  butt-en^l  upon  tlie.  ground, 
and  seemed  nearly  falling  from  latigue, 
or  something  else.  One  of  those  old 
officers  who  arc  accustomod  to  rrud  a 
soldier's  thoughts  in  liis  eyes,  General 

,  said,  as  he  passe<l  the  caf^  Fras-, 

cati,  "They  are  dnmk." 

There  were  now  some  inilications 
of  what  was  about  U)  happen.  At 
one  moment,  when  the  crowd  was 
crying  to  the  trfK)ps,  "  V^ive  la  rfjyu- 
bliqiie!  Dow^l  with  Louis  Bonaparte!" 
one  of  the  officers  was  heard  to  say, 
in  a  low  voice,  "Cm  va  toumer  h  la 
cJiOTciiterie!^'  (We  shall   soon   have  a 

little    to  do   in   the   pork-butchering  Victor  huoo 

line!) 

A  battalion  of  infantry  debouches  from  the  rue  Richelieu.  Before  the 
cM  Cardinal  it  is  greeted  by  a  unanimous  cry  of  "  Vive  la  HpuhliqneV^  A 
literary  man,  the  editor  of  a  conservative  paper,  who  happened  to  be  on  the 
spot,  adds  the  words,  ^' Down  with  Soulouque!"  The  officer  of  the  staff, 
who  commanded  the  dftaehnient,  makes  a  blow  at  him  with  his  sabre.  The 
journalist  avoitis  the  blow  and  the  sabre  cuts  in  two  one  of  the  small  trees  on 
the  boulevards. 

As  the  1st  regiment  of  Lancers,  comman<1ed  by  Colonel  Rochefort,  came 
up  opposite  the  rue  Taitbout,  a  numerous  crowd  covered  the  pavement  of 
the  boulevards.  This  crowd  was  composed  of  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  that 
quarter  of  the  towni.  of  merchants,  artists,  journalists,  and  even  several  young 
mothers  leading  their  children  by  the  hand.  As  the  regiment  was  passing  by, 
men  and  women — everyone,  in  fact^ — cried,  "  Vive  la  comtilulion !  Vive  la  hi ! 
Vive  la  rdpublique!^*    Colonel  Rochefort,  the  same  person  who  had  presided 


118  THE    HISTORY    OF    FRANCE 

[1861  i.x>.] 

at  the  banguet  given  on  the  31st  of  October,  1851,  at  the  ficole  Militaire,  by 
the  1st  regiment  of  Lancers  to  the  7th  regiment  of  Lancers,  and  who  at  this 
banquet  liad  proposed  aa  a  toast  "Prince  Louis  Napoleon,  the  chief  of  the 
state,  the  personification  of  that  order  of  which  we  are  the  defenders!" — this 
colonel,  on  hearing  the  crowd  utter  the  above  cr>',  whicli  was  perfectly  legal, 
spiuTed  his  horse  into  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  through  all  the  chairs  on  the 
pavement,  w^hile  the  Lancers  precipitated  themselves  aft^^r  him,  and  nien, 
women,  and  children  were  indiscriminately  cut  down.  "A  great  numlx^r 
remained  dead  on  the  spot,"  says  a  defentler  of  the  coup  d'<?tat;  and  then 
adds,  "It  was  done  in  a  moment." 

About  two  o'clock  two  howitzers  were  pointed  at  the  extremity  of  the 
boulevard  Poissonni^re,  at  one  himdred  and  fifty  paces  from  the  little  ad- 
vanced barricaiie  of  the  guardhouse  on  the  boulevard  Bonne-Nouvelle. 
While  placing  the  guns  in  their  proper  position,  two  of  the  artillerj'-men,  who 
are  not  often  guilty  of  a  false  manoeuvre,  broke  the  pole  of  a  caisson.  **  Don't 
you  see  they  are  dnmk!"   exclaimed  a  man  of  the  lower  classes. 

At  half  past  two — for  it  is  necessary  to  follow  the  progress  of  this  hideous 
drama  minute  b}-^  minute,  and  step  by  step — the  firing  commenced  before 
the  barricade,  but  it  was  languid  and  almost  seemed  as  if  done  for  amusement 
only.  The  chief  cifFicers  apix^ared  to  be  thinking  ftf  anytlung  l)ut  a  combat. 
We  shall  soon  see,  however,  of  what  they  were  tliitikini;.  The  first  cannon 
ball,  badly  aimed,  passed  above  all  the  barricades  and  killed  a  little  boy  at 
the  chAteau  d'Eau  as  he  was  procuring  water  from  the  basin.  The  shops  were 
shut,  as  were  also  almost  all  the  windows.  There  was,  however,  one  window 
left  open  in  an  upper  story  of  the  house  at  the  comer  of  the  rue  de  Sentier. 
The  principal  mass  of  mere  spectators  were  still  on  the  southern  side  of  the 
street.  It  was  an  ordinary  erowd  and  nothing  more — men,  women,  children, 
and  old  people  who  looked  upon  the  languid  attack  and  defence  of  the  bar- 
ricade as  a  sort  of  sham  fight.  This  barricade  served  as  a  spectacle  until  the 
moment  arrived  for  making  it  a  pretext. 

The  soldiers  harl  l>een  skinni.shing  in  this  manner,  and  the  defenders  of 
the  barricade  returning  their  fire,  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  without 
anyone  being  wounded  on  either  side,  when  suddenly,  as  if  by  the  agency  of 
electricity,  an  extntonlinary  and  terril)Ie  movement  was  obs<»rved,  first  in 
the  infantry  and  then  in  the  cavalry.  All  of  a  sudilen,  as  we  have  said  l)efore, 
the  cavalry,  infantry,  and  artillery  faced  towards  the  dense  crowd  upon  the 
pavement^  and  then,  without  anyone  being  able  to  assign  a  reason  for  it, 
unexix!ctetlly,  without  any  motive,  without  any  previous  warning,  as  the  in- 
famous proclamations  of  the  morning  had  armounced,  the  butchery  com- 
menced from  the  theatre  of  the  Gynuiasc,  to  the  Bains  t'hinois — that  is  to 
say  the  whole  length  of  the  richest,  the  most  freijuented,  and  the  most  joyous 
boulevard  of  Pans.  The  army  conunenceil  shooting  down  the  people,  with 
the  muzzles  of  their  mu.**kets  actually  touching  them. 

It  was  a  horrible  moment:  it  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  cries, 
the  arms  of  the  people  raised  towards  heaven,  their  surprise,  their  horror — 
the  crowd  flying  m  all  directions,  the  shower  of  balls  falhng  on  the  pavement 
and  bounding  to  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  corpses  covering  tlie  road  in  a  single 
moment,  young  men  falling  with  their  cigars  still  in  their  mouths,  women  in 
velvet  gowTis  shot  down  deatl  by  the  long  rifles,  two  booksellers  killed  on 
their  own  thresholds  without  knowing  what  offence  tliey  had  committed, 
shots  fired  down  the  cellar-holes  and  killing  anyone,  no  matter  who  haf>- 
pened  t-o  be  below. 

When  the  butchery  was  ended — that  is  to  say  when  night  had  completely 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON    AS    PRESIDENT    AND   EMPEROR  119 

[1851  iuo.] 

set  in,  and  it  had  begun  in  the  middle  of  the  day — the  deiid  bodies  were  not 
removed;  they  were  so  numerous  that  thirty-three  of  them  were  counted 
before  a  single  shop.  Every  space  of  ground  left  open  in  the  asphalt  at  the 
foot  of  the  trees  on  the  boulevards  wjus  a  reservoir  of  blood.  "The  dead 
bodies,"  says  a  witness,  "were  piled  up  in  heaps,  one  upon  the  other,  old 
men,  children,  persons  in  blouses  and  paletots,  all  collected  pell-mell,  in  one 
indescribable  mass  of  headn,  arms,  and  legs." 

Ah!  you  will  tell  nie,  M.  Bonaparte,  that  you  are  sorry,  but  tliat  it  was  an 
unfortunate  affair:  that  in  presence  of  Paris,  ready  to  rise,  it  was  necessary 
to  adopt  some  decided  measure,  and  that  you  were  forced  to  this  extremity; 
that  as  regards  the  coup  dY'tat,  you  were  in  debt,  that  your  ministers  were  m 
debt,  that  your  aides-de-camp  were  in  debt,  that  your  footmen  were  in  debt, 
that  you  had  made  yourself  answerable  for  them  all,  and  that,  deuce  take  it, 
a  man  cannot  be  a  prince  without  squandering,  from  time  to  time,  a  few 
millions  too  much — that  he  must  amuse  himself  and  enjoy  life  a  litlle;  that 
the  assembly  was  to  blame  for  not  having  understood  this,  and  for  wishing  to 
restrict  you  to  two  wretched  millions  a  year,  and,  what  is  more,  for  wishing 
to  make  you  resign  your  authority  at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  and  act 
up  to  the  constitution;  that,  aftt^  allj  you  could  not  leave  the  Elys^e  to  enter 
the  debtors'  prison  at  Clichy;  that  you  had  in  vain  had  recourse  to  those 
little  expedients  which  are  provided  for  by  Article  405  of  the  criminal  code; 
that  an  exposure  was  at  hand;  that  the  demagogical  j)ress  was  sprea<ling 
strange  tales;  that  the  matter  of  the  gold  ingots  threatened  to  become  known; 
that  you  were  bound  to  respect  the  name  of  Napoleon;  and  that,  by  my 
faith,  having  no  other  alternative,  anil  not  wishing  to  be  a  vulgar  criminal, 
to  be  dealt  with  in  the  common  course  of  law,  you  preferred  being  one  of  the 
assassins  of  history! 

So  then,  instead  of  polluting,  this  blood  you  shed  purified  you!  Very 
good. 

I  continue  my  account.  When  all  was  finished,  Paris  came  to  see  the 
sight.  The  people  flocked  in  crowds  to  the  scenes  of  these  terrible  occur- 
rences; no  one  offered  them  the  least  obstruction.  This  was  what  the  butcher 
wanted.    Louis  Napoleon  had  not  done  all  this  to  hide  it  afterwanls. 

Thirty-seven  corpses  were  heaped  up  in  the  cit<^  Berg^re;  the  passers-by 
could  count  them  through  the  iron  raUmgs.  A  woman  was  standing  at  the 
comer  of  the  rue  Richelieu.  She  was  looking  on.  All  of  a  sudden,  she  felt 
that  her  feet  were  wet.  "Why,  it  must  have  been  raining  here,"  she  said; 
"my  shoes  are  full  of  water.'  "No,  Madam,"  replied  a  person  who  was 
passing,  *'it  is  not  water."     Her  feet  were  in  a  pool  of  blood. 

A  witness  says,  "The  boulevards  presented  a  horrible  sight.  We  were 
literally  walking  in  blood.  We  counted  eighteen  corpses  in  about  five-and- 
twenty  paces."  Another  witness,  the  keef>er  of  a  wme-shop  in  the  rue  du 
Sentier,  says,  "I  ca.uie  along  the  boulevard  da  Temple  to  my  house.  When 
I  got  home  I  had  an  inch  of  bloo<[  around  the  bottom  of  my  trousers." 

The  massacre  was  but  a  means;  the  end  was  intimidation.  Was  this  end 
attained?  Yes.  Immediately  afterwards,  as  early  as  the  4th  of  December, 
the  public  excitement  was  calmed.  Paris  was  stupefied.  The  voice  of  in- 
dignation which  ha<l  l^een  raised  at  the  coup  d'etat  was  suddenly  hushed  at 
the  carnage.  Matters  had  assumeil  an  appearance  completely  unkno\\Ti  in 
history.  People  felt  that  they  had  to  deal  with  one  whose  nature  was  un- 
known. Crassus  had  crusheii  the  gladiators;  Herod  had  slaughtered  the 
mfants,  Charles  IX  had  exterminated  the  Huguenots;  Peter  of  Rvjssia,  the 
Strelitz  guards;    Mehemet  Ali,  the  mameluke-s;    Mahmoud,  the  janissaries; 


120 


THE   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE 


[1861  A.D,] 

while  Danton  bad  massacred  the  prisoners:  Louis  Napoleon  had  just  dia- 
covered  a  new  eort  of  massacre — the  massacre  of  the  passers-by. 

From  this  moment,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  committees,  of  the 
republican  representatives,  and  of  their  courageous  allies,  there  was — save 
at  certain  points  only,  such  as  the  barricade  of  the  Petit  Carreau,  for  instance, 
where  Denis  Dussouhs,  the  brother  of  the  representative,  fell  so  heroicjilly — 
naught  but  a  slight  effort  of  resistance  which  more  resembled  the  convulsions 
of  despair  than  a  combat.  All  was  finished.  The  next  day,  the  5th,  the 
victorious  troops  parade<l  on  th<^  boulevards.  A  genend  was  seen  to  show 
his  naked  sword  to  the  people,  and  was  heard  to  exclaim:  "There  is  the  re- 
public for  you!" 

Thus  it  was  this  infamous  butchery,  this  massacre  of  the  passers-by, 
which  was  meant  as  a  last  resource  by  the  measures  of  the  2ud  of  December. 
To  undertake  them,  a  man  must  be  a  traitor;  to  render  them  successful,  he 
must  be  an  assassin.  It  was  by  this  wolf-like  proceeding  that  the  coup 
d'6tQX  conquered  France  and  overcame  Paris.  Yes,  Paris!  It  was  necessary 
for  a  man  to  repeat  it  over  and  over  again  to  himself  before  he  can  credit  it. 
Is  it  at  Paris  that  all  this  happened? 

Is  it  possible  that,  because  we  stiU  eat  and  drink;  because  the  coach- 
makers'  trade  in  RouriKhing;  because  vou,  navigator,  have  work  in  the  Bois 
de  Boulogne;  because  you,  mason,  gam  forty  sous  a  day  at  the  Louvre:  be- 
cause you,  banker,  have  niade  money  by  the  Austrian  motallics,  or  by  a  loan 
from  the  house  of  Hope  and  Co.;  because  the  titles  of  nobility  are  restored; 
because  a  person  can  now  be  called  Monsieur  le  comtc  or  Madame  la  duchesse; 
because  religious  processions  traverse  the  streets  on  the  occasion  of  the  F^te- 
Dieu;  because  people  take  their  pleasure;  because  they  are  merry;  because  the 
walls  of  Paris  are  covered  with  bills  of  f(>tes  and  theatres — is  it  possible  that, 
because  this  is  the  case,  men  forget  that  there  arc  corpses  lying  Ijeneath? 

Is  it  possible  that  because  men's  daught-CTS  have  been  to  the  ball  at  the 
ficolc  Militaire,  because  they  reliinicil  home  with  tlazzled  eyes,  aching  heads, 
toni  dresses,  and  faded  bouquets;  Ijccause,  throwing  themselves  on  their 
couches,  they  have  dozed  off  to  sleep,  and  dreamed  of  some  handsome  officer — 
is  it  possible  that,  because  this  is  the  case,  we  should  no  longer  remember 
that  under  the  turf  beneath  our  feet,  in  an  obscure  grave,  in  a  deep  pit,  in 
the  inexorable  gloom  of  death,  there  lies  a  crowd  that  is  still  icy  cold  and 
terrible — a  multitude  of  human  beings  already  become  a  shapeless  mass, 
devoured  by  the  worm,  consumed  by  corruption,  and  beginning  to  he  con- 
founded with  the  earth  aroimd  them;  a  multitude  of  human  beings  who 
existed,  worked,  thought,  and  loved;  who  had  the  right  to  live,  and  who 
were  murdered  ?  ^ 

SEVERITIES  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT 


The  aspect  of  Paris  on  the  morning  of  December  5th  was  sinister.  Here 
and  there  pools  of  blood  were  to  be  seen  on  the  pavements  of  the  boulevards. 
Corpses  had  been  ranged  in  the  cit6  Berg^re  at  the  entrance  to  the  faubourg 
Montmartre.  A  much  larger  number,  more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  the  warden  of  the  Cimetii>re  du  Nord,  were 
transported  to  that  cemetery;  the  warden  had  received  orders  to  bury  them 
immediately;  he  only  half-obeyed  and  left  the  heads  above  ground  so  that 
the  families  might  at  least  recognise  their  dead! 

The  Parisians  could  no  longer  laugh  at  Louis  Napoleon:  he  had  succeeded 
in  getting  himself  taken  seriously;  ridicule  had  disappeared  under  horror. 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS    PRESIDENT    AND    EMPEROR  121 

[185M852  A.D.] 

The  coup  d*^tat  was  winning  the  day.  The  weak  hastened  to  come  to  terms; 
the  strong  were  furious  at  their  impotence  to  punish  triumphant  crime;  the 
crowd,  stunned,  was  silent:  the  greater  number  bowed  prostrate.  During  the 
day  01  the  5th  of  December  silent  and  sombre  figures  breathing  concentrated 
fury  were  seen  wandering  slowly  about  the  Iwulevards;  in  the  central  quarters 
some  feeble  attempts  at  barricades  were  renewed  and  almost  instantly  aban- 
doned. All  was  indeed  over  in  Paris!  That  same  day,  t!ie  5th  of  Deceniber, 
a  decree  of  the  president  declared  that  when  troops  should  have  contributed 
by  fighting  "to  re-estabhsh  order"  at  home,  that  service  shoulti  I)e  counted 
as  service  m  the  field.  Service  in  civil  war  was  raised  to  the  level  of  service 
in  foreign  war. 

On  the  6th  of  December  a  decree  restored  the  Pantheon  to  religious  wor- 
ship and  reconverted  it  into  the  church  of  vSte.  Genevieve.  Advances  to 
the  clergy  followed  the  favours  to  the  army.  By  a  circular  of  the  1.5th  Morny 
exhorted  the  prefects  to  do  wliat  authority  could  acrnmplisti  to  secure  respect 
for  the  Smuiay  rest.  Hn  preseribed  the  iiit^^rruptioii  of  public  work  on  Sun- 
days and  holy  days.  He  declared  that  "  the  man  who  in  contempt  of  the 
most  venerated  traditions  reserves  no  day  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 
duties  becomes  sooner  or  later  a  prey  to  materialism  ["  The  volup(uary 
with  bloodstained  hands  constituted  himself  a  teacher  of  religious  morality 
and  of  orthodoxy.  This  was  characteristic  of  the  new  regime,  in  which  every 
kind  of  excess  was  to  be  associated  with  every  kind  of  hypocrisy. 

A  decree  of  the  7th  of  December  had  deferred  all  overt  acts  relative  to 
what  was  called  the  insurrection,  to  the  military  jurisdiction.  The  next  day 
it  was  decreed  that  any  individual  who  should  have  ma<le  part  of  a  secret 
Bociety  or  who,  having  been  placed  under  the  surveillance  of  the  hmUe  police^ 
6ho\ild  have  left  the  place  assigned  to  him,  eoiJd  be  transported,  as  a  measure 
retiuired  by  the  general  siifety,  to  Cayeime  or  Algeria.  This  placed  a  number 
of  persons  at  the  discretion  of  the  governmen*,  especially  in  the  south. 

In  Paris  arrests  multiplied  in  an  alarming  manner.  According  to  the 
Bonapartist  historians  they  exceeded  twenty-six  thousand.  The  prisons 
of  Paris  were  filled;  the  overflow  of  prisoners  was  sent  to  the  forts,  where 
t-hcy  were  crowded  together  in  dump  and  frt»ezing  casemates.  Workmen 
ancf  bourgeois  mingleil  m  almost  equal  munbers  in  tlie  frateniity  of  the  cell. 

The  struggle,  stifled  at  Paris,  continued  in  the  departments.  The  dtv 
partmenta  were  much  divided.  The  lieniocratic-sociiilistic  pmpaganila  had 
nna«le  but  insignificimt  progress  in  these  n^gions,  although  the  industrial 
populations  were  beginnmg  to  practise  with  success  the  ideas  of  associaticjn 
— for  example,  in  what  concerne<:l  the  societies  of  consumption.  The  demo- 
cratic propaganda,  on  the  contrary,  in  spite  of  the  arrest  of  the  first  organisers, 
had  developeii  to  an  extraorduiary  extent  in  the  south  anrl  m  a  part  of  the 
centre.  There  it  was  no  longer,  as  formerly,  the  workmen  of  the  towns;  it 
was  the  pciisants,  who  were  again  taking  action,  as  in  '89— with  this  differrnce, 
to  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  new  niovtMnent:  tliere  wius  no  longer, 
as  in  '89,  a  clear  idea,  a  definite  object,  namely  the  destruction  of  privilege 
and  of  the  old  r^ime.  Men  accepted  the  vague  word  socialism,  while  reject- 
JTig  anything  which  might  resemble  comnmnism.  In  all  this  nothing  was 
clearly  detennined  except  the  name  of  "republic"  and  the  resolution  of  a 
general  rising  in  1852.  Tlie  order  liad  gone  forth  to  go  to  the  voting,  each 
with  arms  in  his  hand,  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  the  31st  of  May;  it  was 
calculated  that  a  democratic  restoration  would  be  the  result  of  this  struggle. 
In  what  form  exactly  would  it  be?    No  one  could  well  have  told. 

The  year  1852  appeared  to  a  great  part  of  the  popular  masses  as  a  sort  of 


U2 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FBANCE 


[1851-1852  AD.) 

mystic  date,  a  new  era  of  liberty  and  prosperity.  The  hope  of  some  was  the 
terror  of  others.  This  impending  revolution  inspired  the  conservatives  with 
such  fear  that  it  prepared  thorn  to  accept  anything  in  order  to  escape  upheaval. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  the  militarj'  and  civil  functionaries,  selected 
and  prepared  long  beforehand^  adhered,  with  honourable  exceptions,  to  the 
coup  d'<?tat.  In  the  north  and  west  the  republicans  could  make  only  feeble 
manifestations  in  a  few  to^vTis. 

Tlie  attempts  at  revolt  which  had  broken  out  on  a  hundred  diiferent 
points  in  the  southwest  indicated  what  the  rising  might  have  been  if  one  at 
Iciust  of  (he  two  great  cities  of  the  Garonne  had  afTordod  it  a  centre  of  support. 
The  democratic  party  was  still  more  powerful  in  the  southeast.  The  three 
old  provinces  of  Languedoc,  Provence,  and  Dauphin^  were  everywhere 
coveretl  with  affiliations  of  the  society  of  the  Mountainists.  Initiations  took 
place  with  a  ceremonial  borrowed  more  or  less  from  the  free-mjiaons  and  the 
carbonari,  and  calculated  to  impress  the  imagination.  The  neophyte,  his 
eyes  bandaged,  took  an  oath  on  a  sword.  In  Hdrault  he  was  made  to  swear 
by  Christ  that  he  woulsi  defend  the  democratic  and  socialistic  republic.  "  Dost 
thou  sT^^ear,"  said  the  initiator  to  him,  "to  quit  father  and  mother,  wife  and 
children,  to  fly  to  the  defence  of  liberty?"  '*  I  swear  it  three  times  by  Clirist." 
It  is  said  that  there  were  sixty  thousand  persons  affiliated  in  H(^rault. 

After  the  suppi-ession  of  the  insurrection  in  H^rault  more  than  three 
thousand  persons  were  arrested,  of  whom  more  than  two  thousand  were  de- 
ported. In  hunting  down  the  fugitives,  the  pursuing  soldiers  constantly  sliot 
dead  those  who  endeavoured  to  escape  them.  In  Baases-A1|K'S  the  republtr^in 
rising  hatl  been  almost  unanimous:  there  curi5s  had  been  seen  associating 
themselves  with  it  with  a  sincere  devotion,  and  sharing  its  perils.  The  ruin 
was  general,  as  the  movement  had  been.  Many  of  the  inhaliitants  fled,  to 
(*sca[)e  the  arrest^s  en  Uh'usse.  Villages  were  depopulated,  Sequestrations 
were  employed  against  the  fugitives — in  fact,  no  means  of  persecution  was 
neglected.  In  this  department,  the  least  populous  of  all,  nearly  one  thousand 
persons  were  deported.  The  misfortunes  and  the  patriotism  of  tliis  honest 
and  courageous  population  deser\'e  the  esteem  and  sympathy  of  France. 

The  struggle  was  everywhere  terminated  towards  the  middle  of  Decem- 
ber. The  few  crimes  committed  here  and  there  by  insurgents  cannot  be 
brought  into  comparison  with  the  atrocity  of  the  tremenrious  reaction  which 
extended  over  a  great  part  of  France.  Many  harmless  persons,  whole  groups 
of  the  population,  had  done  honour  to  themselves  by  their  courageous  re- 
sistance; but  as  Eugene  Tenot,*?  the  excellent  historian  of  the  coup  d^^tat. 
has  remarked,  events  had  exiiibited  on  a  large  scale  the  impotence  of  secret 
societies  to  effect  the  general  movements  which  decide  the  destinies  of  coun- 
tries; and  yet  in  this  cjise  those  societies  had  the  exceptional  advantage  of 
having  justice  as  well  as  law  in  their  favour. 


THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE 


The  struggle  ha<l  come  to  an  end;  it  had  been  replaced  by  the  terrorising 
of  the  conquered.  Thirty-two  departments  were  in  a  stage  of  siege.  Nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  citizens  were  captives  in  the  prisons  or  the  fortresses. 
The  casemates  of  the  forts  about  Paris  were  overflowing  with  prisoners.  The 
examining  magistrates  proceeded  to  summary  interrogations,  after  which  the 
persons  detained  were  sent  before  military  commissions.  The  latter,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  dossiers  of  the  police  and  a  few  words  added  by  the  judges 


LOmS    NAPOLEON   AS    PRESIDENT   AND   EMPEROR         1«« 

[185t-lH5Q  A.i>.] 

to  those  notes,  classed  the  prisoners  in  one  of  these  three  categories:  (1) 
Persons  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands  or  again^st  whom  grave  charges  are 
brought;  (2)  Persons  against  whom  less  grave  charges  are  brought;  (3) 
Dangerous  persons.  The  first  category  was  to  be  juilgeri  summarily  by  court 
martial;  the  second  sent  before  various  tribunals;  the  third  deported  without 
sentence. 

It  was  under  such  conditions  that  the  vote  on  the  appeal  to  the  people 
was  proceeded  -ftith  on  the  20th  and  21st  of  December.  It  may  be  judged 
what  degree  of  liberty  was  left  t^  the  electors.  There  were  to  be  no  news- 
papers, no  meetings.  The  prefects  classeti  electoral  meetings  with  the  secret 
societies.  The  general  commanding  the  department  of  Clirr  \nu\  had  placards 
put  up  to  the  effect  that  any  person  seeking  to  disturb  the  voting  or  criticising 
the  result  would  l>e  brought  before  a  court  martial.  The  prefect  of  Bas- 
Rliiu  had  formally  inttTdicted  the  distribution  of  tlie  voting  papers.  The 
prefect  of  Haute-Garonne  annoiuicod  that  he  would  prosecute  anyone  who 
should  distribute  voting  papers,  even  in  manascript,  without  authority.  The 
gendarmerie  arrested  clecti>rs  on  charge  of  having  incited  others  to  vote 
against  the  president  of  the  republic. 

The  consultative  commission  instituted  by  Louis  Napoleon  on  the  3rd  of 
December  was  cntrustefl  with  the  counting  of  the  ballot  of  the  appeal  to  the 
people.  It  reported  7,439,210  aves,  646,737  noc^Sj  36,SS0  papers  rejected.  At 
Pans  there  had  been  132,181  ayes,  80,691  noes,  3,200  rejected  papers;  75,000 
electors  had  not  voted. 

What  was  the  value  of  these  figures?  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that 
violence  and  fraud  had  considerably  swelled  them.  Wliat  supervision  had  it 
been  possible  to  exercise  over  the  votes?  What  scruples  were  to  be  expected 
from  a  great  number  of  the  men  who  presided  at  the  elections?  The  people 
voted  under  the  influence  of  terror  in  many  liepartTTients  where  all  who  were 
not  in  prison  or  in  flight  voted  "aye"  to  pacify  the  conqueror.  The  immense 
majority  of  ten  to  one,  which  the  consultative  commission  proclaimed  was  then 
evidently  artificial;  nevertheless,  wnthout  this  terrori.ging,  Louis  Napoleon 
would  have  obtainetl  a  much  smaller  but  still  a  real  niajority  in  the  greater 
part  of  France:  the  Napoleonic  prestige  still  subsisted  with  some;  others,  as 
was  inevitable  in  such  a  case,  yielded  to  fear  of  the  unknown,  to  the  dread  of 
a  new  crisis  on  the  In^els  of  tlie  old. 

Louis  Napoleon  tried  to  justify  his  usurpation  by  a  sophism:  ''  France," 
he  said,  "  has  realised  that  I  exceeded  the  bounds  of  legality  only  to  return  to 
justice.  More  than  seven  millions  of  votes  have  now  absolved  me."  He 
said  that  with  the  assistance  of  "all  good  men,  the  devotion  of  the  army, 
and  the  protection  of  heaven,"  he  hoped  to  render  himself  worthy  of  the  con- 
fidence which  the  people  wouhi  continue  to  place  in  him.  "I  hope,"  he 
a<]de<l,  "to  secure  the  dpslinies  uf  PVanee  by  founding  iuHtitutinns  which  will 
answer  at  once  to  the  democratic  instincts  of  the  nation  and  the  universal 
desire  to  have  henceforth  a  strong  and  respected  government.  To  recon- 
stitute authority  without  wfjunding  equality  is  to  plant  the  foundations  of 
the  sole  edifice  which  will  later  on  be  capable  of  supporting  a  wise  and  be- 
neficent liberty."  Thus  he  fleigned  to  promise  liberty  at  a  futm-e  date, 
while  reserving  to  himself  the  choice  of  the  moment. 

On  the  morning  of  that  day  of  the  year  which  o|>ened  a  period  so  differ- 
ent from  that  on  which  many  hopes  had  waited  in  1852,  a  decree  had  sub- 
stituted the  imperial  eagle  of  Rome  for  the  cock  by  which  the  constitutional 
monarchy  and  the  republic  recalled  ancient  Gaul.  Another  decree  announced 
that  the  chief  of  the  state  was  about  to  take  the  Tuileries  for  his  residence. 


124  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1651-1852  4.0.) 

Whilst  Iho  man  of  the  2nd  of  December  was  installing  himself  in  the  palace 
of  the  khjgs,  the  chief  representatives  of  the  republic  were  tlrivrn  into  exile. 


EXILE   BY   WHOLESALE 

From  the  day  which  followed  the  coup  d'etat  the  executors  of  the  plot 
had  given  very  different  treatment  to  the  captive  representatives,  according 
to  whether  they  were  conservatives  or  republicans.  They  had  at  first  divided 
the  2S2  representatives,  confined  in  the  barracks  of  the  quai  d'Orsay,  into 
three  convoys;  they  had  crowded  them  into  the  prison  vans  in  which  male- 
factors are  carried.  Forty  members  of  the  Right  w^ere  set  at  liberty.  The 
republiams  were  conduct<*d  to  Mazas,  where  they  were  placed  in  the  cells 
and  under  the  same  rules  as  thieves.  The  imprisoned  generals  had  just  been 
sent  from  Mazas  to  Hjim.  At  Mazas  they  had  left  Thiers  who,  like  the  gen- 
erals, had  lxH*n  arrested  during  the  preceding  niglit. 

On  the  4th,  almost  all  the  prisoners  of  Vincennes  were  set  at  liberty.  On 
the  8th  of  January  the  generals  detained  at  Ham  and  their  companion  in 
captivity,  the  questeur  Baze,  were  conducted  into  Belgium.  The  next  day 
ap|»eared  a  series  of  decrees  of  proscription.  The  individuals  "  convicted  of 
having  taken  part  in  the  recent  msurrections "  were  to  be  deported — some  to 
Guiana,  others  to  Algeria.  A  decree  designated  five  representatives  of  the 
Mountain  for  deportation.  The  sentence  of  deportation  wa.s  aftcnvards 
commuted  into  exile  for  three  of  them.  A  second  ilecree  expelled  from  Franc-c, 
from  Algeria,  anfl  from  the  colonies,  "  on  grounds  of  the  general  safety/'  sixty- 
six  repros<:'niativf's  of  thn  Left,  amongst  tJioni  Victor  Hugo  and  several  others 
who  were  destined  to  aid  in  the  foundation  of  the  third  republic. 

A  third  decree  t^^mporarily  removed  from  France  and  -\lgeria  eighteen 
other  represent^itives,  amongst  whom  the  generals  figured,  together  with 
Thiers,  Rerruisat,  and  some  ineinberj*  of  the  T^'ft,  of  whom  were  Edgar  Quinet 
and  Einilo  de  Gtrardin.  The  same  ilay,  January  9th,  a  first  convoy  of  four 
hundred  and  twenty  of  the  Parisian  captives  was  sent  from  the  fort  of  Bic^tre 
to  Le  HavTc;  they  were  crowded  togotlier  at  the  bottom  of  the  hold  of  a  frigate. 
Convoys  followed  one  another  incessantly  in  the  direction  of  the  ports  where, 
amid  all  kinds  of  moral  ami  physical  sufferings,  thousands  of  unfortunates 
wailed  for  tlie  tloparturc  of  the  vessels.  Cayenne  and  Lambessa  divided  the 
victims. 

WTiilst  the  prisons  of  Paris  were  being  emptied  in  this  fashion,  attention 
was  also  given  \.<y  the  departments.  The  new  government  was  embarrassed 
by  the  multitude  of  its  captives.  It  authoriHcd  its  prefect*s  t-o  set  at  liberty 
all  those  of  the  prisoners  whom  they  might  judge  not  dangerous  (January 
29th).  This  measure  was  the  famous  "mixed  commissions"  {commissions 
mijtes).  In  each  ilepartmcnt  a  sort  of  tribunal  was  set  up,  comi)osed  of  the 
prefect,  the  rnilit-firy  commandant,  and  the  citej  dn  parquet  (procureur-gen^nil 
or  prosecuUjr  for  the  republic).  On  these  commi.s.'^ions  was  conferretl  the 
power  to  decree  citation  before  a  court  martial,  transportation,  or  release. 

It  was  the  reversal  of  all  law  and  justice — something  worse  than  the 
revolutionary  tribunals  of  '93  and  than  the  provosts'  courts  (cowr*  prMtales) 
of  the  restoration,  which  at  least  admitted  discussion  and  defence  in  public. 
The  mixefl  commissions  of  1852,  as  the  historian  of  the  coup  d'6tat  (Eugene 
T^Miot*?)  says,  "decided  without  procedure,  v\ithout  hearing  of  witnesses, 
without  public  sentence  the  fate  of  thousands  and  thousands  of  republicans." 
The  mixed  commissions  have  left  the  ineffaceable  memory  of  one  of  the  most 
monstrous  facts  of  history. 


LOUIS   NAPOLEON   AS   PBESIDENT   AND   EMPEfiOK 


lU 


[1808  A.i>.] 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  1852 

An  act  quite  as  extraordinary  in  another  class  was  the  promulgation  of 
the  new  constitution  fabricated  by  the  ilictator  himself  without  assistance 
(January  14th,  1852).  The  conqueror  of  Italy  and  K^ypt.  the  vunquLsher 
of  Austria,  had  at  least,  for  the  sake  of  fornmlity,  required  eminent  men  to 
deliberate  on  his  constitution  of  the  year  VIII.  The  vanqiiisher  of  the  2nd 
of  December  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to  cover  himself  by  such  forms. 
In  a  preamble  skilfully  enough  drawn  uj),  with  the  object  of  proving  that 
for  the  last  fifty  years  the  French  nation  had  only  continued  in  virtue  of 
the  institutions  of  the  consulate  and  the  empire,  he  affirmed  that  society  as 
existing  was  nothing  other  than  Fraru^e  rcgeiicrateil  by  the  revolution  of  '89 
and  organised  by  the  emperor.  Having  kept  everything  belonging  to  the 
consulate  and  the  empire,  save  the  political  institutions  overturned  by  the 
European  coalition,  why  should  France  not  resume  thone  political  institutions 
with  the  rest? 

The  constitution  of  1852  starts  by  "recognising,  confirming,  and  guaran- 
teeing the  great  principles  proclaimed  in  1789,  whicTi  are  the  base  of  the  public 
law  of  the  French."  Only  it  says  not  a  word  of  the  liberty  of  the  preys,  Jior 
of  the  liberty  of  assembly  and  association.  "The  government  of  tlie  French 
Republic  Is  confided  for  ten  years  to  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte." 
The  constitution  declares  the  chief  of  the  state  responsible  to  tlie  French 
people;  but  it  forgets  to  mention  how  this  responsibility  is  to  be  realised; 
the  French  peoi>le  will  have  no  means  of  applying  it  except  by  the  way  of 
revolution.  '*Thc  chief  being  responsible,  his  action  must  l3e  free  and  un- 
sliackled."  The  ministc^rs  then  must  de|M'nd  only  on  him  and  will  no  longer 
form  a  collectively  and  individually  responsible  council.  They  will  no  longer 
bear  any  relation  to  the  deliberative  assemblies.  "The  president  of  the 
rej>ublic  commands  the  sea  and  land  forces,  declares  war,  makes  treaties  of 
peace,  of  alliance  and  of  commerce,  nominates  to  all  offices,  makes  the  regu- 
lations and  decrees  necessary  to  the  execution  of  the  laws." 

Justice  is  rendered  in  his  name.  He  alone  initiates  laws.  He  sanctions 
and  promulgates  laws.  All  public  fimctionaries  make  the  oath  of  fidelity 
to  him,  The  first  wheel  in  the  new  organisation  is  to  be  a  council  of  state 
of  forty  to  fifty  members,  nominated  antl  liable  to  be  dismissed  by  the  presi- 
dent of  the  republic,  discussing  bills  w^ith  closed  dtjors,  then  J)^e^^enting  them 
for  the  acceptance  of  the  legislative  body.  In  fact  the  constitution  of  1852 
outdid,  as  a  monarchical  reaction,  the  constitution  of  the  year  VIII.  It  was 
not  the  consulate;  it  was  already  the  empire,  organised  dictatorship,  and  the 
total  confiscation  of  public  liberties.  Thirty-seven  years  after  the  fall  of 
Napoleon  the  Great,  the  long  struggles  of  French  liberty  ended  in  re-estab- 
lishing absolute  power  in  hands  without  genius  and  without  glory. 

The  same  day,  the  22nd  of  Jaimary,  appeared  a  decree  which  obliged  the 
members  of  the  house  of  Orleans  to  sell  within  the  space  of  a  year  all  the 
property  belonging  to  them  in  the  territory  of  the  republic.  On  the  29th 
of  March  the  prince-president  proceeded  to  the  inauguration  of  the  chamlxTs 
in  the  Hall  of  the  Marshals  at  the  Tuileries.  It  was  thought  that  in  his 
speech  he  would  make  it  understood  that  he  expected  another  title — that  of 
emperor.  He  left  this  subject  still  undetermined.  He  spoke  of  still  pre- 
serving the  ^»publi(^  This  was  to  mock  at  his  listeners  and  at  France;  but  he 
did  not  wish  to  appear  to  be  in  a  hurry  to  seize  what  could  not  now  escape  him. 

The  session  of  the  two  chambers  was  then  opened  by  the  presidents  whom 


xejh  'ilclator  Jia^i  given  thfrrii.  I:.  '.L*-  -"^ri-a'.r  L  -l-  Nif<<koii  had  choecn  his 
'i-v;!*:,  Jenjrne,  the  ex-kuig  of  \\V-.pr^ii.  Ir.  \ir,j^  •>:  th^  new  coostituiion 
tJjft  p'Aid'fnts  clairnefl  frr>m  th-r  :rl*:::J^T^  cf  :r.-^  '.■"•o  chacibers  the  oath  of 
okA^i'viUfyft  to  the  constitution  azA  of  n  :*::"::>•  :o  tL-e  pr^si-ieni  of  the  r^whlic. 
liuiing  thf;  w;B8ion  a  rumour  wel-  c-irr^L*.  that  Louts  Napokon  wcwld  be 
pr*A:hx\m'i<i  r;riifx?ror  on  the  lOth  of  May.  aft«-r  the  •ii?tribuiK»  of  the  cades 
to  the  arrny.  Tlie  dictator  'iid  not  wish  to  siAke  himself  empjeror  in  this 
manner.  He  would  prf>cee<l  more  artfully,  and  inten-ie'i  to  obtain  a  guaraih 
U:",  thsxX  the  accomplishment  of  hU  wishes  fhould  be  imposed  od  himbvtiie 
eoiiXitry.    He  therefore  undertook  a  new  tour  through  the  departments.^ 

XAFOLEOXS  AliDRE.**  AT   BORDEAtTC     ISS2) 

Mafitcr  of  hinxself  in  the  midst  of  the  general  enthusiasm,  Louis  Xapoieon 
wa«  prrfparing  for  the  great  speech  which  would  definitely  decide  his  oestiny 
and  the  destiny  of  France.  It  wa«  made  at  Borieaux  on  the  9th  of  October, 
at  the  clo.se  of  a  banouet  which  had  been  given  him  by  the  chamber  of  com- 
merce.   C>>ntrary  to  nL«  castom  he  went  --traight  to  the  point: 

"  I  Hay  with  a  frankness  &s  far  remove^l  from  pride  as  from  false  modesty. 
that  never  has  any  nation  manifej^tet^^i  in  a  more  direct,  more  spontaneous, 
more  unanimous  manner  its  wUh  to  rid  itself  of  all  anxiety  as  to  the  future, 
by  strengthening  under  one  control  the  government  which  Is  sympathetic 
to  it.  The  reason  is  that  this  people  now  realties  both  the  false  hopes  which 
lulktd  it  and  the  perils  which  thn^ateneii  it.  It  knows  that  in  1852  Society 
was  hurrying  to  its  downfall.  It  Ls  grateful  to  me  for  having  saved  the  ship 
by  Kfstting  up  only  the  flag  of  France.  Disabused  of  absiml  theories,  the 
nation  lias  acquired  the  conviction  that  its  so-called  reformers  were  but 
dreamers,  for  there  was  always  an  inconsistency,  a  disproportion,  between 
their  resources  and  the  promised  results.-  To  bring  about  the  well-being  of 
the  country  it  is  not  necessary  to  apply  new  methods,  but  to  give  it,  before 
all  else,  confidence  in  the  present  and  security  as  to  the  future.  These  are 
the  reasons  why  France  appears  anxioas  to  revert  to  an  empire." 

Tlic  important  word  had  at  last  been  uttered.  With  insinuating  clever- 
ness Louis  Napoleon  also  brought  fon\*ard  the  principal  objection  to  the 
scheme:  "Tliere  is  an  appreheasion  abroad  of  which  I  must  take  note.  In 
a  spirit  of  distrust,  ceKam  persons  are  saying  that  imperialism  means  war. 
I  say  imperialism  means  pctace.  It  means  peace  because  France  desires  it, 
and  when  France  is  satisfied  the  world  Ls  at  rest.  Glory  may  well  be  be- 
(|U(^athed  as  an  inheritance,  but  not  war.  Did  those  princes  who  were  Justly 
jjroud  of  Ix^mg  descendants  of  Louis  XIV  revive  his  quarrels?  War  is  not 
inadc!  for  pleasure,  but  by  necessity;  and  in  these  times  of  transition  when, 
side  by  side  with  m  many  elements  of  prosperity,  on  every  hand  so  many 
euus(»s  of  death  arise,  one  may  truly  say:  *  Woe  unto  him  who  first  gives  the 
signal  in  Kurope  for  a  collision  whose  consequences  would  be  incalculable.'" 

Prolcjnged  cheers  greeted  these  sentiments  of  pacific  pride.  The  enthuffl- 
asm  lx*carne  tinged  with  emotion  when  the  prince,  continuing,  outlined  in 
sufxTl)  liinguage  the  programme  of  his  future  government — a  stately  plan 
for  an  edifice  never,  alas!  erected.  On  the  10th  of  October  the  presidential 
address,  "The  liordeaux  Speech"  as  it  was  promptly  dubbed,  was  tel^;raphed 
id  Paris.  So  dignified,  conciliatory,  and  loyal  did  its  language  appear,  that 
it  instantly  pro(luced  an  emotion  which  was  not  artificial  or  simuiated,  but 
profound  anrl  sincere. 

Louis  Napoleon  visited  in  rapid  succession  Angoul^me,  Rocheforty  La 


XIII.       NaPOI-EON     Ml.     LlBEMATING     ABOUL-K>Dni 


(From  thf  painting  by  Jvan  Baptistc  Tit^' 


LOUIS   NAPOLEON   AS    PRESIDENT    AND    EMPEROR  l«7 

[J85SA.D.] 

Rochclle,  and  Tours;  he  made  a  last  halt  at  Amboise  and  there,  to  impress  the 
public  fancy  by  some  new  and  striking  act,  he  set  free  the  imprisoned  Abdul- 
Kadir. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  aft-emoon  of  the  16th  of  October,  he  arrived  in  Paris, 
and  was  received  with  full  official  pomp  and  circumstance.  Representatives 
of  official  boflies  went  to  the  Gare  d'Orl^ans  to  salute  him.  Tln^  .sound  of 
caiuion  iningleil  with  the  pooling  of  bells,  whilfi  strains  of  military  music 
alternated  with  patriotic  songs.  On  the  place  do  la  Bastille  the  president  of 
the  municipal  council,  M.  Dekngle,  publicly  congratulated  him. 

Throughout  the  long  line  of  the  boulevards  the  theatres,  public  buildings, 
even  some  of  the  shops  were  decorated  with  triumphal  arches.  On  one  of 
them  might  be  read  some  Imes  from  Virgil:  "May  the  Gods  of  our  fathers 
be  favourable  to  this  youth  in  this  troubled  age."  More  even  than  the  apt 
quotation,  the  continuous  cheers  of  the  crowd  gave  its  true  significance  to  the 
reception.  Thus  was  Louis  Napoleon  borne  to  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries. 
Then  in  the  even'mg,  satiated  with  homage,  eager  for  rest  and  repose,  he 
escapeti  from  the  ovations  and  made  his  way  to  the  chateau  of  St. 
Cloud> 

If  we  except  the  plebiscites  of  the  first  Napoleon,  which  in  the  then  existing 
condition  of  France  and  of  Europe  were  little  more  than  the  marshalling  of  his 
troops  by  a  military  despot,  this  was  the  first  time  that  any  European  ruler  could 
assert  that  he  held  his  position  by  the  distinctly  expressed  will  of  the  majority 
of  the  nation.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  the  first  time  that  arw  nation  had 
attempted  to  form  or  expre&s  any  conamon  will.  It  showed,  first,  that  the 
French  people,  like  every  other,  desires  first  of  all  internal  order  and  peace, 
and  therefore  the  first  and  necessary  condition — strong  executive  power.  It 
showed  again  that  the  united  will  of  a  people  can  onl}'  be  effectively  exertefl 
through  one  man.  The  people  do  not  sufficiently  understand  me-asures  or 
policies  to  be  excited  by  them. 

One  of  the  promises  held  out  to  France  was  that  the  empire  would  mean 
peace.  Yet  a  little  rnore  than  two  years  intervened  before  tlie  Crirtiean 
War,  in  which  England  indeetl  joine<i,  but  which  was  brought  on  by  Louis 
Napoleon  and  selfi^  schemers  like  Morny  and  Saint-Arnaud,  who  were  iu*ging 
him  foru^anl.  The  vast  expenditure  and  loss  of  life  led  to  no  practictd  result. 
Within  three  years  from  its  close  the  same  forces  led  to  the  Austrian  war  of 
1859,  resulting  indeed  in  the  independence  of  Italy,  but  at  a  heavy  cost  to 
Europe  in  destroying  the  treaties  of  1815  which  liad  given  her  half  a  century 
of  peace.  Three  years  again  elapsed  and  there  came  the  Mexican  expedition, 
surpassing  in  folly  and  infamy  any  of  the  others,  and  crowned  by  the  disgrace 
of  the  execution  of  Maximilian  and  the  peremptciry  notice  to  quit  received 
after  the  close  of  the  American  Civil  War.  The  temptation  to  regard  the 
German  invasion,  with  its  infliction  of  frightful  suffering,  heavy  indemnity, 
and  the  loss  of  two  provinces,  as  a  just  retribution  upon  the  empire  is  checked 
only  by  pity  for  the  unfortmiate  nation  which  thus  expiated  the  sins  of  its 
rulers.  It  may  well  be  said  that  the  heaviest  curse  which  has  fallen  upon 
France  in  two  centuries  is  the  name  of  Bonaparte./ 


THE  ACCESSION    OF  NAPOLEON   III 


On  December  1st,  1852,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  the  midst  of  a 
thick  fog,  two  hundred  carriages,  lighted  by  torchbearers  on  horseback, 
crossed  the  bridge  of  Boulogne,  and  went  in  the  direction  of  the  palace  of 
St.  Cloud,  the  windows  of  wnich  were  seen  shining  from  afar;  the  members 


128  THE  HISTORY   OF  FRANCE 

[1808-t888A.i>.] 

of  the  senate  occupied  these  carriages;  they  carried  the  prince-president  the 
decree  of  the  senate  which  named  him  emperor. 

Tlie  fdte  of  the  proclamation  of  the  empire  was  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
return  of  the  prince-president,  and  curiosity  began  to  be  exhausted:  the  same 
flags,  the  same  imif  orms,  the  same  people,  the  same  decorations,  a  smaller  crowd 
in  the  streets,  but  more  animation  in  the  theme.  The  new  government,  by  way 
of  a  rift  to  celebrate  the  joyous  accession,  delivered  from  imprisonment  and 
fine  uiose  who  were  condemned  for  misdemeanours  and  infractions  of  the 
laws  covering  the  press  and  the  book  trade:  official  warnings  which  had  been 
sent  to  the  journals  were  considered  null  and  void;  there  was  to  be  no  am- 
nesty; exiles  might  return  "  if  they  acknowledged  the  national  will/'  that  is, 
if  they  demand^  pardon.  The  absence  of  clemency,  and  the  monotony  of 
the  same  decorations,  the  same  banners,  the  same  arches,  the  same  trans- 
parencies made  the  day  dreary  for  some,  fatiguing  for  others,  long  for  all.  Paris 
was  anxious  to  escape  from  the  outward  trappings  and  to  enter  into  the  reality. 
A  banc[uet  for  sixty  persons  and  a  simple  reception  at  the  residence  of  the 
sovereign  ended  the  evening.  At  midnight  a  new  guest  slept  in  the  Tuileries. 

So  began  the  reign  which  was  to  finish  at  Sedan.^ 

napoleon's  biarriaqe 

The  foreign  powers  which  had  greeted  the  coup  d'6tat  as  a  bulwark  against 
revolution  did  not  so  highly  approve  the  second  empire;  but  none  the  less 
they  had  nothing  to  do  but  accord  it  recognition.  The  three  eastern  powers 
were  the  slowest;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  Louis  Philippe,  the  czar  Nicholas 
could  not  bring  himself  to  grant  the  usual  title  "brother,"  but  called  him 
"  good  friend."  Like  his  imcle  in  the  case  of  his  second  marriage,  the  parvenu 
emperor  sought  a  bride  among  the  ancient  royal  families;  but  the  eastern 
powers  managed  to  foil  his  suit  for  the  princess  Charlotte  of  Vasa.*  He 
thereupon  married  the  beautiful  Spanish  woman  Eugenie  Montijo,  duchess  of 
Teba,  January  30th,  1853.  On  March  16th,  1866,  she  bore  him  an  heir. 
Prince  Napoleon  Eugdne.i 

ERSKINE  MAY  ON  THE   COURT  LIFE 

After  the  coup  d'etat,  Louis  Napoleon  had  already  restored  titles  of 
honour,  and  he  now  endeavoured  to  surround  himself  by  the  most  illustrious 
nobles  of  France.  The  nobility  of  the  first  empire  were  naturally  the  chief 
ornaments  of  his  court:  but  the  old  legitimist  and  Orleanist  nobles  generally 
held  themselves  aloof  from  the  Bonapartist  circle,  and  aiTected  the  more 
select  society  of  their  own  friends  in  the  faubourgs  St.  Grermain  and  St. 
Honors.  But  if  the  old  nobility  were  absent  from  the  Tuileries,  there  was 
no  lack  of  aspirants  for  new  honours  and  distinctions.  Military  dukedoms, 
and  other  titles  of  nobility,  were  created,  as  in  the  first  empire.  Plebeian 
names  were  dignified  by  the  ennobling  prefix,  so  much  cherished  in  French 
society;  and  the  Legion  of  Honour  was  lavished  with  such  profusion  that  to 
be  without  its  too  familiar  red  ribbon  was,  at  length,  accoimted  a  mark  of 
distinction. 

A  court  so  constituted  could  not  represent  the  highest  refinement  of 
French  society.    It  was  gay,  luxurious,  pleasure-seeking,  and  extravagant; 

['  The  Hohenzollems  also  received  Mb  adv&nces  discouraginglj.  The  Spanish  beauty  he 
took  for  queen  was  not  of  royal  blood.  The  legitimist  nobility,  as  a  rule,  kept  away  from  court 
and  regarded  the  usurper  and  his  circle  with  scorn.] 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS   PRESIDENT   AND   EMPEROR 


Hd 


[185i-1856  A.D.J 

but  adventurers,  speculators,  and  persons  of  doubtful  repute  were  in  too 
much  favour  to  win  for  it  the  moral  respect  of  France  or  of  Europe.  Nor 
did  it  gain  lustre  from  the  Intellect  of  the  age.  Men  of  letters  were  generally 
faithful  to  the  fallen  monarchies  or  to  the  republic,  and  were  not  to  be  won 
over  by  the  imtronage  of  the  empire.  Tliey  had  been  cruelly  scourged  by 
Louis  Napoleon,  and  neither  the  principles  of  his  rule  nor  the  character  of 
his  associates  attracted  the  intellectual  chisses.  Material  force,  wealth,  and 
splendour  were  the  idols  of  his  court,  and  the  poet  and  the  philosopher  were 
ill  at  ease  in  such  a  company. 

The  empire  was  now  firnily  established,  and  Louis  Napoleon  wielded  a 
power  as  great  as  that  of  any  former  king  or  emperor.  But  he  ruled  by  a 
different  title,  and  upon  other  principles  of  government.  His  empire,  founded 
upon  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  was  a  strange  development  of  democracy. 
He  had  been  chosen  by  umversjil  suffrage,  yet  lie  wielded  a  power  all  but 
absolute  and  irresponsible.  He  ruled  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  but  he  for- 
bade the  expression  of  their  sentiments  In  the  press  or  at  public  meetings. 
The  chamber  of  deputies  was  elected,  like  himself,  by  the  whole  people.  An 
assembly  so  popular  in  its  origin  ought  to  have  been  a  check  upon  the  will 
of  the  emperor;  but  it  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  his  policy  and  approve  his 
acts.  Enjoying  a  freedom  of  discussion  unknown  beyond  its  walls,  it  was 
able  to  give  expression  to  public  opinion ;  but  it  never  aspired  to  independence. 
Yet  the  democracy  of  Frances  wa.s  not  ignored;  the  einixTor  was  .sensitively 
alive  to  the  national  sentiments,  which  he  was  always  striving  to  propitiate: 
he  never  forgot  the  democratic  origin  and  basis  of  his  throne.  Political  lil>- 
erties  were  repressed;  but  public  opinion,  so  far  as  it  could  be  divined  with- 
out free  discussion,  was  deferred  to  miii  respected. 

To  satisfy  this  public  opmion,  and  to  wm  the  support  of  various  senti- 
ments, interests,  and  parlies,  the  policy  of  the  emperor  assume<l  many  forms. 
He  liad  proclaimed  the  empire  as  peace:  but,  to  gratify  the  susceptibilities 
of  Frenchmen,  he  afterwards  declared  that  not  a  gun  should  be  fimtl  in 
Europe  without  the  consent  of  the  Tuileries;  and  he  desired  to  revive  the 
military  glories  of  France,  to  restore  his  influence  in  the  councils  of  Europe, 
and  t-o  gratify  the  army,  to  whom  he  mainly  owed  his  crowni.  Hence  his 
forwardness  in  bringing  about  the  Crimean  War.'" 


THE  CRIMEAN  WAR    <1864-185«) 

Since  the  treaties  of  1815  Russia  had  exercisexl  a  threatening  prepontler- 
ance  over  Europe.  The  caar  Nicholas  had  become  the  [xTsonifi{'ation  of  a 
formidable  ^stem  of  compression  and  conquest.  He  had  never  forgiven  the 
dynasty  of  July  for  having  owe<l  its  existence  to  a  rebellion ;  in  Germany  he 
had  upheki  the  sovereigns  in  their  resistance  to  the  wishes  of  the  peoples. 
He  had  done  his  utmost  to  denationalise  Polanti,  lits  possession  of  which 
had  been  recognised  by  the  treaties  of  1815  on  condition  that  he  should 
assure  to  it  a  constitutional  government.  Dumfounded  for  a  moment  by 
the  revolution  of  1848,  the  czar  htid  soon  retunied  to  his  ambition.  After 
having  saved  Austria  by  crushing  the  Hungarians  who  had  revoltiul  against 
her,  he  had  thought  that  the  presence  of  a  Napoleon  on  the  tlirone  of  France 
guanmteed  to  Russia  the  alliance  of  the  English,  and  he  had  believed  that 
the  moment  was  come  to  seize  the  perjwtual  object  of  Muscovite  covetous- 
ness — Constantinople.  On  every  opportimity  he  affected  a  protectorate 
over  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Turkish  Kmpire:  he  ended  by  trying  to 
iouxe  to  a  secret  understanding  with  England  for  the  j)artition  of  the  spoil 

H.  W.— TOL.  Xm.  K 


130  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[186»-1850A.l>.j 

of  the  Sick  Man  (the  sultan).  In  1853  he  occupied  the  Danubian  princi- 
palities and  armed  what  seemed  a  formidable  fleet  at  Sebastopol. 

The  emperor  Napoleon  gave  the  first  signal  of  resistance  by  boldly  send- 
ing the  French  Mediterranean  fleet  to  Salamis  to  have  it  within  reach  of 
Constantinople  and  the  Black  Sea.  He  won  over  England,  at  first  hesitating, 
to  his  alliance,  and  assured  hunself  of  the  neutrality  of  Austria  and  Prussia. 
Hostilities  opened  with  the  destruction  by  the  Russians  of  a  Turkish  flotilla 
at  Sinope.  The  Anglo-French  fleet  entered  the  Black  Sea,  whilst  an  army 
despatcned  from  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  and  France  assembled  imder  the 
waJls  of  Constantinople.  The  14th  of  September,  1854,  the  army  of  the  allies, 
seventy  thousand  strong,  debarked  on  the  Crimean  coasts,  and  the  victory 
of  Alma  allowed  the  commencement  of  the  siege  of  Sebastopol,  a  formidable 
fortress  whose  annihilation  was  necessary  in  order  to  protect  Constantinople 
against  a  sudden  attack. 

This  siege,  one  of  the  most  terrible  in  the  annals  of  modem  history,  lasted 
for  more  than  a  year.*  Generals  Canrobert  and  P^lissier  successively  com- 
manded the  French  troops.  Continual  fighting,  two  victories,  those  of  Inker- 
man  and  the  Tchemaya,  earned  for  the  French  soldiers  less  glory  than  their 
daimtless  courage  against  a  terrible  climate  and  an  enemy  who  ceaselessly 
renewed  his  ranks.  At  last,  on  the  8th  of  September,  1855,  after  miracles 
of  constancy,  French  dash  and  English  solidity  had  their  reward.  The  tower 
of  the  Malakoff  was  carried  and  the  town  taken.  The  emperor  Nicholas  had 
died  a  few  months  before. 

In  the  Baltic  the  Anglo-French  fleet  had  destroyed  Bomarsund,  the  ad- 
vanced bulwark  of  Russia  against  Sweden,  and  in  the  Black  Sea  the  French 
iron-plated  gunboats,  now  i^ed  for  the  first  time,  had  compelled  the  fortress 
of  Kmbum  to  surrender,  thus  opening  southern  Russia.  An  allied  squadron 
had  even  taken  Petropavlovsk  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Finally  French  diplo- 
macy had  induced  the  king  of  Sweden  and  the  king  of  Sardinia  to  enter  the 
league  against  Russia,  and  was  perhaps  on  the  point  of  winning  over  the 
emperor  of  Austria.  The  czar  Alexander  II,  successor  of  Nicholas,  demanded 
peace;  it  was  concluded  at  Paris,  March  30th,  1856,  under  the  eyes  of  the 
emperor  of  the  French.** 

THE  CONGRESS  OF  PARIS   (1856) 

The  congress  of  Paris  (March-April,  1856)  was  composed  of  two  plenipo- 
tentiaries from  each  of  the  six  powers — France,  England,  Russia,  Turkey, 
Austria,  and  Sardinia — imder  the  presidency  of  the  French  plenipotentiaries. 
Prussia  was  invited  to  take  part  afterwards. 

The  congress  began  by  regulating  the  Eastern  question.  (1)  The  integrity 
of  the  Ottoman  Empire  was  gxiaranteed  by  the  powers;  the  sultan  promised 
reforms  and  the  powers  renoimced  all  intervention  in  the  internal  affairs  of 
the  empire.  (2)  The  Danube  was  declared  free  for  navigation.  (3)  The 
Black  Sea  was  recognised  as  neutral;  no  state  might  have  arsenals  or  war 
ships  in  it,  with  the  exception  of  small  ships.  (4)  Moldavia  and  Wallachia 
became  autonomous. 

After  having  signed  the  peace  the  congress  regulated  the  question  of  mari- 
time law  by  four  decisions  which  were  incorporated  in  international  European 
law:  (1)  Privateering  is  abolished.  (2)  All  hostile  merchandise  sailing  under 
a  neutml  flag  is  neutral.    (3)  All  neutral  merchandise  under  a  hostile  flag 

['  Fuller  accounts  of  this  siege,  as  of  the  whole  war,  wiU  be  found  in  the  histories  of  Eng- 
land and  of  Russia.] 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS   PRESIDENT   AND    EMPEROR         131 

[18&6-18&8  I.D.] 

is  neutral.  (4)  A  blockade  cannot  be  established  by  a  simple  declaration — 
it  is  not  valid  unless  it  is  effective. 

Cavour,  representing  Sardinia,  auccee<led  in  bringing  up  the  Italian  ques- 
tion in  the  congress,  by  coming  to  an  understanding  with  the  representatives 
of  France  and  En^and.  They  spoke  of  the  evacuation  of  the  Piraeus  by 
French  troops  (which  was  still  a  discussion  of  the  orienUd  question),  and 
i  propos  of  the  occupation  of  the  Piro-us  they  spoke  of  the  occupation  (which 
still  continued)  of  Tascany  by  the  Aastrians.  England  demanded  that  it 
should  come  to  an  end;  Austria  refused  to  discuss  it.  But  Cavour  profited 
by  the  occa^sion  to  describe  the  lamentable  condition  of  Italy. 

The  congress  of  Paris  had  been  a  personal  success  for  Napoleon  and  his 
policy.  Not  only  had  he  made  France  re-enter  the  European  concert.,  but 
for  the  first  time  he  had  caused  a  European  congress  to  he  held  on  French 
t«rritory  and  under  her  presidency.  He  had  obtainwl  the  autonomy  of  the 
Rumanian  nation  and  nad  posed  the  national  question  of  Italy,  making 
the  instrument  which  had  been  created  by  Metteniich  against  the  nations 
to  serve  the  cause  of  nationalities.  He  remained  under  this  impression,  and 
his  policy  was  directed  towards  brin^g  together  a  new  congress  to  alter 
the  staUts  <fuo  of  Europe  and  to  abolish  the  treaties  of  1815,  out  he  never 
succeetied  m  liis  attempt. 

The  congress  of  Paris  changed  Napoleon's  position  in  Europe.  The 
sovereigns,  seeuig  him  solid  at  home  and  powerful  abroad,  drew  closer  to  Iiim. 
The  example  wa.s  s<*t  by  the  princes  of  the  Coburg  family.  Ernest,  of  Coburg- 
Gotha  was  the  first  to  pay  him  a  visit  (March,  1854);  then  came  Leopokl,  king 
of  the  Belgians;  then  the  king  of  Portugal;  finally  Prince  Albert,  husband  of 
Queen  Victoria,  consented  to  see  Napoleon  (September,  1854).  Napoleon  and 
the  empress  went  to  England  (April,  1855) ;  Victoria  and  Albert  returned 
their  visit  (it  was  the  fir.st  time  since  1422  that  a  king  of  England  had  come 
to  Paris).  The  example  of  the  Coburgs  decided  Victor  Emmanuel,  who  ha<i 
refused  till  then.  Aft^-r  the  congress,  the  rulers  of  WiirtemlHLTg,  Bavaria, 
and  Tuscany  arrived  (lS5r>-57). 

Napoleon  ^vi8hed  to  profit  by  the^e  relations  to  adopt  an  active  policy. 
He  tried  to  win  over  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  refused  to  be  won;  he  spoke  at 
the  English  court  of  revising  the  treaties  of  1815,  but  was  coldly  received 
(August,  1857).  He  then  approached  Russia  in  an  interview  at  Stuttgart 
with  the  czar,  in  1857.  In  1858  France  and  Russia  acted  together  to  main- 
tain Rumanian  unity,  against  Turkey,  Austria,  and  England;  in  Servia  they 
together  sustained  the  Obrcnovitch  dynastj^  against  Austria. 

Cavour,  who  was  detennined  on  war  with  Austria,  declared  publicly  in 
the  chamber  that  the  principles  of  Vienna  were  irreconcilable  with  those  of 
Turin.  Austria  rcplietl  tliiit  tlio  empt*ror  would  continue  to  make  use  of  hLs 
right  of  intervention  (May,  1856).  She  ended  by  breaking  off  diplomatic 
relations  with  Sardinia  (March,  1857). 

But  Napoleon  still  licsitated." 


INTERNAL  AFFAIRS   (185«-185S) 

During  the  session  of  1856  the  baptism  of  the  prince  imperial,  who  liad 
been  bom  (March  16th)  <luring  the  congress  of  Paris,  was  celebrated  with 
great  pomp  at  Notre  Dame,  The  godfather  was  Pius  IX,  represented  by  a 
Roman  cardinal.  This  intimate  bond  with  the  pope  was  to  involve  the  policy 
of  the  empire  on  grave  occjisions.  The  powers  of  the  legislative  body  elected 
in  1852,  if  they  can  be  called  powers,  expired  in  1857,    It  goes  without  saying 


132  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1857-1858  AJ>.] 

that  the  official  candidature  was  worked  by  the  prefects  in  every  possible 
way.  Billault,  the  minister  of  the  interior,  declared  in  a  circular  that  "the 
government  considered  it  just  and  politic  to  present  for  re-election  the  mem- 
bers of  an  assembly  which  had  so  well  seconded  the  emperor  and  served  the 
country."  He  was  willing  to  admit  that  in  face  of  these  conditions  "opeidy 
avowed  and  resolutely  sustained,"  others  might  be  brought  forward.  "If, 
however,"  he  added,  "the  enemies  of  the  public  peace  should  find  in  this 
latitude  an  occasion  for  a  serious  protest  against  our  institutions;  if  they 
try  to  make  it  an  instrument  of  trouble  and  scandal,  you  know  your  duty, 
Monsieur  le  pr^fet,  and  justice  will  also  know  how  to  execute  its  duty  with 
severity." 

The  prefects  went  further  than  the  minister.  One  of  them  simply  wrote 
to  the  officials  of  his  department:  "Impose  silence  on  opponents  if  any  are 
met  with."  Another  was  going  so  far  as  to  interdict  the  publication  and 
posting  of  circulars  and  declarations  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  non-official 
candidates.  The  prefects  set  their  newspapers  violently  not  only  against  the 
enemies  of  the  government,  but  against  those  of  its  friends  who  might  permit 
themselves  to  dispute  the  ground  with  the  official  candidates.  In  presence 
of  this  attitude  of  the  government  agents  the  peasants  said  simply:  "Why 
should  we  trouble  ourselves  to  nominate  deputies?"  The  government  might 
as  well  nominate  them  itself.  The  opposition  had  assuredly  no  chance  of 
depriving  the  government  of  its  majority.  It  might  attempt  protests  and 
obtain  some  partial  success.  There  were  eager  debates  between  the  repub- 
licans concerning  the  course  to  pursue. 

The  elections  took  place  the  20th  of  Jime.  Of  the  ei^ht  deputies  of  Paris 
the  opposition  gained  five— Camot,  Goudchaux,  Cavaignac,  Ollivier,  and 
Darimon ;  two  republicans  were  nominated  at  Lyons  and  at  Bordeaux.  The 
struggle  became  almost  impossible  in  the  departments;  meanwhile,  in  the 
large  cities,  a  strong  minority,  sometimes  even  a  majority,  had  declared 
itself  in  favour  of  the  opposition. 

The  Chambers  reopened  on  the  28th  of  November.  Of  the  five  republican 
deputies  of  Paris,  one,  Cavaignac,  had  died;  two  refused  the  oath,  Carnot 
and  Goudchaux;  Ollivier  and  Darimon  took  it.  The  session  of  1857  to  1858 
seemed  destined  to  be  uneventful,  when  a  tragic  incident  suddenly  disturbed 
everything  and  added  gravity  to  the  situation. 

ORSINI'S  ATTEMPT  TO  KILL  THE   EMPEROR 

The  evening  of  the  14th  of  January,  1858,  at  the  moment  of  the  arrival 
of  the  emperor  and  empress  at  the  opera,  three  explosions  were  heard.  Three 
bombs  had  been  thrown  at  the  emperor's  carriage.  Cries  of  grief  and  horror 
resounded  on  all  sides.  The  bursting  of  the  projectiles  had  injured  more 
than  one  hundred  and  forty  persons,  some  of  whom  were  mortally  wounded. 
The  carriage  of  the  emperor  was  broken  and  one  of  the  horses  killed.  A 
terrible  anxiety  filled  the  opera  house  as  the  royal  pair  entered  their  box; 
both  had  escaped  injury. 

The  police  arrested  four  Italians.  It  was  seen  immediately  that  three  of 
them  were  but  instruments;  the  fourth,  Orsini,  was  remarkable  in  every 
way.  His  father  had  perished  in  1831  in  the  insurrection  against  the  i)ope 
in  which  Napoleon  III  and  his  elder  brother  had  taken  part.  The  son  since 
his  childhood  had  taken  part  in  all  the  national  Italian  conspiracies. 

In  its  form  the  attempt  on  Napoleon  III  recalled  that  of  Fieschi  under 
Louis  Philippe;  but  in  reality  there  was  a  wide  gulf  between  the  Corsican 


L01 


PRESIDENT 


1S3 


I 

I 


bandit  of  1835  and  the  Roman  conspirator  of  1858.  In  spit^  of  the  horror 
of  a  crime  which  took  aim  at  its  object  across  so  many  indifferent  and  un- 
knovm  victims,  Orsini  inspired  in  all  tho.sc  who  saw  and  heard  him  during 
his  trial  an  interest  which  it  was  impossible  to  withstand-  This  iTian  ha<i 
been  actuated  solely  by  an  impersonal  passion;  he  was  under  the  spell  of  a 
misdirected  patriotism.  He  had  chosen  as  his  counsel  Jules  FaxTe,  who  de- 
fendetl  him  iis  he  wished  to  be  defended,  by  endeavouring  to  save,  not  iiis 
head,  but  his  memoir  as  far  as  it  could  be  saved.  A  profound  impression 
was  made  on  the  audience  when  Jules  Favre,  by  permission  of  the  emperor, 
reatl  aloud  a  letter  addressed  to  the  latter  by  Orsini.  The  criminal  did  not 
ask  mercy  for  liimself;  he  asked  fn^edoin  for  his  unhappy  country,  "the 
constant  object  of  all  his  affections.'^  lie  did  not  go  so  far  as  to  demand 
that  the  blood  of  Frenchmen  should  be  shed  for  the  Italians,  but  only  that 
France  should  interdict  the  support  of  Austria  by  Germany— "  in  the  strug- 
gles which  are  perhaps  soon  to  begin.  I  adjure  3^our  majesty,"  he  wmte, 
**to  restore  to  Italy  tne  independence  wliich  her  children  lost  in  18-19  by  the 
fault  of  the  Vreneh  themselves  (by  the  war  of  Rome).  I^et  not  your  majesty 
repulse  the  last  wish  of  a  patriot  on  the  ste[>s  of  the  scaffohl!'* 

Orsini  and  his  accomplices  were  condenmed  to  death  on  the  26th  of 
February.  Orsini  thanked  the  emperor  for  having  autluirised  the  publica- 
tion of  his  letter.  His  .second  letter  wiis  not  less  moving  than  the  first.  He 
formally  condemned  political  assassination  and  disavowed  "the  fatal  aber- 
ration of  mind"  which  had  led  him  to  prepare  his  crime.  He  exhorted  his 
compatriots  to  employ  only  their  abnegation,  their  devotion,  their  union, 
their  virtue  to  deliver  their  country.  He  himself  offered  his  bloo<!  in  expia- 
tion to  the  victims  of  the  14th  of  January.  The  question  of  the  cotunmtation 
of  the  penalty  wa.^  energetically  agitated  by  those  about  the  emperor.  Na- 
poleon would  have  jutlged  such  mercy  politic  if  so  many  victims  had  not  been 
struck  by  the  instruments  of  death  intended  for  his  own  person.  Orsini  was 
executeci  on  the  14th  of  March,  with  one  of  his  accomplices.  He  died  without 
display  as  without  weakness,  crying,  '*  Vive  Vltaiie!   Vive  In  France!" 

His  death  wiis  soon  to  bring  fiirth  happy  results  to  Italy.  Before  that 
his  crime  had  had  deplorable  ones  for  France.  In  1801  the  first  consul  had 
made  the  affair  of  the  infernal  machine  prepared  by  some  royalists  a  pretext 
for  proscribing  a  host  of  republicans.  Napoleon  ill  imitated  and  surpassed 
his  uncle. 

THE   "new  terror"   OF   1858 

At  the  reopening  of  the  chambers,  a  few  days  after  the  attempt  of  the 
opera  (14th  of  January),  the  emperor  delivered  a  speech  which  began  with 
a  splendid  picture  of  tlie  public  prosperity.  He  called  on  the  legislative  body 
not  to  permit  the  renewal  of  "the  scandal"  of  the  refusals  of  the  oath  by 
elected  candidates,  and  to  vote  a  law  which  should  oblige  all  those  eligible 
for  election  to  take  the  oath  to  the  constitution  t>efore  standing  for  election. 
Finally  he  appealed  to  the  assembly  of  the  representatives  of  the  country  to 
"find  means  to  silence  factious  opposition."  The  meaning  of  this  threat  was 
soon  made  kno^Ti.  On  the  1st  of  February  a  bill  was  presented  to  the  legis- 
lative body;  it  punished  with  an  imprisonment  of  from  two  to  five  years  and 
a  fine  of  from  five  hundred  to  ten  thousand  francs,  whoever  should  have  pub- 
licly incited  to  the  crimes  mentioned  in  articles  86  and  87  of  the  penal  code 
(sedition,  insurrection,  etc.)  when  that  provocation  had  not  resulted  in  action. 
li  punished  with  an  imprisonment  of  one  month  to  two  years  and  a  fine  of 


131 


THE   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE 


[16S6A.D.1 

from  one  hundred  to  two  thousand  francs  whoever  should  have  raanoeu\Ted 
or  entered  into  negotiations  either  at  home  or  abroad  with  the  object  of  dis- 
turbing the  public  peace.  Every  person  sentenced  for  one  of  the  above 
misdemeanours  or  for  certain  others  also  mentioned  in  the  bill,  including  the 
detention  of  arms,  seditious  assemblies,  etc.,  should  as  a  measure  for  the  gen- 
eral safety  be  incarcerated  in  France  or  Algeria  or  expelled  from  French  ter- 
ritory. Tliis  same  measure  for  the  general  safety  could  l>e  applied  to  any 
person  who  had  lieen  either  condemned,  incarcerated,  expelled,  or  trans- 
ported on  the  occasion  of  the  events  of  May  and  June,  184S;  of  June,  1849; 
or  December,  1851,  and  whom  "grave  facts  should  again  mark  as  dangerous 
to  the  public  safety." 

This  was  to  deliver  a  multitude  of  citizens  to  the  most  lawlessly  arbi- 
trary treatment;  the  wide  field  covered  by  the  categories  and  the  vagueness 
of  the  definitions  made  anything  possible.  A  man  might  l^e  deported  for 
having  a  musket  in  his  possession! 

The  government  was  perfectly  aware  that  the  republican  party  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  isolated  crime  of  Orsini;  but  this  calunmy  "had  seemed 
necessary  to  serve  as  a  motive  for  what  was  to  follow,  fcnile  OUivier  nmde 
his  d6but  as  a  political  orator  in  contesting  this  bill.  A  few  conservatives 
joined  him,  alarmed  to  see  that  a  i-eturn  to  th<'  2nd  of  December  was  being 
made  in  a  time  of  complete  public  tranquillity.  Many  deputies  voted  with 
reluctance  and  with  a  sense  of  shame;  there  were  227  voices  for  the  law: 
twenty-four  had  the  courage  to  vote  against  it.  When  the  law  was  brought 
before  the  senate,  whose  mission  it  was  to  examine  whether  the  laws  adopted 
by  the  legislative  bodv  were  conformable  to  the  constitution,  there  was  but 
a  single  vote  against  this  so-called  "  Law  of  Suspects";  it  was  that  of  General 
MacMahon.     History  should  give  him  credit  for  it. 

The  law  was  monstrous,  its  execution  was  worse.  The  new  terror  of 
1858  did  not  echo  so  far  as  that  of  the  2nd  of  December;  as  no  one  resisted 
or  could  resist  there  were  no  fusillades,  no  massacres;  but  the  absence  of  all 
struggle  and  of  all  peril  to  the  persecutors  rendered  the  persecution  so  much 
the  more  revolting.  Tins  time  it  was  no  longer,  as  on  the  2nd  of  December, 
triiunphant  conspirators  striking  in  fury  at  fallen  adversaries  to  prevent 
them  from  ri.sing;  it  was  an  absolute  power  which,  in  order  to  pniduce  an 
effect  of  intimidation  and  to  discourage  a  few  attempts  at  legal  opposition, 
proscribed  in  cold  blnod  hundreds  of  victims,  not  for  their  acts  but  for  their 
opinions.  Even  before  the  law  hjid  been  presented  to  the  legislative  body, 
citistens  had  been  carried  into  exile. 

Immediately  after  the  despatch  of  his  circular  the  new  minister  of  the 
interior  ''and  of  the  general  safety,"  as  he  styled  himself,  had  sent  for  all 
the  prefects  to  Paris.  He  received  each  by  himself.  He  liad  in  his  hand  a 
list  in  which  the  departments  were  inscribecl  with  figures  opposite  their  names. 
"You  are  prefect  of  such  a  department,"  he  said:  "so  many  arrests."  "But 
who  is  to  be  arrested?"  questioned  the  prefect.  "Whoever  you  like!  I 
have  given  you  the  number;  the  rest  is  your  affau-." 

That  so  many  high  functionaries  should  have  consented  to  make  them- 
selves the  executors  of  such  instructions  is  perhaps  the  most  shameful  fact 
in  eighty  years  of  revolutions.  Besides  some  political  adversaries  who  were 
still  capable  of  and  disposed  to  action,  the  government  caused  to  be  torn  from 
their  families  and  their  professions  a  host  of  republicans  who,  while  retaining 
their  own  opinions,  sought  only  to  court  oblivion  and  had  taken  refuge  in 
their  work  and  in  silence.  When  one  was  not  to  be  found  another  was  taken 
at  haphazard:  Espinasse  and  bis  delegates  had  to  make  up  their  number.    A 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON    AS    PRESIDENT   AND    EMPEKOK  135 

[1858-18S0A.D.] 

special  attack  was  directed  against  a  select  number  of  active  bourgeoisie: 
merchants,  lav'yers,  doctors,  notaries  were  mingled  with  honest  and  indus- 
trious working  men;  the  old,  the  sick,  mothers  of  famihes,  were  dragged  to 
prison  and  thence  to  exile.  Tlie  agents  forced  their  way  into  houses,  like 
nocttjrnal  malefactors,  carried  off  the  appointed  victims  without  allowing  them 
time  to  provide  themselves  with  money  and  clotlung  or  to  bid  farewell  to 
their  families,  and  threw  them  into  prison  vans  which  did  not  stop  till  they 
reached  the  port  of  embarkation.  Of  about  two  thousand  persons  arrested 
more  than  420  were  transported  to  Africa.  Arrived  there  the  exiles  received 
some  miserable  subsidies,  scarcely  sufficient  to  prevent  them  from  dying  of 
hunger  until  they  could  procure  the  means  of  subsistence;  then  those  who 
did  not  find  work  were  left  to  the  care  of  such  of  their  companions  as  were  a 
little  less  unfortunate. 

The  aim  of  the  new  terror  was  not  attained:  the  government  had  not 
succeeded  in  Btifiing  the  opposition,  which  on  the  contrary  increased  in  the 
legislative  body — if  not  in  numbers  at  least  in  talents;  of  three  seats  left 
empty  amongst  the  deputies  of  I^aris,  tlit*  Parisian  electors  filled  two  with 
republicans.  Jules  Favre  and  Ernest  Picard  formed,  together  with  Ollivier, 
H^non,  and  Darimon,  that  celebrated  bench  of  the'*  Five  which  held  its  own, 
for  several  years,  against  almost  the  whole  assembly. 

In  this  imiierialist  quasi-unaniniity  on  the  part  (»f  the  legislative  body, 
a  considerable  number  of  the  members  asked  no  better  than  to  put  some 
reserve  into  their  devotion,  and  flifi  not  regard  the  course  of  events  as  entirely 
for  the  best.  In  the  session  of  1S5K  (he  law  tif  military  exemption  was  brought 
up.  It  was  proved  that  this  law  had  only  aggravated  the  burden  of  the  ser- 
vice to  the  detriment  of  the  population,  and  the  profit  of  the  exchequer,  which 
was  in  reality  the  beneficiary  of  what  was  called  the  endowment  of  the  army. 
The  law,  instead  of  being  mitigated,  was  rendered  more  onerous  by  the  inter- 
diction of  substitutions  except  among  relatives.  Exemption  by  state  inter- 
vention cost  double  what  it  had  cost  oefore;  free  substitution  was  forbidden, 
and  fellow  soldiers  from  the  same  canton  were  no  longer  authorised  to  change 
their  numbers  at  the  drawing  of  lota. 

As  to  laws  of  social  interests,  the  government  presenteil  one  which  con- 
tained penalties  against  the  usurpers  of  titles  of  nobility.  Napoleon  III  had 
restored  the  nobility  by  a  decref*  which  declared  it  one  of  the  mstitutions  of 
the  state.  The  parodists  of  the  past  were  still  more  ridiculous  in  1858  than 
in  1814,  when  the  ultras  at  least  were  the  natural  heirs  of  the  old  regime. 
Most  of  those  who  voted  the  law  were  ashamed  of  it;  a  small  number  took 
these  things  with  a  grotesque  seriousness.^ 


WAR   IN    ITALY:   80LFERIN0    085S-1859) 

As  Russia  was  pressing  on  Turkey,  so  Austria  was  pressing  on  Italy.  She 
had  played  an  equivoc^il  part  during  the  Crimean  War,  whilst  the  kingdom 
of  Sardinia,  the  only  independent  and  constitutional  state  in  Italy,  had  not 
feared  to  join  her  yoimg  anny  to  the  Anglo-French  troops.  This  circum- 
stance had  made  France  the  natural  protectress  of  Piedmont,  and  by  conse- 
auence  of  Italy,  of  which  this  little  kingdom  was  the  last  citadel.  Thas  when 
tne  emperor  of  Austria^  Francis  Joseph,  in  defiance  of  European  diplomacy, 
passed  the  Ticino  as  the  emperor  Nicholas  had  passed  the  Pruth,  France 
once  more  found  herself  face  to  face  with  this  new  aggressor  and  on  the  side 
of  the  oppressed. 

In  this  war  the  emperor  Napoleon  resumed  the  secular  policy  of  France, 


136  THE    HISTORY    OF   FRANCE 

[1B58  A.D.J 

which  consists  b  not  suffermg  the  preponderance  of  Austria  or  Germany  in 
Italy — that  is  to  say,  on  the  French  southeastern  frontier.  A  French  army 
reappeared  on  that  soil  where  three  centuries  before  the  amis  of  France  had 
left  so  many  glorious  traces.  Europe  looked  on  with  keen  attention ;  Eng- 
land as  a  well-wisher,  Russia  and  Prussia  amazed.  Austria  and  France  were 
left  alone  facing  each  other.    The  war  lasted  scarcely  two  months. 

After  the  brilliant  affair  of  Montebello,  which  defeated  m\  attempted 
surprise  on  the  part  of  the  Austrians,  the  Franco-Piedmontese  army  concen- 
trated round  Alessandria;  then  by  a  bold  and 
skilful  movement  turned  the  right  of  the  Aus- 
trians,  who  had  ali-eady  passe<l  the  Ticino,  and 
compelled  tliem  to  recross  that  river.  Caught 
between  the  army  corps  of  General  MacMahon 
and  the  guard  at  Magenta,  the  Austrians  lost 
7,000  killetl  or  wounded  and  8,000  prisoners 
(June  4th).  Two  days  later  the  P'rencli  regi- 
ments entere<l  Milan. 

The  enemy,  astounded  at  so  rude  a  shock, 
abandoned  his  first  line  of  defence,  where,  how- 
ever, he  had  long  been  accuiiiulating  powerful 
means  of  action  and  resistance.  He  retired  on 
the  Adda,  after  vainly  making  a  momentary 
stand  at  the  already  famous  town  of  Marignano 
and  on  the  Mincio,  behind  the  ilhistxious  phiins 
of  Castiglione  and  between  the  two  fortn^sst^s  of 
Peschiera  anrl  Mantua;  then  betook  up  his  posi- 
tion, backed  by  the  great  city  of  Verona  as  an 
impregnable  base.  The  emperor  of  Austria, 
with  a  new  general  and  considerable  reinforce- 
ments, had  arrived  there  to  await  the  French 
army. 

The  Austrians  had  long  studied  this  battle- 
field; there  were  160,000  of  them  ranged  on  the 
heights  with  their  centre  at  the  village  and 
tower  of  Solferino,  and  ready  to  descend  on  the 
French  in  the  plain.  Napoleon  III  had  scarcely 
140,000  men  available,  and  was  obliged  to  fi^ht 
on  a  line  extending  over  five  leagues.  Wliilst 
the  right  wing  was  struggling  agahist  the  enemy 
in  the  plain  in  order  to  prevent  itself  from 
Ix^ing  turned,  and  King  Victor  Emmaimel  with 
his  Piedmontese  was  bravely  resisting  on  the  left,  the  centre  delivered  a  vigor- 
ous attack,  and  after  a  heroic  struggle  successively  carried  Mount  Fenile,  the 
mount  of  the  cypresses,  and  finalty  the  village  of  Solferino.  The  enemy's 
line  was  broken ;  nis  reserves,  before  they  coiild  come  into  action,  were  attained 
by  the  balls  from  the  new  rifled  cannon  of  the  French.  All  fled  in  frightful 
confusion;  but  a  fearful  storm,  accompanied  by  hail  and  torrents  of  rain, 
stopped  the  victors  and  [permitted  the  Austrians  to  recross  the  Mincio;  they 
left  twenty-five  thousand  men  put  out  of  action.  In  the  evening  the  emperor 
Napoleon  took  up  his  headquarters  in  the  very  room  which  Francis  Joseph 
had  occupied  in  the  morning  (June  24th).  Twice  a  conqueror,  the  emperor 
suddenly  offered  peac^  to  his  enemy.  Italy  was  freed,  although  a  portion  of 
Italian  territory,  namely  Venetia,  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  Austria. 


Ah  OrncBR  or  XnrAKTBir 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS   PRESIDENT   AND   EMPEROK         137 

(1800  A.D.] 

Europe,  bewilderpcl  by  these  rapid  virtnrips,  allowed  her  awakening  jeal- 
ousy to  appear.  The  emperor  thoudit  he  had  done  enough  for  Italy  by  push- 
ing Austria,  so  recently  established  on  the  banks  of  tlieTicino,  back  behind 
the  Mincio,  and  at  Viilafranca  he  signed  with  Francis  Joseph  a  peace,  the 
principal  conditions  of  which  were  confirmed  at  the  end  of  the  year  by 
the  Treaty  of  Zurich.  By  this  peace  Austria  resigned  Lombardy,  whirli 
France  added  to  Piedmont  that  she  might  make  for  herself  a  faithful  ally 
beyond  the  Alps.  Tlie  Mincio  IxH'ame  the  boundary  of  Austria  in  the  penin- 
sula, where  the  various  states  were  to  form  a  great  eonfetleration  mider  tlie 
presidency  of  the  pope.  But  all  those  concerned  rejected  this  phin,  and  the 
revolutionary  movement  continued.  The  emperor  contine<l  hinnself  to  pre- 
venting AiLstria  from  interv^ening.  Then  those  governments  of  Panna, 
Modena^  the  Roman  legations,  Tuscany  and  Na])!e,s,  which  ever  since  1814 
had  been  merely  lieutenants  of  Austria,  were  seen  to  fall  to  pieces  successively, 
and  Italy,  minus  Venice  and  Rome,  wius  about  to  fonn  a  single  kingdom, 
when  the  emperor  thought  himself  called  upon  to  take  a  precaution  necessiiry 
to  the  security  of  France:  he  claimed  the  price  of  the  assistance  he  had  given 
and  by  the  Treaty  of  Turin,  March  24th,  1S60,  obtained  the  cession  to  himself 
of  Savoy  and  the  county  of  Nice  (Niaza),  which  added  three  dejjartinents 
to  France  and  carried  her  southern  frontier  to  the  summit  of  the  Alps. 

For  the  first  time  since  1815  France,  not  by  force  and  surprise  but  as  the 
result  of  a  great  service  rendered  to  a  friendly  nation,  by  pacific  agreiMnetit, 
and  according  to  the  solenui  vote  of  the  inhabitants,  hari  oversteppe^l  the 
limits  traced  round  her  at  the  periml  of  her  reverses.  Europe  dared  not 
protest. 


EXPEDITIONS  AND  WARS  IN  SYRIA,   CHINA,   COCHIN  CHINA,   AND   MEXICO 


Europe  can  no  longer  isolate  he^st^lf  frotn  the  otlier  continents;  with  the 
progress  of  civilisation,  commerce,  and  the  general  relations  of  the  ik'0|>]*'s, 
it  is  the  duty  of  France,  the  second  of  the  maritime  nations,  to  carry  her  eyes 
or  her  hand  beyond  the  seas  wherever  her  honour  or  her  interests  may  be 
engaged.  It  is  the  first  time  that,  with  or  without  the  support  of  England 
ana  often  imder  her  jealous  sun'eillance,  she  has  done  so  with  so  much  mde- 
pendence  and  firmness. 

In  18fK)  the  massacre  of  the  Christian  Maronitcs  by  the  Druses  of  Syria 
demonstrated  anew  the  Ottoman  ICmpire's  pow^erlessness  to  protect  its  aul> 
jects,  and  excited  the  interested  complaints  of  Russia,  France,  which  was 
the  first  to  move,  had  the  honour  of  being  charged  by  the  great  powers  to 
send  and  maintain  a  body  of  troops  in  Syria  to  aid  the  Turkish  government  in 
punishing  the  guilty  parties.  The  followmg  year  a  diplomatic  conference, 
assembled  at  Constantinople,  regulated  the  government  of  Lebanon  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  avoid  the  return  of  these  deplorable  cata^strophes.  This 
apparition  of  the  French  flag  in  the  East  was  not  without  utility  in  the  jnirsuit 
of  a  great  enterprise  begun  by  M.  de  Lesseps  under  the  auspices  of  the  Frendi 
government,  namely  the  establishment  at  the  isthmus  of  Suez  of  a  canal 
which  was  to  join  the  Mediterranean  with  the  Red  Sea,  and  jnit  Europe  in 
direct  communication  with  the  Far  East. 

The  same  year,  at  the  other  extremity  of  Asia,  France  and  England  had 
been  obliged  to  direct  an  expedition  against  China,  who  had  violated  the 
conditions  of  a  treaty  previously  made  with  her.  In  less  than  six  months 
the  allied  fleets  had  transported  fifteen  thousand  men  and  the  whole  of  an 
immense  equipment  a  distance  of  six  thousand  leagues  from  the  French 


138  THE    HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1880-1863  A.D.I 

coast,  to  the  shores  of  the  Peiho.  The  emperor  of  China  sent  seventy  thou- 
sand men  to  meet  those  whom  he  called  barbarians.  This  army  and  the 
forts  accumulated  on  the  road  to  Pekin  did  not  stand  before  the  small  Euro- 
pean force  commanded  by  General  Cousin-Montauban.  The  mouths  of  the 
river  were  forced,  and  the  forts  which  <lefended  them  ciirried  by  an  energetic 
and  brilliant  attack,  after  which  the  allies  marched  resolutely  on  Pekin.  The 
Chinese  court  tried  to  deceive  them  by  feigned  negotiations,  to  which  some 
of  the  envoys  fell  victims,  and  to  surprise  the  troops  which  won  the  battle  of 
Palikao.  The  city  of  Pekin,  being  laid  open  to  attack,  was  bombarded; 
the  summer  palace  had  already  Ix'en  taken  and  given  up  to  pillage.  Prince 
Kong,  the  emperor's  brother,  made  up  his  inmd  to  treat  seriously  (October 
25th,  1860),  The  allied  amiies  entered  Pekin  to  receive  the  ratifications  of 
the  treaty,  in  virtue  of  which  the  Chinese  government  pledged  itself  to  admit 
English  ami  French  ambassadors  to  the  capital,  paid  an  mdemnity  of  120,- 
O0(i,{KX}  franrs,  opened  the  port  of  Tientsin,  guaranteed  advantageous  com- 
mercial conditions  to  the  conquerors,  and  restored  to  France  tlie  churches 
and  cemeteries  belonging  to  the  Christians.  The  Celestial  Empire  was  opened 
and,  by  way  of  constHiuence,  the  empire  of  Japan  also,  which,  having  in  1858 
made  treaties  of  coinnierce  with  the  principal  European  states,  was  disposed 
by  dread  of  a  similar  le-sson  to  observe  them  better. 

The  French  government  took  advantage  of  its  stren^h  in  these  regions 
to  conip!ct-c  the  expedition  against  the  empire  of  Annam  in  Cochin  China,  an 
experlilion  begun  two  years  before  in  concert  with  the  Spaniards.  It  was 
impossible  to  obtain  from  this  government  secxirity  for  French  missionary 
and  commercial  relations.  France  hail  resoJved  to  form  a  settlement  at  the 
mouths  of  the  great  river  Mekong,  and  hail  taken  possession  of  Saigon  in 
order  to  make  it  the  capital.  But  the  French  lived  there  in  continual  dis- 
quiet. Vice-Admiral  Chamer,  who  had  returned  from  China  with  his  troops, 
defeated  the  Annamites  in  the  plains  of  Ki-Hoa  and  seizeil  Mytho.  Ailmiral 
Bonnard  in  his  turn  took  Bien-Hoa  and  imposed  on  the  emperor  Tu-Duc  a 
peace  signe<l  in  1863  which  stipulated  respect  for  missionaries,  an  advantageous 
treaty  of  commerce,  and  the  possession  of  three  provinces  at  the  mouths  of 
the  Mekong,  in  a  wonderfully  fertile  country  between  India  anti  China,  and 
within  reach  of  the  Philippines  and  the  Moluccas.  "The  settlement  of  Sai- 
gon," an  English  traveller  had  said  not  long  before,  "might  change  the  di- 
rection of  trade  and  become  the  nucleus  of  an  empire  which  perhaps  might 
one  day  equal  that  of  India." 

Thus  France,  which  it  had  become  too  much  the  custom  to  regard  as  an 
especially  continental  power,  was  carrying  her  activity  to  all  tlie  shores  of 
the  ocean.  She  was  at  the  same  time  called  to  another  end  of  the  world. 
France,  England,  and  Spam  had  long  had  injuries  to  avenge  anrl  claims  to 
vindicate  against  the  anarchical  government  of  Mexico.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1862  the  three  powers  came  to  an  understanding  to  act  in  common, 
as  the  French  had  done  in  China  with  the  English,  in  Cochin  China  with  the 
Spaniards.  The  expeflition  was  alreaily  on  the  way  to  be  carried  into  effect 
when  the  cabinets  of  London  and  Madrid,  in  consequence  of  misunderstand- 
ings, renounced  the  enterprise.  France,  left  alone,  persisted  in  avenging  the 
common  injuries.  A  check  having  called  in  question  the  honour  of  the  flag, 
the  mistake  was  conunitted  of  declaring  that  France  would  not  treat  with  the 
president  Juarez;  so  that  the  French  were  condemned  either  to  import  a 
foreign  government  into  the  country  or  to  conquer  its  immense  solitudes. 
Instead  of  the  six  thousand  men  who  had  first  started,  it  was  necessary 
to  send  as  many  as  thirty-five  thousand  soldiers,    Puebla  made  a  heroic  re- 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS   PRESIDENT   AND    EMPEROR  139 

[1888-1807  A.D.] 

aistance;  but  the  keys  of  Mexico  were  tliere  and  the  army  took  them  (May 
18th,  1863).  A  few  days  later  (June  10th)  it  entered  Mexico,  and  the  popula- 
tion, prompted  by  France,  proclaimed  as  emperor  an  Austrian  prince,  the 
archduke  Maximilian.  After  the  departure  of  the  French  troops  in  1867 
[owing  to  the  forcible  protest  of  the  United  States^]  the  unfortunate  prince 
was  taken  anfl  shot  by  the  republicans  after  the  mockery  of  a  trial.  This 
impnident  and  ill-conceived  expedition  was  a  grave  check  to  French  politics 
and  finance.'' 

THE   RISE  OP  PRUSSIA 

The  Crimean  and  the  Italian  wars  having  been  carried  out  to  a  triumphant 
issue,  the  French  had  come  ttj  regard  themselves  as  the  foremost  nation  in 
Europe.  But  from  the  middle  of  the  '60's  Napoleon's  fortune  had  begun  to 
turn.  During  the  American  Civil  War  he  had  embarked,  as  we  have  seen, 
on  the  adventurous  undertaking  in  Mexico,  where  he  attempted  to  establish 
an  imipire,  dopondnnt  upon  himself,  uuiler  Maximilian,  the  unfortunate 
brother  of  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  ;  but  after  wasting  immense  sums  of 
money  and  thousan<ls  of  liuman  lives,  he  was  compelled  to  evacuate  that 
country,  and  the  bloody  ghost  of  Maximilian,  who  was  deserted  by  Napo- 
leon's army  and  executed  by  the  republicans,  stood  forth  as  the  accuser  of 
his  guilty  ambition. 

In  France  itself  the  voice  of  the  republicans  rose  ever  higher  against 
Bonaparte,  while  the  victories  of  the  Prussians  over  the  Austrians  [at  Sadowa 
or  Koniggratz,  July  3rd,  1866,  and  elsewhere],  as  unexpected  jis  they  were 
overwhelming,  weakened  his  position  in  Europe.  Napoleon  had  hoped  that 
Pnissia  wouki  be  ilefeated,  or  that  a  civil  war  of  long  duration  would  be 
started  in  Germany;  in  either  case  he  had  hoped  to  intervene  as  a  |ieace- 
maker,  taking  as  the  reward  of  his  labours  certain  Rhenish  and  Belgian 
districts,  and  being  enabled,  in  addition,  to  play  the  role  of  protector  over 
Germany  and  arbitfT  of  the  destinins  of  Europe.  But  it  wius  fated  otherwise; 
Prussia  acquired  a  military  reputation  ahnost  rivalling  that  of  the  first 
Napoleon,  and  Germany  stood  forth,  not  weak  an<l  disrupted,  but  more 
firmly  united  and  stronger  than  ever  before.  Antl  though  Napoleon  him- 
self was  far  too  prudent  to  venture  on  a  military  demonstration  against  the 
successes  of  Prussia,  yet  the  French  nation,  and  especially  the  French  army, 
could  not  tolerate  that  another  people  should  excel  it  in  tlie  honours  of  war, 
while  statesmen  of  the  type  of  Thiers  upl)raided  Napoleon  for  permitting  the 
union  of  North  Germany.  "Revenge  for  Sadowal"  became  the  general  cry. 
The  French  government  made  demands  for  "compensation''  to  France  in  the 
shape  of  cessions  of  German  frontier  territory,  but  these  were  rejected  by 
Prussia.  Under  these  circumstances  the  latter  country  had  to  be  prepared 
every  moment  for  an  attack, «> 

FYTFE  ON  napoleon's   NEW  POUCT 


The  reputation  of  Napoleon  III  was  perhaps  at  its  height  at  the  end  of 
the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign.  His  \nctories  over  Russia  and  Austria  had 
flattered  the  military  pride  of  France;  the  flowing  tide  of  commercial  pros- 
perity bore  witness,  as  it  seemed,  to  the  blessings  of  a  government  at  once 
firm  and   enlightened;   the   reconstruction   of    Paris   dazzled   a  generation 

r>  For  faller  aocounts  of  this  aff&lr,  see  id  Uter  volumes  the  histories  of  the  United  States 
and  Hezloo.] 


140  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1808-1807  A.T>.] 

accustomed  to  the  mean  and  dingy  aspect  of  London  and  other  capitals  before 
1850,  and  scarcely  conscious  of  the  presence  or  absence  of  real  beauty  and 
dignity  where  it  saw  spaciousness  and  brilliance.  The  political  faults  of 
Napoleon,  the  shiftiness  and  incoherence  of  his  designs,  his  want  of  grasp  on 
reality,  his  absolute  personal  nullity  as  an  administrator,  were  known  to  some 
few,  but  they  had  not  been  displayed  to  the  world  at  large.  He  had  done 
some  great  things,  he  had  conspicuously  failed  in  nothing.  Had  his  reign 
ended  before  1^,  he  would  probably  have  left  behind  him  in  popumr 
memory  the  name  of  a  great  ruler. 

But  from  this  time  his  fortune  paled.  The  repulse  of  his  intervention  on 
behalf  of  Poland  in  1863  by  the  Russian  court,  his  petulant  or  miscalculating 
inaction  during  the  Danish  war  of  the  following  year,  showed  those  to  be 
mistaken  who  nad  imagined  that  the  emperor  must  always  exercise  a  con- 
trolling power  in  Europe.  During  the  events  which  formed  the  first  stage 
in  the  consolidation  of  Germany,  his  policy  was  a  succession  of  errors.  SimiS- 
taneously  with  the  miscarriage  of  his  European  schemes,  the  enterprise  which 
he  had  undertaken  beyond  the  Atlantic,  and  which  seriously  weakened  his 
resources  at  a  time-when  concentrated  strength  alone  could  tell  on  European 
affairs,  ended  in  tragedy  and  disgrace. 

From  this  time,  though  the  outward  splendour  of  the  empire  was  undi- 
minished, there  remained  scarcely  anything  of  the  personal  prestige  which 
Napoleon  had  once  enjoyed  in  so  rich  a  measure.  He  was  no  longer  in  the 
eyes  of  Europe  or  of  his  own  country  the  profound,  self-contained  statesman 
in  whose  brain  lay  the  secret  of  coming  events;  he  was  rather  the  gambler 
whom  fortune  was  preparing  to  desert,  the  usurper  trembling  for  the  future 
of  his  dynasty  ancf  his  crown.  Premature  old  age  and  a  harassing  bodily 
ailment  began  to  incapacitate  him  for  personal  exertion.  He  sought  to  loosen 
the  reins  in  which  his  despotism  held  France,  and  to  make  a  compromise 
with  public  opinion  which  was  now  declaring  against  him.  And  although 
his  own  cooler  judgment  set  little  store  by  any  addition  of  frontier-strips  of 
alien  territory  to  France,  and  he  would  probably  have  been  best  pleased  to 
pass  the  remainder  of  his  reign  in  undisturbed  inaction,  he  deemed  it  necessary, 
after  failing  in  Mexico  had  become  inevitable,  to  seek  some  satisfaction  in 
Europe  for  the  injured  pride  of  his  country.  He  entered  into  negotiations 
with  the  king  of  Holland  for  the  cession  of  Luxemburg,  and  had  gained  his 
assent,  when  rumours  of  the  transaction  reached  the  North  German  press, 
and  the  project  passed  from  out  the  control  of  diplomatists  and  became  an 
affair  of  rival  nations.? 


FRENCH  AND  PRUSSIAN   DISPUTE   OVER  LUXEMBURG 

Luxemburg  was  a  small  province  the  western  portion  of  which  had  be- 
longed to  Belgium  since  the  revolution  of  1830,  whilst  the  eastern  portion 
formed  a  grand  duchy  belonging  to  the  king  of  Holland.  Napoleon  III 
wished  to  buy  the  ^and  duchy,  which  had  no  natural  tie  witn  Holland 
and  was  of  a  certain  importance  to  France  on  account  of  the  town  of 
Luxemburg,  which  had  been  strongly  fortified  by  Vauban;  this  fortress 
would  have  protected  a  part  of  the  French  frontier.  The  grand  duchy  had 
been  annexed  to  the  German  confederation  by  the  treaties  of  1815,  and  was 
garrisoned  by  Prussia  in  the  name  of  the  confederation.  Prussia,  having 
violated  the  treaties  and  split  up  the  confederation  in  her  war  with  Austria, 
had  no  longer  any  right  to  occupy  Luxemburg.    There  had  seemed  no  doubt 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS   PRESIDENT   AND   EMPEROR         141 
fisa?  A.D.] 

before  the  war  as  to  the  handing  over  to  France  of  thisstronp;hol(i;  thr?  fortress 
had  already  l)een  evacuated  by  the  Prussians.  Neither  after  the  war  had 
Bismarck  changed  his  tone  in  the  matter.  After  having  evaded  the  sigiung 
of  the  treaty  about  Belgium,  he  had  promised  to  oppose  the  inchision  of  Luxem- 
burg in  the  northern  confederation;  he  had  advised  the  Freneli  government 
to  treat  with  the  kmg  of  Holland  without  including  Prussia,  and  to  excite 
in  the  grancl  duchy  manifestations  which  might  be  taken  as  indicating  the 
people's  desire  to  Ix^come  French.  He  also  recomnuMuh'd  tliem  l-o  put  the 
matter  through  before  the  parliament  of  the  new  confederfition  met.  It  is 
possible  that  on  this  occasion  he  nmy  have  been  sincere. 

The  goveniment  did  not  even  understand  how  to  profit  by  this  advice 
and  act  quickly.  Bismarck's  advice  was  given  at  the  beginning  of  September; 
it  was  not  until  the  early  days  of  Febniary,  1S67,  that  Napoleon's  govern- 
ment sounded  the  Dutch  government  as  to  a  contingent  cession  of  the  grand 
duchy.  They  demanded  from  the  kii*g,  William  IH,  a  total  abandonment 
of  his  sovereign  rights,  in  consideration  of  a  sum  of  several  millions;  then  a 
vote  was  taken  among  the  populatioas.  The  i>ropagaudu  of  the  French 
agents  was  very  well  received  in  Luxemburg;  the  inliahitants,  alb(»it  the 
majority  were  German-speaking,  inelining  to  France  ratlier  than  to  Germany. 
The  idea  of  a  double  treaty  was  advanced  as  a  start.  Tlie  one  would  guaran- 
tee to  Holland  Limburg,  which,  like  Luxemburg,  had  lxH*n  united  to  the 
German  confedemtion,  and  which  Holland  dn'aded  to  have  claimed  by 
Germany;  a  defensive  alliance  willi  France  would  thus  be  assured  to  Holland. 
The  other  treaty  would  cede  Luxemburg  to  the  French. 

Hatl  there  not  followed  ho  nuich  tlelay  the  French  would  have  been  taken 
at  their  word.  But  thei-e  was  general  hesitation.  The  royal  family  was 
divided  as  to  the  [Kiliey  of  an  alliance.  Doubts  were  entertained  t\s  to  the 
emperor's  health  and  the  future  of  his  dynasty.  Then,  too,  gn^at  unerisi- 
ness  was  felt  at  the  seemingly  equiv^jcal  attitude  of  Prussia,  who  continually 
increased  the  strength  of  her  armaments.  Bismarck  at  Berlin,  and  Cioltz, 
the  ambassador  at  Paris,  reiterated  tfieir  advice  for  prompt  and  direct  treat- 
ing Ix^tween  France  and  Holland,  It  is  true  that  Bismarck  did  nut  bind  liim- 
setf  by  any  direct  promise,  and  his  king  still  less;  however,  tlie  king  of  Prussia 
had  the  appearance  of  also  allowing  France  to  make  her  own  arrang(>ments 
with  the  king  of  Holland.  But  the  attitude  of  the  press,  the  army,  and  the 
Prussian  diplomats,  beyond  the  Rhine,  became  more  and  more  spiteful  and 
provoking  towards  France  at  this  time. 

It  was  while  all  this  was  going  on  that  the  stormy  sittings  of  the  legislative 
body  took  place,  anti  the  publication  of  the  secret  treaties  between  I'russia 
and  South  Gennany.  This  alannetl  the  king  of  Holland.  He  projwsed  that 
the  question  of  the  ceding  of  Luxemburg  should  be  sul^mitted  to  the  powers 
tliat  had  signed  the  treaty  of  1839,  and  had  tletinitely  settled  the  dispute 
between  France  and  B(»lgium.  Themfore  the  French  government  tried  to 
obtain  the  direct  coasent  of  the  king  of  Prussia  to  the  cession,  but  did  not 
succeed.  The  Prussian  government  maintained  its  attitude  of  n^sen'e;  but 
the  new  parliament  of  northern  Germany^  that  is  to  aay  the  Prussian  majority 
which  dominated  it,  did  not  show  the  same  reserve.  This  majority  showed 
itself  most  violent  and  arrogant  towartls  the  representatives  of  Frankfort 
and  the  other  annexed  countries,  for  the  strongest  reasons  very  hostile  to 
France.  Impenitive  questions  had  l^een  framed  as  to  whether  Luxemburg 
and  Liraburg  were  to  remain  united  to  Germany. 

The  king  of  Holland,  on  his  side,  put  the  question  to  the  king  of  PriLssia. 
To  him,  as  t>o  France,  an  equivocal  answer  was  given.    However,  the  reply 


142 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRANCE 


[1907  A.D.] 

was  interpreted  in  the  sense  that  haste  must  be  nuide  to  bring  tlie  iimtter  to 
a  conclusion.  Finally  the  king  of  Holland  acceded  to  the  proposals  made 
by  France  and  signified  the  same  to  the  emperor  by  his  son,  the  prince  of 
Orange,  on  the  30th  of  March.  The  two  acts  of  guarantee  and  of  cession  were 
on  the  point  of  t)eing  signed,  when  the  Dutcli  minister,  Van  Zuylen,  detected 
an  irregularity  and  demanded  that  the  signature  should  be  postponed  till  the 
morrow. 

In  Paris  the  decisive  despatch  was  awaited  in  all  confidence.  In  place 
of  the  representative  of  the  king  of  Holland,  it  was  Herr  von  der  Goltz,the 
Prussian  ambassador,  who  presented  himself  at  the  house  of  the  French 
foreign  minister.  He  had  hurried  to  Moustier  to  urge  him  to  break  off  all 
negotiations,  l>ecause  the  transaction,  as  he  pretended  to  have  foreseen,  was, 
he  said,  presenting  the  worst  possible  aspect  to  Germany.  As  a  fact  Goltz 
had  always  represented  the  transaction  to  Paris  as  assured,  and  had  not 
ceased  and  to  the  end  did  not  cease  to  play  a  double  game.  In  Paris,  he  was 
the  friend  of  France  and  on  an  intimate  footing  at  the  Tuileries,  attentively 
listened  to,  and,  alx>ve  all,  an  attentive  listener,  surprising  the  badly  kept 
secrets  of  the  court;  in  his  correspondence  with  Berlin,  he  was  the  enemy  of 
France  and  in  connivance  with  the  war  party. 

Indignant  and  astonished,  Moustier  replied  that  he  came  too  late,  that 
the  French  hail  been  decoyed  into  a  trap,  but  that  they  would  not  draw  back. 
There  is  every  evidence  that  the  "irregularity"  which  ha^l  (Jelayed  the  sign- 
ing of  the  double  treaty  was  not  an  accidental  one,  and  that  Prussia  had 
checked  the  king  of  Holland  by  promising  on  behalf  of  Germany  to  renounce 
all  claims  over  Limburg  on  condition  of  Luxemburg  not  being  ceded  to 
France. 

During  this  time  Bismarck  was  addressing  recriminations  to  the  French 
ambassador,  Benedetti,  in  which,  according  to  his  usual  practice,  he  inverted 
their  respective  rfiles.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  if  the  negotiations  had  been 
more  rapiilly  opened  anil  concludetl  he  would  have  claimed  his  share  of  credit 
in  them.  But  he  was  now  pressed  between  the  equally  warlike  Prussian 
military  party  on  the  one  side  and  the  parliament  of  the  northern  confedera- 
tion on  the  other,  and,  knowing  that  Germany  was  ready  and  that  France 
was  not,  he  asked  nothing  better  than  to  involve  France  in  a  quarrel. 

On  the  1st  of  April,  Bennigsen,  leader  of  the  national  liberal  party,  which 
had  become  the  devoted  instrument  of  Bismarck,  re^nved  the  questions  ad- 
dressed to  this  minister  on  the  subject  of  Luxemburg,  and  demanded  war  in 
preference  to  allowing  ''a  prince  of  a  German  race  (the  king  of  Holland)  to 
trafHc  in  a  country  of  German  origin  anfi  sympathies."  These  pretended 
German  syrnpathies  were  not  at  the  moment  manifesting  themselves  in  Lux- 
emburg, except  by  popular  demonstrations  in  favour  of  union  with  France — 
demonstrations  which  the  Prussian  governor  of  the  fortress  lamented  bitterly. 

Bismarck's  reply  to  Bennigsen  was  measured  as  to  its  form:  he  would  not 
for  the  world  have  the  air  of  provoking  the  French  government;  but,  as  a 
fact,  he  sheltered  himself  behind  public  opinion  and  the  parliament,  which 
was  the  mouthpiece  of  that  opinion.  The  sense  of  his  reply  was,  indeed,  that 
Luxemburg  ought  not  to  be  given  cither  to  the  northern  confederation  or  to 
France,  but  not,  however,  that  it  should  be  evacuated  by  Prussia.  Without 
explicitly  sa>Tng  so,  he  was  awaiting  an  opportunity  to  claim  for  Prussia  a 
pretended  right  of  garrison  which  he  intended  to  extract  from  the  convention 
of  the  Gre^t  Powers  in  1839.  He  brgjin  again  to  protect  his  good  intentions 
to  Napoleon  III:  but  at  the  same  time  that  the  minister  at  the  Hague  in- 
sisted on  the  signing  of  the  treaty,  and  that  the  king  of  Holland  seemed  on 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON    AS   PRESIDENT   AND    EMPEROR         143 

[1807  A,D.] 

the  point  of  acquiescing,  the  Prussian  minister  at  the  Hague  received  orders 
to  announce  to  the  Dutch  govomnicnt  that  the  Prussian  government  would 
be  driven  by  pubhc  opinion  to  consi<ler  the  ceding  of  Luxemburg  as  a  decla- 
ration of  war. 

The  Prussian  troops  were  already  massing  themselves  on  the  Dutch 
frontier,  with  the  evident  intention  of  ignoring  the  Belgian  neutrality.  Hol- 
land thereupon  drew  back,  and  did  not  sign  tlie  treaties.  It  was  a  humili- 
ating check  for  Napoleon  III,  crowning  the  series  of  diplomatic  defeats 
which  began  on  the  morrow  of  Sadowa. 

The  minister  for  foreign  affairs  did  not  sit  still  under  the  blow.  Moustier 
was  a  judicious  and  skilful  diplomatist  who  merited  association  with  a  differ- 
ent government.  He  made  great  efforts  to  palliate  this  reverse  and  to  help 
France  to  make  a  dignified  exit  from  the  position  into  which  she  had  been 
beguiled.  Moustier  knew  that  she  was  not  in  a  position  to  have  recourse  to 
arras;  though  the  war  minister,  Marshal  Niel,  in  public  uttered  the  contrary 
opinion,  in  the  cabinet  he  was  the  first  actively  to  discountenance  the  taking 
of  the  offensive. 

Since  Sadowa  Prussia  had  completely  re-organised  her  forces,  and  now. 
with  her  northern  confederation,  could  command  close  upon  nine  hmidred 
thousand  men;  and  this  irrespective  of  the  engagements  towards  her  under- 
taken by  the  southern  states.  The  French  had  not  half  this  number  at  their 
dis)x>sal.  Their  forts  were  in  the  worst  possible  state;  their  magazines 
empty.  A  circular  of  Bismarck's,  ilerogatory  to  all  the  iiiploniatic  propri- 
eties, dragged  the  emperor  personally  into  the  matter.  He  pretpn<.led  that 
the  emperor  had  been  forced  into  war  in  spite  of  himself,  and  represented 
Prussia  as  all  for  peace  and  France  as  only  thirsting  for  war.  Napoleon  III, 
who  had  not  moved  when  he  might  and  should  have  moved,  had  been  on  the 
point  of  hurling  himself  into  action  when  it  was  too  lat«;  but  Moustinr  and 
Niel  succeeded  in  preventing  him  from  yielding  to  the  calculated  provoca- 
tions of  Berlin.  Moustier  employed  n  most  ingenious  ruse.  He  inuintained 
the  vaJiditv  of  the  king  of  Holland's  pledges^  but  left  the  question  of  the 
cession  of  lauxemburg  m  suspense,  antl  referred  to  the  powers  wlitch  had 
signed  the  treaty  of  1839  the  question  of  Prussia's  pretended  right  to  garrison. 

On  April  26th  Bismarck  resigned  himself  to  giving  the  consent  ilenianded 
from  him  by  the  Russian  ambassador  to  open  negotiations  in  London,  having 
the  neutrality  of  Luxemburg  as  their  object.  Neutrality,  guaranteed  by  the 
Eurofx^an  powers,  implied  evacuation.  This  made  the  Prussian  press  shout 
more  loudly  for  war.  Not  only  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  but  Holland  aLso,  were 
now  coveted.  Bismarck,  accaseti  by  the  war  party  of  mwieration,  some- 
times flung  away,  sometimes  clung  to  his  daily  papers.  He  delayed  by  sev- 
eral days  the  opening  of  the  negotiationSj  through  his  claims  aufi  acquire- 
ments as  to  the  formalities  of  the  conference  and  the  securities  resulting  from 
it.  Russia  inten'cned  in  this  matter  between  Prussia  and  England,  and  the 
conference  at  last  took  [jlace  in  London  on  May  7th.  While  the  negotiations 
were  in  process  Bismarck  made  fresh  efforts  to  goa^l  France  into  some  im- 
prudent action  by  his  aggravating  conduct. 

The  French  minister  did  not  however  fall  into  the  trap,  and  the  treaty 
for  the  neutralisation  of  Luxemburg  was  signeil  on  the  16th  of  May,  Bia- 
marck  executed  a  brusque  about-face.  The  Prussian  official  organs  had 
orders  to  alter  their  tone.  Napoleon,  whon^  the  evening  before  they  had 
insulted,  they  now  covered  with  flowers,  and  they  announced  the  imf>entling 
visit  of  King  William  to  the  Universal  Exhibition.  On  the  14th  of  May,  1867, 
Moustier  communicated  the  treaty  to  the  chambers.    The  neutralised  grand 


U4  THE  HISTORY  OF  FEANCE 

[1800-1870  A.x>.] 

duchy  of  Lxixemburg  remained  under  the  sovereignty  of  Holland.  The 
Prussian  government  pledged  itself  to  evacuate  the  fortress,  and  the  king 
grand  duke  was  to  see  that  it  was  dismantled.  The  Prussians  did  effect  a 
military  but  not  a  commercial  evacuation  of  Luxemburg.  The  ties  between 
the  grand  duchy  and  the  German  ZoUverein  were  not  severed.^ 

NEW  FRICTION  WITH  PRUSSIA 

By  the  superiority  of  its  army  Prussia  had  attained  the  preponderance  in 
Europe  and  was  preparing  the  complete  unity  of  Germany.  The  other  great 
powers  were  not  resigned  to  these  two  revolutions,  which  were  a  menace  to 
the  old  European  balance  of  power.  But  Austria  was  discouraged,  England 
powerless,  the  czar  pacific.  France  alone  believed  herself  strong  enough  to 
stop  Prussia  and  re-establish  her  own  preponderance.  Opinion  nad  become 
bluntly  hostile  to  German  unity.  In  Prussia  the  national  pride,  exalted  by 
success,  manifested  itself  in  tlireats  against  the  "hereditary  enemy."  But 
on  both  sides  these  belligerent  sentiments  were  counterbalanced  by  the  fear 
of  a  war  which  all  could  foresee  would  be  terrible. 

Secret  negotiations  were  carried  on,  the  extent  of  which  haa  been  vari- 
ously estimated,  but  which  did  not  accomplish  any  practical  result.  The 
occasion  was  the  affair  of  the  Belgian  railways  which  had  been  purchased 
by  the  French  eastern  company.  The  Belgian  government  interdicted  the 
sale  (February,  1869) ;  the  French  government  attributed  this  check  to  Bis- 
marck. Napoleon,  in  irritation,  proposed  to  Austria  and  Italy  a  triple 
alliance  to  stop  the  encroachments  of  Prussia  and  restore  to  Austria  her 
position  in  Germany  (March).  The  negotiation  was  conducted  between  the 
ambassadors.  Austria  accepted  a  defensive  alliance,  but  reserved  the  right 
to  remain  neutral  if  France  should  be  obliged  to  begin  war  (April),  llie 
Italians  demanded  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops  from  Rome;  they 
were  satisfied  with  Napoleon's  promise  to  withdraw  them  as  soon  as  possible, 
but  when  it  came  to  the  ratification  of  the  project,  the  Italian  ministry 
demanded  evacuation  and  a  declaration  that  France  recognised  the  principle 
of  non-intervention.  Negotiations  were  suspended,  the  three  sovereigns 
merely  promising  to  conclude  no  alliance  without  previous  notice.  Then 
Napoleon  accepted  a  parliamentary  ministry  whose  head,  Ollivier,  had  de- 
clared in  favour  of  peace  and  conciliation  with  Germany.  This  ministry 
took  up  again  (January,  1870)  the  project  of  giving  security  to  Europe  by 
bringing  about  the  disarmament  of  both  France  and  Prussia;  England 
agreed  to  transmit  the  proposal.  France  offered  to  diminish  her  military 
contingent  by  ten  thousand  men.  Bismarck  refused  on  the  ground  that  the 
reorganisation  of  Prussia  made  any  disarmament  impossible." 

THE  MINISTRY  OF  OLLIVIER 

When  Emile  Ollivier  rose  to  power,  he  brought  with  him  men  who  had 
long  been  considered  members  of  the  opposition;  the  best  known  of  these 
was  Buffet.  The  party  which  had  formed  the  imperial  government  was  set 
aside.  Everjrthing  seemed  changed.  The  so-called  li&ral  royalists,  the 
Orleanists,  rose  in  a  body.  All  the  staff  of  1830  reappeared  in  the  official 
salons.  An  attempt  was  going  to  be  made  to  carry  on  the  government  of 
the  2nd  of  Decemoer  by  the  methods  of  Louis  Philippe. 

Suddenly  a  sinister  piece  of  news  was  announced.  Pierre  Bonaparte,  a 
cousin  of  the  emperor,  living  at  Auteuil,  had  challenged  Henri  Rochefort 


LOUIS    NAPOLEON   AS   PRESIDENT   AND   EMPEROR         145 

[1870  A.D.} 

to  fight  a  duel.  The  journalist-deputy  had  sent  him  his  seconds,  Ulrich  de 
Fonvielle  and  Victor  Noir;  the  lalttr,  who  was  quite  young,  was  a  rising  and 
very  popular  journalist.  The  two  seconds  went  to  the  prince's  house  at 
Autetul.  Suddenly  shots  were  heard,  I'lrieh  de  Fonvielle  rushed  out  of  the 
house,  and  the  corpse  of  Victor  Noir  bathed  in  blood  was  seen  lying  before 
the  door.  Pierre  Bonaparte  had  fired  on  the  seconds  sent  by  Rochefort. 
The  public  indignation  was  extreme.  The  funeral  took  phice  on  the  twelfth. 
Beneath  a  sullen  grey  sky  a  sombre  crowd  of  two  hundred  thousand  persons 
passed  along  the  streets  of  Neuilly,  following  the  corpse  to  the  cemeter>% 
and  returned  to  Paris  in  a  long  procession  through  the  Champs-Elys<^,  sing- 
ing the  Marseillaise  and  led  by  Rochefort.  Tln^  governnuint  had  called  out 
the  troops,  and  a  tritte  would  have  sufficed  to  turn  that  day  into  one  of  revo- 
lution or  of  a  terrible  massacre.  WTien 
the  crowd  reachetl  the  place  di^  la  Con- 
corde, where  the  j^oHce  were  drawn  up, 
it  dL'^pers<Ml  on  the  advice  of  those  who 
luul  most  influence  over  it. 

Soon  afterwards,  Pierre  Bonaparte, 
who  was  tried  by  a  six^cial  court  (the  high 
court  of  Toursl .  was  acquitted.  The  deatli 
of  Victor  Noir  anil  the  ac<|uittal  of  Prince 
Pierre  formed  an  inauspicious  opening  for 
the  liberal  empire.  However,  the  decree 
was  t)eing  prepared  which  was  to  make 
known  what  reforms  had  been  inade  in 
the  constitution  in  the  interests  of  lib- 
erty. These  reforms  went  no  further 
than  giving  the  senate  and  the  legisla- 
tive body  the  right  of  taking  the  in- 
itiative in  matters  of  legislation;  fixing 
the  categories  whence  the  emperor  might 
draw  the  new  senators;  regulating  the 
order  of  succession  to  the  throne;  and  de- 
ciding that  any  change  in  the  constitution 
should  be  made  by  a  plebiscite.  To  begin  with,  the  decree  itself  was  to  be 
submitted  to  the  vote  of  a  plebiscite  on  imiversal  sufTragt?. 

The  nature  of  these  refoniis  alienated  from  the  lib<*ral  empire  some  of  those 
who  were  inclined  to  support  it,  and  led  to  the  resignation  of  two  ministers, 
of  whom  one  was  Buffet.  Nothing  seemed  to  them  more  opposed  to  liberty 
than  the  im|)erial  plebiscites;  that  is,  the  popular  vote  on  a  i|U(^Htion  pnjposfd 
by  the  emperor.  The  people  coukl  only  say  yes  or  no,  and  no  meant  a  revo- 
lution. It  was  equivalent  to  putting  the  government  into  the  hands  of  one 
man.  So  nothing  was  really  changed  and  the  government  was  still  a  [XTsonal 
government.  After  heated  debates,  in  the  course  of  which  Gaml^etta  de- 
fivered  what  was  perhaps  his  most  eloquent  speech,  the  plebiscite  was  pro- 
ceeded with.  The  empire,  so  to  speak,  put  itself  to  the  vote.  There  were 
7.500,000  affinnative  against  1,/)00.(KH)  negative  votes.  The  public  consiileriMl 
that  the  empire  was  finnly  established^  and  it  was  destined  to  fall  in  two 
months  and  four  days!  The  government  had  perhaps  a  clearer  insight.  To 
Bsk  of  the  peace-loving  people  who  compose  the  nuiss  of  the  country,  **  Yes 
or  No,  do  you  wish  to  overthrow  me?"  is  a  sure  way  of  gaining  the  vot^es  of 
many  people^  whose  support  in  time  of  peril  would  be  more  than  doubtful. 
Only  determmed  and  invincible  euemiea  will  vote  against  you.    In  fact,  a 

a.  w.— vuu.  xiu.  i4 


£mix.8  OLLmXR 


U6  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1870  ▲.!>.] 

million  and  a  half  contrary  votes  out  of  a  total  of  9,000,000  was  a  large  per- 
centage. It  is  said  that  the  emperor  was  very  aiupous  about  the  votes  of 
the  army,  which  had  included  a  great  many  noes. 

CAUSE  OF  THE  FRANCO-PRXTSSIAN  WAR 

The  plebiscite  had  the  most  unexpected  results  —  the  imperial  govern- 
ment determined  to  seek  in  victory  the  power  it  had  lost.  The  idea  was  to 
render  the  dynasty  strong  enough  to  ensure  to  the  son  the  inheritance  of  his 
father's  empire.  "This  is  my  war,"  said  the  empress.  So  the  conflict  be- 
tween France  and  Prussia,  which  had  been  threatening  Europe  for  four  years, 
broke  out.  The  immediate  cause  was  as  follows:  There  haid  been  a  revolu- 
tion in  Spain^  and  Queen  Isabella  had  been  expelled.  General  Prim,  how- 
ever, had  no  mtention  of  establishing  a  republic,  and  soon  it  became  known 
that  the  crown  had  been  offered  to  a  HohenzoUem,  a  prince  of  the  Prussian 
royal  fam^.  This  would  be  a  most  unacceptable  addition  to  the  power  of 
Prussia.  France  protested.*  Prussia  gave  way  and  the  prince  renounced 
the  crown,  or  rather  his  father  renounced  it  for  him. 

The  whole  affair  seemed  ended  when  suddenly  a  rumour  was  spread  that 
the  king  of  Prussia  had  grossly  insulted  the  French  ambassador,  Benedetti. 
The  king  had  refused  to  receive  him.  This  was  stated  on  the  authority  of 
a  German  paper.«  Benedetti  had  been  sent  to  wring  from  the  Prussian  king, 
at  Ems,  not  only  a  promise  that  the  prince  should  not  take  the  Spanish  crown, 
but  also  a  positive  order  forbidding  him  to  do  so.  This  was  too  humiliating 
to  endure,  and  the  king  refused.  Benedetti  was  then  sent  to  demand  a  per- 
sonal letter  of  good  will  to  France.  William,  angered,  refused  to  receive  him 
at  all.  An  orm  tradition  states  that  the  king's  lanmiage  was  such,  according 
to  Seignobos,"  that  no  one  would  even  dare  to  publish  it.<» 

The  French  ministers,  fimile  Ollivier  and  Gramont,  declared  in  the  chamber 
that  war  was  necessary.  Thiers  and  the  republicans  strongly  protested.  In 
the  midst  of  the  tumtut  they  repeated  that  France  should  have  satisfaction, 
and  demanded  the  telegram '  in  which  her  ambassador  stated  that  he  had  been 
insulted.  The  majority  overwhelmed  them  with  abuse,  especially  Thiers,  who 
persisted  energetically  in  his  protests.  They  called  him  "^migr4!"  and 
"traitor!"  amid  scenes  of  incredible  violence  and  disorder.  Commissioners 
were  appointed  who  alone  were  to  ask  and  hear  the  necessary  explana- 
tions. They  returned,  asserting  that  they  had  seen  evidence  that  war  was 
inevitable  and  declaring  that  the  army  was  in  a  good  state.  It  was  proved 
later  that  they  had  seen  nothing  at  ail.  Marshal  Leboeuf,  when  asked,  "Is 
the  army  ready?"  replied:  "There  is  not  so  much  as  the  button  of  a  gaiter 
wanting."    The  war  was  voted. 

Bismarck  had  led  France  to  the  point  he  wished.  Thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  wretched  state  of  her  army,  and  knowing  what  passions  and  what 
interests  at  the  Tuileries  would  be  sure  to  urge  on  a  war,  he  had  been  suf- 
ficiently artful  to  persuade  the  king  of  Prussia  to  yield  to  her  on  one  point 
after  another,  so  as  to  incite  her  government  to  declare  war,  after  having, 
in  tiie  eyes  of  Europe,  deprived  her  of  all  reasonable  pretexts  for  such  a  course.* 

'  It  was  said  that  France  could  not  tolerate  the  Tevival  of  the  empire  of  Charles  V.  The 
Gennans  protested  that  the  sovereignty  was  a  private  familv  affair  of  tae  HohenzoUems. 

[*  It  is  now  definitely  known  that  Bismarck  himself  had  this  telegram  sent,  and  suppressed 
certun  modifying  words  purely  for  the  purpose  of  goading  France  to  make  the  first  declaration 
of  war.] 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  FRANCO-PRUSSIAN  WAR 

[1870-1871  A.D.] 

Tbe  cmtastrophe  of  1870  seemed  to  those  who  witnessed  It  to  tell 
of  more  than  the  vilenoss  of  aii  admiultitration  ;  in  Kugluxid,  ixft  lesN 
than  in  Oermany,  voicefi  of  influence  Rpoke  of  ttie  doom  timt  had 
overtaken  the  depravity  of  a  sunken  nation  ;  of  the  triumph  of  f^lmple 
manlineHR,  of  l^od-fearing  virtue  itself,  in  the  victories  of  the  iJcrmaa 
army.  There  may  have  been  truth  in  thift ;  yet  it  would  require  a 
nic*e  moral  discernment  to  appraise  the  exact  degeneracy  of  the  French 
of  18T0  from  the  French  of  1854  who  hambled  Rushia,  or  from  the 
French  of  1869  who  triumphed  at  Solferino ;  and  it  would  need  a  very 
comprehennve  acquaintance  with  the  lower  forms  of  human  pleasure 
to  judge  in  what  degree  the  sinfulness  of  Paris  cxcocda  tlio  sinfulness 
of  Berlin.  Had  tbe  French  been  as  strict  a  race  as  the  Spartans  who 
fell  at  Thormopyla?,  as  devout  as  the  Tyrolese  who  perished  at 
Badowa.  it  is  quite  certain  that,  with  the  numbers  which  took  the 
field  against  Uennany  in  IHld^  with  Napoleon  111  at  the  head  of  affairs 
and  the  actual  generals  of  1870  in  conunand,  the  armies  of  France 
could  not  have  esca}>ed  destruction. 

The  main  cause  of  the  disparity  of  France  and  Germany  in  1870 
was  in  truth  that  Prussia  had  hod  from  1862  to  1866  a  government  so 
fTtn>ng  as  to  be  able  to  force  upon  its  subjects  its  own  gigantic  scheme 
of  military  orgauisatloa  in  denancc  of  the  votes  of  parUament  and  of 
the  national  will,  —  Fyffe.* 


It  might  be  asked  if  any  nation  has  the  right  to  say  to  another  nation: 
"You  shall  not  place  such  and  such  a  person  at  your  head  because  it  is  con- 
trary to  my  interests."  Doubtless  not,  if  the  principles  of  int-ernational  right 
are  strictly  observed.  But  in  practice  this  veti)  has  oeen  frequently  exercised 
under  the  old  regime  and  since  the  Revolution.  It  was  used  in  1815  against 
Napoleon  and  all  the  members  of  his  family ;  in  1&30  against  the  duke  de  Ne- 
mours, elected  king  of  the  Belgians  by  the  congress.  The  imperial  govern- 
ment was  in  fact  justified  tn  opposing  an  election  that  it  considered  tlangeroua 
lo  itaelf.    But  was  this  danger  worth  avoiding  at  the  risk  of  war  with  Ger- 

i-47 


148  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

(1870  A.D.] 

many?    A  serious  qufestion  this,  that  could  only  be  answered  by  casting  a 
glance  at  the  respective  positions  of  the  different  European  states. 

The  time  had  gone  by  when  France  was  cited  as  the  most  considerable  of 
the  European  powers,  when  the  vast  German  Confederation  represented 
only  inert  strength  and  when  neither  Italy  nor  Germany  existed.  The  past 
sixteen  years  had  seen  many  changes.  United  Italy  and  United  Germany 
now  formed  two  states  of  the  first  rank  to  the  east  and  southeast  of  France, 
and  Austria  was  no  longer  a  counterbalance  to  the  aggrandisement  of  Prussia. 
These  changes  were  enoi^h  to  engage  the  serious  attention  of  the  imperial 
government.  France — with  England  in  the  north,  Prussia  in  the  east,  and 
Italy  in  the  southeast,  three  not  very  reliable  friends — had  had  till  now  noth- 
ing to  fear  on  her  southwestern  frontier;  for  it  was  not  probable  that  in  case 
of  war  Spain  would  go  against  her.  Would  matters  be  the  same  after  the 
realisation  of  Prim's  plan?  With  a  HohenzoUem  on  the  Spanish  throne 
would  not  France  be  ooliged  in  cade  of  war  to  keep  a  standing  army  of  one 
hundred  thousand  men  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees?  This  contingency 
threatened  the  interests  of  France  too  much  for  her  government  to  neglect 
making  great  efforte  to  obtain  the  abandonment  of  the  candidature  of  Prince 
LeopoW  of  HohenzoUem.  Doubtless  Napoleon  III  could  have  attained  his 
end  had  he  simply  submitted  the  question  to  the  great  powers  in  diplomatic 
form,  but  it  was  evident  from  the  beginning  of  this  question  that  the  emperor 
had  two  ends  in  view :  that  of  suppressing  the  candidature,  and  that  of  ob- 
taining a  moral  advantage  over  his  adversary — in  fact,  of  humiliating  him. 


THE  PREPAREDNESS  OF  FRANCE 

Was  France  as  ready  as  the  minister  of  war  had  said?  The  Situatum  de 
VEmpitf,  distributed  among  the  deputies  the  1st  of  November,  1869,  is  the 
best  answer  to  this  question, 

Tliis  dwimient  gi\*es  the  effecti\'e  of  the  army  on  the  1st  of  October  as 
follows:  Homo  troops,  350,000  men;  Algiers,  64,000  men;  Papal  States,  5,000 
men;  total,  434,000  men,  from  which  must  be  deducted  men  absent  for  lea\-e 
for  \*arious  causes,  about  one  hundred  thousand  of  whom  would  reduce  the 
available  nmnber  to  325,000.  The  effective  of  thereser\-e  was  212,000  in  all, 
for  the  standing  army,  and  the  resen-e  617,000  men.  The  mobile  national 
Kuard>  whose  duty  it  was  to  defend  the  fortresses  and  the  interior,  included 
n\"e  ciassetit,  of  wfiich  the  effect  i\'e  amoxmted  to  560,000  men.  These  added 
to  the  regulars  and  the  reser\-es  gskxe,  on  paper,  a  grand  total  of  1,200,000 
li|^ting  nten,  but  on  the  lists  were  a  largp  nunaber  of  non-capables.  The 
mobile  national  guanls  tiid  not  know  how  to  use  a  gun,  and  the  organisation 
of  the  staffs  i»*as  in  a  ^Tl^l•  primitiNT  stagp.  At  the  beginning  of  the  campaign. 
the  emperor  could  only  rely  on  the  standing  army  and  the  resen-e,  forming 
an  effectiNT  of  547,000  nien,  acconling  to  tfe  Situation  de  l Empire:  but  ac- 
ctmling  to  the  war  office,  642.000.  from  which  must  be  deducted  the  75.000 
\t>unc:  soldiejs  of  the  1S69  contingent  who  were  not  incorporated  until  the 

1st  IM  AllgUf^t. 

The  numlvr  of  men  at  the  immediate  disposition  of  the  govenrntent  was 
567.000:  393,500  with  the  fla^:  61.000  ex-«okiieis  in  the  resenv  ha\-ing  on 
an  a\^rHK^  four  nKmths*  drill  m  the  barracks,  but  who.  for  the  gneater  part, 
hail  not  had  sufficient  time  to  familiari^  themsehres  with  the  hamiling  of 
the  dboji^ar/HV.^    The  total  of  393.500  men  with  the  flag  fun&ished  by  the  war 

i^  TW  rifc—M/if  «»  « tw«cfcfcwitiiy  rifle  whidk  hmd  bcctt  ncvsttr  iuMilaoni'] 


^^^^^  THE    FKAKCO-FRUSSIAN    WAR  140 

[1870  A.D.] 

office  had  been  formally  contested  by  Le  Constiiutionnel  on  the  morning  of 
the  plebiscite.  It  wiis  in  vain  that  the  government  organ,  Le  Peuple  Frarvrais, 
invoked  against  the  assertions  of  its  fellow  journal  "our  admirable  rules  of 
accounts  which  do  not  admit  of  fictitious  expenses  figuring  on  the  budget." 
Very  little  trust  was  placed  in  these  imaginary  rules  when  it  was  seen  that 
immense  sxmis,  such  as  those  expended  for  experiments  in  the  workshops  of 
Meudon,  and  for  the  construction  tif  official  n^sidences  Hir  marshals  at  the 
centres  of  the  great  military  commands,  had  been  8f>ent  without  leaving 
any  trace  in  the  budget.  The  government  cut  short  the  polemic  between 
Le  ConsiUxUionnel  and  Le  Petiple  FraTu^xiis  on  this  delicate  question.  But 
it  was  none  the  less  proved,  even  in  admitting  the  exactitude  of  the  min- 
isterial statement  as  to  the  number  of  men  with  the  flag,  that  the  total  number 
of  forces  that  France  could  bring  into  the  fieki  in  the  first  months  of  the  war 
would  not  exceed  567,000,  from  which  it  was  necessarv  to  deduct  36,000 
tabfiont  from  the  ranks,  including  those  undergoing  punishment,  those  in  the 
temount  department,  with  the  ambulance  corps,  13.000  of  the  amied  police, 
2S,000  in  military  depots,  78,000  in  garrison  in  the  fortresses,  50,0(X)  in  Algiers 
— that  is,  231,0fHl  for  the  interior  and  Algiers.  There  remaine<l  336,fKX)  men 
to  oppose  the  500,0(.)0  whom  Fnissia  could  bring  into  the  field  at  tiie  beginning 
of  hostilities.  Nevertheless,  Marshal  Lcba'uf  continually  repeated  that  the 
army  was  quite  n^uly.  Tliis  inexplicable  and  UiUil  lu^surance  caused  despair 
to  those  who  knew  the  truth  and  who  vainly  did  all  they  could  t^  make  it 
known.c 

The  eminent  field-marshal  \'on  Moltke  ^  estimates  the  French  army  as  not 
more  than  about  three  hundn.Ml  thousand  men,  who  intended  U*  make  sur(>rise 
attacks  on  various  portions  of  Prussia,  but  who  were  prevented  by  impos- 
sibilities of  transportation,  and  com|)elIed  to  fight  on  their  own  soil  and  in 
great  disorganisiition  and  unfitness  for  the  field.  He  setvS  the  CJerman  force 
at  a  total  of  484,000,  of  which  100,000  wei-e  not  for  the  first  three  weeks 
available  owing  to  the  lack  of  transportation  facilities.  Von  Moltke  describes 
his  guiding  principles  as  a  determination  to  keep  his  forces  compact  and 
numerically  superior  wherever  engagCHl,  and  to  strike  for  the  heart  of  France 
— Paris. 

Fuller  details  of  the  Prussian  side  of  the  war  will  be  found  in  the  late  vol- 
ume of  (Jernmn  histor>'.  The  swift  movement  of  tfie  unprepared  French 
troops  was  not  permitted  to  upset  V<;^n  Moltke  s  plans,  nor  the  first  minor 
French  success  to  cause  any  discouragement  in  the  great  victor>'  planned  so 
long  and  with  a  scientific  completeness  that  has  since  remained  as  the  model 
for  modern  warfare.** 

OPENING   OF  THE   WAR    (JULY,    1870) 

On  the  20th  of  July,  Ollivter  reari  before  the  legislature  the  declaration 
of  war.  The  enthusiasm  had  already  begim  to  abate.  Tlir  tnajftrity  re- 
mained silent.  In  the  evening  a  large  crowrl  of  men  descended  to  the  place 
de  la  Bastille,  crying:  **  Vwe  la  pais!"  A  struggle  occurred  on  the  boulevard 
Bonne-Nouvelle  between  thus  party  anrl  the  crowtl  who  were  crying  **  A 
'BerlinV    The  police  Intervenea  and  made  several  arrests. 

The  emperor  conferred  the  regency  on  the  empress  as  in  1859  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war  with  Italy.  But  under  what  different  circumstances! 
In  1859  Napoleon  III  had  left  the  Tuileries  in  an  open  carriage  in  the  miflst 
of  an  enthusiastic,  ardent  crowd  who  greeted  him  with  acclamations  for  the 
first  and  last  time  since  the  n^-establishment  of  the  empire.  In  1870,  on 
July  28th,  he  left  St.  Cloud,  going  round  Paris  without  entering  it,  and  taking 


150  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[uno  A.i>.] 
the  route  to  Metz.  He  dared  not  at  this  solemn  moment  face  the  people, 
who,  he  pretended,  had  forced  him  into  the  war.  He  was  even  then  out  of 
the  fight,  in  spirit  as  well  as  in  body,  and  seemed  to  have  a  presentiment  that 
he  would  never  retum.« 

Enga^mente  between  outposte  ajxd  scouting  parties  had  already  begun 
on  July  19th,  They  were  particularly  severe  at  Saarbriicken  on  August  2nd, 
where  1,000  men  (1  battalion  of  fusiliers  and  3  squadrons  of  ukms)  were 
stationed  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  von  Pestel.  In  order  to  reconnoitre  the 
strength  of  the  enemy  and  to  be  able  to  send  a  telegram  of  victory  to  the 
impatient  Parisians,  Napoleon  commanded  the  advance  of  General  Frossard's 
coros  and  began  on  the  2nd  of  August  the  so-called  battle  of  Saarbrttcken 
with  30,000  men  a^inst  1,000.  The  latter  were  commanded  on  that  day  by 
General  Count  Gneisenau.  Napoleon  himself  and  his  son  were  present  during 
this  engagement,  Napoleon  desiring  to  judge  for  himself  the  superiority  of 
the  chaissepots  and  the  effectiveness  of  the  mitrailleuses.  The  French,  being 
massed  on  the  heights  of  Spicheren  which  surround  the  left  side  of  the  vaDey 
of  the  Saar,  opened  fire  witn  23  ^uns  on  the  unfortified  town  and  the  troops 
b^an  to  advance.  General  Gneisenau  withdrew  in  order,  after  three  hours' 
resistance,  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Saar,  and  went  into  bivouac  several  miles 
northwest  of  Saarbriicken,  having  placed  a  small  force  at  the  town  of  Sankt 
Johann,  and  at  the  railway  station.  Towards  evening  General  Frossard 
entered  Saarbriicken/  but  soon  returned  to  the  heights,  not  daring  to 
venture  pursuit.  The  Prussians  lost  in  this  battle,  in  which  mainly  the 
artillery  took  part,  4  oflScers  and  79  men;  the  French,  6  officers  and  80  men. 
A  telegram  announcing  victory  was  immediately  sent  off  to  Paris,  telling  of 
the  "baptism  of  fire"  of  the  prince  imperial  and  his  wonderful  calmness  and 
presence  of  mind.  Paris  was  insane  with  joy^  the  press  adding  to  the  general 
exultation  by  fantastic  perorations,  describmg  the  army  of  the  Rhine  as 
already  before  Mainz,  and  greeting  this  "glorious  mUitary  achievement  as  a 
sign  of  the  beginning  of  a  new  penod  in  history." 

The  dream  was  soon  at  an  end;  on  the  4th  of  August  the  crown  prince  of 
Prussia  crossed  the  French  borders  and  attacked  \^issenburg  on  the  little 
river  Lauter.  Here  stood  the  advance-guard  of  MacMahon,  General  Abel 
Douay's  division  defending  the  town  and  the  well-fortified  Gaisberg  with  11 
battalions  and  4  batteries.  The  town  was  carried  by  combined  Prussian  and 
Bavarian  batteries,  and  the  Gaisberg  by  16  batteries  composed  of  Prussians 
alone.  General  Douay  was  killed.  The  loss  on  the  French  side  was  about 
1,200  dead  and  woimded,  and  1,000  not  wounded  taken  prisoners,  amone 
whom  were  30  officers.  What  was  left  of  the  French  contingent  retreated 
to  Worth.  The  Germans  lost  91  officers  and  1,460  men.  The  regiment  of 
royal  grenadiers  alone  lost  23  officers  and  329  men.  The  greatest  prize 
captured  was  one  French  cannon.' 


THE   BATTLES  OF  WORTH  AND  SPICHEREN 

On  the  5th  of  August  MacMahon  occupied  Worth  and  began  to  fortify 
the  heights  to  the  west  of  Saarbriicken  as  well  as  the  villages  ofFroschweiler 

*  The  town  was  left  in  ruins ;  the  Qermans  remembered  this  later  on  to  jastify  thdr 
incendiarism. — Delord.  ^ 

*  Aside  from  the  moral  effect  of  this  real  Oerman  victory,  the  Laater  line  was  thenceforward 
in  their  hands  and  the  door  of  Alsace  wide  open.  The  death  of  the  intrepid  Abel  Dooay  also 
produced  a  most  profound  Impression  over  the  whole  coantrj.— BoNDOie/ 


THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR  Ml 

[IBTO  A..D.] 

and  Elsasshaiisen.  Here  he  La  tended  to  repiilse  the  advance  of  the  crown 
prince,  which  he  expected  about  the  7th  of  August.  In  order  to  be  able  to 
do  this  he  tried  to  add  to  his  force  that  of  General  Felix  Douay  stationed  at 
Belfort  and  Mulhausen,  and  that  of  General  Failly  stationed  at  Bit^ch.  But 
only  one  division  of  the  former  arriveil  in  time;  and  of  the  other,  the  division 
sent  to  his  aid  arrived  on  the  battle-field  on  the  evening  of  August  6th,  after 
MacMahon  had  been  defeateil,  and  it  could  only  be  used  in  partially  covering 
his  retreat.  This  left  MacMahon  with  only  45,000  men  to  oppose  to  the 
eJitire  array  of  the  crown  prince/ 

It  had  been  the  btention  of  the  crown  prince  not  to  force  the  decisive 
battle  before  the  7th  of  August,  because  he  could  not  make  a  concerted 
attack  with  his  combined  five  corps  l^efore  that  tirne.  But  when  on  the  fore- 
noon of  the  6th  of  August  the  advance-guard  of  the  fifth  corps  became  en- 
tangled in  a  most  violent  engagement  with  the  enemy,  while  a  Bavarian 
corps  on  the  right  and  the  11th  corps  rushed  to  the  rescue,  there  seemed  no 
alternative  but  to  continue  the  battle  and  throw  as  many  troops  as  passible 
into  the  menaced  positions.  In  this  manner  the  decisive  battle  of  Worth 
resulted  from  a  skirmish  of  scouts  of  the  advance-guard,  in  which  gradually 
every  other  corps  or  division  except  the  Baden  division  took  part.  The 
battle  raged  most  fiercely  rountl  tne  well-fortified  village  of  Froschweiler 
after  Worth  and  Elsasshausen  had  been  taken.  After  this  also  had  fallen 
and  the  attack  of  the  French  cuirassiers  had  been  repulsed,  MacMahon's 
army,  panic-stricken,  Red — part  to  the  paases  of  the  Vosges,  part  towards 
Strasburg  and  Bitsch.  The  fugitives  were  closely  pursued  on  this  and  the 
following  day.  Many  were  the  trophies  of  the  day:  200  officers  and  9,000 
men  taken  prisoners,  1  eagle,  4  Turco  bannerSj  28  cannon,  5  mitrailleuses, 
23  wagons  of  guns  and  other  anns,  125  other  wagons,  1,193  horses,  and  the 
military  chest  containing  222,000  francs  in  golti  About  6,000  men  were 
killed  on  the  French  side.  The  Germans  lost  489  officers  and  10,153  men. 
Among  the  severely  wountled  was  Lieutenant-Cjenera!  von  Bose,  commander 
of  the  11th  corps;  while  Lieutenant^General  von  Kirchbach,  commander  of 
the  5th  corps,  had  a  less  serious  wound.  On  the  battle-field  where  the  vic- 
torious army  bivouacked  arose  during  tlie  night  the  niekuly  of  the  liymn, 
"  A'w7i  danket  Alle  Gott/'  sung  by  thousands  of  voices  and  played  on  hundreds 
of  instruments. 

The  fugitive  Marshal  MacMahon  arrived  with  part  of  his  army  in  Zabera 
on  the  morning  of  August  7th  antl  marched  thence  to  Chalons,  whither  also 
the  corps  of  Generals  Douay  and  Failly  were  drawn.  A  new  army  was  to  be 
formed  here.  Northern  Alsace  lay  defenceless  before  the  victorious  army  of 
the  crown  prince.  The  Fiadcn  division  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  Strasburg. 
The  cavalry  of  that  division  had  already  taken  Hagenau  on  the  7th  of  August; 
on  the  8th  and  9th  of  August  the  whole  division  was  massed  before  the  citadel 
of  Strasburg  and  the  commander,  General  Uhrich  of  Pfalzburg,  asked  to 
surrender.  Upon  his  refusal  a  special  beleaguering  corps  were*  formed,  com- 
prising the  Bufien  division,  one  Prussian  reserv^e  division,  and  the  Garde- 
Londivehr  division.  They  were  placed  under  the  conmiand  of  General  Werder 
and  closely  surrounded  the  city  from  the  14th  of  August.  On  the  8th  of 
August  the  crown  prince  withdrew  with  the  remainder  of  the  third  army,  and 
marched  through  the  undefended  passes  of  the  Vosges,  He  also  had  the 
small  neighbouring  fortifications  of  Lichtenberg  and  Liitzelstein  taken  by  the 
Wiirtemberg  troops,  and  that  of  Marsal  by  the  Bavarians;  Bitach  and  Pfalz- 


'  AooordlDg  to  CaDODge  c  he  bad  less  thui  88,000  agminfit  the  crown  prince's  115,000. 


IM  THE    HISTORY    OF    FRA^'CE 

flSTD  4.D.J 

burg  were  blockaded.    He  entered  Nancy  on  August  16th,  where  ho  remained 
several  days  awaiting  definite  news  of  events  on  the  iSaar  and  Moselle. 

A  second  victory  was  achieved  on  AiigiLst  6th,  at  Spieheren.  This  battle 
was  also  not  tlie  result  of  strategic  mana'uvres,  but  of  a  misunderstanding. 
According  to  Moltke's  plan,  Frossard's  corps,  stationed  on  the  heights  of 
Spicheren,  was  to  be  forced  to  retreat  by  a  simultaneous  attack  in  the  rear 
by  the  Isl  and  2nd  armies  at  Forbach  and  Saargemiind.  Should  it  resist, 
it  was  to  be  crushed  by  the  overwhelming  forces.  When,  in  the  forenoon 
of  August  6th,  generals  Kameke  and  Rheinbaben  of  the  1st  and  2nd  armies 

arrived  with  their  troops,  relying  on  the  reports 
of  the  scouting  troops  that  Frossard's  corps 
was  retreating,  they,  wshing  to  harm  the  cle- 
feated  anny  as  much  as  possible,  made  an 
attack,  drove  the  enemy  back  to  the  steep, 
wooded  height*  of  Spicheren,  and  sfiw  only 
then  that  tiiey  had  the  whole  of  the  hostile 
corps  before  them.  As  they  did  not  h(»ld  it  com- 
patible with  honour  to  surrender  the  territory 
once  taken  and  to  retreat  to  the  other  bank  of 
the  Saar,  Kameke's  division  had  to  contend  for 
three  hours  against  three  divisions  of  the 
French,  which  had  a  strong  artillery  and  were 
favoured  by  a  remarkably  good  position.  Not 
until  three  o'clock  did  reinforcements  of  the 
two  armies  gradually  arrive  on  the  battle-field, 
after  which  twenty-^ven  thousand  Germans 
fought  agaiiLst  forty  thousand  French.  Finally 
several  battalions  were  successful  in  clunbing 
the  heights  and  even  bringing  twelve  cannon 
with  them.  The  determination  and  endurance 
of  the  soldiers  was  wonderful.  The  Bninden- 
burg  regiment  of  grenadiei-s  alone  lost  thirty- 
five  officers  and  771  men.  The  battle  seemed 
tr)  c^Mitre  at  the  .summit  of  the  heights.  Sud- 
denly Glumer's  division  advanced  on  the  left 
wing  and  completely  rout^^i  it,  menacing  the 
line  of  retreat  of  the  enerny  which  now  U^ik 
place,  culminating  in  panic'in  some  instances. 
The  corps  ivithdrew  by  way  of  Forbach  and 
Sankt  Avoid  or  by  SaargemUnd  towards  Metz. 
Bazaine's  corps,  wliich  was  stationed  only 
seven  or  eight  miles  from  the  scene  of  action,  did  the  same,  without  coming 
to  Frossard's  assistance.  In  consequence  of  their  unfavourable  position  the 
victors  had  greater  lasses  than  the  vanquished.  The  Germans  lost  223  officers 
and  4,648  men,  while  the  French  according  to  their  owni  account  lost  249 
officers  and  3,829  men,  of  whom  about  two  thousand  were  captured. 

The  victors  advanced  on  the  7th  of  August,  seizing  great  quantities  of 
provisions  in  Forbach,  besieged  Sankt  Avoid,  making  incursions  almost  as 
far  as  Metz.  The  army  of  Prmce  Charles  also  marched,  traversing  the  Rhine 
Palatinate  partly  by  way  of  Saarbriicken,  partly  via  Saargemund,  in  the  di- 
rection of  Metz.  Receiving  the  news  of  this  victory,  the  king  of  Prussia  left 
Mainz  on  August  7th,  arrivmg  in  Saarbriicken  on  the  9th,  and  in  Sankt  Avoid 
on  the  11th,  and  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  French  nation  in  which  he 


OrnoBB  or  Hussabs  (FiuntoH) 


THFi    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR  153 

[1870  A.  D.] 

declared  that  he  was  carrying  on  war  with  the  army  of  France,  not  with  her 
citizens,  whose  persons  and  IwiongingK  should  be  secure  na  long  as  they  tlicm- 
eelves  refrained  from  practising  hostilities  against  the  German  troops> 


BAZAINE  AT  METZ 

The  general  opinion  in  the  circle  of  Marshal  Bazaine  and  the  emperor  was 
that  the  idea  of  giving  battle  in  Lorraine  must  be  abandoned,  the  Moselle 
repassed  as  quickly  lus  possible,  MacMalion'a  army  niUiedj  and  Metz,  reduc(»d 
to  its  own  forces,  must  stop  a  part  of  the  German  troops,  while  a  mass  of 
250,000  men  must  oppose  the  invasion  either  at  Verdun,  Chalons,  or  even 
nearer  to  Paris.  Would  this  plan, 
certainly  a  most  prudent  one,  have 
saved  France?  Well-known  German 
authorities  are  agreed  in  thinking  it 
would  have  b<*en  very  dangerous  for 
Germany;  that  Moltke  was  much 
occupied  in  preventing  it;  that  Mar- 
shal MacMahon  and  the  gtmeral 
officers  who  commantled  in  Paris 
thought  the  plan  goml,  auil  that  in 
any  case  the  danger  of  allowing  the 
only  French  organise*!  army  to  stay 
near  Metz  was  obvious. 

In  the  campaipi  we  are  entering 
on,  the  chief  problem  for  the  French 
was  to  recross  ihv  Moselle  imme- 
diately anfl  rapidly  overtake  the 
Prussians  on  the  Verdun  and  Chftlons 
route;  for  the  Gennans,  to  hinder 
the  enemy^s  march,  to  cross  the  Mo- 
selle to  the  south  of  Metz,  and  to 
occupy  the  approach  by  which  Mar- 
shal Bazaine  must  unite  his  troops 
with  those  of  Marshal  MacMahon. 

Time  was  lost  between  the  IHh 
and  13th  tliscussing  the  possil)ilitles 
of  a  battle  or  retreat.  On  the  latter 
date  Bazaine  took  definite  command  and  decidefl  to  retreat.  But,  whether 
owing  to  physical  fatigue,  incapacity,  or  criminal  iruJilTerencc,  he  did  not 
devote  all  hLs  energi(*s  to  liastenmg  the  passage  of  the  Moselle  and  the  oceu- 
pation  of  the  Venlun  route.  The  curious  incertitude  of  his  projects,  his 
mysterious  attitude,  give  su]>port  to  the  belief  that  he  had  determined  from 
the  beginning  to  allow  liimsclf  to  be  blockaded  near  Metz.  But  with  what 
object?    Had  he  even  an  object?  ^ 

It  is  diificult  to  understand  the  extreme  prudence  of  the  armies  of  Stein- 
metz  and  P>e<lerick  C.-harles  (nephew  of  the  king  of  Prussia)  after  the  battle 
of  Si>icheren.  It  must  lx»  supposed  that  this  easy  victory  surprisfHl  tlie  Ger- 
mans, and  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  the  system  of  spies  was 

[■  The  French  view  of  bis  conduct  is  that  h«  meant  to  keep  this  armj  intact  in  order  that 
afterwards,  in  conjanction  with  the  G^ermans  as  his  accomplitx^.  he  might  secure,  with  a  fresh 
militATf  c<fup  iTitaU  the  imperial  rule  over  France.  Whatever  he  may  have  meant,  the  (Jer- 
had  no  inientton  of  intrusting  the  fortress  of  FVance  to  him. — KirCBElT.'] 


MAnPHAL  Bakaiths 


154  THE   HISTORY   OP   FRANCE 

[1870  A.D.] 

less  well  oiganised  than  at  the  end.  It  was  onlv  on  the  13th  of  August  that 
the  grand  armv,  with  the  king  and  Von  Moltke,  arrived  at  Hemv,  on  the 
route  from  Fafkenberg  to  Metz,  and  I^ince  Frederick  Charles  had  scarcely 
left  Saargemiind.  The  advance-guard  of  the  first  army  bore,  on  the  morning 
of  the  14th,  towards  Pange,  and  saw  that  the  French  army,  in  part  at  least, 
was  still  on  the  right  bajok  of  the  Moselle.  Then  Von  Moltke  stopped  the 
manoeuvres,  which  might  have  destroyed  or  at  least  annulled  "  the  French 
army  of  the  Rhine,"  as  Bazaine's  army  was  henceforth  called. 

On  the  14th  the  passage  of  the  French  army  began  at  last;  generals  Goltz 
and  ManteufTel  attacked  Castagny's  division  of  the  3rd  corps,  which  was  still 
at  Colombey.  But  to  all  appearances  the  combat  was  favourable  to  the 
French,  who  attributed  to  themselves  a  victory  which  they  called  the  battle 
of  Bomy  or  Pange.  The  Germans,  however,  equally  considered  the  victory 
theirs,  an  assumption  founded  on  the  fact  that  the  French  army  had  been 
delayed  crossing  the  river.  The  battle  on  the  14th  had  allowed  Frederick 
Charles  to  hajsten  his  march,  and  in  the  evening  his  advance-guard  reached 
Pont-^-Mousson — that  is,  the  point  where  the  second  German  army  crossed 
the  Moselle,  a  crossing  made  practicable  by  the  incredible  carelessness  of  the 
commander-in-chief,  who  had  left  the  bridges  standing.  The  Prussians  had 
lost  nearly  5,000  men;  the  French  3,600. 

However,  the  French  could  now  continue  their  march  without  interrup- 
tion; it  was  not  concluded  till  the  morning  of  the  15th  on  the  trunk  road  of 
the  two  Verdun  routes.  The  staff  did  not  Know  that  two  other  roads  forked 
off  between  Confians  and  Rezonville.  So  the  highroad  from  Metz  to  Grave- 
lotte,  between  two  rows  of  houses,  was  the  scene  of  inextricable  confusion; 
innxunerable  wagons  encumbered  the  route  and  the  emperor's  household 
constantly  interrupted  the  march.  The  uncertainty  in  commands  had  a 
very  clear  influence  in  these  disastrous  delays. 

BATTLE   OF  MARS-LA-TOUR 

Marshal  Bazaine  did  not  seem  very  anxious  to  leave  Metz.  All  his  move- 
ments were  directed,  greatly  to  the  astonishment  of  those  around  him,  so  as 
to  keep  open  communications  with  that  city,  and  he  did  not  seem  to  consider 
it  possible  that  the  Prussians  would  intercept  his  route  to  Verdim.  The 
retreat  was  not  really  begun  again  until  the  morning  of  the  16th  of  August. 

Marshal  Bazaine  had  been  warned  of  hostile  parties  towards  Gorze,  but 
he  did  not  verify  this,  finding  himself  confirmed  in  his  suspicion  that  the 
Prussians  wanted  to  slip  in  between  the  French  army  and  Metz.  He 
therefore  kept  the  imperial  guard  at  Gravelotte,  with  General  Bourbaki,  so 
as  to  fortify  his  left,  which  still  lay  at  Metz  at  Fort  St.  Quentin.  The  halt 
having  been  called,  the  generals  De  Forton  and  Murat  of  the  advance-guard 
at  Mars-la-Tour  had  prepared  for  breakfast,  when  suddenly  shells  fell  in  the 
midst  of  their  men.  The  disorder  caused  by  this  surprise  had  a  deplorable 
result;  it  allowed  the  Prussians,  in  spite  of  inferior  numbers,  to  occupy  both 
sides  of  the  Verdun  route.  Then  the  Prussian  corps,  directed  by  Frederick 
Charles,  turned  back  on  Vionville,  where  Canrobert,  by  his  energetic  resist- 
ance, supported  by  Frossard,  stayed  the  onslaught  which  gave  to  the  Prussians 
possession  of  Mars-la-Tour  and  Tronville.  But  Marshal  Canrobert,  left  to 
{lis  own  resources,  was  obliged  to  give  up  Vionville  to  the  enemy.  Neverthe- 
less he  remained  unshaken  at  Rezonville. 

The  centre  of  the  French  army  now  found  itself  in  a  very  favourable 
position,  and  towards  three  o'clock  General  Ladmirault  succeeded  in  sweeping 


THE   FRANCO-PRUSSIAN-   WAR 


155 


P870  A.D.] 

the  Verdun  route  between  Rezonville  and  Vionville.  But  at  this  moment 
several  of  Steinmetz's  fresh  divisions  bore  down  on  Gravelotte — that  Ls,  on 
line's  left.  The  attack  was  so  sudden  and  unforeseen  that  Marshal 
tine  ran  personal  risks  and  was  only  saved  by  a  charge  of  his  staff.  Fear- 
ing to  have  to  support  the  assault  of  an  entire  army  on  this  side,  he  entirely 
stopped  the  offensive  movement  on  his  right. 

At  half  past  four,  two  fresh  corps,  commanded  by  Frederick  Charles  in 
person,  came  out  from  Gorze  in  front  of  Rezonville,  forming  an  assaulting 
lino  of  eiglity  thousand  men.  The  capture  of  Rezonville  wouki  have  ended 
the  battle  and  would  have  led  to  the  dispersion  of  Bazaine's  army — |>erhaps 
itfi  capitulation;  but,  after  three  hours  of  repeated  attacks,  the  Prussians 
renoimced  the  idea  of  overthrowing  Canrobert  and  Ladmii-ault,  and  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening  Prince  Frederick  Charles  ordered  the  firing  to  cease. 

The  magnificent  moonlight  which  succeeded  this  terrible  twelve  hours' 
battle  shone  on  twenty  thousand  dead  in  a  line  of  ten  kilometres.  The 
Prussians  lost  about  ten  thousand  men;  the  French  nearly  as  many.  At 
Mars-la-Tour  and  at  Tronville,  the  Germans  heUI  the  road  from  Verdun 
to  Fresnes-en-Wocvre ;  but,  in  spite  of  the  mistakes  of  the  head  of  the  French 
army,  they  had  not  been  able  to  concentrate  a  sufficient  force  to  rentier  their 
advantage  decisive. 

BATTLE   OK  ST.    PKIVAT 

But  to  carry  out  the  necessary  operations,  which  hwl  l)ccome  so  difficult, 
General  Bazaine  required  abnegation,  audacity,  and  encrg>*  to  inspire  his 
soldiers,  who  were  fatigued  by  a  terrible  battle  but  ready  for  any  sacrifice 
when  supportetl  by  the  moral  superiority  of  their  chief. 

The  whole  army  was  prepared  to  make  a  new  move  forward  early  on  the 
17th.  The  fatigues  of  the  day  sufficiently  explain  the  inactivity  of  the  night, 
although  the  Prussians  were  taking  advantage  of  the  respite  to  accumuTate 
forces  b(*yond  Mars-hi-Ttiur.  It  was,  then,  a  ci*up1  tlisappointinent  for  the 
soldiers  to  be  ortlered  to  go  back  to  Metz. 

These  positions,  defended  by  120,000  men  of  tried  valour,  by  forts,  and 
500  cannon,  were  excellent  with  regard  to  Metz,  but  of  little  value  if  it  was 
intended  to  take  the  first  opportunity  of  leaving  the  town  in  orrler  to  escape 
the  blockade — which  was  the  enemy's  evident  intention.  The  17th  was 
occupied  entirely  in  taking  up  their  position,  and  the  Prussians  profited  by  it. 
The  two  German  armies  ha<.l  thrown  eight  corps  to  the  north  of  Mars-la-Tour, 
lSt),tX)0  iiifantry,  25,000  horses,  and  700  cannon.  Instead  of  rushing  in 
pursuit  of  the  French  after  the  battle  of  the  16th,  they  had  continued  syste- 
matically and  without  disorder  their  flanking  movement. 

The  inaction  of  Marshal  Bazaine  allowed  them  to  continue  their  march 
until  mid-day  on  the  18th,  and  when  they  attacked  the  French  positions 
from  Gravelotte  to  Roncourt,  the  army  of  the  Rhine  no  longer  had  simply  to 
keep  open  its  last  issuing  point,  but  to  rcofjen  it  in  the  midst  of  an  innumerable 
maAS  of  men.  Marshal  Bazaine  did  not  believe  in  a  serious  attack.  All  that 
day  he  remained  at  headquarters  without  rejoining  in  the  battle.  He  would 
not  admit  that  the  Prussians  could  so  rapidly  throw  on  his  extreme  right 
sufficient  forces  to  obstruct  the  Montm^ly  road  on  the  north. 

But  Marshal  Moltke  joined  the  king  at  Ste.  Marie-aux-Chene£  and  con- 
centrated all  his  energy  on  the  position  of  St.  Privat^la-Montagne,  defended 
by  Marshal  Canrobert.  There  for  two  hours,  from  five  to  seven  in  the  evening, 
the  marshal  repulsed  most  furious  attacks  from  t!ie  Germans;  thrusting  them 
headlong  from  the  heights  and  decimating,  under  William's  very  eyes,  one  of 


150  THE    HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[UVDaa] 

the  regiments  of  the  Prussian  guard — that  of  the  queen — conunanding  on 
foot  in  the  foremost  ranks,  and  forcing  Moltke  himself  to  take  command  ci 
the  Pomeranian  fusiliers  to  prevent  a  panic  caused  by  the  rout  of  a  part  of 
his  cavalry.  But,  at  seven  o'clock,  Alarshal  Moltke,  anxious  for  the  conse- 
quences which  the  prolonged  resistance  of  Canrobert  might  bring  about, 
united  90,000  men  at  St.  Privat,  and  by  a  long  and  winding  march  led  the 
12th  corps  (Saxons)  to  Roncourt,  northeast  of  the  position  occupied  by  the 
6th  corps  of  the  French;  240  cannon  immediately  opened  a  terrible  fire  on 
these  25,000  heroic  soldiers,  who,  since  two  o'clock,  had  supported  the  prin- 
cipal fire  of  the  enemy.  As  so  often  happened  in  this  imhappy  war,  ammu- 
nition was  lacking  to  the  6th  corps;  Marshal  Canrobert,  however,  remained 
at  his  post,  and  when  the  Saxons  appeared  on  the  northeast  to  combine  their 
attack  with  that  of  the  Prussians,  they  were  obliged  to  support  a  terrible 
fight  before  seizing  St.  Privat. 

Then  the  marshal  was  obliged  to  beat  a  retreat;  Bazaine,  informed  of  this, 
could  not  contain  his  astonishment.  Instead  of  a  battle  of  the  advance- 
guard,  he  had  sustained  a  complete  defeat.  He  could  hardly  believe  the 
reports,  and  gave  orders  to  the  Picard  brigade  of  the  imperial  guard  to  go  to 
the  front.  But  it  was  too  late.  The  necessary  movement  at  last  ordered 
could  not  prevent  the  Prussians  from  passing  Amanvillers;  they  had,  more- 
over, lost  20,000  men;  the  French  18,000,  of  whom  2,000  were  made  prison- 
ers. Nothing  now  could  hinder  Marshal  Moltke  from  interposing  a  circle  of 
250,000  men  between  the  only  organised  army  of  France  and  the  rest  of  the 
countiy. 

This  conclusion  of  the  battles  imder  the  walls  of  Metz  had  another  dis- 
astrous result — that  of  leaving  MacMahon  exposed  to  the  crown  prince's 
army,  which  was  now  free  from  all  anxiety  with  regard  to  Bazaine./ 

CONFUSION  AT  PARIS 

The  news  of  the  battles  before  Mctz  produced  great  confusion  in  Paris. 
On  the  17th  of  August,  following  the  advice  of  General  Schmitz,  the  emperor 
appointed  as  governor  of  Paris  General  Trochu,  who  alone  could  prevent 
a  revolt  which  threatened.  A  new  army  had  been  forming  at  Ch^ons,  of 
which  MacMahon  took  command.  Coimt  Palikao  *  wished  MacMahon  to  join 
Bazaine,  but  MacMahon  telegraphed  the  minister  that  he  did  not  know  where 
to  find  Bazaine  and  that  he  wished  to  remain  at  Ch41ons.  The  following  day, 
on  account  of  a  false  rumour,  he  suddenly  left  Chdlons  and  took  the  route  to 
Rheims. 

A  council  of  war  took  place  at  Rheims  in  which  Rouher  took  part  and 
insisted  on  the  relief  of  the  army  at  Metz.  The  empress  and  Palikao  wished 
this;  and  in  accordance  with  their  desires  MacMahon  marched  towards  the 
Maas,  where  he  would  join  Bazaine  at  Stenay  if  the  latter  could  break  through 
the  enemy's  chain.  MacMahon,  through  delays  and  the  failure  to  receive 
despatches,  did  not  reach  Stenay  in  time.  The  Germans  had  occupied  it, 
and  on  the  27th  and  29th  engagements  took  place  at  Buganzy,  Novart,  and 
Voncq.  The  surprise  of  Failly  at  Beaumont  on  the  30th,  and  the  retirement 
of  Douay  before  the  Bavarians  on  August  6th  (causing  him  to  be  replaced  by 
General  Wimpffen),  forced  MacMahon  to  retreat  to  Sedan.    On  the  hills  about 

['  This  was  General  Coasln-Montaaban  who  was  bom  in  1796  and  won  his  title  from  his 
victory  over  the  Chinese  at  Palikao  in  1860 ;  he  had  become  prime  minister  as  well  as  minister 
of  war  on  the  fall  of  Ollirier,  August  9th,  1870.  due  to  the  failure  of  the  army.  He  kept  his 
portfolio  only  until  September  4th,  when  the  disaster  of  Sedan  overthrew  the  Second  Empire.] 


THE    FRANCO-PBUSSIAN   WAE  157 

[1870  i.D.] 

Sedan,  MacMahon  drew  up  his  forces,  with  T^bnin  commandiniB:  tho  right  at 
Bajseilles;  Douay  the  left  at  Illy  and  Floing;  Ducrot  the  centre  at  Moncelle 
and  Daigny;  and  Wimpffen  the  reserxj-e  in  the  Garenne  forest.  Against  these 
the  PruByians  and  Bavarians  advanced  with  full  confidence « 


THE  BATTLE   OF  SEDAN    (SEPTEMBER  18T,   1870) 

Facing  all  ways,  that  is,  no  way,  the  French  army  was  apparently  pro- 
tected on  the  west  by  the  opening  on  to  the  Maas  whicli  wa,s  stxjii  tt>  enclose 
its  ruins.  Towards  M<^'zi6rcs  anii  south  of  this  roiid,  tlic  road  to  safety,  there 
was  nothing,  not  even  a  handful  of  cavalry,  to  watch  the  wa}*"  so  clearly  indi- 
cated towards  Doncliery. 

At  half  past  six  m  the  morning  of  September  1st,  Marsha!  MacMahon, 
who  had  gone  in  the  din^ciinn  of  La  Moncelle,  wa.s  scnvn»ly  woun<l('d  and  liad 
to  relinquish  the  command.  As  lie  knew  nothing  of  the  ordi-rs  given  to 
General  WimpfTen,  he  appointed  Ducrot  to  replace  him;  the  latter  did  not 
hear  of  his  appoiriftnt nit  until  nearly  hiilf  pttst  s<wen. 

The  new  conuuander-in-chief  Ducrot  J  declares  that  he  "had  received  no 
instructions  whatever  from  the  nuirshal.'*  lie  was  in  entire  ignorance  of  his 
intentions — even  of  whetjier  he  intended  to  engage  in  a  defensive  or  offensive 
battle.  Having  to  decide  at  the  soonent  possilile  iriotnent,  he  gave  immediate 
orders  for  the  army  to  concentrate  on  the  plateau,  wlietice  it  \vou!<l  march  on 
Mezieres.  The  retreat  was  to  be  carried  out  in  echelon  beginning  from  the 
right. 

Between  half  past  eight  and  nine  in  the  morning,  when  in  fact  the  move- 
ment was  in  course  of  execution,  CJeneral  Wimpffen  claimed  the  chief  com- 
mand. Misled  by  the  success  of  the  12th  corps,  which,  nevertheless,  was 
reduced  to  the  defensive;  not  believing,  from  want  of  knowledge  of  the  pre- 
ceding days,  in  the  serious  danger  tliat  the  flanking  movements  threatened, 
he  stopped  the  retreat  on  Mezieres.  General  Ducrot  vainly  emphasised  the 
importance  of  retaining  the  plateau  of  Illy,  when  a  question  of  life  and  death 
was  at  issue.  He  was  unable  to  convince  his  interlocutor:  **It  is  not  a 
retreat  we  want,  but  a  victoi^M" 

The  new  commander-in-chief  recalled  the  12th  and  1st  corps  back  to  their 
respective  positions  and  ordered  **a  vigorous  forward  offensive  movement 
on  our  right."  He  ho|>ed,  as  he  aftenvards  sairl,  to  crush  the  enemy*s  left^ 
formed  of  the  two  Bavarian  corps;  ami  then,  having  beaten  him  and  driven 
him  back  on  the  Maas,  to  return  with  the  12th  and  1st  corps,  and,  with  the 
wiiole  army  cumbiiu'd,  fight  the  German  riglit  wing.  What  about  the  enemy's 
left  wing?  As  a  general  nile,  such  a  scheme  is  as  a  last  resource  possible  when 
on  both  sides  the  forct*s  are  equal ;  it  ought  not  so  nmch  as  to  be  dreamed  of 
in  face  of  an  army  fiusiwil  with  victory,  well  led^  and  with  a  luunericiil 
superioritv  of  over  one  hundred  thousjiiul  men. 

In  addition,  in  this  particular  insUmce,  the  real  danger  threatened  from 
the  north  (the  enemy's  left),  and  the  7th  corps  in  spite  of  a  vigorous  resistance 
was  powerless  to  overcome  it,  more  esjx^eially  as  the  ruins  of  the  5th  corps 
scarcely  counted  as  a  support.  The  clearest  result  of  the  course  of  action 
taken  by  General  Wimpffen,  at  a  moment  when  minutes  were  as  precious  as 
hours,  was  a  loss  of  time  which  assured  the  ruin  of  the  army  by  robbing  it  of 
all  cliances  of  escape.    Anything  was  better  than  Sedan. 

The  important  village  of  Bazeilles,  situated  at  the  crossing  of  the  Douzy  and 
Sedan  roads,  by  Halan,  was  destined  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  defence 
of  the  valley  of  the  Givonne.      Repulsed  at  first,  the  Bavarians,  reinforced, 


158  THE  HISTORY  OP  FRANCE 

[1810  A.l>.] 

returned  to  the  attack;  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  battle  ooncen^ 
trated  around  the  villa  Beurmann  and  in  the  western  end  of  the  yilli^.  The 
defenders  were  compelled  to  give  way  little  by  little  before  8up)erior  numbers, 
and  before  the  conflagpitions  started  by  the  Bavarians.  They  withdrew  to 
Btdan;  but  not  all  retired.  To  the  north  of  Bazeilles.  in  an  isolated  house 
scarcely  fifty  metres  from  the  villa  Beurmann,  a  hanoful  of  men,  beloimng 
mostly  to  the  marine  infantry,  prolonged  a  hopeless  resistance,  and  for  a  long 
while  braved  the  furious  assaiuts  of  the  enemy,  who  ended  bv  bringing  up 
artillery.  This  glorious  defence  was  organised  by  Commancfant  Lambert, 
supported  by  captains  Ortus  and  Aubert.  Ammunition  being  exhausted,' 
Lambert  had  the  doors  thrown  open,  and  with  a  view  of  saving  the  survivors 
offered  himself  to  the  Bavarians.  Licensed  at  their  losses,  they  were  about 
to  fall  upon  him,  and  he  owed  his  life  only  to  a  captain  who  made  a  rampart 
of  his  own  body. 

The  defence  of  Bazeilles,  in  which  the  troop  of  the  Grand-Champ  division 
co-operated,  cost  the  marine  infantry  alone  tlurty-two  officers  killed,  of  whom 
one  was  lieutenant-colonel  and  four  were  battalion  leaders.  Three  officers 
were  shot  by  the  Bavarians  after  defending  a  house  to  the  very  last.  "To- 
wards midnday,"  the  German  accotmt  says,  "Bazeilles  was  almost  entirely  in 
flames."  Not  content  with  using  the  torch,  the  Bavarians  dishonoured  their 
tardy  victory  by  cruelties  which  they  have  vainly  attempted  to  excuse.' 

From  Bazeilles  the  struggle  extended  to  Balan.  The  4th  Bavarian  divi- 
sion (2nd  corps)  occupied  that  village  only  after  repelling  a  particularly  stub- 
bom  resistance  from  the  Carteret-'fi6court  brigade,  the  stru^e  taking  place 
chiefly  in  the  park. 

From  ten  m  the  morning,  Moncelle,  which  the  French  had  neglected  to 
defend  seriously,  was  in  the  hands  of  tne  Saxons.  Supported  by  a  battery, 
which  at  nine  o'clock  included  no  less  than  ninetjr-aix  guns,  they  endeavoured 
to  debouch  from  La  Moncelle.  The  whole  morning  was  taken  up  with  these 
attempts,  which  were  vigorously  opposed  by  the  Lacretelle  division.  The 
Saxons  succeeded  in  taking  it,  and  by  eleven  o'clock,  at  the  moment  when 
Bazeilles  was  falling,  they  had  gained  a  permanent  footing  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Givonne,  whose  crest  was  quickly  occupied  by  their  artillery.  An  hour 
earlier  Daigny  had  also  fallen  into  then*  power.  While  the  German  artillery 
was  crushing  the  French  batteries  and  the  defenders  of  the  heights,  their 
infantry  waited  imder  cover;  when  the  moment  came  for  action  it  scaled  the 
heights  and  took  possession  of  them  with  insignificant  loss. 

All  these  subordinate  engagements  are  dominated  in  importance  by  the 
general  movement  of  that  part  of  the  3rd  army  entrusted  with  the  envelop- 
ment of  the  French  army.  Towards  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  fog 
having  lifted,  the  crown  prince  had  ascertained  with  certainty,  from  the 
point  of  observation  he  had  occupied  for  the  past  hour,  that  the  French 
appeared  to  project  the  retention  of  Sedan,  on  the  east  of  the  curve  formed 
by  the  Maas.    He  issued  his  orders. 

The  German  artillery,  in  keeping  with  its  principle,  boldly  outstripped  the 
infantry.    It  established  itself  on  the  knoll  south  of  St.  Menges  between  it 


F 


This  is  the  scene  of  De  Nenville's  famous  picture,  "The  Last  Cartridge."] 
It  is  impossible  to  describe  or  even  to  sketch  with  any  precision  the  senes  of  confused 
engagements  in  the  woods  of  Qarenne.  Cannon  without  wheels,  caissons  abandoned,  a  flag 
whose  bearer  perished  eloriously.  hundreds  of  men  and  horses  fell  into  the  power  of  the  enemy ; 
the  forest  was  attacked  at  the  same  time  on  the  north,  the  east,  and  the  west.  Only  one  French 
cannon  still  fired.  It  was  taken  when  all  its  men  were  lost.  A  cloud  of  enemies,  surging  in 
from  all  sides,  enwrapped  this  little  wood,  and  all  it  contained  were  slain  or  taken.  It  was  no 
more  a  battle ;  it  was  a  man-hunt.  —  Roussst."*] 


THE   FBANC0-PRUS8IAN   WAR 


159 


[1810  A.I).] 

and  Floing,  opened  fire,  and  nearer  and  nearer,  by  additional  arrivals,  the 
battery  advanced  in  echelon  in  the  direction  of  Fleigneux.  The  French  were 
subseciuently  driven  from  Floing. 

Towards  eleven  o'clock  General  Galliffet  received  orders  from  General 
Mar^eritte  to  charge,  with  the  squadrons  of  chasseurs  d'Afrique,  the  com- 
panies which,  corning  dowTi  from  Fleigneux,  had  just  crossed  the  stream 
Illy.  These  were  momentarily  checked  in  their  advance.  Towards  mid- 
day the  envelopment  was  in  full  progress.  Towarfls  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
evening  the  11th  corps  took  Cazal;  seventy-one  Gennan  batteries  (426  gims), 
mailed  in  four  different  places,  swept  in  every  direction  the  plateau  of  Illy 
and  subjected  the  defenders  to  a  cruel  experience. 

Not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost.  General  Ducrot  had  to  act  as  commander- 
in-chief.  He  collected  all  the  available  artillery  on  the  plateau,  and  turned 
it  in  the  direction  of  Fleigneux;  he  replaced  the  Pelle  and  the  Il^riller  divi- 
sions on  the  heights;  and  lastly  ordered  the  commandant  of  the  {livision  of 
cavalry  reser\'e  to  charge. 

It  was  a  question  of  charging  in  echelon  towards  the  left,  and  then,  after 
having  overturned  all  that  were  met,  to  turn  to  the  right  in  such  a  way  as  to 
take  5l  the  enemy's  line  in  flank.  This  was  at  about  two  o'clock.  At  the 
moment  when  Genenil  Margueritte  moved  forwanl  to  I'econnoitre  the  ground 
and  the  enemy's  position,  he  was  severely  wounded.  His  tongue  was  in- 
jured, and  when  he  arrived  at  the  head  of  his  division,  he  could  only  point 
with  his  arm  to  indicate  the  direction  of  the  movement.  Led  by  the  gesture, 
the  cavalry  hurled  themselve.s  on  Floing. 

Thereupon,  under  the  shelter  of  the  artillery,  heroic  charges  succeeded 
one  another.  These  movements  were  carried  out  under  tlie  most  deplorable 
disjuivantiiges  of  ground  but  "with  remarkable  vigour  and  entire  devotion," 
according  to  the  Fru.ssian  account.  The  first  charge  came  to  grief — another 
was  immediately  made:  '^The  honour  of  the  amiy  demands  it,*'  said  General 
Ducrot,  and  new  squadrons  dashed  forward.  But  in  vain.  Sabred,  for  the 
moment  dispersed,  the  enemy's  skinnishers  fell  back  on  the  second  line. 
Against  this,  complete  and  supported  on  its  wings  by  squares,  the  reiterated 
desperate  efforts  of  the  squaorons  were  utterly  broken,  and  their  ruins  dis- 
persed in  all  directions. 

We  may  easily  understand  and  repeat  the  exclamation,  "What  brave 
men!"  which  King  William  made  at  this  splendid  sight.  The  Prussian 
account  itself  has  said:  "Although  succeiss  did  not  result  from  the  efforts  of 
these  brave  stjuadrons,  although  their  heroic  attempts  were  powerless  to 
thwart  the  catastrophe  in  which  the  French  anny  was  already  irretrievably 
involved,  that  army  is  none  the  less  entitled  to  look  back  with  legitimate  pride 
on  the  fields  of  Floing  and  Cazal, on  which,  during  that  memorable  day  of  Sedan, 
its  cavalry  succumbed  gloriously  beneath  the  blows  of  a  victorious  adversary," 

These  glorious  charges  have  as  an  epilogue  the  heroic  attempt  with  which 
the  name  of  Commandant  d'Alincourt  is  associated.  Towards  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  he  attempted  to  cut  a  way  through  the  enemy's  lines,  with 
a  squwlron  of  the  Ist  regiment  of  cuirassiers.  The  valiant  troop  set  out 
from  the  M^zi^res  gate  and  charged  into  the  suburb  of  Cazal,  overturning  the 
German  soldiers  stationed  there.  But,  the  alarm  once  given,  the  Germans 
barred  the  road  with  the  help  of  carriages  and  shot  <lown  the  cuirassiers, 
whose  noble  attempt  proved  abortive;  nearly  three-quarters  of  them  fell 
here.  This  is,  with  the  exception  of  the  vigorous  attempt  on  Balan,  the  only 
tcbI  attempt  which  was  made  to  pierce  the  circle  of  iron  from  the  moment 
when  it  first  became  complete. 


160  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1870  A.D.] 

All  that  still  remained  flowed  back  under  the  concentric  movement  to- 
wards Sedan,  which  had  ah-eady  eneulfed  part  of  the  army.  The  fire  of  the 
Prussian  batteries  was  concentrated  on  the  town,  torn  in  all  directions  by 
the  shells. 

At  three  o'clock,  the  emperor  Napoleon  III,  who  had  remained  on  the 
battle-field  until  half  paat  eleven,  hoisted  the  white  flag.  Two  hours  before. 
General  Wimpffen  had  written  to  him  requesting  him  to  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  his  troops,  who  would  make  it  a  point  of  honour  to  cut  the  way  out 
for  him.  Still  following  his  idea  of  opening  a  road  in  the  direction  of  Carignan, 
the  general,  who  with  great  trouble  had  gathered  together  five  or  six  thou- 
sand men,  led  them  forward  and  with  s^endid  dash  threw  himself  for  the 
first  time  upon  the  Bavarians,  driving  them  out  of  the  village  of  Balan. 
Towards  four  o'clock  he  received  a  suggestion  from  the  emperor  to  treat  with 
the  enemy.  He  declined,  and  at  the  head  of  two  or  three  thousand  men, 
this  time  accompanied  by  General  Lebrun,  he  made  a  fresh  attempt.  He 
could  not  deploy  beyond  Balan  and  finally  fell  back  on  Sedan.  The  unfor- 
tunate army  was  done  for.? 

In  deciding  to  hoist  a  flag  of  truce.  Napoleon  III  understood  all  the 
gravity  of  the  responsibility  he  was  incurring,  and  foresaw  the  accusations 
of  which  he  would  be  the  object.  The  situation  appeared  before  his  eyes  in 
all  its  gravity,  and  the  recollection  of  a  glorious  past  arose,  to  augment  the 
bitterness  by  its  contrast  with  the  present.  How  would  it  be  believed  that 
the  army  of  Sebastopol  and  of  Solferino  had  been  obliged  to  lower  its  arms? 
How  could  it  be  imderstood  that,  enclosed  within  a  narrow  space,  the  more 
numerous  the  troops  the  greater  the  confusion,  and  the  less  possible  was  it 
to  re-€stablish  that  order  which  is  indispensable  in  battle?  The  prestige  to 
which  the  French  army  was  rightly  entitled  was  about  to  vanish  all  at  once, 
in  the  i)resence  of  a  calamity  that  has  no  equal;  the  emperor  remained  alone 
responsible  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  for  the  misfortunes  that  war  brought  in 
its  train!  ^ 

THE  SURRENDER  OF  NAPOLEON   III  AND  THE  ARMY 

At  five  o'clock  all  was  ended.  The  emperor  sent  the  following  letter  to 
the  king  of  Prussia  by  one  of  his  aides-de-camp: 

MONSIEUB  MON   FR&RB : 

Not  having  succeeded  in  dying  in  the  midst  of  my  troops,  nothing  remains  for  me  but  to 
deliver  my  sword  into  your  majesty's  hands. 

The  king  replied: 

While  I  regret  the  circumstances  in  which  we  meet,  I  accept  your  majesty's  sword  and  beg 
yon  to  be  so  good  as  to  name  one  of  yonr  officers  furnished  with  full  powers  to  make  terms  for 
the  capitulation  of  the  armv  which  has  fought  so  bravely  under  your  command.  On  my  side. 
I  have  named  Qeneral  von  Moltke  for  this  purpose. 

Napoleon  III  could  surrender  his  person — he  was  no  longer  a  general;  it 
was  not  his  work  to  surrender  the  army.  Another  was  to  b^  entrusted  with 
this  mission.  Wimpffen,  with  despair  at  his  heart,  was  obliged  to  submit  to 
it.  He  went  over  to  the  enemy's  headquarters,  to  the  castle  of  Bellevue,  near 
Donehery,  For  three  long  hours  Wimpffen  struggled  in  vain  to  obtam  some 
modification  of  the  conditions  which  Moltke  hS  fixed.  This  cold  and  in- 
flexible calculator,  who  had  reduced  war  to  mathematical  formulas,  was  as 
incapable  of  generosity  as  of  anger.  He  had  decided  that  the  entire  army, 
with  arms  and  baggage,  should  be  prisoners. 


THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN   WAR 


161 


[1870  A.D.] 

BLsmarpk  took  part  in  the  conference.  He  made  one  remark  which  has 
an  historiciU  importance — General  Wiinpffen*  haa  noted  it  in  his  book  on 
Sedan:  "Prussia  will  exact  as  terms  of  peace,  not  only  an  indemnity  of  four 
billion  francs,  but  Alsace  and  German  Lorraine.  We  must  have  a  good, 
advanced  strategical  line."  "Demand  only  money/'  replied  Wimpffen, 
"you  will  be  sure  of  peace  with  us  for  an  indefinite  period.  If  you  take  from 
us  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  you  will  only  have  truce  for  a  time;  in  France,  from, 
old  men  down  to  chiltlren,  all  will  learn  the  use  of  arms,  and  millions  of  sokliera 
will  one  day  demand  of  you  what  you  take  from  us."  The  speech  which 
Wimpffen  relates  shows  the  mistake  of  _^^ 

those  who  have  believed  that  Bismarck 
did  not  agree  with  the  mihtary  party 
on  the  question  of  Metz  and  Strasbur^. 
If  his  political  genius  had  once  hesi- 
tated, it  hesitated  no  longer.  One  of 
General  Ducrot's  aides-tliM-amp,  who 
was  present,  has  quoted  Bismarck's 
remark  somewhat  differently;  but-,  if 
the  words  differ,  the  sense  is  the  same. 

On  September  2nd,  at  seven  o'clock 
in  tlie  morning,  Wimpffen  called  to- 
gether in  a  cimiKMl  of  war  the  com- 
manders of  the  army  corps  and  the  gen- 
erals of  division.  The  council  recognised 
thatj "  face  to  face  with  tlie  physical  im- 
possibility of  continuing  the  struggle, 
we  were  forced  to  accept  the  conditions 
which  were  imposed  on  us."  Not  only 
were  they  totally  enveloped  by  forces 
which  were  now  treble  tlieir  own  (220,- 
000  raeji  against  80,000),  but  they  had 
food  only  for  one  day.  Wimpffen  car- 
ried his  signature  to  the  Prussian  heail- 
quarters. 

Napoleon  III  had  left  Sedan  before 
the  sitting  of  the  council  of  war;  he 
hojjed  to  see  the  king  of  Prussia  before 
the  capitulation  was  signed  and  per- 
suade William  to  grant  some  conces- 
sions; but  the  king  avoided  this  inter- 
view; the  emperor  only  encountered  Bismarck,  with  whom  he  had  a  conversa- 
tion in  a  workman's  small  house,  near  Donchery,  This  was  the  concla'^ion  of 
the  Biarritz  interviews!  Napoleon  was  then  sent,  with  an  escort  of  cuira&sicrs 
of  the  Prussian  guard,  to  await  his  conqueror  in  a  chateau  on  the  banks  of 
the  Maas.  There  he  repeated  to  William  what  he  had  just  said  to  Bismarck: 
that  he  had  not  desired  war;  that  public  opinion  in  France  had  forced  it  upon 
him. 

The  shame  which  the  defeated  emperor  brought  on  himself  by  excusing 
himself  at  the  exjx'nse  of  France  in  the  presence  oT  her  victorious  enemy  was 
the  true  expiation  of  December  2nd.  No  head  of  a  statt?  had  ever  shown 
such  absence  of  dignity.  The  solemn  contradiction  which  Thiers  made  to 
this  shameful  speech  some  months  later  at  Bordeaux  is  well  known.  The 
imperial  captive  was  sent  into  Germany  to  the  castle  of  WUhelnishohe,  near 

B.  W.— VOU  XJU.  U 


KArOLBON  m  AND  'WlLUAM  I 


16S  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

Cassel;  it  was  the  former  residence  of  his  uncle  Jerome,  during  the  existence 
of  the  short-lived  kingdom  of  Westphalia.*  Napoleon  III  at  Wilhelmshohe 
inevitably  recalls  Napoleon  I  at  Malmaison  after  Waterloo.  There  was  one 
common  feature  between  these  two  men,  otherwise  so  dissimilar:  they  seemed 
far  less  two  human  souls  mortally  wounded  in  the  realitv  of  their  moral  life 
than  two  actors  who  had  played  their  parts  and  resigned  themselves  to  quit 
the  stage/ 

The  army  with  all  its  material  was  made  prisoner  of  war.  Nearly  five 
hundred  oflftcers  consented  to  give  their  parole.  The  others,  marshals  and 
generals  at  their  head,  were  left  to  share  in  captivity  the  fate  of  their  soldiers, 
llie  army  awaited,  in  imspeakable  privation,  on  the  peninsula  of  Iges,  so 
well  named  the  Camp  of  Misery,  the  moment  of  departmre. 

In  round  figures  the  French  losses  total  thus:  killed,  3,000;  wounded^ 
14,000;  prisoners  taken  in  battle,  21,000;  prisoners  by  capitulation,  83,000; 
disarmea  in  Belgiimi,  3,000;  total,  124,000  men.  The  Germans  captured 
beddes,  one  fia£,  two  ensigns,  419  guns  and  mitrailleuses,  139  garrison  guns, 
1,072  wagons  of  all  descriptions,  66,000  rifles,  and  6,000  horses  fit  for  service. 
Tlie  German  army  lost  465  ofiicers,  of  whom  189  were  killed,  including  Greneral 
von  Gersdorff,  and  8,459  men,  of  whom  2,832  were  killed.^' 

THE  THHU)  REPUBLIC  PROCLAIMED    (SEPTEMBER  4TH,   1870) 

Sedan  gave  the  final  blow  to  the  empire.  Not  even  a  push  was  required 
to  complete  its  overthrow.  How  did  the  news  reach  Paris?  Nobody  mows. 
A  vague  rumour  was  spread  on  the  afternoon  of  September  3rd.  In  the 
evening  one  hundred  thousand  Parisians  paraded  the  streets  and  went  to  the 
house  of  the  governor  of  the  city,  General  Trochu.  The  chamber  held  a  sitting 
during  the  night.  There  could  be  nothing  more  tragic  than  this  sitting.  A 
deathly  sDence  prevailed  among  those  official  representatives  of  the  empire. 
Jules  Favre  in  his  voice  of  brass  read  out  in  the  midst  of  this  silence  a  propo- 
sition of  forfeiture.  Not  a  sound,  not  a  murmur  was  heard.  A  few  hours 
still  remained  to  the  empire  in  which  some  extreme  measure  might  be  tried, 
but  nobody  thought  of  such  a  thing. 

A  compact  mass  of  people  thronged  the  place  de  la  Concorde.  The  bridge 
was  guarded  and  the  police  of  the  empire  were  using  their  weapons  for  the 
last  time.  The  crowd,  partly  by  its  own  force,  partly  owing  to  the  complicity 
of  the  soldiers,  managed  to  clear  a  passage.  A  few  moments  after,  the  cham- 
ber was  invaded;  for  the  fourth  time  the  people  entered  the  Tuileries. 

The  republic  was  proclaimed  at  the  H6tel-ae-Ville,  and  also  a  provisional 
government  xmder  the  name  of  "government  of  national  defence."  The 
government  consisted  of  deputies  elected  in  Paris:  Jules  Simon,  Picard, 
Gwnbetta,  Pelletan,  Gamier-Pag^s,  Cr^mieux,  Arago,  Glais-Bizoin,  and 
Rochefort,  with  General  Trochu  as  president,  Thiers  having  refused  this 
office.  The  senate  had  been  forgotten,  just  as  in  1848  the  chamber  of  peers 
had  been.  It  was  not  remembered  till  the  next  day.  In  the  evening,  in 
spite  of  the  threatened  invasion,  a  profound  relief  was  felt.  The  boulevards 
were  crowded.  Improvised  chariots  bearing  inscriptions,  and  groups  of 
soldiers  mingling  with  the  citizens  were  cheered  as  they  passed.  The  police 
had  disappeared.    One  of  the  most  festive  occasions  during  the  days  that 

[>  September  4th  the  empress  Eugenie  fled  from  Paris  and  in  five  dajs  landed  on  the  coast 
of  E&ffland.  where  she  was  joined  by  her  son.  They  took  up  their  residence  at  Chiselhurst 
near  London,  where  Kapoleon  III  joined  them  March  20th,  1871,  and  where  he  died  January 
9th.  1878.] 


THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR 


163 


followed  was  the  return  of  the  exiles.  All  the  great  men  who  were  welcomed 
back  by  their  country,  Victor  Hugo,  Louis  Hhuic,  Edgar  Quinet,  and  Ledru- 
Rollin,  cnrae  to  Paris.    The  return  of  Victor  Hugo  was  a  regular  triumph. 

AVhen  the  empire  fell,  France  was  left  unprotected.  Of  the  two  armies 
one  had  been  captured  at  Sedan,  and  the  other  was  shut  up  in  Metz,  whence 
it  was  to  be  delivered  by  treachery.  The  Germans  thought  they  had  nothing 
to  do  but  U)  make  a  military  excursion  into  France. 

They  were  arriving  at  Paris  from  two  directions — from  Soissons  and  from 
Chalons.  They  looked  upon  Paris  as  their  last  remaining  obstacle,  and  did 
not  believe  any  resistance  would  be  offertH:!.  In  1814  and  1815  Paris  had 
been  given  up  after  a  few  days'  struggle.  They  could  not  believe  that  the 
capital  woulcl  endure  the  horrors  of  a  siege.  It  was  said  to  be  provisioned 
for  one  month  only,  and  in  1814  and  1815  the  possession  of  Paris  had  meant 
the  possession  of  France.  Thus  the  war  seemed  finished;  but  it  was  really 
only  begun. 

THE    filEGE    OF   PARIS 


The  government  took  up  its  quarters  in  the  capital,  resolved  to  sustain 
the  siege.  It  had  sent  away  only  its  two  oldest  members,  Cr^*mieux  and 
Glais-Bizoin,  who  had  gone  to  Tours.  la  Paris  they  were  hastily  preparing 
the  defence  of  the  ramparts  and  the  forts,  which  had  been  left  by  the  empire 
in  a  very  inefficient  state.  The  national  guard  was  consolidated  and  pro- 
vided with  giuis.  An  attempt  was  ma^le  to  reorganise  the  troops  which  were 
returning:  General  Vinoy's  corps,  which  had  reached  Sedan  too  late  and  had 
made  a  rapid  retreat,  some  sailors,  some  of  the  mobiies^  and  soldiers  from 
here,  there,  and  everywliere  were  to  f*>rrn  the  Parit^iitn  army.  Trochu  was 
commantier-in-chief  antl  had  under  him  Genera!  Ducrot,  who  had  escaped 
after  Sedan,  Vinoy,  and  at  the  hea<i  of  the  artillery  General  Fr^bault,  who 
had  presented  to  the  navy  some  fine  cannon  which  were  now  to  be  of  great 
service  in  the  defence  of  Paris. 

Preparations  were  hardly  completed  when  the  enemy  arrived.  On  the 
heights  of  ChS,tillon,  which  was  a  valuable  position  for  Paris,  the  Germans 
found  no  opjKwsition  except  from  some  troops  who  were  already  dcmorahs«*dj 
being,  so  to  speak,  composed  of  the  tail-end  of  defeated  regiments.  A  panic 
ensues!  and  the  Germans  gained  possession  of  the  heights,  which  enabletl  them 
to  bombard  Paris. 

But  a  change  was  near.  Paris  was  tletermined  to  make  a  defence.  First 
Jules  Favre  went  to  Ferrieres  to  find  out  what  conditions  Germany  meant 
to  propose.  Bismarck  wantetl  some  of  the  French  provinces,  and  Jules 
Favre  replied:  "Not  an  inch  of  our  territory,  nor  a  single  stone  of  our  for- 
tresses!" Paris  during  the  siege  was  a  noble  spectacle.  The  city  of  light 
laughter  and  sparkling  merriment,  the  centre  of  elegance  and  fashion,  had 
been  transformed  h\io  a  military  stronghold.  One  thought  occupied  nil 
minds,  one  passion  possessed  all  hearts,  the  whole  town  had  but  one  soul — 
and  that  was  filled  with  the  noble  enthusiasm  of  patriotism." 

Indefatigable  zeiU  was  displayed  by  the  various  authorities^the  ministry 
of  conunerce.  the  prefecture  of  the  Seine,  whicli  was  in  the  hands  of  a  member 
of  the  government,  Jules  Ferry,  the  mayoralty  of  Paris,  the  mayoralties  of 
the  arrondlssements;  but  these  complicated  wheels  within  wheels  hindered 
each  other,  their  functions  not  being  clearly  determined. 

From  September  26th  a  central  victualling  committee  regulated  and  com- 
bined these  various  operations,  and  rendered  valuable  services.    The  gov- 


164  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1870  AJft.] 

eniment  of  national  defence  succeeded  in  adding  to  the  resources  already 
obtained  more  than  four  hundred  thousand  hundredweights  of  flour,  whidi 
represented  provisions  for  two  months. 

It  was  not  sufficient  to  have  com ;  it  must  be  ground.  After  sura^ounting 
enormous  difficulties,  the  trade  of  niiiler  was  successfully  oigamsed  in  Paris. 
All  trades  connected  with  food  were  established  in  the  great  city  as  well  as 
all  those  concerned  with  warfare. 

Was  this  the  case  with  the  military  organisation?  It  must  first  be  ad- 
mitted that  there,  more  than  in  any  other  department,  the  difficulties  were 
appalling.  There  were  crowds  of  men,  there  were  no  real  soldiers,  or  scarcely 
any;  too  few  arms,  and  few  good  arms;  the  new  chassepot  rifles,  already 
insufficient  in  number  by  halt,  had  been  stored  in  quantities  at  Mets  and 
Strasbuig,  and  there  were  not  enough  in  Paris.  As  for  the  fortifications, 
ance  PsJikao  had  become  minister  and  the  defence  committee  had  been 
formed,  to  which  Hiiers  had  been  elected,  they  had  worked  feverishly  to 
repair,  as  far  as  possible,  the  n^ligenoe  of  the  imperial  government.  Mimi- 
tions  had  been  stored;  tiie  enceinte  of  Paris  and  the  forts  had  been  put  into 
good  condition;  from  the  various  ports  more  than  two  himdred  munense 
naval  guns  had  been  brought  to  supply  the  bastions  of  Paris,  together  with  a 
picked  set  of  seamen  set  at  liberty  by  the  disarmament  of  the  fleet,  which 
had  been  unable  to  make  an  effort  in  the  Baltic  for  want  of  troops  to  land; 
t^ere  were  nearly  fourteen  thousand  brave  sailors,  commanded  by  half  a 
doxen  vice-admirals  and  rear-admirals.  This  was  the  strongest  element  of 
defence,  and  the  general  officers  of  the  naval  army  were  chaiged  with  the 
defence  of  the  greater  number  of  the  divisions  of  the  fortifications — the 
secieurSy  as  they  were  called. 

On  the  9th,  the  13th  corps  entered  Paris,  led  back  from  M^si^res  by  Gen- 
eral Vinoy.  The  14tii  corps,  which  was  being  formed,  was  placed  by  Trochu 
under  command  of  General  Ducrot,  who  had  escaped  from  the  hands  of  the 
Prussians.  On  September  13th  there  were  60,000  soldiers  of  the  line,  the 
greater  nimiber  of  them  raw  recruits,  110,000  mobiles,  360,000  national 
guards.  This  last  nimiber  was  purely  nominal,  the  greater  niunber  of  these 
guards  being  neither  in  uniform  nor  armed,  and  many  not  even  capable  of 
b«iring  arms.  They  finally  succeeded  in  arming  250,000.  A  large  nimiber 
of  the  mobiles  also  were  neither  equipped  nor  armed  « 

The  appearance  of  the  town  was  curious.  Guns  glittered  imder  the  trees 
on  the  boulevards,  and  the  sound  of  trumpets  was  everywhere.  Theatres 
were  changed  into  hospitals  and  the  railway  factories  were  busy  casting  can- 
non. Hiere  were  no  carriages  and  no  gas;  at  night  all  was  in  damiess. 
Instead  of  the  boulevards,  the  ramparts  became  the  centre  of  Pari^an  life; 
here  everyone,  workmen  and  citizens  alike,  assembled  gim  in  hand  to  guard 
liie  town.  The  inhabitants  were  blockaded.  A  few  hundred  yards  from 
the  fortifications  an  invisible  circle  of  trenches  enclosed  the  town.  Commu- 
nication with  the  outer  world  was  impossible,  except  by  balloons  which  were 
sent  out  of  Paris  or  by  the  carrier  pigeons  which  returned  there  pursued  by 
Prussian  buUets. 

IVo\Tsions  might  fail,  so  the  Parisians  were  placed  on  rations.^  Gab 
horses  furnished  them  with  meat  during  the  siege.  As  for  bread,  towards 
the  end  they  wore  out  their  teeth  against  a  strange  compound  of  com,  maise, 
oats,  and  pulverized  bones.  They  ate  anj-thing  that  could  be  found,  even 
the  animals  from  the  Zoological  Gardens.  Everybody  endured  himger  cheer- 

['  Meat  was  apportioaed  from  the  1st  of  October  at  one  hnndz«d  grammeB  to  each  penon  ; 
after  the  S5th  at  sixtj ;  and  this  on  the  26th  was  to  be  reduced  to  fifty  grammes.*  ] 


THE   FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR  IM 

[1870  AJ>.] 

fuDy.  Later  on  cold  weather  set  in.  Winter  was  early  that  year  and  un- 
usually severe.     People  were  terribly  cold  in  the  frozen  trenches. 

At  last  bombardment  brought  the  siege  to  an  end.  The  Prussians  launched 
enormous  shells,  larper  than  any  that  had  yet  been  known,  into  the  town,  on  to 
the  monuments  which  are  the  pride  of  civilisation,  on  to  the  hospitals,  on  to 
the  schools  where  sometimes  the  dead  bodies  of  five  or  six  children  would  be 
found.  They  fell,  not  on  the  ramparts,  but  in  Paris.  All  through  the  night 
these  huge  masses  of  metal,  whose  fall  meant  death  and  destruction,  were 
heard  whizzing  through  the  air.  But  the  whole  town  only  became  the  more 
cnthusia^stic,  everyone  was  eager  to  fight,  and  not  an  angry  word  was  heard, 
unless  anyone  spoke  of  surrender. 

The  ^nerals  were  not  so  eager  as  the  people.  Trochu  did  not  thbk  it 
was  possible  to  break  through  the  Prussian  circle  of  trenches.  Tlie  generals 
of  the  empire,  discouragenl  ny  repeated  ilisasters,  had  but  little  confidence 
that  this  improvised  army  composed  of  the  remnants  of  different  regiments 
would  be  able  to  concjuer  the  Germans,  who  had  beaten  their  organises!  army. 

Tliere  were  a  few  skirmishes  during  the  early  days  in  onler  to  recover  the 
neighbouring  villages,  then  an  attack  was  made  with  a  few  soldiers  near 
Garches;  these  were  the  only  military  incidents  of  the  first  few  months.  The 
moment  when  Trochu  would  resolve  to  act  was  awaited  with  feverish  im- 
patience, lie  had  said  that  he  had  a  definite  plan."  Among  the  many 
isolated  instances  of  defence  we  cannot  cjuote  many.  Let  the  following 
account  be  taken  as  a  type  of  that  unavailing  resistance  France  made  in 
many  directions  :<> 

GIRAm)'S  ACCOUNT  OF  CHATEATTDUN    (OCTOBER,    1870) 

Paris,  isolatetl,  blockaded,  suffering  already,  waited,  listened,  and  asked, 
"Where  is  France?"  When  the  name  of  Chflteaudun  resounded,  when  that 
brave  resistance  became  known,  when  the  echo  of  that  gallant  struggle  struck 
the  great,  attentive,  aiul  already  luixious  city,  then  Paris  nn  this  news  of 
public  mourning  gave  vent  to  an  almost  joyful  cry,  and  said  to  herself,  "  France 
is  arisingi  France  is  hastening!  France  lives,  for  she  knows  how  to  die!" 
The  little  to^vn  of  Chdteaudun,  which  for  weeks  had  attracled  attention  by 
its  energy  and  its  defensive  dispositions,  showed  France  and  the  world  how 
a  few  thousand  brave  men  could  hold  in  check  a  whole  army,  provided  they 
were  willing  tti  Siicrifice  their  lives.  Tlie  defence  of  ChfiteHudun  is  all  the 
more  admirable  because  it  represents  the  heroism  of  the  humble  and  unknown, 
heroism  without  ostentation  where,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  in  the  city, 
all  did  their  duty.  The  ilefence  of  Chiitt^audun  was  entirely  civilian,  and  the 
defenders,  the  national  guanls  of  Beauce,  grain-sellers  of  peacefid  mode  of 
life,  francs-tireurs  of  Paris,  Nantes,  and  Cannes,  all  were  simple  valiant  citizens. 

The  news  of  the  occupation  of  Orleans  by  the  Prussians  had  just  arrived. 
Defence,  it  was  thought,  would  lie  madness.  But  the  news  of  this  peaceful 
resolution  was  ilJ  received  by  the  |>eople  who  were  already  determined  on 
resistance;  and  ulans  having  appeared  not  far  from  the  railway,  some  work- 
men had  attacked  them,  junned  only  with  their  tfwls.  The  enemy  wjis  ap- 
proaching. He  had  ahready  reached  Varize  and  Civey,  which  he  had  burned 
to  punish  the  inhabitants  for  their  resistance;  while  Chdteaudun  was  erecting 
barricades  mai^ie  of  sharp  stones,  supported  by  hewn  logs  and  furnished  with 
fascines  and  sacks  of  earth.  On  October  ISth,  a  Tuesday,  the  sentries  at 
St.  VaMrien  noticed  towards  mid-ilay  the  enemy's  approach! 

ChAteaudun  had  for  its  defence  but  765  francs-tireurs,  and  300  of  the 


166  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1830  A.i>.] 
Dunois  national  guards;  not  a  ^un  nor  a  horsensoldier.  At  the  most  twelve 
hundred  men  all  told;  and  against  them  the  entire  22nd  Prussian  division 
was  advancine.  The  German  docmnents  pretend,  and  the  official  despatch 
of  Blumenthal  dated  from  VersaUles  affirms,  that  the  defenders  of  €h&teau- 
dun  nimabered  4,000.'  Once  again  it  may  be  declared,  there  were  not  1,200 
of  them.  The  F^nissian  division  was  12,000  strong,  and  had  the  use  of  24 
pieces  of  artillery. 

Without  takmg  into  consideration  the  artillery,  whose  fire  was  so  con- 
tinued and  so  deadly,  each  Frenchman  fought  against  ten.  At  nightfidl, 
driven  back  on  every  side,  the  defenders  of  Ch&teaudun  collected  in  the  mar- 
ket-place, and,  black  with  powder,  excited  by  the  battle,  drunk  with  patriot- 
ism and  passion,  under  a  sky  already  red  with  conflagrations,  they  chanted 
the  powerful  verses  of  the  Marseillaise. 

'Hie  Germans  attacked  again  and  again.  The  fighting  was  hand  to  hand 
and  in  the  dark.  There  was  stabbing  and  throat-cuttmg,  and  the  black 
stream  of  Prussians  rushed  through  the  streets.  Torch  in  hand,  they  already 
invaded  the  captured  houses — pillaged,  stole,  and  burned.  The  last  defenders 
of  ChAteaudun,  while  retiring,  fired  murderous  volleys  from  all  sides  on  the 
square  where  the  Prussians  swarmed;  then  they  withdrew  still  fighting,  whilst 
the  Prussians,  seeing  enemies  on  all  sides,  shot  each  other  by  mistake  in  the 
darkness  in  the  streets  strewn  with  the  dead. 

Then  the  pillage  began ; '  and  horrified  eyes  beheld  the  atrocious  and  dis- 
graceful spectacle  of  troopers  breaking,  shattering,  daubing  with  petroleum 
doors  and  walls,  burning,  msulting,  and  yelling.  History  here  records  terrible 
things.  A  paralysed  man  was  burned  alive  m  his  bed  by  drunken  soldiers. 
An  old  soldier  was  killed  for  having  said  to  some  Bavarians,  "That  is  bar- 
barous." Generals  had  the  hotel  Dumed  down  in  which  they  had  dined 
gaily  and  toasted  their  bloody  victory.  They  treated  themselves  to  a  spec- 
tacle of  conflagration  and  devastation.  These  disciples  of  Hegel  witnessed 
the  si^ht  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  burning  houses,  and  houses  still 
inhabited !  In  one  cellar  alone  ten  human  beings  perished,  suffocated. 
Ch&teaudun  paid  dearly  for  its  devotion  to  its  country,  but  German  corpses 
strewed  the  streets,  and  the  ruin  of  France  was  bought  with  German  blood. 
Thirty  officers  and  nearly  two  thousand  men  were  killed.  With  the  Germans 
everything  must  be  paiB  for.  Fire  was  not  enough,  the  town  was  requisi- 
tioned. These  executioners  must  be  clothed,  fed,  and  sheltered — and  that 
after  so  imparalleled  a  pillage.  The  Dunois  were  decimated.  They  were 
ruined.  Not  one  made  the  smallest  complaint.  All  lived  on  in  their  ruined 
city,  proud  of  their  disasters,  holdmg  up  their  heads  after  having  dearly 
bought  the  right  to  call  themselves  citizens  of  the  little  town,  knowing  well 
that  one  must  pay  for  the  right  of  making  a  living  town  into  an  eternal 
example. 

The  government  of  Tours  decreed  that  Chdteaudun  had  well  deserved 
the  country's  thanks.  The  name  of  Ch&teaudun  was  soon  famous  even  in 
besieged  Paris,  Poets  have  been  inspired  by  its  sacrifice.  The  mayor  of 
Paris,  Arago,  gave  the  name  rue  de  Ch&teaudun  to  the  rue  Cardinal  Fesch. 
Victor  Hugo  had  his  Chdiiments  read  for  the  benefit  of  the  subscription  for 
guns  and  asked  in  a  superb  letter  that  the  first  gun  should  be  called  Chiteau- 
dun.  Lastly  the  enemy  himself  bowed  before  the  heroism  of  the  defenders 
of  the  little  town,  and  a  historian  and  one  who  took  part  in  this  drama  relates 

t'  Von  Moltke  ^  sets  the  number  of  defenders  at  1,800.] 
'  Von  Moltke <'  simply  sajs  that  the  French  soldiers  retired  "leaving  the  inhabitants  to 
their  &te»  and  these,  though  having  taken  part  in  the  struggle,  were  let  on  with  a  fine."] 


THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR  1«7 

the  wonls  of  Prince  Charles  at  Varize:  "Generftl.  have  those  francs-tireurs 
well  treated;  they  are  soldiers  from  Chdteaudun."o 


CONTINUED  GKRMAN'   SUCCESSES 

Gambetta,  who  consi4lere<:l  more  the  quantity  of  the  troops  than  their 
quality,  was  very  hopeful,  particularly  as  a  simultaneous  sortie  out  of  Paris 
was  planned  for  November  30th  and  December  1st.  He  continually  urged 
General  Aurelle  to  begin  offensive  operations.  But 
neither  the  attacks  on  the  right  wing  of  the  German 
army  at  Ladon  on  the  24tli,  at  Beaune-lu-Rolnnde 
on  tlie  28th  of  November,  nor  those  on  the  right  wing 
near  Lagny  and  Pouprj^  on  December  2nd  were  of 
any  avail.  On  December  3rd  Prince  Frederick  Charles 
assumed  the  offensive,  anil  repulsed  the  enemy  in  a 
^eweeping  assault;  continuing  the  fight  on  the  4th,  he 
stormed  the  railroad  station  as  well  as  the  suburbs  of 
Orleans,  and  at  ton  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  gnuid 
duke  [of  Mecklenburg]  entered  the  city,  which  had 
been  evacuated  by  the  French.  The  Genimns  gained 
more  than  twelve  thousand  prisoners  of  war,  sixty 
cannon,  and  four  gun-boats.  The  enemy's  line  of  re- 
treat was  along  the  Loire,  partly  up  and  partly  down 
the  stream.  Gambetta,  who  was  dissatisfied  with 
the  way  Genenil  Aurelle  had  managed  affairs,  re- 
moved him  from  conutuuui  and  divided  the  army  of 
the  Loire  into  two  parts,  which  were  to  operate  sep- 
arately or  in  conjunction,  according  to  circumstances. 
The  first  army  of  the  Loire,  c(^nsisting  of  three  corps, 
was  stationed  at  Nevers,  and  was  commanded  by 
General  Bourbaki;  the  seconil,  of  three  and  one-half 
corps,  at  Blois,  commaiuled  by  General  Chanzy. 

Princ«  Fretlerick  Charles  sent  a  part  of  his  army 
down  the  Loire  to  meet  General  Chanzy.  Meung, 
Beaugency,  Blois,  and  the  chAteau  of  Ghambord  were 
garrisoned,  over  seven  tlmusjunl  prisoners  taken,  and 
several  guns  captured.  The  government  of  delegates 
at  Tours,  not  feeling  secure  any  longer  in  that  city, 
removed  to  Bordeaux  on  December  lOth,  General 
Chanzy  retreated  to  Vendome  and  from  there  further 

westward  to  Le  Mans,  Prince  Frederick  Charles  placed  one  corps  in  Vendome 
to  watch  any  further  movements  on  the  part  of  General  Chanzy.  In  the 
latter  part  of  Deceml)er  he  sent  the  remamder  of  his  troops  into  quarters, 
for  rest  and  re-equipment.  On  January  6th,  1871,  upon  orders  from  head- 
quarters, he  broke  camp  with  57,000  infantry,  15.000  cavalry,  and  318  cannon, 
and  rnarchetl  out  to  meet  Chanzy,  who  liad  meanwhile  been  quiet  at  Le  Mans 
with  100,000  men. 

Nobody  knew  where  Bourbaki's  army  was,  nor  what  were  its  plans — 
whether  it  proposed  to  join  Chanzy  at  Le  Mans,  or  to  advance  toward  Paris 
by  way  of  Montargis  and  Foutainebleau;   or  whether  it  Imd  alreai^ly  gone 

Jtward  to  the  relief  of  Belfort.  In  order  to  be  prepared  for  any  emergency, 
the  Hessian  division  remained  in  Orleans  after  the  departure  of  the  prince; 
Gieu  and  Blois  remained  garrisoned;    t^e  2iid  corps  under  Fransecky  was 


F BENCH   CtTIHASSIEB 


168  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1830-1871  x,n.} 

stationed  at  Montanis,  and  the  7th  under  Zastrow  at  Auxerre  to  the  east- 
ward of  this  place.  The  mardi  of  the  prince  through  the  so-called  "Perche" 
in  frost,  snow-storms,  and  thaw  was  most  difficult.  The  troops  advanced 
by  three  roads  towards  Le  Mans,  skirmishing  daily,  and  were  on  the  point  of 
cutting  off  the  enemy's  retreat.  Suddenly,  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of 
January,  Chanzy  left  Le  Mans,  retreated  in  haste  towards  Laval  and  Mayenne, 
and  in  the  evenmg  the  Hanoverians  marched  into  Le  Mans.  The  prince  took 
up  his  headquarters  in  the  town,  and  sent  troops  in  pursuit  of  Chanzy,  some 
to  Laval,  some  to  Mayenne.  The  deserted  camp  of  Conlie  was  occupied, 
and  great  (quantities  of  supplies  were  seized.  The  grand  duke  of  MecklenDurg 
marched  with  thirteen  corps  via  Alengon  to  Rouen,  to  give  the  troops  of  Uie 
German  army  of  the  north  an  opportimity  to  strike  a  decisive  blow.  Nothing 
was  to  be  apprehended  from  Chanzy  in  the  near  future;  he  had  been  forced 
back  into  Bnttany,  and  was  not  in  condition  to  undertake  important  operar 
tions.  Li  the  interval  from  the  6th  to  the  12th  of  January,  18,000  of  his  men 
had  been  taken  prisoners  and  he  had  lost  20  guns  and  2  standards,  llie 
nimiber  of  killed  and  wounded  could  onlv  be  conjectured.  Prince  Frederick 
Charles  lost  180  officers  and  3,470  men,  killed  and  wounded. 

In  the  same  manner  in  which  the  armies  of  relief  were  annihilated  in  the 
south  and  west  of  Paris,  they  were  wiped  out  in  the  north.  These  latter  were 
commanded  succ^sively  by  Generals  Farre,  Bourbaki,  and  Faidherbe;  the 
last-named  took  command  on  December  3rd.  The  fortresses  in  the  north. 
Arras,  Cambray,  Douai,  and  Valenciennes,  were  favourable  as  bases  of  opera- 
tion as  well  as  places  of  refuge.  For  the  moment,  only  one  army  corps  was 
eqtiipped,  and  with  this  General  Farre  was  stationed  to  the  south  of  Amiens. 
General  Manteuffel  with  the  first  army  was  to  operate  against  him.  But  he 
was  obliged  to  leave  one  corps  behind  to  maintain  Metz  and  besiege  Thion- 
ville  and  Montm^dy;  the  two  remaining  corps,  numbering  38,244  infantry 
and  4,433  cavalry,  with  180  guns,  had  to  be  reduced  by  several  detachments 
for  the  siege  of  the  northern  fortresses.  Manteuffel  left  Metz  on  November 
7th,  arrived  near  CJompi^gne  on  the  20th,  and  met  the  enemy  at  Moreuil  on 
the  27th.  He  defeated  him,  took  Amiens,  and  forced  the  citadel  of  the  place 
and  the  smaller  fortress  of  La  F^re  to  capitulate.  Hereupon  Manteuffel 
turned  toward  Normandy,  taking  Rouen  on  December  5th,  Dieppe  on  the 
9th,  and  destroyed  several  army  detachments  at  different  points  of  the 
Seine. 

Faidherbe,  however,  had  meanwhile  equipped  a  second  army  corps  and 
marched  southward,  seizing  the  little  fortress  of  Ham.  Manteuffel  therefore 
tinned  back,  attacked  the  enemy  on  December  23rd  at  the  little  river  Hallue 
(or  near  Quemieux),  and  forced  him  to  retreat  to  Douai.  The  fortress  of 
P^ronne  was  obliged  to  capitulate  on  January  9th.  General  Bentheim,  who 
remained  in  Normandy,  had  in  the  meantime  had  several  skirmishes  with 
detachments  of  the  French  army,  numbering  from  fifteen  thousand  to  twenty 
thousand  men,  and  had  forced  them  to  retreat  towards  Le  Havre;  he  had 
also  stormed  the  ch&teau  "  Robert  le  Diable,"  and  blocked  the  way  of  the 
men-of-war  going  up  the  Seine  from  Havre,  by  sinking  eleven  large  vessels 
near  Duclair.  Among  the  sunken  vessels  were  six  English  coal  barges,  the 
owners  of  which  received  indemnity.  On  January  3rd,  Faidherbe,  who  was 
b^inning  operations  again,  attacked  a  division  of  the  18th  corps  at  Bapaume, 
but  was  repulsed.  The  commander  of  the  8th  corps.  General  Goben,  was 
given  command  of  the  first  army,  when  Manteuffel  was  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  of  the  south.  For  the  third  time  Faidherbe  advanced, 
being  ordered  by  Gambetta  to  assist  at  the  great  attempt  to  break  out  of 


THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN   WAR 


16& 


[1870-1871  A.D.I 

Paris,  planned  for  the  19th  of  January,  and  stationed  himself  with  between 
fifty  and  sbctv  thousand  men  near  St.  Quentin.  General  Goben  attacked  him 
on  January  19th  with  about  thirty  thousand  men,  threw  the  French  army  out 
of  all  their  positions  after  a  battle  of  seven  hours,  and  seized  ten  thousand 
prisoners  and  six  guns.  The  enemy  fled  in  wild  confusion  towards  Cambray, 
and  was  for  several  weeia  as  incapable  of  action  as  the  army  of  Chanzy. 

A  third  army  of  relief  appeareti  in  the  east.  After  the  surrender  of  Stras- 
burg,  General  Schmeling,  with  a  division  of  reserve,  had  forced  the  fortresses 
of  Sohlettstadt  and  Neu  Breisach  to  capitulate  on  October  24th  and  Novem- 
ber 10th,  while  General  Tresckow  with  another  reserve  division  had  sur- 
rounded Belfort,  the  southern  key  to  Vosges,  from  November  3rd.  These 
two  divisions  and  a  third  reserve  division  formed  later  Ix'longed  to  the  14th 
corps,  commanded  by  General  Werder.  This  latter  general  l)roke  up  from 
Strasburg  in  October  with  the  Baden  division  and  the  division  of  troops  of 
General  von  der  Goltz,  crosst^d  the  Vosges^  reached  Epinal  and  Vesoul,  after 
daily  skirmishes,  defeated  the  troops  of  General  Cambriele  on  October  22nd 
and  forced  them  to  retreat  to  Besan<;on,  and  sent  General  Beyer  of  Baden  off 
to  attack  Dijon.  After  a  Hercc  combat  and  a  short  bombardment  this  town 
was  forced  to  capitulate.  The  whole  of  General  Werder's  corps  took  position 
at  that  place  in  November. 

Garibaldi,  affected  by  the  republican  chimera,  arrived  in  Tours  on  October 
9th,  having  lx*en  appointed  commander-in-t^hief  of  the  Volunteers  of  the 
Vosges  by  Gambetta.  He  advanced  with  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men 
from  Autun  and  was  beaten  back  on  November  26th  and  27th  at  Pasques. 
In  the  same  manner  a  division  uniler  General  Cremer,  advancing  toward 
Dijon,  was  obliged  to  take  flight  near  Muits,  by  a  part  of  the  Baden  division 
under  General  Gliimer,  on  December  18th;  while  other  divisions  of  the  hostile 
army  were  throwm  back  into  the  fortress  of  Langres  by  General  von  der 
Goltz.  Just  then,  General  Werder  heard  that  large  masses  of  troops  were 
assembling  betwet^n  Lyons  and  Besanijon  and  that  a  tremendous  coup  against 
Belfort  was  contemplated.  Upon  this  news  he  evacuat^'d  Dijon,  and  sta- 
tioned iiimself  at  Vesoul  from  DecemlxT  liOth  until  January  9th.  He  had 
33,278  infantry,  4,020  cavalr>',  and  120  field  guns;  this  little  army  awaited 
the  advance  of  General  Bourbaki  with  about  150,000  men.  Bourbaki  had 
been  commissioned  by  Gambetta  to  make  a  magnificent  diversion  in  the 
rear  of  the  German  headquarters  at  Versailles,  and  had  brought  the  3rd 
army  corps  to  Besanc^on  in  the  middle  of  December^  drawn  a  fourth  to  himself 
from  Lyons,  and  also  joined  Gremer's  division  to  his  army.  His  plan  was, 
having  such  an  overwhelming  force,  to  annihilate  Werder's  corps,  relieve 
Belfort,  penetrate  into  Alsace,  int<^rrupt  the  communication  of  the  German 
armies  with  their  bases  of  supply,  and  perhaps  even  imderLake  a  campaign  of 
revenge  in  South  Germany.  Belfort  and  the  rear  of  the  German  beleaguering 
army  were  in  no  little  danger.  As  soon  as  Moltke  was  apprised  of  the  situation 
he  at  once,  on  the  6th  of  January,  ordered  the  formation  of  the  army  of  the 
south,  composed  of  the  3rd,  7th,  and  14th  corps  (of  General  Werder),  made 
General  Manteuffel  commander-in-chief,  and  gave  him  |iersonal  instructions 
at  Versailles  on  January  10th.  The  2nd  and  7th  corps  left  Montargis  and 
Auxerre,  and  met  on  January  12th  at  Ch£itillon-sur-Seme. 

As  soon  as  General  Werder  realised  that  Bourbaki's  next  aim  was  not 
Vesoul  but  Belfort,  he  left  Vesoul,  interrupted  Bourbaki's  advance  on  Jan- 
uary 9th  by  an  attack  at  Villersexel,  and  arrived  in  good  time  at  the  famous 
defensive  position  southwest  of  Belfort.  To  strengthen  this  position,  ten 
thousand  men  and  thurty-seven  siege-guns  were  taken  from  the  besieging 


170  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[i8nA.i».] 
anny  at  Belfort.  The  line  of  defence  was  drawn  from  Frahier,  past  H6ri- 
court  and  MontWliard,  to  Delle  on  the  Swiss  frontier,  and  was  lx)unded  in 
front  by  the  river  LLsaine  and  the  swampy  valley  of  the  Allaine.  Whoever 
should  storm  this  position  and  seize  the  road  to  Belfort  would  fiiBt  have  to 
cut  down  the  whole  of  Werder's  corps;  for  the  Grerman  troops,  well  recognising 
the  danger  menacing  the  fatherland,  had  raised  the  historical  rallying-cry, 
"We  dare  not  let  them  through,  not  for  the  world!" 

Outside  conditions,  not  considering  the  fourfold  greater  numbers  of  the 
enemy's  troops,  were  most  unfavourable.  The  supply  of  provisions  was  small, 
the  cold  was  intense  (17**),  and  the  river  Lisaine  was  frozen.  But  the  sense 
of  duty  of  the  German  soldiers  overcame  all  difficulties.  Bourbaki  did  not 
understand  how  to  make  the  best  use  of  his  superior  forces,  and  either  to 
break  through  the  centre  or  surround  the  feeble  right  win^  of  his  opponent. 
All  his  attacks  in  the  three  days'  battle  of  Belfort,  or  H^ncourt,  on  January 
15th,  16th,  and  17th  were  repulsed.  He  was  only  able  to  take  for  a  few 
hours  the  feebly  garrisoned  village  of  Chenebier;  and  he  had  to  evacuate  and 
begin  his  retreat  on  January  18th.  He  was  influenced  to  this  step  by  the 
news  of  the  approach  of  Greneral  Manteuffel.  The  loss  of  the  French  in  this 
battle  and  in  the  skirmishes  on  their  retreat  were  6,000 — 8,000  killed  and 
woimded  ancl  2,000  taken  prisoners.  General  Werder  lost  81  officers  and 
1,847  men.  On  the  19th  he  followed  the  enemy,  who  was  retreating  toward 
Belfort  and  intended  to  march  from  there  to  Lyons.  But  unless  he  were 
very  expeditious  he  would  reach  neither  Lyons  nor  Belfort. 

General  Manteuffel,  who  had  taken  command  of  the  army  of  the  south 
on  January  12th,  was  approaching  by  forced  marches.  He  marched  through 
the  mountaui  chains  of  the  C6te  d'Or,  thence  between  the  fortresses  of  Langres 
and  Dijon,  without  molestation  from  Garibaldi,  who  had  occupied  Dijon 
with  25,000  men  after  Werder's  evacuation.  On  the  news  of  Bourbaki's 
retreat  he  turned  towards  the  southeast  with  his  two  corps,  44,950  infantry, 
2,866  cavalry  and  168  guns  in  all,  in  order  to  block  the  way  of  the  enemy 
towards  Lyons.  He  wished  to  force  the  enemy  to  choose  lietween  a  battle 
by  his  demoralised  troops,  a  surrender  \\dthout  battle,  or  a  crossing  of  the 
Swiss  frontier.  On  January  23rd  the  road  to  Lyons  was  occupied,  the  first 
skirmishes  began;  the  2nd  and  7th  corps  crowded  in  from  the  south  and  west, 
that  of  General  Werder  from  the  nortn.  No  way  remained  open  but  to  the 
east.    Bourbaki  tried  to  commit  suicide  on  the  26th  of  January. 

At  the  same  time  a  telegram  from  Gambetta  arrived,  superseding  Bourbaki 
and  putting  General  Clincmmt  in  his  place  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
of  the  e.ast.  But  he  was  no  less  unable  to  realise  Gambetta's  project  of  march- 
ing the  army  southward,  and  was  obliged  to  retreat  to  Pontarlier.  He  hoped 
to  make  use  of  the  news  of  the  truce  of  Versailles  as  a  sheet  anchor;  but  it  was 
soon  evident  that  it  did  not  apply  to  the  seat  of  war  in  the  east.  Thus  the 
catastrophe  codd  not  be  averted.  On  February  Ist  the  last  mountain  pass 
toward  the  south  was  blocked,  Pontarlier  stormed,  and  the  retreating  foe 
was  pursued  as  far  as  the  two  border  fortresses  of  La  Cluse;  90,000  men  and 
11,787  horses  crossed  the  Swiss  frontier  at  La  Verri^res,  were  disarmed  there 
and  scattered  through  the  different  cantons.  During  these  days  the  Ger- 
mans took  more  thaii  15,000  prisoners  and  seized  2  standards,  28  cannon 
and  mitrailleuses,  and  great  numbers  of  wagons  and  weapons. 

Graribaldi  meanwhile  had  been  held  in  check  by  6,000  men  under  General 
Kettler,  during  which  battle  the  enemy  found  a  German  flag  under  a  heap 
of  corpses.  He  evacuated  Dijon  on  the  night  of  February  1st  on  the  report 
that  stronger  forces  were  approaching,  withdrew  southwards,  and  soon  after- 


THE    FEAXCO-PRUSSIAN   WAR 


vn 


[1871  A.©.] 

wards  returned  to  the  island  of  Caprera,  The  fortress  of  Belfort,  defended 
by  Colonel  Denfert-Rochcrea\i,  had  so  far  hekl  out,  as  the  conditions  of  the 
siirroundinf^  t<?rritory  were  so  favourable.  The  assault  on  the  two  forts  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Perche  was  a  failure;  it  was  renewed  on  Febnuir>'  8th  and 
then  with  success.  After  this  Belfort  could  not  hold  out  much  loriger.  In 
order,  however,  to  obtain  control  of  the  fortress  before  the  coiichisioii  of  the 
truce,  King  William  consented  to  an  extension,  only  on  condition  of  the 
surrender  of  Belfort.  On  Februar>'  18th  the  garrison,  still  12,000  miMi  strong, 
marched  out  with  military  honours,  atuj  Belfort  was  taken  possession  of  by 
Tresckow  a  divLsion.  Other  fortresses,  such  as  Hoissons,  Verdun,  Thion\nlle, 
Pfidzburg,  and  Montmddy,  had  already  in  1870  been  forced  to  surrender; 
only  Bitsch  remained  in  possession  of  the  French  until  March  26th. 

After  the  annihilation  of  all  the  armies  of  relief,  Paris  had  nothing  more 
to  hope  for,  unless  the  grounds  for  hope  were  in  the  city  itself.  A  grand 
sortie  had  been  planned  with  Gambetta  for  the  30th  of  Novemix^r.  General 
Ducrot,  with  about  fift}'  thoasand  men,  was  to  break  through  the  eastern 
line  of  the  belea^ering  army,  march  to  Fontainebleau,  join  the  army  of  the 
Loire,  and  with  it  return  to  the  relief  of  Paris.  TOiile  demonstrations  were 
being  made  at  other  point'^,  Ducrot  a<lvanced  towanls  Champigiiy  and  Brie 
on  the  Mame,  drove  back  the  Wiirtemlx^rg  <liv!sion,  of  which  a  part  rppulse<l 
an  attack  near  Bonncuil  and  Mesly,  and  also  an  incomplete  Saxon  division 
out  of  the  villages  of  Champigny  and  Brie;  but  lie  cfniid  advance  no  further 
on  account  of  the  stubborn  resistance  of  the  German  troops. 

On  December  2nd  the  two  divisions,  assisted  by  the  2n(l  army  corps  and  a 
brigade  of  the  6th  corps  under  General  Fransecky,  atJvanced  and  aft-er  a  hot 
fight  retook  half  of  Charnpigny;  whereupon  the  French  evacuat4:*d  the  other 
half  of  the  place  and  Brie,  and  returned  with  all  their  troops  to  the  right  bank 
of  the  Manie.  Tlie  AViirteinbergers  lost,  in  these  two  days  of  battle,  63 
officers  and  1,557  men;  the  Saxona,  82  officers  and  1,864  men;  the  Pomera- 
nians, 87  officers  and  1,447  nun\ ;  the  loss  of  the  French  was  about  10,000  men, 
among  which  were  aoout  1,600  prisoners.  The  sorties  against  Stains  and 
Le  Bourget  on  December  2l3t  and  22nd  were  also  repulsed.  Mont  Avron, 
which  had  very  hea\'y  guns,  was  abandonetl  by  the  French  after  a  bombard- 
ment of  two  days,  anil  the  bombardment  of  the  eastern  forts  was  begun. 
On  January  5th  after  the  arrival  of  the  siege-park  the  bombardment  of  the 
|flOuthem  forts  was  begun;  their  fire  was  soon  silenced;  and  on  January  9th 
'began  the  bombardment  of  Paris,  in  which  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  princi- 
pally suffered,  although  not  to  any  great  extent. 

TVo  facts  soon  l^ecame  apparent:  sorties  of  the  Parisians,  seeking  to  re- 
pulse the  besiegers,  broke  through  their  lines  and  operated  in  their  rear;  and 
the  formation  of  armies  in  the  pro\nnces,  which  were  Intended  to  go  to  the 
relief  of  the  capital,  and  in  conjunction  with  the  Parisian  troops,  forced  the 
Gorman  headquart(^rs  to  raise  the  siege.  This  latter  measure  was  ])articu- 
larly  urged  by  Gaml>etta,  who  had  left  Paris  in  a  Ixalloon  on  October  6th  for 
Touts,  where  an  external  government  had  been  established.  Here  he  took 
charge  of  the  ministry  of  war  as  well  as  that  of  the  interior,  and  finally 
U8urpe<i  the  dictatorship  of  France.  He  aimed  to  stir  up  the  national  hatred 
of  the  French  for  the  Germans,  and  to  call  to  the  defence  of  their  flag  all  the 
able-bodied  men  of  the  harassed  country;  he  gathered  large  forces  on  the 
Loire,  others  to  the  north  and  west  of  Paris,  and  finally  succeeded  in  causing 
alarm  to  the  besiegers  for  the  safety  of  their  line  of  retreat.  Thus  he  had 
indeed  the  credit  of  prolonging  the  war,  but  he  incurred  also  the  responsi- 
bility of  its  taking  on  a  more  sanguinary  character  and  of  the  country's 


17«  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

[1870  A.1>.) 

receiving  still  deeper  wounds.  The  generals  of  Gambetta  were  not  equal  in 
strategy  to  those  of  Moltke,  and  the  dlsciplme  of  their  soldiers  was  not  much 
better  than  that  of  the  garde  mobile  in  raris. 

After  the  capitulation  of  Sedan  the  headquarters  of  King  William  wa» 
fixed  in  Rheims  on  the  5th  of  September;  in  Meaux  on  the  15th;  in  the  Yilla 
Ferri^res  of  Rothschild  near  Lagn;^  on  the  18th.  From  here  he  went  to  Ver- 
sailles on  October  15th.  Man^r  miportant  diplomatic  documents  and  oral 
transactions  date  from  this  period.  In  a  circular  letter  of  September  6th, 
Favre  declared  that  since  the  fall  of  the  empire  the  king  of  Prussia  could  have 
no  pretext  for  continuing  the  war;  that  the  present  government  never  de- 
sired the  war  with  Grennany,  but  if  the  king  insisted,  would  indeed  accept  it, 
but  would  make  him  responsible  for  it;  and  in  any  case,  no  matter  how  the 
war  might  result,  not  a  foot  of  land,  not  a  stone  of  a  fortress  would  be  ceded. 

Bismarck's  answer  to  this,  in  a  circular  letter  of  September  13th.  was  that 
since  the  representatives,  the  senate,  and  the  press  in  France  had  in  July, 
1870,  almost  unanimously  demanded  the  war  of  conquest  in  Germany,  it 
could  not  be  said  that  France  had  not  desired  it,  and  that  the  imperial  gov- 
ernment alone  was  responsible  for  it.  Germany  would  have  to  expect  a  war 
of  revenge  on  the  part  of  France,  even  though  she  should  demand  no  surrender 
of  territory  and  no  indemnity,  and  should  be  content  with  glory  alone.  For 
this  reason  Germany  was  forced  to  take  measures  for  her  own  safety,  by 
setting  back  somewhat  her  boundaries,  thus  making  the  next  attack  by  the 
French  on  the  heretofore  defenceless  south-German  border  more  difficult. 
Tlie  neutral  powers,  with  the  exception  of  Russia,  were  in  favour  of  France, 
and  seemed  to  be  inclined  to  interfere  in  any  possible  negotiations  for  peace, 
and  to  hinder  any  oppressive  measures  against  France.  As  Thiers  was  at  that 
time  making  his  tour  through  Europe  for  this  very  purpose,  Bismarck  issued 
a  second  circular  letter  on  September  16th,  in  which  he  advised  the  powers 
not  to  prolong  the  war  by  fostering  in  the  heart  of  the  French  nation  the  hope 
of  their  intervention ;  for  since  the  German  nation  had  fought  this  war  alone, 
it  would  also  conclude  it  without  assistance,  and  would  submit  to  no  inter- 
ference from  any  side  whatever.  The  German  governments  and  the  German 
nation  were  determined  that  Germany  should  be  protected  against  France 
by  strengthened  frontiers.  The  fortresses  of  Strasburg  and  Metz,  until  now 
always  open  to  sorties  against  Germany,  must  be  surrendered  to  Germany, 
and  be  for  her  defence  henceforth. 

The  Parisian  government,  which  since  the  annihDation  of  the  French 
armies  had  been  so  much  in  favoiu*  of  peace,  now  wished  to  know  under  what 
conditions  King  William  would  consent  to  a  truce.  Favre  demanded  a  meet- 
ing with  Bismarck,  and  had  several  interviews  with  him  on  this  subject  in 
the  Villa  Ferri^res,  on  September  19th  and  20th.  He  declared  that  the  most 
France  could  consent  to  was  to  agree  to  pay  an  mdemnity,  but  any  cession  of 
territory  was  out  of  this  question.  In  order  to  decide  this,  a  national  assem- 
bly must  be  convened,  which  would  then  appoint  a  regular  government,  and 
to  facilitate  these  measures  a  truce  of  from  fourteen  to  twenty-one  days  was 
necessary;  and  he  now  asked  for  this  favour.  Bismarck  replied  that  such  a 
truce  would  be  not  at  all  to  the  military  interest  of  Germany,  and  could  only 
be  conceded  on  condition  of  the  surrender  of  Metz,  Toul,  and  Bitsch.  As  the 
Parisian  government  would  not  consent  to  these  conditions,  negotiations  were 
stopped,  and  Favre  and  other  French  diplomats  issued  new  circular  letters 
in  wnich  they  deplored  the  intention  of  Prussia  to  reduce  France  to  a  power 
of  the  second  degree.  The  absurdity  of  such  an  assertion — that  a  state  of 
thirty-eight  million  inhabitants,  or  including  Algeria  forty-two  million,  could 


THE    FRANCO-PRUSSIAN   WAR  17» 

(1870  A,i>.] 

by  the  loss  of  a  territory  containing  about  one  and  one-half  millions  be  re- 
duced to  the  condition  of  a  second-rate  power — was  exposed  in  its  entire 
falsity  by  Bismarck  in  his  despatch  of  October  1st. 

Nevertheless,  a  few  weeks  later,  negotiations  were  once  more  resumed; 
Thiers,  who  had  returned  from  his  tour,  appeared  at  Versailles  on  November 
1st  as  the  new  negotiator.  Here  also  the  first  question  to  be  discussed  was 
the  cessation  of  hostilities;  and  when  Bismarck  asked  in  surprise  what  France 
had  to  offer  as  a  return  for  all  these  concessions,  Thiers  absurdly  enough 
imagined  he  was  very  ingenious  when  he  angwere<l  that  she  had  nothing:  and 
upon  this,  these  negotiations  also  fell  through.  The  republican  government 
was,  as  was  plainly  to  be  seen,  animated  by  a  childish  stubbornness — con- 
mimed  by  the  idea  of  its  own  importance.  In  every  war  in  which  France  was 
victorious,  the  hardest  passible  conditions  were  imposed  upon  the  vanquished 
enemy,  who  was  never  permitted  to  escape  territorial  concessions.  Even 
quite  recently,  in  the  Italian  war  of  1859,  aft^r  the  two  victories  of  Magenta 
and  tSolferino,  the  surrender  of  Lombaniy  was  demanded.  Tliat  in  case  of 
French  victory  the  whoh*  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  would  be  lost  to  Germany 
was  disputed  by  no  int-clligent  person  in  Europe.  And  yet  France  had  the 
effrontery  to  demand  from  the  same  opponent  from  whom  she  had  taken  so 
many  territories  in  former  decadeSj  and  from  whom  she  as  victor  hati  just 
taken  her  fairest  provinces,  that  the  entirety  of  the  French  frontiers  should 
be  respected  as  sacred,  and  that  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  recover  the 
lost  provinces.  Such  arrogant  prct^nsiona  could  he  answered  only  by  new 
defeats.  Humiliations  mast  be  much  deeper,  distress  especially  in  Paris 
much  more  bitter,  before  France  could  realise  that  every  nation,  consequently 
even  the  French,  must  suffer  for  its  sins. 

So  the  cannon  had  to  speak  again,  and  times  were  very  lively  before  Paris, 
as  well  as  at  other  points.  Immediately,  on  the  first  day  of  uivestment,  the 
19th  of  September^  the  Parisians  made  a  sortie  with  forty  thoasimd  men 
against  CMtilion.  But  they  were  defeated  by  the  Prussian  and  Bavarian 
trf>ops,  and  fled  in  shameful  disorder.  The  Parisians  fared  no  b(;tter  in  their 
sorties  of  September  30th  and  October  13th  and  2l8t,  Although  they  suc- 
ceeded in  taking  the  thinly  garrisoned  village  of  Le  Rnurget  north  of  Paris  on 
October  2St]i,  they  were  driven  out  of  it  again  by  a  tlivision  of  the  guards  on 
the  30th.  Much  dissatisfaction  was  felt  in  Paris  on  account  of  these  constant 
defeats.  The  social  democrats  took  advantage  of  this  to  overthrow  the  gov- 
ernment and  substitute  the  commune.  Tliey  created  an  uprising  on  October 
3l8t  and  on  Noveml>er  1st  took  possession  of  the  H6teKle-Ville  for  a  few 
hours,  but  were  soon  ejected.  Rochefort,  who  was  greatly  compromised,  was 
obliged  to  retire  from  the  government. 

The  Parisians  now  placed  all  their  hopes  oa  the  arrival  of  the  armies  of 
relief,  and  allowed  themselves  a  few  weeks  of  quiet.  The  earliest  relief  was 
to  come  from  the  Ijoire.  General  de  la  Motterouge  was  stationed  there  with 
an  army  corps  and  was  advancing  from  Orleans  towards  Paris.  Tlie  first 
Bavarian  corps  under  General  von  der  Tann,  the  Wittich  division  of  infantry, 
and  two  divisions  of  cavalry,  were  sent  to  meet  him.  The  French  were  de- 
feated at  Artenay  and  other  points,  on  October  10th  luid  11th,  and  on  the 
evening  of  October  11th  General  von  der  Tann  entered  Orleans.  The  Bava- 
rians held  the  city,  the  other  divisions  of  the  army  took  Chdteaudun,  Chartres, 
and  Dreux,  northwest  of  Orleans,  and  dispersed  the  gardes  mobiles  and  francs- 
tireurs  who  were  stationed  there.  Gambetta,  in  council  on  military  subjects 
with  an  ex-mining  engineer,  Freycinet,  called  to  arms  all  men  between  the 
ages  of  twenty  and  forty,  ordered  the  formation  of  five  new  army  corps  and 


174  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1870  AJi.) 

had  them  drilled  in  special  instruction  camps.  He  deposed  General  de  la 
Motterouge,  and  made  General  Aurelle  de  Paladines  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army  of  the  Loire.  The  latter  crossed  the  Loire  with  two  corps  and 
advanced  toward  the  road  of  Paris,  in  order  to  cut  off  the  line  of  retreat  of 
the  Bavarian  general.  Von  der  Tann,  however,  left  Orleans  at  once,  on  the 
report  of  the  advance  of  large  masses  of  troops,  and  on  the  9th  of  November 
had  a  stubborn  fight  while  retreatmg  and  established  himself  at  Tours,  in 
order  to  block  the  way  of  the  enemy.  A  division  of  infantry  was  sent  to  his 
assistance  from  Versailles  under  command  of  the  grand  duke  of  Mecklenburg, 
Against  these  forces,  strengthened  by  three  corps  under  Prince  Frederick 
Charles,  General  Aurelle  with  his  poorly  equipped  troops,  now  reduced  to 
four  corps,  did  not  dare  to  venture  an  attack,  much  as  Gambetta  urged  him 
to  do  so.  He  intrenched  himself  before  Orleans,  and  awaited  the  attack. 
Thus  he  was  lost,  and  the  headquarters  at  Versailles  and  the  besieging  army 
at  Paris  were  freed  from  all  danger. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  France,  meanwhile,  great  successes  had  been  attained 
[by  the  Prussians],  important  partly  in  themselves,  partly  on  account  of  the 
possibilities  of  new  and  magnificent  operations.  The  fortress  of  Toul  sur- 
rendered on  September  23rd,  by  which  means  the  railroad  between  Strasburg 
and  Paris  was  opened  again.  Strasburg,  the  ancient  imperial  German  city, 
capitulated  on  September  28th.  Since  the  bombardment  of  August  24th 
to  27th  did  not  bring  the  commander  Greneral  Uhrich  to  terms,  a  regular 
siege  was  begun.  Everything  was  ready  for  assatdt  and  sticcess  was  certain. 
The  commander  did  not  wait  for  this,  but  surrendered,  and  he  and  451  officers 
and  17,111  men  became  prisoners  of  war.  Joy  in  Germany  was  very  great 
on  the  news  that  Strasburg,  lost  through  treachery  on  September  30th,  1681, 
was  once  a^ain  Grerman. 

The  capitulation  of  Metz  on  October  29th  left  the  beleaguering  army  free 
for  most  urgent  purposes.  The  2nd  corps  under  General  Fransecky  marched 
off  toward  Paris,  to  strengthen  the  army  of  the  crown  prince  of  Pnissia.  From 
the  remaining  6  corps,  a  firet  army  imder  General  Manteuffel  and  a  second 
under  Prince  Frederick  Charles  were  formed,  each  consisting  of  three  corps 
and  one  cavalry  division.  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  with  49,607  infantry, 
5,000  cavalry,  and  276  guns,  set  out  on  November  2nd  from  Metz  and  on  the 
14th  was  able  to  join  in  operations  on  the  Loire.  The  troops  of  the  grand 
duke  of  Mecklenburg,  some  divisions  of  which  had  repulsed  the  army  of  the 
west  under  General  Keratry  and  occupied  Dreux  and  Ch&teauneuf,  joined  the 
troops  of  the  prince,  and  formed  their  right  wing.  There  were  about  105.275 
men  and  556  guns  in  all,  to  whom  the  task  had  been  appointed  to  force  General 
Aurelle  de  Paiadines's  well-equipped  army  of  200,000  men  out  of  its  strong 
position,  drive  it  over  the  Loire,  and  reteke  Orleans.^ 

MARTIN  ON  THE  SURRENDER  OF  METZ    (OCTOBER  27TH,    1870) 

Before  descending  the  sorrowful  road  that  leads  to  the  supreme  catastro- 
phes, it  is  necessary  to  recount  the  fall  of  Metz.  Metz  presents  a  most  extra- 
ordinan'  and  revolting  spectacle,  a  picture  never  before  seen  in  history — that 
of  a  military  chief  vomntarily  sterilising  the  powerful  means  of  action  which 
he  held  in  his  hands,  embarrassing  himself  by  tortuous  combinations,  falling 
into  traps  of  his  own  making,  and  m  the  end  delivering  to  the  enemy  without 
a  struggle  a  large  army  and  a  large  imconquered  place;  accomplishmg  his 
own  ruin  and  the  ruin  of  his  country.  It  is  not  easy  to  imderstand  this  man 
and  his  actions,  to  discover  any  plan,  any  intention  in  this  series  of  contra- 


THE   FRANCO-PRUSSIAN-   WAR  175 

flSTO  A.D.] 

dictions,  lies,  and  inexplicaWc  mistakes,  viewed  not  only  from  the  stand- 
point of  his  duty  but  of  his  own  interest.  It  would  s*^em  as  though  Bazaine, 
like  Napoleon  III,  was  born  to  ruin  that  which  it  should  have  been  his  duty 
to  save. 

Wishing  to  stay  at  Metz,  why  did  not  Bazaine  provision  the  place  for  a 
long  sojoiuTi?  If  Bazaine  had  strategic  motives  for  not  leaving  Metz,  he 
should,  with  the  large  force  at  his  disposal,  have  harassed  the  enemy.  Dur- 
ing the  fifteen  days  which  followed  the  buttle  of  Noisseville,  August  31st  and 
September  1st,*  he  took  no  action,  either  against  the  enemy  or  to  provision 
the  place.  The  criminal  negligence  of  Bazaine  produced  its  results.  After 
neglecting  all  chances  of  breaking  through  the  enemy's  ranks,  allowing  Metz 
Uihe  reduced  to  famine  and  the  arm3'  to  become  demoralised,  Bazaine  sur- 
rendered.   The  cajjitulation  was  signed  on  the  27th  of  October,^ 

The  capitulation  of  Metz  is  one  of  the  greatest  blots  on  French  history. 
It  ha.s  le<l  many  almost  to  forget  how  completely  uncliaracteristic  it  was  of 
French  warrior  type  of  that  or  any  other  time.  It  is  in  reality  only  a  proof 
of  how  largely  warfare  is  a  matter  of  good  or  bad  commanders.  At  Metz 
197,;i26  Pnissians  reecive<i  the  surrenfler  of  ti.OOO  French  officers,  1S7,0C)0 
men  (including  20,000  sick),  56  imperial  eagles,  622  field  and  2,876  fixed  guns, 
72  mitrailleuses,  and  260,000  small  arms.  It  is  small  wonder  that  even 
Moltke*^  credits  Bazaine  with  some  ulterior  design  in  trying  to  keep  from 
battle  so  large  a  force,  and  hlnti^  the  siinie  motive  previously  idluded  to — 
the  hope  of  being  chosen  by  the  Germans  as  king  of  the  French.  The  fact 
that  Bazaine  was  not  overthrown  by  his  own  men  must  be  blamed  ujxjn  the 
utter  disgust  with  which  Napoleon  III  was  now  regarded.  His  was  a  poor 
cause  to  die  for,  and  there  was  no  other  immetUate  object  in  view.« 


THK  UPRISING   OF  PARIS 

Paris  had  been  thriUed  with  excitement  at  the  news  that  her  troops  had 
by  a  sortie  taken  Bourget  from  the  Germans,  October  21st.  But  a  few  days 
afterwards  three  pieces  of  news  arrived  simultaneously;  Metz  had  surrendered; 
Bourget  was  retaken,  October  30th;  and  Thiers  was  going  to  negotiate. 

Paris,  already  very  uneasy  at  the  slow  progress  of  operations  and  resolved 
to  hold  out  to  the  bitter  end,  was  enraged.  On  the  31st  of  October  crowds 
of  people  from  all  parts  and  whole  battalions  of  soldiers  assembled  in  front 
of  the  H6te!Hle-Ville,  filling  the  square  with  a  seething,  swaying  mass  of 
humanity.  Soon  they  uivadcd  the  H(^tel-de-Ville;  the  members  oT  the  gov- 
ernment were  collected  in  one  room;  they  were  guarded  and  even  threatened. 

The  leaders  of  the  extreme  party,  Blanqui,  Flourens,  and  Delescluze. 
formed  a  new  government.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  government 
of  the  4th  of  September  seemed  overthrown ;  some  of  its  members  who  were 
prisoners  refused  to  resign.  The  news  spread.  A  reaction  took  place.  In 
the  morning  the  calmer  among  the  people  did  not  act.  In  the  evening,  how- 
ever, they  ass(*mbled  before  the  H(jtel-de-Ville;  but  this  time  it  was  to  pro- 
test against  the  new  government.    Trochu  had  called  out  the  army. 

('  The  French  had  had  about  100,000  men  engaged  out  of  the  120,0CW  who  took  part  in  the 
attempt  at  a  fmrtie.  The  GermanB  opposed  them,  on  the  81st  of  Au^unt,  with  B6,0U0  men.  4,800 
cavaJrf,  and  188  guns  ;  on  the  1st  of  September,  with  69.000  men,  4.800  horees,  and  290  guns. 
They  had  contrived  with  far  inferior  numbers  to  get  the  best  in  a  defensive  action,  waged,  it 
mast  be  said,  noder  the  mo^t  advantageous  conditions.  If  we  put  aeide  the  conditions  which 
the  nature  of  tlie  ground  imposed,  we  see  that  in  spite  of  the  vigour  of  the  attaclc  evervthing 
failed,  owing  to  the  weakness  and  irresolution  of  the  commandcrTnchief  :  these  were  carried  to 
such  an  extreme  that  cue  is  juHtifittd  in  asHuming  that  he  bad  uu  intention  of  brealung  through 
the  inveoting  lines,  and  that  he  did  not  care  to  engage  in  a  big  battle.  —  Canonob.' ] 


176  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1800-1871  ▲.!».] 

The  palace,  shut  up  and  barricaded,  was  completely  surrounded  by  soldiers, 
•and  bayonets  were  bristling  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see.  Hie  new  occupants 
began  to  be  disheartened,  but  at  last  Ferry  entered  by  a  subterranean  pas- 
sage at  the  head  of  a  company  of  gardes  mobiles.  No  fighting  took  place; 
one  side  promised  an  amnesty,  the  other  abandoned  its  resistance,  and  they 
all  left  the  building  together.  Hie  government  of  the  4th  of  September 
made  an  appeal  to  the  people  to  confirm  their  power,  and  this  was  done  by 
■an  enormous  majority.^ 

PARIS  BUFFERS  FROM  COLD,  HUNGER,  AND  BOMBARDMENT  (DECEMBER-JANUART) 

The  torture  caused  by  cold  and  hunger  was  terrible.  The  daily  ration 
had  to  suffice;  this  consisted  of  indescribable  bread,  made  of  residues  and 
bad  bran,  and  thirty  grammes  of  horseflesh;  for  the  government,  having  in 
its  guilty  improvidence  allowed  provisions  of  all  kinds  to  be  wasted  at  the 
beginning  of  the  siege,  was  compelled,  in  spite  of  solemn  promises,  to  resort 
to  rationing.  Those  who  possessed  neither  wealth,  nor  a  gun  of  the  national 
guard,  nor  a  recognised  state  of  poverty,  could  no  longer  warm  nor  feed 
themselves.  The  mortality  every  week  reached  the  enormous  total  of  three 
thousand  six  hundred;  epidemics  which  had  broken  out  in  the  city,  almost 
from  the  beginning  of  the  siege,  raged  more  furiously  every  day;  and  small- 
pox especially,  from  September  18th,  1870,  to  February  24th,  1871,  the  date 
of  the  armistice,  claimed  64,200  victims — 42,000  more  than  during  the  cor- 
responding period  of  1869-1870.  As  for  the  mortality  of  infants,  it  was 
appalling,  and  attained  in  one  single  week,  the  last  of  the  siege,  the  frightful 
total  of  two  thousand  five  hundred! 

The  Parisian  women,  no  matter  to  what  class  of  society  they  belonged, 
proved  themselves  admirable.  The  wealthy,  whose  emblazoned  carriages 
remained  in  the  coach-houses  for  want  of  horses,  went  on  foot  each  day  to 
the  sheds  in  the  Champs-Elys^es,  or  to  the  ambulance  in  the  Grand  Hotel, 
to  take  part  in  the  clinics  of  N^laton,  Ricord,  and  P^an,  of  all  the  famous 
men  of  the  school  of  medicine,  and  to  make  the  most  nauseating  and  occa- 
^onally  the  most  dangerous  dressings.  Others  went  to  the  scene  of  action  in 
company  with  the  ambulances  of  the  society  for  the  succour  of  the  wounded. 
Actresses  lavished  their  care  on  the  woimded  soldiers,  nursed  them  in  their 
theatres  now  transformed  into  hospitals;  and  all,  yotmg,  old,  and  celebrated 
alike,  played  the  part  of  sister  of  mercy  with  the  same  ardour  which  they  had 
lately  displayed  in  winning  their  triumphs. 

And  if  the  devotion  of  fortime's  favourites  was  praiseworthy,  how  much 
more  admirable  was  the  stoical  courage  of  tho  women  of  the  people,  the 
bourgeoise,  the  workwoman,  forced  to  wait  during  the  icy  hours  of  early 
dawn,  in  the  cold,  adhesive  mire,  lashed  by  the  wind  and  rain,  for  a  meagre 
ration  of  siege  bread  and  a  piece  of  horseflesh!  How  they  must  have  suffered, 
those  poor  creatures,  drawn  up  in  file,  benumbed  with  cold,  crushed  by  the 
burden  of  their  poor  housekeeping,  and  torn  between  the  cares  of  material 
life  and  the  mortal  anxiety  which  consumed  them  at  every  caimon-shot. 

Great  astonishment  was  felt  when,  in  the  afternoon  of  January  5th, 
several  shells  were  flung  into  the  southern  quarter  of  the  city.  As  they 
seemed  to  be  thrown  here  and  there  without  any  definite  aim,  it  was  thought 
that  they  were  the  result  of  ill-regulated  firing,  or  the  fault  of  some  gimner, 
for  the  Parisians  refused  to  believe  that  the  German  armies  could,  by  an  act 
worthy  of  Vandals,  seriously  intend  to  destroy  with  their  shells  the  capital 
of  the  civilised  world.    But  soon  the  persistence  and  progressive  regularity 


THE   FRANCO-PBUSSIAN   WAE 


177 


[1871  AJ>.1 

of  the  discharges  left  no  room  for  illusion,  and  one  was  forced  to  yield  to 
evidence.  It  most  certainly  wiis  upon  Paris  that  the  soldiers  of  King  William 
were  levelling  their  cannon. 

The  attempt  at  intimidation  essayed  by  the  foe  as  their  last  resource  was 
merely  useless  cruelty.  They  even  received  that  light  ridicule  which  is 
always  attached  to  p-eat  measures  producing  but  slight  results.  As  for 
the  fall  of  Paris,  it  was  not  hast^^'iied  by  a  sinde  tiay.  Neverthe- 
less, from  January  6tli,  all  the  monuments  on  the  loft  bank  were  bound  to 
suffer  more  or  less.  The  districts  of  St.  Victor,  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  the 
Staff  College,  the  Pantheon,  the  Invalides,  the  Library  of  8te.  Genevi^ve,  the 
Luxembourg  Ganleius,  wherein  were  the  ambulance  quarters,  the  ficole 
Polvtechnique,  and  the  convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart  were  ploughed  with 

Jls,  occasionally  causing  conflagrations  which  were  hastily  extinguished. 

By  an  aggnivation  of  barbarity,  the  hospitals  seemecl  to  be  the  centre  of 
the  circle  attackeii.  The  lunatic  asylum  of  Montrouge  received  127  pro- 
jectiles between  January  5th  and  27th,  the  Val  de  Grilce  hospital  75,  the 
Salp^tri^re  31.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  bombardment  was  methodical;  it 
cost  the  civil  population  89f>  victims  (of  wliom  107  were  wrimen,  children,  or 
old  men),  who  were  instantly  killed.  But,  notwithstanding  these  most  re- 
p^ttable  effects,  the  only  immediate  result  was  a  certain  emigration  of  the 
mhabitunts  of  the  left  bunk  to  the  right  bank.  Others  "flockeil  in  crowds 
to  the  bombarded  districts  to  contemplate  with  curiosity  the  curve  described 
by  the  shells,  fragments  of  which  were  picked  up  and  sold  by  urchins  for  five 
centimes  up  to  five  francs,  according  to  the  size.''  As  the  Germans  threw 
altogether  ten  thousand  projectiles,  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  receipts  must 
certainly  have  been  profitable.''* 


THE   LAST  SORTIE 

Still  the  bombardment  had  not  attained  its  object.  Its  odious  and  useless 
barbarity  had  not  brought  the  fall  of  Paris  one  day  nearer,  8teel  and  fire 
could  effect  nothing;  famine  was  the  oidy  adversary,  eai)able  of  conquering 
the  great  city.  Before  succumbing  to  it  the  supreme  effort  had  to  be  tried, 
the  battle  of  despair  to  be  fought  which  might  still  save  everything.  Did  not 
Gambettji's  despatches  give  grounds  to  hope  for  the  march  of  Chanzy  on 
Paris  and  a  victory  by  Bourbaki  in  the  east? 

At  all  costs  it  was  necessary  to  preserve  the  honour  of  four  months  of 
constancy  and  concord,  and  not  to  plunge  into  civil  war  in  tlie  presence  of 
the  enemy.  Tlie  storm  was  rising  in  Paris  and  the  blame  of  Iier  misfortunes 
was  laid  on  the  military  authorities.  On  the  5th  of  January  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  revolutionary  party,  Delescluze,  mayor  of  the  20th  arrondisse- 
ment,  had  endeavoured  to  bring  the  mayors  to  vote  a  violent  adtlress  de- 
manding the  dismissal  of  Trochu. 

He  hatl  not  been  listened  to,  and  had  resigned;  but  two  days  later  a  great 
sortie  which  had  l^een  prepared,  being  countermanded  because  the  enemy  had 
learned  or  divined  the  plan  of  attack,  the  agitation  was  extreme.  The  violent 
cried  treason,  the  masses  cried  out  at  the  incapacity  of  the  commanders. 
They  began  vehemently  to  demand  the  supersession  of  the  governor  of  Paris. 
On  the  15th  of  January  the  council  of  government  <leci<Ied  on  a  last  effort 
against  the  Prussian  lines.  The  next  day  the  council  of  war  acce[)teil  this 
decision;  the  military  chiefs  yielded  to  the  necessity,  but  without  confidence. 
Ducrot  had  no  longer  any  of  the  dash  exhibitc*^!  at  Champigny.  Cldment 
Thomas,  the  conummder  of  the  national  guard,  declared  that  the  regiments 

■.  W. — VOL.  XUl.  N 


178 


THE   HISTORY   OF    FRANCE 


[1871  ▲.o.] 

of  foot  of  the  mobilisefl  Parisians  would  furnish  fifty  thousand  men.    In  this 
there  was  an  ardour  which  the  troops  no  longer  possessed. 

Troops  of  the  line,  gardes  niobileS;  and  mobilised  national  guards  wore 
set  in  motion  during  the  18th,  It  had  been  decided  to  put  into  action  sixty 
thousand  men  who  would  be  supported  by  a  reserve  of  forty  thousand.  The 
attack  was  made  in  the  direction  of  Versailles.  The  enemy,  who  had  been 
so  greatly  alarmed  by  a  former  sortie  on  the  same  side,  three  months  before, 
had  strongly  fortified  himself  there. 

Tlie  French  army  had  been  divided  into  three  corps  under  generals  Vinoy, 
Belleraare,  and  Ducrot.  The  routes  were  few  in  numVxr  and  were  moreover 
confined  at  various  points  by  barricades  which  left  only  narrow  pa^isages. 
The  three  generals  not  having  concerted  together  on  the  matter  of  time,  the 

various  corps  jostled  one  another  and 
became  mutually  entangled  in  this  pain- 
ful night-march.  But  the  day  began 
well. 

The  cannon  of  the  French,  which 
they  had  at  last  manageti  to  mount  to 
the  right  of  Montretout,  swept  the  ranks 
of  the  assaibnts.  They  gave  way;  the 
summit  was  at  last  in  the  hands  of  the 
French.  The  fire  of  the  enemy  relaxed, 
then  cea,sed. 

The  line  of  the  German  outposts  re- 
mained in  the  liands  of  the  French;  might 
they  hope  that  the  next  day  they  would 
he  able  to  force  that  second  and  formi- 
dable line  against  which  they  had  Bung 
tlienis(*lvos?  The  leaders  thought  not. 
Trochu  had  hurried  from  Mont  Valdrien 
to  that  ridge  of  Montretout  which  had 
been  victoriously  retaine(^L  He  judged 
it  useless  to  renew  the  effort  and  ordered 
the  retreat.  The  Germans  made  no  at- 
tempt to  harass  the  retiring  force-s. 
It  was  as  at  Clmmpigny,  a  half  victory  tenTiiiiat^d  by  a  retreat;  but  this 
time  it  was  impossible  to  begin  again.  Little  confident  in  the  morning, 
Trochu  was  wholly  discouraged  by  the  evening.  On  hearing  of  the  retreat 
Jides  Favre  felt  with  Trochu  that  all  was  lost.  At  most  tlie  means  of  ward- 
ing off  star\'ation  were  only  sufficient  for  twelve  or  thirteen  days.  It  was 
calculated  that  it  would  take  ten  to  collect  new  supplies.  That  same  night 
the  government  receiveii  two  despatches,  one  of  which  announced  the  un- 
fortunate issue  of  the  battle  of  Le  Mans;  in  the  other,  written  before  Chanzy's 
reverse  was  known  at  Bordeaux,  Gambetta  called  on  his  colleagues  in  Paris 
to  give  battle,  threat-ening  to  inform  France  of  his  sentiments  on  their  inaction 
if  they  still  delayed.  The  painful  irritation  of  this  letter  testified  that  the 
writer  felt  the  supreme  hour  was  approaching.  The  fight  he  demanded  hud 
just  been  ended;  the  cautious  general  at  Paris  bad  fought  like  the  bold  general 
of  Le  Mans*  both  had  failed. 

A  minority  of  the  members  of  the  government  at  Paris  once  more  stiffened 
themselves  against  the  terrible  necessity.  They  demanded  another  geneml 
if  Trochu  refuscnl  to  make  a  new  elTort,  The  line  ^nd  the  garde  mobile  de- 
manded peace;  the  national  guard  aloue  wished  to  fight  again.    Jules  Favrc 


JuuES  Favrb 


THE   FfiANCO-PRUSSIAN    WAR  IW 

[1871  A.©.] 

despatched  to  Gambetta  a  nidancholy  messao^e  which  was  to  be  the  last  of 
the  siege.  "Though  Paris  surrender,  France  is  not  lost;  thanks  to  you,  she 
is  animated  by  a  patriotic  spirit  which  will  save  her;  in  any  case  we  will  sign 
no  preliniinaries  of  peace." 

Eventually  the  members  of  the  government  contrived  that  Trtichu  should 
resign  the  mi]itar>'  command  while  binding  him  to  remain  president  of  the 
council.  This  wa.s  the  neatest  token  of  self-abnegation  and  devotion  that 
he  could  give.  In  so  doing  he  resignerl  himself  to  going  back  on  his  word  by 
signing  the  capitulation. 

Vinoy  succeeded  in  the  command.  His  succession  was  inaugurated  by 
an  insurrection.  Several  persons  wore  killed  in  the  crowd.  This  was  the 
first  act  of  ci^'^l  war  after  four  months  of  sie^e.  After  two  conferences  with 
Bismarck,  Jules  Fa\Te  agreed  to  the  capitulation  of  Paris,  concluded  with  the 
condition  that  the  German  army  sliould  not  enter  Paris  during  the  duration 
of  the  armistice.    The  convention  of  Paris  was  concluded  on  January  28th.« 


THE   END   OF  THE   WAR 

An  armistice  of  three  weeks  was  agreed  to,  although  this  did  not  include 
the  three  eiist+^rn  departments  in  which  the  destruction  of  Bourbaki^s  army 
was  just  taking  place.  During  this  time  a  national  assembly  was  to  be  chosen 
to  decide  on  the  question  of  war  or  peace;  all  the  forts  of  Paris  and  the  war 
supplies  were  handed  over  to  the  German  troops;  the  garrisons  of  Paris  and 
of  the  forts  were  taken  jiriscmers  and  had  to  give  up  their  armSj  although  they 
still  remained  in  Paris  and  had  to  be  supported  by  the  town  authorities.  One 
division  of  twelve  thousand  men  was  to  be  kept  to  maintain  order  and  the 
same  exception  was  ma*te  in  the  case  of  the  w^hole  national  guard,  against 
Moltke's  will  and  at  the  desire  of  Favre,  w4io  repented  of  it  later.  The  city 
of  Paris  had  to  pay  a  war  tax  of  two  hundred  million  francs  within  fourteen 
days,  and  was  allowed  to  provision  itself.  On  the  29th  of  January  the  sur- 
render of  the  twenty-five  larger  and  smaller  forts  to  the  German  troops  took 
place  and  the  black-white-and-red  flag  was  raised  on  them. 

This  convention  was  very  unwelcome  to  Gambetta.  However,  he  thought 
he  might  use  the  respite  of  three  weeks  to  equip  new  troops  and  hoped  by 
controlling  tlio  impending  elections  to  bring  together  a  radical  national  assem- 
bly, resolved  to  continue  the  war  h  i'oxilrance.  For  this  purpose  he  pub- 
lished a  proscription  list  on  the  31st  of  January,  according  to  which  every- 
one who  had  received  a  higher  office  or  an  official  candidacy  from  the  imperial 
government  was  tleclared  ineligible.  Bismarck  and  the  Parisian  government 
protested  energetically  against  such  an  arbitrary  act  and  insisted  upon  free 
elections.  In  the  German  headquarters  it  was  decided  to  take  the  most 
extreme  measures,  anil  new  plans  of  operations  were  already  drawn  up. 
Gambetta,  lx?ing  akmdoned  by  the  other  members  of  the  representative  gov- 
ernment, resigned  on  February  6th,  On  the  8th  of  February  elections  were 
held  throughout  France,  and  on  the  12th  the  national  assemoly  was  opened 
at  Bordeaux.  Thiers  was  chosen  chief  of  the  executive  on  the  17th,  formed 
his  ministry  on  the  19th,  and  on  the  2lst,  accompanied  by  the  ministers  Fa\Te 
and  Picard,  he  went  to  Versailles,  commissioned  by  the  national  assembly, 
to  begin  the  peace  negotiations.^ 


CHAPTER  Vn 


THE  THIRD  REPUBLIC 

[1871-1900  A.D.] 

Perhaps  the  moBt  general  feeling  throughout  the  civUised  world 
with  reffaitl  to  French  liistory  in  the  nineteenth  century  is  that  it  is  a 
chaoM  or  revolutions,  one  government  after  another  bein^  set  up  and 
pulled,  down  in  obedience  to  the  fluctuating  impulse  of  the  mob.  It 
may  well  be  maintained,  as  against  this  view,  that  nowhere  in  history 
is  visible  a  more  logical  and  consistent  operation  of  cause  and  effect, 
the  whole  fonuiug  a  struggle  to  solve  the  problem,  which  indeed 
nnderlies  all  the  history  of  popular  government — ^how  to  eslahlifih  an 
executive  strong  enough  to  govern,  and  yet  not  strong  enough  to 
abuse  ita  power. — Qauxlsel  Bradford.^ 


France  and  Paris  had  so  long  been  separated  that,  when  they  again  met 
face  to  face,  they  did  not  recognise  each  oUkt.  Paris  could  not  forgive  the 
provinces  for  not  coming  to  her  rescue,  the  provinces  could  not  forgive  Paris 
her  perpetual  revolutions  and  the  state  of  nervous  excitability  in  which  she 
seemed  to  delight.  Wldle  the  provinces,  crushed,  requisitioned,  worn  out 
by  the  enemy,  were  hoping  for  rest  which  would  enable  their  woimds  to  heal, 
Paris,  like  an  Olympic  circus,  was  re-echoing  more  noisily  tlum  ever  to  the 
sound  of  arms  and  warlike  cries.  It  was  the  intermediate  time  l>etween  a 
government  which  had  censed  to  exist  and  a  govemnieiit  which  wiis  not  yet 
formed;  executive  bodies  were  hesitating,  not  knowing  exactly  whom  to  obey, 
not  tiaring  to  come  to  any  decision  under  any  circumstances:  dissolution 
was  general  and  indecision  permanent.*^ 

That  it  was  a  costly  mistake  for  the  Germans  to  insist  on  the  spectacular 
parade  through  so  inflammable  a  city  as  Paris,  is  emphasised  in  the  recent 
work  of  Z<^»vort^;  and  Jule.s  Favro*  describes  the  earnestness  with  which 
Thiers  pleaded  with  Bisniarck  and  Von  Moltke  against  the  project.  The 
Prussians  insisted,  however,  either  on  keeping  the  city  of  Belfort,  or  on  the 


^  ^^^  TUE    TlllUn    REPUBLIC  ^^^        181 

[i8riA.D.i 

glory  of  the  triiimph  in  Paris.    Thiers  protested  against  the  seizure  of  Belforfc 

in  the  following  words :« 

"Well,  then,  let  it  be  as  you  will,  Monsieur  le  comte — these  negotiations 
are  nothing  but  a  pretence.  We  may  seem  to  deliberate,  but  we  must  pass 
under  your  yoke.  Wc  demand  of  you  a  city  which  i«  absolutely  French:  you 
refuse  it:  that  amounts  to  confessing  that  you  are  resolved  on  a  war  of  ex- 
termination against  lis.  Carry  it  into  effect:  ravage  our  provinces,  bum  our 
houses,  slaughter  the  inoffensive  inhabitants — in  a  worfl,  finish  your  work. 
We  \^ill  figlit  you  to  the  liust  gasji.     We  may  succunili;  at  lejist  we  slmll  not 

dishonoured!" 

Herr  von  Bismarck  seemed  disturbed,  says  Favre,  The  emotion  of  Tliiers 
had  won  him  ovct.  He  Jinswered  that  he  imderstood  what  he  must  be  suffer- 
ing, and  that  he  should  hv  happy  to  be  able  to  make  a  concession,  if  the  king 
consented. 

It  is  an  unlooked-for  spectacle — a  Bismarck  almost  melted  and  a  Moltke 
almost  sentimental,  preferriiig  a  barren  honour,  the  entry  of  their  troops  into 
Paris,  to  the  posscvssion  of  a  French  town,  and  succeetling  in  making  their 
master  share  their  point  of  view.  We  also  see  for  ourselves  that  Tlners, 
though  he  was  well  known  to  be  a  determined  advocate  of  peace,  only  ob- 
tained the  very  s^lenfler  concessions  tliat  were  made  to  him  by  threatening  to 
struggle  to  the  last  gasp,  and  we  repeat  that  a  less  pacific  chamber  and  ne- 
gotiators, animated  by  the  same  spirit  as  Gambetta,  might,  to  all  apix^arance, 
have  obtahied  less  hard  couditioiis."^ 

After  the  end  of  the  siege  there  may  be  said  to  have  been  hardly  any  gov- 
ernment in  Paris.  General  Vinoy,  who  was  in  conunand,  had,  like  all  the 
military  leaders,  lost  his  whole  prestige  during  the  siege.  Tlie  army  by  mix- 
ing with  the  people  had  imbibed  the  same  spirit,  and  the  government  did  not 
interfere  in  anything.  The  news  of  the  entry  of  the  Pru.'tsians  exasperated 
the  people,  who  were  burning  with  the  fever  of  despair.  Tumultuous  dcnion- 
strations  took  place  at  the  Bastille;  at  the  same  time  the  erow^l  seized  the 
guns  which  had  been  left  in  the  part  of  Paris  which  the  Prussians  were  to 
occupy.  At  first  they  wisheii  to  keej)  the  conquerors  from  getting  possession 
of  them;  then  they  kept  them,  and  the  most  distrustful  of  the  people  took 
them  up  to  Montmartre.  The  entry  of  the  Pnissians  nearly  brought  about  a 
terrible  conflict  with  the^«  crowds,  which  were  buniing  with  fury.  This  mis- 
fortime  was,  however,  avoided.  But  the  march  of  me.  conquerors  through 
Paris  was  not  of  a  triumphal  character.  Restricted  within  the  space  which 
leads  from  Neuilly  through  the  Champ&-£lys^s  to  the  Louvre,  they  were 
defied  by  the  street  boys  of  Paris,  and  were  met  at  every  turning  by 
threatening  crowds  who  pursued  tlicni  with  yells.  The  second  day  they 
were  obliged  to  beat  a  dejected  retreat. 

Meanwhile  the  advanced  republicans  were  organising  their  party;  they 
expected  to  have  to  fight  the  monarchical  assembly  by  force.  The  law 
agauist  Paris,  the  law  of  ^rh^ance,.  caused  great  indignation.  The  name  of 
Tniers  recalled  his  struggle  against  the  republic  after  1848  and  his  services  as 
minister  under  Louis  Philippe.  All  this  was  too  far  distant  to  enable  people 
to  judge  of  the  new  r61e  he  interuletl  to  play.  The  republicans  of  the  mm- 
iatry,  Jules  Favre,  Picard^  and  Jules  Simon,  had,  after  the  siege,  lost  all 
influence  in  Paris.  A  great  many  men  who  inspired  confidence,  left  the 
assembly.  Victor  Hugo,  whose  speech  ha<i  been  shouted  down  by  the  pop- 
lilace,  and  Gambetta  had  resigned.     A  severe  conflict  seemed  imminent. 

Though  Thiers  wished  on  the  one  hand  to  control  the  royalists  of  the  as- 
flembiy,  he  was  determined  on  the  other  to  deprive  of  weapons  the  republicans 


182  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1871  A.D.J 

of  the  large  towns.  He  made  a  pretext  for  doing  this  by  demanding  the 
restitution  of  the  cannon  which  had  been  seized.  Some  of  the  radical  dep- 
uties intervened  to  prevent  civil  war.  They  had  twice  almost  succeeded  m 
obtaining  the  restitution  of  the  camion,  and  were  making  further  efforts  to 
do  so.  Paris,  too,  seemed  gradually  calming  down,  when  Thiers  decided  to 
employ  force.  On  the  18th  of  March,  at  daybreak,  the  troops,  under  the 
orders  of  General  Vinoy,  ascended  the  slopes  of  Montmartre  and  took  pos- 
session of  the  cannon.  But  things  had  been  so  badly  managed  that  the 
people  were  aware  of  what  was  happening.  The  sight  of  those  who  had  been 
woimded  in  the  morning  enraged  the  crowd;  the  troops  were  surroimded  and 
dispersed:  there  was  not  even  a  stru^le.  The  soldiers  no  longer  obeyed 
theu"  officers,  but  mingled  with  the  populace. 

All  Paris  was  in  arms:  instantly  barricades  were  raised  in  every  direction. 
Thiers  had  for  a  long  time  held  that  when  a  rebellion  is  serious  it  is  best  to 
abandon  the  revolting  town  and  only  re-enter  it  as  a  conqueror.  He  com- 
manded a  retreat  to  Versailles.  During  the  night  the  lidtelnde-Ville  was 
evacuated  by  the  government.  The  insurrection  nad  been  inaugurated  with 
terrible  bloodshed.  General  Leconte,  who  in  the  morning  commanded  part 
of  the  troops  at  Montmartre,  had  been  detained  by  the  crowd  with  some  other 
prisoners,  and  the  republican  Clement  Thomas,  who  had  commanded  the 
national  guard  in  18^  and  during  the  siege,  had  been  recognised  and  ar- 
rested on  the  boulevard.  These  prisoners  had  been  dragged  from  place  to 
place.  At  last  they  were  brought  to  the  rue  des  Hosiers  where  a  committee 
from  Montmartre  was  sitting.  A  crowd  of  infuriated  people  assailed  the 
house,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  scene  of  wild  confusion  the  two  generals,  Leconte 
and  Clement  Thomas,  were  pushed  against  the  walls  of  the  garden  and  riddled 
with  bullets.  This  slaughter  made  a  bloody  stain  on  uie  proceedings  of 
the  day. 

THE  CENTRAL  COMMITTEE 

Among  the  numerous  organisations  formed  in  Paris  during  the  two  pre- 
ceding months,  the  most  active  and  enterprising  was  that  which  was  known 
as  "The  central  committee  of  the  national  guard,"  although  it  was  com- 
posed of  very  obscure  men.  The  central  committee  had  taken  as  large  a 
part  as  it  possibly  coxild  in  the  doings  of  the  18th  of  March.  It  now  instSled 
itself  in  the  deserted  H6tel-de-Ville,  posted  up  a  proclamation,  and  thus  be- 
came the  government  of  the  rebel  party. 

The  following  day  the  party  of  the  population  of  Paris,  who  had  done 
nothing  on  the  18th  of  March,  but  had  remained  passive,  now  began  to  resist 
the  movement.  The  deputies  of  Paris  and  the  mayors  elected  during  the 
siege  joined  this  party  of  the  people,  and  summoned  to  their  aid  the  portion 
of  the  national  guard  led  by  Admiral  Saisset. 

Paris  was  cut  in  two.  A  spark  would  ignite  the  flame  of  civil  war,  nego- 
tiations were  opened.  The  central  committee  offered  to  retire  in  favour  of 
men  chosen  by  the  cit^;  they  were  willing  to  stand  for  election,  but  only  in 
order  to  continue  the  Revolution  and  not  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  legal  or- 
der. Meantime  they  were  governing  the  part  of  Paris  which  belonged  to  them. 
Arrests  were  made  at  the  railway  stations,  and  they  threw  General  Chanzy 
and  Floquet  into  prison.  A  series  of  abortive  measures  led  up  to  the  elections 
of  the  23rd  of  March.  In  general  members  of  the  central  committee,  well- 
known  socialists  and  partisans  of  the  Revolution,  gained  enormous  ma- 
jorities. 


[isn  A.D.] 


THE    THIRD    REPUBLIC 


THE  COMMUNE  OF   1871    ORGANISED 


183 


The  commune — this  was  the  name  assumed  by  the  insurgents  La  whose 
hands  Paris  hail  just  placed  the  government — took  possession  of  the  whole 
town,  except  a  corner  of  the  16th  arrondissement,  and  Mont  Val^rien,  which 
remained  in  the  power  of  the  army  of  Versailles,  incre^ising  day  by  day  by 
reinforcements  from  all  directions,  and  which  Thiers  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Marslml  MacMahon,  the  man  who  had  been  defeated  at  Worth  and 
8e<lan. 

At  Versailles,  Paris  was  looked  upon  as  the  refuge  of  scoundrels  and  mad- 
men. Thus,  in  both  t»f  tliesf^  (centres,  a  spirit  of  civil  war  seemed  part  of  the 
air  men  breathed.  On  the  2nd  the  army  took  poasession  of  the  barricade  on 
the  bridge  at  Neuilly.  On  the  3rd  a  united  attack  on  Versailles  was  led  by 
Gustave  Flourens. 

Tlie  first  volleys  from  Mont  Val^rien  threw  the  crowd  into  disorder. 
Flourens,  desert-ed  and  in  hiding  at  Rueil,  was  killed  by  a  sabre  wound  in- 
flicted by  an  officer  of  police.  Next  day  near  Chtltillon  the  federals  were 
repulsed  in  the  same  way,  and,  amongst  others,  their  leader  Duval  was  taken 
prisoner. 

After  this  it  was  impossible  for  the  commime  to  think  of  threatening 
Versailles.  Driven  back  into  Paris,  it  was  about  to  be  besirgod  there.  From 
the  first  the  prisoners  were  put  to  death.  General  de  GalUfTet  had  had  two 
of  the  national  guanls  placed  agamst  a  wall  and  shot.  Duval  was  executed 
without  any  formal  trial. 

The  commune  respondetl  by  a  decree  that  rdl  prisoners  and  partisans  of 
the  assembler  who  were  arrested  and  condemned  were  to  l>e  kept  as  the  "  host- 
ages of  ParL*!,"  and  that  three  of  them  should  be  shot  each  time  that  one  of 
the  federal  prisoners  \vi\^  shot  by  the  army.  The  effect  produced  by  such  a 
terrible  threat  may  be  imagineiL  Aftrr  this  no  prisoiierM  wore  executed  on 
either  side  till  the  troops  re-entered  Paris.  Tlie  struggle  continued  during 
the  months  of  April  and  May  without  any  fresh  battle  in  the  open.  The 
army  could  only  succpnd  in  taking  Neuilly  street  by  street,  slowly,  after  a 
month's  fighting.  The  fort  of  Issy  was  defended  with  desjjerate  tletennina- 
tion.  Meanwhile  Thiers  was  having  Paris  bombartled  from  St.  Cloud.  The 
shells  poured  down  upon  the  Champs-Elys^s,  reaching  as  far  as  the  place 
de  la  Concorde. 

And  what  was  beuig  done  by  the  commune^  the  mistress  of  Paris?  These 
were  the  plans  the  communists  desired  to  carry  out,  and  which  represented 
the  doctnnes  antl  politica.1  signihcance  of  the  movement  known  as  "the 
revolution  of  the  18th  of  March  ^' — inside  the  fortifications  the  following 
measures  had  been  proclaimed:  the  separation  of  Church  and  State;  the 
suppression  of  the  mmisterial  officials,  who  were  all  absent;  the  suppression 
of  nigiit-work  for  bakers,  and  a  manifesto  tending  to  bring  about  home  rule 
in  every  commune  in  Francet  for  each  was  to  be  a  distinct  state  having  its 
own  army,  its  own  laws,  and  its  own  s>'stem  of  taxation. 

The  violent  measures  taken  by  the  commune  had  soon  alienated  most  of 
the  people  from  it.  It  confiscated  and  destroyed  the  house  of  Thiers,  seized 
his  collections,  and  then  demolished  the  Vend6me  column.  The  papers 
which  opposetl  it  most  firmly  were  suppressed  one  after  the  other.  Arrests 
and  the  searching  of  houses  often  toi:)k  place  simply  on  the  authority  of  any 
officer  of  the  national  guard  who  chose  to  command  them.  In  this  way  a 
Urge  number  of  priests,  monks,  police  officers,  and  former  magistrates  hatl 


1B4  THE    HISTORY    OF    FRANCE 

[1871  A.D,] 

bepn  arrested,  and  with  them  republicans  like  Chaudcy.  The  commune  waa 
divided  into  two  parties.  The  most  celebrated  man  in  the  conmiune,  Deltas- 
cluze,  did  not  belong  to  either  party.  Tlie  commune  was  without  money  and 
had  recourse  to  the  bank  in  order  to  raise  funds. 


THE   RECAPTURE   OF  P.UUS 

Paris  had  an  unusual  appearance:  the  national  tricolour  liad  disappeared 
and  was  replaced  by  the  rod  flag.  Strange  uniforms  w'ere  seen  in  tlie  stnH»t.s. 
Certain  churches  where  the  services  had  been  put  a  stop  to  were  used  for 
holdiiip:  ]5ublic  meetings,  and  orators  of  both  sexes  discussed  socialistic  ques- 
tions from  the  pulpit.  The  wealthy  parts  of  the  town  were  deserted.  The 
distant  thunder  of  the  cannon  never  ceased  night  or  day.  The  commune  had 
not  succeeded  in  inciting  other  towns  in  France  to  rise  in  rebellion,  except  St. 
fttienne,  Lyons^  and  Toulouse;  there  was  also  a  rising  in  Aude:  but  these 
had  either  failerj  or  l>een  speedily  suppressed.  The  municipal  elections  took.' 
place  throughout  the  country  in  April  and  resulted  in  a  victory  for  the  dem-! 
ocratic  party.  From  all  directions  delegates  from  tlie  new  municipalities 
W(*re  sent  to  Versailles  to  try  if  possible  to  avert  a  civil  war.  It  was  in  dealing 
with  these  delegates  that  Thiers  first  clearly  and  definitely  pledged  himself 
to  a  republican  policy.  On  the  21st  of  May  the  army  entered  Paris  unex- 
pectedly, making  an  entry  by  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  Then  began  that  ter- 
rible battle  which  lasted  nearly  a  week,  when  Paris  was  retaken  street  by 
street  amid  scenes  of  indescribable  horror./ 

The  poAvers  of  resistance  of  which  the  insurrection  could  dispose  after  its 
victory  of  March  18th  must  have  been  considerable,  to  enable  it  to  sustain 
two  months  of  constant  fighting  and  the  great  seven  days'  Iwittlc  in  Paris. 
Its  artillery-  consisted  of  1,047  pieces.  Deducting  the  guns  employed  on  tfie 
outposts,  the  forts,  and  the  walls,  726  were  used  in  the  streets  when  the  regu- 
lar troops  at  last  penetrated  into  Paris.  The  cavalry  was  ineffective  and 
never  L'oxinted  more  than  449  horses;  but,  on  the  contrar>',  the  infantry  wj 
very  numerous.  Twenty  regiments,  consisting  of  254  battalions,  were  divided 
into  active  and  stationary  parts:  the  first  set  in  movement  3,649  officers  and 
76,081  soldiers;  the  effective  of  the  second  was  106,909  men  led  by  4,284 
officers,  which  produced  a  total  of  more  than  191,000  men,  from  which  must 
be  deducted  30,000  individuals  who  always  found  means  to  escape  service. 
Briefly,  the  commune  had  an  army  of  from  140,000  to  150,000  soldiers, 
which  it  commanded  both  outside  and  inside  Paris. 

To  this  already  imposing  mass  must  be  added  twenty-eight  free  companies, 
very  independent  in  conduct,  which  acted  according  to  the  fancy  of  the 
moment  and  obeyed  no  one.  Their  very  fluctuatijig  contingent  rose,  to- 
wards the  middle  of  the  month  of  May,  to  the  number  of  10,820  followers,  led 
by  310  officers.  There  were  among  them  men  of  every  origin  and  of  every 
description^  who  chose  the  wildest  names — ^Turcos  of  the  commune,  Bergeret's 
scouts,  children  of  Paris,  Father  Duchene's  children,  Lost  Children,  Lascars. 
Marseillais  sharpshooters,  volunteers  of  la  colonne  de  JuHlet,  and  avengers  of' 
Floureiis.'^ 

From  the  beginning  it  was  evident  that  the  conquerors  would  be  impla/- 
cable.  Hardly  had  the  army  entered  the  city,  when  the  executions  b^an. 
Some  of  the  vanquished,  feeling  they  need  hope  for  no  mercy,  soon  began 
the  criminal  work  which  was  to  electrify  the  world.  In  the  evening  of  the 
23rd,  volumes  of  flame  and  smoke  enveloped  the  city.  Massacres  on  tlie  one 
aide  were  avenged  by  arson  and  murder  on  the  other.    No  poet,  not  even 


THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC 


18^ 


[1871  A.D.l 

Dant^,  when  he  was  piling  horror  upon  horror  in  his  Inferno^  ever  imagined 
such  a  ghastly  spectacle  as  was  presented  by  Paris  during  the  whole  of  that 
week.  At  the  barracks  people  were  shot  down  by  the  dozen.  Wliole  districts 
were  depopulated  by  flight,  arrests,  and  executions.  In  the  part  of  Paris 
which  was  still  held  by  the  federals,  the  fury  of  the  populace  Decame  more 
violent  as  defeat  bc^came  more  c-ertain. 

On  the  24th,  at  La  Roquette,  Raoul  Rigault  and  Ferrti  lia<:i  six  "  hostages  " 
massacred.  These  included  the  archbishop  of  Paris  and  the  curd  of  the 
Madeleine.  On  the  25th  the  Dominicans  of  Arctieil,  in  a  terribie  and  ahnost 
incredible  scene,  were  driven  forth,  torn  almost  limb  from  limb,  and  killed 
near  the  Gobelins.  Some  of  the  Paris  guards  and  some  priests  were  massa- 
cred in  the  rue  Haxo.  Other  victims  also  suffered  at  La  Roquette.  When 
the  troops  reached  the  chdt^au  d'Eau,  Deleseluze,  wearing  a  frock-coat  and 
carrying  a  walking-stick,  walked  all  alone,  with  his  head  held  high,  straight 
into  the  thick  of  the  firing;  his  corpse  was  found  there  riddle<i  with  bullets. 
It  was  at  the  taking  of  the  last  federal  strongholds,  Helloville,  that  the  slaugh- 
ter was  most  terrible,  wliile  in  the  parts  of  Paris  already  taken  the  summary 
shooting  of  prisoners  was  going  on  steadily. 

Meanwhile  long  processions  of  prisoners  (forty  thousand  had  been  taken) 
were  journeying  with  parched  throats,  blistered  feet,  and  fet-lered  hands  along 
the  road  from  Paris  to  Versailles,  and  as  they  passed  through  the  boulevards 
of  Louis  XIV's  town,  they  were  greeted  with  yells  and  sometimes  with  blows, 
lliey  were  crowded  hastily  into  improvised  prisons,  one  of  wliieh  was  merely 
a  large  courtyard  where  thousands  of  jioor  wretches  lived  for  weeks  with  no 
loilging  but  the  muildy  ground,  where  they  were  exposed  to  all  the  inclemency 
of  the  weather,  and  whence  they  were  despatched  by  a  bullet  in  the  head 
when  desperation  incited  them  to  rebel.  The  Germans,  from  llie  terraces  of 
St.  Germain,  were  watching  the  spectacle  of  the  taking  of  Paris,  and  at  night 
saw  the  great  city  which  was  the  glory  of  France  decked  with  its  hideous 
crown  of  fires. 

Certain  it  is  that  if  such  sighl^s  as  these  have  not  made  the  country  hate 
the  very  idea  of  civil  war,  if  they  have  not  taught  France  what  a  crime  it  is 
to  set  armed  Frenchmen  against  each  other,  it  seems  as  if  the  lessons  taught 
by  history  were  intleed  useless.  On  the  29th  of  May  the  conriuest  of  Paris 
was  complete.  A  terrible  day  of  reckoning  succeeded  the  misfortunes  which 
the  city  had  endured  while  the  fighting  was  going  on.  Nearly  ten  thousiind 
con\nction8  were  pronounced  by  the  courts  martial.  New  Calednnia  was 
peopled  TAith  convicts.  Besides  these  a  large  portion  of  the  population  had 
taken  flight;  and  thus  many  industries,  which  had  hitherto  been  exclusively 
Parisian,  were  introfiuced  into  foreign  countries. 

Anger  was  so  bitU'r  iigainst  the  refugees  that  the  right  of  other  nsitions  to 
afford  an  asylum  to  them  was  disputed  and  Belgium  even  promised  to  give 
them  up  to  France.  The  famous  poet  Victor  Hugo  was  at  that  time  in  Brus- 
sels, and  published  a  letter  in  which  he  stated  that  all  refugee  rebels  would 
find  a  shelter  in  his  house.  The  following  night  an  attack  was  made  on  his 
house,  which  was  pelted  with  stones.  Immediately  afterwards,  the  Belgian 
government  expelled  "  the  individual  named  Victor  Hugo/'  But  neither 
Belgium  nor  any  other  country  could  give  the  exiles  of  the  commune  back  to 
France./ 

History  has  rarely  known  a  more  unpatriotic  crime  tlian  that  of  the  in- 
surrection of  the  commune;  but  the  punishment  infiicte<i  on  the  insurgents 
by  the  Versailles  troopm  was  so  rutliless  that  it  seemetl  to  l>e  a  counter-mani- 
festation of  French  hatred  for  Frenchmen  in  civil  disturbance  rather  than  a 


186  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

[1871-18K  A.i».] 

judicial  penalty  applied  to  a  heinous  offence.  The  number  of  Parisians  kiUed 
oy  French  soldiers  in  the  last  week  of  May,  1871,  was  probably  twenty  thou- 
sand, though  the  partisans  of  the  commune  declared  that  thirty-six  thousand 
men  and  women  were  shot  in  the  streets  or  after  summary  court-martial. 

It  is  from  this  point  that  the  histoiy  of  the  Third  Republic  commences. 
In  spite  of  the  doubly  tragic  ending  of  the  war  the  vitality  of  the  country 
seemed  unimpaired.  With  ease  and  without  murmur  it  supported  the  new 
burden  of  taxation  called  for  by  the  war  indenmity  and  by  the  reorganisation 
of  the  shattered  forces  of  France.  M.  Thiers  was  thus  aided  in  his  task  of 
liberating  the  territory  from  the  presence  of  the  <5nemy.  His  proposal  at 
Bordeaux  to  make  the  essai  loyal  of  the  republic,  as  the  form  of  government 
which  caused  the  least  division  amon§  Frenchmen,  was  discouraged  by  the 
excesses  of  the  commime,  which  associated  republicanism  with  revolutionary 
disorder.  Nevertheless,  the  monarchists  of  the  national  assembly  received 
a  note  of  warning  that  the  country  might  dispense  with  their  services  unless 
they  displayed  governmental  capacity,  when  in  July,  1871,  the  republican 
minority  was  largely  increased  at  the  by-elections.  The  next  montn,  within 
a  year  of  Sedan,  a  provisional  constitution  was  voted,  the  title  of  president  of 
the  French  Republic  being  then  conferred  on  Thiers.  The  monarchists  con- 
sented to  this  against  their  will ;  but  they  had  their  own  way  when  they  con- 
ferred constituent  powers  on  the  assembly  in  opposition  to  the  republicans, 
who  argued  that  it  was  a  usurpation  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  for  a  body 
elected  for  another  purpose  to  assume  the  power  of  giving  a  constitution  to  the 
land  without  a  special  mandate  from  the  nation.  The  debate  gave  Gambetta 
his  first  opportunity  of  appearing  as  a  serious  politician.  The  fou  furiettx 
of  Tours,  whom  Thiers  had  denounced  for  his  efforts  to  prolong  the  hopeless 
war,  was  about  to  become  the  chief  support  of  the  aged  Orleanist  statesman 
whose  supreme  achievement  was  to  be  the  foundation  of  the  republic? 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THIERS   (1871-1873) 

The  French  government  had  two  immediate  ends  in  view  —  to  rid  the  coun- 
try of  foreign  occupation  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  to  improve  the  military 
organisation  on  a  Prussian  model.  Since  the  liquidation  of  great  sums  of 
money  was  necessary  for  attainmg  both  these  ends,  a  great  demand  was  put 
on  the  taxable  strength  of  the  country.  The  object  to  be  gained  by  the  second 
aim  was  not  to  increase  the  defensive  power  of  the  land,  since  an  imaggressive 
France  had  to  fear  no  attack,  but  to  prepare  for  a  war  of  revenge  against 
Germany.  The  shattered  military  glory  was  to  be  restored,  the  lost  provinces 
were  to  be  given  back,  or  some  compensation,  perhaps  in  Belgium,  was  to  be 
obtained  for  them.  All  parties  in  France,  the  monarchists  as  well  as  the  ex- 
treme republicans,  were  filled  with  this  idea,  voted  funds  after  funds  for  mili- 
tary purposes  in  the  national  assembly,  and  even  offered  the  government 
more  money  than  it  asked  for. 

Thiers,  who  had  been  made  president  of  the  French  Republic  on  August 
31st,  1871,  by  the  national  assembly,  negotiated  a  loan  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  milhon  francs  for  the  payment  of  the  first  two  milliards  of  the  war 
indemnity  in  June,  1871,  and  a  loan  of  more  than  three  milliards  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  rest  in  July,  1872.  The  "financial  miracle"  was  then  enacted 
— namely,  forty-four  milliards  was  registered  in  the  public  subscription  list, 
in  which  German  banking  houses  also  participated  disgracefully.  Even  if 
this  sum  were  not  intended  in  earnest,  it  was  nevertheless  an  extremely 
favourable  testimony  to  the  French  credit. 


jr^^ 


THE    THIRD    EEPUBLIC  187 

[1871-187SA.D.] 

By  the  military  law  of  July  2Sth,  1872,  universal  compulsory  service  wae 
introduced,  providing  that  one  part  of  the  community  was  to  serve  for  five 
years,  the  other  in  periods  of  six  months'  drill.  This  law  was  completed  b^ 
the  oi^nisation  law  of  July  24th,  1873  —  which  fixed  tlie  number  of  the  regi- 
ments and  divided  them  into  eighteen  army  corps  —  and  by  the  c^re  law  of 
March  13th,  1875.  This  latter  increased 
the  battalion  cadrej?  by  creating  a  new 
fourth  battalion  for  every  three  which 
already  existed,  so  that  now  instead  of 
the  regiments  of  three  battalions  with 
a  maximum  strength  of  three  thousand 
men,  there  were  regiments  of  four  bat- 
talions, which  brought  the  maximum 
strength  of  the  regiment  up  to  four 
thousand  men.  After  this  law  had 
been  carried  out,  the  French  infantry, 
consisting  of  641  battalions,  numbered 
269  field  battalions  more  than  in  the 
year  1870,and  171  field  battalions  more 
than  the  German  army  in  time  of  peace. 

Tliis  cadre  law  caused  such  a  sensa- 
tion that  in  the  spring  of  1875  it  was 
generally  reported  that  there  was  an- 
other war  "  in  sight" ;  that  the  German 
Empire  wished  to  declare  war  on  France 
before  these  colossal  preparations  were 
carried  into  effect.  Nevertheless,  the 
war  did  not  go  beyond  diplomatic  in- 
quirie^i.  The  "great"  nation  tried  to 
put  all  the  responsibility  for  the  mili- 
tary <lisgrace  in  the  late  war  upon  Mar- 
slial  Bazaine,  who,  it  iimst  be  said, 
had  signed  the  capitulation  of  Metz 
at  a  very  convenient  moment  for  the 
Germans.  He  was  brought  before  a 
military  tribunal  and  condemned  to 
death  on  December  10th,  1873,  but 
this  sentence  was  commuted  to  twenty 
years'  imprisonment.  He  began  his 
period  of  captivity  on  December  26th 
m  a  fort  on  the  i^and  of  Ste.  Margue- 
rite, but  he  e.scaped  on  August  10th, 
1874,  with  the  help  of  his  wife,  and  fled 
to  Spain. 

The  national  assembly,  dividetl  into 
parties  which  were   bitterly  opposed 

to  each  other,  developed  a  very  meagre  legislative  activity.  On  one  side 
stood  the  three  monarchistic  parties  of  the  legitimists,  the  Orleaniata,  and 
the  Bom-bons,  each  of  which  had  its  pretender  to  the  throne;  on  the  other 
the  republicans,  who  were  divided  into  a  moderate  and  an  extreme  Left. 
Between  them  stood  a  group  of  parliamentarians,  who  could  be  satisfied  with 
either  form  of  government,  if  only  the  constitutional  system  were  preserved. 
It  is  true  that  tne  monarchists  held  the  majority,  but  in  the  course  of  the  next 


MaoMabor 


188  THE   HISTOBY   OP   FEANCE 

[1878-1876  A.D.] 

few  years  they  lost  considerable  ground  through  the  supplementary  elections, 
and  they  were  so  disunited  among  themselves  that  in  the  most  important 
questions  frequently  a  fraction  of  the  Right  voted  with  the  Left,  and  the 
majority  thus  became  a  minority.  The  "lusion,"  i,e,  the  imion  of  the  legiti- 
mists and  Orleanists  mto  one  single  party,  did  not  succeed. 

Tliiers  preferred  the  actual  republic  to  any  one  of  the  three  possible 
monarchies,  and  for  that  very  reason  the  monarchists  were  very  much  dis- 
satisfied with  him.  When,  at  the  re-formation  of  the  ministry  on  May  18th, 
1873,  he  wholly  disregaraed  the  monarchistic  majority  and  recruited  his 
cabinet  entirely  from  the  moderate  Left,  the  monarchists  moved  a  vote  of 
censure  upon  Thiers,  This  was  carried  on  May  24th,  1873,  by  a  vote  of  360 
against  344. 

macmahon  becomes  president 

Thiers  and  his  ministry  resigned;  whereupon,  in  the  same  sitting,  MacMa- 
hon  was  elected  president  of  the  republic.  The  duke  de  Broglie  held  the  place 
of  vice-president  under  him.  In  order  to  strengthen  the  position  of  the  presi- 
dent the  national  assembly  voted  on  November  19th,  1873,  to  fix  the  term 
of  his  service  at  seven  years.  The  Broglie  ministry  could  not  long  succeed  in 
this  difficult  art  of  steering  safely  between  the  parties.  It  was  compelled  to 
retire  on  May  16th,  1874,  through  the  result  of  the  baUot  on  the  electoral 
law,  and  on  May  22tad  the  war  minister,  Cissey,  took  over  the  presidency  of 
the  cabinet. 

But  when  the  eovemment  seemed  to  favour  the  Bonapartists  and  a  choice 
between  the  repuWic  or  a  third  empire  was  imminent,  the  moderate  Orleanists 
separated  themselves  from  the  government;  from  the  left  and  right  Centre 
a  new  majority  was  formed,  which,  on  the  motion  of  the  delegate  Wallon,  by 
its  final  vote  on  February  25th,  1875,  established  a  republic  with  regular  presi- 
dential elections,  and  with  a  senate  and  second  chamber.  Thereupon  the 
formation  of  the  Buffet  ministir  followed  on  March  10th,  the  most  prominent 
member  of  which  belonged  to  the  right  Centre.^ 

MARTIN  ON  the  CONSTITUTION   OF  1875 

The  constitution  was  formed  as  foDows:  at  the  head  of  the  executive  a 
president,  named  in  advance  by  the  1871  assembly,  to  hold  office  for  seven 
years,  with  power  to  dissolve  the  chamber  of  deputies  subject  to  agreement 
by  the  senate.  He  had  also  a  more  formidable  right — that  of  suspending 
both  chambers  for  one  month,  though  not  more  than  twice  in  a  session;  that 
is,  he  was  to  be  sole  and  tmcontrolled  governor  in  case  of  disagreement  be- 
tween himself  and  the  direct  or  indirect  representatives  of  the  nation.  The 
senate  was  composed  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  members  appointed  by 
the  departments  and  the  colonies  for  nine  years,  and  seventy-five  appointed 
by  the  national  a^embly:  these  last  for  life.  The  others  were  elected  by  a 
departmental  circle  composed  of  deputies,  councillors-general,  suburban  coun- 
cilloi^,  and  delegates,  one  from  each  mimicipal  council. 

So  it  came  about  that  the  smallest  French  commune,  having  hardly 
enou^  electors  to  compose  a  mimicipal  council,  played  as  considerable  a 
|»rt  uk  the  eo\Tmment  as  Lj*ons  or  Marseilles.  This  meant  the  subordina- 
tion of  republican  towns  to  country  districts,  over  which  the  government 
hopeii  to  exercis«»  a  powerful  influence.  An  elector  in  a  tiny  commune 
weighed  in  the  electoral  balance  as  much  as  two  or  three  thousand  electors  in 
Uugp  cities;.    At  bottom  it  vras  an  election  of  senators  in  the  hands  of  village 


I 


■^  ^^"^  THE   THIRD    REPUBLIC  ^^"^        18ft 

[187ft  A.D.I 

mayors,  under  governmental  influence.  This  was  a  very  different  thing  from 
the  declaration  of  rights — "All  men  are  equal  in  the  eyes  of  the  Law." 

There  remained  the  chaitil>er  of  deputiea  electe<i  by  universal  miffrage.  It 
wafi  elected  by  borough  balloting,  but  it  was  not  included  in  the  artfclcs  of 
the  constitution.  This  chamber  shared  the  introduction  of  laws  with  the 
senate  and  the  president  of  the  republic.  It  was  nametl  by  a  mode  of  ballot 
that  diminished  its  importance  and  threatened  it  with  dissolution  on  the 
slightest  disagreement  witli  the  assembly,  which  was  chosen  by  restricted 
sunrage.  The  constitution,  however,  gave  it  a  supreme  prerogative — a  su- 
preme meiins  of  making  the  national  will  Inuinplinnt:  the  introduction  of 
financial  laws^  the  key  of  the  money  chest!  The  chamlitT  of  deputies  had 
the  most  weight  in  matters  of  taxing,  a  prerogative  which  is  not  only  a  re- 
publican right  but  one  which  is  also  exerciseti  in  all  constitutional  monarchies. 
This  right  the  chamber  of  deputies  tliil  not  even  know  how  to  uphold  and 
defend. 

Tlie  Versailles  as.senibly,  which  was  unenthusiastic,  monarchical,  and  far 
more  clerical,  was  principally  concerne<l  in  promoting  in  the  new  constitution 
the  interests  of  the  higher  classes  above  those  of  democracy,  of  crushing 
universal  suffrage  which  it  was  unable  to  suppress  under  the  feet  of  limited 
suffrage,  anti  fettering  as  far  as  possible  every  liberal  or  democratic  refonn. 
At  the  entl  of  ten  years  jt*s  entire  work  still  existed  anrl  in  this  sense  one  may 
say  that  the  assembly  of  1S71  was  successful. 

From  the  22nd  to  the  24th  of  February  the  Wallon  proposition  was  dis- 
putei.1  foot  by  foot,  word  by  word,  by  the  Hight,  who  niineil  a  shower  of 
amendments  on  it.  They  wanted  universal  suffnxge;  an  appeal  to  the  people; 
the  declaration  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people;  the  interdiction  of  princes 
as  presidents  of  the  republic.  Everything  was  commenced,  but  to  httle  pur- 
pose. The  republicans  turned  a  deaf  ear,  maintained  a  staunch  resistance 
and,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  kept  the  promis*?  made  in  their  name. 
On  the  24th  of  I^ebniary  the  senate  law  ami  the  transmission  of  the  presi- 
dent's powers  had  a  majority.  On  the  25th  of  February  the  bill  relative  to 
the  organisation  of  jniblic  powers  was  carried  in  a  third  and  final  debate  by 
425  against  254.    The  republic  was  complete! » 

8TM0N'8   MTNISTRY 

This  constitution,  the  fourteenth  since  1789,  was  the  result  of  dissensions 
among  tlie  monarchists,  who  preferred  repubUcan  ciinditlates  to  their  rivals 
b  the  legitimist  or  Orleanist  ranks.  After  this  unexpected  aid,  the  rejiubli- 
cans  gained  a  large  majority  in  the  elections  to  the  chamber,  thanks  largely 
to  the  efforts  of  CJambetta,  who  was  not,  however,  rewarded  with  representa- 
tion in  the  cabinet.  The  finst  minister  under  the  m*w  constitution  was 
Dufaure,  formerly  in  Louis  PhilipixVs  cabinet;  late  in  1876  he  retired,  and 
the  new  premier  was  Jules  Simon.  Simon  was  of  deeply  Catholic  sympathies 
and  aided  in  a  nioveinent  to  interfere  in  lUdiiin  affairs  for  the  restoration  of 
the  pope  to  U^mporal  power  ainl  the  control  of  R(>me.« 

During  Simon's  mmistry  the  struggle,  from  being  political,  sutldenty  be- 
came a  religious  one  between  the  republicans  and  the  conservatives.  Some 
incidents  of  extenud  politics  in  Italy  and  Germany,  whose  reverberations  ex- 
tended to  France,  a  demand  for  the  authorisation  of  conferences,  presented 
to  the  minister  of  the  interior  by  the  ex-pt^rt*  Hyacinthe,  the  aggressive 
ardour  of  archbishops  and  bishops  ami  the  aiiti-rehgious  violence  of  a  part 
of  tlie  radical  press,  all  miited  to  set  lay  society  and  the  clerical  world  in 


100  THE   HISTORY   OP   FRANCE 

[187S  A.D.] 

opposition  to  one  another  and  to  provoke  in  parliament  a  formidable  crisis 
—  m  the  country  an  agitation  which  might  have  produced  first  a  revolution 
and  afterwards  war. 

Gambetta  set  himself  against  the  clerical  party  and  demanded  that  the 
Concordat  should  be  interpreted  as  a  twoHsided  contract,  obligatory  and 
equally  binding  on  both  pju-ties;  and  he  ended  by  repeating  the  words  of 
Peyrat:  "Clericalism,  that  is  the  enemy!"  {Le  dSricaiisme,  vaUh  Vennemif) 
It  has  been  said  that  this  war-cry  was  too  sweeping,  because  it  included  all 
the  members  of  the  clergy  amongst  the  enemies  of  society.  But  from  that 
time  the  epithet  "  clericaT'  designated  rather  the  laity  than  the  ecclesiastics, 
including  all  those  who  mingle  religion  and  politics,  who  wish  to  use  spiritual 
matters  for  temporal  ends  and  take  their  electoral  cue  elsewhere  than  in 
France.*^ 

There  was  strong  feeling  against  the  agitation  meant  to  ferment  a  reli- 
gious war  and  embroil  France  in  ultramontaiie  politics.  Simon  declared  that 
he  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  repress  the  spirit  of  war  for  Catholicism.  But 
votes  on  two  bills  only  indirectly  related  to  clericalism  went  against  the  policy 
of  the  minister  and  were  made  a  pretext  for  an  unusual  step. 

THE   COUP  d'etat  OF  SIAY  16TH 

On  the  16th  of  May  President  MacMahon  published  in  the  ofi^cial  oi^an 
an  open  letter  of  rebiuce  to  his  minister.  This  strange  act  has  been  c^ed 
the  coup  d'4tat  of  May  16th. 

The  president's  letter  closed  as  follows: « 

The  attitude  of  the  chief  of  the  cabinet  raises  the  question  as  to  whether  he  has  preserved 
that  influence  over  the  chamber  which  is  neorasarr  to  make  his  views  prevail.     An  explanation 
on  this  head  is  indispensable ;  for,  if  I  am  not,  like  you,  responsible  to  the  parliament,  I  have 
a  responsibility  towards  France  which  I  ou^ht  now  more  than  ever  to  consider. 
Accept,  Monsieur  le  president  du  conseil,  the  assurance  of  my  high  esteem. 

Le  Pr^ident  de  ia  R£publiqae, 
Mab^chal  dk  MacMajbon. 

On  this  strange  docxmient  Zevort  comments  severely: 
Before  studying  the  real  meaning  of  this  letter  it  will  be  well  to  estimate 
what  the  very  sending  of  it  implied,  the  unheard-of  proceeding  to  which  the 
marshal  had  recoiu'se  to  rid  himself  of  a  president  of  the  councu  who  had  rep- 
resented him  to  the  parliament  as  the  model  of  parliamentary  and  constitu- 
tional chiefs.  The  letter  specified  nothing.  If  Jules  Simon  had  wished  to 
play  a  close  game  with  his  unskilful  antagonist,  he  might  indcid  have  either 
presented  himself  before  the  chamber,  procured  a  vote  of  confidence,  and 
thus  demonstrated  that  he  had  preserved  that  influence  which  was  necessary 
to  make  his  views  prevail;  or  he  might  have  waited  till  the  approaching 
council  of  ministers,  and  had  that  explanation  with  the  marshal  which  the 
latter  declared  indispensable.  In  either  case  the  president  of  the  republic 
would  have  found  himself  in  a  position  of  cruel  embarrassment,  and  the  con- 
flict he  had  raised  would  perhaps  have  received,  on  the  17th  or  18th  of  May, 
1877,  the  solution  which  it  was  to  receive  only  in  the  month  of  January,  1879. 
Like  all  timid  persons  the  marshal  dreaded  nothing  so  much  as  an  explanation 
with  those  he  had  offended ;  and  his  letter,  in  its  prodigious  clumsiness,  was 
very  skilfully  drawn  up,  if  he  wished  to  avoid  an  interview  in  the  council  with 
the  ministers  so  cavalierly  dismissed. 

As  to  the  pretexts  devised  to  separate  him  from  the  cabinet  of  the  12th  of 
December,  they  were  really  altogether  too  frivolous.    However  inexperienced 


THE   THIRD   REPUBLIC 


191 


[I87ft-187Q  A.D] 

the  marshal  might  be,  he  was  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  a  law  under  dis- 
cuBsiou  is  not  a  law  passed. 

The  question  as  to  whether  Jules  Simon  had  sufficient  authority  over  the 
chamber  was  either  a  premeditated  insult  or  the  proof  of  a  singular  defect  of 
memory;  and  had  not  Jules  Simon — in  the  most  weighty  divisions,  on  the 
4th  of  May.  IS77,  and  the  28th  of  December,  1876,  when  the  prerogatives  of 
the  chamber  were  themselves  at  stake — had  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
voters  witli  him,  and  was  the  law  of  majorities  no  longer,  as  on  the  26th  of 
May,  187;:J,  the  supreme  rule  of  parliamentary  governments? 

"I  am  responsible  to  France/'  said  the  marshal,  who  had  been  elected  by 
390  deputies,  thus  borrowing  the  phraseology  of  Napoleon  III,  who  had  been 
chosen  by  five  million  electors;  and  was  not  France  directly  and  regularly 
represented  by  the  senate  and  the  chamber  of  deputies,  and  had  not  the 
constitution  (Article  6)  already  indicated 
the  single  case  in  which  the  president  of 
the  republic  is  responsible — namely,  the 
case  of  nigh  treason? 

Such  was  that  document  of  the  16th 
of  May,  which  left  everything  to  be  feared 
because  it  went  beyond  all  measure, 
which  did  not  exceed  the  bounds  of 
legality  but  which  exhausted  it  at  the 
first  blow.  The  marshal  was  about  to 
declare  in  his  speech,  in  his  Orders  of 
the  Day,  that  he  would  go  to  the  farthest 
bounds  of  this  legality,  whose  utmost 
limit  he  hail  attainetl  with  one  leap. 
The  constitution  of  1K75  had  assured 
him  a  quasi-royalty:  yet  he  was  now 
going  to  put  hioLself  outside  or  above 
the  laws,  unfler  pretence  of  tlie  higher 
interests  of  the  public  safety,  that  facile 
pretext  for  all  dictatorship ;  he  was 
about  to  engage,  haphazard,  in  a  for- 
midable venture,  ignorant  of  what 
might  result  from  his  victory  or  his  de- 
feat.^ 

The  coup  dV'tat  of  the  16th  of  May  was  from  its  inception  condemned 
throughout  Europe.  MacMahon  was  neither  sufficiently  ambitious  nor  un- 
scrupulous to  institute  a  military  dictatorship.  The  most  important  events 
in  the  political  calendar  were  the  electoral  campaign  and  Gambetta's  noted 
speech  at  LiUe^  on  the  15th  of  August,  when  he  wound  up  with,  "  Believe  me, 
ntlemen,  when  France  has  once  spoken  with  her  sovereign  voice  there  will 

nothing  left  but  submission  or  resignation"  (se  soumettre  ou  se  dhneitre). 
Tlic  jingle  wiught  t]i<^  p<vf)ular  ear  and  Marshal  MacMahon  on  the  13th  of 
December  submitted  unconditionally. 


JUUBS  ORfivr 


Gr6vY  becomes   PKESIDENT   (1879) 

Garabetta,  it  is  generally  conceded,  was  at  this  period  the  foremost  poli- 
tician in  France.  A  thoroughly  republican  ministry  was  formed  under 
Dufaure,  president  of  the  council  and  rniniHter  of  justice,  with  Freycinet  as 
minister  of  public  works.    President  MacMahon  in  his  message  ''accepted 


199  THE   HISTOBY   OF   FRANCE 

[\9m-\979  kjk,] 
the  will  of  the  country."    Garobetta  now  sagaciously  exprefleed  his  wish  that 

MacMnhon  .shouj'l  be  iKTinitt^d  toconiplctehisterm;  ana  thus  the  advantttges 
f)f  rf*f)iiblican  rule  might  [ye  the  better  demonstrated  by  his  duly  and  peace- 
fully (rhctod  succeasor.  The  great  exposition  of  1878  brought  MacSfahon 
some  ororninence,  but  the  old  soldier  foimd  himself  isolate,  and  utterly 
«ck  of  the  part  lie  hud  to  play. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1879,  MacMahon,  finding  himself  unable  to  agree 
with  his  niiniaters  and  hopeless  of  forming  a  new  ministry  conformable  to  his 

views,  resigne<i  and  in  his  last  acts  con- 
ducted himself  with  such  dignity  as  to 
wring  even  from  Zevort  ^  this  commen- 
dation: 

"  From  the  begiiming  of  the  govern- 
mental crisis  the  marshal  had  con- 
ducted himself  as  a  man  of  honour,  and 
preser\'ed  an  attitude  the  most  correct 
and  most  deserving  of  respect,  and  era- 
ployed  the  niniplest  and  most  becoming 
language.  From  the  moment  that  the 
politician  had  vanished,  the  honest  man, 
the  good  citizen,  the  successful  soldier 
had  reappeared,  and  the  lofty  dignity 
^  ^^'^^^m^B^^^  "  ^^  ^'®  retreat  made  men  forget  the  errors 

'^'^^^^I^^^S^^^^^^^^        for  which  he  was  only  half  responsible." 
^v   ~  ^^SF^^^^SK^^L  What  part  Gambetta  acte<J  in  the 

^  ^^^r>       crisis   of   January,    1879,   wlien    Mac- 

Mahon's  ministry  fell,  it  is  difficult  to 
decide.  At  the  critical  juncture  he 
aj^pears  to  have  absented  himself  from 
Paris.  He  abstained  from  speaking  in 
tlie  debate  on  the  policy  of  the  ministry, 
neither  tlid  he  vote  in  the  final  division. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that, 
hail  he  willed,  he  might  have  contested 
the  presidency  of  the  republic  success- 
fully. Rut  lie  waivtMl  IiIh  claims  in  favour  of  Jules  Gr^^v>%  who  was  elected 
president  on  the  :i()lh  of  January,  1879,  by  536  votes  against  99  for  General 
rhnii/.y,  (JnmlH'tta  becoming  president  of  the  chamber  and  Waddington  the 
[irimi*  miniHt^*r. 


liKtiri  Uaui*ictta 


THK   LAST  DATS  OF  GAMBETTA ;     A8C7ENDENCY   OP  FERRY 


The  deputies  were  united  now  as  "the  national  assembly,"  and  the  legis- 
latiut?  n'turned  from  Versjiillcs  to  Paris.  Both  executive  and  legislature  were 
now  thortnigliiv  rt^pnblican. 

Prominent  m  (W*vy's  cabinet  was  the  minister  of  education,  Jules  Ferry, 
who  was  strongly  anti-clerical  ui  his  views  and  advocated  an  educational  bill 
excluding  the  Jesuits  and  all  "unauthorised  orders*'  from  acting  as  teachers 
in  France,  Jules  Sin)on  securetl  the  rejection  of  the  bill  by  the  senate,  but 
the  unauthoristHl  orders  wen*  liisbiindeil  luid  many  priests  and  nuns  e:icpelled 
amidst  pul>lie  feeling  etnbitliMt^l  by  the  wmth  of  trie  clerical  party  anil  the 
seal  of  the  anti-^ericals.    The  Uona|>artist  cause  suffered  when  the  young 


THH   THIRD    REPUBLIC  IM 

[187&-188bA.l).] 

prince  imperial  was  killed  by  the  Zulus.  Waddington  resigned  the  ministry 
to  Freycinet  and  he  to  Ferry,  who  still  kept  Gainbetta  from  office. 

Ganibetta  now  began  to  fight  for  power  and  to  gather  republican  senti- 
ment about  him  until  it  was  necessary  to  call  hini  to  the  prime-ministry. 
The  jealousy  of  his  magnetism  or  "occult  power/'  as  it  was  called,  and  his 
distribution  of  the  portfolios  succeeded  in  shortening  his  lease  of  power  to 
ten  weeks.  Gambetta,  in  the  days  of  his  power,  advocated  all  measures  that 
would  tend  to  place  France  in  the  position  she  occupied  before  the  war.  He 
approved  of  the  expedition  to  Tunis,  for  he  desired  to  extend  her  influence  in 
the  Mediterranean.  And  he  upheld  the  dual  action  of  France  and  England 
in  Eg>'pt.  To  quote  his  own  words  iu  ahnost  the  last  speech  he  ever  made: 
"  For  the  last  ten  years  there  has  been  a  west^=^m  policy  in  Europe  represented 
by  England  and  France,  and  allow  me  to  say  here  that  I  know  of  no  other 
European  policy  likely  to  avail  us  in  the  most  terrible  of  the  contingencies  we 
may  have  to  face  hereafter.  What  induced  me  to  seek  for  the  English  alli- 
ance, for  the  co-operation  of  Englanil  in  the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean  and 
in  Egypt,  is — and  I  pray  you  mark  me  well — tliat  what  I  most  apprehend, 
in  a^^fdition  to  an  ill-omened  estrangement,  that  you  should  deliver  over  to 
England  and  forever  territories,  and  rivers,  and  waterways  where  your  right 
to  Bve  and  traffic  Ls  equal  to  her  own," 

On  the  3Ist  of  December,  1882,  Ganibetta  died  at  the  age  of  forty-four 
.from  an  accidental  wound.  Thus  ended  prematurely  the  strange  career  of 
le  ffrand  ministre,  as  he  was  called  ironically,  less  memorable  for  what  he  did 
than  for  what  everyone  felt  he  might  have  done. 

In  the  first  month  of  the  same  year  (January,  1882)  another  new  ministry 
had  been  fonned  with  Freycinet  president  of  tlie  council  and  minister  for 
foreign  affairs.  This  ministry  lasted  only  half  a  year,  being  succeeded  by 
'that  of  Duclcrc,  during  which  all  the  members  of  royal  families  were  exiled 
from  France  in  consequence  of  a  campaign  of  placards  waged  by  tlie  son  of 
Jerome  Bonaparte  of  Westphalia.  The  brief  premiership  of  Fallit^res  gave 
way  to  that  of  Jules  Ferry  who,  though  a  former  rival  of  Gambetta's,  united 
with  his  disciples  to  form  the  so-called  "opportunist"  party. 

During  Ferry's  comparatively  lengthy  tenure  of  office  of  over  two  years, 
some  revision  of  the  constitution  was  accomplLshed  in  uncharacteristic  peace- 
fulness.  The  typical  volatility  of  the  people,  however,  was  revealed  by  the 
explosion  of  rage  over  the  news  of  a  check  received  by  the  French  army  at 
Tongking.  The  bitter  s|>eeches  of  the  cynical  Cl^menceau  brought  about 
Ferry's  resignation  and  Brisson  became  prime  minister.  A  reaction  now 
grew  against  the  republican  administration,  and  the  elections  of  1885  were 
forty-five  per  cent,  monarchical.  The  alarm  over  this  dangerous  weakness 
put  a  momentary  end  to  republican  internal  factions^  and  Gr6vy  waa  re-elected 
president  December  28th,  for  a  second  septennate. 

Freycinet  formed  a  new  ministry,  his  tnird,  giving  the  portfolio  of  war  to 
Genera!  Boulanger — a  curious  figure  neither  whose  past  nor  whose  future 
justified  the  remarkable  prominence  he  acquired.  His  first  acts  were  sen- 
sational in  that  he  erased  from  the  army  list  all  the  princes  of  royal  families 
id  exiled  his  first  patron,  the  duke  d'Aumale ;  he  also  repressed  all  the  army 
officers  of  reactionist  sympathies.  The  populace  showered  on  Boidanger  the 
favour  it  withdrew  from  the  president,  and  he  became  powerfiil  enough  to 
unseat  Freycinet,  who  was  succeeded  by  Goblet,  Boulanger  took  a  spectac- 
ular position  on  the  arrest  by  the  Germans  of  a  French  officer  named  Schnae- 
bele,  and  showed  great  energ>'  in  preparing  for  a  war  with  Prussia.  Goblet 
resigned.    Rouvier  followed,  and  sent  Boulanger  to  an  army  post.    In  1887 

B.  W.— VOL.  XIII.  N 


194  THE   HISTORY    OF   FRANCE 

[I8;&-18D4  A.D.1 

scandals  arose  concpming  the  sale  of  Legion  of  Honour  decorations,  in  which 
a  deputy  named  Daniel  Wilson  was  implicated  and  in  which  it  was  shown  that 
he  used  the  president's  residence  as  a  sort  of  office.  This  provoked  an  out- 
cry before  which  Gre\'y  resigned. 

In  his  nine  years  of  administration,  President  Gr^vy  had  had  eleven 
ministers — in  itself  a  proof  of  lack  of  policy  or  at  least  of  power  to  carry  out 
a  policy.  In  the  first  period,  from  1879  to  March  20th,  1885,  however,  much 
had  been  accomplished  for  the  establishment  of  public  liberties — the  freedom 
of  the  press  being  assured  in  1881,  the  municipal  councils  given  the  right  to 
elect  their  mayors  in  1882,  and  the  laws  of  divorce  replaced  in  the  civil  code 
whence  the  Restoration  liad  removed  them.  The  schools  had  also  been 
rendered  secular,  as  we  have  seen. 

The  application  of  these  reforms,  reductions  in  the  taxes,  coinciding  with 

bad  years  and  the  ruin  of  the  vintage,  pro- 
duced the  most  serious  difficulties  with  re- 
gard to  the  budget — difficulties  which  were 
still  further  au|;raented  by  the  participa- 
tion of  France  m  the  colonising  movement 
then  attracting  all  Europe.  The  Timis 
expedition  (1880-1881),  that  of  Tongking 
(1883-1885),  the  first  Madagascar  expedi- 
tion f  1883-1885),  the  fouiuiation  of  the 
French  Congo  (1884),  and  the  advance 
towards  the  Sudan  belong  to  this  period. 
In  the  second  period  parliament  and  pub- 
lic opinion  are  in  a  state  of  profoimd  dis- 
turbance after  the  30th  of  March,  1885,  and 
anarchy  reigned  in  the  ministries,  the  par- 
liament, and  public  opinion.'' 

In  this  critical  situation,  when  Frey- 
cinet  and  Floquet,  aiming  for  the  radical 
vote,  are  said  to  have  had  a  secret  agree- 
ment to  restore  Boulanger  to  power;  when 
the  monarchists  were  planning  to  vote  for 
sadi  Carmot  Ferry  in  the  hope  that  his  unpopularity 

would  provoke  one  of  those  mob  distiirb- 
ances  which  had  so  often  brought  back  the  monarchy,  Cl^menceau  skilfully 
secured  the  nomination  and  election  of  an  unexpected  figure — Sadi  Camot,  a 
man  of  unaasailed  reputation,  whose  grandfather  was  the  great  Camot  to 
whom  France  had  owed  her  magnificent  military  organisation  during  the 
revolution. 

THE  PRESIDENCY   OF  CARNOT  (1887-18W) 

Sadi  Camot,  though  perhaps  not  a  great  man,  displayed  as  president  of 
the  republic  the  same  qualities  of  conscientiousness,  diligence,  and  modesty 
for  which  he  had  been  noted  in  those  more  humble  days  when  he  built  bridges 
at  Annecy.  These  years  were  unexampled  in  France  for  the  \irulence  of 
political  passion  and  the  acrimonious  license  of  the  press.  The  decoration 
scandal,  the  Boulangist  movement,  and  the  Panama  affair  filled  this  period 
with  opprobrious  accusations  and  counter-charges. 

Carnot  chose  Tirard  for  his  premier;  under  nim  Wilson  was  sentenced  to 
two  years  for  fraud,  and  Boulanger  was  deprived  of  command  for  absenting 
himself  from  his  post  without  leave.   Wilson  appealed,  and  the  higher  courta 


THE    THIRD    REPITBLIC  ^^  105 

[18S7-18&4  A.D.] 

reversed  the  decision  against  him.  As  he  was  a  relative  of  Gr6vy,  this  pro- 
voked public  suspicion,  which  was  aggravated  when  Boulanger  was  elected 
a  deputy  by  an  overwhelming  majority  and  was  immediately  expelled  from 
the  army. 

Tirard's  ministry  fell  and  Floquet  succeeded,  with  Freycinet  as  minister 
of  war,  A  duel  ensued  between  Floquet  and  Boulanger,  in  which,  singularly, 
the  civilian,  who  was  also  of  advanced  age,  w^oundedthe  doughty  general  in 
the  throat.  None  the  less,  Boulangism  increased  rapidly  and  was  enlarged  by 
the  royalist  vote.  The  time  was  ripe  for  a  coup  d'etat,  but  the  general  did 
not  move;  indeed,  he  denied  in  his  speeches  any  ambition  for  dictatorship 
and  actually  withdrew  to  Brussels,  April,  1889,  when  he  heard  that  Tirara, 
who  had  been  recalled  as  premier,  was  about  to  arrest  him.  He  was  now 
found  guilty  of  high  treason  and  the  senate  sentenced  him  to  life  imprisonment. 

He  went  to  Jersey  and  lived  there 
c^uietly,  while  Boulangism  died  of  inani- 
tion. In  July,  1890,  his  mistress,  Mme. 
deBonnemain,  died,  and  September 30th, 
1891,  he  blew  out  his  own  brains  on  her 
grave.  This  last  act  was  consistent  witli 
his  whole  career,  both  in  its  strong  emo- 
tionalism and  in  its  weakness.  He  was 
a  man  idolised  hy  liis  soldiers,  whom  he 
treated  with  great  democracy  and  even 
tenderness;  he  was  thrilled  with  a  pas- 
sion to  revenge  France  on  Prussia,  a 
passion  bound  to  be  popular  then  in 
France;  he  was  a  smart  soldier  and  on 
his  black  horse  made  a  picturesque  figure; 
a  popular  tune  added  to  his  vogue — "  Vest 
Boulanger  qu'il  nous  jauV;  and  it  might 
have  proved  a  "  fa  fra"  of  insurrection, 
but  he  lacked  the  courage — or  shall  we  not 
more  mercifully  and  justly  say,  he  lacked 
the  villany  ? — to  lead  a  revolution.  "WTiile 
he  missed  the  glor>'  of  a  Napoleon,  he  also 
escaped  the  bloody  crimes  of  that  despot. 

Boulangism  having  committed  suicide^  it  suffered  disgrace  from  the  mo- 
narchic coalition,  and  reform  went  on  peacefully.  In  1890  Freycinet  added 
the  premiership  to  the  war  ministry^  and  1891  saw  no  change  of  cabinet. 
Concihation  with  Rome  was  the  policy  of  both  France  and  the  Church;  and 
in  February,  1892,  Leo  XIII  recognised  the  republic  in  an  encyclical,  Frey- 
cinet resigned  the  premiership  and  Simile  Louoet  became  premier. 

Now  the  Panama  scandal  came  to  shock  all  the  world  ivith  the  revelations 
of  official  corruption,  of  wholesale  blackmail,  and  of  the  abuse  of  funds  largely 
subscribed  by  the  poorer  masses.  The  trials  were  peacefully  conducted,  and 
while  only  one  former  minister  was  convicted  and  a  sentence  was  passed  on 
De  Lesseps,  the  engineer  of  the  Suez  Canal  and  also  of  the  Panama  venture, 
the  deep  disgust  of  the  public  did  not  take  the  usual  recourse  to  riotous 
expression.  Loubet  was  followed  in  December,  1892,  by  Ribot  and  he  later 
by  Dupuy.  Casimir-P^rier,  grandson  of  the  famous  statesman,  succeeded 
for  a  time,  to  be  followed  again  by  Dupuy.  June  24th,  1894,  President 
Camot  was  stabbed  to  death  by  an  Italian  anarchist  named  Caaerio. 


Cammir-Pbhibr 


1M 


THE    HISTORY    OF    FRANCE 


THE   PRESIDENCIES  OF  CASIMIR-PERIER  AND  FAURE 


IlSM-ia09^D.] 


Caaimir-P6rier,  who  like  Carnot  bore  a  name  unsullied  by  scandal,  was 
elected  by  the  congress  June  27th,  1894,  but  he  could  not  endure  the  attacks 
of  opposition  newspapers;  and  January  15th,  1895,  he  resigned  on  the  ground 
nf  overbuRlensome  irsponsibilities  without  adequate  j^owers. 

Ft'lix  Faure  was  chosen  to  succeed  him;  he  was  of  humble  origin  and  a 
successful  merchant.  Ribot  was  his  first  premier,  Leon  Bourgeois  his  second, 
and  M^line  the  third;  Molina's  ministry  lasted  from  April,  1896,  to  June  28th, 
1S98,  the  visit  of  the  czar,  and  the  sealing  of  the  Franco-Russian  alliance 
giving  it  distinction.    Dupuy  came  back  as  premier,  but  February  16th,  1899, 

President  Faure  died  of  apoplexy 
and  the  then  president  of  the  sen- 
ate, Loubet,  was  elected  in  his 
place.  The  Dupuy  ministry  held 
over  till  June,  when  Waldeck- 
Rousseau  became  premier  and 
mana^sd  by  a  combination  of  firm- 
ness with  an  effort  at  conciliating 
the  various  parties  to  rarry  France 
through  the  violence  of  anti-Sem- 
itism and  its  culmination  in  the 
two  trials  of  the  Jewish  captain 
Alfred  Dreyfus. 

THE   DREYFUS  TRIAL 

Tn  January,  1895,  Dre>'fus  had 
been  sentenced  to  life  imprison- 
ment on  Devil's  Island  off  French 
Guiana,  the  charge  being  that  he 
had  sold  military  secrets  to  Ger- 
many. The  dramatic  ceremonies 
FbLix  facbb  of  his  degradation  and  his  eai-nest 

denials  of  guilt  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world,  and  it  was  claimed  that  he  was  the  innocent  scape-goat 
of  anti-Jewish  rancour  and  of  true  guilt  among  Gentile  officers.  The  efforts  atj 
certain  French  officers,  writers,  and  editors,  notably  Colonel  Picquart  and 
Emile  Zola,  to  reopen  the  case  were  vain  for  some  time,  Colonel  Picquart 
being  imprisoned  and  Zola  driven  into  exile.  In  1898  new  proofs  against 
Drej^'us  were  produced,  but  Colonel  Henry  confessed  to  forging  these  and 
committed  suicide. 

After  a  ferocious  newspaper  war  in  which  the  foreign  press  joined  with 
unusual  vigour,  Captain  Dreyfus  was  brought  back  for  retrial  in  August,  1899, 
It  is  difficult  for  a  foreigner  to  decide  on  the  merits  of  the  case,  as  the  sin- 
cerity of  both  factions  was  only  too  evident,  and  the  charges  of  militarism 
and  anti-Semitism  against  the  anti-Dreyfusards  were  met  by  charges  of  ve- 
nality and  of  purchiise  by  Jewish  gold.  Even  the  new  president,  Loubet,  was 
accused  of  this.  The  new  court,  by  a  majority  of  five  to  two,  again  foundi 
Dreyfus  "guilty  of  treason  with  extenuating  circumstances,"  and  sentenced 
him  to  ten  years'  detention.  The  curious  wording  of  the  sentence,  as  well 
as  certain  methods  of  court  procedure,  amazed  the  foreign  world,  in  which 


THE   THIRD    REPUBLIC 


the  opinion  is  practically  unanimous  that  the  evidence  published  haa  no 
value  at  all  in  proving  Dreyfus  guilty. 

The  French  government,  however,  put  a  stop  to  the  agitation  by  pardon- 
ing the  prisoner  and  recommending  a  general  amnesty.  This  was  perhaps 
the  wisest  coursp,  thougli  hanlly  satisfactory  a>s  an  example  of  fearless  justice. 
Every  nation  has  its  juiliclai  scandals,  but  no  other  has  had  so  miiversal  an 
airings  and  a  prejutlice  has  Iwen  excited  against  the  whole  French  people 

a  result  of  this  affair.  A  British  writer,  J.  E.  C.  Bodley^  has  thus 
ed  up  its  manifold  phases: 

"The  Dreyfus  affair  was  severely  judged  by  foreign  critics  as  a  miscarriage 
of  justice  resulting  from  race-prejudice.  If  that  simple  appreciation  rightly 
describes  its  origin,  it  Ijecaine  in  its  dtn'plojinient  one  of  th4>fse  scanduls  sympto- 
matic of  the  unhealthy  political  condition  of  France,  which  on  a  smaller  scale 
had  often  recurred  under  the  Thirrl  Republic^  and  which  were  ma<le  the 
pretext  by  the  malcontents  of  all  parties  for  gratifying  their  animosities. 
That  in  its  later  stages  it  was  not  a  ciuestion  of  race-persecution  was  seen  in 
the  curious  phenomenon  of  journals  owned  or  edited  by  ,Jews  leading  the 
outcry  against  the  Jewish  officer  and  his  defenders.  That  it  was  not  a  mere 
episode  of  the  rivalry'  between  re|:)ul>licans  and  monarchists,  or  l:)etwcen  the 
advocates  of  parliamentarism  and  of  military  autocracy,  was  evident  from 
the  fact  that  the  most  formidable  opponents  of  Dreyfus,  without  whose 
hostility  that  of  the  clericals  and  reactionaries  would  have  been  ineffective, 
were  republican  politicians.  That  it  was  not  a  phase  of  the  anti-capitalist 
movement  was  shown  by  the  zealoas  adherence  of  the  socialist  leaders  and 
journalists  to  the  cause  of  Dreyfus;  indeed,  one  remarkable  resiilt  of  the 
affair  was  its  diversion  of  the  socialist  party  and  press  for  years  from  their 
normal  campaign  against  propherty. 

"The  Dreyfus  affair  was  utilised  by  the  reactionaries  against  the  republic, 
by  the  clericals  against  the  non-C^atholics,  by  the  anti-clericals  against  the 
Church,  by  the  military  party  against  the  parliamentarians,  and  by  the 
revolutionary  socialists  against  the  army.  It  was  also  conspicuously  utilised 
by  rival  republican  politicians  against  one  another,  and  the  chaos  of  political 
{^oups  was  further  confused  by  it.  The  controversy  was  conducterl  with 
'  e  unseemly  weapons  which  in  France  have  ma^le  parliamentary  institutions 
by-word  and  an  unlicensed  press  a  national  calamity:  while  the  judicial 
proceedings  arising  out  of  it  showed  that  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  French  conception  of  lil)erty  wa«  as  f)eculiar  aB  it  had  been  during 
the  Revolution  a  hundred  years  before." 


COLONIAL  WARS   (1882-1895) 

Foreign  affairs  in  P>ance  have  been  marked  by  various  small  wars,  notably 
the  war  in  Tongking,  where  in  1882  the  successful  commandant  RivlfTC  was 
Exiled.  Admiral  Courbet^  however,  retrieved  these  disasters  by  vigorous 
ition  and  won  a  treaty,  August  25th,  1882,  by  which  the  French  protec- 
>rate  over  Annam  and  Tongking  was  acknowledged.  General  Millot  now 
t*K>k  control  of  the  land  forces  and  C'ourbet  by  means  of  his  fleet  secured 
from  Li  Hung  Giang  a  recognition  of  the  Tongking  protectorate,  after  bom- 
barding certain  ports  and  destroying  two  Chinese  cruisers.** 

The  joy  caused  by  the  signing  of  peace  with  China  was  disturbed  by  the 
news  of  the  death  of  the  man  to  whom  peace  was  due.  Admiral  CourlM^t  ilied 
on  June  11th,  1885,  from  the  effects  of  an  illness  against  which  he  had  long 
struggled.    Although  he  felt  he  was  dangerously  ill,  he  would  not  leave  his 


198  THE  HISTORY  OP  FRANCE 

[1861-1900  A.D.] 

poet.  He  understood  perhaps  that  no  one  could  have  replaced  him.  All 
France  felt  the  blow;  a  magnificent  funeral  was  given  the  sailor  who  had 
raised  the  glory  of  his  flag  in  the  extreme  East i 

In  1892  there  waa  a  short  and  successful  war  with  Dahomey.  It  has  been 
summed  up  by  Lanier^  as  follows:  "This  glorious  campaign,  where  two 
thousand  soldiers  had  had  to  struggle  against  twenty  tnousand  natives, 
admirably  supplied  with  implements  of  warfare,  taught  and  trained  to  the 
offensive,  not  to  speak  of  jungles,  swamps,  dysentery,  and  fevers,  had  lasted 
just  three  months,  and  cost  France  ten  million  francs.  It  reflected  the  great- 
est honour  on  the  general  who  commanded  it." 

Disputes  had  been  of  frequent  occurrence  between  France  and  Mada- 
gascar since  1642,  when  the  French  destroyed  a  Portuguese  settlement.  In 
1861  a  treaty  between  France,  Great  Britain,  and  Madagascar  was  signed. 

But  in  1864  again  there  were  disputes  be- 
tween the  French  and  Hovas;  to  be  followed 
in  1877  by  a  serious  quarrel  respecting  cer- 
tain lands  given  to  one  Laborde,  a  missionary, 
which  the  Hovas  now  reclaimed.  In  1882 
the  French  claimed  the  protectorate  of  part 
of  northwest  Madagascar  by  virtue  of  a  treaty 
made  in  1840-41.  This  resulted  in  an  appeal 
to  the  British  government;  a  native  embassy 
V  was  also  sent  to  France  to  protest.  Peaceful 
measures  failed;  and  Admiral  Pierre  with  a 
French  fleet,  in  the  year  1883,  bombarded  and 
captured  Tamatave.  From  that  time  for- 
ward there  was  constant  warfare;  sometimes 
one  side  and  sometimes  the  other  ^ning 
.  indecisive  victories.    On  the  12th  of  Decem- 

EiiiLB  LouBBT  ^^^  ig95^  Madagascar  was  attached  to  the 

French  colonies. 

In  1899  the  poet  Paul  D^roulMe  vainly  tried  to  prevail  on  General  Roget. 
to  leave  President  Faure's  funeral  and  march  to  evict  President  Loubet  from 
the  Elys^e  palace.  A  like  failure  attended  the  effort  to  provoke  a  war  with 
England  over  the  Fashoda  affair,  in  which  Major  Marchand  with  a  handful 
of  men  claimed  a  right  over  territories  he  had  explored  for  France.  The 
British  government  treated  him  and  his  claims  with  small  respect  and  French 
pride  was  injured,  but  fortunately  no  further  steps  were  taken. 

In  1900  the  world's  exposition  failed  to  have  a  political  effect,  and  was  not 
a  financial  success.  A  great  sensation  was  caused  by  the  revelation  that  the 
French  birth-rate  was  on  the  decrease,  but  similar  statements  concerning 
England  were  later  made.  When  the  nineteenth  century  began,  France  had 
one-fifth  of  the  total  population  of  Europe;  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth 
century  she  has  hardly  a  tenth.  In  that  time  her  population  has  increased 
only  forty-six  per  cent.,  while  that  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  has  increased 
one  hundred  and  fifty-six  per  cent. 

THE  SEPARATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 

The  past  five  years  of  French  history  have  witnessed  a  series  of  acts 
culminating  in  the  complete  separation  of  church  and  state.  Since  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Third  Republic  the  influence  of  the  church  and  especially 
of  certain  orders  within  it  has  frequently  been  cast  against  the  government. 


THE  THIRD   REPUBLIC  ^^^         10d 

[1M0-L9M  A.D.] 

Possessed  of  a  vast  amount  of  wealth  which  escaped  taxation,  these  orders, 
whose  leaders  were  in  many  cases  foreigners,  independent  of  French  authority 
and  often  Hving  abroad,  inclined  to  a  monarchical  form  of  government  and 
not  infrequently  assisted  the  royalists  in  promoting  their  propaganda.  As 
the  education  of  a  large  part  of  the  youth  of  the  country  was  in  their  hands  they 
constituted  a  distinct  menace  to  the  Republic.  Actuat-ed  by  a  desire  to  lessen 
this  danger  and  perhaps  also  by  a  more  general  hostility  to  the  ecclesiastical 
system,  the  Waldeck-Rousseau  ministry  in  1901  secured  the  passage  of  an 
act  requiring  religious  associations  to  secure  legal  authorization  from  the 
government.  It  appears  that  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  act  was  that 
it  should  not  be  enforced  very  rigorously  and  should  be  rather  in  tlie  nature 
of  a  weapon  that  was  held  in  reserve;  but,  owing  to  the  ill  health  of  the  premier 
and  to  internal  dissensions,  the  Waldeck-Rousseau  ministry,  after  an  unpre- 
cedentedly  long  tenure  of  office,  resigned  in  June,  1902,  antl  the  new  ministry 
of  M.  Combes  at  once  entered  upon  an  extreme  anti-clerical  policy.  Despite 
violent  resistance  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  particularly  in  Brittany, 
the  law  was  rigidly  enforced,  and  a  vast  numl>er  of  associations  were  broken 
up.  Stringent  measures  were  also  taken  to  secure  complete  governmont 
control  over  education.  Quite  naturally  a  conflict  resulted  with  the  papacy. 
Angered  by  attempted  interference  on  the  part  of  the  pope^  the  government 
recalled  its  embassy  from  the  Vatican  and  infonne<l  tlie  papal  nuncio  at 
Paris  that  his  presence  was  superfluous.  In  Januar>%  1905,  some  months 
after  this  rupture,  the  Combes  ministry  lost  its  majority  and  resigned;  but 
its  downfall  was  due  rather  to  personal  enmities  than  to  purely  political 
causes,  and  the  new  ministry,  the  head  of  which  was  M.  Rouvier,  continued 
an  anti-clerical  policy  and  was  supported  by  a  large  majority  in  both  houses. 
A  bill  for  the  complete  divorcement  of  church  and  state  was  carried  through 
the  deputies  on  July  3d,  and  was  passed  by  the  senate  on  December  6th, 

In  foreign  affairs  there  has  been  a  Tapprockemeni  with  England.  In 
April,  1904,  a  treaty  was  arranged  whereby  France  recognised  England's 
position  in  Eygpt,  and  England  recognised  the  predominance  of  France 
m  Morocco.  Spain  signified  her  approval  of  the  Morocco  agreement;  but 
Germany,  though  at  first  expressing  no  opposition,  later  was  much  opposed 
to  this  step  towards  a  great  French  colonial  empire  in  western  Africu  and 
serious  results  were  feared.  After  considerable  negotiation  an  international 
conference  to  discuss  European  control  of  Moroccan  affairs  met  at  Algeciras 
early  in  1906.  Its  sessions,  lasting  several  months,  repeatedly  threatened  to 
close  without  settling  the  disputed  points,  but  an  agreement  was  finally 
effected. 

On  January  17th,  1906,  M.  Clement  Armand  Falli^res  was  chosen 
president  to  succeed  M.  Loubet.  The  retiring  president  had  won  tlie 
respect  of  the  world  by  his  sterhng  qualities,  and  his  term  of  office  had 
been  marked  by  progress.  In  it  there  had  been  a  decided  reaction 
from  militarism,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  in  1904  the  length  of  the 
term  of  military  service  was  shortened  to  two  years  and  by  the  fact  that  the 
idea  of  a  revanche  on  Germany  occupied  much  less  attention  than  formerly. 
In  fact,  France  has  seldom  been  in  a  more  contented,  sane,  and  wholesome 
condition  than  when,  umter  her  worthy  peasant  president,  she  has  devoted 
her  best  efforts  to  extending  and  solidifying  her  prosperity. 

In  the  fields  of  art  and  science  her  position  remains  still  an  en\dable  one 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  in  many  fields  of  experiment  and  industry  she 
shows  that  passion  for  new  things  together  with  that  genius  for  perfection  of 
technique  that  has  always  characterised  the  work  of  France.^ 


CHAPTER   Vm 

THE   SOCIAL   EVOLUTION   OF   FRANCE   SINOT    1815 

WRiTTxn  Bpeciaixt  kob  tbb  Preskrt  Work 

Bt  ALFRED  RAMBAUD 
ProtaKr  In  the  UnlTenStr  of  Pari*,  Member  of  the  liutitale 


THE   LABOUR  QUESTION 

During  the  period  that  was  ushered  in  by  the  fall  of  Napoleon  I,  if  a 
social  question  existed  it  was  no  longer  an  agrarian-social  question  as  had 
been  the  case  in  the  past — it  was  above  all  a  question  of  labour.  The  tillers 
of  the  soil  had  at  last  come  into  realisation  of  the  hopes  and  dreams  of  so  many 
centuries:  the  land  belonged  to  them  freely,  fully,  without  any  burden  of 
renl5  or  taxes  beyond  that  which  was  necessary  for  the  public  support.  Tlius 
rural  democracy  became  what  it  will  long  remain,  the  most  truly  conserva- 
tive of  the  nation's  elements. 

The  great  importance  of  the  labour  question  may  be  accurately  estimated 
by  a  glance  over  the  field  of  industry  from  which  we  will  cull  a  few  figures 
to  obtain  a  correct  idea  of  the  progress  made. 

In  1815  the  united  French  mdustries  did  not  consume  more  than  a  mil- 
lion tons  of  coal;  in  1831  the  quantity  had  increased  to  two  millions  and  in 
1847  to  seven  and  a  half  millions. 

In  1829  France  produced  205,243  tons  of  brass,  145,519  of  iron,  and  4,914 
of  steel;  in  1847  these  figures  had  increased  respectively  to  472,412,  276,253, 
and  7,130,    Thus  in  twenty-two  years  the  production  had  not  quite  doubled. 

In  1815  the  use  of  machines  in  the  different  branches  of  industry  had  not 
become  general,  textile  industries  being  practised  among  families  in  the  home 
rather  than  in  factories.  In  the  manufacture  of  cotton  fabrics  but  ten  mil- 
lion kilogrammes  of  raw  cotton  were  consumed;  raetallurgic  industries  were 
still  in  a  primitive  state,  scarcely  any  fuel  but  wood  being  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  brass  and  of  articles  of  iron  ware. 

The  most  marked  development  is  to  be  observed  during  the  thirty-three 
years  from  1815  to  1847.  In  the  latter  yejir  the  cotton  industries  consumed 
55,000,000  kilogrammes  of  raw  cotton,  and  employed  116,000  looms  and 
3,500,000  spindles;  they  produced  to  the  value  of  416,000,000  francs.  The 
cousuniption  of  wool  increjuscd  from  46,500,000  kilogrammes  in  1812  to 
89,000,000.  Philippe  de  Girard  left  France  in  1815.  havmg  lost  all  hope  of 
ever  being  able  to  introduce  the  machine  for  spinning  flax  that  he  had  in- 
vented; twenty  years  later  the  manufacture  of  hnen  employed  200,000 
spindles,  40,000  of  which  were  in  the  department  of  the  north.  Similarly 
the  Jacquard  machine  was  not  taken  into  use  until  1827  by  the  silk-mills 
of  Lyons  which  twenty  years  later  had  arrived  at  full  prosperity.  The  city 
alone  employed  both  for  spinning  and  weaving  60,000  out  of  the  90,000 
looms  contained  in  all  France. 

200 


THE   SOCIAL  EVOLUTION    OF   FRANCE   SINCE    1815 


SOI 


In  1846  (the  first  year  concerning  which  any  reliable  statistics  exist)  the 
urban  population  of  France  comprised  only  8,646,743  inhabitants,  or  24.4 
per  cent,  of  the  entire  population.  The  remainder,  more  than  three-quarters 
of  the  nation,  composed  agricultural  France. 

I^t  us  again  take  up  for  the  present  epoch  certain  of  the  figures  already 
given.  In  1897  the  consumption  of  coal  has  increased  to  37,000,000  tons 
or  thirty-seven  times  what  it  was  in  1815.  In  metals  the  production  Ls 
2,484,000  tons  of  brass,  784,000  of  iron,  and  995,000  of  steel;  thus  since  1848 
the  production  of  brass  and  iron  has  doubled,  that  of  steel  has  increased  a 
hundredfold.  In  all  other  industries  a  corresponding  advance  is  to  be  ob- 
served, our  entire  industrial  production  representing  to-day  a  value  of  over 
15,000,O^X).fKX)  francs. 

What  ha.*^  Ix'en  the  incrciuse  in  urban  population  up  to  the  present  time? 
In  1896  there  were  15,000,000  inhabitants  of  cities  as  against  23,487,000 
rural  inhabitants,  a  proportion  which  had  altered  from  24.4  per  cent,  at  the 
close  of  the  parliamentary  monarchy  to  39.5  per  cent.*  Great  cities  which 
are  the  direct  creations  of  industrj'  have  come  into  existence,  such  as  Creusot, 
Saint  Etienne,  Roubaix,  Tourcoing,  towns  which  w^ere  formerly  stagnant 
have  revived  to  bustling  activity,  and  lastly  a  large  number  of  industrial 
plants  have  become  established  in  the  country,  mostly  by  the  side  of  water- 
falls whose  power  has  eJiriclied  the  national  industries  with  another  variety 
of  fuel,  *'whit€  coal.'' 

It  becomes  appan^nt  from  an  inspection  of  the  foregoing  figures  that  the 
social  question  pertaining  to  labour  was  of  no  more  importance  under  the 
Restoration  than  at  the  time  of  the  first  constituent  assembly;  that  it  had 
risen  to  a  certain  prominence  during  the  monarchy  of  July;  that  from  1848 
on  it  was  destined  to  grow  with  great  rapidity;  that  imiversal  suffrage  to- 
gether with  hve  and  ol)Iigatory  ethication,  by  assuring  workingmen  a  certain 
share  of  influence  in  public  affairs,  hastened  the  arrival  of  the  time  when 
the  Utopian  ideas  in  vogue  among  them,  when  their  prejudices  and  their 
passions  would  nil  (end  to  dominate  in  the  interior,  eventually  even  in  the 
exterior  policy  of  France. 

Under  the  Restoration  the  working-classes  as  a  body  caused  the  govern- 
ment very  little  trouble,  but  individually  the  workingmen  were  in  a  large 
part  hostile  to  it.  It  cannot  quite  be  said  that  they  w^re  republicans;  rather 
the  republicanism  they  professed  was  confounded  with  their  worship  for 
the  "Little  Corporal."  During  the  reign  of  Napoleon  the  working-cla.S9e3 
had  had  very  little  cause  for  satisfaction,  but  many  of  them  had  served  in 
his  armies,  thus  gaining  the  name  of  ^'veteran,"  and  (he  glory  of  the  con- 
queror had  swallowed  up  aU  memory  of  the  legislator's  harshness  towards 
uiera. 

They  detested  the  Bourbons,  principally  because  the  reigning  dynasty 
was  of  that  house,  and  because  it  seemed  to  lean  with  special  confidence  on 
the  clergy.  The  law  of  1814  w^hioh  made  obligatory  Sunday  rest  (although 
they  might  have  been  idle  Mondtiy  as  well  as  Sunday),  the  law  of  1816  abol- 
ishing divorce  (they  had  not  the  slightest  use  for  the  institution  of  divorce), 
the  law  of  1826  upon  sacrilege  (notwithstanding  that  it  was  never  put  int^ 
effect),  the  interior  "missions  '  organised  by  over-zealous  priests  and  religious 
workers,  but  above  all  the  executions  of  the  "four  sergeants  of  LaRochelle," 


'  Let  ns  bear  in  mind  that  in  En^rland  tills  proportton  has  for  eome  time  been  ravened  ;  it 
is  still  reversed  in  Qermany  after  llie  expiraliou  of  a  quarter  of  a  centarv.  These  two  nations 
have  become  chleflj  Indastrla] ;  France  still  remains  a  rural  nation,  and  naa  eaoM  to  oongnta- 
lat«  herself  on  the  fact. 


mt  THE  HISTORY  OF   FHANCE 

who  have  remained  popular  heroes  to  tiiis  day— these  were  the  principal 
grievances  of  workingmen.  particularly  Parisian  workingmen,  against  the 
governments  of  Louis  XVlII  and  Charles  X.  It  was  possibly  during  this 
period  that  the  popular  mind  received  that  decided  bent  towards  blind  and 
irrational  anti-clencalism  that  has  characterised  it  ever  since,  and  that  still 
leads  it  to  the  commission  of  the  most  dangerous  follies. 

Sad  State  of  the  Working  Classes 

French  workingmen — particularly  those  of  Paris — were  to  play  a  leadiii 
part  in  the  battle  of  the  trots  Glorteuses  which  placed  the  younger  branc! 
of  the  house  of  Bourbon  on  the  throne.  For  this  branch  itself  the  workmian 
cared  but  little;  he  had  believed  the  conflict  to  be  in  the  cause  of  a  Napoleon 
or  of  the  republic:  Louis  Philippe  was  to  him  simply  the  king  of  the  hour- 
g^is,  that  IS  to  say  of  the  employers.  He  had  hoped  much  of  this  revolu- 
tion, but  was  soon  to  see  that  it  had  profited  him  but  little;  for  the  landed 
aristocracy  had  been  substituted  an  industrial  bourgeoisie,  or  rather  the  latter 
had  been  called  to  have  a  share  in  the  power,  and  no  notice  at  all  was  taken 
of  the  "heroes  of  July,"  or  the  "people  with  the  bare  arms." 

Yet  there  was  so  much  that  could  have  been  done  for  the  workingman! 
Upon  him  fell  the  full  weight  of  all  the  shocks,  the  disappointment,  the  sus- 
pense that  mark  the  beginning  of  a  §reat  industrial  transformation.  He 
sufTercd  from  the  introduction  of  machmes  which  had  for  effect,  before  the 
great  reparatory  impulse  set  in,  diminution  in  wages,  the  dismissal  of  many 
workmen,  and  utter  ruin  for  the  artisan  who  had  set  up  in  business  for  him- 
self. The  troubles  resulting  from  this  cause  in  France  cannot,  however,  be 
compared  to  the  riots  of  the  Luddites,  or  "machine  breakers"  in  England, 
notaoly  during  the  year  1816.' 

French  manufacturers,  less  experienced — consequently  more  timorous  than 
those  of  to-day— showed  a  tendency  to  depress  wages  at  the  least  appearance 
on  the  horizon  of  a  menace  of  failure  for  their  markets  or  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  formidable  rival.  It  was  the  workman  who  bore  the  bnmt  of  this 
cruelly  prudent  policy,  nor  were  any  adequate  measures  taken  to  protect  him 
against  the  accidents  incident  to  labour.  In  the  factories  defectively  in- 
stalled machinery  and  in  mines  the  almost  total  absence  of  ventilation,  the 
rarity  and  ignorant  use  of  the  Davy  lamp,  the  insufficient  precautions  taken 
against  fire-damp  resulted  in  a  multitude  of  victims. 

'Rie  employer  found  it  to  his  advantage  to  raise  up  competitors  by  the 
side  of  the  workman  in  the  latter's  own  wue  and  children,  and  no  more  limit 
was  set  to  the  work  of  women  and  children  than  to  that  of  adult  men.  Some- 
times an  entire  family  would  exhaust  its  forces  and  destroy  its  health  for 
a  total  gain  that  was  only  equivalent  to  the  salary  that  the  husband  and 
father  ought  rightfully  to  have  earned.*  In  cotton-goods  factories  there 
WTre  frequently  to  be  seen  children  of  six,  even  of  five  years  working  four- 
teen and  fifteen  hours  tocether  tying  threads. 

In  the  great  industrial  cenUts  the  employer  took  no  notice  at  aU  of  the 

'  Si^at^r  WUpole,  HUiory  of  Bm^lamd  finm  ISIS,  toI.  I.  pp,  401-434. 

*  VUlenDtf,  Taitmu  4*  Vitai  pAyawm*  «f  morai  4—  ovrrwr*  emnio^  dan»  tes  manufaeiurea 
4»  t^ihm^  4«  iaim4  ti  d*  «om,  3  toIs.,  IMO.  Jvles  fiSmoa.  L*Ourn>rf,  IS61 :  U  TVttraa.  1866 ; 
£*OH«ri>r  d*  kmii  «iw,  1S6T.  K.  Lrrusear.  Autom  4m  cIomw  mtrriM*  m  Pnmr*  depuu  1789, 
%  ToK.  1S6T.  8«1^  abo  pvblkxtioBs  of  L"ofh$  4m  trmmi,  founded  in  1871.  insUtntod  hw  the 
Mlnlstrr  of  cmnrnvree  :  imitkatariT  SteMifn*  44a  fr^:  Lta  oaaoeiatiotuprofeagiomneiita 
mtrriina:  StmHMiimt  gfmirmk  4*  to  Fnmn;  J^imrna  imdmairi^U ;  Lij^%aUU%cm  omtriin  at 
aaentU  m  Atiraiia  tt  AMirrilf  iW—rfg.  •«r.] 


THE   SOCIAL   EVOLUTION   OF   FHANCE   SINCE    1815 


203 


manner  in  which  his  workmen  were  lodged.  The  families  herded  together 
in  damp  cellarSj  in  garrets  that  were  st'iflmgly  hot  or  bitterly  cold  according 
to  the  season,  in  insalubrious  dens  that  received  neither  air  nor  light  and 
were  providea  with  no  conveniences  whatever/  A  single  room,  sometimes 
a  single  bed  was  the  home  of  an  entire  family,  and  half  of  the  new-born  chil- 
dren died  before  the  age  of  fifteen  months.  There  thus  grew  up  a  generation 
of  working  people  feeble  in  mind  and  body,  without  morality  or  education^ 
schools  were  in  any  case  rare  at  that  epoch;  which  represented  just  so  much 
lost  energy  and  power  to  france. 

Much  of  this  suffering  was  caused  by  the  indifference,  one  may  say  the 
inhumanity  of  the  employers;  but  a  large  part  also  resulted  from  the  neces- 
sity of  utilising  old,  tumble-dowTi  buildings,  from  the  inevitable  hazards  and 
difficulties  surrDuiulrng  industries  at  their  birth,  from  the  over-rapid  growth 
of  the^  industries  in  France  precluding  amelioration  in  the  conditions  of 
either  factory  or  home.  That  this  is  so  is  prove<i  by  the  superior  accommoda- 
tions provided  for  workmen  in  the  new  centres  of  industry  in  Alsace  and  in 
the  north.  There  factory  workers  were  lodged  in  clean,  airy  houses,  as  was 
likewise  the  case  at  Roubaix  and  Tourcoing.  At  Morvillars  (Alsace)  the 
employer  rented  to  the  employ<5  for  thirty-six  francs  a  year  a  conmiodious 
apartment  with  a  small  garden  attached. 

Under  the  old  regime  it  had  been  common  to  compare  the  life  of  the 
French  peasant  with  that  of  the  negro  in  the  colonies,  and  to  esteem  that  the 
latter  was  the  !uippicr  of  the  two;  now  it  was  the  workers  in  citieii  who  were 
given  the  name  of  "white  negroes,"  and  who  in  many  respects  would  have 
been  justified  in  envying  their  dark-skinned  brothers  to  whom  at  least  food, 
fresh  air,  sunlight,  and  the  sight  of  sky  and  trees  were  free. 

In  the  main,  however,  the  lot  of  the  French  workmen  was  the  same  as 
that  of  the  workers  in  every  great  industrial  country,  particularly  in  England, 
where  the  investigation  started  by  Thomas  Sadler  in  1831,  having  in  view 
the  limitation  of  hours  of  work  for  children,  had  revealed  a  horrible  condition 
of  things. 

Between  the  bourgeoise  monarchy  which  seemed  insensible  to  so  much 
sxiffering  and  the  sufferers  themselves  (the  workers  in  the  cities),  strife  could 
not  fail  to  arise. 

Early  Strikes  and  Revolts 

In  October,  1831,  the  silk  weavers  of  La  Croix-Rousse  at  Lyons  demanded 
an  increase  in  wages.  The  prefect  offered  to  mediate,  an  action  for  which  he 
was  afterwards  bitterly  censured  by  the  oligarchy  of  employers.  The  mayor 
convoked  an  assembly  of  twenty-lwn  delegates  each  from  the  workiiignien 
and  from  the  employers,  that  a  minimum  tariff  of  wages  might  be  fixed  upon. 
The  employers'  delegates  refused  to  make  any  concession,  and  after  a  meet- 
ing that  followed,  the  weavers  descended  in  a  body  from  La  Croix-Rousse  an<l 
poured  silently  into  the  place  de  Bellecour  and  the  square  before  the  pre- 
fecture. The  prefect  succeeded  in  inducing  them  to  disperse,  that  the  tariff 
might  not  seem  to  have  been  imposed  by  force.  The  weavers  nevertheless 
signed  the  agreement:  but  the  prefect  having  been  disavowed  by  his  govern- 
ment, the  tariff  was  not  put  into  effect.  Inmaediately  La  Croix-Rousse  rose 
in  insurrection,  erected  barriers,  and  raised  a  black  flag  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion, "  We  will  live  working  or  die  fighting,"    The  insurgents  in  a  struggle  of 

'  The  lodj^D^  of  this  sort  to  be  D^tBeverelr  condemned  were  :  &t  Lille  the  8aint  Sauveur 
qoarter  and  the  cellant  of  the  rue  desEtaqaea,  at  MQIhauson  the  cellars  of  the  *  *  white  negroes," 
at  Boaen  the  Mart&inville  quarter,  etc. 


i 


«04  THE  HISTORY   OF  FRANCE 

two  days  (2l8ir*22zid  of  November)  repulsed  the  national  guard,  which  did 
not  mske  any  great  display  of  courage,  forced  General  Roguet  and  the  three 
thousand  soldiers  of  the  garrison  to  retreat,  and  for  ten  aa3r8  remained  ab- 
solute masters  of  Lyons.  They  committed  no  excesses — nay,  even  detailed 
some  of  their  nimiber  to  keep  guard  over  the  houses  of  the  rich.  On  the  3rd 
of  December  they  offered  no  resistance  to  the  entrance  of  an  enlarged  body 
of  troops  headed  by  Marshal  Soult  and  the  duke  of  Orleans,  eldest  son  of  the 
king.  The  workmen  were  disarmed,  the  national  guard  was  dismissed,  and 
the  tariff  abolished.  What  especially  characterised  this  first  Lyons  insur- 
rection was  that  politics,  properly  speaking,  had  absolutely  no  share  in  it; 
the  movement  from  first  to  laist  revolved  aroimd  a  question  of  wages. 

It  was  different  in  Paris,  where  a  series  of  insurrections  burst  forth,  the 
most  terrible  of  which  were  those  of  the  5th  and  6th  of  June,  1832,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  fimeral  of  General  Lamarque.  These  uprisings  were  the  work 
of  certain  republican  associations,  secret  or  avowed,  and  the  working  people 
in  general  had  but  little  share  in  them.  Nevertheless  it  was  the  workmg 
people  at  whom  the  government  aimed  when  it  passed  the  law  of  1834  on 
associations  (26th  of  March). 

The  month  of  April,  1834,  was  marked  by  agitation.  Troubles  arose  at 
Saint  Etienne,  Grenoble,  Besangon,  Arbois,  Poitiers,  Vienne,  Marseilles, 
Perpignan,  Auxerre,  Ch&lon-stu'-Sa6ne,  Epinal,  Lun^ville,  Clermont-Ferrand, 
etc.;  out  the  only  really  serious  demonstrations  were  the  second  Lyons  in- 
surrection and  the  new  revolt  in  Paris. 

In  Lyons  a  change  had  been  brought  about  in  the  spirit  of  the  working- 
classes  by  the  operations  of  several  secret  societies.  The  question  of  wages 
was,  as  before,  paramount;  but  it  was  no  longer  immingled  with  political 
feeling.  A  new  idea  had  arisen  for  which  to  do  battle,  the  republican  idea. 
The  news  of  the  vote  deciding  the  passage  of  the  law  on  associations  stirred 
the  chiefs  to  declare  revolt.  This  time  the  stru^le  lasted  five  days — from 
the  9th  to  the  13th  of  April.  The  workingmen  of  Lyons  displayed  a  courage 
so  desperate  that  at  one  time  General  Aymar  thought  seriously  of  retreat,  but 
in  the  end  the  royal  troops  were  victorious. 

The  Lyons  insurrection  had  not  been  completely  quelled  when,  on  the 
13th,  broke  forth  in  Paris  the  revolt  that  had  the  church  and  cloister  of  Saint 
Merri  for  its  centre.  Fighting  continued  the  whole  of  that  day  and  the  next, 
but  the  movement  was  finaUy  put  down  by  the  numerous  force  employed 
against  it — forty  thousand  soldiers  of  the  line  and  of  the  national  guard. 

The  explosions  that  shook'  simultaneously  fifteen  or  twenty  cities  of 
France  had  for  result  the  monster  trial  called  "  trial  of  the  April  offenders." 
The  accused,  to  the  number  of  121,  of  whom  41  belonged  to  Paris  and  80  to 
the  departments,  were  arraigned  before  the  chamber  of  peers,  which  was 
formed  for  the  occasion  into  a  high  coiu't,  presenting  a  total  of  88  judges. 

Utopian  Philosophies 

A  last  echo  of  these  conflicts  was  the  law  voted  on  the  9th  of  September, 
1835,  concerning  freedom  of  the  press.  From  that  time  forth  through  a 
period  of  twelve  years  the  monarchy  enjoyed  comparative  peace  without 
presage  of  the  fresh  revolution  that  was  brewing,  a  revolution  of  a  character 
both  political  and  social.  The  political  phase  lasted  but  a  single  day,  the 
24th  of  February;  the  second  or  social  phase  was  of  longer  duration  and  of  a 
nature  more  serious  and  sanguinary.  The  French  workman,  however,  owed 
to  the  monarchy  of  July  the  law  of  March  22nd,  1841,  on  child  labour  in 


THE    SOCIAL   EVOLITTIO?^    OF    FRANCE    SINCE    1815 


205 


factories,  aiming  to  protrct  the  chililron  of  working  pf^plp  against  both  the 
weakness  of  iheir  parents  and  the  greed  of  employers.  The  principle  of  this 
protective  measure  was  combated  by  Gay-Lussac  who  denounced  it,  in  the 
name  of  the  right  of  all  to  work  and  make  contracts,  as  tlie  beginning  of 
•*  Saint-Simonism  or  Phalansterianism."  His  arguments  were  a  succession  of 
sophistries  unworthy  of  a  great  mind  and  maskmg  but  imperfectly  the  ^o- 
tistica]  spirit  of  resistance  that  animated  employers.  The  law  applied  only 
to  such  industrial  establislmients  as  employed  mechanical  motive  power  or 
fires  that  were  never  allowed  to  go  out,  and  gave  occupation  to  twenty  or 
more  workers.  It  interdicted  the  employment  in  factories  of  children  under 
twelve  years  of  age;  authorised  elsewhere  only  eight  hours  of  labour  a  day 
broken  bv  a  rest  for  children  of  from  eight  to  twelve,  twelve  hours  of  labour 
from  twelve  to  thirteen,  and  no  night  work  at  all  for  those  imder  thirteen. 
Up  to  the  age  of  twelve  years  the  apprentice,  in  his  leisure  hours,  was  sup- 
posed to  attend  school.  Legal  sanction  was  given  by  a  corps  of  inspectors 
who  had  the  right  to  impose  fines  for  any  contravention  on  the  part  of  em- 
ployers. 

It  was  under  the  monarchy  of  July  that  the  crude  and  vague  ideas  of 
which  labour  socialism  was  competed  began  to  assume  some  definite  shape 
and  to  issue  forth  as  systems.  Saint-Simon,  the  author  of  the  "New  Chris- 
tianity," had  died  in  1825,  but  he  left  behind  him  a  sort  of  lay  congr^:ation, 
the  members  of  which  practised  obedience  to  a  suigle  chief,  and  the  liolding 
of  all  things  in  common.  They  were  called  Saint-Simonians,  and  at  one 
time  under  Enfantin  engaged  in  the  practice  of  mysteriously  mystic  rites, 
at  another  in  conjunction  with  the  financier  Pereire  and  the  economist  Michel 
Chevalier  set  out  to  reform  the  entire  economic  world.  In  1832  the  Saint- 
Simonians,  accused  of  having  violated  public  morality,  were  arraigned  be- 
fore the  court  of  assizes,  where  they  appeared  in  the  full  uniform  of  their 
sect  (blue  tunic,  white  trousers,  and  viimisheii  leiither  belt);  tliree  of  their 
number,  one  of  whom  was  the  "father"  Enfantin  himself,  were  sentenced  to 
a  month's  imprisonment.  After  that  the  "family"  became  "secularised" — 
that  is,  it  dispersed. 

Other  chiefs  and  other  doctrines  arose:  Fourier,  with  his  theory  of  the 
suppression  of  property  and  communal  life  in  his  Phalansteries;  Cabet,  with 
his  dream  of  Icaria,  tlie  blessed  isle  whereon  the  state,  sole  proprietor,  pro- 
ducer, and  dLsp)cns<!r,  was  tx)  lay  down  for  its  subjects  their  daily  tasks,  to 
Erescribe  the  cut  of  their  gannents  and  the  menu  of  their  repasts;  Pierre 
eroux,  with  his  books  on  Equality  and  Humanity,  in  which  mysticism  was 
blended  with  socialism;  Ix)uis  Blanc,  who  in  his  Ijobour  Organisation  (1844) 
advised  the  state's  absorption  of  all  agricultural  property  and  industrial 
establishments.  These  various  theories  shared  one  trait  in  common:  they 
all  professed  conmiunism  or  collectivism,  which  simply  means  suppression 
of  proprietary  rights  and  of  individual  initiative. 

Proutlhon  dei)arts  radically  from  this  idea.  Like  the  other  theorists  he 
objects  to  individual  holding  of  property  and  sums  up  his  views  in  a  phrase 
borrowed  from  Brissot  de  Warville,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  Girondins: 
"What  is  property?  It  is  theft."  Ownership  is  unjust  because  it  creates 
inequality,  equality  is  e.xact  justice.  But  Proudhon  opposes  communism 
with  equal  energy;  according  to  him  it  is  contrary  to  the  primordial  as  well 
as  to  the  noblest  instincts  of  humanity. 

He  would  not  only  do  away  altogether  with  state  intervention,  even 
where  the  state  is  communistic — he  demands  the  total  abolition  of  the  state, 
of  its  diplomacy,  its  armies,  its  frontiers.    The  principle  he  advocates  is 


n 


206  THE   HISTOBT   OF   FRANCE 

an-arcby  in  the  etymological  sense  of  the  word,  that  is  to  say  the  suppression 
of  all  authority  save  that  of  the  father.  The  only  social  force  that  he  admits 
is  the  force  tlmt  springs  from  the  free  association  of  workimmen. 

The  sincere  and  ardent  republicans  who,  on  the  24th  of  February,  formed 
the  provisory  government,  promised  to  assure  the  workingman,  to  whose 
coiutige  was  due  the  success  of  the  Revolution,  an  improved  position  in 
society.  Iliey  conferred  upon  him  the  right  of  suffrage  and  free  admission 
into  the  national  guard,  which  was  thus  changed  from  a  body  of  fifty  or  sixty 
thousand  men  to  one  of  two  hundred  thousand. 

In  restoring  absolute  liberty  of  association  and  of  the  press,  the  provisory 
government  made  two  very  dangerous  gifts  to  the  excitable  and  profoundly 
Ignorant  Parisian  workingmen  who,  in  consequence  of  the  general  perturbation 
caused  by  the  sitting  of  February  24th,  found  themselves  suddenly  without 
work.  Idleness  and  want  made  them  accept  as  the  wisest  coimsels  the 
seditious  utterances  of  the  newspapers  and  of  the  demagogues  at  the  clubs. 

As  early  as  the  25th  of  Febniwry  a  crowd  of  arm^  workmen  bearing 
the  red  flag  as  sjrmbol  of  republican  socialism  assembled  at  the  H6tel-de- 
Ville.  It  required  all  Lamartine's  eloquence  to  induce  them  to  discard  their 
unworthy  emblem  and  raise  in  its  place  the  tricolour,  which  had  already 
made  the  "  tour  of  the  world,"  * 

The  situation  of  the  workers  soon  assumed  an  aspect  too  serious  to  admit 
of  any  delay  in  providing  relief.  But  was  it  possible  to  succour  all  the  sxiflfer- 
ing  toilers  who  were  depnved  of  work?  The  attempt  was  made.  Orders  were 
given  to  the  bakers  and  butchers  to  supply  with  bread  and  meat  any  of  the 
armed  citizens  who  had  a  requisition  from  their  chief.  All  the  articles  pledged 
at  the  Mont-de-Pi6t6  since  February  1st  upon  which  had  been  advanc^  a 
loan  of  not  over  ten  francs  were  to  be  returned  to  their  former  owners.  The 
palace  of  the  Tuileries  was  thrown  open  to  receive  invalided  workmen,  and 
the  government  proposed  to  "restore  to  the  workingmen,  to  whom  they 
rightfully  belonged,  the  million  francs  that  were  about  to  fall  due  from  the 
civil  list."  To  these  acts  of  gross  flattery  towards  the  men  of  the  people  were 
added  declarations  of  the  utmost  gravitv.  The  government  took  upon  itself 
to  "guarantee  the  existence  of  the  workman  by  means  of  work,"  that  is  to 
"guarantee  work  to  every  citizen."  Twenty-four  battalions  of  "mobile 
national  guard"  were  created,  each  soldier  of  which  was  to  receive  a  daily 
pay  of  thirty  sous.  At  the  same  time  were  opened  the  "national  workshops 
wmch  cost  enormous  sums  to  support  and  which  completed  the  demoralisa- 
tion of  the  artisan  by  exacting  from  him  a  merely  nominal  return  in  work 
for  a  daily  wage  of  one  and  a  half  or  two  francs.  Also  followers  of  the  finer 
crafts,  such  as  jewellers,  clockmakers,  engravers,  etc.,  were  frequently  to  be 
seen  spoiling  the  delicacy  of  their  hands  by  pushing  a  wheelbarrow  or  digging 
ditches. 

The  National  Workshops  and  Their  Consequences 

The  government  determined  to  efTect  still  more.  It  instituted  in  the 
palace  of  the  Luxembourg  "a  governmental  commission"  for  working  people, 
of  which  several  workmen  were  elected  members,  and  which  was  given  a 
president  and  vice-president  in  the  persons  of  two  members  of  the  govern- 
ment, Louis  Blanc  and  the  workman  Albert.  Louis  Blanc  in  addition  to 
his  other  duties  undertook  to  explain  to  the  workers  just  what  was  meant 

['  Concemizig  Lamartine,  the  politician,  a  very  interesting  book  appeared  in  190S  hj  fif. 
Pierre  Qaentln-Baachart.] 


r  THE    SOCIAL   EVOLUTION   OF   FRANCE   SINCE    1815        «07 

by  the  "organisation  of  labour/'  Thus  by  lectures  and  fine  speeches  the 
govemmeni  sought  to  make  the  people  forget  their  miseries. 

The  many  secret  societies  and  professional  demagogues  (Blanqui,  Barbds, 
and  F^hx  Pyat  had  already  made  for  themselves  a  wicle  reputation)  profited 
by  the  inexperience  of  the  labouring  classes  and  drew  them  into  all  sorts  of 
dangerous  manifestations.  Such  for  instance  was  the  movement  of  the  17th 
of  March,  which  demanded  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  Paris,  and 
that  of  the  16th  of  April,  so  menacing  for  the  government  that  it  ordered 
out  the  national  guard  into  the  square  r>efore  the  Hotel-ile-Ville.  The  work- 
ingmen,  incited  by  their  leaders  to  mingle  in  matters  that  did  not  concern  or 
even  interest  them,  were  beginning  to  make  of  themselves  an  intolerable 
nuisance,  while  the  Bonapartist  or  royalist  agents  that  took  an  active  part  in 
their  manifestations  constituted  a  grave  peril  to  the  republic. 

Another  source  of  danger,  and  one  that  threatened  more  seriously  day  by 
day,  was  the  workshops.  In  the  beginning  the  number  of  workers  they  con- 
tained was  but  a  few  thousand;  a  short  time  after,  the  total  had  risen  to 
110,000.  Tlie  strikes,  encouraged  by  the  commission  of  the  Luxembourg, 
multiplied  without  any  apparent  reason;  the  participants  doubtless  pre- 
ferred the  dolce  jar  nierUe  of  the  national  workshops  to  any  serious  toil  else- 
where. Instead  of  breaking  up  these  workshops  into  groups  more  or  less 
widely  distant  from  each  other,  their  director,  Emile  Thomas,  allowed  them 
to  become  concentrated  in  the  single  district  that  to-day  forms  the  Pare 
Monceau.  He  had  instituted  in  these  workshops  an  almost  military  discipline 
and  organisation.  By  such  measures  the  government  hoped  to  raise  up  for 
itself  a  great  power  of  defence ;  but  it  was  soon  found  that  the  vast  assemblages 
of  workmen  fumishe<i  nearly  all  the  recruits  for  the  popular  manifestations. 

When  the  constituent  assembly  came  together  (the  4th  of  May)  the 
gravity  of  the  situation  was  revealed  to  it  by  the  audacious  action  of  the 
labour  leaders.  On  the  15th  of  May,  under  pretext  of  presenting  a  petition 
on  behalf  of  Poland — many  workmen  believed  that  that  very  evening  a  relief 
expedition  was  to  be  undertaken  in  favour  of  the  "  France  of  the  North ^' — a 
mass  of  people,  nearly  two  thousand  unarmed  men,  led  by  Blanqui,  Raspail, 
Quentin,  Huber,  and  Sobrier,  made  irruption  into  the  assembly.  Huber 
proclaimed  it  to  be  dissolved.  After  that  the  rioters  were  expelled  without 
bloodshed  by  the  mobile  guard.  They  proceeded  at  once  to  the  H6tel-de- 
Ville,  but  were  dispersed  by  Lamartine,  who  followed  them  at  the  head  of 
the  mobile  guard. 

The  assembly  showed  less  disposition  to  forgive  this  criminal  aggression 
than  had  the  governments  of  the  H6tel-de-VilIe.  It  proceeded  at  once  to 
close  several  clubs,  decreed  the  arrest  of  Barbes,  Blanqui,  Sobrier,  Quentin, 
and  even  Albert,  the  former  member  of  the  provisory  government.  It  broke 
with  Louis  Blanc,  and  made  minister  of  war  a  tried  republican  and  valiant 
African  general,  Eugene  Cavaignac.  Lastly  it  formed  a  commission  solely 
to  investigate  the  matter  of  the  national  workshops  and  render  a  report. 

L^nfortunately  the  i>erson  charged  ^ith  making  this  report  was  one  of  the 
most  ardent  members  of  the  legitimist  and  clerical  Right,  the  apologist  of 
the  terrible  pope-inquisitor  Pius  V,  and  future  author  of  the  law  of  1850  on 
public  instruction,  Alfred  de  Falloux.  The  assembly,  acting  on  blind  im- 
pulse, adopted  his  conclusions.  It  displayed  as  great  an  inexperience  in 
closing  the  national  workshops  as  that  revealed  by  the  governments  of  the 
H6teWe-Ville  in  creating  them  and  allowing  them  to  develop.  It  had  not, 
however,  the  excuse  of  the  latter  in  the  eyes  of  posterity — their  profound 
pity  for  the  sufferings  of  the  people. 


208  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 

One  circumstance  which  was  certain  to  produce  bloodshed  in  Paris  was 
the  precipitate  haste  of  the  enemies  of  the  national  workshops  in  carrying  out 
their  measures  of  repression.  On  the  29th  of  May,  by  means  of  an  arbitrary 
warrant  that  recalls  the  tettres  de  cachet,  fimile  Thomas  was  arrested  and 
taken  to  Bordeaux. 

The  watchword  of  the  reactionists  was  "An  end  must  be  made  at  once." 
In  his  report  Falloux,  with  odious  hypocrisy,  denounced  the  national  work- 
shops as  tJie  agency  which  had  worked  the  "saddest  deterioration  in  the 
character  formerly  so  pure  and  glorious  of  the  Parisian  workman." 

On  the  22nd  of  June  a  decree,  published  in  Le  Moniteur  and  signed  by 
Minister  Goudchaux,  declared  that  "all  workmen  between  the  ages  of  seven- 
teen and  twenty-five  must  on  the  following  day  enlist  in  the  army  under  pain 
of  being  refused  admission  to  the  workshops."  On  the  23rd  barricades  were 
erected  all  over  the  city  and  firing  commenced.  Eugene  Cavaignac,  "chief 
of  the  executive  power,"  was  in  supreme  command,  havingunder  him  several 
of  the  ablest  and  bravest  generals  of  the  African  service.  The  battle  between 
the  workmen  and  the  regular  state  forces  waged  with  unparalleled  fury  for 
four  whole  days;  the  troops  had  the  task  of  tearing  down  hundreds  of  bar- 
ricades. On  the  25th  General  Damesme  was  fatally  woimded,  the  generals 
Br^a  and  de  N^grier  were  assassinated,  and  Monseigneur  Affre,  archbishop 
of  Paris,  was  killed. 

The  assembly  now  saw  the  mistake  it  had  committed  and  voted  three 
millions  for  the  relief  of  needy  workmen;  thegreater  part  of  the  insurgents, 
however,  never  even  heard  of  the  measure.  The  struggle  ended  on  the  26th 
by  the  bombardment  and  capture  of  the  faubourg  St.  Antoine.  The  work- 
men of  this  quarter  had  taken  up  arms  on  hearing  the  rumour  that  the  royal- 
ists were  attacking  the  republic;  what  was  their  surprise  to  see  the  troops, 
the  national  guard,  the  mobile  guard — the  latter  composed  entirely  of  work- 
men— all  scalmg  the  barricades  to  cries  of  "  Vive  la  ripiiblimie."  During  that 
series  of  wretched  misunderstandings  which  have  come  down  to  us  as  the 
"days  of  June,"  French  blood  was  shed  in  streams.  There  were  in  all  six  or 
seven  thousand  wounded.  The  government  troops,  which  went  uncovered 
to  the  attack  of  the  barricades,  behind  which  were  sheltered  the  insurgents, 
counted  fifteen  hundred  dead,  and  among  them  seven  generals.  The  in- 
surgents lost  but  half  that  number.  Of  the  rebels  who  were  taken  captive, 
3,376  were  transported  to  Algeria,  where  many  of  them  foimded  colonies.' 

The  recognition  of  the  "right  to  work"  and  the  faulty  organisation  of 
the  national  workshops  have  cast  a  great  weight  of  blame  on  the  memory 
of  the  provisory  government;  but  still  severer  condemnation  attaches  to 
the  assembly  and  to  those  political  intriguers  who  made  it  da  their  will; 
who  showed  themselves  so  woefully  ignorant  of  the  psychology  of  the  mass 
of  workers,  and  so  forgetful  of  their  devotion  on  the  24th  of  February. 

It  was  the  republic  that  had  to  suffer  by  the  mistakes  made  on  every 
side.  TTie  remembrance  of  the  "days  of  June"  had  due  weight  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  presidential  election  on  the  10th  of  December,  1848.  Tlie  name 
of  Louis  Napoleon  was  cast  into  the  um  by  citizens  eager  for  peace,  and  by 
workingmen  who  hoped  to  obtain  through  the  nephew  of  the  first  emperor, 
through  the  author  of  UExtinction  du  pawp^risme,  a  signal  revenge. 

[*  Alexandre  Quentin-Bauchart,  Rapport  de  la  Commission  d*enquite  sur  U  IS  Mai  et 
rinsurrecUon  de  Juin,  1348.  8  voU.  in  4.  See  also  the  apolofpes  of  "MvoMe  Thomas,  Histoire 
des  ateliers  naitonaux,  1850.  Hisioires  de  la  JSivolution  de  18J^t  which  are  likewise  apologies, 
bj  Lamartinef  Qamier-Pagds,  and  Loais  Blanc] 


THE   SOCIAL  EVOLUTION   OF   FRANCE   SINCE   1815        209 


The  Working  Classes  under  Louis  Napoleon 

The  two  republican  assemblies,  the  constituent  and  the  legislative,  were 
neither  of  them  capable  of  offering  a  final  solution  to  the  labour  problem; 
the  first  because  of  its  brief  term  of  existence,  the  second  because  of  its  in- 
ternal divisions  and  over-conservative  tendencies.  The  laws  they  passed 
were  merely  those  of  the  18th  of  Juno,  1850^  on  superannuation  funds;  of 
the  15th  of  July,  1850,  on  mutual  aid  societies;  and  of  the  22nd  of  February, 
1851,  abolishing  certain  limitations — a  survival  of  the  old  regime — to  the 
number  of  apprentices.  The  law  of  the  27th  of  November,  1849,  on  coali- 
tions of  working  people  simply  reproduces  certain  provisions  of  the  Penal 
Code  of  Napoleon.  The  humiliating  formality  of  the  livrct  and  Article  1,781 
of  the  Civil  Code  were  also  allowed  to  remain  in  force. 

Moreover,  both  republican  assemblies,  but  especially  the  legislative,  which 
more  directly  felt  the  pressure  of  the  Napoleonic  executive  power,  had  de- 
parted widely  from  the  [>rinciplerf  of  well-nigh  absolute  liberty  promised 
by  the  provisory  government  as  the  foundation  of  the  new  republic.  The 
constituent  assembly  by  the  enactment  of  July  28^  1848,  which  aimed  partic- 
ularly at  secret  societies,  restricted  liberty  of  meeting  and  association,  and 
the  legislative  interdicted,  for  a  period  of  time  which  was  afterwards  renewed, 
all  clubs  and  public  meetings.  It  did  not  ventiu-e,  however,  to  re-enforce 
either  Article  291  of  the  Penal  Code  or  the  law  of  1834. 

About  the  same  course  was  pursued  in  regard  to  freedom  of  the  press. 
That  a  stop  might  be  put  to  the  multiplication  of  subversive  journals  the 
constituent  assembly  redemanded  the  former  security;  then  it  pronounced 
penalties  against  writers  who  should  attack  any  of  the  existing  institutions — 
the  national  assembly,  the  executive  power,  the  constitution,  property-rights, 
the  principles  of  universal  suflfrage  or  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  liberty 
of  worship,  the  family,  etc.  The  legislative  reissued  almost  all  the  provi- 
sions of  the  law  of  1835,  then  re-established  the  stamp-tax  in  addition  to  the 
obligatory  security. 

Fuially  the  legislative  committed  the  supreme  folly  of  exacting,  in  the 
law  of  May  31,  1850,  not  six  months'  but  three  years'  residence  as  quidification 
for  the  right  to  vote,  which  was  virtually  to  exclude  the  whole  body  of  work- 
iugnien,  forced  as  they  are  by  the  exigencies  of  labour  to  frequent  changes  of 
habitation.  Tlius  the  a.sseinbly  struck  an  annihilating  blow  at  the  very 
system  to  which  it  owed  its  existence,  luiiversal  suffrage.  No  enemy  ani- 
mated by  the  most  perfidious  designs  could  have  counselled  it  to  a  more 
Belf-destructive  act.  The  proclamation  of  the  usurper-president  had  now, 
in  order  to  make  sure  of  the  workingmen's  neutrality,  but  to  include  this 
siinple  declaration:   "Universal  suffrage  is  again  established.'' 

To  sum  up,  the  republic — provisory  government  or  assembly — had  given 
BO  little  satisfaction  to  the  masses  of  the  people  whether  urban  or  rural,  had 
fallen  so  far  short  of  fulfilling,  not  their  dmams  but  their  most  legitimate 
hopes,  that  it  was  an  easy  matter  for  any  new  rule,  however  autocratic,  to 
establish  its  sway  over  them.  The  act  of  perjury  and  the  massacres  in  which 
this  dawning  power  took  its  rise  might  render  inimical  to  it  a  certain  high 
element  among  the  people;  it  none  the  less  succeeded  in  flattering  the  inter- 
ests and  thereby  gaining  the  s>Tnpathies  of  the  great  majority  of  the  nation. 

Its  first  display  of  ability  was  in  recognising  that  it  was  above  all  a  gov- 
ernment of  universal  suffrage  and  tliat  its  most  pressing  need  was  to  con- 
ciliate the  masses.    All  new  laws  must  be  framed  with  these  facts  in  view; 
H.  w.— vou  xin.  p 


SIO 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 


they  were  the  key-note  that  dominated  the  policy  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
For  how,  if  universal  suffrage  had  not  existed  in  France,  could  they  have 
instituted  a  plebiscite  before  taking  possession  of  Savoy  and  Nice,  and  have 
denianded  ol  the  king  Victor  Emmanuel  that  he  confirm  by  a  plebiscite  his 
Italian  conquests? 

The  rule  that  followed  upon  the  coup  d*^tat,  bearing  first  the  name  of 
decennial  presidency,  then  that  of  empire,  had  the  support  of  the  rural  classes, 
which  the  provisory  gjovernment  had  alienated  by  establishing  the  impost  of 
45  centimes — that  is,  increasing  direct  taxation  by  45  per  cent.  It  was  easy 
enough  for  Napoleon  III  to  win  the  favour  of  vUlage  inhabitants  by  building 
dwellmgs  for  the  mayors,  erecting  churches,  and  cutting  new  parish  roads; 
and  to  capture  their  suffrage  by  means  of  a  cleverly-executed  system  of 
official  candidateship.  A  series  of  full  crops  and  har\'e8ts  completed  the 
general  well-being  in  the  coimtry,  and  the  superstitious  peasant  was  inclined 
to  attribute  all  to  the  magic  name  of  Napoleon.  Even  now  old  inhabitants 
love  to  recall  the  times  when  grain  and  cattle  "sold  so  high." 

Napoleon  III  also  rendered  inestimable  services  to  the  workers  in  cities;  in 
him  imleed  may  be  seen  the  organiser,  hesitating  at  times,  without  full  knowl- 
edge of  the  work  he  was  accomplishing,  of  that  great  power,  urban  democ- 
racy. His  autocratic  rule  brought  to  realisation  what  none  of  the  liberal 
monarchie.s  or  republicaji  assemlilies  liad  even  dared  to  attempt.  The  nephew 
of  the  great  emperor  in  his  law  of  the  25th  of  May,  1864,  struck  out  of  the 
Code  Napoleon  Articles  414,  415,  and  416  which  interdicted  coalitions,  abro- 
gated at  the  same  time  the  law  of  1849  and  put  an  end  to  a  system  which 
forced  the  tribunals  to  judge  each  year  an  average  of  seventy-five  trials  re- 
sulting itom  strikes.  The  new  law  recognised  the  right  of  workingmen  to 
concert  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  an  increase  of  wages,  and  to  make  use 
of  the  means  most  effectual  for  this  end,  the  strike.  It  punished  only  those 
offences  which  brought  about  simultaneous  cessation  of  labour  by  means  of 
acts  of  violence,  menace,  or  fraud.  The  government  made  it  a  point  of 
honour  to  protect  as  fully  the  labourer's  right  to  cease  work  as  his  right  to 
work.  Freedom  so  unrestrained  might  become,  according  to  the  use  it  was 
given  in  the  hands  of  workingmen,  either  a  powerful  instrument  for  their 
material  improvement  or  the  most  dangerous  weapon  that  was  ever  turned 
against  both  themselves  and  the  industries  of  tlie  nation.  Was  it  to  be  hoped 
that  they  would  always  use  it  wisely?  Led  away  by  the  ardour  of  political 
feeling,  they  were  frequently  guilty  of  unwarrantable  acts  that  brought  them 
into  violent  contact  with  the  public  authorities  charged  with  protecting 
liberty  of  labour.  From  such  encounters  resulted  sanguinary  episodes  like 
that  of  the  Ricamarie  "massacre"  (1869),  in  which  were  killed  eleven  persons, 
two  of  whom  were  women. 

By  the  law  of  the  2nd  of  August,  1868,  the  government  abrogated  Article 
1,781  of  the  Civil  Code.  In  1854  more  timidity  had  been  shown,  as  for  in- 
stance when  the  livret  was  insisted  upon  with  greater  rigour,  and  it  was  ob- 
ligatory upon  each  new  employer  to  have  it  endorsed  by  the  police.  The 
evils  resulting  from  this  practice  becoming  more  apparent  as  time  went  on, 
an  inquest  was  ordered  in  1869,  which  was  about  to  end  in  the  suppression  of 
the  Hwel  when  the  Franco-Prussian  War  broke  out.  Hospitals  were  multi- 
plied for  the  labouring  classes,  and  asylums  for  infants  and  old  people.  The 
empress  took  under  her  especial  patronage  all  these  works  of  public  charity, 
ana  one  of  the  asylums  on  the  Seine  was  given  the  name  of  Prince  Imperial. 

The  species  of  popularity  wliich  Napoleon  III  enjoyed  among  Parisian 
workingmen  was  founded  on  the  abundance  of  work  provided  by  the  recon* 


THE    SOCIAL    EVOLUTION    OF   FRANCE   SINCE    1815        «n 

struction  of  a  large  part  of  the  capital  by  Haussmann,  the  prefect  of  the 
Seine.  The  people  were  fond  of  sayine  in  presence  of  this  gigantic  kauss- 
mannisation,  "When  the  building  trade  flourishes  everything  goes  well." 
The  number  Of  workmen  employed  in  building  alone  was  almost  doubled — 
71,240  instead  of  41,600.  The  total  nimiber  oflabourers  employed  in  all  the 
twenty  districts  of  Paris  had  increased  from  342,530  to  416,811,  of  which 
285,861  were  men,  and  the  rest  were  women,  girls,  and  voung  boys.  Besides 
these,  42,028  people  were  employed  in  the  pirnhc  estiiblishnients  and  by  the 
great  companies,  26,242  were  sub-contractors,  and  62,199  were  engaged  in 
work  on  theu-  own  account.  The  whole  made  up  an  army  of  more  than 
500,000  Parisian  workers. 

The  labour  delegates  that  the  emperor  had  allowed  to  be  sent  to  the 
Universal  Exhibition  of  London  in  1863  noted  the  liberty  enjoyed  by  the 
English  labourers,  and  studied  the  working  of  their  trade  unions.  Some 
returned  affiliated  to  the  dangerous  International  Association  of  Workinginen; 
others,  more  practical,  merely  brought  back  a  deep  veneration  for  the  prin- 
ciples of  mutuality.  In  the  report  of  the  typographers  is  to  be  read :  "  Asso- 
ciation is  the  truest  and  most  efficacious  method  of  promoting  the  peaceful 
and  progressive  emancipation  of  the  working-classes."  Moreover,  the  in- 
fluence was  widely  felt  in  France  of  the  success  obtained  in  Germany  by 
Schulze-Delitzsch,  who  had  created  the  workmen's  mutual  credit  system 
and  the  people's  banks.  Soon  in  every  part  of  France— nut urjiUy  with  the 
authorisation  of  the  government — co-operative  societies  in  the  fields  of  con- 
sumption, production,  and  credit  began  to  multiply.  The  progress  of  the 
urban  working-cla&ses  was  also  shown  by  the  great  number  of  mutual  aid 
societies  that  arose  among  them:  five  years  after  the  passtij^e  of  the  law  of 
July  15th,  1850,  there  were  no  less  than  2,695  of  these  associations. 

In  1853  the  manufacturer  Jean  DoUfus  of  Miilhausen  founded  the  Miil- 
haasen  Society  of  Labour  Settlements,  which  not  only  a-ssured  tlic  workman 
comfortable  ami  salubrioas  quarters,  but  permitted  him  to  own  his  home 
after  the  lapse  of  a  few  vears  by  the  payment  of  a  small  sum  annually.  This 
example  was  shortly  followed  in  every  part  of  France. 


The  Commune  of  1871 

The  fall  of  the  second  empire,  occurring  as  it  did  when  a  foreign  war  was 
at  its  heieht,  was  preceded  and  followed  by  revolutionary  movements.  After 
war  had  been  declared  it  was  found  necessary  all  over  the  country,  in  order 
to  supply  the  ileficicncy  of  troops  of  the  line,  to  muster  in  the  **  mobile  guards," 
the  "mobUised  troops,"  and  the  "national  guard,'^  which  altogether  made 
up  a  force  that  held  discipline  in  contempt  and,  being  also  without  military 
training  or  instruction,  coultl  render  effective  service — glorioas  service  it  was 
jmetiraes — only  in  case  of  siege. 

In  Paris,  especially,  nothing  had  been  accomplished  save  to  organise  an 
armed  conflict  between  political  opinions  of  the  bitterest  and  most  fervid 
character.  Those  members  of  the  ''government  of  the  national  defence" 
who  remained  shut  up  in  Paris  soon  hail  an  opportunity  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  *'good  battalions"  and  the  "bad  battalions."'  The  latter  were 
in  general  ciuite  as  active  in  opposing  the  German  invasion  as  the  others,  but 
under  all  their  patriotism  lay  the  ulterior  purpose  of  making  the  republic 
that  was  proclaimed  on  September  4th,  and  acknowledged  throughout  France, 

'  DepoBltions  before  the  committee  investigating  the  acts  of  the  govemmeot  of  the  national 
defence,  preceded  by  the  report  of  the  Count  Daru. 


fl« 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 


a  socialistic  republic.  Many  of  these  "bad  battalions"  were  under  the  direct 
influence  of  leaders  who  had  gained  fame  in  previous  revolutions,  Blanqui, 
F6Iix  Pyat,  or  certain  new  demagogues  who,  with  the  exception  of  Flourena 
or  Delescluze,  were  for  the  most  part  unknoi^Ti.  Among  the  "bad  battal- 
ions" there  were  many  "worse"  ones,  for  example  those  of  Belleville  who 
tore  up  the  flag  given  them  to  raise  on  their  march  towards  the  enemy,  but 
who  were  always  in  the  lead  when  any  rioting  took  place.* 

In  reality  the  famous  "  commune '  existed  when  Paris  was  still  in  a  state 
of  siege.  The  events  of  October  Ist,  1870,  when  the  government  was  penned 
up  for  fourteen  hours  in  the  H6tel-de-Ville  by  riots  which  fortunately  ter- 
minated without  bloodshed,  also  those  of  the  22nd  of  January,  1871,  when 
firing  broke  out  in  the  sciuare  of  the  HfiteWe-VUle  between  the  "mobiles" 
of  Brittany  and  the  101st  battalion  of  the  national  guard,  were  all  the  work 
of  the  commune. 

After  Paris  had  capitulated,  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  men  belonging 
to  the  well-to-do  clashes,  hence  to  the  "good  battalions,"  hurried  to  rejoin  their 
families  and  the  field  was  left  free  to  the  revolutionists,  who  until  then  had 
not  been  in  the  majority.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  they  assumed  tlie 
name  of  "federates."  Upon  the  temper  of  this  populace  possessing  450,000 
rifles,  2,000  cannon,  and  innumerable  stores  of  powder,  upon  the  spirit  of  men, 
already  tried  by  the  sufferings  of  the  siege — suflorings  that  had  resulted  in 
enormous  infant  mortality — and  a  prey  X/o  the  hallucinations  of  the  "siege 
fever,"  and  of  patriotism  exasperated  by  defeat,  a  number  of  incidents  that 
now  took  place  acted  witli  disastrous  effect.  On  the  1st  and  2nd  of  March 
the  Parisians  saw  the  Gennau  troops  march,  according  to  the  terms  of  capitu- 
lation, from  the  .\rc  de  Triomphe  to  the  garden  of  the  Tuileriee;  they  also 
had  reason  to  believe  that  the  national  iissembly,  now  in  session  at  Bordeaux, 
was  acting  disloyally  to  the  republic,  and  learned  on  the  arrival  of  the  repre- 
sentatives at  Versailles  that  the  royalist  majority  had  received  with  violent 
hostility  the  complaints  of  the  Paris  mayors. 

Finally,  the  dearest  interests  of  all  were  attacked  when  the  assembly  gave 
forth  that  the  notes  which  had  been  allowed  to  lapse  through  the  whole  dura- 
tion of  the  siege  were  now  demandable  within  forty-eight  hours,  such  a  decision 
being  equivalent  to  paralysing  Parisian  commerce  and  plunging  its  leaders 
into  bankruptcy.  The  e|>iti!ode  af  tlie  catuion  of  MonttTiartre  on  March  18th 
caused  the  insurrection  to  burst  forth  with  a  fury  that  resulted  in  the  shameful 
assassination  of  two  generals.  The  revolutionists  of  Lyons  rose  at  the  same 
time  and  ;issassinated  the  prefect  of  Loire,  and  in  Marseillc-S  the  riots  were 
not  put  down  without  much  bloodshed.  M.  Thiers  resolved  to  evacuate 
Paris  that  he  might  obtain  possession  of  it  again  the  more  surely.  Though 
justifiable  from  a  strategic  point  of  view,  this  action  virtually  delfvered  Paris 
over  to  the  tyranny  of  mob  rule,  with  all  its  Pttendant  chances  of  pillage, 
burning — perhaps  even  of  total  destruction. 

Talang  up  his  position  at  Versailles  with  a  body  of  troops,  small  at  first 
but  growing  in  number  as  the  prisoners  from  Germany  returned,  M.  Thiers 
for  two  months  held  Paris  in  a  state  of  siege,  visiting  terrible  reprisals  on 
those  "communard"  battalions  which  ventured  out  into  the  plain.  On  the 
21st  of  May  the  Versailles  troop©  took  by  surprise  the  gate  of  Saint  Qoud 
and  poured  into  Paris;  after  which  conunenced  the  "week  of  blood"  or  the 
"battle  of  seven  days,"  which  as  far  exceeded  in  horror  the  terrible  days  of 
June,  1848,  as  the  latter  surpassed  the  uprisings  of  1831,  1832,  and  1834. 

[*  Jules  F^rrv.  deposition  before  the  committee  of  investigation  on  the  18th  of  March,  1871, 
Toprodoeed  in  vol.  1,  page  549,  of  his  Oiteours  ei  opiniona.] 


THE   SOCIAL   EVOLUTION    OF   FRANCE   SINCE   1815 


313 


The  "proletariat"  manifested  its  new-found  power  in  an  ever-growing  thirst 
for  destruction.  The  whole  centre  of  Paris — Legion  of  Honour,  court  of 
Accountfi,  Tuileries,  Ministry  of  Finance,  Palais  Royal,  Palais  de  Justice, 
Prefecture  of  Police,  and  Hdtel-de-Ville,  that  marvel  of  the  Renaissance — 
formed  but  one  cauldron;  everyivhere  insurgents  of  both  sexes  were  going 
about  making  use  of  petroleum.  The  cannon  of  the  Versailles  artillcrj'  and 
those  of  the  coninmnards  opened  fire  on  each  other  from  one  quarter  to 
another  of  the  very  heart  of  Paris.  Unable  to  hold  out  longer,  the  commime 
ordered  the  massacre  of  the  "  hostages/'  among  whom  were  the  archbishop  of 
Paris,  Monseigneur  Darboy,  and  the  president,  Bonjean.  The  last  of  the 
federates  were  finally  crushed  among  the  tombs  of  Perc-Lachaise. 

Of  the  members  of  the  comnume,  Delescluze  had  found  death  on  a  barri- 
cade, Jacques  Durand  and  Varlin  had  been  executed,  the  ferocious  Raoul 
Rigault  had  lx*rti  killed  by  a  pistol  in  tlie  hands  of  a  pnliceman,  and  five 
others  had  received  wounds.    All  the  rest  had  taken  to  flight. 

It  was  upon  the  poor  de\nls,  the  humble  members  of  the  various  national 
guards  who  were  for  the  most  part  imwitting  instalments,  that  the  punish- 
ment fell  most  heavily.  Seventeen  thousand  of  these  participants  perished 
during  or  after  the  combat,  and  37,000  were  driven  on  foot  through  torrid 
heat  to  Versailles,  where  they  were  arraigned  before  a  council  of  war.  This 
trial  resulted  in  26  executions,  3,417  deportations^  1,247  (Intentions,  332 
banishments,  251  conrlenmations  to  penal  servitude^  and  4,873  diverse  pen- 
alties. "  Paris  has  cruelly  expiated  the  error  into  which  it  was  plunged  by 
certain  guilty  and  irresponsible  men;  surely  after  the  sufferings  endured  and 
the  heroism  displayed  during  the  siege  the  city  did  not  deserve  a  destiny 
so  hard."' 

For  more  than  two  months  the  commune  ruled  supreme  over  one  of  the 
greatest  capitals  of  the  world,  and  to  this  day  tlie  collcctivists,  the  anarchists, 
the  unruly,  and  the  lawless  of  every  country  on  the  globe  celebrate  that  brief 
triumph  as  the  most  splendid  manifestation  of  the  power  of  the  people  that 
the  world  hius  ever  seen. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  commune  was  guilty  of  monstrous  crimes. 
To  offset  these  crimes,  what  social  ideals  did  it  realise,  what  doctrines  or 
plans  of  reform  did  it  hand  down  t^  posterity,  what  guiding  signs  did  it 
place  along  the  route  of  succeeding  generations  or  what  foundations  lay 
ready  for  the  future  constnictions  of  humanity?  The  tnith  is  that  the  com- 
mune distinguished  it^self  for  nothing  so  much  as  a  complete  dearth  of  ideas, 
a  prodigious  inability  to  do  anything  but  repeat  certain  terrorist  proceedings 
of  '93.  to  strut  about  under  the  same  stripes  and  dignities  as  those  worn  by 
the  citizen-governors.  The  ''central  committee  of  the  commune*'  waa  made 
up  in  the  beginning  of  very  ordinary  individuals,  who  wore  obscure  at  the 
time  of  their  selection  and  remained  so  even  while  wielding  a  power  that 
was  practically  unlimited.  Boimtl  together  by  no  common  ties  and  for  the 
most  part  grossly  ignorant,  these  men  had  not  even  a  true  conception  of  the 
principles  they  represented;  hence  were  utterly  incapable  of  arranging,  either 
singly  or  in  concert,  any  plan  for  united  action. 

The  central  committee  was  supposed  to  consist  of  a  hundreil  members, 
but  rarely  did  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  come  together  at  a  sitting.  ''The 
records  of  these  meetings  reveal  the  strange  body  to  have  been  after  all  little 
more  than  a  makeshift;  instability  is  always  apparent,  as  well  a^  great  con- 
fusion and  a  lack  of  sequence  in  ideas.     Certain  successful  candidates  sudilenly 

'  Q*briel  Hanotaux  (formor  minister  u{  foreign  affairs),  MUtoire  <U  la  France  aonlemporainet 
ToL  I,  Paris,  1908. 


214  THE  HISTORY   OF  PKANCB 

relinquished  membership,  others  abetaiiied  from  attending  any  of  the  dttings, 
wlule  yet  other  individuals,  without  having  been  elected,  presented  themselves 
in  company  with  a  friend  and  took  part  in  tiie  deliberations  until  a  complaint 
was  made  and  both  were  expelled.   ^ 

An  all-powerful  commune  (using  the  word  in  its  true  sense),  holding 
universal  sway  by  virtue  of  the  terror  it  inspired,  demanding  of  all  provi- 
ffions,  bravery,  and  willing  arms,  was  a  legend  rather  than  a  fact.  In  realitv 
a  few  audacious  men  both  within  and  without  the  conunittee,  such  as  Rossel, 
Flourens,  the  "generals"  Duval  and  Beigeret,  Raoul  Rigault,  and  Delescluze, 
arrogated  to  themselves  the  greater  part  of  tiie  power  and  abused  it  shame- 
fxilly.  So  lon^  as  lasted  the  commune  the  conditions  imder  which  men  gov- 
erned, t3a-anmsed,  fought,  killed,  and  themselves  found  death  were  those 
of  pure  anarchy.  Were  it  otherwise,  had  any  serious  organisation  or  system 
existed,  would  it  have  been  possible  for  the  Versailles  troops  to  enter  Paris 
and  pass  through  the  gate  of  Saint  Goud  without  discharging  a  shot  from 
their  rifles? 

The  suppression  of  the  Paris  revolt  might — so  hoped  the  assembly's  Right 
— wipe  out  the  republic  itself,  but  this  hope  was  not  fulfilled.  Democracy, 
though  vanquished,  was  still  formidable,  and  the  republic  in  whose  name  it 
had  been  subdued  retained  such  an  appearance  of  power  that  M.  Thiers, 
in  whose  hand  lay  the  destinies  of  France,  accentuated  his  evolution  towards 
the  Left.  Moreover,  the  rural  populations  and  the  boui^^isie  of  1871  dis- 
played more  reason  and  self-possession  than  had  characterised  similar  classes 
m  1848.  Far  from  hastenir^  to  set  over  themselves  a  master,  as  had  tiie 
latter,  they  gave  all  their  support  to  the  aged  statesman  who  was  doing  his 
utmost  to  place  the  republic  m  a  position  of  safety. 

Recent  Legislation  far  the  Betterment  of  Labour 

It  was  now  universally  com{)rehended  that  a  republic  should  exist  for 
the  good  of  all  classes  of  the  nation,  should  be  res  publica  in  the  full  mean- 
ing of  the  words;  whereas  former  revolutions  had  furthered  the  interests  of 
one  class  alone.  The  assemblies  which  succeeded  each  other  after  1875, 
having  greater  wisdom,  more  time  for  deliberation,  and  wider  experience 
tiian  those  of  the  second  republic,  elaborated  so  many  useful  laws  that  a 
complete  change  was  brought  about  in  the  situation  of  the  workingman. 

Powerful  as  was  the  instrument  of  emancipation  put  into  the  hands  of 
working  people  when  universal  suffrage  was  proclaimed  in  1848,  the  gift 
needed  another  to  complete  it — free  and  obliRatory  education  for  the  masses 
as  provided  by  the  Ferry  laws;  also  the  adult  schools,  complementary  to 
the  primary  school  S3nstem,  and  technical  instruction  of  all  sorts. 

The  law  of  the  21st  of  March,  1884,  on  syndicates,  borrowed  the  best 
features  of  early  laboiu*  organisation  in  France  and  at  the  same  time  guaran- 
teed, it  was  hoped,  full  liberty  to  the  individual.  The  law  of  July  ^d,  1890, 
suppressed  the  obligation  of  the  workingman  to  carry  a  livretf  or  certificate. 
The  law  of  the  8th  of  July,  1890,  provided  for  the  appointment  of  ddegates 
of  miners,  who  were  to  be  elected  by  their  comrades  and  charged  with  se- 
curing safe  conditions  of  labour.  The  law  of  the  27th  of  December,  1892, 
instituteil  optional  arbitration  in  litigations  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed. The  law  of  the  9th  of  April,  1898,  awarded  an  indenmity  to  work- 
men injured  while  performing  any  ordered  task,  even  when  the  injiuy  could 

(■  Camille  PellflUn,  Lt  Omit4  eetUral  de  la  Oommwu,  New  Bdition.] 


THE    SOCIAL   EVOLUTION    OF   FBANCE   SINCE    1815 


215 


be  Bhown  to  be  the  result  of  their  own  imprudence.  In  case  of  death  from 
such  a  cause  the  indemnity  is  to  be  paid  to  the  wife  and  children  of  the  de- 
ceased. The  law  of  the  30Lli  of  June,  1899,  extended  to  agricultural  hibourera 
this  same  ri^ht  of  indemnity  in  cases  where  an  accident  was  caused  by  the 
use  of  machines  worked  by  inanimate  forces  (steam  or  electricity)  and  not 
by  men  or  animals.  Tlie  laws  of  the  19th  of  March,  1874,  and  of  the  2nd  of 
November,  1892,  interpreted  by  numerous  decrees,  were  intended  as  revisions 
of  those  elaborated  by  the  chambers  under  Louis  Philippe;  but  so  compli- 
cated is  the  matter  owing  to  the  endless  diversity  of  professions  that  it  is 
found  difficult  to  formulate  a  good  general  law.    The  many  provisions  and 

Erohibitions  come  near  to  being  vexatious,  even  ruinous,  to  the  workingman 
inoself. 

By  a  law  of  1883  commissioners  and  inspectors  of  child-labour  are  also 
charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the  law  of  May  I7th,  1851^  regulating  the 
niunber  of  hours  of  work  a  day  for  adults. 

The  progress  of  the  working-classes  can  always  be  estimated  by  the  rate 
of  advance  of  certain  allied  institutions.  Thus  the  mutual  aid  societies, 
which  in  1853  numbered  2,695,  had  attained  in  1899  a  total  of  12,292,  with 
1,725,439  active  members,  292,748  honorary  members,  and  a  capital  of 
312,000,000  francs. 

The  superannuation  funds,  including  the  "national"  fund  of  that  name 
founded  in  1850,  also  entered  upon  a  period  of  great  development.  The  laws 
of  June  25th,  1894,  and  July  16th,  1896,  organised  similar  institutions  for  the 
benefit  of  miners,  and  the  French  parliament  is  constantly  entertaining  pro- 
jects looking  to  the  further  extension  of  the  idea. 

In  1847  the  savings  banks  contained  in  deposits  only  358,000,000  of 
francs,  in  1869  the  amount  had  increased  to  711,000,000,  and  in  1882  to 


1,754,000,000.  At  the  beginning  of  1899  the  banks  had  received  in  deposits 
4,000,500,000  francs,  represented  by  7,000.000  bank-books. 

The  free  medical  aid  system  was  established  by  the  law  of  January  22nd, 
1893;  that  of  free  judicial  aid,  created  by  the  law  of  January  22nd,  1851, 
was  reorganised  by  the  law  of  July  8th,  1901. 

It  is  evident  that  the  working  people,  not  wholly  but  in  great  part,  com- 
pose the  mutual  aid  societies,  contribute  to  the  superannuation  funds,  and 
own  the  three  or  four  thousand  million  franco  deposited  in  the  savings  banks 
of  France,  It  is  equally  apparent  that  to  them  falls  the  largest  share  of  the 
benefits  arising  from  prosperity.  According  to  calculations  the  consumption 
of  meat  has  almost  doub!e<i  since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  consumption  of  wine  has  doubled,  that  of  coffee  trebled,  of  sugar  increased 
tenfold,  and  of  beer  augmented  in  the  proportion  of  70  per  cent.  Now  the 
rich  man  hanlly  consumes  a  greater  quantity  of  meat,  wine,  beer,  coffee,  and 
sugar  than  does  the  labourer,  nor  is  the  economical  nn^al  worker  given  to 
usmg  half  as  much  of  these  commodities  as  his  urban  brother;  hence  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  general  increase  of  prosperity  has  benefited  most  of  all  the 
labourers  in  cities. 

The  workingman  of  to-day  is  better  fed,  better  clad,  better  housed,  more 
generously  provided  in  every  way  with  worldly  goods  than  was  the  working- 
man  of  thirty  years  ago.  He  profits  by  all  the  inventions  of  a  philanthropic 
legislature,  enjoys  for  himself  and  his  children  free  medical  service  and  judi- 
cial aid,  but  can  it  truly  be  said  that  he  is  happier  than  his  congener  of  fifty 
or  sixty  years  ago?  And  if  it  is  true,  will  heai^hnitit?  It  is  ingrained  in  the 
nature  of  man  to  let  his  sufferings  for  the  lack  of  certain  things  outweigh  his 
happiness  in  the  possession  of  others,    French  workingmen  are  not  inclined 


216 


THE   HISTORY    OF    FHANCB 


to  seek  comparisons  in  bygone  times,  they  refuse  to  take  bto  account  any 
period  but  the  present,  to  see  anything  but  the  existing  difference  between 
their  own  and  tneir  employer's  condition.  They  display  a  greater  animosity 
to-day  toward  the  bourgeois  class,  that  has  made  for  them  many  sacrifices, 
than  was  ever  cherished  by  their  forerunners  against  the  egoistical  employers 
of  1830.  Many  among  them  would  think  it  quite  right  to  work  only  eight 
hours  a  day  for  high  wages,  and  to  have  funds  established  for  them  to  which 
they  themselves  would  not  have  to  contribute.  Others  also,  who  are  de- 
positors in  savings  hanks  and  mutual  aid  societies,  and  in  receipt  of  the  in- 
come assured  them  by  these  institutions,  give  themselves  airs  of "  proletarians  " 
after  the  fashion  of  the  workingjnan  of  1830  whose  only  capital  was  a  pair  of 
shrunken  arms.  If  they  vote  it  is  very  often  in  favour  of  some  extremist 
candidate,  as  though  they  had  a  horror  of  public  tranquillity,  and  were  not 
themselves  the  first  to  suffer  from  any  disturbance  of  the  peace.  Furthermore 
they  are  beset  by  solicitations  to  join  one  or  more  of  the  many  socialistic 
organisations — the  Blanquista  or  the  Allemanists — whose  avowed  mission  it 
is  to  foment  hatred  between  the  classes,  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  "  universal 
strike,"  and  whose  favourite  counsel  to  the  workingman  is  to  "study  the 
chemistry  of  revolution." 

Present-day  Doctrines 

We  have  left  far  behind  us  the  days  of  Saint-Simon,  of  Enfantin,  of 
Fourier,  of  Cabet  and  other  mild  Utopians,  of  Proudhon,  anrl  nf  Louis  Blanc. 
The  new  masters  to  whom  socialists  swear  allegiance  are  more  terrible  ones 
whom  they  have  found  across  the  Rhine;  from  rcrdinaiul,  but  more  especially 
from  Karl  Marx,  proceed  the  movst  radical  collectivist  aiul  tlie  most  destructive 
internationalist  doctrines  that  have  ever  been  uttered.  Among  the  French 
disciples  of  Karl  Marx  a  certain  set  of  fanatics  acknowledged  as  their  leader 
Jules  Guesdc,  the  high  priest  with  the  wasted  visage,  who  styles  himself 
'*  chief  of  the  French  labour  party  ^' ;  others,  who  are  the  truly  clever  ones,  call 
themselves  independent,  and,  in  company  with  Millerand  and  Jaur^,  have 
enjoyed  more  than  one  foretaste  of  the  bliss  thej''  promise  the  people  in  a 
more  or  less  distant  future. 

Many  workingmen  were  carried  away  by  the  formula,  lately  fallen  into 
disuse,  of  the  "three  eights"  (eight  hours  for  labour,  eight  for  relaxation, 
eight  for  slec^p).  Its  inventors  concerned  themselves  but  little  ^^ith  those 
trades  or  profes-sions  that  are  marked  by  alternations  of  activity  and  stagna- 
tion. Other  labourers — forming  not  a  tenth  part  of  the  mass  of  French 
workers — allowed  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  the  so-called  professional 
syndicates  which,  in  violation  of  the  law  of  1884,  were  diverted  from  their 
original  purpose  and  transformed  into  agencies  for  strikes.  Fortunately 
there  arose  against  the  despotism  of  strike  leaders  and  "red"  syndicates  the 
powerful  association  of  "yellow"  syndicates,  which  dared  show  themselves 
independent  even  in  the  face  of  revolutionary  tyranny. 

The  collectivists  are  hostile  to  the  idea  of  country,  army,  uniform,  or  flag, 
and  their  bitter  hatred  of  the  priesthood  leads  them  into  complete  forgetfm- 
ness  not  only  of  the  nation's  interests  but  of  their  own.  This  is  what  makes 
the  management  of  public  affairs  so  easy  for  unscrupulous  politicians:  one 
good  campaign  against  religion  will  take  the  place  of  ever  so  nmny  social 
reforms,  even  those  that  have  been  declared  the  most  lu^ent. 

The  power  gained  by  the  labo\;ring  classes,  now  the  "fourth  estate,"  liaa 
by  no  means  contributed  everything  towards  the  general  welfare;  it  has  pro- 


THE   SOCIAL   EVOLUTION    OF   FRANCE    SINCE    1816        217 


moted  neither  the  public  peace,  continually  disturbed  by  so-called  "social 
reclamations,'*  nor  the  industrial  prospt^rity  of  the  country,  repeatedly  en- 
dangered by  unjustifiable  and  sanguinary  strikes  such  as  those  of  1S98  and 
1899;  while  it  has  as  certainly  not  addefl  to  France  s  glory  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  since  all  her  institutions  of  national  defence  are  the  subject  of  the 
most  hostile  and  aimihilating  criticism. 

The  old  r^ginie  of  France  with  its  kings  and  nobles  counts  fourteen  cen- 
turies of  a  glory  whose  origin  is  lost  in  the  legends  of  antiquity;  the  pre- 
dominance of  the  bourgeoisie  during  the  revolution,  the  first  empire,  and 
the  parliamentary  monarchies  was  marked  by  splendid  progress,  victories, 
and  expansion  of  ideas;  just  what  w^Lll  distinguish  the  era  ushered  in  by 
socialism  in  every  coimtry  of  the  globe  it  is  difficult  to  conceive,  nor  is  it 
easier  to  foretell  the  future  lot  of  humanity  when  the  collectivist  state  shall 
have  become  an  accomplished  fact. 

We  are  frequently  assured  that  if  every  country  were  to  disband  its  armiea 
the  peace  of  the  w^orld  would  be  secured.  Who  can  guarantee,  though,  that 
all  the  inhabitants  of  any  given  country  would  calnily  consent  to  relinquish 
their  property,  bow  thnir  necks  to  the  heaviest  bureaucratic  yoke  that  has 
ever  been  inipiOHed  (for  many  more  officials  woulfl  be  required  to  rim  such 
an  enomioas  phalanstery  of  a  state  than  are  employed  to-<lay),  and  endure 
without  rebelling  the  wearisome,  monotonous,  and  depreasing  existence  that 
would  be  theirs  under  the  sway  of  the  least  enltgliteiied  classes  of  the  nation? 
Nor  would  the  suppression  of  the  states  do  away  either  with  the  different 
ethnological  groups  that  form  their  support,  nor  with  the  inclination  of  these 
groups  to  live  their  own  life,  to  speak  their  own  tongue,  to  draw  inspiration 
from  the  legends  of  their  own  past,  to  feel  themselves  in  a  word  separate  and 
distinct  from  all  the  other  groups  around  them.  There  have  been  innu- 
merable wars  in  former  times  between  those  national  personalities  calling 
themselves  in  the  present  France,  Germany,  England,  Spain,  and  Italy — 
feudal  wars,  monarchical  wars,  Jacobin  wars,  bourgeois  \vars,  and  tariff  wars, 
wars  for  pillage,  wars  for  principles,  and  wars  for  display.  It  is  not  clearly 
apparent  how  any  of  these  wars  could  have  lx?en  averted  Iiad  each  of  the  na- 
tions participating  been  ruled  by  a  collectivist  autocracy  and  bureaucracy. 
And  a^ain,  who  can  assert  that  the  diplomacy  of  the  future  will  be  as  skilled 
in  avoiding  cau.ses  of  conflict  as  the  diplomacy  of  the  present  ?  The  collecti- 
vist state,  moreover,  having  assumed  control  in  each  country  of  all  the  agri- 
cultural, industrial,  and  commercial  interests,  vriW  be  ill  inclined  to  brook 
that  a  neighbour  shall  hinder  its  traffic  in  grains  and  other  produce,  or  shall 
contend  for  the  markets  in  its  possession.  Evidently  a  custom-service  will  be 
a  necessity,  with  a  regiment  of  officials,  and  frontier-lines  will  again  come 
into  prommence.  Thus,  with  a  police  force  on  land  to  guard  against  sedition 
by  malcontents,  and  warships  on  sea  to  protect  its  counting-houses,  the 
collectivist  stat**\s  int^titutions  of  defence  will  offer  a  very  close  parallel  to  the 
standing  army  of  to-<iay. 

The  futiu-e  that  has  been  pictured  for  us  in  such  glowing  colours  may, 
after  all  is  said  and  done,  be  simply  a  reijetition  of  the  present  with  a  few 
worse  featiu*es  thrown  in.  There  will  doubtless  still  be  wars,  but  the  war- 
fare will  rage  about  a  singularly  diminished  object;  in  the  poverty-stricken 
commonwealths  that  will  succeed  to  the  opulent  nations  of  to-day  there  will 
be  no  doing  battle  for  glory  or  for  the  propagation  of  ide^s,  the  mhabitants 
will  seek  to  extenninate  each  other  on  account  of  a  few  sacks  of  rye.  The 
citizen  wars  of  the  Revolution  and  the  empire  were  marked  by  a  fiercer 
spirit  tlian  had  characterised  any  of  the  previous  monarchical  wars;  it  is  to 


218 


THE  mSTOKY   OF  FEANCE 


be  feared  that  the  "labour"  wars  will  exceed  them  all  in  ferocity  and  hate, 
will  in  fact  turn  the  world  back  a^iun  to  the  modes  of  living  and  d^ree  of 
civilisation  of  the  cave-dwellers.  Let  us  hope,  however,  that  the  men  of  the 
"fourth  estate"  will  discover  before  it  is  too  late  the  vanity,  the  danger,  the 
absurdity  of  the  collectivist  utopia;  it  is  not  well  to  serve  as  a  springboard 
for  ambitious  men  who,  without  oelieving  in  the  possibility  of  the  realisation 
of  their  utopia,  understand  marvellously  well  how  to  exploit  it. 


BRIEF   REFERENCE-UST    OF   AUTHORITIES    BY    CHAPTERS 

[The  letter  «  is  reserved  for  Editorial  Matter.] 

Chapter  I.    The  Bo0kbon  Rkstoration  (1816-1824) 

''Tbohis  Erskimk  May,  Democracy  in  Europe.  —  "Charles  Skionobos,  BUtoirt  poUti^ie 
de  r Europe  eontemporaiwi^  1814-1896. — ''Alphonsedb  Lajaavtise,  Histort/ of  the  Resiorah<m 
of  Monarchv  in Fratice.  —  •  F.  GuizoT,  Memoirs  of  my  own  Time.  — /Henri  Martin,  Ilisloire 
ae  France  depuis  1789,  —  »  A.  Alison,  History  of  Europe  from  th«  Fall  of  NapoU^m,  IHIS,  to 
the  Accession  of  Louie  NapoUon^  185S,  — ^CuABLCb  Lacketelli,  Histoxre  de  France  depnis  la 
Besiauration.  —  *C.  Dareste  de  la  Chavakke,  Ilisloire  de  France.  — i  Emilk  de  Bonxecho8E» 
Uisioire  de  France.  — '' James  WniTB,  History  of  France,  — '  V.  Duruy,  Histoire  de  France. — 
"*Fran<;;o[s  R.  Chateaubrund^  La  JUonarchie  eehn  la  Charte. —  "J.  B.  H.  Capepiouk,  Uis- 
ioire  de  la  Jiestauralion. 


Chapter  II.     Charles  X  and  thh  July  Rkyolution 

*A.   DE   IiAUARTlNB.    Op.   cH.  —  'A.  AlISON,    Op,  Ctt. — **  E.    DB   BoNNECHOBR,  Op.  cit. — •  H. 

Martin,  op.  cit.  — /C.  Dareste  de  la  Chavanne,  op.  eit.  —  oj.  White,  op.  cit.  — *  VVilbelm 
McLLKR.  Politische.  Ofschichie  der  nenesten  Zeit.  — *Ca)Iille  Pellktan.  De  1S16  A  nos jours. — 
JliOUis  Blanc.  Uie  History  of  Ten  Years,  l^SO-lS^O. — *Mauri(:e  Wahl»  VAlg^rie.  —  'Karl 
HkllebraND,  Oeschichte  Frankreich*  von  der  Thronbesttiijutitj  I^uis  Philippes  bis  sum  Faile 
NapdUona  III.  (lo  Ilecrea  and  Ukert's  Oeschichte  der  europditehen  Siaateti,) 


Cbaftu  in.    Loms  Phiuppk  and  the  Revolution  of  1848 

*T.  EkbioneMay,  op.  cit.  — "II.  Martin,  op.  eit. —''A.  Alison,  op.  cit. — 'F.  Guizot.  op. 
cit, — /v.  UuRUY,  op,  cii.  —  t' W.  MOller,  op.  cit.  —  *C.  Dareste  de  la  Chavanne,  op.  eit. — 
*  AbbA  Girard,  NoHvtUe  IHstoire.  de  France. — ^J.  White,  op.  eit.  —  *C.  Pellbtan,*^.  cit,^ 
<L.  DK  LoM^NiB,  Galerie  des  Contemporains  iUustres. 


Chapter  IV.     The  Repl-buc  or  1848 

^Gahaubl  Bradford,  The  Lesson  of  Popular  Government.  —  'A,  M.  Dupin,  Mfmoires. — 
''Victor  Pierre,  Bistoire  de  la  Repttbligue  ae  2S48.  —  'A.  Alison,  op.  cit.  —  H,  Martin,  op. 
cit.  — 0  Marquis  op  Normanby,  A  Year  of  Bevolution,  from  a  Journal  kept  in  Paris  in  1848.  — 
*V,  DuHUY.  op.  cit.  —  *T.  Krskine  Mat,  op.  cit. — ^Hippolyte  Castillk,  Bisioxre  de  la  See- 
ondc  Republique.  —  *  Victor  Hugo,  Napoleon  the  Little.  —  *A.  de  Lamartine,  Bistory  of  the 
French  Jievolution  of  1848, 


Chapter  V.    Louis  Napoleon,  President  and  Emperor  (1849-70) 


»  H.Martin,  op,  cit.—^A.  Alison,  op.  eit. — ''V.  Durut,  op.cit.—  *C.  Pelletan,  op.  ciY.— 
/p.  A.  M.  p.  de  Granierde  Cahsaohah,  jjhistoire  de  NapotSon  HI.  — ff  A.  Rastoul,  Bistoire 
de  France. — *V.  Huoo,  op.  c»7.  — 'Pierre  dk  la  Gorge.  Histoire  du  Sfcond  Empire.— iQ. 
Bradford,  op.  ctt.  —  »fT.  Delord,  Bistoire  du  Second  Empire.  — '  W.  Muller,  op.  cit.  —  "•  T. 
EiutKiNE  Mat,  op.  eit.  —  "C.  SsiotfOBoe.  op.  ei/.^-o David  MthxBR,  OesckicMe  des  Deutscften 
Volhts.  —pC.  a.  Pttfe.  a  Bislory  of  Modem  Europe,  — cEuoiNE  T*not.  Paris  en  DSeembre 
1861. 

819 


no  THE  HISTORY   OF  FBANCE 


Ciu?m  VI.    Tbs  FEAVOO-Pftussuir  Wis  (1870-1871) 

^G.  A.  Ftffk,  op,  m/.  — 'Taxilb  Dklokd.  Eistoire  iUusir4e  du  Second  Enmn.  —^Couvr 
▼OK  MoLTKB,  The  FrtMco-Otrman  War  of  1870^1871,  (transUted  by  CUrft  Bell  and  H.  W. 
FiBoher).--  H.  liURTiK.op.  ci7.— /PaulBondois.  Miaioire  dt  la  Ouerre  de  2870-1871.— ^F. 
Canonoe.  Eistoire  mdlUatre  eonten^oradne, — ^W.  Ht^LLKB,  op,  eit,  —  <Gsoboe  W.  Kitchim. 
The  Hietory  of  France,— i A..  A.  Ducbot,  La  Joumie  de  Sedan.— ^"E.  F.  WiMpprxK, 
Sedtm.  — '  EL  ijCBKRT,  EiaUtire  de  la  Ouerre  de  1870-1871.  —  ■"  B.  Boubsbt,  Bietoire  gMrdU  de 
la  Ouerre  JVanco-AOMnofuis.— »G.  Pmllktav,  op,  oil. — 'Huru  Gi&abj).  ffiatotre  iOuetrSe 
de  la  TVoinhne  ESpubli^ue. 


Chapter  VII.    The  Third  Rkpobuc  (1871-1008) 

*G.  Bradford,  op.  cit.  —  'Maxihb  du  Oakp,  Lee  Convuisione  de  Paris. — •'B.  Zetort, 
Hietoire  de  la  Troiaihne  Shtubliwe.  —*  Jules  Fatrb,  Le  Oouvemement  de  la  DSfense  naiion- 
cle,  — /C.  Pellbtan,  op.  ea.  — '  J.  K  C.  Bodlet,  article  on  '*  France  "  in  the  New  Volamefl  of 
the  J^ieyelopadia£ri£annica,^^W.  Mullbr,  op.  0»7.  — <H.  Martin,  op,cit.—ik.  Bastoul, 
Hitioire  de  Frtmct  depwie  la  revolution  de  Juillet  juaqu'd  noe  jours,— ffH,  L.  Laioer, 
L*Afrigue, 


A  GENERAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  FRENCH  HISTORY 

BASED   CHIEFLY    UPON    THE    WORKS   QUOTED,    CITED,    OR    CONSULTED    IN    THE 

PKBPARATION    OF  THE   PRESENT   WORK  ;   WITH   CRITICAL  AND 

BIOORAFHICAL   NOTES 


Abbot,  J.  S.  C,  The  History  of  Napoleon,  Kew  York,  1856,  S  vols.  ^  Abnmtii,  duchesse 
d*,  Mdmolree,  Paris,  1831-1834.  18  vols.;  new  edition  1803.  —  Aduiu,  C.  K.,  Demi>cracy  oiid 
Monarchy  in  France,  New  York,  1875.  —  Al«mh«rt,  J.  L.  d',  (Euvres  Utt<^raire«,  Paris,  1806, 
18  vols.  ;  1821-1822,  6  voIh,  — Allaon,  A..  History  of  Europe  from  Commenct'tneTit  of  the 
French  Ilevolntioa  to  the  Restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  London  and  New  York,  184B-ltt50, 
14  vols.  ;  Hifilory  of  Europe  from  Fall  of  Napoleon,  l&lfl,  to  Accession  of  Lnuis  NajH)lfH»Q,  1852, 
Edinburgh  and  London,  1853,  7  voU.  —  Ainb«rt,  J.,  lltRtoire  de  la  Guerre  du  1870-1671,  Paris, 
1878 ;  I>e  Mart^lial  de  Vaulmn,  Tours,  1882.  —  Ampera,  J,  J.,  IliHtoire  littjfiraire  de  la  Franco 
avant  le  douzi^me  sidcle.  Paris.  l83d  ;  Histotre  dc  la  Franco  avont  Charlema^c,  1867,  2  vols.  — 
Angoalfime,  duchess**  d' (Madame  Uoyale},  Memoirea  du  Temple,  new  edition,  Paris,  1892.— 
AnqaatUfljouia  P.,  Histoirede  France,  Paria,  1805,  14  vols.  —  AntommarchL  (\  F.,  Lesderniera 
momenltf  de  Napul^)n,  Paris,  1825.  —  Arganson,  HfuS  Loui.s.  luarcguis  d\  Exanin,  AmHtordam, 
1785;  reprinted  as  Mtjmolrua  in  Collection  (lea  Motnotres  relatifs  A  In  H^6volulion.  Paris,  1825.  — 
Ameth,  Alfn.d  and  Oeffroy,  M.  A.,  Mario  Antoinette,  Paris.  1874.  3  vols,  —  Araac,  J.  d',  M6- 
niurial  du  sieg^*^  de  Paris,  Paris,  1871.  — Aub«rtin,  Ch.,  Histoire  de  la  laugue  et  de  la  Ittt^rature 
fnui9aia«  au  mnyen  &ge,  Paris,  1876-1878,  2  voIh.  — Aublg^ne,  Theodore  Agrippa  d",  Mf  moires, 
Parla,  1854 ;  Hlstoire  universelle,  1889.  —  Aumale,  due  d*,  Hisloires  des  princes  de  Cond€, 
Parifi,  1868,  2  vols. 

Babeau,  A.  A.,  l^e  Parlement  de  Paris  k  Troves  en  1787,  Paris,  1871  ;  Le  village  sous 
I'ancifn  ro^nnif,  Paris,  1877;  La  ville  sons  I'ancien  r^^me,  Paris,  1880;  La  vie  militaire  sous 
Tancien  r^g'ime,  1890.  2  vols.  — Bachaumont,  Louis,  M^moires  secrets  pour  servir  k  la  rSpa- 
bliqae  de  lettres,  Paris,  1777,  6  vols.  —  Bailly,  Antoine,  Hiatoire  finauciere  de  la  France,  Paris, 
1880,  2  vols.  —Bairdf  C,  W.,  History  of  the  Huguenot  Emigration  to  America,  New  York,  1886, 
9  vohi.  —  Baird,  H.  M.,  History  of  the  Riii«  of  the  Huguenots  of  France,  New  York,  1879. 
2  vols.;  The  Huguenots  and  Henry  of  Navarre,  New  York,  1886,  2  vols.  — Baranta,  ti.  B.  de, 
Hlstoire  des  dues  de  Bourgogne  de  la  Maison  de  Valols,  Paris,  1824-1826,  3  vols. ;  Hlstoire  de 
la  Convention  Xationale,  Paris,  1851.  6  vols.;  Histolre  du  Directoire,  Pari»«,  1856,  3  vols. — 
Barbarous,  Charles,  M^moires,  in  M^moires  relatifs  &  la  Revolution,  Paris,  1822.  —  Barblar, 
Edmond  Jean,  Journal  du  r^gne  de  L«:>uia  XV,  Paris,  1851-1857.  —  Bardoox,  A.,  La  Bourgeoisie 
franeaise,  1789-1848,  Paris,  1886.  —  Barlee,  E.,  Life  of  Prince  Imperial,  Ixmdon,  1880. —Baml, 
J.,  Xapol^u  et  son  historien  M.  Thiers,  Geneva,  London  and  Pari»,  1869.  ^-Bamui  P.,  M€- 
moires,  avec  une  introduction  par  G.  Duruy,  Paris,  1895-1896. — Barrier*  et  Da  Lescure, 
BibliothSque  des  Mfimotres  relatifs  &  I'Histoire  de  France,  Paris.  1855-1881,  87  vols.  ~  Bartaoh, 
C,  Grundrit*s  zur  Ueachichte  der  proven zalisch en  Lit«ratur,  Elberfeld,  18T3 :  La  langue  et  la 
llttSrature  fran^aises  depuis  le  IX  jusqu'an  XTV  si^le,  Paris,  1887.  —  Baasonapierra,  Francois 
de,  M6muires,  Cologne,  1665. — Baatard,  Le  Vicomto  de,  Les  Parlements  do  France;  essal 
hiatorlqae,  Paris,  1858,  2  vols.  —  Baatard  d'Estan;,  H.  B.,  Les  Parlemeuts  de  France,  Paris, 

221 


«««        A   GENERAL   BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF    FRENCH    HISTORY 


1857.  2  vols.  ^BatU*,  A.,  Turgot;  Philoaopho,  6coaomist«  et  admin! stratenr.  Parifl.  1861.  — 
Bauxngarten,  R,  GoHcliit!blo  Spanleiis  zur  Zeit  der  f rmnzOeischen  Revolution,  Berlin.  1881 :  Tor 
der  Bartolom&usnacbt,  i$tr&slM>urg,  1863.  —  BaiwMt,  L.  F.  da.  Private  Memoirs  of  the  Court 
of  Napoleon  (trans,  from  the  French),  Philadelphia,  1828.  — Bauteraei  de,  Knfance  de  Napo- 
l^D,  Paris,  1860,  — BaTcIier,  A.,  Essai  HuiUjrique  but  lo  droit  d'eU'ctiun  et  aur  Ics  easembleoB, 
Parig,  1874.  —  Bavoux,  E.,  La  Franc©  aous  Napoleon  III,  Paris,  1870.  2  vols.  —  BayarcL  Pierre 
da  Terrail,  Seicnear  do,  La  tree  joyouse,  plalsante  et  recreative  hystoire  compoaee  par  le  loyal 
serviteur  deti  faiz  .  .  .  du  boa  chevalier  Sana  peour  et  saus  reproucbe,  lo  gvutil  6&lgneur  de 
EUiyart,  Paris,  1537;  raanv  now  editions,  by  Roman,  Paris,  1878. — Bazin,  A..  Histolre  de 
France  sous  Louia  XIII,  t'aria,  1888,  4  vola. — B«auchainp,  A.  do,  Vie  du  Gfin^ral  Moreau, 
Paris.  1814.  —  B^uconrt,  du  Freane  de,  Histoire  de  Ciiarles  VII,  Pari«.  1881-1891,  6  vols.  — 
Beaulieo,  tipoffrey  do,  Vita  Ludovid  Noni,  in  M.  Bouquei'a  Recucil  dea  historiena  dea  Gaolea. 
vol.  90,  Paris,  1788  fl!.  —  B*aumanoir,  Philip  de,  Coatumes  de  Beauvaiais.  edited  by  La  Thaa- 
nmssi^re,  1600,  al»o  by  Beu^ot,  Parin,  1840,  3  vols.  —  Bag^n.  A.  E.,  Histoire  de  Napol^n,  aa 
famiUe  et  son  ^poqne.  1853  fT,  6  vols.  —  Beitzke,  H.  L.,  Gcscuichte  des  russiachen  Kriegea  im 
Jahrol8l3.  Berlin,  1856.  — BellayiseoDu  Itellay.  —  Ballwal,  HeD&de,  Nos  PSres,  Mfsuraetcon* 
tumes  du  temps  pttsse.  Paris.  1879.  — B«Uoc,  A..' I^aPtwlealran^isos,  Paris.  1886.— Benolt,Cli., 
La  politique  du  roi  Charles  V,  Paris,  1886.  —  Banott,  EUe,  Histoire  de  I'Edit  de  Nantes.  1003.— 
Bemhardi|  T.  von,  Denk  wQrdie^kelten  aus  dem  Leben  des  rusaischen  Generals  von  I'nll,  Ijeipsic, 
1865,  4  vols.  — Beniat  Saint  Prix,  C,  La  justice  r^volutionnaire,  Paris.  1870.  — BertheMzie, 
A.,  Histoire  de  la  Siue  rupublique.  Paris,  1880;  TlUtoire  de  cent  ans,  1792-1893,  Paris.  18118.— 
Berthiar,  A. ,  Relation  des  cam{>fu:ne3  en  £|,\vple  et  en  Syrie,  PariB,  1^.  —  Bertin,  E. ,  La  soci^t^ 
du  consulatet  dol'empire,  Paris.  1890.  —  Berrille,  G.  de.  Vie  du  Chevalier  Bayard,  1760;  English 
translation  by  E.  Walford,  The  Story  of  the  Chevalier  Bnyanl.  London,  1887. — Bwiattt.  W., 
Studies  in  Early  French  Poetrv.  Cambridge,  1808.  —  Besenval,  P.  V.  de,  M^moires.  Paris, 
1805-1807.  —  Blgnon,  L.  P.  E.,  iUstoire  de  France  depuis  It;  18  Brumairo  jusqu'i  la  pais  de 
Tilsit,  Paris,  1820-1830.  6  vols. —  Bingham.  B..  The  Bastille.  London,  1888. -Blanc,  Louis, 
Histoire  de  dix  ans,  18;i0-1840.  Paris,  1841-1844;  English  translation.  History  of  Ten  Years, 
1830-1840.  London,  1844.  3  vols.;  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  frangaise,  Paris.  1847-1863.  13  vols. 

—  Bodley.  J.  E.  C,  France,  London,  1898,  3  vols.- BJ^htUngk,  A.,  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
Leipslc.  1883,  3  vols. — BoiBguillebert,  Pierre  le  PeRant,  Sieur  do,  I>^tail  de  la  France  sous 
LoQls  XrV.  Paris,  1095.  —  Bolteau  d'Ambly,  P.,  fitat  de  la  France  en  1789.  Paris,  1861.  — 
Bonaparte,  Lucien,  Mdiuoire»  publ.  by  Jung,  Paris.  1882.  —  Bondoia,  P.,  Histoire  de  la  guerre 
de  1870-1871,  Paris,  1888.  —  Bonnechoae,  K.  de,  Histoire  de  France.  Paris,  1843.  3  vols. — 
Bonnwn&re,  E.,  Hisiuire  des  PaysiLns,  Paris,  1856.  —  Bordier,  H.  L.,  Les  archives  de  la  France, 
Paris,  1854.  —  Boasnet,  J.  B.,  Discours  sur  I'histoire  universelle,  Paris.  1081.  — Botta,  C,  Storia 
d' Italia  dal  1789  al  1814,  Paris.  1834,  4  vols.  — Bouchard,  d'Avesnes,  B.,  Chroniquo  de  Flandrea, 
1885.  — Boudiu,  A.,  Histoire  de  Louia  Philippe.  Paris,  1847. — Boug-eart,  A.,  Datiton,  Paris, 
1865,  2  vols.;  Marat,  I'aml  du  peuple,  Paris,  1865,  3  vols. — BouUlet,  Si.  K.,  Dictionnaire 
universel  d'histoire  et  de  g6ographie,  Paris,  1842.  —  BoullSo,  M.  A.,  Hisioire  complete  des  6tat& 
g^niraux  depuia  1903  jusqu'en  1026,  Paris,  1845,  3  vols.  —  Bourgeoia,  E  ,  Le  capitulaire  do 
Klersy-sur-Oise,  Paris,  1885.  —  Bourguet,  A.,  La  France  et  lAnglotorre  en  fi^ypt<>,  Paris,  1897. 

—  Bourrienna,  L,  A.  Fauvelet  de.  M^moires  sur  Napoleon,  Paris,  1828-18110, 18  vols. — Bontaric, 
E.,  Im.  France  sous  Philippe  lo  Bel,  Paris,  1861.  —  Bowen,  E.  E.,  The  Campaigns  of  Napoleon, 
Cambridge,  Mass..  1873-1876.  —  Bradford,  Gamaliel,  The  Lessons  of  Popular  Qovemment,  New 
York,  1898.  —  Brandt,  U.,  La  Vie  de  Michel  de  Kuiter,  Amsterdam,  1698.  translated  into  French 
by  Anbin.  — Brant6m«,  Pierre  do  Bourdeillea  de,  Vie  des  honuncs  illustres  et  grands  capit&inos 
tnngais;  Vie  des  dumea  galantes ;  both  publ.  in  Qtluvres,  Leiden,  1606;  (Euvrea  completes, 
Paris,  1866-1883.  11  vols.      3  .:  f. J 

PUrre  de  BourdeiUes  de  BraniSme  was  born  about  1540,  and  died  in  1614.  After  fighting 
against  the  Huguenots,  Turles,  and  Moors,  he  attoclicd  hiioself  to  the  court  of  Charles  IX. 
At  the  death  or  this  monarch  ho  withdrew  from  active  life,  retired  to  his  estates,  and  spent 
the  last  years  of  his  life  In  writing  his  memoirs.  His  works  include  lives  of  illustrious  men. 
of  French  and  foreign  captains,  lives  of  illustrious  ladies,  anecdotes  of  duels,  etc.  His  writ- 
ings can  hardly  be  called  historical,  but  they  give  an  excellent  picture  of  the  general  ooart 
life  of  the  period,  and  are  written  in  a  quaint,  naive  style. 

Bray,  Anna  E..  Joan  of  Arc  and  the  Times  of  Charles  VII,  London.  1873.  —  Braton,  Qoil- 
laume  le  C^VUliam  of  Amorica),  Histoire  des  gestes  de  I'hiUppe  August**,  in  Quixot's  Collection 
de  mSmotres  relatifs  &  I'histoire  de  France,  vcm.  S.  —  Broglie,  J.  V.  A.,  Due  de,  I^e  w'cret  du  rol: 
Correspondance  secrfite  de  Louis  XV  avoc  sea  agents  uiplomatiques,  1752-1754,  ParLs,  1870, 
2  vobi.;  Les  souvenirs  du  feu  due  de  Broglie,  Paris,  1886-1887.  —  Browning,  O.,  Modem 
France,  London,  1880.  —  Browning,  W.  S.,  The  History  of  the  Hugueuoia.  London.  1839.  — 
Baches,  P.  J.  B..  et  Rous- Lav ergne,  Histoire  parlemeotalre  de  la  RSvulutiun  fran^aise, 
Paris,  I83^t-t833.  4  vols.  —  Buchon,  .1.  A.,  Collection  des  croniques  nationales  fran^aises,  Paris, 
1824-1820.  47  vols.;  Choix  de  chroniquos  et  m^moires  sur  l*hlatoire  de  France,  Paris.  1886.  — 
Buckle,  U.  T..  History  of  Civilisatiou  in  England,  London,  1871.  new  editioa. — BuUe,  C, 
Geschicbto  des  zweiten  Kalserreichs  und  des  Kflnlrrelchs  Italien.  in  Onrken'n  AUgemeine 
Oeechichte,  Berlin.  1690. — Burette,  T.,  Histoire  de  France  depuis  T^tablissement  des  Franca 
dana  la  Gaole,  Paris,  1840,  3  vols.— Burke,  E.,  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  of  France, 


^^  WITH    CRITICAL   AND    BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTES  2«3 

London,  1790,  Uter  edition  1890.  — Bntnrlin,  D.  P.,  Histoire  militaire  de  la  campagne  do  BuBsie 
eo  181S  (translated  from  the  Russian),  Paris.  1834.  2  vols. 

Oabanii,  Pierre  Jean  Georgea,  Rapports  da  physique  ct  du  moral  de  rhomme.  Paris, 
1803.  —  Oaddy,  F.,  Footsteps  of  Joan  of  Arc,  Iiondon.  1B85.  — OalUst,  J..  L' ad  ministration  en 
France  sons  le  ministere  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.  Paris.  16S0,  2  vols.  — Oampan,  Jeanne  L.  H. 
de.  M^muires  sur  la  vie  priv^e  de  la  reine  Marie  Antoinette,  Paris.  1623,  6ih  edition,  4  vols.  — 
Oampb«U,  N.,  Napoleon  at  Fontaineblbau  and  Elba,  London,  1^09.  —  Oanonge,  F.,  Flistoire 
militaire  contcmporaine,  1854-1871,  Paris,  1882,  2  vols.  — Oapefigua,  J.  B.  R.,  Uistoire  do  la 
Aestauration,  Paris,  1831,  10  vols.;  Histoire  de  la  rSforme.  de  la  ligae  et  du  rdgne  de  Henri  IV, 
Paris,  18^4-1885,  8  vols.;  Richelieu.  Mazarin,  La  Fronde,  et  le  rfe^ne  de  Ijouia  XIV,  Paris, 
1884-1835,  Svohi.;  L'Europe  pendant  le  couaulat  et  IVmplre  de  Napolfion,  Paris,  1889-1841, 
10  vols.;  Louis  XV  et  la  socifiie  du  XVIII  sieole,  Paris,  1842.  — Oarlolx,  Vincent.  Mfimoires  de 
Im  Tie  de  Frangois  de  Scfipeaux,  Sire  de  Vieilloville^  Paris,  1757.  —  Oarlyle,  T..  History  of  the 
^Tuch  Revolution,  London  and  New  York,  1837,  2  vols.;  Frederick  the  Qreat,  London  and 
Kcw  York.  185S-1866,  6  vols.;  The  Ihamond  Necklace,  in  the  Essays;  Mirabeau,  in  the 
Essays. — Oam«,  Louis  Marcein,  Conite  de,  Etudes  sur  Thistoire  du  gouvernetnent  repr^sen- 
latif  de  178t^-1848,  Paris,  1855,  2  vols.  ;  J.*  monarchie  fran^aJse  au  ie»»  sidcle.  —  Oamot,  H.. 
Il&aoires  snr  Carnot  par  son  fils,  Paris,  1871.  —  Oasiagnac,  soc  Orauier.  — Oastelnau,  M.  dc. 
lUmoires.  in  Nouvelle  Collection  de  Memuires  pour  servir  h  I'histoire  de  France,  Paris,  1888. — 
OastUla,  C.  H.,  Histoire  de  la  seconde  R^publique,  Parin,  1B54-1656,  4  vols.  —  Oaralli,  Marino, 
Relation  de  Marino  Cavaili  (ambassador  to  France  from  Venice).  1546,  Italian  and  French;  in 
Collection  de  documents  inMits,  etc.,  1st  series,  Paris,  1836  ff.  —  Ohabannes^dhfimar,  in 
MonumentA  Germanize  historica,  Bcriptores.  vol.  IV.  —  Ohalambert,  Victor  de,  Histoire  de  la 
Li^e,  Paris,  1854,  2  vols.  —  Ohallamel,  J.  B.,  Histoire  de  la  liberie  en  France  depuis  1780, 
Paris,  1836 — Ohambray,  G.  de,  Vie  de  Vauban;  Histoire  dc  I'FIspcdition  de  RuHsie,  Paris, 
1833.  — Ohamfort,  SeboMtien-Roch  Nicholas,  Caractdres  et  anecdotes,  new  edition,  Paris,  1860. 

—  Ohampier.  Symphorien,  Les  (testes  ensemble  la  vie  du  preulx  Chevalier  Bayard,  etc.,  in 
Cimbcr's  Archives  curieuses  de  I'htstoire  de  France,  1st  series,  vol.  2,  Paris,  1834  ft.  —  Ohaptal, 
A.  C,  Mes  souvenirs  sur  Napolfion,  Paris,  1893.  — Oharlott*,  Elisabeth,  Memoires  sur  la  cour 
de  Louis  XrV  et  de  la  r£gencc,  cxtraits  de  la  corrcspon dance  de  Madame  Elisabeth  Cliarlotte, 
Paris,  1833.  —  Oharmaa,  F.,  Etudes  historiauea  et  diplomatlques.  Paris,  1893.  —  Oharraa, 
J.  B.  A.,  Histoire  de  la  campagne  de  1816,  Waterloo.  Brussels,  1858,  2  vols.  —  Ohartler.  J., 
Oironique  de  Charles  VII.  H76.  reprinted  Paris,  1858,  8  vols.  —  Ohastelaln,  Georges,  Chro- 
nique  de  Normandie,  published  at  London,  1850;  Chronique  dea  dues  de  Bourco^ne,  published 
bv  Buchon,  in  Collection  des  chroniqncs  nationalcs  fmn^aises,  vols.  42  and  43,  Paris,  1827.  — 
ChateaubriancL  Fran9ois  R.,  Vicomte  de,  La  monarchie  selon  la  charte,  London,  1816.  -~ 
Chanler,  Andre,  Hymne  &  la  France,  Paris,  1894.  — Oherest,  A.,  La  chute  de  I'ancien  regime, 
Paris,  1884-1886,  8  vols.  —  Ohemel,  A.,  Dictionnaire  historlque  dea  institutions,  m<cura,  etc., 
Paris,  1855,  2  vols.;  M€moires  de  Fouquet,  Paris,  1862,  2  vols.;  Histoire  de  France  pendant  la 
minority  de  Louis  XIV,  Paris,  1880,4  vols.;  Histoire  de  France  sous  le  niinislere  de  Maxarin, 
Paris,  1883,  3  vols,  (the  last  two  works  are  based  on  the  letters  and  eameia  de  Mazarln). — 
Ohevremont,  F.,  Jean  Paul  Marat,  Paris,  1880,  2  vols. — OhoUy,  F.  T.  de,  Memoires  pour 
■ervir^  I'hiatoire  de  Louis  XIV,  Paris,  1727,  2  vols.  —  01mb«r,  L..  and  Daojou,  J.,  Archives 
curieuses  de  I'histoire  de  France,  Paris,  1834-1840,  17  vols.  —  Olarati*,  J,,  Catuille  Desinoulins 
et  sa  femme,  Paris,  1882.  —  Olautewltz,  C.  von,  Der  Feldzug  von  1796  In  Italien,  Beriin,  1888. 

—  element,  P.,  Histoire  de  la  vie  et  de  radministration  de  (Albert.  Paris,  1846;  La  police  sous 
liOuis  XIV.  Paris,  1866.  —  Oocbut,  A.,  Law,  son  gystSme  et  son  £poque,  Paris,  1868.  —  Oolgiiat, 
Mme.  C.  Gauthier-.  Fin  de  la  viclllo  France,  Francois  lor,  portraits  ct  dpisodcs  du  XVIo  siEk^le; 
Engliah  translation,  Francis  1st  and  His  Times,  London.  1889;  A  Oentleuiau  of  the  Olden 
Times.  Life  of  de  Sc^peaux,  London,  1888. — OolUer,  Admiral  G.,  France,  Holland,  and  the 
Netherlands  a  Century  A^,  I.KJndou.  1861.  —  Oollln,  V.,  La  question  du  Haut-Nil  et  le  point 
de  vue  beige,  Antwerp,  1809.  —  Oolmache,  Reminiscences  of  Talleyrand  (translation),  Lon- 
don.  1881.  — CcmluM,  Philip  de,  Mdmolres,  1523;  translated  into  English,  London,  1865,  2 
vols. 

Philip  de  Coming  was  born  in  1446  at  the  rb&teau  dc  Comines.  His  godfather  was  Philip 
the  Good,  and  he  himself  became  attached  to  the  service  of  Charles  the  Bold.  He  was  entrusted 
with  diplomatic  commissions  to  Calais,  Loudon,  Brittany,  and  Spain.  In  1473  he  left  the  service 
of  Charles,  and  attached  himself  to  Louis  XI,  who  made  him  councillor  and  chamberlain,  and 
gave  him  several  estates,  among  tliem  the  seiyTWurie  uf  Argentou.  Comines  rendered  Louis  XI 
many  important  services,  but  fell  into  disgrace  under  his  successor.  For  eight  months  he  was 
Imprisoned  in  an  iron  cage  for  having  espoused  the  cause  of  the  duke  of  Orleans.  He  returned 
to  favour  for  a  time  under  Charles  VII.  and  again  nnder  Louis  XII,  but  he  never  regained  his 
old  influence.  The  latter  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  comparative  retreat,  and  it  was  then 
tbftt  he  wrote  his  memoirs,  which  cover  the  period  from  1464  to  1488,  and  from  1488  to  1498. 
HallAm  says  of  them  :  '*  The  memoirs  of  Philip  de  Comines  almost  make  an  epoch  in  historical 
literature.  If  Frolssart  by  his  picturesque  descriptions  and  fertility  of  historical  invention  may 
Iw  reckoned  the  Livy  of  France,  she  had  her  Tacitus  in  Philip  de  Comines.  He  is  the  tirst 
modem  writer  who  in  any  degree  has  displayed  sagacity  in  reaaoning  on  the  chaxacters  of  men. 


S24        A   GENERAL   BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF   FRENCH   HISTORY 


and  the  consequences  of  their  actions*  and  who  has  heen  able  to  generallM  hia  obserratioD  bj 
oomparisori  or  rt'tleciion." 

Oondorc»t,  Marie  J.  A.  N.  C.  do.  Vie  de  Turgot,  Paris,  1786;  Vie  de  Voltaire,  London. 
1791.  —  OoMtant|  Benjamin,  Mfimoires  »ur  les  Cent  Jours,  Paris,   1820. — Ooston,  F.  0.  de, 

flograpbie  dea  premieres  annSes  de  Napol^n,  Valencia,  1840,  2  vols.  —  OonbarUn,  P.  de, 
tudea  d'histolre  contemporalne,  L'^rolution  fran^aiae  sous  la  8me  H^publique,  Paris,  1696; 
English  translation,  Evolution  of  France  under  Srd  Republic,  New  York.  1897.  —  Ooolangea, 
F.  de,  Uiatuire  dea  inatitutiuns  pulitiques  de  I'ancieane  France,  Paria,  1877.  —  Ooualnot.  Guil- 
laume,  Chroniquo  do  la  Pucello,  in  P.  L.  Jacob's  Biblintheque  Ciauloiae,  Paris,  1857  ff. — 
Or6tlneau-Joly,  J.,  Hiatoire  do  la  Vendue,  Parity,  1841  ;  Bonaparte,  le  concordat  de  1601  et  le 
Cardinal  Consalvi,  Paris,  1869.  —  Oroker,  J.  W.,  Esaaya  on  the  early  Period  of  the  French 
Revolution,  London,  1657.  —  Orowe,  £.  K.,  History  of  France,  Loudon,  1881,  S  vols.;  1868- 
1B66.  5  vols. 

XHbaay,  R.  H.,  The  Oauses  of  the  French  Revolution,  New  York.  1888.  —  Dagaet,  A*. 
Histoire  de  La  Confederation  Suisse,  NeuchStel,  1851,  9  voU.  —  DAndliker,  Karl,  Kieine  Ge- 
Bchichte  der  Schwoiz,  ZQrich,  1876 ;  translated  by  E,  Salisbury,  A  Short  Iliitorv  of  Switzerland, 
LoudoQ,  1899. — Dangvao,  Piiilippe  de  Courcillon  de.  Journal,  Pari?,  18^>4-18f>l,  19  vula. — 
Danlal,  Qabriel,  Histoire  de  France,  Amsterdnin.  1720-1725.  — Daraste  de  la  Ohavanne,  H  M. 
C.,  Histoire  de  radminiatratian  en  France,  Paris,  1848,  2  vols.;  Histoiro  des  classes  agriooleef 
Paris.  1854-1858  ;  Histoire  de  France  depuia  lea  onpines,  ParU,  1865-1878,  8  vols. 

Hodolphe  Madelcino  Ciiovhao  Dartstt  de  la  Chavanne  was  bom  at  Paris,  October  28th, 
1S20,  and  died  at  the  same  place  in  1882.  He  was  professor  of  history  at  Orenoble  aud  Lyons 
and  in  1871  was  rector  of  the  Academy  at  Nancy.  On  account  of  his  ultramontane  views  and 
intolerance  towards  the  i^tudeiits  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Nancy  in  1678.  Dareste's  history  of 
France  is  one  of  the  best  of  the  general  histories  of  that  country.  It  lacks  the  brilliancy  of 
Michelet  and  some  of  the  conspicuous  exccllcncios  of  Martin,  but  the  author  has  thoroughlv 
iuvestigated  his  subject,  bis  material  is  well  arranged  and  the  narrative  is  enlivened  with 
accurate  descriptions.  The  Academy  of  France  twice  distingulahed  the  worlc  with  the  Gobert 
Prize. 

Dam,  P.  A.  N.  B.,  L'Histoiro  de  la  republioue  de  V^nise,  Paris,  1819.  — DaabaOf  C.  A,, 
Lea  Prisons  de  Paris  sous  la  Revolution,  Paris,  1807-1870,  8  vols.;  Histoire  de  la  rue.  du  club, 
de  la  famine.  Paris.  1867-1870.  8  vols.;  La  demagogic  en  1798.  1794  et  1795  a  Paris.  Paris, 
1867-1870,  3  voh.  —  Daudat,  E.,  A  President  of  Franco,  in  Cosmopolitan  Magazine,  New  York, 
1895.  —  Davenport,  R.  A.,  History  of  the  Bastille.  London,  1838.  —  Davila,  H.  C.  Uiiitoire  dos 

fuerres  civiles  do  France  depui.sla  mort  de  Henri  II,  Venice,  1630,  — Dayot,  A.,  Napoleon  par 
image,  Paris,  1894.  —  Delabarra-Duparcq,  N.  £.,  HiBtoiro  do  Charies  IX,  Paris,  1875.— 
Dslbrflok,  Hans,  Leben  des  Feldmarscbails  von  Gnelsenau,  Berlin,  1880.  —  DeIoche,M.,  La 
trtiste  et  rantrustion  royalo  sous  les  deux  premiers  races,  Paris,  1873.  —  Delord,  T..  HLstolre 
du  second  empire.  Paris.  1869-1875.  6  vols.,  publisbed  with  illustrations.  Pariy,  1880-1888, 
0  vols.  —  Delrau,  A.,  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  de  fevrier,  Paris,  1850,  2  vols.  —  Demogeot,  J., 
History  of  French  Literature,  London,  1789.  —  Depplng,  O.  B.,  Histoire  dea  expodiliona 
maritimea  dea  Normands,  Paris,  1848.  ^  Dea  Cam,  duke.  Memoirs  of  Ducheaa  de  Foursal, 
(translation),  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1881.  —  DftiimouUns,  Camilln.  RevoUitiana  de  Prance  et  du 
Brabant,  Journal  published  in  Paris.  1789-1790,  7  vols.;  extracts  in  Aujard's  L'eloquence  parle- 
mentaire  pendant  la  Revolution  franchise.  Paris,  1883.  —  Doniol,  H.,  Histoire  des  classes  ruraics 
en  France,  Paris,  18.'57 ;  La  Revolution  frau^aiso  et  la  Feodalite,  Paris,  1874.  —  Dreyaa,  C, 
Memoires  de  Louis  XiV,  Paris,  18.')9:  Chroiiologio  Universelle,  Paris,  187;i.  — Droz,  J.,  Histoire 
du  regne  de  Louis  XVI,  Paris.  1839-ia42,  3  vols. -- Du  Ballay,  Q.  et  M.,  M6nioire3,  Paris.  1588. 

—  Du  Oamp,  M..  Les  couvulaioua  de  Paris,  Paris,  1878-1879,  4  vols. — Du  Oleroq,  J,,  Me- 
moires, Brussela,  1822. 

Jacques  du  Cl^rcq  was  born  in  Artois  about  1420  and  died  abotit  1475.  His  memoirs  begin 
at  the  year  1418  and  extend  to  the  deatti  of  Philip  the  Good  in  1407,  givint;  n  detailed  account 
of  events  in  Flanders,  at  court  aud  elsewhere.  Bis  narrnlivc  is  a  very  (personal  one,  dealing 
largely  with  people,  thus  giving  an  iulorcstiag  picture  of  the  society  of  llie  lime. 

Daclos,  C  Pineau,  Memoires  secrets  des  rignes  de  Louis  XIV  et  de  Louis  XV,  Paris,  1791. 

—  Duorot,  A.  A.,  La  journ6o  do  Sedan,  Paris.  1^71.  — Dumont,  E.  L..  Souvenirs  sur  Mlrabeaa, 
Paris,  1851  —  Dimham,  8,  A..  History  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  London,  1838-1836, 
4  vols.  —  Dupin,  A.  M.,  Memoires,  Paris,  1855-1863,  4  vols. —Dupay,  Pierre  et  Jacques,  Tralti 
dea  droits  et  libortes  do  reglise  galHcane,  Paris,  1639.  —  Durand,  &luip,,  Napoleon  and  Marie- 
Louise,  1810-1814.  London,  1883.  —  Dnruy,  G.,  Vie  de  Turnnno,  Paris.  1880.  — Dumy,  V., 
Histoirede  France,  Paris,  1855,  Svols.;  20th  edition.  Paris,  1898  ;  Histoire  du  moyen  4ge.  Paris, 
1846  ;  14th  edition  1890 :  Petite  Histoire  de  France,  Pari-;,  1863.  The  Histoire  de  France  and 
the  Histoire  du  moyen  Age  form  part  of  the  Histoire  UnivordcUo,  published  by  a  "  Society  of 
professors  and  acholani,    under  the  dirwction  of  M.  Duruy. 

Jean  Victor  Ihirny.  hi.storian.  miniaier,  and  member  of  the  French  Academy,  was  bom  at 
Paris,  September  11th,  1611.  of  a  family  of  artists  employed  in  the  Gobelins  factories.  He  was 
himself  at  first  destined  for  the  same  profeaalon  and  did  not  commence  his  studiM  until  a  rather 
late  data  at  the  RolUn  College.      He  panafiH  a  brilliant  examination  at  the  Ecole  nonoaU 


WITH   CRITICAL  AND   BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTES 


ns 


auperipure,  after  whicli,  until  1861,  be  li«ld  a  miiriber  of  8ecom1ai7' profesfiorsliips  in  history. 
DurinK  'his  tiinf  he  took  part  in  the  collflboratinn  of  XAjwilcon  Ill's  *fulitts  Caesar,  thus  draw- 
ing the  Emppror'f)  attention  to  his  ability,  and  in  1863  he  was  made  Minister  of  Education.  He 
introduced  various  reforms  into  the  educational  system,  amoDff  them  being  the  institution  of 
public  leciures,  a  course  of  secondary  education  for  girla,  schools  for  higher  education,  and 
IalM)ratorieH  for  special  rebearch.  He  Hu^^ested  making  primary  education  compulsorr.  bnt  waa 
not  supported  in  the  plan  by  the  Emperor.  Krom  1881-1886  hi*  served  on  the  Cotuteil tuipirieur 
de  VJjuiruciion  Pubhque,  and  in  1864  waft  chosen  to  succeed  Ml^ct  in  the  French  Academy. 
Duruy's  greatest  work  was  his  hisstory  of  Home,  for  which  the  author  received  various  decora- 
tions and  prizes.  His  history  of  Franco  is  oae  of  the  best  ever  written  in  such  a  small  compass, 
and  is  of  specia.1  value  to  students  who  wish  readable  information  in  a  compact  form. 

Du  Saolx,  Jean,  Tie  I'insurrectkm  parlsienne  et  de  la  pri^e  de  la  Bastille,  Paris,  1790.  in 
J,  F.  Barri^re'a  Biblioth4<iue  des  M^moires,  26  vols.  — Z>tusi0UX,  L.  E  .  Le  Canada  S4)uh  Iu  domi- 
nation fran^aise,  Paris,  1856;  L'arraee  en  France,  Versailles,  1884.  3  vols.  —  Duvergier  d« 
Haimuine,  P.,  Uistolre  da  goavememeot  parlement&ire  en  France  1614-1848,  Paris,  1857-1872, 
10  vols. 

Bdmee,  H.,  L*£vasion  du  Temple  da  Dauphin,  Louis  XVII,  Paris,  1874.  —  Bglantine, 
see  Fabre.  —  BllJott,  F.,  Old  Court  Life  in  Krauce,  London,  1878  and  1886.  3  vols.  —  Elv, 
R.  T.,  French  and  German  Socialism  in  Modern  Times,  New  York,  1883.  — Bmanon,  R.  W., 
Napoleon  the  Man  of  the  World,  in  Representative  Men.  —  Bitlaima,  U,.  I^s  trlomphes  de 
Loiiia  XIII,  avec  les  i>ortraits  des  rois,  princps,  etc.,  Paris,  164fl. — Eatolle,  Pierre  de  1'.  Journal 
de  Henri  111.  published  by  Servln,  Paris,  1621;  by  Lenglet  Dufresuoy,  Paris.  1744;  Journal  do 
Henri  IV,  most  complete  edition,  Hague,  1744;  reproduced  in  Petitol's  and  Michaud's  Collec- 
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Fabre  d'ilglantlne,  P.  F.  N.,  PortrMt  de  Marat.  Paris,  1793. —Pain,  A.  J.  F.,  Baron. 
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audrantfi  germains,  Paris,  1836.  4  vols.;  Histoire  do  la  ptj^slo  provon9ale,  Paris,  1846;  I.«es 
oemiers  juurs  du  consulat,  Paris,  1886,  edited  by  L.  l^lauue;  KugHsh  translation,  Last  Days 
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1866  ;  Life  of  Margaret  of  Anjou,  I^ndon,  1884.  — Frlcciua.  K.,  Geschichtc  des  Krieges  in  den 
Jabren  1813  und  1814,  Altenburg,  1843.  — Frarou,  L.  S..  M&noires,  Paris.  1796-1824.  ~Pri»- 
dviicb  U  (King  of  Prussia),  CEuvres  posthumes,  Berlin,  1788-1789,  15  vols.  —  FroUaart,  Jean, 
Chroniques  de  France,  d'Angleterre.  d'£cosae  et  d'Espagne,  Paris,  1769  ;  Brussels,  1870-1877, 
20  vols. ;  English  translation,  I»ndon,  1689. 

Jean  FraUsart  is  the  historian  of  the  fourteenth  century,  as  Villehardouin  isof  the  twelfth 
and  Joinvtlle  of  the  thirteenth.  His  chronicle  includes  the  period  1328-1400  and  treats  of 
events  which  took  place  in  France,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland.  Flanders,  Spain,  and  other 
European  countries.  The  author  wa.s  born  in  Valenciennes  in  1837  and  was  early  destined  for 
the  cuurch,  although  he  put  off  taking  orders  as  long  as  possible,  wishing  first  to  fnloy  some 
of  the  plea-sures  of  Hfe.  In  1356  he  went  to  England  and  became  clerk  of  the  chapel  of  Pliilippe 
of  Haiuault,  who  encouraged  him  to  describe  the  great  events  of  hla  century.    For  thiu  puxpoae 

B.  w.— rou  xm.  Q 


226        A    GENERAL   BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF    FRENCH    HISTORY 


be  visited  Scotland.  Brittany,  and  Bnrdeaui.  aiid  KocninpaniH  the  duke  of  (Murenco  to  Italy. 
After  the  death  of  the  queen  he  entered  the  ben'ice  of  the  duke  of  Brabftnt  and  on  his  death 
became  clerk  of  the  cha^^l  of  the  count  of  Bloia,  The  latter  encouraged  hixu  tu  conljuiie  hi» 
travels  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  his  chrontcle,  and  after  visiting  various  places  in  France 
he  returned  again  to  England.  The  U»t  fourteen  years  of  hla  life  were  spent  in  quiet  in  Flan- 
ders. Froissart  deals  mainly  with  the  deeds  of  valour  and  chivalry  which  took  place  around 
him,  telling  of  toumamenta  and  battleiielda,  knights  and  ladlea.  As  to  the  deeper  problems  of 
society,  the  trauhition  stage  from  the  old  feadjui&m  which  was  fast  dying  out,  uh  is  wholly 
silent. 

Pyffo,  A.  C,  Modern  Europe.  1891-1892. 

Ghdllard,  G.  H..  Hiaioire  de  la  rivalit^  de  la  France  et  de  rAngleterr«>.  Parffl.  1778; 
Histoire  de  la  rivalitS  de  la  France  et  de  TEspatrne.  Paris,  1601  ;  Uitftolrv  de  Charlemaguo 
Buivie  de  I'hiHtnirP  de  Marie  de  Bourgogne.  Paris.  1819  ;  HtHtoire  da  Francois  I.  mi  de  France, 
Paris.  1766-1709.  7  vols.  ;  1829.  4  vols.  —  Oardlner,  Mrs.  B.  M,.  French  Uevolution,  London, 
18B3.  —  Gfrstdner,  I>. .  yuatrebras,  Ligny  and  \VtiTerlf>o,  London,  1H8:3.  —  Qamier-Pagea,  L.  A,, 
Hiwtoirt;  de  la  revolution  de  1848,  Paris,  1861-1862,8  vols.  —  Oasquet,  A.,  Precis  des  institutions 
politlques  et  sociales  de  I'ancienDe  France,  1885,  2  vols. — Qaudin,  M.  M.  C,  Duo  de  Ga€te. 
M^moires  et  Souvenirs,  Paris,  1826-1884  8  vols.  —  Gaulot,  Paul,  BililiothiSqup  do  souvenirs  et 
Ticits    militaires.  —  OauUerf   L.,   Epopees  fnuiQaises,   Paris.    1865-1868. —  Oantier,  T.,   Lea 

Ctesques.  Paris,  1844.  3  vols.  —  Oenlio,  Marquise  de  Sillery,  Mme.  de.  Adele  el  Theodore  ou 
res  Rur  I'^ducation.  Paris,  1782.  3  vols. ;  souvenirs  do  Ffilicie,  in  Barrit'rt''H  Biblinthdque  des 
Meiuoires,  vol.  14.  Paris.  1846  IT.  ;  M^molres,  Paris,  1825,  10  vols. — Oeruz«y,  K.,  Essais 
d'histoire  litieraire,  Paris.  1889  ;  Litteraturo  de  la  lU'Vohition.  Paris,  1859.  —  Qeyer,  P.,  Frank- 
relch  under  Xapoleon  III,  unfer  1865.  —  Glgaolt,  Vie  poUtlquo  du  Marquis  de  Lafayette, 
Paris,  1833.  —  Oiguet,  P.,  Hlstoire  militaire  de  la  Franne,  Pari.s,  1849,  3  vols,  —  Oirard, 
Ah\t6,  S'ouvello  histoiro  de  France,  Paris,  1888.  —  Qlrard,  H.,  Histoire  illuetnSe  de  la  3mo 
R^publique,  Paris,  1885. — Qirmud,  Charles,  Histoiro  du  droit  fran^ais  au  moyen  Age,  Paris, 
1846.  2  vols.  —  OlaiflOD.  E.,  Hlstoire  du  droit  et  des  institutions  de  la  France,  Pari*.  1887. — 
Oodehroy,  F.,  Histolre  ae  la  litteraturo  frangaise  depuls  le  Itfme  slfecle,  Paris,  1859, 10  vols. — 
Godwin,  P.,  History  of  France.  New  York,  1860. — Gonoourt.  E.  et  J.  de,  Uistoire  de  la 
BO<'i^H('  fran^ai.se  pendant  la  revolution  et  sous  le  directoiro,  Paris,  1854-1855,  2  vols.;  I.iea 
maitresseti  de  l^uis  XV,  Paris,  1860,  3  vols. — Ooroe,  P.  de  la,  Hibtoire  du  second  empire, 
Paris,  1894.  —  Gouvlon-Salnt-Oyr,  Mnrnuis  de,  Journal  des  operations  de  rarm£e  de 
Catalogne  en  1808  et  1809,  Paris,  1621;  Memolres  sur  los  campagncs  des  arm^s  du  Rhln  et 
de  Itliin-et-Moselle,  Paris,  1829;  t'ampagnes  de  1812  et  de  1813,  Paris.  1831,  — Granler  de 
Oassagnac,  A.,  Histoire  des  classes  nobles  et  des  clas.se«  anoblies,  Paris,  1840;  Histoire  da 
Directnire.  Paris,  1851-1863,  8  vols.;  Histolre  populaire  de  Napoleon  III.  Paris,  1874. — 
Graviere, .).  de  la,  (Juerres  inaritimea  sous  la  r^publique  et  Tempire,  Paris,  1888.  — Oragory 
of  TourSf  in  I^e  Haerou's  Histoire  des  Institutions  des  M6rovingiens.  PariM,  18-11. — Grimths, 
A..  French  Hevolutionary  Generals,  London,  1891.  —  Grobnaun-Damitz,  Karl  W.  von,  Ge~ 
schirhte  des  Feldzuges  von  1815  in  den  Niederlanden.  Berlin,  1887. — Gronltmd,  L.,  Ca  Ira!  or 
Danton  in  the  French  Revolution.  Boston.  1888.  — Groveatixia,  S.  de,  GuillauDte  III  et  Louis 
XIV.  Paris,  1855.  8  vols.  —  Ouentber,  R.,  (Jeschichte  des  FeUI/uges  von  1800  in  Oher-Dentsrh- 
land,  dor  Schwciz  und  In  Ober-ltalion.  Frauenfeld,  1893.  — Gu£rlnf  L^on,  Histolre  do  la  der- 
ni^re  guerre  avec  la  Russie,  Paris.  1860  ;  Histolre  maritime  de  France,  Paris,  1808.  6  vols. — 
GuiUoia,  A.,  Napnl^n,  rhomme,  le  politiijue,  Vorateur  d'apr^s  sa  correspondance,  etc.,  Paris, 
1889.  2  voIb.  — Guizot,  F, ,  (JuUection  des  meuioires  relatifs  &  I'histoire  de  France,  Paris,  1834- 
1835.  31  vols.,  divided  in  following  efliiiouH  into:  Cours  dliistoire  mi3derne,  Paris,  1828-1880, 
6  vols. ;  Hlstoire  de  la  civilisation  en  Europe.  Paris,  1881,  and  Histoire  de  la  civilisation  en 
France,  4  vols.  ;  English  translation.  History  of  CivlUsatioD  in  Europe,  London,  1886;  History 
of  Qviliaation  in  France,  New  York,  1860,  8  vols. ;  E.ssais  sur  I'hixtoire  de  France,  Paris,  1867; 
Mdmnlres  pour  servlr  &  I'histoire  de  mon  temps,  Paris  and  I^ipslc,  1858-1865,  8  vols.  ;  1859, 
4  voIb,  ;  France  under  Louis  Philippe,  London,  1885;  Last  Days  of  the  Reign  of  Louis 
Philippe,  Loudon,  1865;  Histoire  de  France  depuis  les  temps  les  plus  recul^^,  Paris,  1873- 
1875.  5  vols.  ;  translation,  Outlines  of  the  History  of  France  from  Earliest  Times,  London, 
1873,  8  vols.  ;  Memoirs  of  a  Minister  of  State  from  the  Year  1840,  I.Hindan,  1684. 

Francois  Fierre  &uxUaum^  Ouizot,  statesman  and  writer,  was  bom  at  Nlmea  In  1787.  Hia 
father  died  on  the  scaffold  in  1794.  Young  Guizot  studied  at  Geneva,  and  came  to  Paris  in  1805, 
where  he  busied  himself  with  law  and  literature.  His  name  is  eloeely  connected  with  the  stirring 
events  in  France  in  the  first  half  of  the  19th  century,  and  Guixot  alternately  took  part  in  politics 
and  lectured  at  the  Sorhonne.  In  1K40  be  was  ambassador  to  London,  where  his  literary  and 
political  fame,  and  his  works  on  Enfjlish  literature  and  history,  made  him  very  popular.  In 
1851  he  was  obliged  to  leave  France  after  the  coup  d'itat  of  Napoleon,  and  on  his  return  he 
was  made  president  of  the  Paris  Acodomv  of  Moral  and  Political  Sciences,  In  1854.  Guizot 
died  in  1874  on  his  estate  in  Normandy.  Mr.  Reeve  says  of  him :  "  Public  life,  ambition,  the 
love  of  power,  and  the  triumph  of  debate  no  doubt  shook  and  agitated  his  career,  andsome- 
times  muidirected  it ;  but  they  produced  no  effect  u|>on  the  solid  structure  of  his  character, 
which  remained  throughout  perfectly  simple,  indifferent  to  wealth,  and  prouder  of  its  own 


WITH    CRITICAL   AND   BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTES 


2«7 


it«fn^tj  tkftn  of  all  the  hononr  the  world  could  bestow.  M.  Gaizot  wilt  be  remembered  in 
hSstorr  lees  by  what  be  did  as  a  politician  than  by  what  he  wrote  as  a  man  of  Icttere,  and  by 
what  be  was  as  a  umn  ;  and  in  these  respects  he  takes  rank  amongst  the  most  illuutrioua  repre- 
aentatires  of  Ma  nation  and  Mh  age." 

Baag,  E.,  La  France  Protestante,  Paris,  10  toIs.  ^Haas,  C.  P.  M..  La  France  depulales 
temps  hs  plas  recoles,  Paris,  1860,  4  vols.;  Administration  de  la  France.  Paris,  1801, 
4  vols.  — Halevy,  L.,  L'Invasion.  rfeclts  do  guerre,  Paris,  1870-1871.  — Ballam,  Henry,  View 
of  the  Stale  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  London  and  New  York,  1858,  3  vols,  — 
Hamel,  E.,  Histoire  de  la  Rilpublique  fran^aise.  Pariii,  1872;  Histoire  de  Robespierre  et  du 
coup  d'etat,  etc.,  Paris,  1878,  8  vols. — Bamerton,  P.  G.,  Modem  F-^nchmen ;  five  biogra- 
phies. London.  1878.  — Han,otaaZf  G.,  L'affaire  de  Madagascar,  Paris,  189B.  — Bar^e, 
Documents  lu^dits  sur  les  Btuts  G^ndraux,  Paris,  1879. — Harrison,  F.  B..  Contempurary 
History  of  the  French  Revolution  (compiled  from  Annual  Register,  1788-1794),  l..ondon,  1889. — 
Hatiall,  A.,  Mirabean.  London,  1889.  —  Batin,  L,  E.,  Histoire  politique  et  littdraire  de  la  presse 
en  France,  Paris,  1850-1861,  8  vols. —  BAusaer,  L.,  GeschichtederfranzCsischen  Revolution  1789- 
1799.  Berlin,  1867.  —  BauasonvUle,  J.  O.  B.,  de  Clfiron,  Comte  d',  Histoire  de  la  poliliqac 
ei.t£rieure  du  gouveriiPiufiit  fran^uiH  de  1830  &1848,  Paris,  1850,  3  vols.;  Histoire  de  la  reunion 
de  la  Lorraine  &  la  France.  Paris,  1854-1859  ;  Puchesse  de  Bourgngne  et  Palliance  savoyarde 
sous  Louis  XIV,  Paris.  1898.  —  Haien,  W.  B.,  School  and  Army  of  Germany  (Fran(.'^>-Qeniuan 
War),  New  York,  1872.  —  BazHtt,  W.,  The  Life  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  London.  1853,  4  vols.. 
2nd  edition.  —  Beath,  J.  B.,  Collectinn  of  Letters  of  Buonaparte  Family,  Phlloblblion  Society, 
London,  1866.  —  Belfert,  A.  von,  Maria  Luise,  £rzherzogin  von  Osterreich,  Kaiserin  der 
Franzosen,  Vienna,  1873  ;  Joacbiin  Afurat,  Vienna,  1878  ;  Ausgang  der  fr&nzAsischen  Herrscbaft 
in  Oberitalien,  Vienna,  1690.  — Belie,  F.  A.,  Les  constitutions  de  la  France,  Paris,  1875-1879.— 
Beockel  von  Donnersmarck,  W..  Krinneruncen  aus  m(<inem  iicben,  Zerbst.  1847.  —  Bettner, 
H.,  (ieschiclito  (icr  franzo.si.'^rbf^n  Litlorntur.  in  Tiis  Littoraturgnachichte  des  ISten  Jabrbiinderts, 
Brunswick,  1880,  2  vuIm. — Blllabrand,  K.,  Gettchlchte  Frankreichs  von  der  Tbruobesteigung 
l^uia  Philipps  bis  zuni  Falle  Napoleon  HI.,  in  Heeren  und  Ukert's  Geschichte  der  europftiBcheu 
Staaien.  Gotba,  1877-1879,  3  vols.  —  Blppeau,  E.  G.,  Histoire  diplomatique  de  la  3me  r6pub]ique. 
1^70-1889.  Paris,  1889.  —  Bolland,  Lord,  see  Fox.  —  Bortanse,  Queen,  M^moires,  Paris,  1884. 
—  Bonssaye,  A.,  La  r<6gence,  Paris,  16fH).  — BoxieTi  H.  M.,  Military  Life  of  Turcnne,  London, 
1885.  —  Bueff«r,  F..  The  Troubadours,  London,  1878.  —  Bugo,  V.,  Napoleon  le  petit,  Paria. 
1852;  Les  Miserables,  1863;  Histoire  d'un  crime,  1877.  —  Button,  \V.,  Philip  Augustus, 
London,  1896. 


IdeviUe,  Comte  d',  Le  marechal  Bugeaud,  Paris,  1885. 

Jackaon,  Lady  C.  C.  The  Old  Regime,  London,  1880  ;  French  Court  and  Society,  London, 
1881 ;  Court  of  Tuilcrles,  from  Restoration  to  Flight  of  L^ouia  Philippe,  London,  18811 ;  Last  of 
the  Valoia  and  Accession  of  Henr}' of  Navarre*  London,  1888;  The  first  of  the  Bourbons, 
London.  1889.  — J&hns,  Max,  Da.s  franzCsische  Heer  vnn  der  groHSfln  Revnlution  bin  xur  Gegen- 
wart,  Leipsic,  1873.  —  Jamea,  G.  P.  R..  Mary  of  Bureundy.  Louilou.  18^3.  —  Jamison,  D.  F., 
The  Life  and  Times  of  Bertrnnd  du  Guesclin.  CharTestown,  1864.  2  vo3s.  —  Janet,  P.,  Phi- 
loaophie  de  la  Revolution  franQaise.  Paris,  1875.  —  Jaoln,  J.,  Paris  et  Versailles  U  y  a  cent  ana. 
Paiis,  1874.  —  Jean  de  Troyes,  Histoire  de  Louis  XI,  .  .  .  autremeut  dlcte  l^a  Chronlque 
ScandaleuRe,  in  Philippe  de  Cominea'  Croniqae,  Brussfela,  1706. 

The  chronicle  of  Jean  de  IVoyes  la  one  of  the  most  valuable  sources  for  the  history  of 
Louis  Xi.  The  title  Chronigue  SeandaUuse  was  probably  added  by  some  publisher  and  the 
first  edition  of  it  gives  neither  the  date  nor  the  author's  name.  Jean  de  Troyes  relates  occur. 
nacea  as  the  king  wished  them  to  be  known  to  the  people,  without  thinking  of  seeking  any 
oaderlying  p<ililical  cause  for  them.  He  also  gives  a  grpat  manr  details  which  give  more  than 
any  other  work  a  deep  insight  Into  the  inner  life  of  Paris  at  t\ie  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Unfortunately  the  chronicler  often  relates  from  hearsay,  so  that  his  work  requires  comparison 
with  other  writers. 

Jeannin,  P..  N^gociations,  Paris,  1656 ;  (Kuvres  mSl^es  in  Petitot's  Collection  complete  des 
m^oires  relktifs  i  I'histoire  de  France,  1819,  ser.  3,  vol.  10.  — Jarrold,  B.,  Life  of  Napoleon 
III,  London,  1871-1874.4  vols. —  JerrlajW.  H..  History  of  France,  New  York.  1898.  —  Jobo«, 
A.,  La  France  sous  Louis  XVI,  Paris,  1877-1881,  2  vok.  —Johnson,  A.  H,,  The  Normans  in 
Europe,  London,  1877.  —  JoinviUe,  J.  de.  Vie  do  St.  I.*ouifl,  first  edition  1546  ;  translated  by  J. 
Button,  Loudon,  1668. 

The  Sire  de  Joinvtlle  was  bom  in  1234  and  was  for  a  time  attached  to  the  service  of  Count 
Thibaot  of  Champagne.  Ho  afterwards  became  the  friend  and  chronicler  of  Louis  IX  and 
Booomponied  him  on  his  first  crusade  to  Eg^pt,  fighting  at  his  side  and  sharing  his  captivity. 
It  was  not  nntil  long  after  the  author's  return  to  his  own  country,  when  he  wa.t  an  old  man, 
that  he  wrote  the  biography  which  has  made  him  famous,  writing  it.  as  he  says,  at  the  request 
of  the  king's  mother  Jeanne  de  Navarre.  The  narrative  is  wonderfully  attractive,  bringingout 
dearly  the  character  of  the  "  saint  king"  for  which  the  history  of  the  crusade  forms  a  ^ck< 
groond. 


ftn       A  (JENEBaL  61BLI0G&APHY   OF   FRENCH   HISTORY 


Jomini,  H.  Baron,  Histoire  critique  et  mUiUire  des  rampagnefl  de  1a  Revolution.  Paris. 
1819-18:^,  15  voIh.;  Vie  politique  et  militaire  de  Nai>ol6no,  I^aris,  1630,4vol8.  — Jourgniac  d# 
Baint-M6ard,  Fr.  fin,  Mon  (ignnie  de  38  liMurfiH,  Paris,  1792,  6lh  edition.  — Jang,  T..  I^yi  prrt- 
mieres  anutV'S  de  Bfjnaparto,  Paris,  1880  :  Bonaparte  vt  non  temps,  Paris,  1880-1881,  8  vols..  — 
Journal  d'on  Bourgeola  de  Farla,  edittNl  l)r  Uodefroy,  Ktid  in  Honchin'a  collection  de  inemoires 
rolatifs  a  rhistoire  de  France,  vol.  40.  —  ^onot,  Mine,,  M^moires,  Paris.  1881-18S4,  IHvola.; 
Hietoire  dee  salons  de  Paris  et  portraits  du  tfrand  tnonde  sous  Louis  XVI,  le  Directoire,  Con- 
sulate Empire,  Hestauratiun  et  regno  de  Louis  Puilippe,  Paris,  1887-1838.  — Jut^daI  dM  Unlna, 
Hifitolre  de  Charles  VI,  published  by  Godefroy,  Paris,  1614;  in  Michaud's  collection,  vol.  2. 

Salaer,  S.^  FranzOsische  Verfossunneaschichte,  Leipsic,  1803.  —  Sarvanean,  F.  M.  de.  et 
Olavalln,  Uistoire  de  la  Il^volution  de  Prance,  Paris,  1793-180;j.  19  vols.  —Slag,  £.,  French 
Political  Leaders,  New  York,  1876.  —  Elnglake,  A.  W.,  The  Invasion  of  the  Crimea ;  ita  origin 
and  an  account  of  its  progress  down  to  the  dt^ath  of  Lord  Haelan,  Edinburjch,  1868-1887.  — 
Kirk,  J,  K.,  History  of  Charies  the  Bold,  Philadelphia,  1846-18fe,  3  vols.  — Kitchln,  O.  W..  A 
History  of  France,  Oxford  and  New  York,  1877.  8  vols.;  article  Franco,  In  Encyclopanlia  Bri- 
tannica,  0th  edition.  — Knighton^  Henry,  Chronica  de  eventibus  Angliw  a  tempore  r^ia  £dgari 
usque  mortem  regis  Ricardi  Sccundi,  edited  bv  R.  Twysdcn.  in  Historiw  angUcann  Boriptarea, 
vol.  10,  London.  1653  fT.  —Koch,  J.  B.  i\  Mdmoires  de  Masa^na,  Paris.  1849-1850,  7  toIb. 

La  Bruy^re,  Jean  de.  Les  caract^rea  ou  Ics  mosurs  de  ce  ai^le,  Paris,  1688  ;  edited  by 
Chassang,  Paris,  1876. — £*aoombe,  B.  de,  Catherine  deMMicis,  Paris,  1899. — Xjaoombe,  C.  de, 
Henry  IV  et  sa  politique,  Paris,  1877.  —  liaoomba,  P.,  A  Short  History  of  the  French  People, 
New  York.  1B75.  —  Lacretelle,  Ch.,  Ulsluire  de  France  pendant  le  XVIII  siecle.  Paris,  1808.  6 
vols.;  6th  ed..  1^80;  Histoire  de  France  depuis  la  liestauration,  Paris,  1829-1836,  4  vols.  ;  Dix 
anni^^s  d'dpreuves  p4*ndant  la  revolution,  Paris,  1842;  Histoire  du  Consulat  et  de  I'Empiro, 
Paris,  1846. — Lady  of  Rank,  liouk  of  Costume.  Londoxi.  1847,  —  La  Fara,  C.  A.  Marquis  de, 
M^moiros  sur  Louis  XIV,  Kottdrdiun,  1715.  — La  Fayett«,  Comtesse  di?.  CEuvros,  Paris,  1814.  — 
La  Fayette,  Marquis  de,  Memoires,  Paris.  18S7-1840.  —  La  Marohe,  Olivier  de,  M^moires. 
Lyons,  1562 ;  Paris,  1843,  in  the  Pantheon  litt^raire;  Le  Parement  et  le  Triomphe  des  dames 
d'honneur,  Paris,  1566. 

Olivier  de  La  Marche  was  born  at  La  Marche  in  Burgundy  In  1426  and  died  in  1501.  He 
lived  at  the  coart  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundv,  and  describes  events  thnn^  from  the  year  1435  to 
1492.  His  memoirs  are  valuable  for  mihtary  history  and  the  general  history  of  the  time, 
although  their  style  is  somewhat  duU.  He  also  wrote  several  works  in  varse,  among  them  the 
second  montiontHl  above. 

Lamartine,  A.  de,  Les  Qlrondlns,  Parla,  1847, 4  vols. ;  London,  1868.  8  vols. ;  History  of  the 
French  Revolution,  London,  1849 ;  History  of  the  Restoration  of  the  Monarchy  in  Fnuice, 
London,  1652.  4  vols. 

Alphonse  Marie  Louis  de  Lamartine,  poet,  politician,  historian,  the  aon  of  an  officer  and 
himself  a  member  of  the  guard  in  1814,  was  born  in  1700  at  M&con.  A  fall-fledged  poet,  he 
WBs  elected  a  member  of  tiie  French  Academy  In  1820.  He  at  once  embarked  in  politics.  In 
1847  h(*  publi-fbed  the  ni»loir»  des  Oirondifui,  a  work  which,  while  at  times  iimccurate,  poaaeased 
brilliant  qualities  and  did  much  to  pre|iarf  public  sentiment  for  the  republic.  He  oontinned 
his  diplomatic  career  until  the  coup  d'Hat  of  the  2nd  of  December,  1851,  forced  him  into 
private  life.  He  continued  to  produce  miscoUonoous  works  until  his  death  in  1868.  A  brilliant 
stylist  and  word-painter,  he  is  perhaps  not  the  most  accurate  of  historians,  and  allowances 
must  lit*  inadft  for  bis  flights  of  imagination. 

Lanessan.  J.  L.  de.  L'Expansion  colonlale  de  la  France,  Paris.  1866.  —  Lanfrvy,  P.,  His- 
toire (le  Nspolt^on  ler,  Paris  1867-1876,  5  vols.;  translation.  Historvof  Napoleon  I,  Ixiudon  and 
New  York,  1871-1879,  4  vols.  —  Lanierj  L.,  L'Afriquo,  Paris,  1^84.  —  Lanoue,  Frangois  de. 
M^moires,  in  Petitot's  Collection  complete  des  mSmoires  relatlfs  &  I'histoire  de  France,  Paris, 
1819.  — La  Popelini^re,  L.  Voisin  de,  Histoire  de  France  de  1550  a  1557,  Ija  Hochelle.  1561.  — 
Larchey,  L.,  Bayard.  London,  1883. — La  Rochefoncauld,  Francois.  Due  de,  M^molres  sur  le 
i^gne  d  Anne  d'Autriche,  Paris,  1663;  Maximes,  Paris,  1665.  —  La  Rooh^faqoeleln,  Mme.  de, 
Memoiros,  Bordeaux,  1816.  —  Las  Oases,  D.,  Comto  de.  Memorial  de  Sainte-Helene,  Pari»,  1828, 
8  vols.  —  La  Tour  d'Auvergne,  H.  de  <  Due  de  Bouillon).  Memoires,  Paris,  1666:  1836. — 
Lavaletta,  M.  J.  de,  MSmoirt'S  et  Miuvenirs  du  Comte  de  la  Valette,  Paris,  1631.  —  La^aHee, 
T..  Histoire  des  Frangais.  Paris,  1845,  2  vols. ;  Hiutoire  de  Paris,  Paris,  1852.  —  LaTlate,  see 
Rambaud. — I«e  Bal,  Jean,  I.#s  vrayes  chroniqnes  de  Mesalre,  Brussels.  1863.  —  Xfeber,  M., 
E^ssai  sur  I'appr^ciation de  la  fortune  priv^e  au  Moyen  Age,  Paris,  1847.  — Leoointa.  C,  Annalca 
eoclfeiastiques  de  la  France,  Paris,  1665-1680,  8  vols.  —  I^efranc,  A.,  Olivier  de  QiBson,  Paris, 
1888.  —  Legeay,  IT.,  Histoire  de  Louis  XI.  Paris.  1874.  2  vols.  — Le  Oofl^  F..  TheUfeof  Louis 
Adolphe  Thiers,  New  York,  1879.  —  L«  Grand  d'Auaiy,  Histoire  de  la  vie  priv£e  des  Fran^aifl, 
Paris,  1768  ;  1851,  8  vols.  —  Le  Haeron,  J.  M.,  Histoire  des  institutiona  m^rovingiennes,  Paris, 
1841 ;  Histoire  des  Institutions  c&rolin^ennea,  Paris.  1848.  —  Lemontey,  Pierre  K.,  Histoire  de 
la  regence  et  de  la  minority  de  Louis  Xv,  Paris,  1882.  — Leolent,  C,  La  satire  en  France,  Paris, 
1866.  —  Leacure,  M.  F.  A.  de,  La  Princosse  de  Lamballp.  Paris,  1864  ;  Jeanne  d'Arc,  L'hdroine 
de  la  France.  1866  ;  Napol^n  et  sa  faoiille,  1867.  —  LllatoiU,  P.  de,  M^molree,  Jouniaux,  in 


WITH    CKITICAL    AND    BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTES 


229 


Micliftnd  H  Poujftlot'3  Collection,  Paris,  1835-1B26.  —  LeTB8B«ur,  P.  E..  Rccherches  historiques 
Bur  le  syBt^me  d«  Law,  Paris,  1854;  Histoire  des  cla.sses  nuvriervs  en  France,  Paris,  1859,  2 
rols.  — Leveique,  P.  C,  La  France  sous  les  cinq  premiers  Valois,  Paris,  1788,  4  vols.  —  lisvy, 
A.,  Napoleon  intime.  Paris,  189S.  —  Lew«i,  O.  H.,  Biographical  Uistorv  of  Philosophy.  Lon- 
don, 1845-1846  ;  Life  of  Robespierre.  Ixmdon.  1864.  —  LiUy,  W.  S.,  A  Ceutarv  of  Revolution, 
London.  1B89.  —  Unguat,  H..  M^moires  sur  la  Bastille,  London.  1788.  —  ZJnagaraj,  P.  C. 
Histoire  de  la  (.'ommuiie  de  1871,  Brus&elB,  1876  ;  translation.  History  of  the  I'ommunw  of  1871, 
London.  1886.  —  Z«lttri,  E.,  llistoire  de  la  lanpno  fran^aiiw.  Parifi,  1863,  2  vols.  — Uvy,  Titos, 
T.  Livil  Foro-JnlieoRia  vita  Henrici  Quinti,  regis  Anpliw,  Oxford,  1710.  —  Lockhart,  J.  6.,  Life 
of  Buonaparte,  London,  1889.  — Lomenie,  L.  de,  Oalerio  descontemporainsillustres,  Brussels, 
lSi8.  —  Londonderry,  C.  W.  S.,  Marquis  of.  Narrative  of  the  War  In  Germany  and  Franc*  in 
1813  and  1814,  Luiuioii,  1830.  —  Longnon,  A..  Atlas  Historigue  de  la  France,  Paris,  1884. — 
ZjOt,  Les  demiers  Carolinpens,  Paris,  1892.  —  I*oula  XIV,  M^moirca,  most  complete'  edition  by 
Dreyss,  Paris,  1859.  —  Lubls,  E.,  Histoire  de  la  Kestauration.  Paris,  1848.  6  vols.— Luce,  S.. 
Histoire  de  la  Jacquerie,  Paris,  1869.  — Lachalre,  A.,  Histoire  des  InBtitationsMonarchiques  de 
U  Franco  sous  les  premiers  Cap^tiens,  Paris,  1884-1885. — Luynea,  Ch.  Philippe,  Due  de, 
M^moires.  published  by  Pussieux  and  Sooli^,  Paris,  1800-1862.  17  vols. 

Mably,  O.Bonnot  de.  Observations  snr  I'hiHtoire  de  France,  Geneva,  1765. — Macanlay. 
T.  B.,  Mirabeau,  in  Essays. — Macdonnell,  J.,  France  since  the  First  Empire,  Loudon  and 
New  York,  1879.  —  Maokintoah,  J.,  Vindica?  GolHoe,  London.  1791.  —  Maimbourg,  L.,  Historv 
of  the  Holy  War,  etc..  transluted  by  Dr.  Nalson,  London,  lflH6.  —  Maintenon,  Mme.  de,  M^- 
moires,  1766,  6  vols.  —  Mallesoo,  G.  B.,  Eugene  of  Savoy,  London,  1888  ;  History  of  the  French 
lu  India,  London,  1808. — MaUet-I>upan,  J..  M^moires,  Paris,  1851;  Correspondance  pour 
aervir  k  I'histoire  do  La  Revolution,  Paris,  1851  (both  published  by  Hayous).  —  Marceau, 
Seivent,  Notices  historiques  sur  le  gdut^rol  Marceau,  Milan,  1830.  —  Margaret  de  Valola, 
L'Ueptameron,  Paris,  1559;  M^raoires.  Paris,  1628. — Margry,  P..  IKicouvertcs  et  dtablisse- 
ments  des  Fran^als,  Paris.  1879-1881.  4  vols.  —  Marmont,  A.  F.  L.  de,  M6moire8.  Paris,  1836- 
1887,  9  vols.  —  Bflarmoniel,  J.  F.,  M^moires,  Paris,  1799. — Marot,  Jean.  Recueil  de  Jehan 
Marot  de  Caen,  Paris,  1582.  —Martin,  11..  Histoire  de  Franco  jusqu'en  1789.  Paris.  1865-1860. 
17  vols.,  4ih  edition  ;  popular  edition,  1867-1885,  7  vols.;  Histoire  de  France  modeme,  depals 
1789  iusqu'A  nosjours,  Paris.  1878-1885,  8  vols.,  3nd  edition. 

Bon  Louis  Henri  Mart  171  was  bom  at  St.  Quentin(Ai8iie)  in  1810,  and  died  in  1883.  He  bepan 
his  literary  career  by  writing  historical  novels,  but  soon  turned  bis  attention  more  cxclusivelv 
to  history  and  in  1833  published  the  first  edition  of  his  chief  work,  '*Th©  History  of  France.^' 
After  the  second  edition  the  work  was  completely  revised  and  enlarged,  and  in  1856  received  the 
first  prize  of  the  Academy.  The  first  work,  extending  tothe  Revolution,  was  supplemented  by 
his  Histoire  cU  France  modfme,  the  two  together  giving  a  complel*  history  of  France,  which 
stands  perhaps  at  the  head  of  general  histories  of  that  country.  It  shows  profound  rese&rch 
and  is  characterised  by  great  impartiality,  accurncv,  and  courage  in  dealine  with  political  events. 
Martin  was  prominent  m  political  life.  In  1848  he  was  a  lecturer  at  the  Sorbonne,  but  waa 
obliged  to  retin*  during  the  reaction  from  democratic  tendencies.  In  1871  he  was  chosen  delegate 
from  Aisne  to  the  National  Assembly,  and  in  1876  was  wnator  for  tho  same  province.  Martin 
aimed  at  writing  a  national  history  of  hlscountry  aiidhts  work  has  had  a  groat  national  influence. 

Marx,  E..  tssai  sur  les  pouvoirs  de  Gouverneur  de  Province,  etc.,  Paris,  1880.  — Marziala, 
F.  T.,  Life  of  Leon  Gambetla,  London.  1890.  — Maison,  F,,  Napoldon  lerei  les  femmes,  Paris, 
1898;  Nam)16on  cbez  lui,  Pari.s  1894.  —  Masson,  fi,,  Earlv  (.'hroniclers  of  France,  London, 
1879  ;  Richelieu,  1884  ;  Mazarin,  1887.  —  Matthew  Parta,  Chronica  Majora,  edited  by  Parker, 
1571  ;  best  edition  by  Dr.  Luard  in  Rolls  Series.  1872-1880,  6  vols.  —  Maupaa,  C.  E.  de.  M6- 
moiressurle  Second  Empire,  Paris,  1884  ;  English  translation.  Story  of  the  C(nij>d'£)i!at,  !x)ndon, 
1884,  2  vols.  —  Maxwell,  H.,  Life  of  Wollington,  London,  1893.  —  May,  Thoiiia.M  Erskine, 
Pemocracy  in  Eun»pe,  l./<indon,  1^77,  2  vols.  —  Mazarin,  Jules,  Cardinal,  Negociatjons  Kecr^tea 
dea  Pyr^nfies,  Anistonlnm,  169;t ;  Lettres  de  Mazarin  relatives  d  la  Frondp,  published  by  Tamizey 
de  Larroque,  Paris.  1861  ;  Lettres  {published  by  A.  Ch^ruel  at  the  order  of  the  French  govern- 
ment, in  progress),  2  vols.  —  Meaux,  Vicomte  ne,  La  Revolution  et  TEmpire,  Paris,  1867  ;  Les 
Inttee  religieiises  en  France  an  XVI  sifecle.  Paris.  1879.  — Mercter,  L.  S..  Nouvpru  Paris,  Paris, 
1800,  6  vols.;  Paris  i>endant  la  revolution,  Paris.  1802,  2nd  edition.  —  Merimee,  P.,  I*a 
chronique  dn  regne  de  Charles  IX.  1829.  —  Mettemich-Wlnnebnrg,  Prince  Clemens,  Aus  Met- 
temich's  nachgelassencn  Papieren,  Vienna.  lW::ii)-1884,  8  vols. — Mezeray,  E.  de,  Histoire  de 
France,  Paris,  1643-1651,  3  vols.;  1839. — Michaud,  Joseph,  Histoire  des  croisades,  Paris, 
1812-1822,  7  vols.;  new  edition,  1877.  2  vols.;  with  Pot^Joulat,  J.  J.  F..  Nouvelle  collection  do 
m6moires  pour  servir  &  I'histoin*  de  France  depuis  le  Xllle  sl^le  jusqu'au  XVIlle  si^le, 
Paris.  18a6-ia'19,  32  vo1:i.  —Michel,  G..  Vie  de  Vauban,  Paris.  1879.  —  BAiohelet,  J.,  Histoire 
de  France,  1837-1867, 16  vols.;  last  edition  1879,  19  vols.;  translated  into  English,  History  of 
France,  by  W.  Kelly,  London.  1846,  2  vols.;  La  France  devant  I'Europe,  Florence.  1871  ;  His- 
toire de  la  Revolution  fran9aise,  Paris,  1889.  5  vola..  4th  edition  ;  Histoire  du  XIXe  si&'le  (to 
Waterioo),  Paris.  1876.  3  vols. 

Julf^  MicMUt  was  bom  at  Paris  in  1798  and  died  in  1874.  From  1821  to  1826  he  was  pro 
feesor  of  history  and  philoaophy  at  RolUn  college,  daring  which  period  he  published  the  remark- 


230        A   GENERAL   BIBLIOGRAPHY   OF    FRENCH    HISTORY 


able  PrScta  de  Tkistoire  modeme.   He  was  made  member  of  the  Academy  in  1888,  and  sacoeedadj 
DaaDon  in  the  chair  of  hi^torr  at  the  CollA^  de  FVanc^.     He  refused  in  1848  nomination  to  th«; 
National  Assembly  and  devoted  himself  cxcluaively  to  his  historiral  labours.     The  coup  d'Uad' 
of  the  2nd  of  December,  1851,  deprived  him  of  Lis  chair  in  the  College  de  France,  and  he  con-' 
tinned  in  retirement  hia  Sistoire  de  France  and  Uistoire  dt  la  Sivotution.    A  virld  colorist,  hft! 
is  sometimes  called  a  poetical  historian  because  his  imaginative  representation  i»  imbued  with 
the  ideals  of  democracy.     He  regnrdpd  everything  from  a  personal  point  of  view  no  that  every- 
thing he  wrote  is  strongly  stamped  with  his  indivldualitv.  with  his  violent  prejudices  and  ardent 
patriotism.     In  this  respect  he  is  one  of  the  must  remaruble  of  historians.     It  hatt  truly  been 
said  that  there  are  no  dry  bones  in  his  writings. 

Mignet,  F.  A.,  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  frangaise,  Paris.  1834,  2  vols.;  8th  edition,  ldAt» 
2  vols. ;  N^ncitttions  relativPM  i  la  fiurcpKsion  d'Rf^pa^i^.  Parifi,  183ft~1844,  4  vols.;  Hivalit^  d^i 
Franoots  I  et  de  Charles  V,  Paris,  1875-1876.  2  vols  ;  Vio  do  Franklin,  in  Acad^mio  des  Sriencea, 
Morales  et  Poliliques,  Paris,  1848. — Mikh aTl o waki-Danile wskl.  A..  L'Histoiro  de  la  jruerre 
de  1K12,  4  vols.;  Mdmoires  sur  ]'exp6dition  de  iSlS;  I^  passage  de  la  Bdr^xina,  Paris,  1843; 
Relation  de  la  compare  de  1805.  Paris,  1846;  Complete  works  published  at  St.  Petersburg, 
1849-1850,  7  vols.  —  Mllman,  H.  H.,  Higtory  of  Ijitin  Christianity,  I-rf>ndon,  1867.  —  Bfflot  de 
MelltOf  A.  E..  M^moires,  Paris.  1858,  3  vols.  —  Mirabeau,  Marquis  de.  L'ami  dfs  hommcs  ou 
traits  de  la  iKjpulation,  The  Hague,  1758,  8  vols. — Moltke,  llellmuth  Kurl  Bernhardt,  Graf 
von,   DeutHch-fronaiSsischer  Kripg  vnn   1871.   Bt>rHn,   1801  ;  translated  by  C.  Bell  and  H.  W. 
FiBher,  London,  1891,  2  vols.  — Moutrelet,  E.  de,  Cbroniquo,  in  Buchon's  Collection  des  chro- 
niques  franQaises,  Paris,  1826;  English  translation ;  The  (I'hroniclesof . .  .  Monstrelet,  containing' < 
an  account  of  the  Civil  Wars  between  the  Houses  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy,  London,  186^  ' 
S  vols. 

En^fierrand  de  MontttreUt  was  bom  of  a  noble  family  of  Flanders  in  about  the  vear  1890. 
He  attached  himself  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy  and  becamo  provost  of  Cambray.  He  ditnl  in 
1453.  His  chronicle  begins  where  Froisaart  left  off,  at  the  year  1400.  and  continues  to  1444, 
having  been  continued  by  other  writers  until  1516.  He  describes  the  events  of  his  time,  chiefly 
the  wars  of  France,  Artois,  and  Picardr.  While  his  narration  lacks  the  brilliancy  of  that  of 
Froisaart,  it  is  almost  uniformly  accurate  and  is  very  valuable  for  the  original  documents  it 
reproduces, 

MonUdgne,  Michel  de,  Essals,  Bordeaux,  1580. — Moiit«il,  A.  A.,  Histoire  des  PranQals 
des  divers  Etats,  Paris,  1858,  5  vols.;  Histoire  Agricole  de  la  France,  Paris,  1877;  Histoire  de 
rindustrie  Fran^aise.  Paris  and  Limoges,  1878-1880,  2  vols.;  Histoire  financidre  de  la  France, 
Limogen,  1881. — Montesquieu,  Charles  de  Secondat,  Baron  de.  Pens^os  de  Montesquieu  in 
Pieces  int^resitaDtes  et  pea  cuimues  pour  servtr  k  I'hiBtoire  et  k  la  litt^rature  ;  Esprit  des  Lois, 
Geneva,  1748.  —  MontgaiUord,  G.  H.  R..  Histoire  de  France  chronologique,  1787-1818.  Paris, 
1828.  —  Montholon.  Ch.  T.  de,  with  General  Ooorgaad,  Mfemoircs  pour  servir  k  Thistoiro  de 
France  sous  Napol£on,  Merits  &  8te.  H^I^ae  sous  sa  dictee,  Paris.  1838,  8  vols. — Montjoiai 
Christopbe,  F.  L.,  Eloge  historique  de  Marie  Antoinf^ttn,  Pari».  1797.  — Montloo,  Blaise  dft< 
Xiaaseran  MasHencome,  Commentaires.  Bordeaux,  1592. — Montvon,  A.  de,  Particularity  et 
observations  sur  les  ministrt^s  des  financets  de  France,  London,  1812.  — MoreUet,  Andre,  M6- 
iD(drea,  Paria,  1821.  — Morley,  J.  Rousseau.  London  and  New  York,  188fi  ;  Voltaire,  London 
and  Kew  York.  1886.  —  Morris,  W.  O'Connor.  French  Revolution  and  the  First  Empire,  London, 
1874.  — Motteville,  Franfoise  liertaut  di*.  Memnires  pour  servir  k  I'hiHtoire  d'Anne  d'Autriche, 
Amsterdam.  1723.  6  vols.  —  Mouffle,  d'Angerville,  La  vie  privec  de  Louis  XV,  Paris,  1781.  — 
Mouskeij  P..  Chronique  rim^,  Bni&sels.  1806-1838. 

Philtp  Mouskes  was  Bishop  of  Tournay  in  1374.  and  died  about  1283.  His  metrical  chron. 
icle  begins  with  the  rape  of  Helen  and  extends  to  the  year  1242,  containing  over  thirty  thousand, 
lines.  A  great  deal  of  the  work  has  been  borrowed  from  the  old  chansons  de  geste  and  belongs* 
to  the  realm  of  fable.  His  narrative  of  the  period  beginning  with  Baldwin's  being  elected  king 
of  Constantinople  is  the  only  part  which  can  claim  to  De  called  history. 

Mnel,  L£on,  Goavernements,  ministdres  et  constitutions  de  la  France,  Paris,  1800.  — 
Muffling,  F.  F.  K.  von,  Uescbichte  des  Feldrugs  der  Armee  unter  Wellington  nnd  BlUcber, 
1815.  Stuttgart,  1817 ;  Zur  Krie^ngeschtrhte  der  Jahre  1818  und  1814.  Berlin.  1827 ;  Betrach- 
tungen  Qber  die  grossen  Operationen  und  Schlachten  der  FeldzUge  von  1813  und  1814.  Berlin, 
1825;  Napoleons  Strategic  im  Jahre  1813»  Berlin,  1827;  Ans  meinem  Leben,  Berlin,  1851. 
—  MftUer,  David,  OeschTchte  des  deutschen  Volkes,  Berlin,  1900.  17th  edition.  —  MflUer,  W., 
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Very  Little  is  known  conoeming  the  life  of  OuiUaume  de  Nangia,  except  that  he  was  a  monk 
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the  Freooh  kings  was  written  in  French,  the  other  works  in  Latin.  The  general  chroaidt 
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le  based  on  personal  observations  and  experience.     The  chronicle  was  continued  by  the  monka 


WITH   CRITICAL   AND    BIOGKAPHICAL    NOTES  831 

of  St.  Denis,  notably  by  Je&n  de  Vlnette,  who  brougrht  it  down  to  tbe  year  1368.  It  is  almofit 
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WITH    CRITICAL  AND    BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTES 


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Flarigny).  Histoiro  de  la  Revolution  de  1848.  Paris.  1860-1853.  3  vols.  — Sachet,  L.  ti.. 
Mdmoirps  sur  la  guerre  d'Espagne.  Paris,  1829,  2  vols.  -- Sugar,  ral>W.  Vie  de  Ixinis  VI,  (or) 
Qesta  Ludovici  repis  cognomento  Grossi.  in  Uuixot's  Collection  de  m^moires. — Sully, 
Maximilien  de  B^tnnne,  Due  de,  M^moires  in  Petitnt's  collection  ;  translation,  Memoirs 
of  the  Prime  Minister  of  Henry  the  Great,  lyondon.  1856,  4  vols.  —  Sybal,  H.  von.  Die  Erhe- 
bung  Europaa  gegen  Napoleon  I..  Munich,  1860;  Uescbichte  der  Revulutionszeit,  Frankfort, 
1882.  fi  vols.  —  Symaa,  J.  E.,  The  French  Revolution,  London,  1842. 


oontflmporaine ;  I'ancien  r^me.  1867;  la  R6volulion,  1878-1S84,  3  vols.  ;  le  regime  modeme, 
Paris.  1880  ;  tmnslBtions,  The  Ancient  Rd^^ime,  I^ndon  and  New  York,  1876  ;  The  Revolution, 
London  and  New  York,  1878-1885.  —  Talleyrand-Perigord,  Prince.  Correspondance,  Paris, 
1881  ;  Engli!<h  translation.  Correspondence  of  Prince  Talleyrand,  I^ndon,  1881.  — Tatiitachefi^ 
8.  8.,  Alexandre  I«r  et  Napoleon,  Paris,  1801.  —  Tavannaa,  Jean  de  Saulx  de.  Memoire.s,  in 
Michaud  et  Poujoulat's  Collection,  Paris.  —  TchitchagoS^  Admiral,  3Ieiiinires  in^l^dltri  de  raniiral 
T..  Campagne  de  la  Rus.sie  en  1812.  Berlin,  lBo5.  —Tenet-  P.  P.  E..  Paris  en  d<^cembre  1851. 
Paris.  1868.  — Ternaua^  M.,  Ilialoire  de  la  Terreur,  1792-1794,  Pari.s.  1861-1867.  16  vols. — 
Thibaadeau,  A.  C,  M^moires  sur  la  Convention  et  le  Directoire,  Paris,  1824;  Le  consulat  et 
I'empire.  Paris,  1835-1887.  10  vols.;  Histoire  des  Etats  Q^n6raui,  Paris.  1848.  2  vols.— 
Thierry,  Am^dde,  Hietoire  des  Gaulois  depuis  lew  temps  lea  plus  reculfis.  Paris,  1844,  8  vols, — 
Thierry,  Augustin,  Recita  des  temps  m^rovingiens,  Paris,  1840  ;  Formation  et  progr^s  du  Tiers 
fitat,  Paris.  1853;  Lettres  sur  rhistoire  de  France,  Paris,  1868;  Dix  ans  d'ctudes  hlstoriqucs, 
Paris,  1868.  —  Thlera.  A.,  Hjstolre  de  la  Revolution fran9aise,  Paris,  1828-1827,  10  vols.;  trans- 
lated  intfj  English  by  T.  \V.  Redhead,  1823  ;  IlisT^ire  du  Consulat  et  de  rEmpire,  Paris,  1845- 
1862.  20  vols. ;  The  "Mississippi  Bubble:  A  Memoir  of  John  Law.  New  York.  1859,  — Thou, 
J.  A.  de,  Historijp  sui  temporis,  10^0.  138  vols.;  English  translation,  Hietorv  of  His  Own  Time, 
London,  1729.  —  Thureau-Dangln,  P.,  Histoire  do  la  monarchJe  do  Jalllet.  Wris,  1884-1892.  7 
vols.  —  Tocqueville,  A.  do,  HiMoire  phllosophique  du  rfegne  de  Louis  XV.  Paris,  1846,  3  vols.; 
Coup  d'o'il  sur  le  regno  de  Louis  XVI,  Paris,  1850 ;  L  ancien  regime  et  la  rtjvolution,  Paris. 
1807;  Memoirs,  Letters  and  Remains  of,  London,  1861,  2  vols.  —  Tolttoi,  Count.  War  and 
peace,  Ixmdon,  1886,  8  vols.  —  Topin,  Marius,  I'Homme  au  masque  de  fer.  Paris,  1809. — 
Toulongeon,  K.  viromto  do,  Histoirc  de  Franre  depuis  la  Revolution  do  1789,  Paris,  1801-1810, 
4  vols.  —  Trollop*,  T.  A.,  Girlhood  of  CatUerino  de'  Medici,  London,  1856.  — Tuckermanu,  B., 
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General  Boulanger,  London,  1889.  —  Tyler,  J.  E.,  Henry  of  Monmouth^  or  Memoirs  of  the  Life 
and  Character  of  Henry  I,  etc.,  London,  18S8,  2  vols.  —  Tytler,  Barah,  Life  of  Marie 
Antoinette,  1888. 


4 


Uraina,  Princ«s8«  des,  Correspondance  avec  Madame  de  Malntenon,  Paris,  1826. 

Vandal,  A..  Louis  XV  et  Elisabeth  de  Russie,  Paris,  1888:  Napoleon  et  Alexandre  ler, 
Paris.  1891-1898.  2  vols.  —  Vendain,  A.  D.,  Undercurrents  of  Second  Empire.  London,  1897.— 
Vandereat,  llist'iire  d«  Jt-an  Bart.  Paris,  1841.  ^  Van  Eampen,  GeschicUte  der  NiederiRnder, 
Hamburg.  1831-1833.  2  vol-*.  —  Van  Lann.  H.,  History  of  French  Literature.  I>ondnn,  1877, 
8  vols.  ;  Tlie  French  Revolutionary  Epocn.  Paris.  Ixindon.  and  New  York.  1878.2  vols. — 
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1883.  —  Vanrin,  Jehan  de,  Recneil  des  croniquea  et  anchiennes  istories  do  la  Grant  Bretalgno, 
in  part  editetl  by  L.  M.  E.  Dupont.  for  the  Socidt^  de  I'Histuire  de  France,  Paris.  1858-1868. 
8  Tola. ;  tran.slated  into  English  by  W.  and  E.  L.  C.  P.  Hardy,  A  Collection  of  Chroniclesaud  Ancient 
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translation,  Loudon,  1888.  —  Viel-Oastal,  L.  de.  Histoire  de  la  reaUuratiou,  Paris,  1860-1878, 


234       A  GENBBAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  FEENCH   HISTOEY 

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to  1818,  London,  1860.  —  Wlehr,  Xapoleon  und  Bemadotte  im  Herbstfeldzuge  1813.  Berlin, 
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of  19th  Century  Science,  New  Tork  and  London,  1900.  —  Wilson,  R.  T.,  Narrative  of 
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Paris.  1871,  3rd  edition.  —  Witt,  Mme.  de,  M.  Guisot  dans  sa  famille  et  avec  ses  amis,  Paris, 
1880.  —  Wolnogen,  Ludwig  von,  Memoiren,  Leipsie,  1861. 

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Zavort,  E.,  Histoire  de  la  8e  R^publique,  Paris,  1806-1898.  ~  Ziemssen,  Die  franz6sische 
Revolution,  Berlin,  1898.  —  Zorlauban,  But>n  de  la  Tour-Chatillon  de,  Histoire  militaire  au 
service  de  la  France,  Paris,  1761-1758,  8  vols. 


A    CHRONOLOGICAL    SUMMARY     OF    THE    HISTORY     OF 
FRANCE,    FROM    THE    TREATY    OF    VERDUN 

On  the  death  uf  Louis  1e  Debonnaire  (840)  the  empire  of  Charlemagne  is  dismembered. 
The  two  younecr  sons  of  the  dead  monarch.  Charles  and  Ludwij?.  dispute  the  right  of 
the  oldeat.  Lothair.  to  supreme  authority  over  all  the  Franks.  War  results,  and  at  the 
battle  of  Fontenailles  (841)  I^nthuir  is  complptely  defeated.  This  important  pvent  leads 
to  the  Treaty  of  Verdun  (843).  in  which  three  kingdoms  are  distinctly  marked  :  for 
Lothair,  Italy  and  Lorraine ;  for  Ladwlg,  Germany  ;  and  for  Charles,  France. 


THE  CARLOVINGIAN  DYNASTY  FROM  THE  TREATY 
OF  VERDUN  (843-987  a.d.) 

Ad  epoch  "in   which,"  says  Kltcbln,  "France  passes  through  a  dreary  and  confused 
period  of  formation." 

843  Oh&rlea  (U)  the  Bald  iH  king  of  alt  Gaul  west  of  the  Schelde,  the  Maas,  the  Badne,  and 

the  Rhone,  down  to  the  Minliterrauean,  and  north  of  the  Pyrenees;  bni  three  states 
rtill  resist  his  authority,  Brittany,  Septiinania.  and  Aqaitaine.  The  Northmen  are  now 
coming  every  year,  ravaging  the  coast  and  ascending  the  rivers. 

844  The  diet  of  Thionvitle  cunfirms  the  partition  of  the  empire  effected  at  Verdun. 

846  Nomeno€,  count  (or  duke)  of  Brittany  defeats  Charles.      Pepin  of   Aquitaine  continues 

his  reaietance. 

847  CTharlei>  and  bis  two  brothers  conclude  an  nfTensive  and  defensive  alliance  at  Mersen. 

848  Brittany  made  independent  by  Nomeno^,  who  takes  title  of  king. 

850  Pepin  of  Aquitaine  allies  himself  with  the  Northmen  and  Saracens  against  Charles. 

861  Charles  defeats  and  imprisons  Pepin  and  takes  j>osses8ion  nf  Aquitaine. 

8S2  Charles  makes  peace  with  Muhammed,  the  Saracen  ruler  of  Spain,  who  has  sent  his  gen- 
eral, Musa,  to  invade  France. 

858  The  Northmen  capture  Nantes  and  Tours. 

854  Pepin  escapes  from  prison  and  recovers  Aquitaine. 

868  Ludwig  of  Germany  invades  France,  but  is  persuaded  to  withdraw.  The  Northmen 
settle  on  the  Oise. 

881  Charles  makes  Itnbert  the  Strong  count  of  Paris. 

868  Charles  conferH  the  duchy  of  Flanders  on  Baldwin,  who  had  abducted  and  married  his 
daughter  Judith.  On  death  of  King  Chariest  of  Provence  {son  of  the  t;m[>erur  Lothair) 
Charleti  the  Bald  makes  an  unH>ucce.sKfi]|  attempt  to  seize  the  kingdom. 

865  Charles  oeain  captures  Popin  and  takes  Aquitaine. 

866  Death  of  Kobert  the  Strong  at  battle  of  Brissarthe  against  the  Northmen. 

867  Charles  makes  his  sod  Louih  king  of  Aquitaine, 

870  After  the  death  of  Ijothair  II,  Cliarles  divides  Lorraine  with  Ludwig  the  German. 

875  On  death  of   the  emperor  Ludwig  II,   Charles  the  Bald  obtains  the  imperial  succession. 

The  Northmen  take  Rouen. 

876  Charles  fails  in  an  attempt  to  seize  the  possessions  of  the  son  of  Ludwig  the  German. 

877  The  pope  calls  on  Charles  to  drive  the  Saracens  from  Italy.     Edict  of  Quierzy,  making 

hereditary  the  Hef^  of  the  count.s  who  accompany  him  to  Italy.     Death  of  Charles.     His 

son  IjOuia  (11)  the  Stammerer  king  of  Aquitaine  succeeds. 
870  Death  of  Luuis.     His  two  sonn  divide  the  kingdom  ;  Louis  m  ruling  in  northern  France, 

Carloznan  in  Burgundy  and  Aquitaine. 
880  The   French    and   lierman    kings   proceed   against   King  Boson  of   Burgundy,  who  hu 

assumed  that  title.     Siege  of  Vienne. 

882  Death  of  Louis  ;  Carlomau  rules  over  the  whole  of  France. 

884  Death  of  Carloman.     The  nobles  make  the  emperor  Oharlaa  tli«  Fat,  grandson  of  Ijouis 

le  Debonnaire,  king  of  France.     The  empire  of  CharlcmAgne  is  reunited. 

885  The  Northmen  under  Rollo  besiege  Paris. 

886  Charles  buys  the  Northmen  oft. 

887  Deposition  of  Charles  at  diet  of  Tribur.     He  retires  to  Germany. 

888  Death  of  Charles.     The  nobles,  disgusted  with  the  degenerate  Carlnvingians,  elect  Eudsi 

king.     He  rules  over  the  land  between  the  Maaa  and  the  Loire*     Beyond  the  Maas, 

885 


296  THE   HISTOBY   OF   FRANCE 

Amnlf  of  Qermany  is  raoognised ;  and  south  of  the  Loire,  Doke  Bainnlf  of  Aqnittine 

takes  the  title  of  King.    Louis,  son  of  Boson,  founds  (^urane  Burgundy  ;  and  Rudolf 

of  Auzerre  founds  Transjurane  Burgundj. 
889  Eudes  proceeds  vigorously  against  the  Northmen.    The  Saracens  settle  at  Fraxinet  in 

Provence.    Eudes  forces  BAinulf  to  renounce  his  title,  but  is  unable  to  conquer  southern 

Fiance.    The  count  of  Flanders  refuses  obedience  to  Eudes. 
892  Victory  of  Eudes  at  Montpensier  over  the  Northmen. 
898  The  opponents  of  Eudes  meet  at  Rheims  and  elect  duurles  (IIZ)  the  Simple,  natural  son 

of  Louis  n.  king.    Eudes  compels  Charles  to  flee  to  Amulf. 
896  Amulf  makes  Lorraine  into  a  kingdom  for  his  son  Zwentibold. 
896  Eudes  recognises  title  of  Charles  and  cedes  him  some  territory  in  eastern  France. 
898  Death  of  Eudes.    Charles  the  Simple  sole  king. 

THE  TENTH  CENTURY 

911  Northmen  under  Rollo  settle  at  Rouen.     The  Lorndners  give  their  kingdom  to  Charles. 
913  Charles  gives  Rollo  his  daughter  and  the  duchy  of  Normandv  for  a  fief.      Conversion  of 

Bollo  to  Christianity.     He  takes  the  name  of  Robert.     Tne  Northmen  are  henceforth 

the  Normans  of  France. 
990  The  Lorralners  take  back  their  kingdom. 
923  The  nobles  crown  Robert  I  (broUier  of  Eudes  and  duke  of  France)  king  of  France. 

Charles  proceeds  against  him. 

928  Defeat  of  Charles  at  Soissons  by  Robert.    Death  of   Robert  in  battle.    His  son-in-law 

Rnddf  of  Burgundy  is  elected  to  succeed.     The  strife  with  Charles  continues.      He  is 
betrayed  and  imprisoned.     Lorraine  Is  given  to  Henry  the  Fowler. 

929  Death  of  Charles  the  Simple.     Rudolf  repulses  a  Magyar  invasion. 

986  Death  of  Rudolf.     Zaouls  (IV  )  d'Outre-Mer,  son  of  Charles  the  Simple,  is  made  king. 
988  Otto  the  QreaX  prevents  Louis  from  seizing  Lorraine. 

941  Louis  is  defeated  by  Hugh  the  Great,  duke  of  France. 

942  Assassination  of  William  Longsword  of  Normandy. 

945  Louis  defeated  in  his  attempts  on  Normandy.     He  is  vanquished  and  Imprisoned  by  the 

national  party  under  Hugh  the  Great. 

946  Otto  the  Great  invades  France  as  far  as  Rouen.     Louis  is  liberated. 
9^  Excommunication  of  Hugh  at  council  of  Ingelheim. 

954  Death  of  Louis.     His  younff  son  TiOthair  is  raised  to  the  throne. 

955  Louis  gives  Burgundy  to  Hugh. 

956  Death  of  Hugh  the  Great ;  nis  son  Hugh  Capet  succeeds  to  his  title.     Ix)th^r  gn^^es  him 

Aquitaine. 
978  The  Saracens  are  driven  from  the  south  of  France. 
978  Lothair  invades  Lorraine.     Otto  Invades  France  as  far  as  Paris,  and  in  retreat  loses  a 

large  part  of  his  army. 
980  Lothtdr  abandons  Upper  Lorraine  to  Otto,  but  obtains  Lower  Lorraine  and  Brabant  for 

his  son  Charles. 
986  Death  of  Lothair.     His  son  I^nils  (V)  le  Faineant  succeeds. 


THE  HOUSE  OF  CAPET  TO  THE  DEATH  OP  LOUIS  IX 

THE  FEUDAL  MONARCHY  BEGINS   (987-1270  a.d.) 

987  Death  of  Louis.     Hugh  Oapet  takes  the  throne  supported  by  some  of  the  nobles.     Others 

advocate  the  dsim  of  Charles  of  Lorraine.  Hugh  is  the  first  French  king  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word,  for  as  duke  of  France,  count  of  Paris,  Orleans,  etc.,  he  has  territories 
of  his  own.  The  Carlovingians  ruled  as  emperors  with  little  or  no  territorial  possessions. 
Hugh  associates  his  son  IU>bert  on  the  throne. 

988  Charles  of  Lorndne  invades  France. 

991  Capture  and  Imprisonment  of  Charles.     Opposition  to  Hugh  by  the  duke  of  Aquitaine. 
994  Dispute  of  Hugh  and  Pope  John  XV  over  Archbishop  Geri)ert. 
996  Death  of  Hugh.     His  son  Robert  II  succeeds  as  sole  king. 

998  The  pope  forces  Robert  to  repudiate  his  wife  and  cousin,  Bertha.     He  marries  Constance 
of  Aquitaine. 

THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY 

1010  Persecution  of  the  Jews  in  France. 

1016  Rot>ert  acquires  his  right  to  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  after  a  fourteen  vears'  war  with  the 
rebellions  Otho  WillLun,  who  had  assumed  the  title  of  Duke  Henry  in  1002. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   SUMMARY 


237 


1017  TTftnry,  Bon  of  Robert,  crowned  joint  king. 

10*22  Thirteen  Maniclitpau  heretics  burned  at  Orleans  ;  the  firwl  nf  these  executiooH. 

1028  Kobcrt  le  IHftble  uRurpm  ih©  ducal  crown  of  Normandy.  He  helps  Henry  crush  the  revolt- 
ing barons. 

1031  Death  of  Kobert.     Bexkry  I  succeeds  ns  sole  king. 

1033  Henry  gives  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  to  his  brother  Robert,  who  founds  the  first  Ckpetlon 
house  of  Burgundy,  which  l&tits  until  1361. 

1033  Robert  le  Diable  failH  in  an  invasion  of  England,  and  ravageM  Brittany. 

103B  Death  of  Robert  le  Diable.  Hia  son  William  the  Bastard  succeeds  him.  The  •'Peace  of 
(iud  "  proclaimed. 

1041  The  "  Truce  of  God  "  proclaimed.     Henry  captures  his  rebellious  brother  Eudes. 

1046  At  the  battle  of  Val-e»-Dunes.  William  the  Bastard  brings  hia  rebe11iou*«  l>arons  to  obedi- 
ence.    The  dukes  of  Ix)rraine  and  Flanders  give  their  liomage  to  the  German  emperor. 

1064  Great  victory  of  William  over  Eudes  of  Anjou,  at  Mortemer. 

1099  Henry  makes  his  sou  Philip  joint  king. 

1060  Death  of  Honry.     Philip  I  solo  king.     Britt&ny  still  Independent. 
1066  The  Xornian  invasion  of  England. 

1069  WjlUara  the  Bastard  (the  Conqueror)  seizes  Maine. 

1070  The  people  of  l^e  Mana  use  the  word  commune  nr  *'  municipality  "  for  the  first  time. 

1071  Ruburt  the  Friblau  invades  France  and  defeats  I'hilip  at  Cassel. 

1075  Philip  compels  William  the  Conquerf>r  to  raise  the  siegrt  of  Dol  in  Britt&ny. 

1076  Peace  made  between  Philip  and  William.     Revolt  of  the  commune  at  Cuabray, 
1079  Robert,  son  of  William,  rebels  against  his  father. 

1087  Deatli  of  William,  Robert  succeeds  as  duke  of  Normandy  ;  his  brother  William  RufuB  as 

king  of  England. 
1090  William  Rufus  invades  Normandy. 

1094  Quarrel  of  Philip  and  Urban  11  over  the  divorce  of  Queen  Bertha. 

1095  Henry,  son  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  receives  the  county  of  I'ortugml  from  Alfonso  VI  of 

Leon  and  Castile,  and  becomies  the  ancestor  of  the  kings  of  Portugal. 
1066  The  first  crusaders  start  from  Fratice. 

1097  Roi>*'rt  of  Normandy  joins  the  crusade,  mortjp-aging  the  duchy  to  William  Rnfus. 
1097-1099  Hostilities  witb  VViliiam  Rufus  of  England,  wlio  claimR  the  French  Vexin. 

1100  On  death  of  William  Rufns,  Robert  returns  to  Normandy  to  resume  his  rule.     Philip 

makes  hia  son  Louia  joint  king. 


THE  TWELFTH  CENTURY 


The  opening  of  this  century  la  noted  for  the  rapid  growth  of  town  liberties. 
1104  Henry  I  of  England  Invades  Normandy. 
1106  Battle  of  Tinrbebray  and  defeat  and  capture  of  Robert  of  Normandy  by  Henry  of  England. 

Nornuuidy  (mce  more  attached  tm  England. 
1108  Death  of  Philip.     Louia  VI  nole  king. 
1100  War  breaks  out  between  France  and  England. 

1111  The  count  of  Anjou  takes  }x)S8ession  of  Maine. 

1112  Beginning  of  the  riots  of  the  commune  of  Laon. 

1110  The  war  lH?twcen  France  and  England  is  ended  by  the  dccbivo  defeat  of  Loaia  at  Brenne- 

ville.     The  cause  of  William  cTito  is  lost. 
1124  War  renewed  between  France  and  England  over  the  pc^session  of  Normandy. 

1127  Marriage  of  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  of  England,  to  UeulTrey  Plantageuet  of  Anjou, 

brings  the  Anglo-Norman  domination  down  to  the  Loire.  Murder  of  the  count  of 
Flanders.     Louis  gives  that  province  to  William  ClJto. 

1128  Death  of  William  Clito,     Louia  loses  bis  influence  in  Flanders. 

1129  Peace  arranged  between  Louis  and  Henry, 
1181  Tlie  king  makes  hlH  son  Loulb  joint  king. 

1186  The  marriage  of  the  young  IjouIh  to  Eleauor  of  Gulenne  (Aqnitaine)  unites  that  duchy  to 

the  cro^vn.  

1137  Death  of  Louis.     Itooli  (VII>  th«  Tonn|r  sole  king.     He  continues  the  policy  uf  hts 

fatlier,  and  seconds  the  communal  movement.     King  Str^pben  of  England  makes  a  short 

invasion  of  Normandy. 
1140  Beginning  of  quarrel  of  Louia  with  the  papacy  over  the  archblahopric  of  Bourges.     Suger 

advises  Lonis. 

1143  Louis  attacks  the  count  of  Champagne  and  burns  down  Vitry  church. 

1144  Louis  makes  peace  with  the  papacy  and  promises  to  undertake  a  crusade.    Louis  interfered 

In  the  quarrel  of  Stephen  and  Gr-ofFrey  Plantagenet.  Dismemberment  of  the  Anglo- 
Norman  monarchy  ;  Stephen  remains  king  of  England  and  count  of  Boulogne  ;  Geoffrey, 
duke  of  Normandy,  count  of  Aniou,  Maine,  and  Touraine. 

1146  Death  of  Geoffrey  Plantagenet.     Hia  mm.  Henry  of  Anjou,  inherits  his  possessions, 

1147  Louis  departs  on  the  Second  Crusade,  leaving  the  kingdom  in  charge  of  Suger. 


938  THE  HISTORY   OF  FBANCB 

1149  Retam  of  Louis.    Qaeen  B3euior  peUtUms  the  pope  for  a  divoroe. 

1163  The  pope  gimnta  Eleanor's  divorce.    Bhe  marries  Henrj  of  AnjoQ,  son  of  0eoffr^  PUata- 

genet  and  Matilda. 
1154  Heniy  of  Anjon  becomes  Henir  II  of  England.    Besides  his  French  territoiy  inherited 

from  Geoffrey,  he  is,  in  his  wife's  name,  count  of  Poitoa  and  doke  of  Oaienne. 
1158  Henry  U  of  England  adds  Nantes  to  his  possessions  on  death  of  his  brother  Geoilrey. 

1150  War  breaks  out  between  France  and  England  over  the  possession  of  Tooloose. 

1161  Peace  made  between  Henry  and  Lools. 

1162  Foundation  of  the  Paris  cathedral  lidd. 
1167  Louis  renews  hostilities  with  England. 

1169  Peace  of  Montmirail  between  England  and  France. 

1171  Brittany  passes  by  marriage  to  Geoffrey,  son  of  Henry  IL 

1178  Louis  supports  the  sons  of  Henry  H  in  tiieir  rebellion  agidast  their  father,  but  is  unable 

to  wrest  any  territoiy  from  the  king  of  England. 
1177  Henry  seises  Berri  and  buys  the  county  of  La  Marche. 

1179  Louis  makes  his  son  Philip  Augustus  Joint  king. 

1180  Death  of  Louis.    Philip  (ZI)  Augustus  sole  kkg. 

1189  Philip  banishes  the  Jews  from  Fnnce,  and  issues  edicts  sgainst  heretics. 
1186  Philip  at  war  with  the  count  of  Flanders,  during  which  he  obtains  Vermandols,  Valois. 
and  the  county  of  Amiens.    The  duke  of  Burgundy  is  reduced  to  submission. 

1188  Philip  induces  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  to  rebel  aminst  his  father  Henry  II. 

1189  Henry  forced  to  make  a  disastrous  peace  with  Philip,  yielding  Berri  to  France.     Death  of 

Henry  II  marks  the  beginning  of  the  decline  of  the  Angevin  power  in  France. 

1190  Philip  teaves  for  the  crusade. 

1191  Philip  returns  to  France.     He  abolishes  the  powerful  office  of  seneschal. 

1198  Philip  breaks  faith  with  Richard,  makes  alliance  with  Prince  John  of  England,  and  invades 

Normandy.     The  garrison  of  Rouen  repels  him. 
1198  PhUip  repudiates  his  new  queen  Ingeborg  of  Denmark. 
1194  Richard,  released  from  captivity,  m^es  war  on  Philip. 
1196  A  truce  between  Philip  and  Richard.    The  former  withdraws  from  Normandy  and  retains 

Auvergne,     PiiiUp  marries  Agnes  of  Meran. 

1198  Battle  of  Gisors. 

1199  Definite  peace  between  Philip  and  Richard.     Death  of  Richard.     England  and  Normandy 

receive  John  as  king.     Brittany,  Anjou,  Maine,  Poltou,  and  Touraine  declare  for  Arthur 
of  Brittany,  son  of  Geoffrey,  under  protection  of  Philip. 
1800  Philip  seizes  Brittany.     He  makes  peace  with  John.     Excommunication  of  Philip  and 
Agnes.     The  pope  compels  the  former  to  take  back  Ingeborg. 

THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY 

1803  The  house  of  Capet  prevails.     John  seizes  Arthur  of  Brittany  and  puts  him  to  death. 
1208  Philip  invades  Normandy. 

1804  Fall  of  Chftteau  Gaillard.     John  flees  from  Rouen  to  England.    Normandy  and  Brittany 

pass  to  Philip.    John  retains  only  La  Rochelle  and  a  few  places  near  the  coast.     Maine, 

Anjou,  Touraine,  and  Poltou  are  also  reunited  to  the  royal  domain, 
1806  John  fails  in  an  attempt  to  capture  Angers. 

1308  Crusade  against  Raymond  of  Toulouse  and  the  Albigenses  (Manichsan  heretics)  begins. 
1809  The  crusi^ers  under  Amaud  Amalric  seize  B^ziers  and  massacre  60,000  Inhabitants. 

Simon  de  Montfort  takes  Carcassonne. 
1818  Raymond,  defeated  at  Castelnaudary,  goes  to  Aragon  for  help. 
1818  Battle  of  Muret.     Raymond  of  Toulouse  assisted  by  Pedro  II  of  Aragon  is  badly  defeated 

by  Simon  de  Montfort.     Raymond's  possessions  are  given  to  Simon. 
1814  Philip  wins  a  great  victory  at  Bouvlnes  over  a  coalition  of  John  of  BIngland,  Otto  IV,  and 

the  count  of  Flanders.     This  battle  firmly  establishes  the  French  monarchy. 

1816  The  Lateran  council  ratifies  the  dispossession  of  Raymond  of  Toulouse. 

1316  Louis  son  of  Pliilip  Invades  England,  having  been  invited  there  by  the  barons, 

1817  The  earl  of  Pembroke  defeats  Lioids  near  Lincoln  and  he  returns  to  France.     Toulouse 

shuts  out  Simon  de  Montfort  and  recalls  Count  Raymond. 

1818  Death  of  Simon  at  idege  of  Toulouse.    His  son  Amaury  continues  the  war. 
1888  Death  of  Raymond  of  Toulouse. 

1888  Death  of  Phulp  Augustus.  In  his  reign  he  doubledthe  royal  domain  and  attacked  feudal- 
ism in  many  of  Its  vital  points.  Hu  son  Zionia  (VnX)  the  Uon  succeeds.  He  carries 
on  the  struggles  with  Ezigland  and  with  the  Albigenses.  Henry  HI  of  England  de- 
mands the  restitution  of  I^rmandy  and  other  provinces. 

1884  Amaury  de  Montfort,  driven  from  the  south,  transfers  his  claim  on  Toulouse  to  Louis. 
Lower  Poitou  taken  from  England.  Capture  of  La  Rochelle.  Salntonge,  Angoumois, 
lAmourin,  Pdrigord,  and  part  of  Bordelais  submit,  Bordeaux  and  Gascony  alone  remain 
to  Enj^and.    I^nis  begins  to  free  the  serfs. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   STTMMARY 


830 


121^  Loais  undertaken  a  new  (^runadc  against  thi^  Albi^nnm, 

1826  The  country  between  the  Rbone  and  Toulouse  (lower  Langnedoc)  submitu  to  Louis.     Siege 

of  Avignon.     Death  of  I^ouis.  succeeded  by  bis  joung  son  I«oulfl  IX  or  Balat  LouU 

under  regency  of  the  queeo,   Blanche  of   Castile.     The  barons  form  a  coalition,  but 

Blanche  defeats  their  plana. 
1220  The  AlbigenBlan  War  ended  by  the  Treaty  of  Meaux.     The  count  of  Touloase^s  daughter 

is  married  to  Louis*  brother.     Upper  Languedoc  added  tu  the  royal  domains. 
1380  Henry  111  of  England  lands  in  Brittany,  but  his  expedition  comes  to  nothing. 
1231  The  Treaty  of  8t,  Aubin  du  Cormier  between  Blanche  and  the  revolting  nobles. 
1234  Count  Thibaut  of  Champagne,  succeeding  to  the  throne  of  Navarre,  sells  Sancerre  and 

other  valuable  fiefs  to  Louia. 
1236  Louis  attains  his  majority  ;  end  of  the  regency  of  Blanche  of  Castile. 
1238  Louis  purchases  the  county  of  M&con. 

1242  Louis  attempts  to  set  his  brother  Alphonse  over  Poitou  and  Anvergne.  and  the  unwilling 

banms  call  on  Henry  UI  of  England.  Henry  cumeti  to  France,  but  is  badly  defeated  at 
Taillebourg  and  Saintes  by  I^ouis. 

1243  Henry  makes  peace  with  Louis.     Haymond  VII  of  Toulouse  revolts. 

1244  Kaymond  reduced  to  submission.      The  last  of  the  Albigenses  perish  at  Mont  S^gur. 

Louia  with  his  three  brothers  assumes  the  cross.  Louis  forbids  his  lords  to  hold  nefs 
under  both  the  king  of  England  and  of  France  at  the  aame  time.  Thla  greatly  helps  to 
develop  national  feeling. 

1245  Provence  passes  to  the  house  of  Anjou  on  marriage  of  (Hiarlesof  Anjou  (Louis*  brother) 

to  Beatrice  of  Provence. 
124m  Txiuis  departs  for  the  crusade,  leaving  Blanche  of  Castile  regent. 
1241)  Louis  capture»4  Damietta. 

1250  Battle  of  Mnnsurah.     Capture  of  Louis.     He  is  lilierated  upon  restoring  Damietta  to  the 

Mohammedans,  and  retires  to  Acre. 

1251  The  crusade  "des  Paatoureaux." 

1252  Rol>ert  de  Sorbon  founds  the  Sorbnnne. 

1253  Death  of  Blanche  of  Castile  recalls  Louis  to  France. 
1854  Keturn  of  I/ouia  to  Fruncp,  a  disappointed  man. 

1258  By  Peace  of  Corbel!  with  King  Jumes  of  Aragon,  Louis  settles  the  frontier  dtfflcuUles  and 

recognises  the  independence  of  the  countv  of  Barcelona. 
1269  Peace  of  Abbeville,  yielding  the  Limousin,  t'^rigord,  and  parts  of  8aintonge  to  Henry  IIJ, 

who  renounces  all  claims  on  Normandy,  Anjou,  Maine,  and  Poitou. 
1902  Louis  refuses  the  crown  of  Sicily,  offered  by  Urban  IV,  and  it  is  accepted  by  hia  brother, 

Charles  of  Anioa. 

1268  Loots  arbitrates  In  the  disputes  of  Heury  III  and  his  barons. 

1266  Charles  of  Anjou  acknowledged  king  of  Sicily. 

1267  Louis  again  assumes  the  cross. 

1269  The  "Pragmatic  Sanction  "  of  Louis  lays  the  foundation  of  the  liberties  of  the  Qalllcan 

church.     Its  genuineness  is  doubted. 

1270  Publication  of  tne  "  Establishments."     Louis  sets  out  on  his  crusade,  goes  to  Tunis,  and 

at  the  siege  of  the  city  dies  of  the  plague.  End  of  the  crusading  era,  and  close  of  the 
most  remarkable  period  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  power  of  the  king  now  predomlnatea 
over  that  of  the  feudal  nobles,  and  the  prerogatives  of  imperial  autuurity  havu  become 
reunited  to  the  crown.  Roman  law  has  been  substituted  for  feudal  justice  in  many 
provinces  of  France.  The  "  Third  Estate  "  has  Iwen  developed  in  France,  and  the  con- 
test against  feudal  society,  ending  in  the  French  Kevolution,  has  begun. 


THE  DESCENDANTS   OF   SAINT  LOUIS 


Th£  Eu}kr  or  Philtpptks  LrNK  (1270-1589  a.d.) 

1270  Louis  succeeded  by  his  son,  Philip  (III)  tha  Bold. 

1271  Death  of  AJfonso  and  Joan  of  Toulouse.     Philip  inherits  the  county. 

12T2  Philip  goes  to  war  with  the  counts  of  Foix  and  Armagnac  and  defeats  them. 

1278  Philip  yields  the  pope  tbe  county  of  Venaissin  and  half  of  Avignon, 

1274  On  death  of  Henry  I  of  Navarre,  Philip  occupies  his  French  possessions.  Champagne  and 

Brie,  as  guardian  of  the  infant  heiress  Joan,  and  places  French  officials  in  Navarre.    Ha 

buys  tbe  county  of  Nemours. 
1278  War  breaks  out  with  Caaiile  over  the  occupation  of   Navarre.      Siege  of   Pamplona. 

Philip's  expedition  la  unfortunate,  and  a  truce  ia  concluded  with  CastUe. 
1870  Philip  gives  some  fiefa  to  Edward  I  of  England. 


240  THE   HISTOEY   OF  FRANCE 

1388  At  the  ias^ig&tloo  of  Charles  of  Anjoa^  Philip  iDAkes  war  on  Angon.    The  pope  offers 

the  throne  of  Aragon  to  Charles  of  Valoia,  son  of  Philip. 
1284  Marriage  of  the  king's  son,  Philip,  to  Joan  of  Navarre. 
1385  The  war  with  Aragon  continues.     Philip  captures  Elne.     His  fleet  is  badly  defeated,  and 

he  dies  at  Perpignan.    The  Langfue  d'oU  begins  to  replace  the  Langue  d'oc. 

Elder  Sraneh  of  the  Philippine  Line 

1385  Philip  (IV)  the  Fair  succeeds  his  father.      By  his  marriage  with  Joan  of  Navarre, 
-    Champagne,  Chartres,  and  Blois  are  united  to  France.    One  year's  truce  made  between 
France  and  Aragon. 
1387  Edward  I  of  England  arranges  peace  between  France  and  Aragon.     Charles  of  Valois 
abandons  his  pretensions  to  the  crown  of  Aragon. 

1389  The  pope  Induces  Charles  of  Valois  to  resume  his  claim  to  Aragon. 
1391  Treaty  of  Aix,  between  France  and  Angon. 

1298  War  breaks  out  between  France  and  England.     Philip  invades  Guienne. 

1394  The  emperor  of  Germany  and  the  count  of  Flanders  join  Edward  I  against  Philip. 

1395  John  Ballol  of  Scotland  joins  France  agiUnst  England. 

1396  Philip  resists  the  papal  bull  forbidding  the  clergy  to  pay  taxes  to  princes.    He  forbids  the 

exportation  of  money  from  France.     Boniface  VIII  threatens  excommunication.     The 

earl  of  Lancaster  invades  Guienne. 
1297  Philip  defeats  the  count  of  Flanders  at  Fumes.     Philip  and  Boniface  are  reconciled. 
1399  Boniface  arranges  peace  between  France  and  England.      A  marriage  between  Philip's 

daughter  and  Edward's  son  is  arranged. 

1800  Charles  of  Valois  conquers  the  count  of  Flanders ;  his  lands  united  to  the  crown. 

THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

1801  Quarrel  with  Boniface  over  the  bishop  of  Pamlers. 

1802  The  Flemings  revolt  against  Philip,  who  is  badly  defeated  at  Coartrai,  "Battle  of  the 

Spurs."    The  first  states-general  convoked. 
1808  Philip  sends  Guillaume  de  Nogaret  to  Italy,  who,  with  the  aid  of  the  Colonna,  captures 
and  imprisons  Boniface.     He  is  thus  rid  of  his  worst  antagonist. 

1804  Fresh  revolt  of  the  Flemish,  who  are  defeated  at  Monsen-Pevdie.     Philip  makes  peace. 

They  cede  him  some  territory,  and  he  fives  them  back  their  count. 

1805  Philip  procures  the  election  of  Clement  v  to  the  papacy. 
1306  Revocations  of  the  bulls  of  Boniface  against  Philip. 

1807  Arrest  of  the  Templars.  Jacques  de  Molay.  and  other  knights. 

1309  The  holy  see  is  fixed  at  Avignon. 

1310  Trial  and  condemnation  of  the  Templars.     Many  are  burned  alive. 

1813  Suppression  of  the  order  of  the  Templars  at  the  council  of  Vienna.     The  Beghards  and 

Beffuines  of  Flanders  are  condemned.     Philip  acquires  Lyon  by  purchase. 

1814  Burning  of  Jacques  de  Molay.     Death  of  Philip  the  Fair.    His  son,  Louis  (Z)  the  Quar- 

raliome,  already  king  of  Navarre,  which  is  now  united  to  France,  succeeds. 
1816  Execution  of  Enguerrand  de  Marigny. 

1815-1816  Great  famine  in  France.     Louis  fails  in  an  expedition  against  Flanders. 
1816  Death  of  Louis.     A  posthumous  son,  John  (^,  Uvea  only  seven  days.     Go  account  of  the 

Salic  law,  the  throne  of  France  passes  to  Ix)uis'  brother,  Philip  (V)  the  TalL 
1318  The  state  council  established. 
1822  Death  of  Philip.     His  brother,   Oharlea  (XV)  the  Fair,  succeeds.      He  has  constant 

trouble  in  Flanders,  and  favours  the  rebellion  of  Isabella  of  England  and  Mortimer. 
1824  First  historical  mention  of  gunpowder,  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  Metz. 
1838  Death  of  Charles  without  maXe  issue.     The  direct  line  of  the  Capets  comes  to  an  end. 

You,nger  Branch  of  the  Philippine  Line  {Ho%ae  of  VcUoia).    (Deacendants  of  Philip  III  through 

a  Younger  Son,  Charles  of  Valoie) 

1828  Philip  (VI)  of  Valola,  cousin  of  Charles  IV,  and  son  of  Charles  of  Valois,  succeeds  to 
the  throne  of  France.  Navarre  is  given  to  Joan  II,  daughter  of  Louis  X.  Edward  III 
of  England  puts  forward  a  claim  to  the  French  throne  through  his  mother,  Isabella, 
daughter  of  Philip  the  Fair.     Philip  defeats  the  Flemings  at  Cassel. 

1820  Edward  III  gives  homage  for  Guienne  and  Ponthieu. 

1882  Trial  and  banishment  of  Robert  of  Artois. 

1884  Edward  III,  influenced  by  Robert  of  Artois,  claims  the  French  throne. 

1886  The  count  of  Flanders,  on  Philip's  suggestion,  arrests  the  Elnglish  merchants  in  Antwerp. 

Edward  prohibits  exports  of  wool. 

1887  The  Flemish  cities,  led  by  Jacob  van  Artevelde,  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of 


CHRONOLOGICAL   SUMMARY 


«41 


Enj^l&nd.    Edward  Rpcds  a  fleet  to  Flandeni.    The  blockftde  of  Cadsand  is  raiaed.    Be^n. 

nJDg  of  ihe  Hundred  Years'  War. 
1338  Edward  arrives  at  Antwerp. 
13iJ0  K(i^ra^<l  assumes  title  of  king  of  France. 

1340  Defeat  of  the  French  fleet  at  SIu,V8.     The  Enellsh  obtain  masterj  of  the  BrltUh  Channel. 

Kdward  besieges  Tnurnay  unsuccesa fully.     Philip  neizea  Ouienne.    A  truce  is  concluded. 

1341  Death  of  John  III  of  Brittany  without  i&8ue.  The  duchy  claimed  by  lUs  brother,  John  de 
Montfort.  and  his  niece,  Joan  de  Penthievre,  wife  of  Charles  of  Bluia.  Philip  eapouses 
cause  of  Joan»  and  Edward  that  of  John.  Philip  captures  De  Montfort.  His  wife, 
Juan,  coatiuues  the  war.     Charles  of  Blois  takes  the  ducnv. 

1842  Joan  de  Montfort  besieged  in  Hennebon.  and  is  relieved  by  the  English.  Edward  besieges 
Vannes.  Rennes.  and  Xautes. 

1343  The  war  in  Brittany  interrupted  by  &  three  years'  truce. 

1344  Philip  invites  Olivier  do  CliBson  and  other  Breton  chiefs  to  Paris,  and  ireacherouslv 

beheads  them ;  upon  which  the  war  with  England  breaks  out  afresh.  The  Frenca 
defeated  at  Bergerac  in  Guienne.     The  English  mvade  Perigord. 

1345  The  French  defeated  at  Auberoche  ;  the  count  de  Lisle  id  taken  prisoner.     Van  Artevelde 

hlaiu  in  a  riot  in  Ghent.     Edward  returns  to  Kugtand. 
1S46  B^ward  lands  at  La  Hogue.     He  and  the  Black  Prince  administer  a  crushing  defeat  to  the 

French  at  Cr^cy.     Edward  returns  to  Calais,  which  he  besieges.     Philip  recalls  his  son 

from  the  south,  which  ihe  English  overrun.     They  take  Poitiers. 
1847  Charles  of  Blois  captured  by  Joan  do  Montfort  In  the  struggle  for  the  duchy  of  Brittany. 

Uis  wife,  Joan  de  Penthidvre.  continues  the  war.      Capture  of  Calais  by  Edward. 

Philip  obtains  a  ten  months'  truce. 

1348  The  Black  Death  rages  in  France. 

1349  Philip  buys  Montpf'^llier  from  James  11  of  Majorca.      Humbert  IT,   heir  to  Dauphin^, 

concludes  treaty  with  Philip,  selling  his  estates  to  him  on  condition  that  the  eldest  son 
of  the  French  king  shall  take  the  name  of  dauphin.  The  fief  and  title  given  to  the 
king's  grandson  Charles.     France  now  reaches  to  the  Alps. 

1350  Death  of  Philip.     His  son,  John  (II)  the  Good,  succeeds.    Charles  the  Bad  of  Navarre 

claims  Champagne  and  Angoumois,  but  John  holds  them  and  seizes  Charles' fiefa  In 

Normandy.     Charles  passes  to  the  English  side. 
1851  The  first  court  order,  "the  Star,"  eBtablished.     True  chivalry  is  being  replaced  by  an 

official  one. 
13.^2  The  Breton  war  continued.     "  Battle  of  the  Thirty," 
1865  The  Elnglish  renew  their  ravages.     John  appeals  to  the  people. 

1356  Great  defeat  of  the  French  at  Poitiers.    John  captured  and  token  to  England.     His  bod 

Charles  assumes  the  regency.     A  two  years'  truce  cunctuded, 

1357  Marcel  brings  forwanl  his  reform  measures,  restricting  n>yal  prerogatives,  in  the  states* 

general.     Charles  of  Navarre  champions  the  cause. 

1358  Murder  of  the  dauphin's  ministers.     Kevolts  of  the  peasants.     "La  J  acquerle "  is  put 

diiwn  with  much  blmidshed.     Murder  of  Marcel  by  the  dauphin's  party. 

1359  E*iward  again  invades  France,  and  beniBges  Kheims. 

1300  Inward  advances  to  Paris.  Peace  of  Bretigny  concluded.  Edward  renounces  claim  to 
French  throne,  and  all  terrHory  north  of  the  Loire  except  Calais,  Clulnes,  and  Ponthleu 
in  Picardy.     He  takes  iJulenne  and  adjoining  provinces,     John  ransomed. 

1881  Defeat  of  James  de  Bourbon  br  brigands  near  Brignals.     End  of  the  first  line  of  Bur- 

guudian  dukes  with  death  of  Philip  de  Rouvre.     "The  duchy  reverts  to  the  crown. 

1882  John  returns  to  England. 

I36;i  John  gives  Burgundy  to  his  fourth  son  Philip,  who  founds  the  second  Burgundian  house, 
1884  Death  of  John   in    London.      The   dauphin,    Oharlea    (7)    the   Wise,    already   regent, 

succeeds.    Charles  the  Bad  sends  an  anny  to  Normandy  to  recover  bis  confiscated  lefs. 

Bertrand  du  QuescUn  defeats  it  at  Cocherel.     End  of  war  uf  the  Breton  Succession,  by 

the  battle  of  Auray,  in  which  Charles  of  Blois  is  killed. 

1365  By  the  treaty  of  Gu^randc,  John  de  Montfort  is  recognised  duke  of  Brittany.     Charles 

of  Blois'  widow  receives  Penthievre  and  Limoges.  John  does  homage  to  Charles  V. 
Peace  with  Charles  of  Navarre.     He  exchanges  Montpelller  for  his  Norman  fiefs. 

1366  The  English  parliament  declares  the  succession  of  John  the  Good  to  have  been  illegal. 

Du  Guesclin  forms  a  great  company,  marches  to  Avignon,  receives  a  large  sum  from 
the  pope,  and  goes  tn  Castile,  expelling  Pedro  the  Cruel  from  the  throne. 

1367  The  Black  Prince  sides  with  Pedro.     &ttle  of  Kavarrette.     Du  Guesclin  captured  and 

Pedro  restored. 

1888  The  (Jascon  nobles  appeal  to  Charles  from  the  Black  Prince,  now  prince  of  Aquitaine. 

1889  The  war  Is  renewed.     Du  Guesclin  restores  Henry  of  Trastamara  to  the  throne  of  Castile. 

The  states -general  declare  Guienne  confiscated.     An  English  army  lands  at  Calais.     The 
Blaok  Prince  attacks  from  the  south. 
1870  Sack  of  Limogey  bv  the  P^nglish.    The  Black  Prince  i»  succeeded  by  the  earl  of  Pembroke. 
Du  Guesclin  made  constable  of  France.     A  part  of  the  Limousin  is  conquered  by  France. 
The  count  of  Auxerre  sells  his  county  to  the  crown. 

B.  W.— VOL.   Jllll.  u 


242 


THE   HISTORY    OF    FRANCE 


1873  Poitierfl  and  La  Uocbelle  retaken  by  the  Freoch.     Euglaad  loses  Poitou. 
1B78  The  Knglinh  under  John  of  Oaunt  make  a  futile  iovasIoD  of  France. 
1375  A  truce  concluded  between  Kdward  and  Charles. 
1377  Death  of  Edward  111.     Charles  breaks  the  truce  and  renews  the  war. 

1878  Charles  be^ns  a  futile  attempt  to  seize  Brittany. 

1879  Ch&rlee  of  Navarro  cedes  manv  places  Uy  the  French.     The  Bretona  sign  articlee  of  OOB* 

federation  and  recall  John  iV'.     Cruelties  of  Anjou  in  Xjanguedoc. 
1380  Treaty  signed  Iwtweeu  Enj^land  and  Brittany.     Death  of  Pu  Guesolin,  and  of  Charles. 
Bayoune,  Bordeaux,  Brest,  Cherbourg,  and  Cahiia  alone  remain  to  the  English. 

JElder  Branch  of  (he  JItmse  of  Vaioia 

18d0  OharlM  (VI)  tha  Well  Beloved  succeeds  his  father  at  the  age  of  twelve  under  the 

guardianship  of  hiji  three  uucles  —  the  dukes  of  Anjou.  Burgundy,  and  Berri.     Olirier 

de  CHisson  made  constable  of  France. 
1882  Revolt  of  Philip  van  Arteveldo  In  FhLndera.     The  French  defeat  the  men  of  Ghent  at 

Roosebeke.     Artevelde  ia  slain. 
1884  At  death  of  Louis  de  M&le.  count  of  Flanders,  that  county  Is  united  to  Burgundy,  the 

duke  of  which  has  married  Luuls  de  M&le's  daughter.     Truce  wHli  England. 
1JJ85  Peace  made  with  Flanders. 

13H6  Charles  declares  war  on  England,  and  makes  extensive  ]> reparations. 
1388  Failure  of  an  expedition  ti4;ain«t  LJeiderlaud.     Charles  begins  his  rule. 
m92  Attempt  to  asaassiaate  the  constable  Do  CUssoa.     Charles  becomes  insane.     Burgundy 

and   Berri   seize  government,    betting  aside  the  king's  brother,  the  duke  of  Orleans. 

The  great  civil  discord  between  Burgundy  and  Orleans  begins. 
13d5  A  twenty-eight  years*  truce  signed  with  Richard  11  of  England.     Charles  accepts  the 

protectorate  of  Uenoa. 
1390  Marriage  of  Richanl  II  with  Isabella,  daughter  of  Charles.     Great  defeat  of  John  the 

Fearless,  sou  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  in  his  crusade  against  Bajaxet  at  Nicojwlhi. 
1399  Deposition  of  Richard  H  deHtruys  tne  alliance  with  England. 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURT 


1401- 

1404 

140r, 
14fJ6 
1407 
1408 
141>9 
1410 


1411 


1413 
1413 
1414 

1415 
14 1 G 
1417 
14m 
1419 


1420 

1421 
1422 


1433 
1424 
14!^ 
1429 


•1404  The  Btntggle  between  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Orlean**  continaes. 

Death  nf  Philip  of  Burgundy,  succeeded  by  his  son  John  the  Fearless. 

John  the  Fearlesa  enters  Paris. 

The  duke  of  Orleans  obtains  the  dnchy  of  Aqnltaine. 

Murder  nf  liie  duke  of  Orleans  at  the  instigation  of  John  the  Fearless. 

Jrihii  (leTeEilH  the  LiSgeois  at  Hasbaln. 

Peace  of  Chartrea  between  the  Burgundian  and  Orleans  factions. 

The  CDUut  d'Armoguac  —  whose  daughter  married  the  murdered  duke  of  Orleans*  son  — 

a-^smues  liejul  of  the  Orleans  faction,  henceforth  known  as  the  Armagnacs.     Peace  of 

Bic^tre  between  Burgundlans  and  Armagnacs.    Insurrection  of  the  CaboohJans  In  Paris. 
The  Armagnacs  break  the  Peace  of  BlcStre,  and  Iwgiu  to  ravage  the  north  nf  France. 

The  Burgundlans  apply  to  Henry  IV  of  England  for  aid.     John  the  Fearless  makes 

himself  ma>!ter  of  Paris  and  Picarily. 
The  Armagnacs  invest  Bourges.     Peace  of  Bourges,  renewing  that  of  Chartres. 
The  Armagnacs  obtain  the  ascendency  in  Paris,  the  dauphin  Louis  at  their  head. 
Treaty  of  Arras  between  the  Burguudians  and  Armagnacs.     Henry  V  of  England  preiMtrei 

for  war. 
Henry  takes  HaHleur,  and  wins  at  Agincourt. 

The  count  of  Armagnac  lays  eiege  to  uarfleur,  but  desists  for  want  of  funds. 
Henry  takes  Caen  ;  makes  treaties  with  Anjou,  Brittany,  and  Burgundy. 
^MasNUcre  of  the  Armagnacs  in  Paris. 
Henry  cajilures  Rouen.     John  the  Fearless  is  murdered.     His  son  Philip  the  Good  succeeds 

him  and  joins  the  English  party.     Queen  Isabella  joins  the  Anglo-Burgundians.     Paris 

leans  towards  the  English. 
The  Treaty  of  Troves.     Henry  V  recognised  as  heir  to  the  French  throne.     He  marries 

the  princess  Catherine.     All  France  north  of  the  I^jire  becomes  English. 
Defeat  of  the  English  by  the  national  party  at  Bauff^, 

Death  of  Henry  V.     His  young  son  Henry  declarea  king  of  Franco  with  the  duke  of  Bed- 
ford as  regent.     Death  of  Charles  VI  two  months  after  Henry's.     The  dauphin  Obarlet 

Vn  is  proclaimed  king  at  Mehun. 
Lords  Salisbury  and  Sunolk  defeat  the  French  and  their  Scotch  allies  at  Crmvaot. 
The  duke  of  Bedford  defeats  the  French  and  Scotch  at  Verneuil. 
The  duke  of  Bedford  begins  siege  of  Orleans, 
The  French  badly  defeated  at  Rourray,  "  battle  of  the  Herrings."    Joan  of  Arc  appears 


CHRONOLOGICAL   SUMMARY 


t4S 


at  Orleans  and  raises  the  siege.  Englisb  defeated  at  Palay  bj  Joan.  She  enters  Troyes 
and  the  En^lmh  withdraw.  Ch&lona  opens  its  gates  to  the  French.  Coronation  of 
Charles  at  Rheims.     The  duke  of  Burgundy  founds  the  order  of  the  Ooldcn  Flooce. 

1430  The  dukft  of  liurpundy  acquires  Brabant.     Joan's  success  continues  until  she  is  captared 

by  the  Burgandions  at  Compidgne  and  sold  to  the  duke  of  Bedford. 

1431  Henry  VX  crowned  king  of  France  at  Paris.     ExecvUon  of  Joan  of  Arc  at  Rouen. 

1433  The  French  take  Chartres  from  the  English- 

1434  Revolts  in  Nonnandy  against  the  English. 

1435  Congress  of  all  the  Christian  states  at  Arras  to  re-eatahllsh  peace.     The  duke  of  Burgundy 

joins  the  French. 
1430  The  EngUsh  are  ponnitted  to  retire  from  Paris. 
1487  Charles  enters  Paris. 

1458  Charles    summons   council    at    Bourges.     The  **  Pragmatic    Sanction "  enacted  therein 

declares  the  pope  subordinate  to  a  general  council  and  annuls  his  fiscal  rights. 

1459  The  states-gen eral  provides  for  the  csuiblishment  of  a  standing  army.     The  nobles  form 

an  opposition  known  as  the  "  Praguerie/'  headed  by  theduupLiu  Louis. 

1440  Tho  PragTierie  overthrown.     Louis  is  sent  to  Daupiiin^  to  govern. 

1441  Charles  crushes  the  freebooters  in  Champag-ne  and  drives  the  English  from  Pontoiae. 

1443  Charles  and  the  dauphin  repulse  the  English  from  Dieppe  and  suppress  tho  count  of 

Armaguac  in  the  south. 

1444  Two  years'  truce  concluded  with  England.     Marriage  of  Alargaret  of  Anjou  and  Henry 

VI  of  England  arranged.  The  French  win  a  victory  at  Sankt  Jakob  near  BAle.  Charl^ 
nnsuocesB fully  besieges  Metz. 

1445  Organisation  of  the  regular  army  effected. 

1419  The  last  sta^o  of  tho  Hundred  Years'  War  begins.     Burienne  seixes  Fougdrca.     Many 

towns  in  Normandy  and  Brittany  taken  by  the  French. 
1450  Kvriell,  with  an  armv  from  England,  is  beaten  at  Formigny.     Rehabilitation  of  Joan  of 

Arc. 
14'51  The  French  attack  Ouienne.     Bordeaux  and  Bayonne  captured. 
1453  Battle  of  Castillon.     The  English  defeated.     Charles  enters  Bordeaux,  and  the  Hundred 

Years'  War  is  over.     Guienne  again  a  part  of  France,    The  English  retain  only  Calais 

and  two  neighbouring  towns  in  France. 
1456  The  dauphin  takes  refuge  at  court  of  Philip  of  Burgundy. 
14tll   rk>uth  of  L'harlcH  ;  succeeded  by  his  son  Loala  XI. 

1462  I<ouis  receives  RoussUlon  and  Ccrdagne  as  guarantee  for  a  loan  to  the  king  of  Castile. 

1463  Louis  ransoms  back  from  the  duke  of  Burgundy  the  towns  on  the  Somme  given  him  by 

the  Treaty  of  Arras. 

1405  Formation  of  tlic  "league  of  the  Public  Weal"  nominally  beaded  by  Louis'  brother, 

Charles  the  duke  of  Berri,  against  tho  king.  Louis,  besieged  in  Paris,  agrees  to  the 
treaties  of  Conflans  and  St.  >!aur,  favourable  to  the  nobles. 

1406  Louis  takes  Nonnandy  from  bin  brother. 

1467  Death  of  Philip  the  Good  of  Burgundy;  succeeded  by  Oiarles  the  Bold.  Edward  IV  of 
England,  the  kings  of  Castile  and  of  Aragon,  and  the  dakes  of  Burgundy  and  of  Brit- 
tany form  a  new  league  against  Louis. 

1408  Interview  with  Charles  the  Bold  at  PSronne.  Louis  signs  a  treaty  similar  to  that  of 
Contians. 

1469  Guienne  is  given  to  the  duke  of  Berri.     Charles  the  Bold  compels  Louis  to  accompany 

him  on  his  expedition  to  punLsh  the  men  of  Lidge.  Louis  aids  Warwick  against 
Edward  IV. 

1470  Assembly  at  Tours  declares  Treaty  of  P^ronne  null. 

1471  Coalition  of  the  dukes  of  Brittany  and  Guienne  against  Louis.     Truce  of  Amiens. 

147d  Death  of  the  duke  of  Guienne  breaks  up  the  coalition.  Charles  of  Burgundy  attacks 
Ixiuis.     Charles  makes  truce  with  I^iuis  at  Senlis. 

1478  Charles  the  Buld  acquires  a  portion  of  Lorraine.     Arrest  of  the  duke  of  A]en9ou.     Assas- 

sination of  the  count  d'Armagnac. 

1474  League   headed   by  the    archdnko  Siglsmaud  formed  against  Charles    the    Bold.     He 

bmieses  Neuss,  but  is  forced  to  retire.  Louis  takes  towns  in  Picardy  from  him. 
Revolt  in  Roussillon.     Ijouis  sends  an  army  to  take  Perpignan. 

1475  Treaty  of  Picquiguy.     Truce  between  Ix>uis  and  Charles.     Charles  conquers  Lorraine  and 

enters  Nancy. 

1476  (liarles  defenied  by  the  Swiss  at  Qmnson  and  at  Morat. 

1477  The  duke  of  Ixirraine  and  the  Swiss  attack  Nancy.     Charles  falls  la  its  defence.     As  he 

leaves  no  male  heir  the  crown  reflomes  possession  of  Burgundy.  Louis  also  seizes 
Pranche-Comt^.  His  armies  recover  Picardy  and  enter  Flanders.  Mary  of  Burgundy 
marries  Maximilian,  son  of  Frederick  III.  This  transfers  Brabant,  Luxemburg,  Franche- 
Comt£,  Flanders,  Hain&ult,  etc..  to  Austria. 

1479  Louis  defeated  by  Maximilian  at  Guinegate. 

1460  Truce  with  Maximilian.     The  free-archer  army  abandoned;  the  cities  supply  money  in 

place  of  men.     The  age  of  foreign  mercenaries  begins. 


244 


THE   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE 


1481  Lonl8  Inherits  Anjou,  Maine,  and  Provence  on  death  of  Charles  of  Aojon. 

1483  Trrjitr  of  Arras  with  the  Biir^DdianH.     Maximilian  gives  his  daugoter  to  the  danphin 

with  Anois  and  Kranelio  Comto  for  hor  dowry. 
1483  Deatb  of  Louis.     He  has  crushed  feudalism  and  subHtJtuted  arbtocracj  for  ao&rohj.     £Ua 

young  8on  Oharlea  Vlii  hucc^mwIr,  with  Anne  de  Beaujeu  aa  regent. 

1485  The  duke  of  OrleanB  revolts.     Orleans  U  captured,  but  Frands  II  of  Brittao;  prepares  for 

war  with  France. 

1486  Ma?cimiltan  invades  Artols,  breaking  the  Treaty  of  Arras. 

1488  Louis  de  la  Trvmonille  defeats  the  Bretons  at  St.  Aubin  da  Cormier.  Treaty  of  Sabl^. 
Death  of  Francis  II.  Anne  outwits  plan  of  Maximilian  to  marry  Francis'  daughter 
Anue  uf  Brittany,  and  secures  her  for  Charles,  who  abandons  the  proposed  alliaace 
with  Maximilian's  daup^hter. 

1491  Marriage  of  Charles  and  Anne  of   Brittany  unites  Brittany  and  the  crown  of  France. 

Anne  de  Beanjea  retires  from  the  regencv. 

1492  Henry  VII  of  England  invades  France  an^  lays  siege  to  Bonlogne.     Maximilian  attacks 

Artols.     Peace  uf  Etaples  with  England. 

1408  Treaty  of  Narbonne  with  Ferdinand  the  Cjitholic.  Charles  restores  HousailJon  and  Cer- 
dagne  to  Spain.  Treaty  of  SenlLs  with  Maximilian,  who  recovers  Artois,  Pranche- 
Comt^,  and  Charoliia  fur  his  son. 

14&4  Charles  invades  Italy.  The  duke  of  Orleans  defeats  the  Neapolitan  fleet  at  RapaUo. 
Charles  enters  Pisa,  Florence,  and  Rome  in  triumph. 

1496  Charles  enters  Naples.  The  lulian  princes  unite  with  the  pope,  the  emperor,  and  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella  agaloHt  him.  Charles  defeats  the  allies  ai  Fornovo.  Treaty  of 
Nuvara.     CTharles  cuts  his  way  through  tu  France. 

1496  The  French  garris4>n  ai  Naples  capitulates  and  returns  to  France. 

1498  Death  of  Charles  VIII  with  no  living  heir.     The  crown  passes  to  the  duke  of  Orleans. 

Th€  Younger  Branch  of  ih^   Souse  of  ViUoia  [{Valois-Orleana)  descended   from  Charles  V 
through  Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans,  his  Second  Son] 

1498  liOuis  XH.     Ills  assnmptlon  of  the  crown  rennltes  Orleans  and  Valois  to  the  kingdom. 

In  order  to  preserve  the  union  with  Brittany,  Louis  obtains  the  pope's  permission  to 
divorce  his  virtuous  but  unloved  wife  Joan  of  France,  that  he  may  marry  Anne  of 
Brittany.     Louis  in  return  invests  C^caar  Borgia  with  the  Valontinois  and  Diols. 

1499  Marriage  uf  Luuis  and  Anne  assures  the  union  of  Brittany.     Louis  claims  Milan  throngh 

his  grandmother  Valentlna  Visconti.  Alliance  with  Venice.  Louis  enters  the  Milanese 
with  an  army  and  takes  possession  of  the  city.     Lodovico  Sforza  flees  to  the  Tyrol. 

1500  The  Milanese  recall  Lodovico.     He  is  l>etrayed  into  Louis'  hands  at  Novara,  and  the  latter 

takes  him  to  France.     Treaty  with  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  to  take  the  kingdom  of  Sicily. 

THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURT 


1501  Frederick  H  of  Naples  surrenders  to  Louis'  army. 

1502  France  ami  Spain  begin  to  quarrel  over  the  partition  of  Sicily.     Hof^tilities  in  Naples. 

1503  French  defeat  at  Setuinara.     The  duke  of    Nemours  killed  at  Congnola.     Gonaalvo  de 

Cordova  wins  a  decisive  victory  over  the  French  on  the  Oarigllano  and  the  whole 
kingdom  of  Sicily  becomes  subject  to  Spain. 

1504  Louis  signs  tht>  three  treaties  of  Blots  :  the  Brst,  an  alliance  with  Maximilian  to  attack 

Venice ;  the  second,  to  arrange  for  the  investiture  of  the  Milanese ;  the  third,  to  ar- 
range the  marriage  of  Charles  of  Austria  with  Ixiuis'  daughter  Claude,  giving  Brit- 
tany, Burgundy,  Blois.  and  the  French  claims  in  Italy  as  dowry. 

1505  Louis  gives  his  claim  to  the  kingdom  of  Sicily  to  Uermaine  de  Foix  on  her  marriage  to 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  which  breaks  the  third  treaty  of  Blois. 

1506  Louis  convokes  the  states- general  at  Tours  to  declare  that  Brittany  and  Burgundy  cannot 

be  alienated  from  the  crown. 

1507  Louis  takes  Genoa.     Ho  returns  to  France,  giving  the  city  back  its  laws  and  liberties. 

Interview  with  Ferdinand  at  Savoua. 

1508  Formation  of  the  I^eagun  of  Caml)ray  against  Venice. 

1506  l-touis  defeats  the  Venetians  at  .\gnadello,  and  soon  has  possession  of  northern  Italy. 
1610  Pope  Julius  H  makes  peace  with  Venire,  and  allies  hioiself  with  the  Swiss. 

1511  The  French  army  surprises  the  pontifical  forces  before  Bologna.     Defeat   of  Julius  at 

Cajsak'CL-hio.  Louis  convokes  a  council  at  Pisa  to  depose  the  pope.  Julius  interdicts 
Pisa  and  summons  a  new  council  at  St.  John  the  Lateran.  Formation  of  the  Holy 
League,  the  ]>o)>e.  Spain.  England,  the  empire,  Venice,  and  the  Swiss,  one  of  its  objects 
being  to  drive  the  French  from  Italy. 

1512  Qaston  de  FoIx  takes  Bologna,  Brescia,  and  wins  a  brilliant  victory  at  Ravenna,  bat  loaea 

his  Ufe.     The  French  lose  Italy.     Ferdinand  the  Oatholio  invades  and  conquers  Navarre. 


CHBONOLOGICAL   SUMMARY 


246 


Henry  VTTI  declaKff  war  on  France  and  sends  an  army  to  help  Ferdinand  Invade  Q«s> 
conr.  The  English  return  home. 
1518  Louis  continues  struggle  in  Italy.  Henry  VIII  lands  an  army  at  Calais.  Defeat  of  La 
Trdmouillft  at  Novara  by  the  8wiHs  and  Massimilianf>  Sforxa.  Genoa  frees  itself  from 
French  mizorainty.  The  English  and  the  emperor-eluct  Maximilian  bedegeTh<^rouanne 
and  defeat  a  relief  army  of  thw  FVench  at  Golnegate  ("  battle  of  the  Spars  ").  The  Swiss 
invade  Franre.  Treaty  of  Dijon  between  French  and  Swiss  reconciles  France  with  the 
holy  see.     ludecisive  naval  battle  of  tlie  French  and  English  ofT  Brest. 

1514  Death  of  Anne  of  Briflany.  Marriage  of  the  princess  Claude  and  Francis  d'Angouleme. 
They  are  invested  with  the  duchy  of  Brittany.  Trace  of  Orleans  with  the  emperor 
and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic.  Treaty  of  peace  with  Henry  VIll  signed  at  London. 
Louis  marries  Mary  Tudor,  Plster  of  Henry. 

1515  Death  of  Louis  XII  ;  succeeded  by  bis  son-in-law,  Francia  I,  of  the  Orleans-Aogoulfime 

family.  Francis  makes  alliance  witli  tlie  nrcbduko  CTiarles  (princ*  of  Castile).  Francis 
Invades  Italy  with  a  large  army,  and  defeats  the  forces  of  the  pope,  the  emperor,  and 
Ferdinand  at  Marignano.     Genoa  places  itself  in  France's  hands. 

1616  Concordat  with  Leo  X,  bartering  away  the  liberiies  of  the  French  clergy.  Francis  re- 
turns to  Prance,  bringing  hock  the  ideas  of  the  Kenaissance.  Treaty  of  Nyon  with 
Charles,  by  which  French  Navarre  is  restored  to  the  D'Albrets,  Perpetual  peace  signed 
with  the  Swiss. 

1518  Henry  VIII  sells  Tournaisis  to  France.     Foundation  of  Le  Havre. 

1510  Death  of  tho  emporor  Mftximilian.  Strngglp  for  the  imperial  crown  between  Francis, 
Charles,  and  Henrv  VIII.     Election  of  C^harles  V, 

1620  Meeting  of  KranciH  and  Henry  VIII  on  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  bat  Francis  fails  to 
make  the  desired  alliance,  which  Henry  cnnchidea  with  Cliarles  V. 

1631  Charles  claims  Burgundy.  A  French  army  invades  Navarre.  Capture  of  Pamplona. 
Ijeo  treats  with  Francia  and  tlion  dosorts  him  for  Cliarlps.  The  duke  de  Bouillon  at- 
tacks Luxemburg,  The  imperials  seize  the  duchy  uf  Bouillon  and  invade  (Champagne, 
Bayard  drives  them  from  Mezieres.  The  French  lose  Tournay.  French  defeat  at 
IjOgrofto.  Tho  Spaniards  recover  Navarre.  Laulrec  abandons  Milan.  Parma,  and 
Piocenza  in  lyDmbardy. 

1522  Defeat  of  Lautrec  by  Proppero  Colonna  at  La  Bicocca.     Colonna  takes  Genoa.     Francis 

goes  to  tbe  war,  leaving  the  kingdom  under  the  regency  of   his  mother,  I^ouise  of 
avoy.     The  Spaniards  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Fuenterrabia  in  Navarre.     The  earl 
of  Furrey  ravages  the  coasts  of  Brittany  and  Normandy. 

1523  Tlie  pope,  tbti  emperor.  Henry  VIII,  and  many  of  ihtu  Italian  governments  form  a  league 

against  France.  Secret  alliance  of  the  Porta  and  France.  Bourbon  joins  the  tipanish 
army  in  Italy. 

1524  The  French  driven  out  of  the  Milanese.  The  Imperials  fail  in  an  attack  on  Picardy.  The 
constable  Do  Bourbon  invades  Provence.  Siege  of  Marseilles.  Francis  goes  to  Italy 
with  a  lai^  army,  reoccupies  Milan  ;  besieges  Pavia,  to  which  Francis  lays  siege. 
The  pope  rnnrludos  a  secret  treaty  with  France  and  Florence. 

1525  Battle  of  Pavia.     Francis  made  pri8<Jiier  and  token  to  Madrid.     The  Spaniards  masters  of 

Milan.  Henry  VIU  breaks  the  alliance  with  Charles  and  makes  treaty  with  Ijoaise  of 
8axony.  First  persecution  of  Protestants  in  France. 
1530  Treaty  of  Madrid  to  effect  release  of  Francis,  who  agrees  to  give  up  Burgundy,  his  Italian 
claims.  Artois,  and  Flanders.  On  his  return  to  France  he  refuses  to  give  up  Burgundy. 
Formation  of  a  lioly  league  by  Francis  with  the  pope,  England,  Venice,  Florence,  and 
the  Swiss,  to  deliver  Italy  from  the  Spaniards. 

1637  Capture  and  sack  of  Rome  by  the  imperials  under  the  constable  De  Bourbon,  who  is 
killed.  Lautrec  takes  Genoa  and  nearly  all  the  duchy  of  Milan  and  marches  on  Rome. 
By  Bourbon's  death,  Bnnrbonnais,  Ij«  Marche,  and  Auvergne  are  united  to  the  crown. 
Lnsuccessful  siege  of  Nai>leK  by  Lautrec. 

French  under  Saint-Pol  defeated  at  Landriano.     Tbe  French  driven  from  Italy.     The  pope 

deserts  France  and  signs  alliance  with  Charles  V.     The  Treaty  of  Cambray  (the  ' "  I>adies' 

Peace")  arranged  by   Louise  of   Savoy  and  the  emperor's  aunt,  Margaret  of  Austria. 

1682  Francis  makes  alliance  with  Henry  VIII,  who  has  quarrelled  with  the  pnpp,  and  also  with 

the  Protestant  league  of  Smalkald. 

1638  Meeting  of   Francis  and  the  pope  at  Marseilles.     The  friendship  of  Francis  and  Henry 

VIII  is  broken  up.  Francis  demands  the  hand  of  Catherine  de'  Medici  for  his  son 
Henry. 

1534  Francis  makes  a  definite  alliance  with  thn  Porte. 

1535  Francis  decides  to  occupy  Savoy  on  behalf  of  a  claim  de^^ending  from  his  mother. 

1630  Charles  V  seiKes  Milan,  and  Francis  declares  war<m  him.  The  emperor  invades  Provence, 
loses  half  his  army,  and  returns  to  Italy.  Sudden  death  of  tbe  d&uphln  ;  Buaptolona  of 
poison.     Treaty  with  Turkey. 

1687  War  continues  in  Art^iis.     Truce  between  France  and  tho  Netherlands. 

1688  Tell  years'  Truce  of  Nice  with  tho  emperor.     FrnmiH  hulds  Hewlin,  Savoy,  and  Piedmont* 
1688  Friendly  interview  at  AJ^^es-Mortes  between  Charles  and  Francis. 


246 


THE   HISTORY   OF   FBANCE 


1541  Francis  ded&res  war  on  Charles  and    forms  league  with  Detunark^  Sweden,  and  th« 

Protestant  states  of  Germany. 

1542  Stoge  of  Perpignan  by  the  dauohin  Henry. 

19^  Henry  VUI,  reconciled  to  Charles  V,  concludes  au  alliance  against  France,  Gampaign  of 
Charles  V  against  the  duke  of  Cleves.  A  Franco-Turkish  fleet  besieges  Nice,  which 
sarrendera.     The  Spaniards  enter  Provence  and  Dauphin^  and  take  Lyons. 

1544  The  duke  d'Enghien  wins  the  battle  of  Ceresole.     Henry  VIH  lands  at  Calais,  takes 

Boulogne,  and  besieges  Montreuil.  Charles  V  takes  St.  Dialer.  Peace  of  Crospy  between 
Charles  and  Francis,  giving  back  their  recent  conquests.  Uenry  Vlll  will  not  agree  to 
the  peace  and  returns  to  England. 

1545  French  Beet  threatens  England,  but  is  repulsed.     Severe  persecution  of  the  VaadoU. 

1546  Peace  with  Henry  VIII,  who  promiiies  to  give  bock  Boulogne  in  eight  years. 

1547  Death  of  Francis,  succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  H. 

1548  A  revolution  against  the  gabeUe  in  Guienne  put  do^vn  by  Anne  de  Montmorency.    Bordeaux 

is  cruelly  chastised.  Alliance  with  Scotland.  Mary  Btuart  afHanoed  to  the  daaphin. 
Marriage  of  Jeanne  d'Albret  and  Anthony  de  Btjurbon. 

1549  Henry  11  enters  Boulogne,  whtln  an  English  fleet  is  defeated  off  Guernsey. 

1650  Treaty  of  peace  between  France,  En^rland.  and  Scotland.     France  recovers  Boulogne. 

1551  Edict  of  CuAteaubriant  against  heretics. 

1552  Henry  invades  Lorraine.     He  connuers  the  Three  Bishoprics  and  adds  them  to  the  crown. 

The  emperor  besieges  the  French  in  Metz. 
1558  The  French  and  the  Turks  take  a  portion  of  Corsica  from  the  Genoese. 
1554  Andrea  Doria  recovers  the  Corsican  conquest.     Henry  II  ravages  Brabant  and  Hainaolt. 
1566  Brisaac  takes  CVsale. 

1556  Truce  of  Vaiicr>lles  between  Henry  and  Charles  V.     Al>dication  of  Charles.     Henry  and 

Pope  Paul  IV  unite.     The  pope  absolves  Henry  from  the  truce, 

1557  Elmmauuel  Philibert,   with  tne  help  of  the  English,   badly  defeats  the   French  at  St. 

Quentin.  Brave  defence  of  St.  Qaentln  by  Admiral  Coliguy.  Guise  and  the  pope 
defeated  at  Civitella  in  the  Abruszi  by  the  duke  of  Alva.  Tne  pope  compelled  to  moke 
peace  with  the  Spaniards. 

1558  Investment  of  Calais  by  the  duke  of  Guise.     The  town  surrenders  and  the  English  lose 

their  last  inch  of  French  territory.  Marriage  of  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  and  the  dauphin 
Francis.  Guise  takes  Dunkirk,  Nieuport,  and  other  coast  towns,  but  is  defeated  at 
Gravellnes  by  Count  Kgmont. 
1659  Peace  of  Cateau-Cambr&iis,  between  Franco,  Spain,  and  England.  France  retains  the 
Three  Bishoprics  and  Calais,  rocovern  Ham  and  St.  Quentin.  France  and  Spain  secretlv 
agree  to  suppress  heresy.  Henry  holds  a  tournament  in  honour  of  the  peace,  at  which 
he  is  accidentally  slain.  His  young  son  Pranois  n  sncceeds.  Francis  is  governed  by 
his  mother  Catherine  de*  Me<i)ci,  the  duke  of  Guise,  and  the  cardinal  De  Lorraine. 

1560  Failure  of  a  Huguenot  plan  to  abduct  the  king.     The  states-general  asspmbles  at  Orleans 

to  consider  the  Huguenot  question.  Arrest  of  the  prince  of  Cond^  and  the  king  of 
Navarre  ut  Orlrans  for  complicity  in  the  Huguenot  plot.  Death  of  Francis.  His  young 
brother  Charles  IX,  ten  vears  old,  fiucceeds.  The  Golses  are  defeated  in  their  plans  to 
crush  the  Hugueuots  in  the  south. 

1561  Mary  Stuart  compelled  to  ieave  France.     This  marks  the  fall  of  the  Guises.     Conference 

of  Poiasy.  Montmorency  goes  over  to  the  Guises  and  the  triumvirate  of  Quise,  Mont- 
morency, and  Marshal  Saint-Andr6  is  formed.  L'Hdpital  convokes  the  states-general  at 
Pontoise. 

1563  Edict  of  January  favourable  to  the  Huguenots,     Massacre  of  the  Huguenots  at  Vossy 

marks  the  opening  of  the  civil  or  religious  wars.  CoUgny  and  Conrltj  rolli-ct  an  army. 
Anthony  of  Navarre  captures  Houen  and  dies  of  a  wound*  Englisli  auxiliaries  arrive 
to  idd  the  Huguenots.  They  take  possession  of  Le  Havre.  Defeat  of  the  Huguenots 
at  Dreux.  Jeanne  d'Albret  encourages  Protestantism  in  Navarre.  The  French  abandon 
Turin  and  other  Piedmontese  towns  to  the  duke  of  Savoy. 
1568  Catherine  de'  Medici  makes  the  Peace  of  Amboise  with  Cond£,  giving  the  CaMnists  free- 
dom of  worship  in  the  towns  they  hold.  End  of  the  5rst  religious  war.  Le  Harro 
retaken  from  the  English. 

1564  Peace  concluded  at  Troyes  between  Catherine  and  Elizabeth  of  England.     Catherine  and 

Charles  L&  visit  the  provinces  in  the  interest  of  thn  stnigglo  against  Calvinism. 
1566  Conference  at  Bayonne  between  Catherine  and  the  duke  of  Alva,  supposedly  concerning 
the  extermination  of  the  Protestants. 

1566  L'Hdpital  iasaes  the  ordinance  of  Moulins  for  the  reformation  of  justice. 

1567  Rumours  that  Catherine  Is  raising  on  army  to  destroy  the  Protestants  leads  to  the  second 

civil  war.  Cond^  blockades  Paris.  Battle  of  St.  Denis,  in  which  the  Catholics  are 
victorious.     The  Spaniards  expel  the  French  colonists  in  Florida  as  heretics. 

1568  Peace  of  Longjumeau  closes  the  second  war.     Peace  of  Amboise  renewed.     The  third 

religious  war.     Catherine  de*  Medici  issues  an  edict  prohibiting  the  exercise  of  the 
Huguenot  religion. 
1560  The  Huguenots  defeated  at  Jornoc  by  Henry  of  Anjoa.    AasasBiaation  of  the  captive  prlncs 


CHBONOLOGICAL   SUMMARY 


«4T 


of  CoDd£.     The  jonng  Henrv  of  Navarre,  son  of  Jeanno  d'Albret,  named  general iNti mo 
of  the  Calvinist  army.     Coligny  defeated  at  Monoontoor. 
1570  Peace  of  St.  Germain  closes  the  third  war.     It  Is  ttie  most  favourable  peace  the  Uugae> 
nots  have  vet  won.     Charles  marries  Elisabeth,  daughter  of  Maximilian. 

1671  The  court  makes  treacherous  advances  to  the  Huguenot!^.     The  Huj^uenots  hold  the 

avnod  of  I*a  Rochelle.     Growth  of  the  poliligue  party  — the  moderate  Catholice. 

1672  Catherine  plans  a  massacre.     Death  of  Joanne  d'Albrot  at  the  court.     Henry  of  Navarro 

marries  Marg^uerito  of  Valois.     Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.     Great  slaughter  of  the 

Haguenots  in  Paris  and  the  provinces.     Henry  of  Navarre  and  the  prince  of  Condd  aave 

their  lives  by  a  sudden  conversion  to  Catholicism.     The  fourth  religious  war  follows. 
1578  The  cities  in  the  Houth  revolt.     The  duke  of  Anjou  proclaimed  king  of  Poland.     Treaty  of 

La  RochoUo  with  the  Huguenots,  allomng  them  greater  privileges  than  they  have  yet 

attained. 
1674  The  duke  of  Alen9on  and  the  politiquftt  join  the  Huguenot**.     Death  of  Hiarle.'^.     His 

brother  Bvury  III  resigns  the  Pollsn  crown  to  take  that  of  France.     The  fifth  reUgioaa 

war  breakf*  out, 

1575  Marriage  of  Henry  and  Loulfie  de  Vand^mont.     The  king  attaches  himself  to  the  Guise 

party.  Compact  of  Hjlhand  between  the  poUtlques  and  the  Ituguenots.  Victory  of 
Guise  at  Dnrmans  over  a  German  army  sent  by  Cond^. 

1576  The  Peace  of  Monsieur,  concluded  by  the  duke  d'Alen^on  at  BeauUeu,  ends  the  fifth  war. 

It  is  favourable  both  for  the  politiques  and  the  Huguenots.  The  high  Catholic  party 
forms  the  league  headed  by  the  duke  of  Guise.  Henry  of  Navarro  renounces  Calholi- 
ciam  and  again  heads  the  Huguenots.     The  sixth  religious  war  breaks  out. 

1577  The  Peaire  of  Bergerac  ends  the  sixth  war. 

1578  The  duke  of  Anjou  (formerly  d'Alenyon).  having  rejoined  the  court  party,  deserts  it  and 

makes  friends  with  the  Calvinists  In  the  Netherlands. 

1579  Henry  founds  the  order  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Tho  "Gallants'  War,"  or  seventh  rellgjoua 

war,  breaks  out  between  Henry  of  Navarre  and  Henry  HI.  Heformation  of  the  civil 
code  by  the  ordinance  of  Bloia. 

1690  Treaty  o'f  Fleix  closes  the  seventh  war.  It  is  brought  about  by  the  mediation  of  the  dake 
of  Anjou,  to  whom  the  United  I'rovtnces  have  offered  their  sovereignty. 

1663  Elizabeth  of  England  refuses  marriage  offer  of  the  duke  of  Anjou. 

1688  The  duke  of  Anjou  fails  to  capture  Antwerp,  and  retires  in  iH-sgrace  to  France. 

1684  Death  of  the  duke  of  Anjou  makes  Henry  of  Navarro  heir  presumptive.  Treaty  of  Join- 
ville  between  the  duke  of  Guise  and  Philip  of  S|>aln  to  exclude  heretics  from  the  throne 
of  France. 

1585  Henry  III  concludes  Treaty  of  Nemours  with  the  duke  of  Guise,  becoming  nominal  head 
of  the  league.  The  "  war  of  the  Three  Henrys"  (the  king,  Guise,  and  Navarre),  or 
the  eightli  religious  war,  brejiks  out.  The  leaguers  are  defrated  at  Gien  and  in 
Touraine.  Paris  is  threatened.  The  pope  attempts  to  repudiate  Henry  of  Navarre's 
claim  to  the  French  throne.     The  English  assist  Cond6,  and  relieve  Ijo.  Rochelle. 

1687  Henrv  of  Navarre  wins  at  Contras  ;  tho  duke  of  Guise,  at  Viraorv  and  Auneau. 

1588  The  (iukeof  Guise  marches  to  Paris.     Day  of  the  Barricades.     The  king  is  obliged  to  flee 

and  appoint  Guise  lieoteDant-gGneral.  The  king  has  both  the  duke  of  Guise  and  his 
brother,  the  cardinal,  assa.<^inatod. 

1589  Henry  III  joins  his  army  with  that  of  the  Huguenots  to  oppose  the  league,  now  headed  by 

the  duke  of  Mayenne.  Henry  of  Navarre  take.<4  many  towns,  and  the  two  kings  appear 
in  sight  of  Paris.     On  the  eve  of  the  attack  Henry  lU  is  assassinated. 


U 


Thx  Toitkoer  or  ROBBRTntB  LiNE  (HousE  OF  BouRsoy)  (1689-1792  A.a) 
[DeMended  from  Robert  de  Clerinoni,  Sixth  Son  of  St.  Louis,  and  Brother  of  Philip  Iir\ 

HMuy  (IV)  the  Great,  king  of  Navarro,  becomes  king  of  France,  joining  hiu  dominions  of 
Navarre  (which  include  Foix,  P6rigord,  B^rn,  a  portion  of  Gascony,  and  the  LimouKin) 
to  the  crown.  His  accession  is  opposed  by  the  poUtiques  and  the  league,  and  he  has 
only  the  Huguenots  at  his  back.  The  Guises  proclaim  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  as 
(Jharles  X.  The  duke  of  Lorraine  and  the  king  of  Spain  are  other  claimants.  Victory 
of  Henry  over  the  league  at  Arques.  He  is  acknowledged  in  parts  of  Normandy, 
Dauphin^,  Brittanyi  Provence,  and  Longuedoo. 

1600  Disaen^^ion  breaks  out  in  the  league.  Henry  wins  at  1^17.  and  lays  siege  to  Paris. 
Philip  H  sends  the  duke  of  Parma  to  assist  the  Parisians.  Parma  b^iieges  Meaux  and 
relieves  Paris*.     Philip  II  clniitis  tlininc  for  his  daughter  Elisabeth. 

1591  Henrv  obtaius  assistance  from  England  and  Germany.  He  takes  Chartres,  and  lays  siego 
to  kouen.     Violent  measures  of  the  "  Sixteen  of  Paris." 


248 


THE    HISTOKY    OK    FKANCB 


1693  Parma  reliflVM  Rnnen.     Mayeone  loses  the  leadership  of  the  l(^Agu(*.     Parma  dies  at  Arras. 

1593  The  league  treats  witli  SpBio  in  the  interests  of  Philip  II's  daughter.     It  is  proposed  to 

break  the  Salic  law.     To  save  the  situation,  Henry  becomes  a  Catholic.     TheHagitenots 
do  not  oppose  the  step. 

1594  Coronation  of  Henry  at  C*hartre8.     He  enters  Paris.     The  leaders  of  the  league  give  their 

allegiance.  Henry  drives  the  Spaniards  from  Normandy  and  makes  peace  with  the 
duke  of  I^rraine. 
1695  Attempt  of  Chfitel  to  assassinate  ITenry  leads  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  f^rance. 
Henry  declares  war  on  Philip  II.  Brave  resistance  of  Henry  at  Fontaine  Frangaiae. 
The  Spanianiii  ravage  the  Homme,  and  C-ambray  submits  to  tbem.  Henry,  reconciled 
with  the  [mpe.  receives  absolutinn. 

1596  The  duko  of  Mayenne  Bubmits  to  the  king,  and  receives  the  government  of  Burgundy. 

This  puts  an  end  to  the  league.     The  Spaniards  take  Calais. 

1597  The  Spaniards  take  Amiens.     Henry  recovers  it  later.     The  baron  de   Rosny  (after. 

wards  duke  of  Sully)  is  made  head  of  the  finances.     He  makes  many  urgent  reforms. 
1508  Henry  issues  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  granting  freedom  of  worship  and  political  privileges  to 
the  Huguenote.     Treaty  of  Peace  with  Spain  signed  at  Vervins, 

1599  Death  of  (iabrielle  d'Estr^es,  the  king's  mistress.     Divorce  of  Henry  and  Marguerite. 

1600  Henry  marries  Marie  de'  Medici.     War  breaks  out  with  Savoy  over  the  marqoiaate  of 

BaluBio.     Henry  takes  Montm^liAu  and  the  duke's  possessions  oq  the  Rhone. 

THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


1601  Treaty  of  peace  with  Savoy.     Henry  exchanges  Saluzxo  for  Bresae,  Bugey,  Valromey, 
and  the  Pays  de  Gei. 

1603  Plot  of  the  duko  of  Biron  with  Spain  and  Savoy.     Biron  is  tried  and  l)eheaded. 
Ift03  The  Jesuits  recalled. 

1604  Treaty  between  Henry  and  James  1  of  England  to  uphold  the  United  Provinces.     Henrr 

sends  Cliamplain  to  Canada  to  found  Port  Royal  (AnnapoIlH).    Advantageous  commercial 
treaty  with  Turkey. 
1606  Submission  of  the  duke  de  Bouillon  completes  the  reduction  of  the  recalcitrant  nobles. 

1608  Foundation  of  Quebec. 

1609  Henry  assisLs  in  the  twelve  years'  truce  between  Spain  and  the  United  Provinces. 

1610  Henry  is  assassinated  by  Ravaillac.     His  uine-year-old  son  I<onij  ( JUU)  the  Juat  succeeds 

under  the  regency  of  Marie  de'  Medici.     Henry  IV'h  policy  is  abandoned. 
1614  Revolt  of  Conao  and  other  nobles  against  the  regency.    Marie  de*  Medici  makee  the 

Peace  of  Ste.   Menehould   witii  them.     Concini  declares  the  king's  majority.     Louis 

convokes  the  states-gcnoral  (thf^  last  before  the  revolution)  at  Paris.     It  accomplishes 

nothing,  bat  proves  that  the  third  eutate  has   reached   a  high   d^ree  of  political 

education. 
1616  Marriage  of  Louis  and  Anne  of  Austria,  daughter  of  Philip  III  of  Spain.     She  renounoes 

all  rights  to  the  Spanitth  throne.     Second  revolt  of  the  nobles  against  the  government. 

Conde  places  himself  at  the  head  of  the  discontented  Huguenots.     Ivouis  inherits  the 

county  of  Auvergne. 

1616  Peace  laade  with  the  malcontents  at  Loudnn.     The  future  duke  of  Richelieu  becomes  a 

member  of  the  council.  He  causes  the  arrest  of  Condd,  and  troops  are  sent  to  put  down 
the  rebels  in  Pir^rdy,  Champagne,  and  Berri. 

1617  Quarrel  between  Concini  and  Luynes,  the  king's  favourite.     The  king  has  Concini  mur- 

dered. His  wife,  Leonora  Oaligal.  is  l>eheaded.  Marie  de'  Medici  exiled  to  Blois. 
Richelieu  is  dismissed.  Luynes  directs  ihegovemroenl.  Edict  by  which  the  B^arnais 
are  bereft  of  their  rights  as  Protestants.  The  king  takes  an  army  to  B^am  to  enfoice 
the  edict. 

1618  The  great  power  assumed  by  Luynes  drives  the  nobles  over  to  the  side  of  M&rie  de' 

Medici,     Tlie  Thirty  Years*  War  breaks  out  in  Bohemia. 

1619  Assisted  by  the  nobles,  Marie  de'  Medici  escapes  from  Blois.     Richelieu  reconciles  her 

with  Louis.     She  receives  the  government  of  Anjou.     Cond6  released  from  prii«on. 

1620  France  decides  to  protect  the  emperor  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.     Marie  de'  Medici  aims 

to  regain  her  power.  The  king  marches  upon  Angers  and  defeats  Marie's  adherents  at 
the  Ponts-de-Cfi.     Treaty  of  Angers  reconciles  the  King  and  his  mother, 

1621  The  Huguenots  aMsemhle  at  Ija  Rochelle,  publish  a  declaration  of  independence,  and  raise 

an  army  of  which  the  duko  do  Rohan  taices  the  head.  Luynes  proceeds  against  it.  He 
is  forced  to  abandon  the  siege  of  Montanban,  and  die.<;  shortly  after. 

1622  Loais  continues  the   Huguenot  war.      Montpelllcr  i»  besieged.      Peace  made  with  the 

Huguenot!i.     The  Edict  of  Nantes  Is  renewed.     Richelieu  made  cardinal. 
1624  Richelieu    dominate**   the  ministry  and   begins  to  map  out  his  |K)|icy.  which  is  chiefly 
directed  to  resisting  the  A ustro- Spanish  house.     He  interferes  in  the  Valtelllne  war  and. 
sending  an  army  to  drive  the  Spaniards  and  papal  troops  from  the  valley,  restores  it  to 
the  Giuons.     liiclielieu  makes  treaties  with  toe  United  Provinces,  Savoy,  and  Venice. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  SUMMARY 


241) 


1825 

1626 


1687 
1638 

1620 
1680 
1631 


1638 

1634 
1635 

1686 

1637 
1688 


1680 

1640 
1641 

1642 
1648 


1644 


1645 

1646 
1647 
1648 


Revolt  of  the  duke  de  8oabi»e  and  the  Rocliellois.     Richelieu  wins  nAval  victories. 

Temporary  peace  with,  the  Haffuenots.  Treaty  of  MonKon  with  Spain.  Conspiracy  to 
depose  Louis  XIll  and  place  tus  brother  Gaaton,  duke  of  Orleans,  on  the  throne.  Gas- 
ton submitH  to  Kichelieu. 

Richelieu  lave  Rie^e  to  La  Rochelle. 

Surrender  of  La  Rochelle  after  fifteen  months'  siege.  Peace  made  with  England*  which 
has  espoused  the  Uuguenot  cause. 

Peace  of  Alais  marks  the  end  of  the  religious  wars.  Richelieu  interrenee  in  the  quarrel 
over  the  Mautuan  succesaioD.  Louis  Xlll  and  hJs  army  force  the  paas  of  Basa,  and  the 
Spaniards  raise  the  siege  of  Casale.     Protestant  movpinent  in  Languedoc  put  down. 

Richelieu  lead.i  an  army  iulo  Savoy,  where  the  Spaniards  havH  rcapi>eared.  Richelieu 
frustrates  the  plot  of  Marie  de'  Me<iici  and  others  to  overthrow  him.  The  "  Day  of 
Dupes."    Marie  flees  to  BruBseis,  Gaston  to  Lorraine,  and  the  duke  of  Guise  to  Italy. 

Treaty  of  Barenwald;  alliance  with  Guatavus  Adolphus.  Treaty  of  Cherasco  ends  the 
war  in  Italy,  Treaty  with  the  duke  of  Savoy,  securing  Pinerolo  to  France.  Richelieu 
made  duke  and  receives  the  government  of  Brittany. 

The  exiled  nobles  attempt  to  raise  the  provinces  against  Richelieu.  The  royal  army  wins 
at  Costelnaudary.  Gaston  flees.  England  returns  to  France,  by  treaty,  Acadia  and 
Capo  Breton,  which  she  beized  in  1629.  On  death  of  Giistavus  Adolphus,  France  takes 
the  first  place  in  struggle  a^inst  tlie  Austrian  hniine. 

New  treaty  of  alliance  between  France  and  Sweden.  Treaty  with  the  United  Provinces. 
Louis  and  Richelieu  seize  Lorraine.     Nancy  and  Bar-1e-duc  occupied. 

Gaston  makes  treaty  with  the  king  of  Spain.     Gaston  submits  to  France. 

The  Spaniards  seizti  the  archbishop  of  Treves.  Richelieu  declares  war  on  Spain.  Founda* 
tion  of  tiie  French  Arademy. 

Richelieu  narrowly  escapes  aKsassination  by  the  machinations  of  Gaston.  This  war  is 
without  result  in  Italy  and  on  the  sea. 

The  invaders  are  swept  out  of  France. 

The  Austro-Si^auish  jwwer  seems  to  be  checlted.  A  French  fleet  destroys  that  of  Spain 
and  ravages  the  coasts  of  Naples  and  Spain.  Great  success  of  Bemhard  of  Saxe- Weimar 
on  the  Rhine.  Imperials  beaten  at  Rheinfelden  and  Breisach  taken.  The  birth  of  the 
dauphin  destroys  the  hope  of  Gaston  and  his  friends.  The  French  forced  to  rats(>  the 
siege  of  Fontarabla  In  Spain.  Death  of  Father  Joseph.  Richelieu's  counnellor  and  agent. 
His  place  is  taken  by  Maznrin. 

Death  of  Bernhard  of  Saxe-Weimar.  The  French  occupy  his  conquests,  and  t«ke  over  his 
army.  Richelieu  assists  the  English  covenanters  with  money.  Spanish  disasters  in 
Flanders  and  on  the  sea.     The  French  army  enters  Roussillon. 

Revolt  in  Nonuandy  put  down.  Sieffe  of  Arras  and  conquest  of  Arlois  by  T^uis  XIIL 
Capture  of  Turin.     Bri/^  wins  naval  victory  at  Cadiz. 

Richelieu  assists  Jolin  of  Bragan^-a,  the  new  liing  of  Portugal,  and  the  Catalonian  rebels. 
The  Spaniards  driven  from  Catalonia  by  Harcourl.  Conquest  of  Rnusnillon  and  Cerdagne 
by  Louis.  Thov  are  added  to  France.  Uu^briant  and  Ban^r  defeat  the  imi)«<rialB  and 
Piccolomini  at  >V'rilfonb!lttel.     Conspiracy  of  Cinq-Mars. 

Victorv  of  Uuebriant  over  Laniboy  at  Kempen.  The  French  fleet  takes  Collioure.  Defeat 
of  the  French  at  Honnec-ourt.  Arrfst  and  execution  of  Cinq-Mars  and  De  Thou.  The 
duke  de  Bouillun  forced  to  cede  Bouillon  and  Sedan  to  France.  Perpignan  falls  before 
the  French.  Louis  Xlll  recognised  as  count  of  Barcelona  and  RousAiTlon.  Un^briant 
goes  to  Germany  and  forces  the  surrender  of  Lclpsic.  Death  of  Richelieu.  He  has  suc- 
ceeded in  de-stroyiug  the  balance  of  Austria's  power.     Mazarin  succeeds  as  prime  mlniHter. 

Death  nf  Ixiuis  XIH;  succefnied  by  his  five-year-nld  son,  Louis  (XIV)  the  Qreat.  Anne 
of  Austria  obtainu  the  regency.  Mazarin  retained  as  prime  minister.  The  duke  d'Eng- 
hien  (the  great  Condi)  wins  great  victory  over  the  Spaniards  at  Rocroi.  The  friends  of 
the  queen  return  from  exile  and  form  the  cabal  of  the  Imporiants.  They  plot  to  kill 
Maiarin.  The  queen  decides  to  break  with  them,  and  they  are  again  banished.  Enghien 
aetzes  Thion^ille.  The  VVeimarian  army  loses  its  general,  Gu^briant.  It  is  defeated  by 
the  imperials  at  Tuttlingen,  but  is  reorganised  by  Marshal  Turenne.  French  naval 
victory  at  Cartapena.     Negotiations  for  peace  befjin  at  MOnster. 

Turenne  wins  victory  over  the  imperials  at  Freiburg.  Gaston  wins  at  Gravelines.  Condi 
and  Turenne  take  Philippsburg,  Worms,  and  Mainz,  and  drive  the  imperials  from  the 
middle  Rhine. 

Turenne  defeated  by  Mercy  at  Marienthal,  but  Condi  defeats  and  kills  Mercy  at  NSrd- 
linden.     Turenne  takes  Treves.     The  Spaniards  regain  Mardyck  from  the  French. 

C«nde  goes  to  Flanders,  and  takes  Dunkirk  and  other  places. 

Turenne  and  the  Swe<lish  general  Wrangel  win  the  battle  of  Lawingen. 

Victory  of  Turenne  and  \\  rangel  at  Zusmar^hausfn.  Thev  march  upon  Vienna.  Schom- 
berg  captures  Tctrtosa,  Condi  administers  a  crushing  defeat  to  the  Spaniards  at  Ij«na. 
Treaty  of  VVestphalia  between  the  empire  and  Frauct*  ends  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
France  kL'ei)3  her  conquests  in  Lorraine  and  Artois.  The  quarrel  between  France  and 
Spain  remains  unsettled.     The  hardens  and  extravagances  of  Maxarin's  rule,  together 


tM 


THE   HISTOBY    OF   FRANCE 


wltb  the  preteDBlonfl  of  the  pulUments  for  more  power,  lead  to  the  ontbreak  of  the 
Fronde.  Day  of  the  B&rric«dee.  Cardinal  de  Rets  heads  the  popular  party.  Peace  of 
St.  QermalD.  gtrlng  advantages  to  the  magistracy,  ends  the  first  insurrection  of  the 
(Old)  Fronde. 

1649  The  Spaniards  rotam  to  Flanders  and  seize  Ypres.     Mazarin  determines  to  deal  harshly 

with  the  frondeurt  and  the  court  leaves  Paris.  Parliament  obtains  the  assistance  m 
many  of  the  nobles  discontented  with  Mazarin's  rale.  Cond6  refuses  to  join  them  and 
lays  siege  to  Paris,  which  leads  to  the  Peace  of  Rue],  dLnunishlng  a  few  t&xes.  The 
rebellious  nobles  refuse  to  accept  the  peace  and  the  New  Fronde  begins.  The  New 
Il^onde  opens  negotiations  with  Spain.  A  Spanish  army  enters  nnrthern  France. 
1050  The  queen,  sustained  by  the  Old  Fronde,  arrests  Cond£,  Conti,  and  Longueville.  Turenne 
joins  the  New  Fronde  and  with  Spanish  troops  threatens  Paris.  The  royal  army  takee 
Rothol  from  Turenne.     Mazarin  releases  Cond6  and  his  friends. 

1651  The  two  Frondes  unite  through  influence  of  De  Ketz  and  force  the  queen  to  erile  M&zarin. 

The  Old  Fronde,  jealous  of  Cond^,  goes  over  to  the  side  of  the  queen.  Cond6  rouses  a 
revolt  in  Quienne.  Tarenne  goes  over  to  the  court  and  proceeds  against  Cond£.  Ma- 
zarin returns  to  France. 

1652  Condd  defeats  the  royal  troops  at  B16neau  and  at  the  fanbourg  St.  Antolne,  and  entera 

Paris.  Mazarin  retires  to  Flanders.  The  Spaniards  recover  Gravelines,  Dunkirk,  and 
Casale. 

1653  Weary  of  the  struggle,  parliament  and  the  citizens  of  Paris  invite  the  queen  to  return  to 

Paris.  De  Retz  is  imprisoned.  Cond^  joins  the  Spanish  army.  Maxarin  comes  back  all- 
powerful.     End  of  the  Fronde. 

1654  Condtf  and  the  Spaniards  lay  sieffe  to  Arras,  but  Tarenne  drives  them  off.     Turenne  takes 

Qaesnoy  and  Stenay.     Jansenist  doctrines  spread. 

1650  Blasarin  makes  a  treaty  of  peace  and  commerce  with  Cromwell.     French  make  a  fruitlesa 

aiege  of  Pavia.     Mazarin  founds  the  Academy  of  Sculpture  and  Painting. 
1650  Tarenne  continues  his  campaign  against  CondS. 

1657  Mazarin   m&kes   alliance   with   Cromwell,    and   England   declares    w&r  on   Spain.     The 

Spaniards  begin  to  give  way  before  Turenne's  army,  strengtbeued  by  the  Puritans. 

1658  Tarenne  wins  tlie  decisive  battle  of  the  Dunes  over  the  Spaniards.     Dunkirk  surrenders 

and  is  given  over  to  the  English.     Gravelines,  Qadenarde,  and  Furnes  fall  before  the 

French.     Llonne,  Mazarin's  agent,  forms  the  League  of  the  Rhine,  to  uphold  the  Peace 

of  Westphalia. 
1650  Spain  yields  and  th«  Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees  is  signed.    French  conquests  of  Artois,  Rons- 

sillun,  and  Cerdagne  confirmed.     France  restores  conqueBts  [in  Catalonia  to  Spain,  but 

retains  Gravelines  and  otb^^r  towns  in  Flanders.     The  duchy  of  Bar  ceded  to  France  by 

Lorraine.     Marriage  compact  between  Louis  XIV  and  the  infanta  Maria  Theresa. 

Cond^  is  pardoned. 
1660  Marriago  of  Louis  and  Maria  Theresa.     She  renounces  her  rights  to  the  Spanish  throne, 

but  her  marriage  dowry  is  not  paid.     Death  of  Gaston,  duke  of  Orleans,  at  Blois. 
1681  Death  of  Mazarin.     The  personal  rule  of  Louis  begins.     Disgrace  and  imprisonment  of 

Fouquet;  Co]b«rt  takes  his  place  as  superiDteadeDt  of  the  finances.     Marriage  of  Philip, 

duko  of  Orleans,  brother  of  Louis,  to  Henrietta  of  England. 
1663  Louis  buys  Dunkirk  and  Mardyck  from  Charles  II.     The  French  ambassador  insalted  at 

Rome.     Treaty  with  the  Dutch  against  England. 

1663  Louis  occupies  Martial,  Avignon,  and  VenaLBsin.     Colbert  introduces  many  reforms  in  the 

flnancea,  manufactures,  commerce,  etc. 

1664  The  pope  yields,  and  the  quarrel  with  Rome  is  settled.     Avignon  and  Venaissin  restored. 

Louis  aids  the  emperor  and  the  Venetians  arainst  the  Turks.  The  French  take  an 
important  part  in  the  battle  of  St.  Qotthard.  Xfouis  prepares  to  take  part  in  the  war 
between  England  and  Holland.     Colbert  obtains  many  islands  in  the  West  Indies. 

1665  Successful  campaign  against  the  Barbair  pirates.     On  death  of  Philip  IV  of  Spain.  Louis 

asserts  Maria  Theresa's  claim  to  the  Netherlands  by  the  right  of  devolntion.     Alliance 
with  the  Dutch.     Gor^e  taken  from  the  Dutch. 
1600  War  declared  against  England,  but  the  French  make  little  effort  to  take  part  in  it.     Foun^ 
dation  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 

1667  Louiia  makes  the  Peace  of  Breda  with  England.     France  restores  some  of  the  West  India 

Islands  and  England  gives  back  Acadia.  Louis  enters  Flanders  and  the  war  of  the 
Queen's  Rights  begins.     Rapid  French  conquests.     The  whole  of  Flanders  reduced. 

1668  Louis  makes  a  rapid  conquest  of  Franc he-Comti,     Holland,  alarmed  at  Louis*  progress, 

makes  a  triple  alliance  with  England  and  Sweden,  and  forces  Louis  to  mediatioD.  He 
signs  the  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  and  ends  the  war  of  the  Qupen's  Rights,  giving  up 
Franche-Comt6  and  keeping  his  conquests  in  Flanders. 

1070  Louis  attempts  to  break  the  triple  alliance.  He  buys  Charles  II,  and  the  secret  Treaty  of 
Dover  ia  signed.  Secret  Treaty  of  alliance  with  the  emperor.  Louis  secnrea  several  of 
the  imperial  powers  as  allies,  renewing  the  League  of  the  Rhino. 

IflTl  Death  of  Liocme;  succeeded  by  Pomponne. 

1672  Louis  detachea  Sweden  from  the  alliance.     Charlea  II  and  Louis  renew  the  Treaty  of 


CHRONOLOGICAL    SUMMARY 


251 


I 

■ 


DoTAr,  and  Loais  declares  war  on  the  United  Provincea.  English  ships  augment  the 
Frencb  fleet.  OTeiyBsel,  Gelderland,  and  Utrecht  submit.  William  of  Orange  opens 
the  sluices  and  saves  Holland. 
1678  William  of  Orange  sacoeeda  in  forming  tho  first  coalition  against  France,  composed  of  the 
United  Provinoee,  Spain,  the  emperor,  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  and  several  of  the  imperial 
princes,  who  deeert  L«otiifl.  William  recovers  Naarden,  and  with  the  imperial  army 
takes  Bonn.     Louis  takes  Maestrioht.     Indecisive  naval  combats. 

1674  The  war  having  become  European,  Louis  abandons  Uollaod  and  attacks  the  Spauiards  in 

Franche-Comtfi.  The  province  is  reduced  In  six  weeks.  The  Great  Elector  joins  the 
allies.  The  English  parliament  forces  Charles  II  to  make  peace  with  Holland.  Turenne 
defends  Alsace,  defeats  tbe  imperials  at  Sinsheim,  and  ravages  the  entire  Palatinate. 
Cond6  defeats  tho  Spaniards  and  Dutch  at  Seneffe.  Turenne  defeats  the  imperials  at 
MfUhausen  and  Colmar.     The  Spaniards  seise  Bellegarde  in  Koussilion. 

1675  Victorr  of  Turenne  at  TOrkheim.     The  imperials  driven  across  the  Rhine.      Turenne 

enters  the  Palatinate.  Battle  of  Salzbach  and  death  of  Turenne.  The  French  flee 
across  the  Rhine,  pursued  bv  the  imperials.  Cond6  enters  Lorraine  and  drives  the 
imperials  back  across  the  Rhine.  Messina  revolts  from  Spain.  Louis  sends  a  fleet. 
Negotiations  for  peace  begin  at  Nimeguen. 

1676  The  French  take  Cond6  and  Bonchain.     The  Germans  regain  Philippshurg.     Great  naval 

victories  of  Duquesne  in  Sicily  over  the  Dutch  and  SpaniHh  fleets, 

1677  Cr^qui,  Tureune's  successor,  conducts  a  brilliant  campaign  in   Germany.     He  wins  the 

battle  of  Kochersberg,  and  takes  Freiburg.  Luxemburg,  Condo's  Buccessor.  together 
with  Ijouis,  captures  Valenciennes  and  Cambray  ;  with  the  duke  of  Orleans  he  wins  tbe 
battle  of  Cassel  and  takes  St.  Omer. 

1678  Charles  II  forced  by  parliament  to  make  treaty  with  the  Dutch  and  declare  war  on  France. 

Surrender  of  Ghent,  besieged  by  Louvois  and  Ix>uis.  Louis  witbdraws  forces  from 
Bicily.  Peace  negotiationK  w^ncluded  at  Kimeguen.  William  tries  t«  break  thfm  by 
giving  battle  to  Luxemburg  at  ^t.  Denis  near  Mons,  but  is  defeated.  Treaty  of 
Kimeffuen  between  Holland  and  France.  Treaty  with  Spain.  The  conquest  of 
Franche-ComtS  confirmed.  Valenciennes  and  other  frontier  towns  in  the  Netherlands 
given  to  France, 
167B  Treaty  with  the  emperor.  Philippshurg  given  up,  but  Freiburg  retained.  The  Treaty 
of  Westphalia  confirmed. 

1680  I^onis  XIv  at  the  height  of  his  power.      The  title  "tbe  Great"  bestowed  upon  him. 

''Chambers  of  Reunion"  regulate  the  frontier.  They  declare  many  fiefs  In  Alsace  and 
Lorraine  united  to  France.  Restrictions  of  the  religious  liberty  of  the  Huguenots. 
Foundation  of  Pondicherry. 

1661  Strasburg  unit-ed  to  Franco  by  force.     Luxemburg  blockaded.     Louis  purchases  Casale. 

1682  Algiers  besieged  by  Duquesne.  England,  Spain,  and  Holland  force  I>ouis  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Luxemburg.  The  council  called  by  Louis,  to  settle  tbe  differences  with  the 
pope,  emphasises  the  liberties  of  the  GaUican  church.     La  Salle  takes  Louisiana. 

1688  Surrenderof  Algiers.     Death  of  Maria  Theresa.     Death  of  ColUopt. 

1681  Tbe  diet  of   Ratisbon  makes  a  twenty   years'  truce  with  Louis,  allowing  him  to  keep 

Luxemburg,  Strasburg,  and  other  towns  united  before  1682 :  but  his  ambition  is  not 
satisfied.     Duquesne  bombards  Genoa  (or  assisting  the  Algerians  and  Spaniards. 

1685  Hevocation  of  the  Edict  of    Kantes,  abolishing  all  privileges  of  the  Huguenots,     They 

emigrat«  to  other  countries,  causing  irreparable  lobs  to  Frsnco.  Tbe  doge  of  Genoa 
eabmits  to  terms  dictated  by  Louis.  French  fleet  bombards  Tripoli  aud  Tunis.  Louis 
claims  the  lower  Palatinate  in  the  name  of  the  duke  of  Orleans'  second  wife. 

1686  Louis  marries  Madame  de  Maintenon,     Tbe  emperor,  the  empire.   Spain,  Holland,  and 

Sweden  form  the  League  of  Augsburg  —  tbe  second  coalition  against  France. 

1687  Quarrel  with  the  pope.     Louis  seizes  Avignon  and  the  pope  accedes  to  the  league  in  secret. 

1688  Dispute  over  Cologne.     Louts  occupies  Philippshurg,  the  Palatinate,  and  important  places 

nn  the  Rhine. 

1689  William  III,  placed  by  the  Revolution  on  the  Hngllsh  throne,  joins  the  league,    which 

declares  war  on  France.  Louis  gives  the  depos^  James  II  a  fleet  to  recover  tbe  English 
throne,  and  tries  his  strength  against  Spain  and  Savoy.  The  dauphin  ravages  tbe 
Pklatinate.  Mainz  and  other  places  on  tho  Rlilne  recovered  from  the  French,  The 
Spanianls  repulse  the  French  in  Catalonia. 

1690  Lotiis  restores  Avignon  to  the  pope.      Luxemburg  defcat-s  the  prince  of   Waldeck  at 

Fleurus.  James  11  returns  to  France  after  his  defeat  on  the  Boyne.  Catinat  defeats  the 
duke  of  Savoy  at  Staffarda.     Tho  French  take  Saluzzo,  Chamti^ry.  and  Susa. 

1691  Louis  besieges  and.  captures  Mons. 

1693  Louis  prepares  a  descent  on  England,  but  his  fleet,  under  Admiral  Tonrville.  is  defeated 
at  La  Ho^o.     Luxemburg  takes  Nomur. 

1098  Tourville  wins  naval  victory  from  the  English  off  Cape  St.  Vincent.  William  III  defeated 
at  Neerwlnden  by  Luxemburg.  The  French  take  Huy  and  Charleroi.  All  Piedmont, 
except  Turin,  in  the  hands  of  the  French.  Louis  settles  with  the  pope  the  dispute  con- 
cerning the  appointment  of  bishops. 


25« 


THE   HISTORY   OF  FRANCE 


1694  The  Enfflisli   fall  In  an  attack  on  Brectt.     Dieppe.  Le  Havre,  and  Dunkirk  bombarded. 
Thpi  aliip-R  rer^iver  Huy, 

1605  VUleroi  attarks  Brussels.     William  III  takes  Namur.     Caaale  suirenderB  to  the  duke  of 

Savoy,  who  destroys  it. 

1606  Ijouis  makes  peace  with  the  dnko  of   Savoy  and  gircs  him  back  Casale  and  Pinerolo. 

James  II  goes  to  England  with  a  French  anny.  but  the  plot  is  discovered,  and  he  returns 
to  France.     Destniction  of  the  French  magazines  at  Givet  by  the  English. 

1697  Catinat,  Villeroi.  and  Boufflers  enter  Belgium.     Ath  iscaptured.     William  saves  Brussels. 

The  duke  de  VendSme  captures  Barcelona.  Pointis  captures  Cartagena  In  New 
Grenada.  William  III  accepts  Sweden's  offer  of  mediation  and  the  Peace  of  Ryswick 
ends  the  war  of  the  league  of  Augsburg.  Ix)uis  recognises  William  III  as  king  of 
England.  All  conquests  from  England,  ^pain,  and  Holland  since  the  Treaty  of  Nune- 
guen  are  restored.  The  empire  gets  back  all  places  taken  since  the  Peace  of  Ximegnen, 
except  Strasburg.     The  duke  of  Lorraine  is  restored. 

1698  France,  England,  and  Ilolland  sign  the  first  treaty  of  partition  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 

It  is  to  be  divided  between  France,  Austria,  and  Bavaria. 
1690  Second  treaty  of  partition,  made  nftreHsary  by  death  of  the  electoral  prince  of  Bavaria. 
1700  Death  of  Charles  II  of  Spain  leaving  by  will  bis  entire  iuheiitanco  to  Louis'  grandson, 

Philip,  duke  of  Anjou.     Louis  accepts  this  for  him. 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 


1701  Alarm  and  protests  in  Europe  over  Louis' violation  of  the  treaty  of  partition.      Louis 

XIV  breaks  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick,  and  orders  the  elector  of  Bavaria,  governor  of 
Belfftum,  and  bis  ally  to  drive  the  Dutch  garrisons  from  the  Netherlands.  Formation 
of  the  third  coalition  against  France  —  the  grand  League  of  the  Hague —  by  England. 
Holland,  Austria,  and  the  empire.  Louis  tias  for  allies  the  Bavari&n  princes  and  the 
duke  of  Modena  and  Savov.  The  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession  begins.  Prince 
Eugene  defeats  Catinat  and  Villeroi. 

1702  Surprise  of   Cremona  by  Prince  Eugpne.     Capture  of  Villeroi,  who  is  replaced  by  Ven- 

domo.  England  declares  war  on  France  and  Spain.  Louis  sends  Boufflors  into  the 
Netherlands  to  u|ipot*e  Mnrlborougb.  Victory  of  Venddme  at  Lnz'/Arn.  The  imperials 
are  driven  beyond  the  Mincio.  Catinat  takes  command  on  the  Rhine,  where  the  prince 
of  Baden  takes  Landau.  Welssenburg.  and  Hagenau  from  him.  Villars  defeats  the 
prince  of  Baden  at  Friedlingen.  The  French  flwjt  is  defeated  in  Vigo  Bay.  Outbreak 
of  the  ramisanJA  (ProtestAnts)  in  the  C^vonnes.  Marlborough  takes  many  towns  in  the 
Netherlands.  I^uis  unites  the  principality  of  Orange  to  France. 
1708  The  duke  of  Savoy  and  Portuf^al  join  the  coalition.  Marlboroug^h  captures  Bonn,  Huy, 
and  Limburg.  Villars  defeats  Louis  of  Baden  at  StoUhofcn.  takes  Kehl,  and  joins  the 
elector  of  IJavarta,  who  has  driven  the  Austrians  from  the  upper  Danube.  The  Franco- 
Bavarians  enter  Innsbruck  and  threaten  Vienna.  They  win  at  HOchstidU  Tallard 
takes  Breisacb,  defeats  Louis  at  Speier,  and  recovers  Landau. 

1704  Marlborouf^h   and  Prince   Louis   of  Baden  defeat  the  Bavarians  and  take  DonauwSrth. 

Marlborough  joius  Priuoe  Eugene.  The  elector  unites  with  the  French,  and  together 
they  suffer  a  crushing  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  allies  at  Blenheim.  The  empire  is 
saved.  The  elector  takes  refuge  in  Flanders.  Louis  of  Baden  crosses  the  Rhine  and 
retakes  I.andau.  Marll>oroagh  takes  Trarbach  and  Treves.  V^illars  recalled  to  Alsace. 
The  French  and  Spanianis  b^iege  Gibraltar,  which  has  been  capluriHl  by  the  Enf^lish. 
and  win  great  naval  victorv  off  Velcz  Malaga.  Surrender  of  Susa  to  La  Feuillade. 
Suppression  of  the  camUara  revolt  by  Villars. 

1705  The  French  and  Spaniards  compelled  to  raise  the  siege  of  Gibraltar.     Marlborough  de- 

feats the  French  at  Tirlemont.  Louis  of  Baden  drives  Villars  across  the  Rhine.  Ven- 
ddme  wins  from  Prince  Eugene  at  Cassino. 

1706  Venddmo  defeats  the  allies  at  Calcinato  and  drives  them  from  Milanese  territory.     Marl- 

borough wins  the  great  victory  of  Rainillies  from  Villeroi.  La  Feuillade  Lakes  Nice  and 
lays  siego  to  Turin.  Italy  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  allies.  The  archduke  Charles 
enten!i  Madrid,  drives  Philip  V  from  his  capital,  and  is  prodairoed  Kin^;  Charles  III. 
The  allies  take  I-rfiavain,  Brussels,  and  Malines  in  the  name  of  Charles  111.  The  Cas- 
tilians  replace  Philip  on  the  Spanish  throne.  The  allies  reject  Louis  XIV's  proposals 
for  peace. 

1707  Charles  Xll  of  Sweden  appears  In  Germany  and  paralyser  both  sides  for  a  thne.      Villars 

breaks  through  the  Stoilhofen  Unea  to  join  blm.  but  Charles  does  not  desire  the  French 
alliance  and  marches  towards  Poland.  Villars  returns  to  tlie  Rhine.  Duguay-Trouin 
makes  great  bavnc  with  the  English  and  Dutch  commerce. 

1708  Franre   is   in   des|)erato   linancial  straits.     Failure   of  a  French  expe<lHinn   to   Holland. 

Prince  Eugene  joins  Marlborough,  and  they  surprise  Ghent  and  Bruges  and  defeat 
Vendome  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy  at  Oudenarde.     The  allieB  cross  ioio  France  and 


CHRON^OLOQICAL   STTMMARY 


253 


1709 
1710 

1711 
1713 

1713 
1714 

1715 

1716 
1717 

1718 


1710 
1720 

1721 
1?22 
1723 

1725 
1726 
1733 

1734 

1736 
1738 
1730 
1740 
1741 

1743 

1743 
1744 


1745 


}ge  Lille,  whicli  Boafflera  Is  C4>mpelled  tn  Rurrender.  The  Dutch  penetrate  as  far  an 
Venailles.  TLo  duko  of  Suvoy  recovers  his  frontier  fortresses  from  France.  Measures 
taken  a^iDHt  the  Jantwuiints.     Port  Royal  fiuppressed. 

TjOuiH  renews  nffp.rs  of  peace,  but  his  terms  are  rejorlcfJ.  Famine  and  misery  in  France. 
The  alUos  toko  Toamay  and  defeat  Villars  and  Bonfflers  at  Malploqact,  though  with 
tremendous  losses.     Mons  surrenders  to  the  allies. 

Louis  makes  further  concessions  to  obtain  peace,  but  ts  unsuccessful.  The  alUeii  take 
Montaieiie  and  Douai.  Marlborough  takes  Bethune.  The  allies  take  St.  Tenant  and 
Aire.  Philip  V  again  driven  from  Madrid  by  Charles  III.  Vendfime  takes  command  of 
the  French  in  Spain,  restores  Philip,  and  defeats  the  Austrfans  at  VlUaviciosa. 

Slarlboruugh  defeats  the  French  at  Arleux  and  takes  Bouchain.  The  French  take  lieruna 
in  Spain.  Fall  of  the  Whig  government  In  England.  The  Tories  declare  for  peace. 
Marlborough  retired  from  the  command.  The  succession  of  Charles  to  the  empire 
changes  the  attitude  towards  the  Spanisli  succession.  Truce  made  with  England. 
Daguay-Trouin  captures  Rio  Janeiro.     Death  of  the  dauphin. 

Peace  congress  opened  at  Utreeht.  The  emjwnjr  and  the  empire  refuse  to  take  part. 
Prince  Eugene  continues  his  cami>aign  in  the  Neiherlands  ;  is  defeated  at  Denain  by 
Villars.  I>3uai,  Marchienues,  .\nchlD.  and  Le  Quesnoy  retaken.  The  French  frontier 
is  saved.  Philip  V  renounces  his  claim  to  the  French  throne.  The  Dutch  enter  the 
truce  with  England.  Death  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy  (the  second  dauphin)  and  hia 
eldest  son,  the  duke  uf  Brittany. 

Treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Utrecht  between  all  powers  except  the  omperor  and  the  empire, 
on  the  basis  of  Uie  Treaty  of  Ryswlck.  The  permanent  separation  of  the  French  and 
Spanish  crown  agrenl  upon.  France  obtains  Barceloonelte  but  gives  up  Newfound- 
land, Acadia,  and  Hudson  Bay  Territory  to  England.  Dunkirk  dismantled.  The  em- 
peror and  the  empire  continue  the  war.     Villars  takes  I^andau  and  Freiburg. 

Treaty  of  Uaslatt  with  the  emperor,  and  Tn'aty  of  liaden  with  the  empire.  Freiburg, 
Brisach,  and  Kehl  re!»tor(.4d  to  Germany.  France  retains  Strauburg.  End  of  the  war 
of  the  Spanish  Succession.  Death  of  the  duke  de  Berri,  leaving  Louis,  duka  of  Anjou, 
son  of  tlie  duko  of  Burgundy,  heir  to  the  throne.  Louia  legitimatisos  his  children  by 
Madame  de  Montespan. 

Death  of  Louis  XIV;  succeeded  by  his  grandson  XfCula  (XV)  the  Well  Baiovad,  under 
regency  of  the  duke  of  Orleans. 

John  Law's  bank  established. 

Formation  of  a  Triple  Alliance  by  France,  England,  and  Holland,  to  resist  the  Spanish 
minister  Alberoni.     Creation  of  Law's    Mississippi  Company  {Conipaynie  tTOcatient), 

Plot  of  tlie  Spanish  party  to  asBossinate  the  regent.  Compagnie  des  IndfS  formed  ;  the 
Royal  Bank  founded.  The  emperor  joins  the  Triple  Alliance,  forming  the  Quadruple 
Alliance. 

War  with  Spain. 

Alberoni  yields  to  the  Quadruple  Alliance,  and  the  war  enda.  The  *'  Miaaisaippl  Bubble  " 
bursts. 

Dubois  made  cardinal. 

Coronatiun  uf  Louis  ;  Dabois  prime  minister. 

Louis*  majority  proclaimed.  Deaths  of  the  regent  and  Cardinal  Dubois.  Duke  de 
Bourbon  prime  minister. 

IjouIs  marries  Marie  ]>*szcynska. 

Fleury,  bishop  of  Frejiis,  prime  minister. 

The  war  of  the  Polish  Succession  liegins.  Berwick  takes  Kehl  and  lays  elege  to  Philipps- 
burg. 

Villars  and  Charles  Emmanuel  lay  siege  to  Milan.  Novara,  Arona,  and  Tortona  surrender 
to  them.     Death  of  Villars  at  Turin.     Berwick  killed  at  the  siege  of  Philippsburg, 

Peace  congress  opened  at  Vienna,     End  of  war  of  Polish  Succession. 

The  French  assist  the  Genoese  in  Corsica. 

The  French  reduce  nearly  the  whole  of  Corsica. 

The  French  retain  their  hold  on  Corsica. 

The  First  Silesian  War  (the  Austrian  Succession)  begins.  Franco  joins  Prussia  by  the 
Treaty  of  Nvmphenburg.     A  French  army  enters  Bohemia.     Prague  is  captured. 

Frederick  U  makes  y»eace  with  Maria  Theresa.  The  French,  left  alone  in  Bohemia,  are 
forced  to  rctnuil  from  Prague. 

Death  of  Fleury,     French  defeated  at  Dettlngen  ;  the  '*  JourrtSf  ties  Baionti  Rompus." 

Vigorous  renewal  of  the  war  (sometimes  called  Second  Silesian  War)  by  a  league 
against  France  formed  at  Frankfort,  Failure  of  French  expedition  to  Scotland  to  sup- 
port the  young  Pretender.  In  Flanders,  Marshal  Saxe  captures  several  towns.  Louis 
has  severe  illness  at  Metz  ;  on  his  recovery  he  is  called  *'  the  Well-Beloved."  Indecisive 
naval  battle  between  French  and  English  ufT  Tuulon. 

Marshal  Saxe  takes  Tournny  and  defeats  tbi^  Kngllsh  and  Dutch  at  Fontenoy  and  Antoin. 
The  Austrian  Netherlands  fall  into  his  hands.  Victory  of  Bassignano.  In  America  the 
Ehiglish  take  Louisburg  and   Cape  Breton  from  the  French.    Maria  Theresa  makes 


254 


THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 


Peace  of  DroAdeD  with  the  king  of  Prussia.  End  of  tb«  Second  SUesLan  War,  leaviog 
France  practieallr  iaolatad. 

1746  The  Freoch  and  Spaniards  defeated  at  Piacenza.     Baxe  wiue  victory  at  Ptaacoax.     In 

India  Labourdonnais  and  Dupleix  take  Madras  from  tho  English.  English  invade 
Provence  ;  forced  by  Marshal  Belle-Isle  to  withdraw.  Madame  de  Pompadour  beoomee 
mistress  of  Louts. 

1747  Saxo  wins  victory  of  Lawfeld  from  the  English.     Coont  da  LOwendahl  takes  Bergen-op- 

Zoom,  and  Holland  is  invaded  by  the  French.  Great  defeat  of  the  French  fleet  by 
Admiral  Hawke  off  Belle-tie. 

1748  Dupleix  repul&es  English  from  Pondicherry.    Peace  concluded  at  Aix- la- Chapel le  (Aachen). 

England  and  France  mutually  restore  their  conqnests.     France  enters  on  a  period  of 
great  commercial  prosperity. 
17G1  Clive  defeats  Dupleix  and  his'  Indian  allies  at  Arcot.     The  Ecole  MUitalre  established  at 
Paris. 

1753  Beginning  of  quarrel  between  parliament  of  Brituny  and  the  dake  d'Aigoillon.     Exile  of 

the  magistrates  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  fur  interference  in  religious  matters. 

1754  Oupleix  recalled  from  India.     His  sucoeBsor  Godcheu  makes  a  trucei  with  tbe  English. 

George  WaHlnng^ton  with  Kugli»b  and  Indian  troo])s  is  sent  from  Virginia  into  the  Ohio 
valley  and  takes  possession  of  Fort  Necessity.     JumonviUe,  sent  by  Villiers  to  demand 


its  evacuation,   is  surprised  and  killed.     Viltiers  besieges  Fort  Necessity  and  obligea 
surrender.     The  French  and  Indian  War  l>eglns.     The  king  impoMs 
silence  on  parliament  on  questions  of  religion. 


Washington  to 


1755  England  prepares  for  war  on  France.     Admiral  Boscawen  captures  two  French  ships. 

Defeat  of  Braddock.     The  French  defeattsl  on  l^e  George. 

1756  France  allies  herself  with  Austria  and  Russia— "  Alliance  of  the  Three  Petticoats."    The 

Seven  Years'  War  begins.  French  fleet  defeats  Admiral  Byng  and  takes  Port  Mahon. 
French  defeat  on  the  Onouda^^a.  but  Montcalm  takes  Fort  Oswego. 

1757  France  declares  war  on  Frederick  the  Ureal  and  joins  the  league,  composed  of  Russia, 

Saxony,  the  German  diet,  and  Sweden,  against  him.  French  army  under  D'Eatr^ea 
defeats  the  English  under  the  dnko  of  Cumberland  at  Hastenbock.  Tbe  French  occupy 
Hanover,  G5ttmgeu,  and  Cassel.  Richelieu  drives  the  English  to  the  Elbe,  and  Cum- 
berland surrenders  to  him  at  Closter-Seven.  Frederick  the  Great  defeats  Soublse  at 
RoRBbach.  English  fleet  repulsed  at  La  Rochelle.  In  America,  Montcalm  captures  Fort 
William  Henry.  War  resumed  in  India.  Clive  captures  Cbandamagar.  Attempt  of 
Damiens  to  assassinate  Louis  XV. 

1758  Eiigll^h  uxpel  French  from  Emden.     Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  dislodges  Clermont  from 

Brunsvi'ick,  defeats  him  at  Crefeld,  and  takes  Dflsseldorf.  Soubise  wins  battles  of 
Bonderehausen  and  LQtzelberg  and  takes  Cassel.  Admiral  Osborne  defeats  Duqoesne 
oflE  Cartagena.  English  fleets  ravage  the  French  coast,  and  capture  Cherbourg.  Eng- 
lish defeated  in  an  attack  at  St.  Malo.  In  .America  Fort  Duqueane,  Louisburg,  and 
Cape  Breton  are  taken  by  the  Engliuh,  but  General  Abercrombie  is  repulsed  at  Ticon- 
deroga.  English  rapture  Fort.  Louis  in  Senegi*!  and  drive  the  French  from  Gorfie. 
Qeneral  Lally  Rails  for  Icdin  ;  his  ships  are  defeated  by  Admiral  Pococke.  Gn  arrival 
he  besieges  and  captures  Fort  tit.  David  and  besieges  Madras. 

1759  Disastrous  year  for  France.     The  duke  de  Broglie  defeats  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  and 

the  English  at  Bergen ;  but  Ferdinand  and  the  Engllah  win  at  Minden,  Tbe  French 
evacuate  Hanovef  and  Hease.  Failure  of  a  French  attempt  to  invade  England.  Le 
Havre  bombarded  by  an  English  fleet.  Admiral  Boscawen  defeats  Admiral  La  Cine  in 
Laj^os  Bay.  Admiral  Conflans  defeated  by  Admiral  Uawke  in  Quiberon  Bay,  and  bis 
fleet  destroyed.  In  America  the  French  lose  Fort  Niagara,  Ticonderoga,  and  Crown 
Point.  General  Wolfe  defeats  the  French  on  the  Heights  uf  Abraham.  Montcalm  and 
Wolfe  slain.  Sarrender  of  Quebec.  Admiral  Pocooke  defeats  a  French  fleet  near 
Mauritius. 

1760  A  French  fleet  under  Thnrot  is  captured.     The  French  regain  Marburg  and  win  at  Kor- 

bach  :  lose  at  Warburg  ;  win  at  KlosierCamp.  English  conquest  of  ^nada  completed. 
In  India,  the  English  take  tbe  ofTensive  and  win  most  of  the  French  towns. 

1761  The  French  armies  defeated  bv  Ferdinand  ot  Vellinghansen.     English    fleet   captures 

Belle  Ue.    Choiseul  arranges  l^e  "  Family  Compoct,"  an  offensive  and  defensive  league 
siffned  by  all  the  Bourbon  sovereigns — France,   Spain,  the  Two  Sicilies,  Parma,  and 
Piacenza.     Surrender  of  Pondicherry,  the  last  French  stronghold  in  India. 
1703  Defeat  of  the  Hanoverians  by  the  French  at  Johannisburg.     Martinique  surrenders  to 
the  English  fleet.     Further  conquests  stopped  by  peace  negotiations. 

1768  Treatv  of  peace  signed  at  Paris  ends  France's  part  in  the  Seven  Years'  War. 

1764  The  /esuits  snppreated  in  France.     Death  of  Madame  de  Pom)iaduur. 

1765  Death  of  tbe  dauphin ;  the  title  passing  to  his  son,  afterwards  Louis  XVI.     Arrest  and 

imprisonment  of  La  Chalotais  by  the  dake  d'Aiguilloo. 

1766  Dochy  of  Lorraine  reunited  to  Prance. 
176'^  France  acqaires  Corsica. 

1769  Birth  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  in  Corsica, 


CHRONOLOGICAL   SUMMARY 


955 


1770  Trial  o(  d'AigulUon  by  the  parliament  of  Paris.     Louis  XV  revokes  its  decitdon.     Through 

influence  of  Madamo  riu  Harry,  tbe  king's  new  mistress,  Choiseul  is  dismissed.  Mar- 
riage of  the  dauphin  and  Mario  Antoinette  of  Austria. 

1771  Suppression  of  the  parliameuta  of  France.     The  chancellor  Manpeou  forms  a  new  parlia- 

ment in  Paris,  which  bears  his  name.     Reconst ruction  of  the  proTinclal  parliaments. 

1774  Death  of  I^uis  XV,  succeeded  by  his  grandson  X«oals  ZVL    Turgot,  miziister  of  finances, 

proposes  radical  reforms  and  the  ftlKilition  of  privileges. 

1775  Beginning  of  a  throe  years*  faminu  in  France. 

1778  'I'urgot  replaced  by  Neckwr.     Frauklin  solicits  aid  for  the  American  colonies. 
1777  Treaty  of  alliance  between  France  and  the  American  colonies. 

177b  Treaty  of  offence  and  defence  signed  with  the  American  colonies ;  their  indei>endence  recog- 
nised. A  fleet  sent  to  America.  England  declares  war  on  France.  Indecisive  naval 
contest  off  Usbant.  The  French  seize  Dominica  and  the  English  St.  Lucia  In  the  West 
Indies.  The  English  seise  Fondicherry  in  India,  and  St.  Pierru  and  Miquelon  in  North 
America. 

1779  Spain  joins  France.     French  attack  on  Jersey  repulsed.     The  French  take  St.  Vincent 

and  Ur&nada  in  the  West  Indies.  The  Engtiah  seize  Senegal  and  Uorce  in  Africa. 
Admiral  D'KsUing  repulsed  at  Savannah,  Georgia.  The  French  attack  Gibraltar. 
Peace  of  Tescben. 

1780  Admiral  Bodney  defeats  tlie  Franco  Spanish  flevt  and  relievnn  Gibraltar.     In  the  West 

Indies  he  defeats  Admiral  Quichen.     French  Army  sent  to  America  under  Rochambeau. 

1781  Necker  resigns;  Joly  de    Meury   succeeds  him.     Admiral  de  Grasse  captures  Tobago. 

Rochambeau  and  the  French  army  take  an  important  part  in  the  victory  of  Yorktown. 
Gra*ise  returns  to  the  \Vv»i  Indies  and  assists  Bouilltf  to  recover  the  Dutch  islands  taken 
by  the  British. 

1782  The  English  cfarriflon  at  Minorca  surrenders.     Rodney  defeats  tbe  French  fleet  under 

Graisse  off  Santo  Domingo.     Admiral  Suffren  ligbts  Admiral  Hughes,  and  forms  vast 
plans  with  Ilyder  Ali,  sultan  of  Mysore,  for  the  destruction  of  &tglish  domination  in 
India.     Gandelour  is  besieged. 
1788  Preliminary  peace  articles  signed;   conquests  restored  In  Afriea,  the  East  Indies,  and 
America,  except  Tobago. 

1785  Affair  of  the  queen's  necklace, 

1786  Conuncrcial  treaty  with  England. 

1787  Convocation  of  tbe  Notables.      Calonne's    plan  of  reform  rejected  ;    he  is  replaced   by 

Cardinal  de  lirienne,  who  insiHts  on  Calonne's  proposals.  Two  parties  are  formed  — 
one  of  the  king,  queen,  Brienne,  and  some  of  the  nobility ;  the  other  of  the  duke  of 
Orleans,  the  hulk  of  the  nobles,  and  the  parliament  of  Paris  :  the  latter  defend  privile^; 
the  former  is  almost  willing  to  attandon  the  nobility.  The  people  hold  their  own  rights 
and  claims  against  both.  Louis  XVI  holds  a  Bed  of  Justice.  The  Paris  jiarhament 
stateii  tb«  forgotten  doctrine  that  the  states-general  alone  may  impose  taxes,  and  the 
king  exiles  it  to  Troyes.  Parliament  recalled  to  Paris.  Louia  XVI  holds  a  "royal 
sitting."     The  duke  of  Orleans  exiled. 

1788  Parliament  declarer  le.ttres  de  cachet  illegal ;   several  meml>er8  of  the  Paritt  parliament 

arrested.  Other  parliaments  treated  the  same  way.  The  Breton  parliament  forms  the 
elub  afterwards  known  as  the  Jacobins.  Necker  recalled.  Second  assembly  of  tbe 
NoUbles. 
1780  Election  to  the  states-general,  which  meet  at  Versailles  May  4th.  Tbe  cahiers,  con- 
taining demandn  for  reform  in  all  l>ranches  of  the  government,  pre.sented.  Tlie  three 
orders  united  Into  one  body  called  the  National  Assembly.  Oath  of  the  Tennis  Court 
(June  2(Hh).  The  (Jonstitueut  Assembly.  Xecker  resigns.  The  duke  of  Orleans  and 
forty-six  nobles  join  the  assembly.  First  collision  of  the  troops  and  tho  people.  The 
old  municipality  of  Paris  is  done  away  with.  Fall  of  the  Bastille  (July  14th).  The 
emigration  of  nobles  begins.  Necker  recalled.  Abolition  of  privileges  by  the  aHAembly, 
August  4th,  and  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man.  Freedom  of  conscience  and  liberty 
of  the  press  decreed.  Famine  in  Paris  ;  a  mob  proceeds  to  Versailles,  attacks  tbe 
palace,  and  brings  back  the  king  and  queen  to  Parin  (October  6th).  The  assembly 
fulluw!(.  Church  property  taken  by  the  state.  Parliatueut  la  suspended.  Issue  of 
paper  money  ;  crown  domain  and  estates  of  tbe  empire  seized  by  the  Btate. 

1790  The  marquis  de  Favras,  the  first  judicially  condemned  victim  of  the  revolution,  Is  executed. 

The  assembly  redivides  France  into  departments.  Sale  of  church  lands  and  civil  con- 
stitution of  the  clergy.  Grand  federation  of  tbe  Champ  de  Mara.  The  assembly  alwl- 
Ishes  titles  of  nobility  (June  19th).  Keeker  resigns.  The  king  negotiates  with  the 
kings  *if  Europe  for  help. 

1791  Death  of  Mlrabcau.     Flight  and  arrest  of  the  king.     The  Feuillants  Club  formed  of  the 

moderate  Jacobins.  Tue  constitution  completed  ;  the  king  agrees  to  it  and  Is  re-estab- 
lished in  his  functions.  Treaty  of  Pillnitx  between  Prussia  and  Austria  to  restore 
Louis  XVI.  The  constituent  assembly  dissolves  and  tbe  legislative  holds  its  first  meet- 
ing, October  Ist.  Insurrections  in  LaVend^  and  Brittany.  Massacres  at  Avignon, 
Maraeillea,  axul  Alx. 


256 


THE    HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 


1793  Austria,  Prusutia.  and  tijardinia  threaten  France*,  which  puts  three  armies  in  the  field. 
War  declared  on  Austria  (April  dUth).  The  French  invnde  Flanders.  The  AuMriann 
win  at  Quosnny  and  Mons.  La  Fayette  wina  at  Maubeu^,  and  Luckner  at  Menin.  The 
populace  invades  the  Tuileriea  (June  30th).  Brunswick  announces  hi»  intention  of  tn- 
vading  France.  Insurrection  of  Ausiist  10th.  The  king  seeks  refuge  in  the  asaemb]/ 
and  18  taken  to  the  Temple.  The  Prussians  take  l^^ngwy  and  Verdun.  Outrages  In 
PariR ;  murder  of  the  princess  de  Lamballe.  Kellermann  drives  the  Prussians  from 
Va!my.  Dumounez  wins  in  Flanders.  The  siegv  of  Thionville  raified.  The  Germans 
are  driven  from  France.    The  coarention  votes  the  abolition  of  royalty  (September  Slat). 


THE  FIRST  REPUBLIC  (1792-1804) 


The  Convmti<m  (1793-1795) 


The  executive  power  lodgtid  in  the  committee  of  the  constitution.  Qeneral  Custine 
takes  Hpeiei.  Wamuj,  and  Maina.  The  Austrians  repulsed  from  UUe.  Victory  of 
Jemmapes.     Belgium  conquered.     ^^^^  made  a  department. 

1793  Trial  aud  execution  of  Louis  XVI.     The  First  Cualitiun  of  European  powers.     The  con- 

vention declares  war  on  England,  Holland,  and  Spain.  The  empire,  Denmark,  and 
Sweden  declare  war  upon  it.  Duraouriex,  defeated  at  Neerwindon.  ovacuatea  Belgium; 
accompanied  by  the  duke  de  ChsrtreK  takes  refuse  in  the  Austrian  Camp.  Civil  war  in 
La  Vend6e.  Committee  of  public  safety  established  at  Paris.  Girondist  ministry  over- 
thrown. The  Reign  of  Terror  begins  (June  2ud).  The  English  take  Tobago  and  Pon- 
dicberry;  Santo  Domingo  occupied.  Revolt  of  Lyons  and  Marseilles.  The  Constitution 
(that  of  the  Year  I)  drawn  up.  Assassination  of  Marat  by  Charlotte  Cordmy,  who  is 
guillotined.  The  Austrians  take  Conde  and  Valenciennes,  Mains  surrenders  to  the 
Prussians.  The  levy  en  maase  ordered.  The  Spaniards  invade  Rous.si11on.  The  Kng* 
lisb  take  Toulon,  but  are  defeated  at  Dunkirk.  Camot  appointed  to  conduct  the  war, 
Houcliard  defeats  the  English  at  Tlondschoote;  Brunswick  wins  at  PirmaJiens.  General 
Jourdan  defeats  Coburg  at  Wattigiiies.  Lyons  retaken  by  the  republicans,  who  show 
terrible  barbarity.  Trial  and  execution  of  Marie  Antoinette,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  the 
Girondistfi,  Madame  Holand.  and  Bailly.  The  convention  decrees  the  worship  of  the 
Goddess  of  Reason.  The  new  caleudar  introduced.  Victory  of  Brunswick  at  Kaisers- 
lantern.  The  French  regain  Toulon,  at  the  siege  of  which  Napoleon  Bonaparte  first 
distinguishes  himself.  Hoche  and  Pichcgru  drive  the  Austrians  acioss  tue  Rhine. 
The  republic  annexes  the  county  of  Montbcliard. 

1794  The  convention  decrees  the  abolition  of  .slavery  ;   the  blacks  under  Tousaaint  I^uvertare 

revolt  in  Santo  Domingo.  The  Spaniards  driven  from  Rousaillon.  The  English  take 
Martinique  and  Guadeloupe;  and  win  some  success  in  Belgium.  The  French  win  at 
Mouscron  and  Turcoing.  Robespierre  at  head  of  affaire.  The  revolutionary  tribunal 
commits  fearful  atrocities.  Uebert  and  others  of  the  Cordelier  |>arty,  Danton  and 
C-amille  Desmoulins,  put  to  death.  "The  Great  Terror.**  General  Mass^na  routs  the 
Piedmontestf.  The  emperor  takes  Landrrfcies.  Charlerol  surrenders  aud  Cobui^  is 
defeated  at  Fleurus,  which  re-opens  the  Neiheriands  to  the  French.  Admiral  ViUaret- 
Joyeuse  defeated  by  l^rd  Howe.  Paoli  establishes  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain  in 
Corsica.  Fall  of  Itobespierre  and  his  party  on  the  9th  Thermidnr  (July  37th),  followed 
by  the  execution  of  himself  and  sovonty-ono  of  his  adherents.  The  committee  of  pabUc 
safety  re  established.  End  of  the  Reign  of  Terror.  The  Jacobin  clubs  suppressed. 
Pichegru  drives  the  English  behind  the  Waal ;  Jourdan  the  Austrians  beyond  the  Maas 
and  tne  Rhine,  Frencu  conquest  of  Belgium  completed.  Dugommier  victorious  iu 
H])ain.     The  French  invade  Holland.     Prutwia  negr>tiates  for  peace. 

1795  Pichegru  enters  Amsterdam  and  completes  conquest  of  Holland.     The  Dutch  fleet  captured 

in  the  ice  at  Tezel.  Final  suppression  of  the  Chouans  and  the  people  uf  La  Vendue. 
The  grand  duke  of  Tascany  make^  pear^  with  France.  Jacobins  fail  to  regain  ascen* 
dancy  (riot  of  the  12th  Germinal).  Treaty  of  B&le  with  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  gives 
up  the  provinces  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  The  French  take  Bilboa  in  Spain, 
When  peace  la  made.  England.  Austria.  Sardinia,  and  the  empire  remain  In  the  coalition. 
The  United  Provinces  make  Holland  into  the  Batavian  Republic  aud  make  alliance  with 
Prance.  Second  Insurrection  of  the  Jacobinu  (Ist  Prairial)  suppressed.  Death  of 
IjouIs  XVII  in  the  Temple.  His  uncle  Louis  XVIII  becomes  head  of  the  royalist 
cause.  Luxemburg  surrenders  to  the  French.  An  English  fleet  and  a  party  of  emigres 
defeated  in  Quiberon  Bay  by  Hoche.  The  emigres  are  shot,  Dflsseldorf  and  Mannheim 
taken  by  the  French.  Uesse-Cassel  and  Hauuver  make  peace  with  the  republic.  The 
constitution  of  1798  abolished.  Constitution  of  the  ye*r  HI  organises  the  Directory. 
Bonaparte,  recalled  by  Barras,  puts  down  an  Insurrec'tioo  (13th  \end£miaire  —  October 
0th),  and  gaius  command  of  the  army  of  the  Interior.     All  cluba  suppressed.     The 


CHBONOLOGICAL   SUMilARY 


857 


Austrian  NetlierUnds  are  united  to  France.     Wurmser  recovers  Mannlielm. 
is  defeated  at  HScbst.     The  convention  ended  4tli  Brumalre  —  October  36th. 


Joordan 


2%«  Directory  (1795-1799) 


Jourd&n  defeated  at  Mainz.  Bcbfrer  and  Mass6na  win  at  Loano  in  Italy. 
1790  Bonaparte  oiadt;  comumnderiu-cUief  of  the  army  of  Italy.  He  marries  JoHephlne  Beau- 
liarnaifl.  Hocb*»  ends  the  rebellion  in  Xa  Vendue.  Bonaparte  wins  at  Montenotte. 
Klillcsimo,  and  Dego.  lie  cruHhe;i  the  Sardinian  army  at  Mouduvi  and  forces  an  armis- 
tice. Conspiracy  of  Baboeuf  betrayed  anrt  puniftbed.  Bonaparte  wins  at  PiacenEa  and 
Lodi.  Treaty  with  Sardinia,  giving  Pavoy  to  France.  The  French  enter  Milan.  Bona- 
parte makes  tenuK  with  the  dukes  of  Farma  and  Modena.  The  Austrlantt  dnven  back  to 
the  Tyrol.  Mantua  blix'.kaded.  Verona,  Ferrara,  and  Bologna  occupied.  ArmLstice 
signed  with  tbe  pope.  Admiral  Nelson  takes  Elba,  but  the  English  are  forced  to  aban- 
don Corsica.  Wurmser  driven  from  Italy  by  Napoleon.  General  Moreau  taketi  Kehl 
and  defeats  the  Germans  at  Rastatt  and  Ettlingen,  and  the  archduke  Charles  at  Neres- 
faeim.  Bat  the  archduke  defeats  Jourdan  at  Neuniark,  Aml)erg.  and  WQr/burg,  and 
drives  him  beyond  the  Labn.  "Wurmner  reappears  in  Italy,  Bonaparte  defeats  him  at 
Bassano,  shutting  him  up  in  Mantua.  Peace  with  Naples.  The  Cispadane  Republic 
founded.  France  makes  alltanco  with  Tipu  Saib  and  with  Spain.  Moreau  makes  a 
skilful  retreat  into  Alc^aoe,  defeating  the  AustrlanB  at  Blberach.  Bonaparte  wins  ftt 
Areola.     A  French  fleet  sails  for  Ireland,  but  is  di.sper»e<l  by  storm. 

1797  Kehl  surrenders  to  the  archduke.     Bonaparte  wins  at  Rivoli.     Mantua  and  Ancona  sur- 

render. The  pope  makes  Peace  of  Tolentino.  Tbe  Archduke  Charles  arrives  In  Italy. 
Bonaparte  defeats  him  on  tbe  Tagliamento,  and  reaches  Leoben,  when  tbe  Austrian 
eonrt  signs  an  armistice  by  which  Franco  Is  to  receive  Belgium.  Meanwhile  Hoche 
crosses  the  Rhine  and  defeats  the  Austrians  at  Neuwjed  and  Altenklrcben.  Moreau 
drives  the  Anstrians  into  the  Black  Forest.  The  Preliminaries  of  Leoben  put  an  end  to 
both  these  generals'  plans.  An  insurrcctiun  at  Venice ;  Bonaparte  overthrows  the 
republic  and  esitabUshes  a  provisory  government.  For  Hiinilar  outrages,  the  Genoese 
senate  is  overthrown  snd  the  Liguriun  Republic  cBtabliBhed.  England  offerH  mediation 
and  conferences  are  opened  at  Lille.  The  May  election.**  in  France  show  a  reaction  in 
favour  of  the  royalists.  The  Directory,  threatened,  recalls  General  Hoche,  and  Bona- 
parte sends  them  Oeneral  Auguereau.  The  Directory  carries  out  the  cmtp  d'Slai  of  the 
18tb  Fructidor  and  establishes  the  ascendancy  of  the  moderate  partv.  Sudden  death  of 
Hoche.  Treaty  of  Campo-Formio.  Austria  receives  Venice,  and  Franco  the  Ionian 
Islands  and  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhino.  Tbe  Cisalpine  Repablic  accepted.  Insurrec* 
tion  at  Rome.     Joseph  Bonaparte  restores  order. 

1798  France  intervenes  in  the  troubles  in  Switzerland.    General  Berthier  occupies  Rome,  expels 

the  jiope,  and  sets  up  tlm  Roman  Republic.  Surrender  of  Bern.  The  Helvetic  Re- 
pablic replaces  the  ancient  8\nas  Confederacy.  Bonaparte  sails  for  Egj'pt.  takes  Malta, 
then  Alexandria,  defeats  Murad  Bey  in  the  battle  nf  the  Pyramids  and  enters  Ckiro. 
Nelson  destroys  the  French  fleet  In  the  battle  of  the  Nile.  The  Porte  declares  war  on 
France.  Formation  of  the  Second  Coalition,  into  which  Russia  enters.  Spain  remains 
the  sole  ally  of  France.  Neapolitan  army  drives  tbe  French  from  Rome.  Defeat  of 
Civiti  Cftstellana.  French  enter  Piedmont,  driving  the  king  to  Sardinia  ;  recover  Rome, 
and  invftdo  Naples.  War  threatened  witli  United  States  of  America  over  French  claims 
to  seize  British  subjects  un  neutral  ships. 
1709  Surrender  of  Naples  and  re-4*stablishment  of  the  Parthenoj^ean  Republic.  Bonaparte,  in 
Syria,  takes  Uaza  and  Jaffa.  Turks  and  Russians  capture  the  lonlun  Islands.  The 
INrectory  declares  war  on  Austria  and  Tuscany,  llie  archduke  Charles  drives  Jourdan 
back  to  tbe  Rhine.  Sch£rer  defeated  bv  the  Austrian^  at  Verona  and  Magnano.  The 
Kastatt  coDfress  dissolves.  Murder  of  t^e  French  envoys.  SuvarofT  defeats  Moreau  at 
Cassano.  The  allies  enter  Milan.  Bimaparte  driven  off  from  siege  nf  Acre  by  Sir  Sidney 
Smith  and  returns  to  Egypt.  MsrdnnaUl  abandons  Naples  and  is  defeated  by  Suvarnff 
on  the  Trebbia.  Joubert  defeated  and  slain  by  SiivarofT  at  Novi,  Conflict  of  Directory 
and  councils,  3<)th  Prairial  (June  18th).  Critical  position  of  the  Directory  and  growing 
sentiment  for  Bonaparte.  Lncien  Bonaparte  heads  the  opposition.  Talleyrand  retires 
from  the  office  of  foreign  afFiUrs.  Terrible  massacre  of  tne  French  jjarty  in  Naples  by 
Cardinal  Buffo.  Bonaparte  defeats  a  Turkish  Army  at  Abukir.  Bonaparte  returns  to 
France.  Massdna  defeats  Korsakoff,  at  Zurich.  The  duke  of  York,  after  several 
defeats  by  General  Bruue  in  Holland,  in  forr.*f*d  to  surrender  at  Alkmaar.  French  gar- 
rison at  Rome  surrnnders.  Bonafmrie  prepares  to  nssume  the  dictatorship.  Coup  diiat 
of  the  18th  and  19th  Brumaire  (Novemlwr  9th  and  10th).  The  Directory  suppressed  and 
replaced  by  the  three  consuls —  Bonaparte,  Siey^s,  and  Roger  Duces.  A  cotumis^on  is 
appointed  to  revise  tbe  constitution. 
B.  w. — vou  xin.  s 


258  THE   HISTOBY   OF   FRANCE 

JU  Conatdate  (179»-1804) 

The  AaBtrUns  capture  Anooim  and  Conl  New  constitation  (year  VIII)  adopted  Decem- 
ber IStb.  It  proTides  for  three  consuls,  elected  for  ten  years :  Bonaparte,  first  consnl ; 
Cambac^rds,  second ;  and  Lebrnn,  third.  First  consul  has  all  the  power.  Coont^  of 
state,  tribunate,  and  senate  established. 
1800  Treaty  of  Lugon  with  the  Vendeans.  Battle  of  Heliopolis  in  'Egypt ;  Kl^ber,  after 
nuOcing  treaty  to  evacuate  ^^^^pt.  defeats  the  Turks  and  re-establishes  French  dominion. 
Anstrians  defeat  Maasfina  at  Voltri.  Brilliant  campidgn  of  Moreau  in  Bavaria :  victories 
of  Engen,  Messkirch,  and  Hberaeh.  Capture  of  Nice  by  Melas.  Bonaparte  crosses  the 
Alps  and  restores  the  Cisalpine  Republic.  Massfina,  forced  to  surrender  Genoa,  joins 
Bonaparte.  Melas  is  checked  at  Montebello  and  totallv  defeated  at  Marengo.  Armis- 
tice of  Alessandria.  Assassination  of  Kl^ber  in  Egypt.  Menou  takes  command.  Moreau 
enters  Munich  ;  the  armistice  stops  his  operations.  The  French  surrender  Malta  to  the 
British.  Bonaparte  renews  treaty  with  the  United  States  and  ends  the  differences, 
which  have  resulted  only  in  a  few  sea  fights.  Austria,  instigated  by  Great  Britain, 
renews  the  war.  Moreau  wins  the  brilliant  victory  of  Hohenlinden,  takes  Salzburv,  and 
wiiu  on  the  Traun.  In  Italy,  Brune  forces  the  Austrians  across  the  Adige.  The  ^ench 
seisEe  Tuscany,  and  Murat  drives  the  Neapolitans  from  the  papal  states.  Aimistioe  of 
Steyr  with  Austria.    Attempt  to  kill  Bonaparte. 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

1801  Peace  of  Lun^ville  with  Austria.     Formation  of  the  kingdom  of  Etruria.     Naples  makes 

peace  with  France.  The  English  defeat  Menou  at  Aboukir.  Concordat  with  the  pope. 
C^ro  surrenders  to  the  Englbh.  The  French  sign  a  treaty  and  evacuate  Egypt.  Peace 
made  with  Portugal,  Rus^a,  and  Turkey. 

1802  Bonaparte  makes  preparations  for  a  descent  on  England.     His  plans  are  stopped  by  the 

Peace  of  Amiens.  England  recognises  IPVance's  continental  acquisitions  and  the  republics, 
and  restores  the  French  colonies.  Bonaparte  president  of  the  Italian  Republic.  Bona- 
parte made  consnl  for  life.  The  concordat  adopted.  The  Legion  of  Honour  established. 
Constitution  of  the  year  X,  strengthening  Bonaparte's  position,  adopted.  Piedmont 
annexed  to  France.  Bonaparte  sends  an  army  to  Switzerland ;  also  one  to  Hidti.  Cap- 
ture of  Toussaint  Louverture. 

1808  England  fails  to  carry  out  provision  of  the  Peace  of  Amiens  for  turning  Malta  over  to 
the  knights  of  St.  John.  Bonaparte  demands  this  restitution,  and  England  replies  by 
seizing  French  and  Batavian  ships.  Rupture  of  peace  with  England.  England  declares 
war.  Interdiction  of  English  merchandise.  Bonaparte  pl^ns  to  invade  England. 
A  British  fieet  captures  St.  Lucia,  Tobago,  St.  Pierre,  and  Miquelon.  Hanover  sur- 
renders to  Genera]  Mortier.  Louisiana  sold  to  the  United  States.  The  blacks  drive  the 
French  from  Haiti,  and  General  Rochambeau  is  captured  by  the  British. 

1804  AdminJ  Linois  attacks  the  British  East  India  fleet  but  is  defeated.  Conspiracy  of  Piche- 
gru,  Cadoadal,  and  Moreau  against  Bonaparte's  life  discovered.  The  duke  d'Enghien 
abducted  from  Baden  and  shot.  Adoption  of  the  Code  NapoUon.  Bonaparte  has  him- 
self proclaimed  emperor  as  Napolaon  I,  May  18th. 


THE   FIRST  EMPIRE    (1804-1814) 

The  people  ratify  the  establishment  of  the  new  dynasty  by  overwhelming  majority.  Coro- 
nation of  Napoleon  and  Josephine  by  the  pope. 

1806  Third  coalition  against  France  formed  by  England,  Russia,  and  Sweden.  Failure  of 
French  and  Spanish  fleet  to  take  Dominica.  The  Italian  Republic  made  into  a  kingdom 
and  Napoleon  crowned  king  at  Milan,  The  Ligurian  Republic  annexed  to  France. 
Napoleon,  at  Boulogne,  phms  to  invade  England.  The  coalition  joined  by  Austria. 
Napoleon  enters  Germany  and  defeats  General  Mack  at  Wertingen,  GQnzburg,  and 
Elchingen.  Augsburg  and  Munich  taken  by  the  Frendi.  Ulm  surrenders  to  Ney, 
Nelson  wins  at  Trafalgar.  Napoleon  enters  Vienna;  wins  at  Austerlitz.  Armistice 
concluded.     Treaty  of  Pressburg. 

1806  The  Gregorian  calendar  restored  in  France.  Napoleon  puts  Joseph  Bonaparte  on  the 
throne  of  Naples  and  makes  Louis  Bonaparte  king  of  Holland.  He  forms  the  imperial 
princes  into  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  and  makes  hbnself  its  protector,  which  puts 
an  end  to  the  empire  of  Charlemagne.  Fourth  Coalition  between  Russia,  Prusaa, 
England  and  Sweden.     Napoleon  defeats  Prussia  at  Schlelz,  Auerst&dt,  and  Jena ;  h» 


CHRONOLOGICAL    SUMMARY 


2fi9 


eoters  Berlin.  Conquest  of  Prussia  completed.  Napoleon  issuee  decree  for  the  conti- 
nental blockade.  Ue  defeats  the  HusKian  army  at  Czarnovo,  Uoljniin,  Soldau,  and 
Pultu»k. 

1607  The  tribunate  HUBpended.  Surrender  of  Brenlau  to  the  French.  Bernadotte  defeats  tbe 
Rusaiaos  at  Mohrungen,  and  Napoleon  wins  an  indecitiiiTe  victory  at  Eyluu.  Napoleon 
defeats  the  Russians  at  Friedland  and  occupies  Kfinigsberg.  Treaty  of  Tilsit  with  the 
emperor  Alexander.  Hesse-Cassel  and  adjacent  provinces  made  into  kingdom  of  West- 
phalia for  Jerome  Bonaparte  ;  the  Polish  provinces  of  Prussia  are  made  into  the  duchy 
nf  Warsaw  and  pveu  to  the  king  of  Saxony.  Both  form  part  of  the  Con feile ration  of 
the  Rhine.  Alexander  enters  Napoleon's  continental  system.  The  Peninsular  War 
beg^ins.     The  Portuguese  court  flees,  and  General  Junot  oceupies  Lisbon. 

1806  Murat  invades  Spain  and  occupies  Madrid.  Tbe  royal  family  of  Spain  meet  Napoleon  at 
Bayonne  and  resi^  their  rights.  Napoleon  makes  Joseph  Bonaparte  king  of  Spain, 
and  puts  Murat  on  the  throne  of  Naples.  The  inhabitants  of  Maurid  rvvolt,  and  are 
subdued  with  gjeat  slaughter.  The  whole  of  Spain  rises.  England  agrees  to  assist. 
Lord  Collingwood  captures  the  French  fleet  off  Cadiz.  General  BeAsidrcs  wins  at 
Medina  del  Rio  Seco.  Josuph  enters  Madrid.  Tbe  French  are  defeated  at  SaraguAsa 
and  Valencia,  and  (leneral  Dupont  surrenders  to  the  Spaniards  at  Baylen.  Joseph 
leaves  Madrid,  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  arrives  In  Spain  with  an  army  and  defeat's  Junot 
at  Vlmeiro.  Portugal  lost  to  the  French  by  tbe>  capitulation  of  Cintra.  Interview  of 
Napoleon  and  Aleiander  at  Erfurt,  where  the  terms  of  TUalt  are  renewed.  Napo- 
leon arrives  in  Spain,  wins  victories  at  Burgos,  Espinoaa,  and  Tudela,  and  enters 
Madrid. 

1809  General  Soult  drives  the  British  from  Salamanca  and  defeats  them  at  Comnna.  Successes 
of  General  Gouvion-Saint-Cyr  in  Catalonia.  The  English  seize  Martinique.  Joseph 
Bonaparte  returns  to  Madrid,  Napolecm  to  Paris,  Capture  of  Ferrol  by  Soult.  Sur- 
render of  Saragossa  to  tbe  French.  Failure  of  Soult's  expedition  to  Portugal,  although 
he  gains  Oporto.  Tbe  French  fleet  destroyed  in  the  Basque  Roads.  Austria  renews 
the  war  and  forms  the  Fifth  Coalition  witfi  England  and  Germany.  Najmleun  defeats 
the  Austrians  at  Abendsberg,  (.andshut.  Fx-kmilbl,  Ratishon,  Vienna,  Aspem,  and  Ess- 
Ung.  The  pope  excommunicates  Najioleon.  who  carrier  him  ofT  a  prisoner  to  Savona. 
Great  victory  of  Wagram.  which  rains  for  a  time  the  military  power  of  Austna. 
Armistice  concluded  at  Znaim.  Joseph  and  Soult  defeat  the  Anglo-SpanlBrda  nt  Tala- 
vera.  Tbe  English  seize  Flubbing,  tbreateu  Antwerp,  and  capture  thf  Ionian  Islands. 
Peace  of  Vienna.     Cordova  and  Seville  surrender.     Napoleon  divorces  Josephine. 

1610  The  English  capture  Gua^leloupe,  tbe  Isle  of  Bourbon  (Reunion),  and  Mauritius.  The 
papal  states  are  added  to  France,  Napoleon  marries  the  archduchess  Marie  Louise  of 
Austria.  General  Victor  besieges  Cadiz ;  Suchet  captures  Lerida.  Dutch  Brabant  and 
Zealand  are  annexed  to  France.  Tbe  king  of  Holland  abdicates,  and  the  country  is 
added  to  the  French  Empire.  Massena  captures  Almeida,  but  is  defeated  by  Wel]ingtt>n 
At  Busaco,  and  the  latter  holds  the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras.  Ney  captures  Ciudad 
Rodrigo.  Mossc^na  retreats  from  Sautarem.  The  Uanseatic  towns  are  united  to  France. 
Napoleon  seizes  the  duchy  of  Oldenburg. 

IBll  Capture  of  Tortosa  by  Sucbet,  and  Olivenwi  and  Badajoz  by  Soult.  The  French  defeated 
■I  Barroea.  Oldenburg  united  to  France,  causing  ruptnre  with  Russia.  Birth  of  a  son  to 
Napoleon.  Wellington  defeats  Massena  at  Fuentes  de  Onoro  and  captures  Almeida. 
Defeat  of  Soult  at  Albuera. 

1612  Capture  of  Valencia  by  Suchet.     Wellington  recaptures  Badajoz.     War  declared  on  Rus- 

sia. Formation  of  the  Sixth  Coalition  between  England,  Ifussia.  and  Sweden.  Wel- 
lington wins  at  Salamanca,  and  enters  Matlrtd.  NajH)Ieon  Iwgina  his  march  to  Russia. 
He  wins  Ijatlles  of  Smolensk  and  Borodino.  Arrives  at  Moscow.  The  city  burned. 
Retreat  from  Moscow  begins.  Battle  of  Malojaroslavetx.  The  Bere-sina  is  crossed  with 
immense  loss.  Najxileon  reaches  Vilna  with  the  wreck  of  his  army.  He  gives  com- 
maud  to  Murat  and  returns  to  Paris.  Failure  of  Malet'a  conspiracy.  Tbe  French  re- 
occupy  Madrid. 

1613  The  French  army  reaches  Berlin.      Napoleon  defeats  the  Russians  and  Prussians  at  LUt- 

aen,  Bautxen.  and  Iltjchkirchen.  Wellington  defeats  Joseph  at  Vitoria.  The  French 
retreat  to  the  Pyrenees.  Wellington  enters  France.  Surrender  of  Pamplona.  Nego- 
tiations at  Dresden.  Austna  declart*s  war  on  France.  Macdonatd  defeated  on  tbe  Katz- 
bach  and  Oudinoi  at  Grossbeeren.  Napolron  defeats  the  allies  at  Dresden,  hut  loses  at 
Lcipsic,  '*oneof  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world's  history."  French  domination  of 
Europe  is  ruined  and  all  the  imperial  creations  come  to  an  end.  Napoleon  makes  treaty 
with  Spain  and  liberates  Ferdinand  VII.  The  Austrian  army  enters  France. 
1814  BlQcher  enters  Kranre.  Napoleon  restore*  the  pope  to  Rome.  Wellington  defeats  Soult 
at  Orthez.  The  British  repulsed  at  Bergen-«])-Zoom.  Combats  follow  almost  daily. 
The  English  enter  Bordeaux,  where  Louis  XVllI  is  proclaimed  king.  The  allies  march 
on  Paris  and  compel  surrender.  Napoleon  deposed  by  the  senate,  lie  abdicates  at 
Fontaineblean  on  behalf  of  his  son  Napoleon  II;  then  abdicates  completely  and  re- 
tires to  Elba. 


«60  THE   HISTORY   OF   FRANCE 


THE  FIRST  BOURBON  RESTORATION  (1814-1816) 

1814  ZiOqU  XVlIi  elected  king ;  in  ignorance  of  tliis,  Wellington  defeats  Soolt  at  Toolonse 

(April  10th).  Peninsiuar  War  ends.  Loois  promulgates  a  constitution  {eharie)  em- 
Dodjlng  principles  of  1789.  First  Peace  of  Paris  (May  80th) :  boundaries  settled  as  in 
1792.  Austria,  France,  Great  Britain,  Prussia,  and  Russia  (the  Pentarchy),  with 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Sweden,  sign  Act  of  the  Congreas  of  Vienna,  leaving  Bel^nm  to 
france,  recog^iising  the  Netherlands,  and  creating  the  German  Confederation. 

ITie  Hundred  Day$  (1815) 

1815  Dissensions  at  Vienna  and  French  discontent  with  the  Bourbons  encourage  Napoleon  to 

return  from  Elba.  Forced  march  to  Paris^Ner  and  the  army  join  him.  International 
proclamation  against  Napoleon.  Louis  JLVill  flees.  All  Europe,  except  Sweden,  allied 
against  Napoleon.  Murat  defeated  at  Tolentino  (May  8rd).  Ferdinand  restored  as 
king  of  Naples.  Blticher  defeated  at  lagny,  and  Ney  defeated  at  Qnatre-Bras  (June 
16tn).  Wellington,  with  British,  Dutch,  and  German  troops,  and  the  help  of  BIQcher, 
defeats  Napoleon  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo  (June  18th).  Napoleon  goes  to  Paris, 
abdicates  (June  22nd),  and  flees  to  Rochefort.  Commission  of  government  (Fouch£, 
president) ;  Ni^olson  II  proclaimed  (June  28rd). 

THE  SECOND  BOURBON  RESTORATION  (1815-1880) 

1815  Allies  capture  Paris  (July  7th).     Ommission  dissolves.     Ziools   XVIU  restored  (July 

8th).  Tallevrand,  premier.  Napoleon  surrenders  (July  15th) ;  Murat  taken  and  shot 
(October  18tn) ;  Ney  escapes — is  recaptured  and  executed  (December  7th).  Duke  de 
Kchelieu,  premier.  Second  Peace  of  Paris  (November  20th) ;  French  boundaries  of 
1790  re-established.  Revolutionaries  executed  (White  Terror).  Napoleon  exiled  to 
St.  Helena  (October). 

1816  Law  of    Amnesty :     the    Bonapartes    excluded  from    France  forever  (January  12th). 

Chembrt  inirouvahU  dissolved  by  Louis. 

1818  The  army  of  occupation  withdraws.     Dessolles,  premier.     The  doctrinaires,  led  by  Guizot, 

lay  foundation  of  modem  journalism. 

1819  Decazes,  premier. 

1820  Duke  de  nichelieu,  premier.     Assassination  of  the  duke  de  Berri,  and  the  birth  of  the 

duke  de  Bordeaux  (Comte  de  Chambord)  excite  the  ultra- royalists.  Censorship  revived. 

1821  Villdle,  premier.     Napoleon  dies  at  St.  Helena. 

1822  Champellion  deciphers  hieroglyphics. 

1828  France  intervenes  in  Spain.     Cadiz  capitulates,  and  Ferdinand  VII  is  liberated. 
1824  Louis  XVIII  dies.     Charles  X  elected  king. 

1S37  National  guard  disbanded.  Allies  defeat  Ibrahim  at  naval  battle  of  Navarino ;  French 
troops  land  in  Greece.     Attack  on  Algiers.     New  peers  created.     Election  riots  in  Paris. 

1828  Martignac  ministry  (moderate).     Beranger  imprisoned  for  political  songs. 

1829  Polignac  (ultra-royalist),  premier. 

1880  Mignet  and  Thiers  (liberals)  found  Le  National :  their  presses  destroyed  by  the  populace. 
Modification  of  electorial  law.  Liberty  of  the  press  curtailed.  Revolution  of  July  : 
three  days'  fighting  (27th-29th).     Charles  abdicates. 

HOUSE  OF  ORLEANS  (1880-1848) 

1880  Paris  bourgeoisie  elect  Louis  Philippe  L     Great  liberal  movement :  Laffltte,  premier ; 

Soult,  minister  of  war ;  Guizot,  minister  of  the  interior.  Polignac  and  others  im- 
prisoned. Belgian  revolt.  Capture  of  Algiers  following  an  outrage  upon  the  French 
ambassador.     Fortifications  of  Paris  be^n. 

1881  Kingdom  of  Belgiam  created.     Casimir  Perier,  premier.    Guizot  organises  public  educa- 

tion.    Hereditary  peerage  abolished. 
1832  Conspiracy  of   the  me  des  Prouvaires.     CasLmir  Perier  dies  of  cholera,  then  raging  in 
Paris.     Boult,  premier.     Death  of  Napoleon  II  (duke  of  Reichstadt). 

1884  Death  of    La  Fayette  (May  26th).       Unstable  ministries  of  Gerard,  duke  de  Bassano 

(Maret)  and  Mortier,  premiers.     Duchess  de  Berri  sent  to  Palermo. 

1885  Duke  de  Broglie,  premier.     Fieschi's  attempt  on  the  king's  life. 

1886  Thiers,  premier.     Bonapartist  plot  at  Strasburg.     MoM,  premier  (twice  recalled).     Death 

of  Charles  X. 
1889  Soult,  premier. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   SUMMARY 


261 


1840  Fanenvl  of  Napoleon  1  at  Paris.     Franc©  and  ihe  powers  interfere  in  Epvpt.     Thiers  re- 

sigDH;  8ou)t  suco-eedB  with  Uaizot.  Boouparlisl  plot  unsuccessful  at  Boulogne;  Louis 
Napoleon  imprisoned  for  life.  Vote  of  140,000,000  francs  to  fortify  Paris.  Nossi-Bd 
acquired. 

1841  Duke  of  Orleans  killed.     Queen  Victoria  Tisits  llie  king. 
1848  Harqaesas  islands  annexed. 

1843  Extradition  tre-aty  with  England.     Majott«  acquired. 

1844  War  with  Morocco  (May-September J.     Lonls  Philippe  visits  Qneen  Victoria.    Tahiti  made 

a  French  protectorate. 

1845  Boundari^^fi  of  Alg-f>ria  and  Morocco  regiilated. 

1846  Louis  Napolwn  escapes  from  prison.     Marriages  unit©  French  and  Spanish  royal  famUies. 

Paris  fortiHcations  tinistied. 

1847  Oaixot.  premier.     Jerome  Bonaparte  returns  from  thirty-two  years'  exUe.     Abdnl-Eadir 

surrenders. 

1848  Guizot  is  impeached  and  resigns ;  Thiers  rr^alled.     February  revolution  in  Paris  sup- 

pressed by  Cavaignac  as  military  dictator.     Louis  PliUippe  abdicates. 


THE  SECOND  REPUBLIC  (1848-1838) 

1848  The  Second  Republic  established.  Louis  Philippe  and  his  family  banished  in  perpetuity. 
Oavaigaao  executive  chief  (June-Decemlwr).  I«oaia  Napoleon,  president.  Odilon 
Barrot,  premier.  The  "red  republicans";  Paris  barricaded;  archbishop  of  Paris 
killed  ;  loss  of  life  and  property.     New  constitution.     Death  of  Cliateaubriand. 

1649  After  twomonths' siege.  French  troops  capture  Rome ;  Roman  rt^public  abolished.  Roubcr, 
premier,  and  constant  ministerial  chanjE^s. 

18fiO  Death  of  Louis  Philippe.  First  cable  laid  between  England  and  France  (used  Novem- 
ber. 1851). 

18fil  Louis  Napoleon  elected  president  for  ten  years  {eoup  d'itaQ,  Thiers,  Cavaigxiac,  and 
others  arrested.     Bloodshed  in  Paris  (December.) 


RESTORATION    OF    THE    EMPIRE    (1853-I8n) 


1853  Lonifl  Napoleon  is  proclaimed  emperor  as  Napoleon  IH. 

1858  The  emperor  marries  Eugt^nie  de  Montijo  (bom  August  5th,  182fl).     Bread  riots  (Septem- 
ber).    Attempt  to  assassinate  the  emperor.     Crid%t  foncUr  established. 

1854  Crimean   War :   French  and  Knglish   alliance   against   Russia   to    keep  Turkey  intact. 

Odessa  bombarded.  Battle  of  the  Alma.  Fifty  tboasand  allies  land  in  the  Crimea  and 
beaiege  Sebastopol.     Battle  of  Balaidava.     AUieH  victorious  at  Inkerman. 

1855  The  French,  under  Pfelissier,  ntorm  the  MalakolT.     Allies  enter  Sebastopol.     Emperor 

and  empress  visit  London.  Exliibition  at  Paris.  Queen  Victoria  visits  Paris.  Obok, 
in  French  S<:tuiaUIaiid,  purchased, 

1856  Crimpan  War  ends.     Peace  of  Paris  (March  30th):  powers  agree  to  abolish  privateering 

and  define  contraband  of  war ;  Black  Sea  and  Danube  neutralised. 

1857  French   and    English    eijxHlition    against  China.     Allies   orcupy   Canton.     French  and 

Russian  emperors  meet  at  Stuttgart.     Mont  C^nis  tunnel  commenced. 

1858  Orsini  executed  for  attempting  to  kill  the  emperor.     Treaty  of  Tientsin:  Chinese  ports 

opened,  and  Eiir(tp(^an  cmhosfries  established  at  Peking. 

1859  War  of  France  and  Sardinia  against  Austria  ;  victories  of  Magenta  and  Solferino  ;  Peace 

of  Villafranca ;  Iximbardy  ceded  to  Napoleon  UI  and  subsequently  to  Sardinia. 

1860  Savoy  and  Nice  surrendi'red  to  France.     Syrian  expedition.     Chinese  infractions  of  the 

treaty;  French  and  English  forces  land  at  Shanghai  ;  battle  of  Palikao;  Peace  of 
Peking.  Emperor  sees  Cobden  and  adopts  free  trade.  Commercial  treaty  with  Eng- 
land.     Bois  de  Boulogne  opened.     Colonial  extension  in  West  Africa. 

1861  Part  of  Monaco  purchased.     Tlie  Mexican  War  undertaken   by  France,  England,  and 

Spain,  at  first  to  enforce  treaty  obligations.     Allies  occupy  Vera  Cruz  and  Sau  Juan  de 

Ulua.     Final  obsequies  of  Napoleon  L 
186S  Treaty  of  La  Soledod :  Mexico  agrees  to  pay  arrears,  bat  does  not  do  so ;  England  and 

Spain  withdraw.     Naixdeon  III,  expecting  the  United  States  to  be  dismembered,  plana 

a  Mexican  monarchy.     After  a  repulse  at  Puebla,    French    reinforcements    arrive. 

French  victories  in  Cochin  China,  where  six  provinces  are  ceded, 
1868  Spanish  frontier  regulated.     Elections  reveal  anti-Napoleonic  feeUngs,  and  Thiers  organ- 

iaea  a  new  opposition.     Puebla  captured  by  the  French  under  Forey ;  the  archduke 

Maximilian  of   Austria  be-romes  em)>erur   of   Mexico.     Victor   Duruy   as  minister  of 

education       Cambodia  a  French  protectorate. 
1864  Mexican  republicans  assail  the  new  monarchy,  and,  the  Civil  War  being  over,  the  United 


26« 


THE    HISTORY   OF    FBANCE 


SUt«6  demands  tbat  Napoleon  wHhdnw  his  troops.     Treaty  with  Italy  for  Frooch 

troops  to  protect  the  holy  nee  for  two  years. 
1S66  Biemarck  visits  XapoleoD.     Papal  encyclical  rorbiddeo.     Treaty  with  Sweden. 
186d  Austro'Prusaian    War    breaks   out  ;   France.    Enislaod,    aud    HuHsla    proller   mediation. 

Austria  accepts,  and  codes  Venetia  to  Napoleon  III ;  Prussia  and  Italy  object,  but  sign 

truce ;    Venetia  ceded  to  Italy.     French  troope  leave  Rome  on  a  promise  of  papal 

secnrity. 

1867  France  and  Germany  on  verge  of  war,  until  the  neutrality  of  Luxemburg  is  guaranteed 

by  the  great  powers.  Italian  volunteers  attack  payjal  ti^rritorv;  the  French  defeat  them. 
Meetings  of  French  and  AuBtrian  emperors.  French  troopn  withdraw  from  Hexioo; 
Maximilian,  fighting  alone,  is  captured,  tried,  and  shot.  Attempted  assassination  of 
the  Cxar  while  viaiting  Par«.     <!)paro  annexed.     International  exhibition,  Paris. 

1868  Bourbons  deposed  in  Spain  ;  Queen  Isabella  flees  to  France ;  a  (ierman  prince  accepts  the 

throne.  New  srmy  organised.  Thiers'  speeehes  on  military  and  financial  inefficiency. 
Newspapers  prosecuted  ;  and  a  new  law  ulows  greater  liberty  of  publication.  Bocbe- 
furt's  Lta  Lanieme  suppressed  ;  Rochefort  flees. 

1869  Opening  of  the  Sues  Canal,  completed  by  Ferdinand  de  Lessepa.     Growing  feeling  against 

Napoleon  III.  The  "  vice  emiwnir,"  Rouher,  dismissed ;  election  riots  (June),  french 
Atlantic  cable  laid  (July). 

1870  Formation  of  a  moderate  liberal  ministry  by  OUivier.     Pierre  Bonaparte  is  concerned  in 

the  death  of  Victor  Noir,  a  radical  journalist,  but  is  acquitted.  Excitement  and  riots 
in  Paris-  Rochefort  imprisoned  for  his  newspai>er  articles.  A  new  liberal  constitu- 
tion approved  bj  a  plubiscittf ;  Paris  and  the  army  dissatisfied.  War  declared  with 
Germany  for  the  purpose  (among  others  disputed)  of  establishing  UBfrontih-tt  naturtUei, 
to  check  the  growth  of  PniBsla.  and  to  protest  against  a  German  dynasty  in  Spain. 
The  minority  under  Thiers  oppose  the  war.  The  Gennans,  750,000  strong,  advance  tu 
the  boundary.  The  French  repulse  a  German  battalion  at  SaarbrQcken  ;  MacMahon 
defeated  at  WSrth  ;  Bazaine  takes  command.  French  defeats  at  Oravelotte  and  St. 
Privat ;  retreat  to  Metz,  which  is  l>esieged.  Strasburg  aliso  besieged.  (Joncentralion  of 
140.000  French  troopoal  Sedan,  where  ^SO.OOO  Germans  surround  them.  Battle  of  Sedan 
(Septemlier  1st) ;  entire  French  army  capitulates,  with  Napoleon  lU, 


THE    THIRD     REPUBLIC    (1870) 

1870  News  of  the  defeats  of  the  army  causes  excitement  in  Paris  ;  a  commission  of  government 

and  national  defenre  is  formed,  and  Thiers  orders  a  cx>nstituent  assembly  ;  Gambetta 
and  other  liberals  proclaim  the  deposition  of  Napoleon  lit.  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Third  Republic.  Provisional  "  government  of  defence."  The  senate  adheres  to  the 
emperor.  The  Germans  advance  on  Paris ;  siege  commences  (September  19th).  Capitu- 
lation of  Straaburg  and  of  Metz.  Germans  overrun  France,  Sorties  from  Paris. 
Battle  of  Orleans,  Bombardment  of  Paris  begins  (December  27th).  The  republic  recog- 
nised by  the  United  States  and  St)ain  (September  8th) ;  by  Switzerland  (September  9th). 
Delegated  government  at  Tours.  "  Red  republican"  troubles  at  Lyons.  Gambetta 
escapes  from  Paris  in  a  balloon,  and  joins  the  government  at  Tonrs.  Agitation  for  the 
Paris  commune  commences.     The  Tours  government  moves  to  Bordeaux. 

1871  Battle  of  LeMans  ;  Belfnrt ;  last  great  sortie  from  Paris  by  Trfwhu  and  100.000  men.     Bat- 

tle of  St.  Quentin.  Paris  capitulates  ;  the  armistice  disavowed  by  Gambetta  at  Tears  ; 
he  resigns.  National  assembly  at  Bordeaux  electa  Thiers,  chief  of  executive  ;  he  n^o- 
tiates  with  Bismarck  the  preliminaries  of  the  Peace  of  Versailles:  France  to  cede 
Alsace  and  Lorraine,  and  to  pay  5, (XX), 000, 000  francs  in  three  years.  German  troops  to 
occupy  territory  as  security.  Peace  signed  at  Frankfort.  Insurri'ction  in  Paris.  Paris 
elections  lead  to  the   proclamation  of  the  conunune.     Hostilities  l>egin  between  the 

fovemment  and  the  commune.  Reign  of  terror  in  Paris.  Definitive  peace  rigned  at 
rankfort.  MacMahou's  troops  enter  Paris.  Seven  days'  bloodshed.  Oraduu  resto- 
ration of  Paris.  Thiers  nominated  president.  Many  cnmmuuists,  including  women 
{p4trol«uses)^  executed.  Rochefort  sentenced  to  life  imprisonment.  Mont  Cenis  tunnel 
opened.     Algerian  insurrecti<m  ends. 

1872  The  Bight  dechires  for  constitutional  monarchy.     Convention  with  Germany  for  speedier 

evacuation.     A  new  6^  per  cent,  loan  of  120.000,000  francs  oversabsoribed  twelve-fold. 

1873  Napoleon  III  dies,     Bonapartist  manifesto.     Thiers  resigns  on  an  adverse  vote.     Mac- 

Mahon succeeds  as  president.  Shah  of  Persia  visits  Paris.  Anglo-French  treaty 
of  1660  renewed  till  1877.  The  last  German  quits  French  territory.  Comte  de  Cham- 
bord  declares  for  the  "  White  Flag."  The  Septennate  established.  Ministry  resigns. 
Duke  de  Broglie,  premier. 

1874  New  electoral  law,  dtsenfranohlslng  three  million  voters.     Rochefort  escapes  from  New 

Caledonia.  The  ministry,  defeated  on  the  electoral  law,  is  reorganised  by  Cisaey  with* 
out  Broglie.  Republican  and  Buoapartist  disputes;  a  prolonged  endeavour  tu  establish 
the  monarchy.     Manifento  by  Comte  de  Chambord  as  "  Henry  V." 


CHRONOLOGICAL   SUMMAKY 


263 


1875  Wallon's   amendment   estabUshen   the  cnnstitution.     New   Sc^nate   Act.     New  mlnlatrj 

under  Buffet.     (Jambetta  defends  the  new  coQHliiutiou.     New  Presa  law, 

1876  Dufaure's  ministry.     Senate  meeta.     Queen  YictoHa  visits  Paris.     Jules  Simon's  ministnr. 

1877  Broglie.  preiuier.     OambetUi  carries  resolution  for  pariiameatarr  ^nvernment.     Gambetta 

and  Murat  convicted  for  a  speech  against  MacMahon.  Defeat  of  Bonapartistaatgeaerftl 
election. 

1878  The  Limogea  affair ;  suspected  plan  for  a  coup  d*£tai.     International  exhibition. 

1879  MacMahon  resigns.     I*.  P.  Julea  Or&vy  electe<1  preflldenl  by  the  new  republican  senate. 

Dufaure's  resignation  ;  Waddington  succeeds.  Ferry's  attempt  to  check  clerlcaUam. 
The  prince  Imperial,  Napoleon,  only  child  of  Napoleon  III,  killed  in  Zululand. 

1B80  Decree  to  aboILsh  Jesuit  and  other  orders.  Tahiti  made  a  colony.  OalUeni's  Niger  expe- 
dition,    Jules  Ferry,  premier. 

1881  New  loan  of  40,000,000  francs  applied  for  thirty-fold.  Colonisation  of  West  Africa. 
French  engineers  commence  Panama  Canal.  Tunis  a  protectorate ;  Sfax  taken.  Free 
education.     Gambetta,  premier.     Hevolt  in  New  Caledonia  suppressed. 

1883  Gambetta  resigns  ;  Freycinet  forms  a  ministry.     Anglo-French  treaty  renewed.     Compul- 

»<»ry  education.  Anglo-French  uUiiiiatum  to  Egypt.  New  ministry  under  Duclerc. 
Miners'  disturbances.  Anarchist  and  tlynamite  scares.  Kongo  treaty. 
188S  Prince  Victor  Napoleon  arrested  af(«<r  a  manifesto.  Prince  Krapotkin  and  anarchists 
sentenced.  Duclerc*s  ministry  reconstructed  by  Falli^res  ;  succeeded  soou  after  by  Julea 
Ferry's  (Taml>ettist  ministry.  Princpa  expelled  from  army,  French  defeat  at  Tong- 
king  ;  Mojanga  (Madagascar)  bombarded  ;  Tamatave  raptured.  Tougking  and  Annam 
protectorate.  King  of  Spain  hooted  at  Paris  ;  official  apology.  CHspute  with  China 
as  to  ToDgking  ;  Sontay  taken. 

1884  Industrial  crisis    la  Paris.     Constitution  revised.     Trades-unions   legalised.     Ton^Ing 

acquired  by  conquest ;  Annam  a  protectorate.  Provisional  peace  with  China  ;  attack 
on  Fuhchow. 

1885  Ferry  resigns ;  succeeded  by  Brisson.     Peace  with  China.     Orevy  re-elected  president 

(December  28th). 

1886  Freycinet's  new  tumistry  includes  Boulanger.      Bourbon  and  Bonapartist  families  expelled 

from  France.  Secular  education  order«L  Comoro  Islands  a  protectorate.  The  Goblet 
ministry. 

1887  Crown  jewels  sold.     Rouvier  forms  a  moderate  ministry,  whereupon  Gfinf^ral  Bnnlanger, 

ex-war  minister,  issues  a  monitory  order  to  the  army.  Bourbon  and  Bonapartist  mani- 
festo. Boulanger  arrested  In  connection  with  cliai^s  against  General  Caffarel.  Suez 
Canal  neutralised  and  New  Hebrides  evacuated.  Gr^vy  succeeded  as  president  by 
OamoL  Tiranl  forms  a  ministry  ;  attempt  t^j  murder  Ferrr.  Somaliland  deliujited  : 
VVallls  archipelago  a  protectorate.     Boulanger  secretly  allied  with  revolutionaries. 

1888  Panama  Lottery  Act.     General  Btiulangur  deprived  of  his  command  for  insubordination  ; 

Floqaet  suc(^eds  Tirard,  and  Boulanger  b^ns  to  form  a  party.  Duel  between  Bou- 
langer and  Floqnet ;  both  w{}unded.  Dispute  with  Italy  as  to  Massowah.  League  of 
the  Rose  (monarchical)  formed.  Bonlangist  demonstrations;  the  League  of  Patriots. 
Leeward  Islands  annexed. 

1889  Floquet  resigns  ;  Tirard   forms  a  mixed   ministry.     The   League  of  Patriots,    becoming 

Boulanj^st,  is  suppressed.  Boulanger  flees  to  Bnisaels.  Universal  exhtbition  and 
Eiffel  Tower  opened.  New  military  service  law.  Anniversary  of  the  fall  of  the  BastlUe 
celebrate^}.     Boulanger  sentenced  todeportation. 

1800  Three  Boulangist  deputies  expelled  from  the  chamber.  Duke  of  Orleans,  offering  to 
serve  in  the  army,  is  arresteu  ;  afterwards  pardoueil  and  expelled  from  France.  Fney- 
dnet  succeeds  Tirard.  War  with  Dahmney  ;  peare  in  October.  Anglo-French  agree- 
ment ;  recognition  of  the  French  protectorate  over  Madagascar,  of  the  British  over 
Zaniibar.  Prelates  declare  their  adhesion  to  the  republic,  with  the  papal  approval. 
French  Guinea  detached  from  Senegal. 

1691  Royalist  demonstration.  Empress  Frederick  visits  Paris  on  behalf  of  the  Berlin  Interna- 
tional Kxiiibition  of  Fine  Arts.  Protectionist  tariff  adopted.  Collapsi^'  of  the  Panama 
Canal  scheme.  Navy  visited  by  the  czar  at  Kronstadt  and  by  Queen  Victoria  at  Ports- 
ujnuth.     Bt^ulanger  commits  suicide. 

1892  "Minimum"   tariffs  begin  with  England;    "  maximum "  tariffs  with  Spain,  Portugal, 

Italy.  Rumania,  and  I'liited  Slates.  Papal  encyclical  enjoining  submission  to  the 
republic.  Uouvter,  Bourgeois,  and  Louliet  successively  form  ministries.  Expedition 
agkinst  Dahomey,  which  is  later  acquired.  The  Rochefoucauld  declaration  of  submLs- 
sion  to  the  pope  in  matters  of  faith,  but  not  in  matters  of  state.  Centenary  of  the  first 
republic  celebrated.  Panama  ra.nal  inquiry.  De  Lesseps  and  others  prosecaied ;  the 
Loubet  ministry  reconstructed  by  Ritrat. 

1893  Tariff    dispute   with    Swiss  Republic.      Panama    disclosures  ;    De    Ijesseps    sentenced. 

Dupuy  forms  a  new  ministry.  Siamese  di-sputo  and  treaty.  Expedition  to  Mada- 
gascar. Strike  of  42,000  miners.  Russian  fleet  visits  Toulon.  J.  P.  P.  Casimir- 
P£rier'a  cabinet.  Anarchist  oatragea.  Timbuktu  occupied ;  collision  with  British 
troops. 


«64 


THE   HISTORY   OF   PRANCE 


ISM 
1886 

1896 

1897 

1898 


1899 

1900 
1901 


1902 


1903 

ld04 
1005 

1900 


Corn  dntj  IncreAsefi.  Colonia]  ministij  created.  Financial  Hrflcit.  190.000.000  francfl. 
met  by  increaaed  taxes,  ate.  Joan  of  Arc  celebration.  Dupuy  fnrms  uew  luodt^rate 
cabinet.  Assassinrntion  of  President  Carnot,  June  *^th.  Oaaimir-Pirler  elected  pre«- 
Ideut  (June  37tb).     Dreyfus  arK*Bted  ;  convicted  of  treason. 

Dre}rfu8  degradnl.      Bupuy  and  J.  P.  P.  Casimir-Perier  resi^.     Felix  Faora  elected 

£  resident.  Ribot  forma  a  ministry.  Amnesty :  Rocbefort  returns  after  six  years'  exile. 
[ada«a»car  placed  under  the  colonial  office.  New  radical  cabinet  under  BonrgeoUi. 
Indo-China  delimited. 

Queen  Victoria  vitiitH  the  president.  Ministry  retain  office  anlnst  adverse  rote  of  senate. 
Bourgeois  resigns.  Meline  forms  a  moderate  cabinet  with  Hanotaux,  foreign  minister. 
Prince  Henry  of  Orleans  returns  from  Abyssinia  and  Is  woaoded  in  a  dael  by  the  count 
of  Turin.  Czar  and  r/aiina  visit  France.  Government  inquiry  Into  Dreyfus  case. 
Madagascar  declared  a  colony.  Captain  Marchand  starts  on  a  second  expedition  to  reach 
the  Nile. 

Intervention  between  Turkey  and  Greece  (May  lltb).  Bazaar  fire,  Paris  (May  4tb).  Pres- 
ident Faure  vitiim  the  czar.  Franco- Russian  alliance  confiimed.  Dreyfus  bordereau 
pubtiitbed.     Debate  on  Dreyfus  affair. 

New  Panama  C-anal  Company  organised.  Ksterbazy  triiMl  for  treason  ;  acquitted.  Zola'a 
accusation  in  llie  Dreyfus  cai^.  Zola  tried  ;  sentenced  for  defamation.  Prosecution 
annulled.  Brisson  forms  ^  cabinet.  Marcband  reaches  Fa^boda;  meets  the  sirdar 
Kitchener.  Zola  retried  ;  found  guilty.  Commercial  treaty  and  Niger  convention  with 
England.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  admits  forgery  of  a  Dreyfus  document  and  commits 
suicide.  Dreyfus  case  remitted  to  court  of  cassation.  Dupuy's  ministry  of  republican 
concentration.     Fashoda  evacuated. 

Enp^li^ib  agreement  as  to  the  Sudan.  President  Faure  die.".  Lonbet  saceeeds  as  presi- 
dent. Dispute  with  sultan  of  Oman.  France  leaves  Nile  Valley;  but  gains  In  the 
Sudan.  Marchand  welcomed  in  Paris.  NewDreyfasoonrt-martialordered.  Waldeck- 
Roosseau  ("  cabinet  of  republican  defence  ")  succoeda  Dapny  as  premier.  Drerfus  re* 
tried  at  Rennes ;  found  guilty  ;  pardoned.  **  Siege"  of  M.  Gu^rin.  Diroulede  sen- 
tenced for  conspiracy.     Madame  Curie  discovers  radium. 

Paris  exhibition  ;  47,000,000  visitors.  Annulment  of  all  criminal  cases  arising  out  of  th» 
Dreyfus  case.  Allies  (6,100  French  troops)  at  Peking.  The  cxar  decorates  the  prea- 
dent.     Extension  of  Farther  India.     Dreyfus  amnesty  paragraph  passed. 

Tlie  AsHociation  Bill  passed  checking  the  educational  activities  of  the  religious  orders. 
Rus.sian  M^ivereigns  visit  France,  but  do  not  go  to  Paris.  Of  16,468  religious  establiab- 
ments,  $.800  spply  for  registration  ;  many  schools  emigrate  and  the  others  are  treated 
with  progreHsive  severity.  Santos  Dumont  takes  his  balloon  around  the  Eiffel  Tower. 
Rupture  with  the  Porte  ;  French  sailors  seize  custom-house  at  Mytileno  ;  differences 
arranged.  New  loan  of  265,000,000  francs  subscribed  for  twenty-fold.  Troubles  in 
Algeria.     Morocco  frontier  delimited. 

Loubel  visits  Russia.  Waldeck-RouHseau  resigns;  Combes  succeeds.  Arbitration  with 
Venezuela.  Decrees  against  unauthorised  religious  communities.  Deputies  approve 
energetic  enforcement  of  a8.«iociations  law. 

Refusu  to  authorise  preaching  orders.  King  Edward  VII  visits  Fiance.  Arbitration 
treaties  with  England  and  Italy. 

Religious  orders  prohibited  from  teaching. 

Fall  of  the  Comlicn  miniiitry.  Quarrel  with  Germany  over  Morocco.  Law  jaiwnd  MpT 
ating  churrh  snd  stMe. 

Election  of  Olemant  FalUiraa  as  president.  International  conference  at  Algeciras.  Fall 
of  the  Rouvier  ministry.     New  ministry  under  M.  Jean  Sarricu. 


PART  XVII 

THE    HISTORY    OF   THE 
NETHERLANDS 

BABED  CHISTLT  01*027  THE  rOLLOWIKO  ATTTRORrrXSa 

EDMONDO   DE    AMICIS,    A.    DE  BARAXTE,   J.    BEKA.    GUTDO  BENTIVOGLIO,    P.  J. 

BLOK,  P.   BOR,  GIRARD  BRANDT.  A.  M,   CERISIEB.   C.  M.  DAVIES,   SIR  JOHN 

FEOI8SART,  R.  FRUIN.  L.   P.  GACHARD,  T.  C.  QRATTAN,  HUGO  GR0TIU8 

(oa    DE    OROOT),    P.   C.    HOOn\    TU.    JUSTE,    L.    LECL^RE,    KERVUN 

DE  LETTENHOVE,    E.    VAN    METEREN,   JACOB    DE    MEYER.    H.   O.    MOKE.   JOHN 

LOTHROP  MOTLEY.   H.  PIRBNNE.  C.  GROEN  VAN  PRINSTERER.  GDLIELMUS 

PROCURATOR.  EVERHARD  VAN   REYD.   A,  G.   B.   8CHAYE8.  J.  C.   F.  VON 

8CniLI.ER,    MEIJS    STOKE,    FAMIANU8     STRADA.    H.    A.    TAINE.    H. 

TIEDEMANN,   JAN   WAGENAAR.    K.   TH,    WENZELBCRGEB. 


■WVrn  ADDITIONAL  CITATIORB  PROV 

A.     ALISON,     AMMIANU8    MARCELL1ND8,     EDWARD    ARMSTRONG,     BADAVARO, 

BARLANDUS    (BAARLANDT).    ALEXANDRE    BERTRAND,    LOUFS    BONAPARTE, 

PIERRE    DE    BRANT6ME,    J.    FRANCE    BRIGHT.    LORD    BROOKE.    BRUCE, 

BUCHELIUS,   J.    W.    BURGON.    JULIUS  CESAR,    PHILIP  DE   COMINES, 

LUIS  CABRERA  DE  CORDOVA.  \VM.  CX)XE,  Q.  DOTTIN,  DUPLESSIS- 

MOBNAY.  RENON  DE  FRANCE.  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  EUGfeNE 

FROMENTIN.  JAMES   ANTHONY   FROUDE,  ANGELO  OALLUCCI.  S.   R.   GARDINER, 

P.    A.    F.    GERARD,    JAN    GERBRAND8ZOON    (JOHN    OF    LEYDEN').    EDMUND 

608SE.   J.    R.   GREEN,    P.    P.    G.    GUIZOT,    F,    VAN    DBR    HAER,    HENRY 

HAR9TENS,  P0NTU8  HEUTERUS,   W.  J.  HOFDYK.    PIERRE  JEANNIN, 

DAVID     KAY,     G.     W.     KITCHIN.     FRANZ     VON     LOEER.     T.     B. 

M4CAULAY,      SIR     J.      MACKINTOSH.      LORD      MALMESBURT» 

HENRI     MARTIN.     BERNARDINO     DE    MENDOZA,    J.     P.    E. 

MfcRODE,   J.    MICHELET.    ENGUERRAND   DE   M0N8TRELET,    WILHELM  MULLER, 

MATTHEW   PARIS,    P0NTU8  PAYEN,  J.  F.  C.  LE  PETIT,  MARQUIS   DE  POM- 

PONNE.    PR0C0PIU8.    A.    RICHER,    W.   ROBERTSON.   JAMES  E.   THOROLD 

ROGERS,    F.   C.    SCHLOSSER,    ROBAULX    DE    SOUMOY,    PETRUS    8UF- 

FRIDDS,  CORNELIUS  TACITUS,  J.  B.  DE  TAS8I8.  J.  A.   DE  THOU, 

DINGMAN   VERSTEEG,   GIOVANNI   VILLANI.  L.  J.  J.  VAN   DER 

V^-NCT.  L.  A.  WARNKONIG.  JACOB  VAN  WESENBEKE.  SIR 

RALPH  WINWOOD,    ALEXANDER  YOUNG,    ZOSIMUS. 


COPTSIOHT   1904 

Bt  henry  smith  WILLIAMS 


AO  fighu  referred 


HISTORICAL    INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    HISTORY    OF 
THE   NETHERLANDS 

6t  John  Loth  bop  Motlkt 

(From  hlB  Rim  of  the  Dutch  Republic) 


THE  LAND 

The  northwestern  corner  of  the  vast  plain  wliich  extends  from  the  German 
Ocean  to  the  Ural  Moimta'ms  is  occupied  by  the  countries  called  the  Nether- 
lands. This  small  triangle,  enclosed  between  France,  Germany,  and  the  sea, 
is  divided  by  the  modern  kingdoms  of  Belgium  anrl  HoHanil  into  two  nearly 
equal  portions.  Our  earliest  information  concerning  this  territory  is  derived 
from  tne  Romans.  Julius  Caesar^  has  saved  from  oblivion  the  heroic  savages 
who  fought  against  hLs  legions  in  defence  of  their  dismal  homes  with  ferocious 
but  unfortunate  patriotism;  and  the  great  poet  of  England,  learning  from  the 
conqueror's  CommenlarU's  the  name  of  the  boldest  tribe,  has  kept  the  Nervii, 
after  almost  twenty  centuries,  still  fresh  and  familiar  in  our  ears. 

Tacitus,**  too,  haa  descril>pd  with  singular  minuteness  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  people  of  these  regions  and  the  i>ower  of  Rome,  oven^'helming, 
although  tottering  to  its  fall;  and  has,  moreover,  devoted  several  chapters  of 
his  work  upon  Ciermany  to  a  description  of  the  most  remarkable  Teutonic 
tribes  of  the  Netherlands. 

Geographically  and  ethnographically,  the  Low  Countries  belong  both  to 
Gaul  and  to  Germany.  It  is  even  doubtful  to  which  of  the  two  the  Batavian 
islanil,  whicli  is  the  core  of  the  whole  country,  was  reckoned  by  the  Romans. 
It  is,  however,  most  probable  that  all  the  land,  with  the  exception  of  Fries- 
land,  was  considered  a  part  of  Gaul.  Three  great  rivers — the  Rhine,  the 
Maas,  and  the  SclieMe— had  deposited  their  slime  for  ages  among  the  dunes 
and  sandbanks  heaved  up  by  the  ocean  around  their  mouths.  A  delta  was 
thas  formefl,  habitable  at  last  for  man/  It  was  by  nature  a  wide  morass,  in 
which  oozy  islands  and  savage  forests  were  intersi>ersed  among  lagoons  and 
shallows;  a  tlistrict  lying  partly  below  the  level  of  the  ocean  at  its  higher  tides, 
subject  to  constant  overflow  from  the  rivers,  and  to  frequent  and  terrible 
inundations  by  the  sea. 

The  Rhine,  leaving  at  last  the  regions  where  its  storied  lapse,  through  so 
many  ages,  has  been  consecrated  alike  bv  nature  and  art  —  by  poetry  and 
eventful  truth  —  flows  reluctantly  through  the  basalt  portal  of  the  Seven 
Mountains  into  the  open  fields  which  extend  to  the  German  Sea.  After 
entering  this  vast  meadow,  the  stream  divides  itself  into  two  branches,  be- 
coming thus  the  two-homed  Rhine  of  Vii^il,  and  holds  in  these  two  arms  the 
island  of  Batavia. 

[*  Napoleon,  Indeed,  having  conquered  the  Rhine,  claimed  ItR  creature  Holland  as  his  "by 
right  of  devolution  " — a  dlfTerent  u»e  of  the  word  that  Louin  XIV  employed  lu  claiiuing  the 
Spanieh  Notherlondfl  for  hin  queen.  Of  Nap(ileoD*fl  claim.  Thurold  Rogers  ^  aajra :  ' '  One  may  dts- 
put«  the  lo^c  of  the  threat  captain,  but  his  geology  is  incontestable. 'j 


268  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

The  Maas,  taking  its  rise  in  the  Voages,  pours  itself  throu^  the  Ardennes 
Wood,  pierces  the  rocky  ridees  upon  the  southeastern  frontier  of  the  Low 
Countries,  receives  the  Sambre  in  the  midst  of  that  picturesque  anthiwiite 
basin  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Namiu*,  and  then  moves  toward  the  norths 
through  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  country,  till  it  mingles  its  waters  with 
the  ^ine. 

The  Schelde,  almost  exclusively  a  Belg^  river,  after  leaving  its  f oimt£uns 
in  Picardy,  flows  through  the  present  provinces  of  Flanders  and  Hainault.  Li 
Csesar's  time  it  was  su£focated  before  reaching  the  sea  in  quicksands  and 
thickets,  which  long  afforded  protection  to  the  savage  inhabitants  against  the 
Roman  arms,  and  which  the  slow  process  of  nature  and  the  untiring  industiy 
of  man  have  since  converted  into  the  archipelago  of  Zealand  and  Soum 
Holland.    These  islands  were  unknown  to  the  Romans. 

Such  were  the  rivers  which,  with  their  numerous  tributaries,  coursed 
through  the  spongy  land.  Their  frequent  overflow,  when  forced  back  upon 
their  currents  by  me  stormy  sea,  rendered  the  coimtry  almost  uninhabitable. 
Here,  within  a  half-submerged  territory,  a  race  of  wretched  ichthyophagi 
dwelt  upon  terpen,  or  mounds,  which  they  had  raised,  like  beavers,  above  the 
almost  fluid  soil.  Here,  at  a  later  day,  the  same  race  chained  the  tyrant 
Ocean  and  his  miehty  streams  into  sul^rviency,  forcing  them  to  fertilize, 
to  render  commodious,  to  cover  with  a  beneficent  network  of  veins  and 
arteries,  and  to  bind  bv  watery  highways  with  the  furthest  ends  of  the  world, 
a  country  disinherited  by  nature  of  its  rights.  A  region,  outcast  of  ocean 
and  eartn,  wrested  at  last  from  both  domains  their  richest  treasures.  A  race, 
engaged  for  generations  in  stubborn  conflict  with  the  angry  elements,  was 
unconsciously  educating  itself  for  its  great  struggle  with  the  still  more  savage 
despotism  of  man. 

.  The  whole  territory  of  the  Netherlands  was  girt  with  forests.  An  exten- 
dve  belt  of  woodland  skirted  the  seacoast,  reaching  beyond  the  mouths  of 
the  Rhine.  Along  the  outer  edge  of  this  barrier,  the  dunes  cast  up  by  the 
sea  were  prevented  by  the  close  tangle  of  thickets  from  drifting  further  in- 
WBxd,  and  thus  formed  a  breastwork  which  time  and  art  were  to  strengthen. 
The  groves  of  Haarlem  and  the  Ha^e  are  relics  of  this  ancient  forest.  The 
Bad^uenna  Wood,  horrid  with  Dnudic  sacrifices,  extended  along  the  eastern 
line  of  the  vanished  Lake  of  Flevo.  The  vast  Hercynian  forest,  nine  days' 
journey  in  breadth,  closed  in  the  coimtry  on  the  German  side,  stretching  from 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine  to  the  remote  regions  of  the  Dacians,  in  such  vague 
immensity  (says  the  conqueror  of  the  whole  country,  Caesar^),  tiiat  no  German, 
after  travelling  sixty  days,  had  ever  reached,  or  even  heard  of,  its  commence- 
ment. On  the  south,  the  famous  groves  of  Ardennes,  haunted  by  fatm  and 
satyr,  embowered  the  coimtry,  and  separated  it  from  Celtic  Gaul. 

Thus  inundated  by  mighty  rivere,  quaking  beneath  the  level  of  the  ocean, 
belted  about  by  hirsute  forests,  this  low  land,  nether  land,  hollow  land,  or 
Holland,  seem^  hardly  deserving  the  arms  of  the  dl-accomplished  Roman. 
Yet  foreign  tyranny,  from  the  earliest  ages,  has  coveted  this  meagre  territory 
as  lustfully  as  it  has  sought  to  wrest  from  their  native  possessors  those  lands 
with  the  fatal  gift  of  beauty  for  their  dower;  while  the  genius  of  liberty  has 
inspired  as  noble  a  resistance  to  oppression  here  as  it  ever  aroused  in  Grecian 
or  Italian  breasts. 

THE  EARLY  PEOPLES 

It  can  never  be  satisfactorily  ascertained  who  were  the  aboriginal  inhab- 
itants.   The  record  does  not  reach  beyond  Caesar's  epoch,  and  he  found  the 


INTBODUCTION 


S69 


territory  on  the  left  of  the  Rhine  mainly  tenanted  by  tribes  of  the  Celtic 
family.  That  large  division  of  the  Indo-European  group  which  had  ah^ady 
overspread  many  portions  of  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  Gerniany,  the  British 
Islands,  France,  and  Spain,  had  been  long  settled  in  Belgic  Gaul,  and  consti- 
tuted the  bulk  of  its  population.  Checked  in  its  westward  movement  by  the 
Atlantic,  its  current  began  to  flow  backwards  towards  its  fountains,  so  that 
the  Gallic  portion  of  the  Netherland  populati-^n  was  derived  from  the  original 
race  in  its  earlier  wanderings  and  from  the  later  and  reflu(rnt  tide  coming  out 
of  Celtic  Gaul.  The  modern  appellation  of  the  Walloons  points  to  the  affinity 
of  their  ancestors  with  the  Gallic,  Welsh,  and  Gaelic  family.'  The  Bclga? 
were  in  many  respects  a  superior  race  to  most  of  their  blood-allies.  They 
were,  according  to  C:esar's  testimony,  the  bravest  of  all  the  C^elts.  This  may 
be  in  part  attributed  to  the  presence  of  several  German  tribes,  who,  at  this 
period,  had  alrendy  forced  their  way  across  the  Rhine,  rningleil  their  qualities 
with  the  Belgic  material,  and  lent  an  additional  mettle  to  the  Celtic  blood. 
The  heart  of  the  country  was  thus  inhabited  by  a  Gallic  race,  but  the  frontiers 
had  been  taken  possession  of  by  Teutonic  tribes. 

WTien  the  Cimbri  and  their  associates,  about  a  century  Ijefore  our  era, 
made  their  memorable  onslaught  upon  Rome,  the  early  inhabitants  of  the 
Rhine  island  of  Batavia,  who  were  probably  Celts,  joined  in  the  expedition.^ 
A  recent  anil  tremendous  inundation  had  swe|)t  away  their  miserable  homes, 
and  even  the  trees  of  the  forests,  and  had  thus  renderetl  them  still  more  dis- 
satisfied with  their  gloomy  abodes.  The  island  was  deserted  of  its  population. 
At  about  the  same  fveriod  a  civil  dissension  among  the  Chatti — a  powerful 
German  race  within  the  Hercynian  forest — resulted  in  the  expatriation  of  a 
portion  of  the  people,  Tlie  exiles  sought  a  new  home  in  the  empty  Rhine 
island,  called  it  Bet-auw^  or  "good-meadow,"  and  were  themselves  called, 
thenceforward,  Batavi,  or  Bataviaiis. 

These  Bata\'ians,  according  to  Tacitus,*^  were  the  bravest  of  all  the  Ger- 
mans. The  Chatti,  of  whom  they  formed  a  portion,  were  a  j>re-eminent!y 
warlike  race.  "Others  go  to  battle,"  siiys  the  historian,  "these  go  to  war. 
Their  boilies  were  more  hardy,  their  minds  more  vigorous,  than  those  of  other 
tribes.  Their  young  men  cut  neither  hair  nor  beard  till  they  had  slain  an 
enemy.  On  the  field  of  battle,  in  the  midst  of  carnage  and  plunder,  they, 
for  the  first  time,  bared  their  faces.  Tlie  cowardly  and  sluggish^  only,  re- 
mained unshorn.  They  wore  an  iron  ring,  too,  or  shackle  upon  their  necks 
until  they  liad  performed  the  same  achievement,  a  symbol  which  they  then 
threw  away,  as  the  emblem  of  sloth.  The  BaLiivians  were  ever  spoken  of  by 
the  Romans  with  entire  respect.  They  conquered  the  Belgians,  they  forced 
the  free  Frisians  to  pay  tribute,  but  they  called  the  Bata^^ans  their  friends.' 
The  tax-gatherer  never  invaded  their  island.  Honourable  alliance  united  them 
with  the  Romans.  It  was,  however,  the  alliance  of  the  giant  and  the  dwarf. 
The  Roman  gained  glory  and  empire,  the  Batavian  gained  nothing  but  the 
hardest  blows.  The  Batavian  cavalry  became  famous  throughout  the  re- 
public and  the  empire.    Tliey  were  the  favourite  troops  of  Cajsar,  and  with 


['  The  remains  foand  in  the  curns,  the  Dritidic  &lt«ni  of  VValcUeren,  and  names  of  places 
«Qch  aa  Walcheren,  Niniupcen.  etc.,  are  further  evidence.] 

f*  For  fuller  details  of  these  and  other  Northern  tribes,  see  the  History  of  Rome,  especlall^r 
vol.  V,  chapters  7,  8.  16,  23  and  vol.  VII,  book  2,  chapter  3.) 

r*  ZoeliuuH-/  indeed  reckons  Baiavia  aa  part  of  the  Roman  empire,  but  the  testimony  of  a 
Oreelc,  writinifir  in  the  fifth  century,  cannot  be  put  in  competitiou  with  that  of  Tacitus, **  who 
expressly  says  that  it  was  not  tributary,  and  always  speaks  of  it  as  an  independent  state.  The 
Oreek  author  probably  drew  the  conclusion  from  the  presence  of  Batavian  cohorts  in  the  im- 
perial army.  —  DAViRfl."  ] 


270  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHEELANDS 

reason,  for  it  was  their  valour  which  turned  the  tide  of  battle  at  Pharsalia. 
IVom  the  death  of  Julius  down  to  the  times  of  Vespasian,  the  Batavian  legion 
was  the  imperial  body  guard,  the  Batavian  island  the  basis  of  operations  in 
the  Roman  wars  with  Gaul,  Germany,  and  Britain. 

Beyond  the  Batavians,  upon  the  north,  dwelt  the  g^t  Frisian  family, 
occupjring  the  regions  between  the  Rhine  and  Ems.  The  Zuyder  Zee  and 
the  Dolla^,  both  caused  by  the  terrific  inundations  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  not  existing  at  this  period,  did  not  then  interpose  boundaries  between 
kindred  tribes.    All  formed  a  homogeneous  nation  of  pure  German  origin. 

Thus,  the  population  of  the  coimtry  was  partly  Celtic,  partly  German. 
Of  these  two  elements,  dissimilar  in  their  tendencies  and  always  difficult  to 
blend,  the  Netherland  people  has  ever  been  compounded.  A  certain  fatality 
of  history  has  perpetually  helped  to  separate  still  more  widely  these  constitu- 
ents, instead  of  detecting  and  stimulating  the  elective  affinities  which  existed. 
Religion,  too,  upon  all  great  historical  occasions,  has  acted  as  the  most  pow- 
erful of  dissolvents.  Otherwise,  had  so  many  valuable  and  contrasted  char- 
acteristics been  early  fused  into  a  whole,  it  would  be  difficult  to  show  a  race 
more  richly  endowed  by  Nature  for  dominion  and  progress  than  the  Belgo- 
Gennanic  people. 

Physically  the  two  races  resembled  each  other.  Both  were  of  vast  stature. 
The  gigantic  Gaul  derided  the  Roman  soldiers  as  a  band  of  pigmies.  The 
German  excited  astonishment  bv  his  huge  body  and  muscular  limbs.  Both 
were  fair,  with  fierce  blue  eyes,  but  the  Celt  had  yellow  hair  floating  over  his 
shoulders,  and  the  German  long  locks  of  fiery  red,  which  he  even  dyed  with 
woad  to  heighten  the  favourite  colour,  and  wore  twisted  into  a  war-knot  upon 
the  top  of  his  head. 

"All  the  Gauls  are  of  very  high  stature,"  says  a  soldier  who  fought  under 
Julian  (Ammianus  Marcellinus /) .  "They  are  white,  golden-haired,  terrible 
in  the  fierceness  of  their  eyes,  greedy  of  quarrels,  bragging  and  insolent.  A 
band  of  strangers  could  not  resist  one  of  them  in  a  brawl,  assisted  by  his 
strong  blue-eyed  wife,  especially  when  she  begins,  gnashing  her  teeth,  her 
neck  swollen,  brandishing  her  vast  and  enowy  arms,  and  kicking  with  her 
heels  at  the  same  time,  to  deliver  her  fisticuffs,  like  bolts  from  the  twisted 
strings  of  a  catapult.  The  voices  of  many  are  threatening  and  formidable. 
They  are  quick  to  anger,  but  quickly  appeased.  All  are  clean  in  their  persons; 
nor  among  them  is  ever  seen  any  man  or  woman,  as  elsewhere,  squalid  in 
ragged  garments.  At  all  ages  they  are  apt  for  mUitary  service.  The  old 
man  goes  forth  to  the  fight  with  equal  strength  of  breast,  with  limbs  as  hard- 
ened by  cold  and  assiduous  labour,  and  as  contemptuous  of  all  dangers,  as  the 
young.  Not  one  of  them,  as  in  Italy  is  often  the  case,  was  ever  known  to 
cut  on  his  thumbs  to  avoid  the  service  of  Mars." 

EARLY  FORMS   OF  GOVERNMENT  AND  RELIGION 

The  polity  of  each  race  differed  widely  from  that  of  the  other.  The  gov- 
ernment of  both  may  be  said  to  have  been  republican,  but  the  Gallic  tribes 
were  aristocracies,  in  which  the  influence  of  clanship  was  a  predominant 
feature;  while  the  German  system,  although  nominally  regal,  was  in  reality 
democratic.  In  Gaul  were  two  orders,  the  nobility  and  the  priesthood,  while 
the  people,  says  C^esar,*^  were  all  slaves.  The  knights  or  nobles  were  all 
trained  to  arms.  Each  went  forth  to  battle,  followed  by  his  dependents, 
while  a  chief  of  all  the  clans  was  appointed  to  take  command  during  the  war. 
The  prince  or  chief  governor  was  elected  annually,  but  only  by  the  nobles. 


INTRODUCTION 


«71 


The  people  had  no  rights  at  all,  and  were  glad  to  assign  themselves  as  slaves 
to  any  noble  who  was  strong  enough  to  protect  them.  In  peace  the  druids 
exercised  the  main  functions  of  government.  They  decide<J  all  controversies, 
civil  and  criminal.  To  rebel  agamst  their  decrees  was  punished  by  exclusion 
from  the  sacrifices — a  most  terrible  excommunication,  through  which  the 
criminal  was  cut  off  from  all  intercourse  with  his  fellow  creatures. 

With  the  Germans  the  sovereignty  resided  in  the  great  assembly  of  the 
people.  There  were  slaves,  indeed,  but  in  small  number,  consisting  either  of 
prisoners  of  war  or  of  those  unfortunates  who  had  forfeited  their  liberty  in 
games  of  chance.  Their  chieftains,  although  calletl  by  the  Romans  princes 
and  kings,  were,  in  reality,  generals  chosen  by  universal  suffrage.  All  state 
affairs  were  in  the  hands  of  this  fierce  democracy.  The  elected  chieftains  had 
rather  authority  t«  persuatle  than  power  to  command. 

The  Gauls  were  an  agricultural  people.  They  were  not  without  many 
arts  of  life.  They  had  extensive  flocks  and  herds,  and  they  even  exported 
salted  provisions  as  far  as  Rome.  The  truculent  (lennnn  {Ger^mann,  Heer- 
mami,  *' war-man,")  considered  carnage  the  only  usefiil  occupation,  and 
despisetl  agriculture  as  enervating  and  ignoble.  It  was  base,  in  his  opinion, 
to  gain  by  sweat  what  was  more  easily  acuuireti  by  blood.  The  Gauls  built 
towns  and  villages.  The  German  built  his  solitary  hut  where  inclination 
prompted.    Close  neighborhood  was  not  to  his  tjiste. 

In  their  system  of  religion  the  two  races  were  most  widely  contrasted. 
The  Gauls  were  a  priest-ridden  rac^.  Their  druids*  were  a  dominant  caste, 
presiding  eveji  over  civil  affairs,  while  in  religious  matters  their  authority  was 
despotic.  What  were  the  principles  of  their  wiM  theology  will  never  be 
thorougidy  ascertained,  but  wc  know  too  much  of  its  sanguinary  rites.  The 
imagination  shudders  to  penetrate  those  shaggy  forests,  ringing  with  the 
death-shrieks  of  ten  thousand  human  victims,  and  with  the  hideous  hynms 
chanted  by  smoke  and  blood-stained  priests  to  the  savage  gods  whom  they 
served. 

The  German,  in  his  simplicity,  had  raised  himself  to  a  purer  belief  than 
that  of  the  sensuous  Roman  or  the  superstitious  Gaul.  He  believed  in  a 
single,  supreme,  almighty  God,  All-Vater  or  All-Father.  This  divinity  was 
too  sulilime  to  hi",  incarnated  or  imagerl,  too  infinite  to  be  enclose*!  in  temples 
built  with  hamls.  Such  is  the  Roman's  testimony  to  the  lofty  conception 
of  the  German.  The  fantastic  intermixture  of  Roman  mythology  with  the 
gloomy  but  modified  superstition  of  romanisal  CJclts  was  not  favourable  to 
the  simple  character  of  German  theology.  Within  tliat  litlJe  river  territory, 
amid  those  obscure  morasses  of  the  Rhine  and  Schelde,  tliree  great  forms  of 
religion — the  sanguinary  superstition  of  the  druid^  the  sensuous  polytheism 
of  trie  Roman,  the  elevated  but  dimly  groping  creed  of  the  German — stood 
for  centuries,  face  to  face,  until,  having  mutually  debased  and  destroyed  each 
other,  they  all  faded  away  in  the  pure  light  of  Christianity. 

P  The  druids  have  Iwen  a  sonrce  of  much  coniroversy.  Their  practice  of  hamfto  sacrifice 
has  been  debat4>'d.  (i.  Ik^ttinc  notes  that  "Sacrifices  were,  iu  their  origin,  human  Bacrilices." 
Id  94  B.r.  the  Roman  wnaie  forbade  them  and  by  19  B.C.  they  would  seem  to  have  dtKanpeared, 
Alexander  Bertrand*  8ajs  :  "It  in  unix>ssible  to  deny,  after  a  well-digested  study  of  the  texts, 
that  human  fsarrificee  bad  been  very  popular  before  the  Roman  conijuej!!  and  were  in  common 
use  in  many  partB  of  Oaal  and  Gennany.  Ii  i>*  certain  that  the  druids  not  only  tolerated  but 
autboriHed  by  their  presence  these  Bacrificea,  though  in  Ireland,  the  most  dmidic  country  of  all. 
litargic  human  sacrifice  was  unknown."  He  claimH  that  human  Bacrifice  antedated  the  druids 
ill  Gaul  and  tliat  they  were  not  to  blame  for  It.  At<  for  their  functiuDB  iHUtin  dues  not  crHlit 
them  with  civil  authority,  but  sets  them  down  as  "soothsayers,  priests,  professors,  magicians, 
and  physicians."  He  doubts  the  frequently  advanced  theory  that  Celtic  mooasteriea  were  an 
outgrowth  of  dmidic  couxm unities.] 


«7ft  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHEELANDS 

Thus  contrasted  were  Gaul  and  German  in  religious  and  political  S3rstems. 
The  difference  was  no  less  remarkable  in  their  social  characteristics.  Tlie 
Gaul  was  singularly  unchaste.  The  marriage  state  was  almost  imknown. 
Many  tribes  lived  in  most  revolting  and  incestuous  concubinage;  brethren, 
parents,  and  children  having  wives  in  common.  The  German  was  loyal  as 
the  Celt  was  dissolute.  Alone  among  barbarians,  he  contented  himself  with 
A  single  wife,  save  that  a  few  dignitaries,  from  motives  of  policy,  were  per- 
mitted a  larger  number.  On  the  marriage  day  the  German  offered  presents 
to  his  bride — not  the  bracelets  and  golden  necklaces  with  which  tne  Gaul 
Adorned  his  fair-haired  concubine,  but  oxen  and  a  bridled  horse,  a  sword,  a 
shield,  and  a  spear — symbols  that  thenceforward  she  was  to  share  his  labours 
BXid  to  become  a  portion  of  himself. 

They  differed,  too,  in  the  honours  paid  to  the  dead.  The  funerals  of  the 
Gauls  were  pomf)ous.  Both  burned  the  corpse,  but  the  Celt  cast  into  the 
flames  the  favourite  animals,  and  even  the  most  cherished  slaves  and  depend- 
ents of  the  master.  Vast  monuments  of  stone  or  piles  of  earth  were  raised 
above  the  ashes  of  the  dead.  Scattered  relics  of  the  Celtic  age  are  yet  visible 
throughout  Eiu-ope,  in  these  hijyge  but  imsightly  memorials. 

The  German  was  not  ambitious  at  the  grave.  He  threw  neither  gar- 
ments nor  odours  upon  the  funeral  pyre,  but  the  arms  and  the  war-horse  of 
the  departed  were  burned  and  bxuied  with  him.  The  turf  was  his  only 
aepulcm^,  the  memory  of  his  valour  his  only  monument.  Even  tears  were 
forbidden  to  the  men.  "  It  was  esteemed  honourable,"  says  the  historian, "  for 
women  to  lament,  for  men  to  remember." 

The  parallel  need  be  pursued  no  further.  Thus  much  it  was  necessary  to 
recall  to  the  historical  student  concerning  the  prominent  characteristics  by 
which  the  two  great  races  of  the  land  were  distinguished:  characteristics 
which  time  has  rather  hardened  than  effaced.  In  the  contrast  and  the  sepa- 
ration lies  the  key  to  much  of  their  history.  Had  providence  permitted  a 
fusion  of  the  two  races,  it  is  possible,  from  their  position,  and  from  the  geo- 
graphical and  historical  link  which  they  would  have  afforded  to  the  dominant 
tribes  of  Europe,  that  a  world-empire  might  have  been  the  result,  different 
in  many  respects  from  any  which  nas  ever  arisen.  Speculations  upon  what 
might  have  been  are  idle.  It  is  well,  however,  to  ponder  the  many  misfor- 
tunes resulting  from  a  mutual  repulsion,  which,  imder  other  circumstances 
and  in  other  spheres,  has  been  exchanged  for  mutual  attraction  and  support. 

RELATIONS  WITH  ROME 

The  earliest  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Netherlands  was  written  by  their 
conqueror.  Celtic  Gaul  is  alresidy  in  the  power  of  Rome;  the  Belgic  tribes, 
alarmed  at  the  approaching  danger,  arm  against  the  imiversal  t)Tant.  In- 
flammable, quick  ti)  strike,  but  too  fickle  to  prevail  against  so  powerful  a  foe, 
they  hastily  form  a  league  of  almost  every  clan.  At  the  first  blow  of  Csesar's 
sword,  the  frail  confederacy  falls  asunder  like  a  rope  of  sand.  The  tribes 
scatter  in  all  directions.  Nearly  all  are  soon  defeated,  and  sue  for  mercy. 
The  Nervii,  true  to  the  German  blood  in  their  veins,  swear  to  die  rather  than 
surrender.  They,  at  least,  are  worthy  of  their  cause.  Csesar  advances 
against  them  at  the  head  of  eight  legions.  Drawn  up  on  the  banks  of  the 
Sambre,  they  await  the  Roman  s  approach.  Eight  veteran  Roman  legions, 
with  the  world's  victor  at  their  heaii,  are  too  much  for  the  brave  but  undis- 
ciplined Nervii.* 
['  The  full  account  of  this  battle  In  Cesar's  own  words  will  be  found  In  vol.  V,  chapter  22.] 


IXTEODUCTION 


273 


They  fought  Hke  men  to  whom  life  without  liberty  was  a  curse.  They 
were  not  defeated,  but  exterminated.  Of  manv  thousand  fighting  men  went 
home  but  five  himdred.  Upon  reaching  the  place  of  refuge  where  they  had 
bestowed  their  women  and  children,  Caesar  found,  after  the  battle,  that  there 
were  but  tliree  of  their  senators  left  alive.  So  perished  the  Nervii.  Caesar 
commanded  hi.s  legions  to  treat  with  respect  the  little  renmant  of  the  tril^e 
which  had  just  fallen  to  swell  the  empty  echo  of  his  glor)%  and  then,  with 
hardly  a  lireathing  pause,  he  proceeded  to  anniliilate  the  Atluatici,  the  Menapii, 
and  the  Morini. 

Gaul  being  thus  pacified,  as,  with  sublime  irony,  he  expresses  himself 
concerning  a  country  some  of  whase  tribes  had  been  annihilat-ed,  some  sold 
as  slaves,  and  others  hunted  to  their  lairs  like  beasts  of  prey,  the  conqueror 
departed  for  Italy.  Legations  for  peace  from  many  German  races  to  Home 
were  the  consequence  of  these  great  achie\'ements.  Among  others  the  Ba- 
tavians  formed  an  alliance  with  the  umsters  of  the  world.  Thnir  ]>ositi{m  wa.'^ 
always  an  honourable  one.  Tiiey  were  justly  proud  of  paying  nn  tribute,  but 
it  was,  i)erhaps,  because  they  had  nothing  to  pay.  They  had  few  cattle,  they 
could  give  no  hides  and  horiLS  like  tlie  Frisians,  and  Ihcy  were  therefore 
allowed  to  furnish  only  their  blootl.  From  this  time  forth  their  cavalry, 
which  was  the  Ix^st  of  Germany,  became  renowned  in  tlie  Roman  array  upon 
every  battle-field  of  Eurojje. 

It  is  melancholy,  at  a  later  moment,  to  find  the  brave  Batavians  dls- 
tinguisheti  in  the  memorable  expedition  of  Germanicus  to  crush  the  liberties 
of  their  German  kindred.  They  are  forever  associated  with  the  subhme  but 
misty  image  of  the  great  Anninius  (Hermann),  the  hero,  educated  in  Rome, 
and  aware  of  the  colo.ssal  power  of  the  empire,  who  vet,  by  liis  genius, 
valour,  and  ]x>litical  atlroitness,  preser\'eii  for  Germany  lier  nationality,  her 
purer  religion,  and  perhaps  even  that  noble  hmguuge  which  her  late-Howering 
literature  has  rendered  so  illustrious — but  they  are  associated  as  enemies,  not 
as  friends. 

Galba,  succeeding  to  the  purple  upon  the  suicide  of  Nero,  dismissed  the 
Batavian  life-guards  to  whom  he  owtxl  his  elevation.  He  is  murderetj,  Otho 
and  Vitellius  contend  for  the  succession,  while  all  eyes  are  turned  upon  the 
eight  Batavian  regiments.  In  their  hantls  the  scales  of  empire  seem  to  rest. 
They  declare  for  X'itjeUias,  and  the  civil  war  begins.  Otho  is  defeated;  Vi- 
tellius acknowledged  by  wnate  and  i>eople.  Fearing,  like  his  predecessors, 
the  imperious  turbulence  of  the  Batavian  legions,  he,  too,  sends  them  into 
Germnny  [70  A.r>.].  It  was  the  signal  for  a  long  and  extensive  revolt,  which 
had  well-nigh  overturned  tlie  Roman  i>ower  in  Gaul  and  Lower  Germany. 


THE   BATA^HAN   HERO  CTVILIS   (70  A.D,) 


Claudius  Civilis  was  a  Batavian  of  noble  race,  who  had  served  twenty-five 
years  in  the  Roman  armies.  His  Teutonic  name  ha.s  perished,  for,  like  most 
sava^  who  become  denizens  of  a  civilised  state,  he  had  assumed  an  a)»j>ella- 
tion  m  the  tongue  of  his  superiors.  He  was  a  soldier  of  fortune,  ami  Imd 
fought  wherever  the  Roman  eagles  flew.  After  a  quarter  of  a  century's 
service  he  was  sent  in  chains  to  Rome,  and  his  Imitlier  executed,  both  falsely 
charge*!  with  conspiracy.  Such  were  the  triumphs  adjudged  to  Batavian 
auxiliaries.  He  escaped  with  life,  and  was  dispos^^d  to  consecrate  what  re- 
mained of  it  to  a  nobler  cause.  Civilis  was  no  barbarian.  Like  the  Gennan 
hero  Arminius,  he  liad  received  a  Roman  education,  and  load  learned  the 


H.  W.  —  VOL.  XTn.T 


I 


874  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

degraded  condition  of  Rome.    He  knew  the  infamous  vices  of  her  rulers;  he 
retained  an  imconquerable  love  for  liberty  and  for  his  own  race. 

By  his  courage,  eloquence,  and  talent  for  political  combinations,  Civilis 
effected  a  general  confederation  of  all  the  Netherland  tribes,  both  Celtic  and 
German.  For  a  brief  moment  there  was  a  united  people,  a  Batavian  com- 
monwealth. The  details  of  the  revolt  have  been  carefully  preserved  by 
Tacitus,*  and  form  one  of  his  grandest  and  most  elaborate  pictures.  The 
battles,  the  sieges,  the  defeats,  the  indomitable  spirit  of  Civilis,  still  flaming 
most  brightly  when  the  clouds  were  darkest  around  him,  have  been  described 
by  the  great  historian  in  his  most  powerful  manner. 

The  struggle  was  an  imsuccessful  one.  After  many  victories  and  many 
overthrows,  Civilis  was  left  alone.  The  Gallic  tribes  fell  off,  and  sued  for 
peace.  Ve^asian,  victorious  over  Vitellius,  proved  too  powerful  for  his  old 
comrade.  Even  the  Batavians  became  weary  of  the  hopeless  contest,  while 
fortune,  after  much  capricious  hovering,  settled  at  last  upon  the  Roman  side. 
The  imperial  commander  Cerealis  seized  the  moment  when  the  cause  of  the 
Batavian  hero  was  most  desperate  to  send  emissaries  among  his  tribe.  These 
intrigues  had  their  effect.  The  fidehty  of  the  people  was  sapped.  But  the 
Batavian  was  not  a  man  to  be  crushed,  nor  had  he  lived  so  long  in  the  Roman 
service  to  be  outmatched  in  politics  by  the  barbarous  Germans.  He  was  not 
to  be  sacrificed  as  a  peace-offering  to  revengeful  Rome.  Watching  from  be- 
yond the  Rhine  the  progress  of  defection  and  the  decay  of  national  enthusi- 
asm, he  determined  to  be  beforehand  with  those  who  were  now  his  enemies. 
He  accepted  the  offer  of  negotiation  from  Cerealis.  The  Roman  general  was 
eager  to  grant  a  full  pardon,  and  to  re-enlist  so  brave  a  soldier  in  the  service 
of  tlie  empire. 

A  colloquy  was  agreed  upon.  The  bridge  across  the  Nabalia  was  broken 
asunder  in  the  middle,  and  Cerealis  and  Civilis  met  upon  the  severed  sides. 
Tlie  placid  stream  by  which  Roman  enterprise  had  connected  the  waters  of 
the  Rhine  with  the  Lake  of  Flevo,  flowed  between  the  imperial  commander 
and  the  rebel  chieftain. 

Here  the  story  abruptly  terminates.  The  remainder  of  the  Roman's  nar- 
rative is  lost,  and  upon  that  broken  bridge  the  form  of  the  Batavian  hero 
disappears  forever.  His  name  fades  from  historj^  not  a  syllable  is  known 
of  his  subsequent  career;  everything  is  buried  in  the  profound  oblivion  which 
now  steals  over  the  scene  where  he  was  the  most  imposing  actor. 

The  soul  of  Civilis  had  proved  insuflScient  to  animate  a  whole  people; 
yet  it  was  rather  owing  to  position  than  to  any  personal  inferiority  that  his 
name  did  not  become  as  illustrious  as  that  of  Arminius.  The  German  patriot 
was  neither  braver  nor  wiser  than  the  Batavian,  but  he  had  the  infinite 
forests  of  his  fatherland  to  protect  him.  Ever}'  le^on  which  plunged  into 
those  unfathomable  depths  was  forced  to  retreat  disastrously,  or  to  perish 
miserably.  Civilis  was  hemmed  in  by  the  ocean;  his  countrs*.  long  the  basis 
of  Roman  military  operations,  was  accessible  by  river  and  canal.  The 
patriotic  spirit  which  he  had  for  a  moment  raiseti  had  abandoneii  him;  his 
allies  had  deserted  him;  he  stood  alone  and  at  bay,  encompassed  by  the 
hunters,  with  death  or  surrender  as  his  only  alternative. 

The  contest  of  Ci%'ilis  with  Rome  contains  a  remarkable  foreshadowing  of 
the  future  conflict  with  Spain^  through  which  the  Bata\nan  republic,  fifteen 
centuries  later,  was  to  be  founded.  The  characters,  the  events,  the  am- 
phibious battles,  desperate  sieges,  slippery-  alliances,  the  traits  of  generosity, 
audacity,  and  cruelty,  the  generous  confidence,  the  broken  faith,  seem  so 
closely  to  repeat  themselves  that  history  appears  to  present  the  selfsame 


IXTRODITTION" 


275 


drama  played  over  and  over  again,  with  but  a  change  of  actors  and  of  cos- 
tume. There  is  more  than  a  fanciful  resomblance  between  CiviUs  and  William 
the  Silent,  two  heroes  of  ancient  German  stock,  who  had  learned  the  arts  of 
war  and  peace  in  the  service  of  a  foreign  and  haughty  world-empire.  Deter- 
mination, concentration  of  purpose,  constancy  in  calamity,  elasticity  almost 
preternatural,  self-denial,  consummate  craft  In  political  combinations,  per- 
sonal fortitude,  and  pa-^ionate  patriotism  were  the  heroic  elements  in  botlh 
The  ambition  of  each  was  subordinate  to  the  cause  which  he  served.  Hdth 
refused  the  crown,  although  each,  perhaps,  conteniplated,  in  the  seijuel,  ii 
Batavian  realm  of  which  he  would  have  been  the  ine\itable  chief.  Both 
oflFered  the  throne  to  a  Gallic  prince,  for  Gassicus  was  but  the  prototype  of 
Anjou,  as  Brinno  of  Brederodo,  and  neither  was  destined,  in  this  world,  to 
see  liis  sacrifices  crowned  with  success. 

The  characteristics  of  the  two  great  races  of  the  land  portrayed  themselves 
in  the  Roman  and  the  Spanish  struggle  with  much  the  same  colours.  The 
Southrons,  inflnniinable,  petulant,  audacious,  were  the  first  to  assault  and 
to  defy  the  imperial  power  in  both  revolts,  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  north- 
em  provinces,  slower  to  be  aroused,  but  of  more  enduring  wrath  were  less 
ardent  at  the  eoniniencement,  but,  alone,  stea<Ifast  at  the  close  of  the  contest. 
In  both  wars  the  southern  Celts  fell  away  from  the  league,  their  courageous 
but  corrupt  chieftains  ha\nng  been  purchase<l  with  imperial  gold  to  bring 
about  the  abject  submission  of  their  followers;  while  the  German  Nether- 
lands, although  eventually  subjugated  by  Rome,  after  a  desperate  struggle, 
were  successful  in  the  great  conflict  with  Spain,  and  trampled  out  of  existence 
everv'  vestige  of  her  authority.  The  Batavian  republic  took  its  rank  among 
the  leading  powers  of  the  earth;  the  Belgic  provinces  remained  Roman, 
Spanish,  Austrian  property. 


FALL  OF  ROME  AND    RISE   OF  THE   FRANKISH   EMPIRE 

Obscure  but  important  movements  in  the  regions  of  eternal  twilight, 
revolutions,  of  which  histor>'  has  been  silent,  in  the  mysterious  depths  of 
Asia,  outpourings  of  human  rivers  along  the  sides  of  the  Altai  Mountains, 
convulsions  ui>-heaving  remote  realms  and  unknown  d3masties,  shock  after 
shock  throbbing  throughout  the  barbarian  workl,  and  dying  ujxin  the  edge 
of  civilisation,  va-st  throes  which  shake  the  earth  as  precursory  pangs  to  tlie 
birth  of  a  new  empire — as  dying  symptoms  of  the  proud  but  effete  realm 
which  called  itself  the  world;  scattered  hordes  of  sanguinary,  grotescjue 
savages  pushed  from  their  own  homes,  and  hovering  with  vague  purposes 
upon  the  Roman  frontier,  constantly  repelled  and  perpetually  reappearing 
in  ever-increasing  swarms,  guitied  thither  by  a  fierce  instinct,  or  by  mysterious 
laws — such  are  the  well-known  phenomena  which  preceded  the  fall  of  west- 
em  Rome.  Stately,  externally  powerful,  although  undermined  ami  putrescent 
at  the  core,  the  death-stricken  empire  still  dashed  back  the  assaults  of  its 
barbarous  enemies. 

During  the  long  slniggle  ititer\*ening  between  the  age  of  Vespti^ian  and 
that  of  Odoacer,  during  all  the  preliminary  ethnographical  revolutions  which 
preceded  the  great  people's  wandering,  the  Netherlands  remained  subject 
provinces.  Their  country  was  upon  the  high-roatl  which  led  the  Gotiis  to 
Rome.  Those  low  and  barren  tractj^  were  the  outlying  marches  of  the  em- 
pire. Upon  that  desolate  \yeach  broke  the  first  surf  from  the  rising  ocean 
of  German  freedom  which  was  soon  to  overwhelm  Home.  Yet,  although 
the  ancient  lamlmarks  were  soon  well-nigh  obliterateil,  the  Netherlands  still 


«76  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

remained  faithful  to  the  empire,  Batavian  blood  was  still  poured  out  for  its 
defence. 

By  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  the  Franks  and  Alamanni  (Alle- 
mmtneTj  "all-men"),  a  mass  of  united  Grermans,  are  defeated  by  the  em- 
peror Julian  at  Strasburg,  the  Batavian  cavalry,  as  upon  many  other  great 
occasions,  saving  the  day  for  despotism.  This  achievement,  one  of  the  last 
in  which  the  name  appears  upon  historic  record,  was  therefore  as  triumphant 
for  the  valour  as  it  was  himiiliating  to  the  true  fame  of  the  nation.  Their 
individuality  soon  afterwards  disappears,  the  race  having  been  partly  ex- 
hausted in  the  Roman  service,  partly  merged  in  the  Frank  and  Frisian  tribes 
who  occupy  the  domains  of  their  forefathers. 

For  a  century  longer,  Rome  still  retains  its  outward  form,  but  the  swarm- 
ing nations  are  now  m  full  career.  The  Netherlands  are  successively  or  si- 
multaneously trampled  by  Franks,  Vandals,  Alani,  Suevi,  Saxons,  Frisians, 
and  even  Slavs,  as  the  great  march  of  Germany  to  universal  empire,  which  her 
prophets  and  bards  had  foretold,  went  majestically^  forward.  The  fountains 
of  the  frozen  North  were  opened,  the  waters  prevailed,  but  the  ark  of  Chris- 
tianity floated  upon  the  flood.  As  the  deluge  assuaged,  the  earth  had  re- 
turned to  chaos,  the  last  pagan  empire  had  been  washed  out  of  existence,  but 
the  faltering  infancy  of  Christian  Europe  had  begun. 

After  the  wanderings  had  subsided,  the  Netherlands  are  found  with  much 
the  same  ethnological  character.  The  Frank  dominion  has  succeeded  tho 
Roman,  the  German  stock  preponderates  over  the  Celtic,  but  the  national 
ingredients,  although  in  somewhat  altered  proportions,  remain  essentially  as 
before.  The  old  Belgae,  having  become  romanised  in  tongue  and  customs, 
accept  the  new  empire  of  the  Franks.*  That  people,  however,  pushed  from 
its  hold  of  the  Rhine  by  thickly-thronging  hordes  of  Gepidi,  Quadi,  Sarmatae, 
Heruli,  Saxons,  Burgundiones,  moves  towards  the  south  and  west.  As  the 
empire  falls  before  Odoacer,  they  occupj^  Celtic  Gaul  with  the  Belgian  portion 
of  the  Netherlands,  while  the  Frisians,  into  which  ancient  German  tribe  the 
old  Batavian  element  has  melted,  not  to  be  extinguished,  but  to  renew  its 
existence,  the  "free  Frisians,"  whose  name  is  synonymous  with  liberty,  near- 
est blood  relations  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  now  occupy  the  northern  portion, 
including  the  whole  future  European  territory  of  the  Dutch  republic. 

The  history  of  the  Franks  becomes,  therefore,  the  history  of  the  Nether- 
lands. The  Frisians  struggle,  for  several  centuries,  against  their  dominion, 
until  eventually  subjugated  by  Charlemagne.  They  even  encroach  upon  the 
Franks  in  Belgic  Gaul,  who  are  determined  not  to  yield  their  possessions. 
Moreover,  the  pious  Merovingian  fainianis  desire  to  plant  Christianity  among 
the  still  pagan  Frisians.  Dagobert,  son  of  the  second  Clotaire,  advances 
against  them  as  far  as  the  Weser,  takes  possession  of  Utrecht,  founds  there  the 
first  Christian  church  in  Friesland,  and  establishes  a  nominal  dominion  over 
the  whole  country. 

Yet  the  feeble  Merovingians  would  have  been  powerless  against  rugged 
Friesland,  had  not  their  dynasty  already  merged  in  that  puissant  family  of 
Brabant,  which  long  wielded  their  power  before  it  assumed  their  crown.  It 
was  Pepin  of  Heristal,  grandson  of  the  Netherlander,  Pepin  of  Landen,  who 
conquered  the  Frisian  Radbod  (692  a.d.),  and  forced  him  to  exchange  his 
royal  for  the  ducal  title. 

f  Wo  find  also  Britons  and  Angles  inliabiting  Batavia,  tlie  former  having  probably  taken 
refuge  there  from  the  hostility  of  the  Picts  and  Scots;  the  latter  may,  perhaps,  have  accom- 
panied the  expedition  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  to  England,  and  remained  there,  instead  of  crossing 
the  sea  with  tlieir  companions,  according  to  Procopius.'  —  Da  vies.''] 


IXTRODUCTIOX 


277 


It  was  Pepin's  bastard,  Charles  the  Hammer  [Charles  Martel],  whose  tre- 
mendous blows  completed  his  father's  work.  The  new  mayor  of  the  palace 
soon  drove  the  Frisian  chief  into  submission,  and  oven  into  Christianity.  A 
bishop's  indiscretion^  however,  neutralised  the  apostolic  blows  of  the  mayor. 
The  pagan  Radbod  had  already  immersed  one  of  his  royal  legs  in  the  bap- 
tismal font,  when  a  thought  struck  him. 

"Wliere  are  my  <lead  forefathers  at  present?'*  he  said,  turning  suddenly 
upon  Bishop  Wolfran.  "In  hHl,  witli  ail  other  unbelievers,"  was  the  im- 
prudent answer.  "Mighty  well,"  replied  Radbod,  removing  his  leg,  "then 
will  I  rather  feast  with  my  ancestors  in  the  halls  of  Wotlen,  than  dwell  with 
your  little  starveling  band  of  Christians  in  heaven." 

Entreaties  and  threats  were  unavailing.  The  Frisian  declined  positively 
a  rite  which  was  to  cause  an  eternal  separation  from  his  buried  kintlred^  anil 
he  died,  as  he  had  lived,  a  heathen.  His  son,  Poppo,  succeeding  to  the  nom- 
inal sovereignty,  did  not  actively  oppose  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
among  his  people,  but  himself  refused  to  be  converted.  Rebelling  against  the 
Frank  dominion,  he  was  totally  routed  by  Charles  Martel  in  a  great  battle 
(750  A.D.),  and  perished  with  a  vast  niunber  of  Frisians. 

The  Christian  dispensiition,  thus  enforced,  was  now  accepted  by  these 
northern  pagans.  The  commencement  of  their  conversion  had  been  mainly 
the  work  of  their  brethren  from  Britain.  The  monk  Wilfred  was  followed 
in  a  few  years  by  the  Anglo-vSaxon  Willibrod.  It  was  he  who  destroyed  the 
images  of  Woden  in  Walcheren,  abolished  his  worship,  and  founded  churches 
in  North  Holland.  Charles  Martel  rewarded  him  with  extensive  domains 
about  Utrecht,  together  with  many  slaves  and  other  chattels.  Soon  after- 
wards he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  all  the  Frisians.  Thus  rose  the  famous 
episcopate  of  Utrecht. 

Another  Anglo-Saxon,  Winfred,  or  Boniface,  had  been  cfjually  active 
among  his  Frisian  cousins.  His  crozier  had  gone  hand  in  han<i  with  the  battle- 
axe.  Boniface  followed  close  upon  the  track  of  his  orthoilox  coadjutor 
Charles.  Bv  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  some  hundrerl  thousand 
Frisians  had  been  slaughtered,  and  as  many  more  converte<l.  The  hanmier 
which  smote  the  Saracens  at  Tours  was  at  last  successful  in  beating  the  Netlier- 
landers  into  Christianity.  The  labours  of  Boniface  through  Upper  and  Lower 
Germany  were  immen.se;  but  he,  too,  received  great  material  rewards.  He 
was  created  archbishop  of  .Mainz,  and,  upon  the  death  of  W^illibnxl,  bishop  of 
Utrecht.  Faithful  to  his  mission,  however,  he  met,  heroically,  a  martyr's 
death  at  the  hands  of  the  refractory  pagans  at  Dokkum  [755  a.d.].  Tlius 
was  C^iristianity  established  in  the  Netherlands. 

Under  Charlemagne,  the  Frisians  often  rebelled,  making  common  cause 
with  the  Saxons.  In  7S5  a.d.  they  were,  however,  completely  subjugated, 
and  never  rose  again  until  the  epoch  of  their  entire  s<»]>aration  from  the  Frank 
empire.  Charlemagne  left  thoni  their  name  of  free  Frisians,  and  the  property 
in  their  own  land.  The  feudal  system  never  took  root  in  their  soil.  "The 
Frisians,"  says  their  statute  book,  ''shall  l^e  free,  as  long  as  the  wind  blows 
out  of  the  clouds  and  the  world  stands."  They  agreed,  however,  to  obey  the 
chiefs  whom  the  Frank  monarcli  should  appoint  to  govern  them,  according 
to  their  own  laws.  Those  laws  were  collected,  anrl  are  still  extant.  The  ver- 
nacular version  of  their  Asega  book  contains  their  ancient  customs,  together 
with  the  Frank  additions.  The  general  statutes  of  Charlemagne  were,  of 
course,  in  vigoiu*  also:  but  that  great  legislator  knew  too  well  the  importance 
attached  by  all  mankind  to  local  castoms,  to  allow  his  imperial  capitulars  to 
interfere,  unnecessarily,  with  the  Frisian  laws. 


«78  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

Thus  again  the  Netherlands,  for  the  first  time  since  the  fall  of  Rome,  were 
united  under  one  crown  imperial.  They  had  already  been  once  united,  in 
their  slavery,  to  Rome.  Eight  centimes  pass  away,  and  they  are  again 
united,  in  subjection,  to  Charlemagne.  The  Netherlands,  like  the  other  prov- 
inces of  the  great  monarches  dominion,  were  governed  by  crown-appomted 
fxmctionaries,  military  and  judicial.  In  the  northeastern  or  Frisian  portion, 
however^he  grants  of  land  were  never  in  the  form  of  revocable  benefices  or 
feuds.  With  this  important  exception,  the  whole  country  shared  the  fate 
and  enjoyed  general  organisation  of  the  empire. 

But  Charlemagne  came  an  age  too  soon.  The  chaos  which  had  brooded 
over  Europe  since  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman  world  was  still  too  absolute. 
It  was  not  to  be  fashioned  into  permanent  forms,  even  by  his  bold  and  con- 
structive genius.  When  the  great  statesman  died,  his  empire  necessarily^  fell 
to  pieces.  Society  had  nc^d  of  further  disintegration  before  it  could  begin  to 
reconstruct  itself  locally.  A  new  civilisation  was  not  to  be  improvised  by  a 
single  mind.  When  did  one  man  ever  civilise  a  people?  In  the  eighth  and 
ninth  centuries  there  was  not  even  a  people  to  be  civilised. 

Moreover,  the  Carlovingian  race  had  been  exhausted  by  producing  a  race 
of  heroes  like  the  Pepins  and  the  Charleses.  The  realm  was  divided  [in 
843  A.D.  hy  the  Treaty  of  Verdun],  subdivided,  at  times  partially  reunited, 
like  a  family  farm,  among  monarchs  incompetent  alike  to  hold,  to  delegate, 
or  to  resign  the  inheritance  of  the  great  warrior  and  lawgiver. 

Charles  the  Simple  was  the  last  Carlovingian  who  governed  Lotharingia 
(or  Lorraine),  in  which  were  comprised  most  of  the  Netherlands  and  Friesland. 
The  German  monarch,  Henry  the  Fowler,  at  that  period  called  king  of  Uie 
East  Franks,  as  Charles  of  the  West  Franks,  acquireil  Lorraine  by  the  Treaty 
of  Bonn,  Charles  reserving  the  sovereignty  over  the  kingdom  during  his 
lifetime.  In  925  a.d.  however,  the  Simpleton  having  been  imprisoned  and 
deposed  by  his  own  subjects,  the  Fowler  was  recognised  king  of  Lorraine. 

Thus  the  Netherlands  passed  out  of  France  into  Germany,  remaining,  still, 
provinces  of  a  loose,  disjointed  empire. 

This  is  the  epoch  in  which  the  various  dukedoms,  earldoms,  and  other 
petty  sovereignties  of  the  Netherlands  became  hereditary.  It  was  in  the 
year  922  that  Charles  the  Simple  presented  to  Coimt  Dirk  the  territory  of 
Holland,  by  letters  patent.^  This  narrow  hook  of  land,  destined,  in  future 
ages,  to  be  the  cradle  of  a  considerable  empire,  stretching  through  both  hem- 
ispheres, was,  thenceforth,  the  inheritance  of  Dirk's  descendants.  Histori- 
cally, therefore,  he  is  Dirk  I,  count  of  Holland. 

Of  this  small  sovereign  and  his  successors,  the  most  powerful  foe,  for  cen- 
turies, was  the  bishop  of  Utrecht,  the  origin  of  whose  greatness  has  been 
already  indicated.  Of  the  other  Netherland  provinces,  now  hereditary,  the 
first  in  rank  was  Lorraine,  once  the  kingdom  of  Lothair,  now  the  dukedom  of 
Lorraine.  In  965  it  was  divided  into  Upper  and  Lower  Lorraine,  of  which 
the  lower  duchy  alone  belonged  to  the  Netherlands. 

Two  centuries  later,  the  counts  of  Louvain,  then  occupying  most  of 
Brabant,  obtained  a  permanent  hold  of  Lower  Lorraine,  and  began  to  call 
themselves  dukes  of  Brabant.  The  same  principle  of  local  independence  and 
isolation  which  created  these  dukes  established  the  hereditary  power  of  the 
counts  and  barons  who  formerly  exercised  jurisdiction  imder  them  and  others. 
Thus  arose  sovereign  counts  of  Namur,  Hainault,  Limburg,  Zutphen,  dukes 
of  Luxemburg  and  Gelderland,  barons  of  Mechlin,  marquises  of  Antwerp,  and 

[»  See  vols.  VII,  XI  and  XV.] 


INTRODUCTION 


87» 


others — all  petty  autocrats.  The  most  important  of  all,  after  the  house  of 
Lorraine,  were  the  earls  of  Flanders;  for  the  bold  foresters  of  Charles  the 
Great  had  soon  wrested  the  sovereignty  of  their  little  territory  from  his  feeble 
descendants  as  easily  as  Baldwin,  mtli  the  iron  arm,  had  deprived  the  bald 
Charles  of  his  daughter.  Holland,  Zeahuid,  Utrecht,  Overy&sel,  Groningen. 
Drenthe,  and  Friesland  (all  seven  being  portions  of  Friesland  in  a  general 
sense),  were  crowderl  together  upon  a  little  desolate  corner  of  Europe — an 
obscure  fragment  of  Charlemagne's  broken  empire.  They  were  afterwards  to 
constitute  the  Uniteil  States  of  the  Netherlands,  one  of  the  most  powerful 
republics  of  history.  Meantime,  for  century  after  centur>',  the  counts  of  Hol- 
land and  the  bishops  of  Utrecht  were  to  exercise  diviiled  sway  over  the  territory. 

Thus  the  whole  country  was  broken  into  many  shreds  and  patches  of 
sovereignty.  The  separate  history  of  such  half -organ  ise<l  morsels  is  tevlious 
and  petty.  Trifling  dynasties,  where  a  family  or  two  were  everything,  the 
people  nothing,  leave  little  worth  recording.  Even  the  most  devout  of 
genealogists  might  shmlder  to  chronicle  the  long  succession  of  so  many  illus- 
trious obscure. 

A  glance,  however,  at  the  general  features  of  the  governmental  system 
now  established  in  the  Netherlands,  at  this  important  ef)octi  in  the  world's 
history^  will  show  the  transformations  which  the  couutry,  m  commou  with 
other  portions  of  the  western  world,  had  unilergone. 


OO^'ERNMENT   AND   CIVILISATION'  OF   FEUDAL  TIMES 

In  the  tenth  century  the  old  Batavian  and  later  Roman  forms  have  faded 
away.  An  entirely  new  polity  has  succefxled.  No  great  popular  assembly 
asserts  its  sovereignty,  as  in  the  ancient  German  epoch;  no  generals  and  tem- 
porary kings  are  chosen  by  the  nation.  The  elective  power  had  been  lost 
under  the  Romans,  who,  after  conquest,  lutd  conferred  the  administrative 
authority  over  their  subject  provinces  upon  otlicials  appointed  by  the  metrop- 
olis. The  Franks  pursued  the  same  course.  In  Charlemagne's  time,  the 
revolution  is  complete.  Popular  assemblies  and  popular  election  entirely 
vanish.  Military,  civil,  anil  judicial  oflicers — (iukcs,  curls,  marquises^  and 
others — are  all  king's  creatures  {knegien  de^  konings,  pxteri  regis)^  and  so  re- 
main, till  they  abjure  the  creative  power,  and  set  up  their  own.  The  principle 
of  Charlenijigne,  tliat  his  officers  sliould  govern  accortling  to  local  custom, 
helps  them  to  achieve  their  own  independence,  while  it  preserves  all  that  is 
left  of  national  lilx^rty  and  law. 

The  counts,  assisted  by  inferior  judges,  hold  diets  from  time  to  time — 
thrice,  pcrliaps,  annually.  They  also  sununon  assemblies  in  case  of  war. 
Thither  are  called  the  great  vassals,  who,  in  turn,  call  tlieir  lesser  vassals, 
each  armed  with  "a  shield,  a  spear,  a  bow,  twelve  arrows,  and  a  cuirass." 
Such  jtssemblies,  convoked  in  the  name  of  a  distant  sovereign,  whose  face 
his  subjects  hail  never  seen,  whose  language  they  couhl  lianlly  understand, 
were  very  different  from  those  tumultuous  mtiss-meetings,  where  boisterous 
freemen,  armed  with  the  weapons  thoy  loved  the  lx*st,  and  arriving  sooner  or 
later,  according  to  their  pleasure,  had  l^'en  accustomeil  to  elect  their  generals 
and  magistrates  and  to  raise  them  upon  their  shiekls.  The  people  are  now 
governed,  their  rulers  appointed  by  an  invisible  hand.  Edicts,  issued  by  a 
power,  as  it  were,  supernatural,  demand  implicit  obedience.  The  people, 
acquiescing  in  their  own  annihilation,  abdicate  not  only  their  political  but 
their  [personal  rights.  The  sceptre,  stretched  over  reabns  so  wide,  requires 
stronger  hands  than  those  of  degenerate  Carlo vingiaus.     It  breaks  asunder. 


280  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

Functionaries  become  sovereigns,  with  hereditan-,  not  delegated,  right  to 
own  the  people,  to  tax  their  roads  and  rivers,  to  take  tithings  of  their  olood 
and  sweat,  to  harass  them  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  There  is  no  longer  a 
metropolis  to  protect  them  from  official  oppression.  Power,  the  more  sub- 
divided, becomes  the  more  tjTannical.  The  sword  is  the  only  sjTnbol  of  law, 
the  cross  is  a  weapon  of  offence,  the  bishop  is  a  consecrated  pirate,  and  every 
petty  baron  a  burglar;  while  the  people,  alternately  the  prey  of  duke,  pre- 
late,'and  seignor,  shorn  and  butchered  like  sheep,  esteem  it  happiness  to  sell 
themselves  into  slaver>%  or  to  huddle  beneath  the  castle  walls  of  some  little 
potentate,  for  the  sake  of  his  wolfish  protection.  Here  they  build  ho\'els, 
which  they  surround  from  time  to  time  with  palisades  and  muddy  entrench- 
ments: and  here,  in  these  squalid  abodes  of  ignorance  and  misery-,  the  genius 
of  liberty,  conducted  by  the  spirit  of  commerce,  descends  at  last  to  awaken 
mankind  from  its  sloth  and  cowardly  stupor.  A  longer  night  was  to  inter- 
vene, however,  before  the  dawn  of  da}'. 

Hie  crown-appointed  functionaries  had  been,  of  course,  financial  officers. 
The\"  collected  the  revenue  of  the  sovereign,  one-thini  of  which  slipped 
through  their  fingers  into  their  own  coffers.  Becoming  sovereigns  themselves, 
they  retain  these  funds  for  their  private  emolument.  Four  principal  sources 
yielded  this  revenue — royal  domains,  tolls  and  imposts,  direct  le\ies,  and  a 
pleasantry*  called  voluntary  contributions  or  benevolences.  In  addition  to 
these  supplies  were  also  the  proceeds  of  fines.  Taxation  upon  sin  was,  in 
those  rude  ages,  a  considerable  branch  of  the  revenue.  The  old  Frisian  laws 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  a  discriminating  tariff  upon  crimes.  Nearly  all 
the  misdeeds  which  man  is  prone  to  commit  were  punished  by  a  money-bote 
only.  Murder,  larceny,  arson,  rape — all  offences  against  the  person  were 
commuted  for  a  definite  price.  There  were  a  few  exceptions,  such  as  parri- 
cide, which  was  followed  by  loss  of  inheritance:  sacrilege  and  the  murder  of 
a  master  by  a  slave,  which  were  punished  with  death.  It  is  a  natural  in- 
ference that,  as  the  royal  treasur\'  was  enriched  by  these  imposts,  the  sov- 
ereign would  hardly  attempt  to  check  the  annual  har\-est  of  iniquity  by  which 
his  revenue  was  increased.  Still,  although  the  moral  sense  is  shocked  by  a 
s>'stem  which  makes  the  ruler's  interest  identical  with  the  wickedness  of  his 
people  and  holds  out  a  comparative  immunity  in  evil  doing  for  the  rich,  it 
was  better  that  crime  should  be  punisheii  by  money  rather  than  not  be 
punished  at  all. 

Five  centuries  of  isolation  succeed.  In  the  Netherlands,  as  throughout 
Europe,  a  thousand  obscure  and  slender  rills  are  slowly  preparing  the  great 
stream  of  universal  culture.  Five  dismal  centuries  of  feudalism — during 
which  period  there  is  little  talk  of  himian  right,  little  olxnlience  to  diWne 
reason.  Rights  there  are  none,  only  forces:  and.  in  brief,  three  groat  forces, 
gradually  arising,  developing  themselves,  acting  upon  each  other,  ant.1  upon 
the  general  movement  of  society. 

The  sword — the  first,  for  a  time  the  only  force:  the  force  of  iron.  The 
"land's  master,"  hax-ing  acquired  the  proix^rty  in  the  torritor\-  ami  in  the 
people  who  feed  thereon,  distributes  to  his  subalterns,  often  but  a  shade  be- 
neath him  in  power,  portions  of  his  estate,  getting  the  use  oi  their  faithful 
s\^-ords  in  return.  Vavasours  sulxlivide  again  to  vassals,  exchanging  land 
and  cattle,  hinnan  or  other,  against  fealty,  and  so  the  \nm  chain  of  a  military- 
hierarchy,  forged  of  mutually  intenleiXMnJent  links,  isstnnched  over  each  little 
province.  Impregnable  castles,  here  more  numerous  than  in  any  other  part 
of  Christendom,  dot  the  level  surface  oi  the  country.  Maili'lad  knitrhts.  with 
their  followers,  encamp  permant^ntly  u|>on  the  soil.    The  fortunate  fable  of 


INTRODUCTION 


2SI 


divine  right  is  invonted  to  sanction  the  system;  superstition  and  ignorance 
give  currency  to  the  delusion. 

TJius  the  grace  of  CJod,  having  conferred  the  pro|>erty  in  a  vast  portion  of 
Europe  upon  a  certain  idiot  in  France,  makes  nini  competent  to  sell  large 
fragments  of  his  estate,  and  to  give  a  divine,  and,  therefore,  most  satisfactory 
title  along  with  them — a  great  convenience  to  a  man  who  had  neither  power, 
wit,  nor  will  to  keep  the  property  in  his  own  hands.  So  the  Dirks  of  HollantI 
get  a  deed  from  Charles  the  Simple,  and,  although  the  grace  of  God  does  not 
prevent  the  royal  grantor  himself  frtini  {iyinga  [iiistTiiblc,  discrowne([  captive, 
the  conveyance  to  Dirk  is  none  the  less  hallowed  by  almighty  fiat.  So  the 
Roberts  and  Guys,  the  Johns  and  Baldwins,  become  sovereigns  in  Ilainault, 
Brabant,  Flanders,  and  other  little  districts,  affecting  supernatural  sanction 
for  the  authority  which  their  good  swords  have  won  and  are  ever  rearl}'  to 
maintain.  Thus  organise* I,  the  force  of  iron  asserts  and  exerts  itself.  Duke, 
countp  seignor  and  vassal,  knight  and  sf^uire,  master  and  man  si^-arm  and 
struggle  amain.  A  wild,  chaotie,  siuiguinary  scene.  Here,  bishop  and  baron 
contend,  centuries  long,  murdering  human  creatures  bv  ten  thousands  for  an 
acre  or  two  of  swampy  pasture;  there,  doughty  families,  hugging  old  musty 
quarrels  to  their  heart,  buffet  each  other  from  generation  to  generation;  antl 
thus  they  go  on,  raging  and  wrestling  among  themselves,  with  all  the  world, 
shrieking  insane  war-cries  which  no  huiuan  soul  ever  understood — red  vnps 
and  black,  white  hootis  and  gray,  Hooks  and  Cods,  dealing  destruction,  build- 
ing castles  and  iiurning  them,  tilting  at  tourneys,  stealing  bulloeks,  roasting 
Jews,  robbing  the  highways,  crusathng — now  upon  Syrian  sands  against 
Paynim  dogs,  now  in  Frisian  quagmires  against  Albigenses,  Stedingers,  and 
other  heretic5^plunging  about  in  blood  and  fire,  repenting,  at  i<lle  times, 
and  paying  their  passage  through  purgator}''  with  large  slices  of  ill-gotten 
gains  placed  in  the  ever-extended  dead-hand  of  the  church;  acting,  on  the 
whole,  according  to  their  kind,  and  so  getting  themselves  civilised  or  exter- 
minated, it  matt-ers  little  whii-ii.  Thus  they  play  their  part,  those  energ^'tic 
men-at-arms;  ami  thus  one  great  force,  the  force  of  iron,  spins  an<l  expands 
itself,  century  after  century,  lielping  on,  as  it  whirls,  the  great  progress  of 
society  towartls  its  goal,  wherever  that  may  be. 

Another  force — the  force  eleriral — tlie  power  of  clerks,  arises;  the  miglit 
of  educated  mind  measuring  itself  against  brute  violence;  a  force  embodied, 
as  often  before,  as  priestcraft— the  strength  of  priest.s:  craft  meaning  simply 
strength,  in  our  old  mother-tongue.  This  great  force,  too,  develops  it.sejf 
variously,  being  sometimes  beneficent,  sometimes  malignant.  Priesthood 
works  out  its  task,  ago  after  age:  now  smoothing  penitent  death-beds,  con- 
secrating gmves,  feeding  the  hungry,  clothing  the  naketl,  incarnating  the 
Christian  precepts,  in  an  age  of  rapine  and  homicide,  doing  a  thousanfi  deeds 
of  love  and  charity  among  the  obscure  and  forsaken— deeds  of  which  tliere 
shall  never  l>e  human  chronicle,  but  a  leaf  or  two,  perhaps,  in  the  recording 
angel's  book;  hiving  precious  honey  from  the  few  flowers  of  gentle  art  which 
bloom  upon  a  howling  wiUlerness;  holding  up  the  light  of  science  over  a 
stormy  sea;  treasuring  in  convents  and  crypts  the  few  fossils  of  antique  learn- 
ing which  liecome  visible,  as  the  extinct  MegMtheriuni  of  an  elder  world  re- 
appears after  the  Gothic  deluge;  and  now,  careering  in  helm  and  hauberk 
with  the  other  ruffianSf  bandying  blows  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  blasting 
with  bell,  book,  and  candle  its  trembling  enemies,  while  sovereigns,  at  the 
head  of  armies,  grovel  in  the  dust  and  ofler  abjeet  submission  for  the  kiss  of 
peace;  exercising  the  same  conjury  over  ignorant  hnron  and  cowardly  hind, 
making  the  fiction  of  apostolic  authority  to  hind  and  loose,  as  prolific  in  acres 


282  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

as  the  other  divine  right  to  have  and  hold;  thus  the  force  of  cultivated  in- 
tellect, wielded  by  a  chosen  few  and  sanctioned  by  supematiu^  authority^ 
becomes  as  potent  as  the  sword. 

A  third  force,  developing  itself  more  slowly,  becomes  even  more  potent 
than  the  rest — the  power  of  gold.  Even  iron  yields  to  the  more  auctile 
metal.  The  importance  of  municipalities,  enriched  by  trade,  b^ins  to  be 
felt.  Commerce,  the  mother  of  Netherland  freedom,  and,  eventually,  its 
destroyer — eveii  as  in  all  human  history  the  vivifying  becomes  afterwards 
the  dissolving  principle — conmierce  changes  insensibly  and  miraculously  the 
aspect  of  society.  Clusters  of  hovels  become  towered  cities;  the  green  and 
gilded  Hansa  of  commercial  republicanism  coils  itself  around  the  decaying 
trunk  of  feudal  despotism.  Cities  leagued  with  cities  throughout  and  beyond 
Christendom — empu^  within  empire — bind  themselves  closer  and  closer  in 
the  electric  chain  of  himian  S3rmpathy  and  grow  stronger  and  stronger  by 
mutual  support.  Fishermen  and  river  raftsmen  become  ocean  adventurers 
and  merchant  princes.  Commerce  plucks  up  half-drowned  Holland  by  the 
locks  and  pours  gold  into  her  lap.  Gold  wrests  power  from  iron.  Needy 
Flemish  weavers  become  mighty  manufactiu^rs.  Annies  of  workmen,  fifty 
thousand  strong,  tramp  through  the  swarming  streets.  Silk-makers,  clothi- 
ers, brewers  become  the  gossips  of  kings,  lend  their  royal  gossips  vast  sums, 
and  bum  the  royal  notes  of  hand  in  fires  of  cinnamon  wood.  Wealth  brings 
strength,  strength  confidence.  Learning  to  handle  cross-bow  and  dagger, 
the  burghers  fear  less  the  baronial  sword,  finding  that  their  own  will  cut  as 
well,  seeing  that  great  armies — flowers  of  chivalry — can  ride  away  before 
them  fast  enough  at  battles  of  spurs  and  other  encoimters.  Sudden  riches 
be^t  insolence,  tumults,  civic  broils.  Internecine  quarrels,  horrible  tumults 
stam  the  streets  with  blood,  but  education  lifts  the  citizens  more  and  more 
out  of  the  original  slough.  They  learn  to  tremble  as  little  at  priestcraft  as  at 
swordcraft,  havii^  acquired  something  of  each.  Gold  in  the  end,  unsanc- 
tioned by  right  divine,  weighs  up  the  other  forces,  supernatural  as  they  are. 
And  so,  struggling  along  their  appointed  path,  making  cloth,  making  money, 
making  treaties  with  great  kingdoms,  making  war  by  land  and  sea,  ringing 
great  bells,  waving  great  banners,  they,  too — these  insolent,  boisterous  burgh- 
ers— accomplish  their  work. 

Thus,  the  mighty  power  of  the  purse  develops  itself,  and  municipal  lib- 
erty becomes  a  substantial  fact — a  fact,  not  a  principle;  for  the  old  theorem 
of  sovereignty  remains  tmdisputed  as  ever.  Neither  the  nation,  in  mass,  nor 
the  citizens,  in  class,  lay  claim  to  human  rights.  All  upper  attributes — legis- 
lative, judicial,  administrative — remain  in  the  land-master's  breast  alone. 
It  is  an  absurdity,  therefore,  to  argue  with  Grotius"*  concerning  the  unknown 
antiquity  of  the  Batavian  republic.  The  republic  never  existed  at  all  till  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  was  only  born  after  long  years  of  agony fi 


CHAPTER    I 


THE    FIRST    COUNTS   OF    HOLLAND 


[843-1890  A.D.] 


As  the  seven  united  provinces  of  Holland,  Zealanrl,  Utrecht,  Friesland, 
Groningen,  Overyssel,  and  Gelderland  formed  in  thf  e«arly  agea  of  their 
history  four  distinct  and  separate  states,  to  follow  out  minutely  the  annals 
of  each  would  cause  the  thread  of  the  subject  to  be  perpetually  broken  off, 
and  by  tliverting  the  attention  into  so  many  channels  deimve  it  of  any  in- 
terest it  might  otherwi.se  possess;  and  woulcf  moreover  swell  the  work  to  such 
a  magnitude  as  to  render  it  unavailable  to  the  general  reader.  This  is  the 
less  necessary,  as,  with  some  <hfFerence  of  detail,  the  general  features  of  the 
constitution  and  governments  of  tlie  Netherland  states  l^ear  so  strong  a  simi- 
larity to  each  other  that  a  perfect  acquaintance  with  one  will  give  a  tolerably 
clear  insight  into  a!!.  We  shall  therefore  confine  our  oljservations  principally 
to  Holland  and  Zealand,  which^  during  the  period  now  under  consideration, 
formed  a  state  or  county  of  itself;  the  prince-bishop  of  Utrecht  held  that 
province,  together  with  Groningen  and  Overyssel,  as  a  fief  of  the  German 
Empire,  acknowledging  the  sovereignty  of  the  archbishop  of  Cologne 
in  spiritual  matters.  Friesland  will  often  present  itsr^lf  to  our  notice  aa  a 
subject  of  contention  between  the  bishops  of  Utrecht  and  the  counts  of  Hol- 
land, and  retaining  its  independence  against  both,  under  a  podcstate  of  its 
own  elioosing. 

Gelderland  forme<l  a  part  of  the  empire  of  Germany  until  the  year  1002, 
when  the  emperor  Henr>'  II  made  it  a  separate  county,  feudatory  to  the 
empire;  Otto,  the  first  count,  coming  into  [jossession  of  Zutphcn  also,  by  his 
marriage  with  Sophia,  heiress  of  that  county.  Gelderland  was  raised  to  a 
duchy  m  1337  by  Louis  VII  of  Bavaria,  emperor  of  Germany, 

283 


284  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[A.D.) 

THE  PERIODS  OF  DUTCH   HISTORY 

The  history  of  Holland  thus  divides  itself  into  four  periods :  ^  the  first  ex- 
tending from  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  the  time  of  its  erection  into  a 
separate  cotmty,  to  the  year  1428,  when  it  became  annexed  to  a  great  portion 
of  the  other  states  of  the  Netherlands,  under  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy: the  government  of  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Burgundy  and  Aus- 
tria will  form  the  second  period,  ending  in  1579,  when  the  Union  of  Utrecht 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  republic  of  the  Seven  United  Provinces. 

It  is  here  that  the  history  of  Holland  has  been  generally  considered  to 
begin;  and  from  this  epoch  it  is  supposed  her  birth  as  a  free  and  conmaercial 
coimtry  is  to  be  dated.  No  idea,  however,  can  be  more  erroneous;  Holland 
was  no  Pallas  among  nations,  starting  at  once  into  vigour  and  maturity, 
exempt  from  the  errors  and  trials  of  yt)uth;  it  was  not  the  mere  act  of  revolt 
from  Spain  that  made  her  a  nation  of  heroes,  statesmen,  legislators,  and  mer- 
chants, such  as  we  then  find  her.  She  had  been  formed  by  long  years  of 
experience,  by  long  a^es  of  endurance.  The  strength  which  enabled  her  to 
cope  with  a  power  so  mfinitely  superior  to  her  own  nad  been  infused  by  con- 
tinued enjoyment  of  equal  laws,  constitutional  rights,  and  prescriptive  fran- 
chises. It  was  not  to  enforce  the  fanciful  theory  of  a  constitution,  not  to 
create  new  rights,  new  laws,  new  liberties,  that  the  Dutch  threw  off  their 
allegiance  to  their  sovereign;  but  to  preserve  those  which  they  had  been 
constantly  asserting,  and  jealously  defending,  since  the  accession  of  the  house 
of  Burgundy,  more  than  a  hundred  years  before;  and  the  war  of  independence 
was  the  end,  not  the  beginning  of  the  contest — the  desperate  extremity  to 
which  they  were  unwillingly  driven  by  the  obstinacy  and  cruelty  of  Philip  II, 
not  a  scheme  devised  for  their  own  aggrandisement.  The  separation  of  Hol- 
land from  Spain  involved  but  a  slight  change  in  her  internal  government,  the 
essential  principles  of  which  had  already  existed  for  centuries;  and  though 
the  extension  of  liberty  obtained  by  this  event  did  undoubtedly  tend  to  the 
vast  improvement  of  her  commerce,  yet  it  is  equally  certain  that,  after  the 
decay  of  the  Italian  republics,  Holland  excelled  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
except  Flanders  and  Brabant,  as  well  in  commerce  and  navigation  as  in 
agriculture  and  manufactures. 

The  union  of  Utrecht  may  therefore  be  properly  considered  as  the  com- 
mencement of  the  third  period,  which  extends  to  the  year  1747,  when  a 
radical  change  was  effected  in  the  constitution  of  Holland,  then  rendered 
monarchical  in  fact,  though  not  in  name,  by  the  creation  of  a  stadholderate, 
hereditary  in  the  male  and  female  line. 

The  fourth  short  and  mournful  era  is  comprised  between  1747  and  1795, 
when  the  provinces  were  subjugated  by  the  arms  of  the  French  Republic. 
During  this  time,  but  feeble  and  evanescent  scintillations  of  the  ancient 
Dutch  spirit  appear.  The  whole  nation,  divided  into  two  factions,  the  orange 
and  republican,  sacrificed  with  one  accord  the  welfare  of  the  commonwealth 
to  the  rage  of  party  spirit. 

Thus  enfeebled  and  tottering,  Holland  required  no  seer  to  foretell  that 

['  Blok  "  divides  the  history  of  tlie  Dutch  people  into  seven  periods  :  1st,  the  period  of  the 
most  ancient  times,  ending  with  the  complete  development  of  the  feudal  states  in  the  fourteenth 
century  ;  2nd,  the  period  of  Burgundian  power,  ending  in  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  ; 
8rd,  the  period  of  the  Eighty  Years'  War,  ending  in  1648  ;  4th,  the  period  of  the  republic,  which 
fell  in  179.5 ;  5th.  the  transition  jieriod  of  French  influence  until  ISlS :  6th,  the  period  of  the 
kingdom  of  tlie  United  Netlierlands  until  1830;  7th,  the  period  of  the  history  of  llolland  after 
the  separation  from  Belgium.] 


THE    FIRST    COUNTS    OF   HOLLAND  285 

[Si3-922  A.O.] 

her  Ides  were  come.  Prussia,  England,  and  Franco  oacli  stniok  n  death-blow 
at  her  heart;  but  she  covered  herseh'  with  lier  rol>e  as  she  fell — science,  the 
arts,  and  the  venerable  reHcs  of  her  ancient  institutions  veiled  from  human 
eyes  the  extremity  of  her  degradation.  The  civilised  world,  her  jeolous 
rivals  themselves,  mourned  over  her  fate.  Mocked  with  the  name  of  an  in- 
dependent republic,  dolu<ied  with  the  shadow  of  a  free  constitution,  Holland 
found  her  treasury  drained  by  French  extortion,  her  commerce  made  sub- 
servient to  French  interests,  and  her  government  framed  and  changed  ac- 
cording to  the  fanciful  models  of  French  politicians.  With  the  invasion  of 
the  year  1795.  therefore,  her  history  closes,  since  she  appears  no  more  on  the 
theatre  of  Europe  as  a  free  commonwealth. 

Her  regeneration,  as  a  limited  monarchy,  in  1813^  is  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era. 


HOLLAND  AS   A   GERMAN'    FIEF 

Before  the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  Charlemagne  had  finally  united 
the  whole  kingdom  of  Friesland  to  the  Christian  clmrch.  The  last  king, 
Oundebold,  grandson  of  Kadbod,  was  slain  in  the  famous  expedition  of 
this  monarch  against  the  Saracens  in  Spain;  and  from  that  time  FriesUmd 
was  governed  by  counts  and  dukes  appointed  by  the  emi>eror,  and  afterwards 
by  his  son  Louis  the  Pious.  On  the  division  of  tlie  empire  in  843  made  after 
the  death  of  Louis,  between  liis  three  sons,  Lothair,  Ludwig  the  German,  and 
Charles,  surnamed  the  Bald,  Ludwig  received  that  portion  of  the  Netherlands 
which  lies  on  the  right  of  the  Rhine,  while  the  provinces  between  that  river 
and  the  Maas  ami  Scliekle  were  allotted  to  the  emperor  Lothair. 

The  situation  of  these  countries  rendered  (hem  peculiarly  obnoxious  to 
the  incursions  of  the  Danes  or  Normans,  for  three  centuries  the  terror  and 
scourge  of  Europe;  and  it  was  probal>ly  with  the  view  of  erecting  a  barrier 
against  their  assaults  that  Ludwig  the  German  granted  to  Dirk,'  one  of  the 
counts  in  FriesLan<i,  and  to  his  heirs,  the  forest  of  Wasda.  The  Danes,  how- 
ever, continued  to  luinxi<s  Friesland  as  l>efore,  sometimes  plundering  the 
country,  and  levying  heavy  contributions  on  the  inhabitants;  sometimes 
making  transient  settlements  there,  and  forcing  the  sovereigns  to  surrenrler 
to  them  possession  of  different  portions  of  it.  Charles  HI  of  France,  sur- 
named the  Fat,  having  l:»ecome  master  of  the  whole  of  the  empire  of  Charle- 
magiTe,  found  himself  obliged  to  purchase  their  absence  from  Germany  by 
the  gift  of  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  the  cession  of  the  whole  of  Friesland  to 
Gotlfrey,  their  king  (883),  by  which  act  Gerulf,  the  son  of  Count  Dirk,  be- 
came a  subject  of  the  Dane.  The  death  of  CJodfrey,  who  was  treacherously 
asaassinat-ed,  two  years  after,  by  order  of  Charles,  restored  Gerulf  to  liis 
allegiance  under  the  emperor  of  Germany,  and  he  receiveil  from  Arnulf, 
successor  to  the  empire,  after  the  deposition  of  Charles  the  Fat,  the  lands 
lying  betwe(UJ  the  Rhine  and  Zuithardersliage. 

Gerulf  waif  the  father  of  that  Dirk  whom  the  Hollanders  reckon  as  their 
first  count,  probably  because  he  was  the  first  who  possessed  the  monastery 
of  Egmond,  whence  nearly  all  the  document's  relating  to  their  t-arly  history 
are  drawn.  From  him,  the  line  of  succession  and  the  thread  of  history  con- 
tinue unbroken. 

The  time  of  the  foundation  of  the  county  of  Holland  is  involved  in  great 
obscurity,  and  we  will  not  enter  into  the  tedious  discussion  as  to  whether  it 
should  be  fixed  in  863,  or  in  the  year  922.    For  the  former  date  we  have  the 

[*  Tbe  Dfttne  is  also  given  fts  Dietrich,  Tbeoderlc,  and  Theodore.] 


286  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[013-QOS  A.D.} 

authority  of  Melis  Stoke,*  Beka,**  Barlandus,*  Meyer,/  and  numerous  others; 
whUe  Bucheli\is,ff  the  annotator  of  the  Chronicle  of  Beka,  and  Wagenaar^ 
insist  upon  the  latter. 


THE  FIRST  DIRKS,   I-IV   (912-1049) 

To  the  lands  which  Count  Dirk  already  held,  Charles  IV  of  France,  sur- 
named  the  Simple,  added  the  abbey  of  Egmond,  with  its  dependencies,  from 
Zuithardershage  to  Kinnem.    By  the  cession  which  this  prince  made  to  the 

emperor  Henry  I  of  the  whole  king- 
dom of  Lorraine,  these  lands,  as 
well  as  the  remainder  which  Count 
Dirk  possessed,  became  a  fief  of 
Germany  in  974.  Nothing  further 
is  known  of  Dirk  than  that  he  built 
a  church  of  wood  at  Egmond,  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Adelbert,  and  founded 
there  a  convent  of  nuns.  The  time 
of  his  death  is  imcertain,  but  it  is 
generally  supposed  to  have  occurred 
m  the  year  923. 

Hardly  had  Dirk  II  established 
himself  in  the  government  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  when  he  was 
obliged  to  march  against  his  rebel- 
lious subjects  in  West  Friesland, 
whom  he  overcame,  and  forced  to 
return  to  obedience.  He  had  by 
his  wife,  Hildegarde,  two  sons,  of 
whom  the  younger,  Egbert,  became 
archbishop  of  Treves,  and  the  elder, 
Arnold,  married  Luitgarde,  sister 
of  Theophano,  the  wife  of  Otto  II, 
emperor  of  Germany  (983).  The 
empress  Theophano,  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  and  during  the 
minority  of  her  son,  Otto  III,  en- 
joyed a  large  share  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  empire;  and  her  alliance  with  the  family  of  the  count  of  Holland 
induced  her  to  use  her  influence  over  the  mind  of  the  young  emperor,  to 
obtain  for  Dirk  a  grant  of  all  those  states  as  an  hereditary  fief  which  he  had 
hitherto  enjoyed  in  usufruct  only.    Dirk  II  died  in  988. 

The  grant  of  Otto  III  rendered  it  unnecessary  that  Arnold  should  obtain 
the  emj>eror*s  confirmation  of  hLs  authority,  and  the  succession  henceforward 
passed  in  the  regular  line,  without  any  intervention  of  the  imperial  sov- 
ereignty, nor  did  the  emperors  ever  interfere  in  the  slightest  degree  in  the 
internal  government  of  the  coimty;  in  process  of  time,  indeed,  the  counts  of 
Holland  so  far  freed  themselves  from  the  ties  of  feudal  allegiance  that  it 
became  at  length  a  matter  of  dispute  whether  or  not  Holland  owed  fealty 
to  the  empire  at  all.  Arnold's  short  reign  of  five  years  was  spent  in  continual 
warfare  with  his  rebellious  subjects  of  West  Friesland,  by  whom  he  was  slain 
in  a  battle  fought  near  the  village  of  Winkel  (993),    He  left  two  sons,  of 


Count  Dirk  II 

(From  a  manoBciipt  at  Egmond) 


THE   FIRST    COUNTS    OF   HOLLAi^D  487 

[008-1030  A.D.] 

whom  the  youneer,  Siwanl,  or  Sigefrkl,  is  said  to  have  been  the  founder  of 
the  noble  and  illustrious  house  of  Bredermle. 

Dirk  III  succeeded  his  father  when  only  twelve  years  of  ace,  the  govern- 
ment beuig  administered  during  his  ininorily  by  his  mother  Luitganle.  In 
the  year  1010  tiie  Normans  again  made  an  irruption  into  Friesland,  defeated 
the  Hollanders  who  opposed  their  passa^ge,  and  advanced  as  far  as  UtrecFit. 
This  is  Ihe  last  time  we  hear  of  any  invasion  by  the  Normans  of  either  Holland 
or  Friesland. 


WARS  WITH  ITTRBCHT,   FLANDEHS,   AND  THE   EMPIHK 

In  the  year  937  the  emperor  Otto  I  of  Germany  had  granted  to  Baldric, 
then  bishop  of  Utrecht,  the  privilege  of  cohiinE;  money.  By  Ansfrid,  the  do- 
main of  Utrecht  had  bw^n  brought  elosc  to  the  territoritis  of  the  counts  of 
Holland,  over  the  whole  of  which,  likewise,  the  church  of  Utrecht  had  a 
spiritual  jurisdiction;  and  this  furnished  the  bishops  with  a  pretext  for  laying 
claim  to  the  teuiporni  sen-ercignty  of  the  county.  Hence  arose  disputes  of  a 
nature  easily  e.xai^perated  into  hostilities. 

In  order  to  provide  a  barrier  against  the  encroachments  of  this  restless 
neighbour,  Dirk  built  an<-l  fortified  the  celebrated  town  of  Dordrecht,  in  1015, 
which  Ijecaine,  and  long  renminerl,  the  capital  of  the  county,  and  ever  after- 
wards hel<l  the  first  rank  in  the  assembly  of  the  states.  Here  he  levied  tolls 
upon  all  vessels  passing  up  or  down  the  Waal. 

The  emperor  conniiandcd  Gottfried,  duke  of  Lorraine,  to  :issist  tht»  hisliop 
in  expelling  Dirk  from  the  fortress  of  Dordrecht,  (lottfried^  in  obedience  to 
his  orders,  assembled  a  large  body  of  troops,  accfunpanied  by  the  bishops  of 
Cologne,  Cambray,  Lit^ge,  ami  Utrt^clit,  with  their  forces.  In  the  engage- 
ment which  ensued  in  lOlS  an  event,  singular  as  unexpected,  turned  the 
fortune  of  the  day  hi  favoiu*  of  the  Hollanders,  and  saved  the  infant  state 
from  the  destruction  which  appeared  inevitable:  the  battle  was  at  the  hot- 
test, ani^l  the  Hollanders  were  defending  themselves  bravely,  but  almost 
hopelessly,  against  superior  numbers^  when  suddenly  a  voice  was  heard  cry- 
ing, "Fly,  fly."  None  could  tell  from  wlience  the  sound  proceeded,  an<l  it 
was  therefore  interpR»ted  by  the  troops  of  Lorniine  as  a  warning  from  heaven: 
their  rout  was  instantaneous  and  complete.  Dirk  concluded  his  long  and 
troubled  reign  of  thirty-four  years  by  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land;  he 
died  1039,  soon  after  his  return,  and  w:is  buried  in  the  church  of  Egmoiid, 
leaving  Wiind  him  a  higli  reputation  for  vahjur  and  ability. 

In  the  reign  of  Dirk  IV  Wgan  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  dissensions 
between  the  counts  of  Holland  and  Handcrs  concerning  the  pcjssession  of 
Walehercn,  an<l  Ihe  other  islands  of  Zealand,  west  of  the  Schelde.  The 
Flemings  clainieil  these  territories  in  virtue  of  a  grant  (1007)  made  by  the 
emperor  Henry  II  to  Baldwin  IV,  surnamed  Longbeard,  count  of  Flanders, 
while  the  Hollanders  insisted  on  a  prior  right,  conferred  by  the  gift  of  Lud- 
wig  the  German^  in  the  year  868,  to  Dirk,  (he  first  count  of  Holland.  Bald- 
win, fifth  son  and  successor  of  Baldwin  Longbeard,  ondert^^ok  a  hostile 
expedition  into  Friesland  and  returned  victorious.  The  bishop  of  Utrecht, 
taking  advantage  of  the  embarrassment,  induced  the  emperor  Henry  III  to 
lend  him  his  assistance  in  regaining  posses.sion  of  those  lands  about  the 
Merwe  and  Rhine,  of  which  he  maintained  that  Count  Dirk  III  had  unjustly 
deprived  his  pre<Iecesst)r. 

The  emperor,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  sailed  down  the  river  to 
Dordrecht,  which  he  forced  to  surrender,  as  well  as  other  towns.    He  waa 


S88  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

[1O4&-I070  A,i>.] 

not  able  long  to  retain  these  places,  Dirk  having  formed  an  alliance  with 
Gottfried  (>f  Ldrniine. 

The  eni|>eror  was  obliged  to  retreat  to  Utrecht,  pursued  by  Dirk  and  a 
small  band  of  troops,  who  so  harassed  the  rear  of  his  anny  that  Henry  with 
diHTciilty  hiucciHHled  in  reaehijig  the  city  in  safety.  HLs  dcpiiitun'  left  Dirk 
at  lilM-rty  to  regain  posses.sion  of  all  the  territory  l^e  had  lost,  which,  however, 
he  was  not  destined  to  enjoy  long  in  peace.  Wliile  passing  unguardedly 
through  a  nnrrow  street,  he  received  a  wound  from  a  poisoned  arrow,  shot 
bv  an  unknown  hand,  and  died  within  three  da^'s  in  January,  1049.  Dirk 
died  unmarried,  and  was  succeedeti  by  his  brother. 


FLORIS   I  TO   IV   (104^1235) 


The  reign  of  Floris  [or  Florence],  like  that  of  his  predeces.*iors,  was  ren- 
dered turbulent  anvl  unhappy  by  the  restless  jealousy  and  enmity  of  the 
bishop  of  lUrecht.  In  tlie  year  1058,  William  I,  who  then  filled  this  see, 
formed  a  confederacy  against  Floris,  and  the  united  armies,  accomi)anied 
by  some  troops  of  the  empire,  invaded  the  county  of  Holland,  Floris,  de- 
spairing of  being  able  to  withstand  so  overwhelming  a  force,  had  recourse  to 
stratagem,  much  in  use  in  the  warfare  of  early  ages.  In  a  field  near  Dordrecht, 
where  his  forces  were  drawn  up  to  await  the  attack,  he  caused  pits  to  be  dug 
and  lightly  covered  with  turf,  into  which  several  of  the  enemies'  horse,  whea; 
advancing  briskly,  as  if  to  certain  victory,  suddenly  fell,  and  being  unable  to 
extricate  themst^lves,  the  whole  army  was  thrown  into  the  utmost  confusion; 
at  this  moment  Count  Floris  led  forward  his  troops,  and  as  they  met  with 
scarcely  any  resistance,  the  issue  of  the  battle  was  decisive  in  their  favour; 
sixty  thousand  of  the  allied  troops  were  slain,  and  the  governor  of  Gelderland, 
the  count  of  Louvain,  and  the  bishop  of  Liege  made  prisoners. 

A  like  success  attended  the  arms  of  the  count  in  a  second  invasion,  by  the 
archbishop  of  Cologne,  the  markgraf  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  lord  of  Cuyck, 
whom  he  defeated  ami  put  to  flight  in  an  obstinate  and  murderous  battle, 
fought  near  the  village  of  lower  Hemert.  Wearied  with  the  combat,  Count 
Floris  fell  asleep  under  a  tree,  not  far  from  the  scene  of  action,  when  the  lord 
of  Cuyck,  having  reassembled  his  s<'atten^l  soldiers,  returned,  and  surprising 
him  thus  defenceless,  put  him  to  death  with  a  great  number  of  his  followers. 
He  tiid  not,  however,  venture  to  attack  the  main  body  of  the  army,  which 
retired  in  safety. 

Dirk  V,  being  a  child  of  tender  years  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death, 
was  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother,  Gertrude  of  Saxony.  She 
liad  conducted  the  administration  scarcely  two  years,  when  she  contracted 
a  second  marriage  with  Roliert,  the  younger  son  of  Baklwin  V,  of  Flanders 
(sumamed  from  this  alliance  the  Frisian),  and  in  conjunction  with  the  nobles 
conferred  on  him  the  government  of  the  county  during  the  minority  of  her 
son. 

In  May,  1064,  a  grant  was  made  to  the  bishop  of  Utrecht  in  the  name  of 
the  emperor  of  the  whole  of  the  county  west  of  the  Vlie,  and  about  the  Rhine, 
with  the  ablx'y  of  Egmonri,  besides  Riidegrave,  from  which  Dirk  III  had 
expelled  Dirk  Bavo  [the  vassal  of  the  bishop  of  Utrecht]. 

The  bishop,  having  gained  Gottfried,  duke  of  Lorraine,  to  his  alliance, 
by  promising  him  the  government  of  Holland,  as  a  fief  of  the  bishopric, 
Robert  atteinpteil  in  vain  to  make  a  stand  against  liis  enemies.  Being  de- 
feated in  a  severe  battle,  he  was  forced  to  take  refuge  in  Ghent.      Holland 


I 


THE    FIRST    COUNTS    OF    HOLLAND  289 

[10n-U25  A.D.] 

and  Friesland  fiubmittod  to  Gottfriod.  Ho  founrled  the  citv  of  Dolft,  where, 
after  having  governed  the  country  for  about  four  years  witK  great  harshness 
and  severity,  he  was  assassinated. 

His  death  was  followt^l  in  th(»  same  year,  1075,  by  that  of  WiUiam,  bishop 
of  Utrecht.  Conrad,  successor  to  the  see,  assumed,  likewise,  the  govern- 
ment of  Holland.  The  Hollanders,  unable  to  endure  with  patience  the  epis- 
copid  yoke,  earnestly  deNin^d  the  restoration  of  llieir  lawful  sovereign,  and 
Robert  the  Frisian,  being  in  traiu[uil  possession  of  Flanders,  found  iiimself 
at  liljerty  to  assist  his  aciopted  son  in  the  enterprise  he  now  formed  for  this 
purpose.  William  the  Conqueror,  then  king  of  England,  who  had  married 
Matilda,  sister  of  Robert  the  Frisian, 
sent  some  vessels  to  their  assistance. 
The  whole  of  the  bishop's  fleet  was 
either  capture<i  or  dispersed,  and  the 
bishop  renounced  all  claim  to  the  states 
of  the  count  of  Holland,  and  restored 
all  the  conquests  made  by  himself  or 
his  pre<lecessors.  The  inhal)itants 
jovfuUv  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
Count  Dirk  \' .  He  die<l  in  1091,  hav- 
ing governed  the  county  fifteen  years 
after  his  restoration,  leaving  only  one 
son. 

In  the  reign  of  Floris  II,  suniamed 
the  Fat,  the  whole  of  Europe  was  in- 
flamed with  the  desire  of  rescuing  the 
tomb  of  the  Redeemer  from  the  hands 
of  the  infidels.  The  effects  of  I  he  Cru- 
sades on  Holland  were,  for  some  time 
at  least,  comparatively  slight;  for 
though  we  find  t!ie  names  of  several  of 
her  nobility  numbered  in  the  ranks  of 
the  crusaders,  an<l  among  them  those 
of  Arkel  and  Brederode,  the  most 
powerful  and  illustrious  in  the  state, 
yet,  whether  that  tliemercantileliabils 
of  the  people  rendered  them  unwilling  to  engage  in  war,  except  some  tangible 
advantage  were  to  be  gained  by  it,  or  that  their  constant  hostilities  with  the 
bishops  of  Utrecht  had  placed  the  church  in  such  an  unfavourable  point  of 
view,  certain  it  is  that  the  enthusiasm  was  neither  so  highly  wrought  nor  so 
widely  ilifTused  as  among  the  other  [K^oples  of  Europe,  and  particularly  the 
neighbourir»g  county  of  Flanders. 

Floris  the  Fat  ended  his  tranquil  reign  of  thirty  years  in  the  spring  of 
1121. 

Dirk  VI,  being  too  young  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death  to  undertake 
the  management  of  affairs,  his  mother,  PetroneUa,  was  appointed  governess 
during  his  minority — a  woman  of  extraonlinary  courage,  sagacity,  and  am- 
bition. She  took  up  anns  in  the  cause  of  her  brother,  Lothair  of  Saxony, 
against  the  emperor  Henry  V,  with  whom  he  was  at  war;  and  Henry,  although 
he  invaded  Holland  with  a  powerful  army,  found  considerable  difficulty  in 
forcing  her  to  acknowledge  feudal  allegiance  to  him.  The  election  of  Lotliair 
to  the  thrrme  of  Germanj^  at  length  put  an  end  to  the  eimiity  between  the  em- 
perors and  the  counts  of  Holland,  which  liad  now  subsisted,  with  the  inter- 

n.  w.— VOL.  xtti.  V 


8t.  Ji>H»*B  Hospital 

(ThirtoonUi  centarj) 


«90  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1125-1203  A^.] 

mission  only  of  the  short  alliance  between  Floris  the  Fat  and  Henry  V,  for 
more  than  a  century. 

In  this  reign,  Hx)lland  was  already  sufhciently  populous  to  admit  of  the 
removal  of  a  hmre  colony  of  its  inhabitants  to  the  borders  of  the  Elbe  and 
Havel.  The  Hollanders  (so  strong  is  the  power  of  habit  on  the  human  mind) 
fixed  themselves,  by  choice,  on  the  low  and  marshy  lands.  Notwithstanding 
the  difficulties  they  had  to  contend  with,  both  from  the  nature  of  the  soil  and 
the  frequent  incursions  of  the  Slavi,  these  patient  and  industrious  colonists 
built  towns  and  churches  in  their  new  settlement,  and  in  a  short  time  ren- 
dered it  incredibly  rich  and  flourishing.    Dirk  VI  died  in  the  autumn  of  1157. 

Floris  III  finding,  on  his  accession  to  the  government,  that  the  Flemish 
merchants  evaded  the  payment  of  the  tolls  at  Dordrecht,  by  passing  down 
the  Maas,  obtained  permission  of  the  emperor  to  establish  a  toll.  Count 
Philip  of  Flanders  equipped  a  number  of  ships  sufficient  to  keep  the  Holland 
navy  in  check,  while  with  his  land  forces  he  made  himself  master  of  the 
Waasland,  after  which,  having  enriched  his  troops  with  considerable  booty, 
he  retired  to  Flanders.  Count  Floris  put  to  sea  a  large  fleet  of  ships,  but  he 
was  defeated  in  a  severe  naval  battle,  wounded  and  carried  prisoner  to  Bruges. 
Philip  consented  to  release  Floris,  after  an  imprisonment  of  two  years,  and 
to  reinstate  him  in  the  territories  he  held  of  Flanders. 

The  West  Frieslanders  had  not  let  slip  the  favourable  opportimity  for 
rebeUion,  and  Floris  was  never  able,  during  the  whole  of  his  reign,  to  reduce 
his  rebellious  subjects  in  that  quarter  to  entire  obedience. 

Tlie  crusade  preached  in  1187  by  Pope  Clement  III  drew  a  considerable 
number  of  the  princes  of  Europe  to  the  army  of  Frederick  I  or  Barbarossa, 
emperor  of  Germany:  among  these  was  the  count  of  Holland,  who  had  assumed 
the  cross  three  years  before.  He  was  among  the  immense  number  of  those 
who  fell  victinas  to  a  pestilence.  He  was  buried  near  the  grave  of  the  em- 
peror Frederick  in  St.  Peter's  church,  at  Antioch.  This  count  is  said  to  be 
the  first  who  obtained  from  the  emperor  the  privilege  of  coining  money 
stamped  with  the  arms  of  Holland. 

Floris  III  left  four  sons.  Dirk  VII,  his  successor  to  the  coimty;  William, 
who  remained  in  the  Holy  Land  for  nearly  five  years  after  the  death  of  his 
father;  Floris,  archdeacon  of  Utrecht;  Robert,  governor  of  Kennemerland, 
and  four  daughters. 

William  of  Holland  perceiving,  shortly  after  his  return  from  the  Holy 
Land,  that  some  enemies  at  court  had  found  means  to  excite  suspicion  and 
jealousy  in  the  mind  of  his  brother  towards  him,  retired  to  West  Friesland, 
where  the  disaffected  were  always  sure  to  find  companions  ready  for  revolt. 
Hostilities  were  begun  on  the  side  of  William,  when  Dirk  sent  one  part  of  his 
army  to  Friesland,  under  the  conduct  of  his  wife  Adelaide  (daughter  of  the 
count  of  Gleves),  while  he  himself  advanced  with  the  remainder  to  expel  the 
Flemings  from  Walcheren.  The  issue  of  both  expeditions  proved  fortimate. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year  the  brothers  were  reconciled  and  Dirk 
consented  to  bestow  on  William  all  his  possessions  in  Friesland,  to  be  held 
as  a  fief  of  Holland.  The  good  fortune  of  Count  Dirk  at  length  deserted  him, 
and  the  event  of  a  war,  in  which  he  was  afterwards  engaged  with  Utrecht, 
was  disastrous  in  the  extreme  both  to  himself  and  the  state.  The  bishop 
betook  himself  for  protection  to  Henry,  duke  of  Brabant,*  or  Lower  Lor- 

*  The  duchy  of  Brabant  took  its  rise  in  the  year  1106,  when  the  emperor,  Henry  V, 
divided  the  ancient  kingdom,  or  dachy  of  Lorrune,  into  two  parts,  called  Upper  and  Lower 
Lorraine,  and  bestowed  the  latter  on  Godfrey  the  Bearded,  count  of  Louvain,  who  assumed  the 
title  of  duke  of  Brabant  and  Lorraine.  Henry  IH,  duke  of  Brabant,  dropped  the  title  of  duke 
of  Lorraine,  and  styled  himself  duke  of  Brabant  only.     See  Quicciardini '^  and  Johan.  a  Leid.i 


THE    FIRST    COUNTS    OF   HOLLAND  291 

raine.  Dirk's  troops  were  entirely  defeate<l,  and  lie  himself  wa.<^  taken  pris- 
oner. He  was  released  within  the  year  upon  payment  of  2,000  marks  of 
silver;  but  by  the  treaty  then  made  with  the  duke  he  was  obliged  to  surrender 
Breda,  and  bound  himself  and  his  suecessors  to  ilo  homage  to  the  dukes  of 
Brabant  for  Dordrecht  and  all  the  lands  lying  between  Stryen,  Walw7k,  and 
Brabant,  and  to  assist  them  against  all  their  enemies,  except  the  emperor. 
Thus  tlie  ancient  capital  of  the  county  became  a  fief  of  Brabant,  and  so  con- 
tinued until  the  year  1283,  when  John  I,  duke  of  Brabant,  relea*sed  the  count 
of  Holland  from  his  fealty.  Dirk  died  in  1203,  the  government  falling  into 
the  hands  of  a  girl  of  tender  years, 
guidetl  by  a  mother  sufficiently  shrewd, 
mdeed,  and  courageous,  but  mtriguing 
and  ambitious. 

The  liist  wish  of  Count  Dirk,  that 
the  guardianship  of  his  daughter,  Ada, 
and  her  states  should  be  confided  to 
his  brother  William,  wils  fnistrated  by 
the  intrigues  of  the  countess-dowager, 
Adelaide  of  Cleves,  who,  in  order  to 
debar  him  from  all  share  in  the  admm- 
istration,  had  detennined  upon  marry- 
ing her  daughter  to  Louis,  count  of 
Loon.  Within  a  very  sliort  time,  how- 
ever, symptoms  of  discontent  at  the 
prospect  of  being  governed  by  a  fe- 
male, and  a  stranger,  began  to  mani- 
fest themselves  among  some  of  the 
nobility.  The  disaffected  brought 
William  disguised  to  the  island  of 
Schouwen.  Here  he  was  received  with 
every  demonstration  of  joy,  and  shortly 
after  was  proclnimetl  as  lawful  gov- 
ernor. The  countess  Ada  was  sent 
prisoner  to  the  Texel ,  and  suhse- 
quently  to  the  court  of  Jiihn,  king  of 
England. 

The  termination  of  the  war  be- 
tween France  and  England  left  Count 

William  free  to  accompany  the  crusatle  undertaken  at  this  time  fMay,  1217); 
and  he  accordingly  sot  sail  from  llio  Maas,  with  twelve  large  ships,  which, 
uniting  with  a  great  number  of  smaller  vessels  from  Friesland,  arrived  after 
some  delays  at  the  j)ort  of  Lisbon.  Immediately  upon  their  landing,  a  mes- 
sage was  sent  by  the  Portuguese  nobles  to  the  crusaders,  Ix'seeching  their 
assistance  against  the  king  of  Morocco,  who  had  wrested  t!ie  fortre^  of 
AJcaeer-do-vSal  from  the  king  of  Portugal,  and  obliged  the  inhabitants  of  that 
country  to  deliver  into  his  hands  a  hundred  Christian  slaves  every  year. 
The  greater  part  of  the  Frieslanders  refused  to  delay  their  journey  to  the 
Holy  Land,  but  the  Hollanders  under  Count  AVilliain  bcsiegofl  and  took 
Alcacer-<lo-Sal,  and  continued  the  remainder  of  the  year  in  Portugal.  In 
1218  William  joined  the  fleet  of  the  crusaders  at  Acre. 

Soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the  siege  of  Damietta,  he  returned  to  Holland, 
which  he  governed  in  peace  for  about  four  years.  He  died  on  the  4th  of 
February,  1224. 


Counters  HiLriEOARbE 
^From  a  nuuiaacrlpt  at  Egniond) 


292  THE   HISTOBY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1234-1285  A.D;] 

An  Early  CJuirter 

In  this  reign  was  granted  a  charter  of  privileges  (nearly  the  oldest  known 
in  the  county  of  Holland*)  to  the  city  of  Middelburg,  in  Zealand,  in  the  joint 
names  of  Joanna^  countess  of  Flanders,  and  WiUiam  of  Holland.  By  this 
charter,  certain  fines  were  fixed  for  fighting,  maiming,  striking,  or  railing, 
for  resisting  the  authority  of  the  magistrates,  and  other  delinquencies  of 
minor  importance,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  schout  and  sheriffs."  A  Middel- 
burger,  choosing  another  lord  than  the  count  of  Holland,  must  pay  ten 
pounds  Flemish  (5^)  to  the  count,  and  ten  shillings  to  the  town;'  tne  count 
reserving  to  himself  the  judgment  in  such  cases. 

The  charters  of  the  other  cities  of  Holland  and  Zealand  bear  more  or  less 
resemblance  to  this,  which,  ancient  as  it  is,  appears,  nevertheless,  to  have 
been  rather  a  confinnation  of  prescriptive  customs  than  a  new  code  of  ref- 
lations, though  there  is  no  earlier  instance  on  record  of  the  coimts  binding 
themselves  by  oath  to  the  observance  of  them. 

Floris  IV  was  only  twelve  years  of  age  when  he  succeeded  his  father  in 
1224,  but  it  is  not  known  with  certainty  who  administered  the  affairs  of  the 
county  during  his  minority,  or  under  whose  direction  it  was  that  the  young 
count  conferred  on  the  towns  of  Domburg  and  West  Kappel,  in  Walcheren, 
charters  of  privileges. 

Floris  was  the  first  and  last  of  the  counts  of  Holland  who,  in  obedience  to 
the  injunctions  of  the  holy  see,  bore  a  part  in  one  of  those  crusades  against 
Christian  heretics,  which  had,  unhappily,  become  so  much  the  mode  during 
this  century.  The  Stedingers,  a  people  inhabiting  the  small  tract  of  country 
bordering  on  the  Weser,  having  refused  to  acknowledge  the  temporal  juris- 
diction of  the  archbishop  of  Bremen,  were,  for  this  reason,  accused  by  him 
of  heresy,  before  Pope  Gregory  IX,  who  preached  a  general  crusade  against 
them.  The  duke  of  Brabant,  therefore,  with  the  count  of  Cloves  and  the 
count  of  Holland,  who  sailed  to  the  Weser  in  a  fleet  of  three  hundred  ships, 
led  their  united  forces  into  the  country  of  the  Stedingers.  In  an  obstinate 
and  bloody  battle  (1234),  four  thousand  of  them  were  slain,  and  they  sub- 
mitted at  length  to  the  archbishop. 

The  fame  of  Coimt  Floris'  beauty,  valour,  and  skill  in  all  knightly  accom- 
plishments being  widely  spread  abroad,  produced  such  an  eager  desire  in  the 
breast  of  the  young  countess  de  Clermont  to  see  so  bright  a  pattern  of  chiv- 
alry that  she  mduced  her  aged  husband  to  proclaim  a  tournament  at  Corbie 
(1235),  where  she  knew  the  young  count  would  not  fail  to  be  present.  The 
apparently  innocent  curiosity  of  his  wife  aroused  such  furious  jealousy  in  the 
bosom  of  the  old  man  that,  at  the  head  of  a  number  of  horsemen,  he  rushed 
suddenly  upon  Count  Floris,  dragged  him  from  his  horse,  and  slew  him,  be- 
fore his  attendants  had  time  to  assemble  for  his  defence.  His  death,  how- 
ever, was  instantly  avenged  by  Theodore,  count  of  Cleves,  who  killed  the 
count  de  Clermont  on  the  spot.  Tlius  perished  Count  Floris  in  the  bloom 
of  youth  and  beauty,  leaving  his  states  to  his  son  William  II,  an  infant 
under  seven  years  of  age. 

*  That  of  Geertruydenberg  is  somewhat  older,  heinp  dated  1213,  but  much  mutilated.  [In 
FUmdera,  however,  such  charters  had  been  granted  a  century  earlier.  See  the  Historical  Intro- 
duction and  also  Chai)tor  II.] 

■  From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  subject  had  a  right  to  withdraw  his  allegiance  from 
hia  lord,  a  custom  which,  though  it  might  Ije  the  occasion  of  some  disorders,  must  yot,  by  pr<)- 
Tiding  a  remedy  against  oppression  and  tyranny  on  the  part  of  the  li»rd.  have  tended  much  to 
soften  the  rigour  of  feudal  government. 


THE    FIRST    COUNTS    OF  HOLLAND 


293 


[1285-12SS  A.tt.] 


COUNT  WTLLLVM   11,   EMPEROR   OP  GERMANY    (1235-1256) 

The  goveniment  of  the  county,  during  the  minority  of  the  young  prince, 
wa-^  entrusted  to  Otto  III,  bisliop  of  Utrecht,  brother  of  the  late  count. 
Willioni  had  just  enteretl  his  twentieth  year,  wtus  still  "beardless  and  blush- 
ing,** and  not  vet  knighted,  when  he  was  elected  emperor  of  Germany.  In 
the  year  1245  Pope  Innocent  lY  had  pronounced  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion against  Frederick  II.  In  order  to  give  effect  to  the  decree  of  the  council, 
Innocent  spared  neither  pains  nor  money  to  procure  the  election  ctf  another 
emperor.  William  hastened  to  Aix-la-Cnapelle  [Aachen],  to  receive  the  im- 
perial crown,  but  found  this  city  entirely  rlevotcd  to  the  interests  of  Frederick, 
and  it  cost  him  a  long  and  ex|>pnKive  siege  befoi-e  he  could  effect  his  entrance. 
He  was  obliged,  in  order  to  rai.se  funds  for  carrying  it  on,  to  mortgage  Nime- 
guen,  a  free  city  of  the  empire,  to  the  duke  of  Gelderland,  for  the  sum  of 
16,0()0  marks  of  silver. 

The  new  emperor's  coronation  was  performed  by  Conrad,  arclibishop  of 
Cologne  (1248) ;  hut  William  was  never  able,  even  after  the  death  of  Freiierick 
II  (1250),  to  insure  general  obedience  to  his  authority;  while  the  measures 
he  took  for  this  purpose  raised  up  a  troublesome  and  dangerous  enemy  in  his 
hereditary'  states.  According  to  an  ancient  custom  of  Germany,  those  vas- 
sals who  neglected  to  do  homage  to  a  new  emperor  within  a  year  antl  a  day 
after  his  coronation  lost  irrecovenibly  the  fiefs  which  they  held  of  the  empire. 
The  emperor,  therefore,  in  a  diet  liehl  1252  at  Frankfort,  declared  all  those 
fiefs  escheated,  the  ix>sse-ssors  of  which  had  not  received  investiture  from  him 
within  a  year  ami  a  day  after  his  coronation  at  Aix.  Among  the  number 
of  these  was  Margaret,  countess  of  Flanders,  familiarly  tenned  *'  Black  Mar- 
garet," daughter  of  Baldwin,  emperor  of  Constantinople.  She  had  omitted 
to  do  homage  for  the  five  islands  west  of  the  Schekle,  for  which  reason  William 
depriveil  her  of  these  territories,  and  bestowed  thmn  on  John  of  Avenues, 
the  husband  of  his  sister  Adelaitle.  John  was  the  son  of  Margaret,  by  her 
tirst  husband,  Bosschaert  [or  Burchartl],  lord  of  Avenues,  from  whom  she  had 
been  divorced  in  1214,  on  the  plea  of  too  near  a  relationship  between  the 
parties,  and  that  Bosschaert  had  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  was  a  deacon 
at  the  tune  of  their  marriage.  She  wa^  afterwards  married  to  William  de  Dam- 
pierre,  a  Burgumlian  nohleninn,  by  whom  she  liad  three  sons,  William,  Guy, 
and  John ;  and  upon  her  succession  to  the  county,  after  her  union  with  William, 
she  declared  her  intention  of  leaving  the  whole  of  her  states  to  the  chiklren 
of  her  second  husband,  alleging  that,  the  marriage  with  Bosschaert  of  Avenues 
having  been  declare<l  null  by  the  pufx?,  the  issue  of  it  must  be  illegiltmate. 

The  stigma  thus  cast  on  his  birth,  coupled  with  the  fear  of  losing  his  in- 
heritance, prctvoked  John  of  Avenues  to  declare  open  war  against  his  mother; 
but  on  the  mediation  of  Louis  IX  of  France,  a  treaty  was  made,  whereby 
John,  after  his  mother's  deatli,  shouhl  inlierit  HainauU,  and  William  de 
Dampierre,  Flanders.  Matters  stood  thus,  when  William  made  the  transfer 
above  mentioned,  of  the  fiefs  held  by  Flanders,  under  the  empire,  in  favour 
of  John  of  Avenues.  This  intelligence  no  sooner  reached  the  ears  of  Margaret, 
than  she  assembled  a  powerful  army,  with  the  design  of  invading  Zealand; 
and  when  her  troops  were  in  readiness  to  march,  sent  to  demand  noraage  of 
the  emperor,  as  Cfiunt  of  Holland,  for  the  five  islands  of  the  8chelde. 

The  emperor,  flushed  with  the  pride  of  his  high  station,  haughtily  answered 
that  "be  would  be  no  servant  where  he  was  master,  nor  vassal  where  he  was 
lord."    The  rage  of  Black  Margaret  at  this  contemptuous  reply  knew  no 


894  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1253-1256  ▲.!>.] 

bounds;  and  while  she  sought  to  amuse  William  by  affecting  to  listen  to  the 
terms  of  accommodation  proposed  by  Henry,  duke  of  Brabant,  she  despatched 
her  son,  Guy  de  Dampierre,  at  the  hejEid  of  her  army,  into  Zealand.  The  troops 
landed  at  West  Kappel,  where  they  sustained  a  signal  defeat,  in  an  engagement 
with  the  Hollanders,  under  Floris,  brother  of  the  emperor;  and  Guy  and  his 
brother,  John  de  Dampierre,  were  taken  prisoners.  Black  Margaret  was  now 
amenable  to  terms  of  peace  which  she  had  before  haughtily  and  angrily  refused.* 

In  1255  William  found  it  necessary  to  repair  in  person,  with  a  powerful 
army,  to  West  Friesland,  in  order  to  reduce  it  to  obedience.  From  Alkmaar, 
he  advanced  in  the  depth  of  winter  to  Vroone,  a  considerable  village  of  Fries- 
land;  before  him  lay  the  Heer  Huygenward,  a  large  drained  lake,  now  entirely 
frozen  over.  The  Frieslanders  purposely  retreating  to  where  the  ice  was 
weakest,  he  galloped  on  in  heedless  pursuit  of  them,  lea\dng  his  troops  at 
some  distance  behind.  The  ice  broke.  Three  or  four  of  the  Frieslanders 
immediately  rushed  upon  him;  and,  deaf  to  his  prayers  for  mercy  and  offers 
of  ransom,  cruelly  slaughtered  him.  His  body  was  secretly  buried  at  Hoogt- 
woude;  and  his  army,  after  the  death  of  their  leader,  retreated  in  disorder 
and  with  heavy  loss  to  Holland. 

The  numerous  and  expensive  undertakings  in  which  William  II  was  en- 
gaged, during  nearly  the  whole  period  of  his  government,  rendered  necessary 
to  nim  the  support  and  assistance  of  the  towns  of  Alkmaar,  Haarlem,  and 
Delft,  which  he  purchased  by  the  grant  or  confirmation  of  privileges  so  im- 
portant that  in  course  of  time  they  rendered  them,  as  towns,  integral  and 
mfluential  portions  of  the  nation.  As  it  was  about  this  time  that  the  con- 
stitution and  administration  of  Holland  began  to  assume  a  regular  and  per- 
manent form,  it  may  be  permitted  to  make  a  short  digression,  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  such  an  idea  of  its  composition,  before  the  union  of  1579,as  the  notices 
scatter^  here  and  there  through  the  different  histories  and  descriptions  of 
the  country  will  enable  us  to  form. 

THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  HOLLAND 

The  towns  of  Holland  were  not,  as  in  other  nations,  merely  portions  of 
the  state,  but  the  state  itself  was  rather  an  aggregate  of  towns,  each  of  which 
formed  a  commonwealth  within  itself,  providing  for  its  own  defence,  governed 
by  its  own  laws,  holding  separate  courts  of  justice,  and  administering  its  own 
finances;  the  legislative  sovereignty  of  the  whole  nation  being  vested  in  the 
towns,  formmg  m  their  collective  capacity  the  assembly  of  the  states. 

The  government  of  every  town  was  administered  by  a  senate  (wethouder- 
scha'p)j  formed  of  two,  three,  or  four  burgomasters,  and  a  certain  number  of 
sheriffs  {schejienen),  generally  seven;  a  few  of  the  towns,  as  Dordrecht,  had 
only  one  burgomaster.  The  duties  of  the  senate  were  to  provide  for  the 
public  safety  by  keeping  the  city  walls  and  fortifications  in  repair,  to  call 
out  and  muster  the  burgher  guards  in  case  of  invasion  or  civil  tumult,  to 
administer  the  finances,  to  provide  for  the  expenses  of  the  town  by  levying 
excises  on  different  articles  of  consumption,  and  to  affix  the  portion  of  coimty 
taxes  to  be  paid  by  each  individual.    To  the  burgomasters  was  committed 

*  After  the  battle  of  West  Kappel/  according  to  Matthew  Paris/  John  of  Avennes  sent  am- 
bassadors to  his  mother,  entreating  her  to  listen  to  terms  of  accommodation,  if  not  for  his  sake, 
for  the  sake  of  her  sons,  who  were  his  prisoners.  " My  sons  are  in  vour  hands,"  answered  the 
fierce  old  virago  ;  '*  but  not  for  that  will  I  bend  to  your  will :  slay  them,  butcher !  and  devour 
one  seasoned  with  pepper,  and  the  other  with  salt  and  garlic !  "  Such  language  in  the  mouth 
of  a  woman,  and  a  princes,  would  give  us  no  very  advantageous  opinion  of  the  manners  of 
these  times. 


THE    FIRST   COUNTS    OF   HOLLAND 


295 


the  care  of  the  police  and  the  ammunition,  of  the  public  peace,  and  of  cleansing 
and  victualling,  the  town.  The  senate  generally  appointed  two  treasurers  to 
receive  and  disburse  the  city  funds  under  their  inspection,  and  an  advocate, 
or  pensionary,  whose  office  (similar  to  that  of  recorder  in  English  municipal 
corporations)  was  to  keep  the  charters  and  records,  and  to  ad^nse  them  upon 
points  of  law.  The  count  had  a  representative  in  each  town,  in  the  person 
of  the  schout,  an  officer  whom  he  himself  appointed,  sometimes  out  of  a 
triple  number  named  by  the  senate.  It  was  the  business  of  the  schout/ 
besides  watching  over  the  interests  of  the  count,  to  seize  on  all  suspected 
persons  and  bring  them  to  trial  before  the  vierschaarj  or  judicial  court  of  the 
town.  This  court  was  composed  of  the  sheriffs,  and  had  jurisdiction  over  all 
civil  causes,  and  over  minor  offences,'  except  in  some  towns,  sucli  as  Leyden, 
Dordrecht,  etc.,  where  the  power  of  trying  capital  crimes  was  specially  given 
to  them  in  the  charters  granted  by  the  counts:  the  schout  was  also  bound  to 
see  the  judgments  of  the  vierschaar  carried  into  execution. 

Besides  the  senate  there  was,  in  every  town,  a  council  of  the  citizens,  called 
the  "great  comicil^'  {vroe<hchap)^^  which  was  HummoniMl  in  early  times  when 
any  matter  of  special  importance  was  to  be  decided  upon;  but  afterwar<:is 
their  functions,  m  many  of  the  to^*ns,  became  restricted  to  the  nomination  of 
the  burgomasters  antl  sheriffs  for  the  senate.  In  Hoorn,  where  the  government 
was  on  a  more  popular  hii.sis  than  in  most  of  the  other  towns  of  Holland,  this 
council  comprised  all  the  inhabitants  possessing  a  capital  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  nobles,  and  from  this  circumstance  was  called  the  rykdom^  or  wealth. 

In  Dordrecht,  the  mi>st  confined  and  aristocratic  of  the  municipal  gov- 
ernments of  Holland,  the  great  council  consisted  of  forty  members,  whose 
office  was  for  life,  and  who  fiiieil  up  the  vacancies  as  they  occurred,  by  election 
among  thetust^ves.  The  senate  of  this  town  was  composed  of  one  burgo- 
master, whose  office  was  annual,  nine  sheriffs,  and  five  councillors  (raden); 
four  sheriffs  and  three  councillors  went  out  of  office  one  year,  five  sheriffs 
and  two  councillors  the  next,  and  so  on  alternately;  their  places  were  filled 
up  by  the  count,  or  (he  schout  on  his  behalf,  out  of  a  double  luuniwr  nomi- 
nated by  the  council  of  forty.  The  only  representatives  of  the  people  in  the 
government  were  the  so-named  "eiglit  good  men"  (goede  luyden  van  achte), 
and  their  functions  were  limited  to  choosing  the  burgomast^T  in  conjunction 
with  those  senators  whose  term  of  office  liad  expired;  if  they  were  uminimous, 
their  votes  reckonetl  for  twelve,  but  the  burgomaster  chosen  must  always  be 
one  of  the  ex-senators. 


CoTistiliUion  of  the  Guilds 

The  inhabitants  of  the  towns,  being  generally  merchants  and  traders, 
w&e  divided  into  guilib^*  of  the  tlifferent  trades;  at  the  head  of  each  guild 
waa  placed  a  deacon  (dekken),  to  regulate  its  affairs  and  protect  its  interests; 
and  as  the  towns  obtained  their  charters  of  privileges  from  the  counts,  so 
did  the  guihls  look  to  the  numicipal  governtnerit.s  for  encouragement  and 
support,  and  for  the  unmunities  they  were  p<'nnitted  to  enjoy.     Each  guild 

*  We  IiBve  uo  BnglitiL  t«rm  for  this  office :  that  uf  county  filieriil  (including  the  dutteH  he 
UHually  performs  by  deputy)  is  analogous  to  it  in  some  respect*  ;  the  word  schout  is  an  nbbre- 
viatioQ  of  scMoiildreehter,  &  judge  of  crimes. 

*  The  power  of  irying  ofteuces  which  were  not  capital  was  termed  the  "  low  Jurisdiction." 
'  Literally  "council  of  wii*e  men." 

[*  For  further  treatment  of  the  guilds,  see  in  tlie  neit  chapter  the  history  of  the  Belgian 
communes.  In  Holland  the  earliest  guild  was  that  of  the  cloth  merchants  at  Dordrecht,  dating 
frt>m  1300 ;  the  gallds  come  Into  prominenoe  ftboot  1350,  bat  never  attained  the  power  they 
reached  in  Flanders. J 


«96  THE  HISTOBY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

inhabited  for  the  most  part  a  separate  quarter  of  the  town,  and  over  every 
quarter  two  officers,  called  Wykmeesters,  were  appomted  by  tne  burgomasters, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  keep  a  list  of  all  the  men  in  their  district  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms,  to  see  that  their  arms  were  sufficient  and  ready  for  use,  and  to  as- 
semble them  at  the  order  of  the  magistrates,  or  upon  the  ringing  of  the  town 
bell:  the  citizens,  on  their  part,  were  bound  to  obey  the  summons  without 
delay,  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night.  Over  all  the  wykmeesters  were  placed 
two,  three,  or  four  superior  officers,  called  hoofdmannen,  or  captains  of  the 
burgher  guards. 

The  guilds,  when  called  out  to  service  within  the  town,  assembled,  and 
acted  each  under  their,  own  banners;  but  in  defence  of  the  state  they  were 
accustomed  to  march  together  under  the  standard  of  the  town,  and  dressed 
in  the  city  livery.  As  every  member  of  a  guild  was  expected  to  have  his 
arms  always  ready  for  use,  and  the  burgher  guards  (schvitery)  were  frequently 
mustered,  and  drilled  under  the  inspection  of  the  burgomasters  and  sneriifs, 
the  towns  were  able  to  man  their  walls,  and  put  themselves  into  a  state  of 
defence  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time. 

In  this  manner  each  town  formed,  as  we  have  remarked,  a  species  of  re- 
public, containing  within  itself  the  elements  of  civil  government  and  military 
force.  The  burgher,  for  the  most  part,  considered  his  town  as  his  nation, 
with  whose  happiness  and  prosperity  his  own  was  inseparably  linked,  not 
only  as  regarded  his  public  but  also  his  private  interests;  since  his  person  was 
liable  to  Be  seized  for  the  debts  which  its  government  contracted,  and  the 
government,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  were  too  poor  to  pay  the  coimty  taxes, 
stepped  in  to  his  relief,  and  not  unfrequently  discharged  them  for  him.  This 
separate  existence  (if  we  may  so  term  it)  of  the  towns,  a  source  of  national 
strength  inasmuch  as,  by  developing  to  its  fullest  extent  the  social  activity 
of  the  people  and  giving  to  each  individual  a  place  in  the  political  scale,  it 
formed,  as  it  were,  a  heart  in  every  one  of  the  extremities  of  the  body  jwlitic, 
was  yet  a  cause  of  weakness  by  the  disunion,  jealousy,  and  opposition  of 
interests  which  it  occasioned ;  the  patriotism  of  the  Dutchman  was  but  too 
often  confined  within  the  walls  of  his  native  city;  and  we  shall  have  occasion 
more  than  once  to  remark,  in  the  coiu^se  of  Dutch  history,  that  the  towns, 
pursuing  each  their  own  private  views,  totally  lose  sight,  for  a  while  at  least, 
of  the  interests  of  the  nation  in  general,  and  even  of  their  own  as  members 
of  it. 

The  Nobility 

The  municipal  government  and  privileges  of  the  towns  extended  over  a 
certain  space  without  the  walls,  which  the  burghers  enlarged  as  they  found 
occasion  by  grants  obtained  from  the  counts,  whether  by  favour  or  purchase. 
Tlie  portion  of  the  coimty  not  included  within  these  limits,  and  commonly 
called  the  "  open  coimtry,"  either  formed  the  domains  of  the  nobles  or  abbeys, 
or  were  governed  by  bailiffs,  whose  office  was  analogous  to  that  of  the  schout 
in  the  towns,  and  who  were,  like  them,  appointed  by  the  count.  Both  nobles 
and  abbots  exercised  the  low  jurisdiction  in  their  states,  and  sometimes  the 
high  jurisdiction  also:  the  nobility  had  the  power  of  levying  taxes  on  the 
subjects  within  their  own  domains,  and  exercised  the  right  of  private  warfare 
among  themselves;  of  the  latter  privilege  they  were  always  extremely  jealous, 
and  the  efforts  of  the  counts  to  abolish  or  modify  it  were  for  many  centuri(^3 
unavailing:  in  fact,  it  fell  into  disuse  in  Germany  and  Holland  later  than  in 
the  other  countries  of  Europe. 

The  nobles  were  exempt  from  the  taxes  of  the  state,  being  bound  in  respect 


THE    FIRST    COUNTS    OF   HOLLAND 


«9T 


of  their  fiefs 


ith  their  vassals  in  the 


: 


serve  wiin  ineir  vassais  in  tne  wars  nf  the  country;  and  if 
from  any  cause  they  were  unable  to  attend  in  jierson,  they  were  obliged  either 
to  find  a  substitute  or  to  pay  a  scutage  [ruyiergeld)  in  lieu  of  their  services, 
in  the  same  manner  as  other  vassals  of  the  count:  such, however,  was  only 
the  case  when  the  war  was  carried  on  within  the  boundaries  of  the  county, 
or  had  i^een  undertaken  by  their  advice  and  cnnsent;  otherwise  the  service 
they  rendereil  depended  solely  on  their  own  will  and  jjjeasure. 

The  chief  of  the  nobility  were  appointed  by  the  count  to  form  the  council 
of  state,  or  supreme  court  of  Hollaritl: 
the  coimcil  of  state  assisted  the  count 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs, 
guaranteed  all  treaties  of  pejice  and 
alliance  matle  with  foreign  nations; 
and  in  its  judicial  capacity  took  cog- 
nizance of  capital  offences,  both  in 
the  towns  (unless  otherwise  provideil 
by  their  charters)  and  in  the  o|)en 
country.  To  this  court,  where  the 
count  generally  presided  in  i)erson. 
lay  an  appeal  in  civil  causes  from  all 
the  inferior  courts  in  the  state. 

In  after  times,  iis  the  towns  in- 
creased in  wealth  and  importance, 
and  the  more  prolonged  and  expen- 
sive wars  in  which  the  counts  were 
engaged  rendered  their  pecimiary 
support  necessary,  they,  likewise, 
became  parties  to  the  ratification  of 
treaties,*  and  were  consultetl  uf)on 
matters  relating  to  war  or  foreign 
alliances.  It  was  probably  the  cus- 
tom of  summoning  togetlier  deputies 
from  the  towns  for  these  purposes 
which  gave  rise  to  the  assembly  of  the 
estates,  as  historians  are  unable  to  fix 
the  exact  time  of  its  origin.  It  luus 
been  generally  supposed  that,  before 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  six  "gootl  towns'*  only,  that  is, 
Dordrecht,  Haarlem,  Delft,  Leyden, 

Amsterdam,  and  Gouda,  enjoyed  the  right  of  sending  <lepuUes  to  the  estates. 
This,  however,  is  not  altogether  the  fact.  It  is  true  that  treaties  of  peace 
and  alliance?  were  usually  guarantee<l  by  the  great  towns  only,  and  that  Eiffairs 
relating  both  to  domestic  and  foreign  policy  were  frequently  transacted  by 
them  in  conjunction  with  the  deputies  of  the  nobles,  the  smaller  towns  (un- 
willing to  incur  the  expense  of  sending  deputies  to  the  estates)  IxMng  content 
to  abide  by  their  decision.  But  until  about  1545  the  small  towns  were  con- 
stantly summoned  to  give  their  votes  upon  all  questions  of  suj^ply,  nor  did 
the  deputies  of  the  great  towns  consider  themselves  authorised  to  grant  or 
anticipate  the  payment  of  any  subsidies  without  their  concurrence.  The 
small    towns  were   likewise   accustomed   to   send  deputies  to    the  estates 

'  The  first  treaty  which  appears  guaranteed  by  the  towns  was  mode  with  Edward  I  of 
England  iu  12S1. 


A   NOBLXWOHAir   OF  THE  THTRTEKNTH    CKMTUBY 


208  THE   HISTOBY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

when  a  measure  was  to  be  discussed  which  peculiarly  regarded  their  own 
welfare. 

The  Estates 

The  deputies  to  the  estates  were  nominated  by  the  senates  of  the  several 
towns,  each  town  possessing  but  one  voice  in  the  assembly,  whatever  number 
of  deputies  it  mignt  send;  the  whole  body  of  the  nobility  likewise  enjoved 
but  one  vote,  though  it  was  often  represented  by  several,  never  by  less  than 
three  deputies.  The  estates  were  generally  summoned  by  the  coimts  to  the 
Hague,  or  to  an3r  other  place  where  they  might  happen  to  be  residing.  The 
more  usual  practice  was  topetition  either  the  count  or  the  council  of  Holland 
to  issue  the  summons.  The  deputies  of  the  nobles  and  towns  deliberated 
separately,  and  afterwards  met  together  to  give  their  votes,  when  the  nobles 
voted  first,  and  then  the  towns,  the  ancient  city  of  Dordrecht  having  the 
precedence.  No  measiu^  could  be  carried,  if  either  the  nobles  or  any  one  of 
the  towns  refused  to  give  their  vote  in  its  favour. 

The  principal  officers  employed  by  the  assembly  of  the  estates  were  a 
registrar  or  keeper  of  the  records,  who  acted  likewise  as  secretary,  and  an 
achrocate  called  the  pensionary  of  Holland,  whose  business  it  was  to  propose 
all  subjects  for  the  deliberation  of  the  estates,  to  declare  the  votes,  and  report 
the  decisions  of  the  assembly  to  the  count,  or  council  of  state ;  although  this 
officer  did  not  possess  the  right  of  voting,  he  was  accustomed  to  take  a  share 
in  the  debates,  and  generally  enjoyed  great  influence  both  in  the  assembly 
of  the  estates  and  the  whole  country:  the  nobles,  likewise,  chose  a  pen- 
sionary, nearly  always  in  the  person  of  the  same  individual.  Tlie  constitution 
of  the  estates  of  2jeaJand  differed  from  that  of  Holland,  inasmuch  as  the  clergy 
in  the  latter  did  not  form  a  separate  estate,  nor  were  they  represented  in  the 
assembly;  whereas  in  Zealand,  the  abbot  of  St.  Nicholas  in  Middelbiu'g  en- 
joyed the  right  of  giving  the  first  vote  as  representative  of  the  ecclesiastical 
estate. 

Taxation 

It  is  impossible  at  this  time  to  define  exactly  the  powers  formerly  pos- 
sessed by  the  estates,  since  during  the  reign  of  feeble  prmces,  or  minors,  they 
naturally  sought  to  extend  them,  and  often  succeeded  in  so  doing;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  were  considerably  abridged  by  the  more  powerful  and 
arbitrary  counts,  particularly  those  of  the  house  of  Burgundy.  The  most 
essential,  however,  that  of  levying  taxes,  none  of  the  sovereigns  of  Holland 
before  Philip  II  of  Spain  ever  ventured  to  dispute;  and  the  old  feudal  prin- 
ciple, that  the  nation  could  not  be  taxed  without  its  own  consent,  wholly 
abandoned  in  France,  and  evaded  in  England  by  the  practice  of  extortmg 
benevolences,  was  in  Holland,  except  in  some  rare  and  single  instances,  con- 
stantly and  firmly  adhered  to.*  The  counts,  on  all  occasions  of  extraordi- 
nary expense,  were  obliged  to  apply  for  fxmds  to  the  assembly  of  the  states, 
and  these  applications  were  called  "petitions"  (beden)f  a  word  in  itself  de- 
noting that  the  subsidy  was  asked  as  a  favour,  not  claimed  as  a  right.  If 
the  "petition"  of  the  count  were  granted  by  the  estates,  a  certain  portion  of 
the  sum  required  was  adjudged  to  each  town,  and  to  the  open  country  (which 

'  The  imposts  levied  by  the  nobles  on  their  domains  are  to  be  considered  rather  in  the 
light  of  lords  rents  than  taxes,  since  the  lands  of  the  vassals  were  supposed  to  belong  to  the 
lords,  and  they  were  not  levied  on  such  as  held  their  lands  by  military  service ;  but  as  they 
were  unlimited  in  amount,  and  almost  every  article  of  raw  produce  was  liable  to  them,  they 
were  the  cause  of  grievous  oppression. 


THE    FIRST   COUNTS    OF   HOLLAND 


290 


■ 


in  this  respect  was  represented  by  the  deputies  of  the  nobility),  and  raised 
by  an  assessment  on  houses  {sckildtal),  and  a  land-tax  {morgcntal) .  This 
tax  was  levied  in  the  towns,  not  by  any  receiver  or  officer  on  the  part  of  the 
count,  but  by  the  senate,  which  was  answerable  for  tlie  payment  of  the  quotas 
that  the  towns  had  bound  themselves  to  furnish:  the  custom  of  levying  the 
taxes  on  the  county  in  general  was  first  introduced  under  the  government 
of  the  house  of  Burgim(l>'. 

The  authority  of  the  count,  however,  was  not  so  limited  as  it  would  at 
first  appear.  His  ordinary  revenues  were  so  ample  as  to  preclude  the  neces- 
sity of  making  petitions  to  the  states,  except  in  cases  of  unusual  expenditure; 
in  addition  to  extensive  private  domains,  and  the  profits  of  reliefs  and  of  the 
fiefs  which  escheated  to  him  as  lord,  he  was  entitled  to  the  eleventh  part  of 
the  produce  of  the  land  in  West  Friesland;  and  he  had  moreover  the  right  of 
levying  tolls  o»  ships  pansing  up  and  down  the  rivers;  and  customs  upon  ail 
foreign  wares  tmi)orted  into  the  countrj*.  Besides  these  sources  of  revenue, 
he  received  considerable  sums  for  such  privileges  as  he  granted  to  the  towns; 
which  were  also  accustomed  to  give  gratuities  when  he  was  .siiminoiieil  to  the 
court  of  the  emperor;  when  his  son,  or  brother, was  made  a  knight;  and  upon 
the  marriage  of  himself,  his  son.  brother,  sister,  or  daughter. 

The  important  right  also  possosseil  by  the  towns  of  rejecting  any  mejisure 
proposetl  in  the  estates,  by  a  single  tlissentient  voice,  was  considerably  mod- 
ified in  practice,  in  consequence  of  the  influence  which  the  coimt  obtained 
over  them  by  granting  or  withholding  privileges  at  his  pleasure.  He  like- 
wise exercised,  on  many  occasions,  the  power  of  changing  the  governments 
of  the  towns,  out  of  the  due  course,  but  this  was  always  considered  as  an  act 
of  arbitrary  violence  on  his  part,  and  seldom  failed  to  excite  vehement  re- 
monstrance, as  well  from  tlie  estates  as  from  the  town  which  suffered  it. 

Thus  the  constitution  of  Holland  was,  as  we  may  gather  from  the  preceding 
observations,  rather  aristocratic  than  republican,  being  exempt  indeed  from 
the  slightest  leaven  of  democracy  in  any  of  its  institutions.  Nevertheless, 
it  was  in  many  respects  essentially  popular  in  its  spirit:  although  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  towns  was  lodged  in  the  hands  of  but  few  individuals,  yet  as 
they  were  generally  men  engaged  in  manufactures  and  commerce,  or  (in 
later  times)  gentry  closely  connected  with  them,  their  wants,  interests,  and 
prejudices  were  identified  with  those  of  the  people  whom  they  governed; 
while  the  short  duration  of  their  authority  prevented  the  growth  of  any 
exclusive  spirit  amongst  them. 

Special  regulations  also  were  adopted  in  every  town,  by  which  no  two 
members  of  the  government  could  be  within  a  certain  degree  of  relationship 
to  each  other;  thus  preventing  the  whole  authority  from  being  absorbed  by 
one  or  more  wealthy  anri  powerful  families,  as  was  the  case  m  the  It^ilian 
republics,  especially  those  of  Florence  :uu]  Genoa.  The  guilds,  althougli  they 
possessed  no  sliare  in  ihe  administration  of  affairs,  yet  exercised  considerable 
influenc-e  in  the  to'wns,  from  their  numbers  and  wealth;  the  members  also, 
being  all  armed  anil  organised  for  the  public  defence,  were  equally  ready  to 
assemble  at  a  moment's  notice  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  removal  of 
any  grievance,  or  the  redress  of  any  injury  which  they  miglit  concei\'e  them- 
selves, or  the  inhabitants  in  general,  to  have  sustained. 

The  fun<lamerital  principles  of  the  government,  as  recognised  by  the  best 
authorities,  were  these:  that  the  sovereign  shall  not  marr>'  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  states;  that  the  public  offices  of  the  county  shall  be  conferred  on 
natives  only;  the  estates  have  a  right  to  as.semble  when  nm\  where  they  judge 
expedient,  without  permission  from  the  count;  it  is  not  lawful  for  the  count 


SOO  THE   HISTOBY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1850-1371  ▲.D.J 

to  undertake  any  war,  whether  offensive  or  defensive,  without  the  consent  of 
the  estates;  all  decrees  and  edicts  shall  be  published  in  the  Dutch  language; 
the  count  shall  neither  coin  nor  change  the  value  of  money,  without  the  ad- 
vice of  the  estates;  he  shall  not  alienate  any  part  of  his  dominions;  the  es- 
tates shall  not  be  summoned  out  of  the  limits  of  the  county;  the  count  shall 
demand  "petitions"  of  the  estates  in  person,  and  not  by  deputy,  nor  shall  he 
exact  payment  of  any  greater  simi  than  is  granted  by  the  states;  no  jum- 
diction  shall  be  exercised  except  by  the  regular  magistrates;  the  ancient 
customs  and  laws  of  the  state  are  sacred,  and  if  the  count  make  any  decree 
contrary  to  them,  no  man  shall  be  bound  to  obey  it. 

It  is  not  meant  to  be  affirmed  that  these  principles  were  always  adhered 
to;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  frequently  violated;  and  under  the  powerful 
princes  of  the  house  of  Burgundy,  almost  wholly  neglected;  but  the  Dutch 
constantly  looked  to  them  as  the  sheet-anchor  of  their  political  existence, 
and  seldom  failed  to  recur  to  and  enforce  them  whenever  an  opportunity 
offered  itself  for  so  doing. 

FLORIS  V  (1256-1296) 

Floris  V  was  bom  during  the  time  that  the  emperor,  his  father,  was  be- 
sieging Charles  of  Anjou  in  Valenciennes,  and  was  consequently  scarcely 
two  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death ;  he  was,  nevertheless,  imme- 
diately acknowledged  by  the  nobles,  and  the  government  of  the  coimty, 
during  his  minority,  was  confided  to  his  imcle  Floris.  Equally  inclined  with 
his  brother  to  favour  the  increase  and  advancement  of  the  towns,  the  gov- 
ernor granted  charters  of  privileges  to  nearly  all  those  of  Zealand  which  did 
not  yet  enjoy  them.  He  likewise  concluded  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Flan- 
ders, begun  in  the  last  year :  it  was  agreed  that  the  counts  of  Holland  should 
continue  to  hold  the  five  islands  as  a  fief  of  Flanders;  that  the  count  of 
Flanders  should  receive  ten  thousand  pounds  (Flemish)  from  Holland;  and 
that  either  Floris,  or  the  young  count,  when  he  came  of  age,  should  marry 
Beatrice,  daughter  of  Guy  de  Dampierre:  Guy,  and  his  brother  John,  were 
released  from  their  imprisonment  upon  payment  of  hea\'y  ransoms.  The 
county  did  not  long  enjoy  the  pacific  government  of  Floris  the  Elder,  since 
he  was  killed  in  a  tournament  at  Antwerp,  little  more  than  two  years  after 
his  accession.  Upon  his  death,  in  1258,  Adelaide,  countess-dowager  of 
Hainault,  the  widow  of  John  of  Avennes,  assumed  the  guardianship  of  the 
young  count,  and  the  administration  of  affairs,  under  the  title  of  Governess 
of  Holland;  but  the  nobles,  disdaining  to  submit  to  female  rule,  invited  Otto 
of  Gelderland,  cousin  of  Adelaide,  to  undertake  the  government  of  the  county. 

During  the  administration  of  Otto,  a  dangerous  revolt  broke  out  among 
the  people  of  Kennemerland,  who,  uniting  with  those  of  Friesland  and 
Waterland,  declared  their  determmation  to  expel  all  the  nobles  from  the 
country,  and  raze  their  castles  to  the  ground.*  They  first  took  possession  of 
Amsterdam,  the  lord  of  which,  Gilbert  van  Amstel,  either  unable  to  make 
resistance  against  the  insurgents,  or  desirous  of  employing  them  to  avenge  a 
private  quarrel  he  had  with  the  bishop  of  Utrecht,  consented  to  become  their 
leader  and  immediately  conducted  them  to  the  siege  of  that  city. 

A  parley  ensued,  when  one  of  the  Kennemerlanders  vehemently  exhorted 
the  besieged  to  banish  all  the  nobles  from  Utrecht,  and  divide  their  wealth 
among  the  poor.    Fired  by  his  oration,  the  people  quitted  the  walls,  seized 

['  This  was  a  f!:emiine  peasant  insurrection,  and  according  to  Beka^  the  leaders  had  an  am- 
bition  to  form  a  popular  democracy,  a  '^vulgaris  communitas."] 


THE    FIRST    COUNTS    OF   HOLLAND 


901 


I 


11271-1291  A.D.] 

upon  the  magistrates,  whom  they  forced  to  resign  their  offices,  drove  them, 
with  all  the  nobles,  out  of  the  t4)wn,  anrl  admitting  the  hesiegfrs  within  the 
gates  made  a  league  of  eternal  amity  with  them.  After  remaining  a  short 
time  at  Utrecht,  the  insurgents  laifl  siege  to  Haarlem,  but  a  considerable 
number  were  slain,  and  the  remainder  disperse*!.  Utrecht  shortly  after 
submitted  to  the  authority  of  the  bishop.  The  cause  of  this  insurrection 
appears  to  have  been  the  extortion  practised  upon  tlie  people  by  the  nobles, 
most  of  whom,  as  we  have  observed,  exercised  the  right  of  levying  taxes  in 
their  own  domains. 

On  the  death  of  the  count  of  Gehlerland  C1271),  Floris  being  then  seven- 
teen, took  the  conduct  of  affairs  into  his  own  hands,  and  about  the  same  time 
completed  Ids  marriage  with  Beatrice  of  Flanilers^  as  agreed  upon  by  the 
treaty  of  1256.  Early  in  the  next  year  he  made  preparations  for  an  expe- 
dition into  West  Friesland,  for  the  purpose  of  avengmg  his  father's  death. 
He  carried  on  the  war  for  vears,  with  varying  success.  In  1282  he  effected 
a  landing  at  Wydenesse  :  the  Frieslanders  were  totally  defeated. 

The  trade  carried  on  by  the  Hollanders  v^*ith  England  was  now  become 
highly  valuable  to  both  nations;  the  former  giving  a  high  price  for  the  English 
wools  for  their  clolh  manufactures,  while  they  procured  thence  (chiefly,  per- 
haps, from  Cornwall)  their  silver  for  the  purpose  of  coinage. 

Marriage  was  agreed  upon  iM^tween  John,  the  count's  infant  son,  and 
Elizal>eth,  daughter  of  Edward  I,  of  England.  The  friendship  cemented  by 
tins  alliance  Wixa  highly  advantageous  to  tlie  commerce  of  Holland:  the  staple 
of  English  wool  was  fi.xed  at  Dordrecht/  a  town  of  extensive  trade  in  wines, 
grain,  salt,  iron,  wood,  and  cloths;  and  the  subjects  of  the  count  were  per- 
mitted to  fish,  without  restriction,  on  the  English  coast  at  Yarmouth.  This 
is  the  first  grant  we  find  of  a  privilege,  which  the  Dutch  contumed  to  enjoy, 
with  little  interruption,  until  the  time  of  Cromwell. 

The  Great  Flood 

After  the  departure  of  the  army  of  Holland  from  West  Friesland,  the  in- 
habitants renewed  their  hostilities,  and  made  several  unsuccessful  attacks 
upon  a  fort  which  the  count  had  built  at  Wydenesse ;  but  a  drea<iful  storm, 
which  this  year  laid  the  whole  of  the  country  on  both  sides  the  Zuyder  Zee 
entirely  uniler  water/  proved  the  means  of  enabling  Count  Floris  to  effect 
their  complete  subjugation.  The  floods  rose  to  such  a  height  that  every  part  of 
the  province  was  accessible  1o  a  numerous  fleet  of  small  vessels  called  cogs, 
well  manned,  and  placed  imder  the  command  of  Dirk,  lonl  of  lirederode;  the 
inhabitants  of  the  several  towns,  l>eing  unprovided  witli  a  sufficient  numlier 
of  boats  to  oppose  those  of  the  count,  found  their  communication  with  each 
other  wholly  cut  off;  and  thus  reduced  to  a  state  of  blockade,  and  unable  to 
render  the  slightest  mutual  assistance,  they  severally  acknowledged  the 
authority  of  Count  Floris. 

Count  Floris  undertook  a  journey  to  England,  for  the  purpose  of  advanc- 
ing his  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  Scotland,  vacant  by  the  death  of  Margaret, 
commonly  called  the  Maid  of  Norway,  grandnlaughter  and  heiress  of  Alex- 
ander III.  Floris  was  descended  in  a  ilirect  line  from  Ada»  daughter  of 
Henry,  eldest  son  of  David  I,  king  of  iScotland,  who  married,  in  the  year  1162, 
Floris  III,  count  of  Holland.    On  this  ground  he  apiJeared,  in  1291,  among 

'  The  cbroutcler  Molis  Stoke ''  observes  lliat  "  lliis  did  nut  last  long,  for  it  waa  au  Engliisb 
Contract." 

*  The  flood  overwhclmod  fifteen  islands  in  Zealand,  and  deatrojod  fifteen  thousand  [Msniona. 


302  THE   HISTOKY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1901-1S06A.D.] 

the  numeroxis  competitors  for  the  crown,  who,  at  the  conferences  held  at 
Norham,  submitted  their  claims  to  Edward  I  of  England;  and,  however 
remote  his  pretensions,  the  native  historians  inform  us  that  his  renunciation 
of  them  was  purchased  by  the  successful  candidate  with  a  considerable  sum 
of  money,  and  the  contemporary  chronicler,  Melis  Stoke,''  reprobates,  in  no 
very  measiured  terms  the  advice  that  persuaded  him  thus,  like  another  Esau, 
to  sell  his  birthright. 

The  amity  between  the  two  courts  was  in  a  very  few  years  broken,  on  the 
occasion  of  a  war  between  Holland  and  Flanders.  Guy  made  a  sudden  ir- 
ruption into  the  island  of  South  Beveland  in  1295.  Floris  solicited  in  vain 
succours  from  the  king  of  England,  who  evaded  his  request  under  various 
pretexts,  and  whose  interests  now  prompted  him  to  court  the  alliance  of 
Guy  of  Flanders,  in  preference  to  that  of  Holland.  He  proposed  a  marriage 
between  his  eldest  son  and  Philippa,  daughter  of  Count  Guy;  bestowed  on 
him  the  sum  of  300,000  livres  in  payment  of  the  auxiliaries  he  should  furnish 
during  the  war,  and  removed  the  staple  of  English  wool  from  Dordrecht  to 
Bruges  and  Mechlin,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  trade  and  manufactures 
of  Holland. 

Finding  that  Edward  had  thus  made  a  league  with  his  enemy,  Floris 
determined  to  accept  the  offers  of  friendship  made  him  by  Philip  of  France. 

THE   KIDNAPPING  OF  FLORIS 

The  news  of  the  alliance  between  Holland  and  France  excited  to  a  high 
decree  the  wrath  of  the  king  of  England:  he  wrote  to  the  emperor,  com- 
plaining of  the  ingratitude  of  his  vassal,  the  count  of  Holland,  and  declared 
that  he  would  detain  John,  his  son,  in  prison,  xmless  the  alliance  were  imme- 
diately dissolved;  and  it  is  supposed  that  at  this  time  he  first  formed  the 
design  of  seizing  the  person  of  Floris  and  conveying  him  to  imprisonment, 
either  in  England  or  Flanders  —  a  scheme  which  he  was  not  long  in  finding 
instruments  able  and  willing  to  execute,  though  the  event  was  probably  more 
fatal  than  he  had  anticipated. 

Besides  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction  which  were  common  to  the  whole 
body  of  nobles,  the  count  had  aroused  in  the  breasts  of  many  individuals 
among  them  feelings  of  personal  hatred  and  revenge.  Gerard  van  Velsen 
first  imparted  to  Hermann  van  Woerden  a  design  of  seizing  the  count's 
person,  and  placing  him  in  confinement.  Several  other  nobles  readily  entered 
mto  the  conspiracy,  the  lord  of  Cuyck  promising  them  the  support  and  as- 
sistance of  the  duke  of  Brabant,  the  coimt  of  Flanders,  and  the  king  of  Eng- 
land. Since  the  strong  attachment  of  the  citizens  and  people  towards  their 
count  rendered  the  execution  of  any  treasonable  enterprise  clifiicult  and  even 
dangerous  in  Holland,  the  conspirators  waited  until  Floris  should  go  to 
Utrecht,  where  he  had  appointed  to  be  on  a  certain  day  in  June,  1296,  to 
make  a  reconciliation  between  the  lords  of  Amstel  and  Woerden,  and  the 
relatives  of  the  lord  of  Zujlen,  whom  they  had  slain.  After  the  reconciliation, 
Floris,  unsuspicious  of  evil,  gave  a  magnificent  entertainment,  at  which  all  the 
conspirators  were  present,  Amstel  early  the  next  morning,  inviting  the  count 
to  accompany  himself  and  the  other  nobles  on  a  hawking  excursion.  Floris, 
before  his  departure,  asked  Amstel  to  drink  a  stirrup-cup  to  St.  Gertrude. 
The  traitor  took  the  cup  from  his  master's  hand,  saying,  "God  protect  you; 
I  will  ride  forward,"  and  draining  its  contents,  galloped  off.  FesufuJ  of 
losing  any  part  of  the  sport,  the  count  quickly  followed,  leaving  behind  all 
his  attendants,  except  a  couple  of  pages-    About  two  miles  distant  from 


THE   FIRST   COUNTS   OF   HOLLAND 


805 


[1296  A.D.) 

I'lrecht,  he  was  surrounded  by  Amstel,  Woenlen,  Velsen,  and  several  others, 
whom  lie  greeted  in  a  friendly  manner.  Woerden  then  seized  the  brirlle 
of  his  horse,  saying  to  him,  '*  My  master,  your  high  flights  are  ended  —  you 
shall  drive  us  no  longer  —  you  are  now  our  prisoner,  whether  you  will  or  no." 
He  attempted  to  draw  his  sword,  but  was  prevented  by  Velsen,  who  threat- 
ened "  to  cleave  his  head  in  two,"  if  he  made  the  least  movement.  One  of 
the  pages,  attempting  to  defend  his  master,  received  a  severe  wound,  but  was 
able  to  escape  with  the  other  to  Utrecht. 

No  sooner  had  the  rumour  of  the  count's  imprisonment  been  noised 
abroad  than  the  West  Frieslandens  rose  in  a  body,  and  uniting  themselves 
to  the  people  of  Kennemerlan<l  and  Waterhmd  speedily  manned  a  number  of 
vessels,  and  presente<l  (henity^lvcH  lM*f(>re  Mviyden.  But  as  they  were  with- 
out a  leader,  and  liad  neither  anmiunition  nor  materials  for  a  siege,  they 
were  unable  to  effect  the  release  of  their  sovereign,  and  could  only  prevent 
his  being  carried  to  England.  Finding  this  scheme,  therefore,  impracticable, 
the  conspirators  deteniiined  upon  conveying  him  hy  land  to  Brabant  or 
Flanders;  gagged  and  disguised,  with  his  feet  and  hands  bounrl,  and  moimted 
on  a  sorry  horse,  they  conducted  their  unhappy  prisoner,  on  the  fifth  day  of 
his  confinement,  towards  Naarden.  Hardly  had  they  advanced  half  way 
to  Xaarden,  when  Velsen,  who  rode  forward  to  reconnoitre,  encountered  a 
large  body  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  city.  The  noblcH,  unable  to  resist  so 
numerous  a  force,  attempt^^d  to  avoid  them  by  flight;  but  in  leaping  a  dit^h, 
the  count's  feeble  horse  fell  with  his  rider  into  the  mire,  and  finding  it  im- 
possible to  extricale  him  before  the  arrival  of  his  deliverers,  who  were  clovse 
oehiud,  they  mnrdercil  their  helpless  victim  with  more  than  twenty  wounds. 

The  persona]  character  of  Floris,  as  well  as  the  state  of  affairs  in  the 
county,  rendered  his  death  a  cause  of  deep  lamentation  to  the  Hollanders.' 
Just,  liberal,  and  magnanimous,  he  was  a  firm  and  constAnt  protector  of 
his  people  against  the  oppression  of  the  nobles. 

Of  the  conspirators,  Woerden  and  Amstel  fled  their  country,  and  died  in 
exile;  van  Velsen  was  trie<l  at  Dordrecht,  severely  tortured,  and,  together 
with  William  van  Zoenden,  one  of  his  accomplices,  broken  on  the  wheel. 

The  aristocratic  power  in  Holland  never  afterwards  recoverefl  the  shock 
it  undenvent  on  this  occasion;  besides  those  of  the  nobles  who  were  openly 
convicted  of  a  share  in  the  assassination  of  Count  Floris,  many  others  were 
suspected  of  a  secret  participation  in  this  crimc^  and  the  contempt  and  de- 
testation they  incurred  extended  in  some  tl**m>i*  (,o  the  whole  body  of  the 
nobility,  who.'se  moral  influence  was  thus  nearly  annihilated,  while  its  actual 
strength  was  enfeebled  by  the  death  or  banishment  of  many  of  its  most  pow- 
erful members.  Tliis  occurred,  too,  at  a  juncture  w'hen  the  towns,  favoured 
by  the  privileges  which  Floris  and  his  inmietliate  predecessors  had  bestowed 
on  them,  and  increasing  in  wealth  an<i  importance,  were  enabletl  to  secure 
that  [X)litical  influence  m  the  state  which  the  nobles  daily  lost^  and  which, 
in  other  countries,  was  obtained  by  the  sovereign,  on  the  decay  of  the  feudal 
aristocracy. 

The  condition  in  which  the  death  of  Floris  V  left  Holland  was  deplorable 
in  the  extreme  —  engaged  in  hostilities  with  Flanders,  her  nobility  dLscon- 
tente<l  and  rebellious,  her  people  alanned  and  suspicious,  and  her  young 


[*  Holland's  preat4?«t  poet.  Vondel.  whose  Lacifer  is  often  spoken  of  as  the  inspiration  of 

Wltun'8  "  Paradise  Lost,"  upvued  tbe  fir»t  public  th«atrv  in  Amslenlam  with  a  tragedy  on  tlds 

ibject,  called   "  Oijebrecht  van  Amstd."     The   abduction  and   death    of  Omnt  Flnrls  is  a 

roorite  subject  of  Dutch  legend  and  art,  and  according  to  Blok"  "no  event  of  those  barbarous 

ktnries  Is  better  known  to  tin*  Dutch  people."] 


304  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[lS95-t90BA.».] 

prince  John,  a  minor,  in  the  hands  of  the  English  monarch,  who  had  ghnm 
but  too  many  proofs  of  his  unscrupulous  ambition,  while  to  these  difficulties 
was  added  that  of  a  divided  regency.  Although  John  of  Avennes  was  next 
of  kin  to  the  yoimg  count,  yet  Louis  of  Cleves,  count  of  Hulkerode,  related 
in  a  more  distant  degree,  assumed  to  himself  the  administration  of  affairs, 
his  supporters  being  principally  found  among  the  friends  of  those  who  had 
conspired  against  Count  Floris.  Upon  the  arrival  of  John  of  Avennes  in 
Holland,  Louis  of  Cleves  was  forced  to  retire  into  his  own  territory.  The 
enemies  of  Holland  were  not  backward  in  taking  advantage  of  the  embar- 
rassments she  was  now  labouring  under. 


JOHN  I,  THE  LAST  OF  THE  COUNTS  (1296-1299) 

At  the  instigation  of  the  bishop  of  Utrecht,  and  relying  on  his  promises  of 
assistance,  the  West  Frieslanders  once  more  took  up  arms,  mastered  and 
destroyed  all  the  castles  Count  Floris  had  built,  except  Medemblik,  which 
they  blockaded. 

Meanwhile,  the  king  of  England,  anxious  to  secure  an  influence  in  the 
court  of  his  intended  son-in-law,  sent  ambassadors  to  Holland,  requiring  the 
attendance  of  three  nobles  out  of  each  of  the  provinces,  and  two  deputies 
from  each  of  the  "good  towns,"  '  at  the  marriage  of  the  coimt  John  with  the 
princess  Elizabeth,  and  at  the  confirmation  of  the  treaty.  The  marriage 
was  celebrated  with  great  splendour,  and  the  ambassjidors,  laden  with  rich 
presents,  returned  with  the  youn§  bride  and  bridegroom  in  a  well-equipped 
fleet  to  Holland.  The  conditions  imposed  by  Edward  in  the  treaty  made  on 
this  occasion  rendered  the  young  count  little  more  than  a  nominal  sovereign 
in  his  own  states;  he  was  obliged  to  appoint  two  Englishmen,  Ferrers  and 
Havering,  members  of  his  pri\y  council,  and  to  engage  that  he  would  do 
nothing  contrary  to  their  advice,  or  without  the  consent  of  his  father-in-law. 
The  disputes  between  Flanders  and  Brabant  on  the  one  side,  and  Holland  on 
the  other,  were  to  be  referred  to  the  mediation  of  Edward.  On  the  return  of 
John  of  Avennes  from  the  war  in  Friesland,  he  foimd  that  the  count  John 
had  landed  in  Zealand,  and  knowing  he  had  nothing  but  hostility  to  expect 
from  Wolfart  van  Borselon,  who  had  obtained  possession  of  the  young  prince's 
person,  and  was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  England  and  Flanders,  he  deemed 
it  advisable  to  retire  without  delay  into  Hainault.  His  departure  left  Borse- 
len  without  a  rival,  and  he  immediately  assumed  the  title  of  governor  of 
Holland,  and  guardian  of  the  minor. 

The  Frieslanders  still  refusing  to  acknowledge  John  as  the  son  of  Count 
Floris  [an  idea  to  which  the  fact  of  his  long  residence  in  ICngland  had  given 
ris(i],  the  first  step  of  Borselcn  was  to  march  with  the  yoxing  count  into  that 
province,  at  the  head  of  an  army.  With  so  powerful  a  force,  it  was  a  matter 
of  no  great  difficulty  to  subdue  the  West  Frieslanders,  aiifl  it  was  done  so 
effectually  that  this  was  the  last  time  the  counts  of  Holland  were  obliged 
to  carry  war  into  their  country. 

His  successes  so  increased  the  influence  of  Wolfart  van  Borsolen  that  his 
authority  in  the  state  became  almost  absolute.  He  thought  fit  to  venture 
upon  the  hazardous  measure  of  debasing  the  coin,  a  stretch  of  power  which 
the  Dutch,  a  nation  depending  for  their  existence  upon  trade  and  commerce, 

*  Thia  is  the  first  time  \vc  *>b.serve  the  towns  ])articipating  in  political  affairs :  it  coincides 
nearly  with  the  Bumninninp:  of  borough  members  to  parliament  iu  Knglaixl  (1205)  and  the 
assomitlv  of  the  states  in  France  (1302). 


THU    FIHST    COUNTS    OF    HOLLAND 


305 


P 


[1296-1390  A.D.] 

have  never  been  able  to  en(iure,  even  fnim  thoir  most  arbitrary  sovereigns. 
The  murmurs  of  the  citizens  then  became  loud  and  general:  and  the  popular 
hatred  appeared  already  to  threaten  the  ruin  of  the  court  favourite,  when  a 
quarrel  in  which  he  involvetl  himself  with  the  town  of  Dordrecht,  concerning 
its  immunities,  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  Four  hoofdvinnnen,  or  captains 
of  burgher  guards,  wore  appointed,  and  letters  despatched  by  the  senate  to 
all  the  "good  towns"  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  Lntroating  them  to  consider 
the  cause  of  Dordrecht  as  their  common  cause.  Their  preparations  were  not 
made  in  vain,  as  no  long  time  elapsed  before  the  town  was  in\'ested. 

Borselen  determined  to  miso  a  general  levy  both  in  Holland  and  Zealand 
against  the  Dordrechters;  but  being  unable  to  carry  his  purpose  into  effect, 
from  the  discontents  which  had  spread  over  the  whole  county,  deemed  him- 
self no  longer  safe  at  the  Hague,  and,  leaving  the  court  by  night,  carried  the 
young  count  with  all  expedition  to  Schiedam,  whence  he  took  ship  to  Zea- 
land (1299). 

On  the  discovery  of  the  abduction  of  Count  John,  the  court  and  village 
of  the  Hague  were  m  uproar;  numbers  hurried  to  Maardingen,  where,  find- 
ing that  the  ship  in  which  Borselen  liad  siiile<i  lay  becalmed,  they  manned 
all  the  boats  in  the  port  with  stout  rowers,  and  quickly  reached  the  count's 
vessel,  whom  they  found  very  willing  to  return  with  them.  Borselen  was 
conducted  a  prisoner  to  Delft.  Hanily  had  the  populace  there  heanl  of  his 
arrest  when  they  assembled  before  the  doors  of  the  gaol,  demanding  with 
loud  cries  that  "the  traitor"  should  be  delivered  up  to  them.  Those  within, 
struck  with  terror,  thrust  him,  stripped  of  his  armour,  out  at  the  door,  when 
he  was  massacred  in  an  instant. 

As  John  was  still. too  young  to  conduct  the  bu-siness  of  government  alone, 
he  imite*.l  to  his  assistance  his  cousin,  John  of  Avenues,  and  appointed  him 
guardian  over  himself  and  the  county  for  the  space  of  four  years.  The  death 
of  Borselen,  and  the  accession  of  John  of  Avenues  to  the  government,  en- 
tirely deprived  the  English  party  of  their  influence  in  Holland,  since  Avenues 
had  been  constantly  attached,  both  from  inclination  and  policy,  tii  the  in- 
terest of  the  French  court.  »Soon  after,  determined  on  entering  into  a  close 
alliance  with  France,  he  set  out  on  a  journey  to  that  court,  leaving  Count 
John  at  Haarlem,  sick  of  the  ague  and  flux,  which  terminated  his  existence 
on  the  10th  of  November^  1299.  Suspicions  of  poison  were  soon  afloat,  and 
Avenues  has  been  accusett  of  this  crime;  but  as  the  charge  i:i?  flatly  <lenied 
by  Melis  Stoke,^  and  the  nature  of  John*s  disease  is  expressly  stated  b)""  an- 
other contemiX)rary  anil  credible  hist^trian,  Wilhehn  Procurator,/  its  Iwing 
adopted  by  Meyer,/  a  Flemish  author  \^Titing  two  centuries  later,  is  hardly 
sufficient  to  affix  so  deep  a  stain  on  the  cliaracter  of  John  of  Avenues.  Aj3 
Count  John  died  without  children,  the  county  was  transferred,  by  the  suc- 
cession (>f  John  of  Avenues,  the  nearest  heir,  to  the  family  of  Hainault. 
Thus  eniied  this  noble  and  heroic  race  of  princes,  having  now  governed 
the  county  for  a  [X'riod  of  four  hundred  3'ears;  of  whom  it  may  l>e  remarked, 
that  not  one  has  been  handed  down  to  us  by  historians  as  weak,  vicious,  or 
debauched.^* 


w.  —  vou  xra.  z 


CHAPTER   II 
EARLY  HISTORY  OF  BELGIUM  AND  FL.\NDERS 

[51  B.C.-1384  A.D.] 
THEODORE  JTJ8TE  ON  BELGIUM'S  PLACE  IN  HISTORY 

Placed  in  the  central  part  of  Europe  between  nations  which  have  lon| 
disputed  with  one  another  for  supremacy,  Belgium  has  endured  varjung' 
fortunes.  In  remote  times  she  was  extolled  b}^  Ca?,sar^  and  Tacitus  •=  as  the 
seat  of  force  and  courage:  she  was  the  home  of  the  Carlovingians,  after  having 
been  the  cradle  of  the  descendant's  of  Merova?us;  she  reigned  in  Jerusfdem 
when  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  had  opened  to  Christianity  the  gat^e  of  the  holy 
city ;  she  reigned  in  Constantinople  when  Baldwin  of  Flanders  and  Hainauft 
donned  the  diadem  of  the  Cjesars  at  St.  Sophia;  she  equalled  —  perhaps. 
according  to  the  testimony  of  Dante  and  Petrarch,  she  even  eclipsed —  Italy 
herself  bj'  the  opulence  and  the  indomitable  energy  of  her  coramimes;  she 
was  the  home  of  western  civilisation  which  shone  resplendent  in  the  cities  of 
Flanders  when  the  neighbouring  countries  were  sca.rcely  emerging  from  the 
darkness  of  barbarism;  she  was  the  rampart  of  popular  liberties  throughout 
the  Middle  Ages;  she  afterwards  became  the  rival  of  the  French  monarchy 
under  the  last  dukes  of  Burgundy. 

All  this  greatness  did  not  last.  After  having  placed  the  imperial  crown 
on  the  head  of  Charles  V,  and  consolidated  with  the  blood  of  her  warriors 
the  preponderance  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  Belgium  felt  the  wounds  of 
foreign  dominion.  Then  she  lost  her  wealth,  her  commerce,  hex  indiLstry, 
even  her  vigour,  in  that  long  revolution  which  brought  forth  the  republic  of 
the  United  Provinces,  heiress  of  the  force,  the  opulence,  the  prestige  of  the 
southern  Netherlands. 

30^ 


ih 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF   BELGIUM 


307 


Belgium  seemed  destined  to  expiate,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  the  pro- 
digious elevation  of  the  Aiistro-Spanish  house  whose  cradle  she  had  been. 
She  had  feared  and  hated  Philip  II;  she  despised  the  incapacity  of  his 
successors,  who,  not  content  with  sncrificing  her  to  the  political  and  com- 
mercial exigencies  of  the  L^nited  Provinces,  handed  over  entire  provinces  to 
France.  All  the  eflforts  of  Louis  XIV  were  directed  against  the  existence 
of  Spanish  Belgium,  which,  situated  a  few  marches  from  Paris,  seemed  to 
him  an  indis|)ensable  and  ea-sy  acquisition.  But  Europe  placed  herself  be- 
tween him  and  these  provinces,  that  she  might  dispute  with  him  for  the 
fragments. 

Belgium,  without  a  national  d3*nast3',  wji.s  tiuis  the  principal  cause,  the 
determining  cause,  of  the  wars  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
marked  by  so  many  upheavals,  so  many  catastrophes.  During  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  the  armies  of  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe  came  to  fight  in 
the  plains  of  Belgium,  to  besiege  her  towns,  to  devastate  her  country  dis- 
tricts; thousands  of  men  perished  on  this  everlastingly  disputed  soil:  the 
gravestones  of  Walcourt,  Fleurus,  SenefFe,  Rocoux,  Ncerwinden,  Ramillics, 
Malplaquet,  Lawfeld,  Fontenoy  are  the  monuments  of  these  sanguinary 
struggles. 

P>ance,  whose  finances  the  genius  of  Colbert  had  tripled,  exhausted  her- 
self in  order  to  extend  her  frontierj^  to  the  Rhine  and  the  mouth  of  the  Hchelde. 
The  republic  of  the  United  Provinces,  England,  Germany,  in  like  manner 
exhausted  themselves  to  prevent  this  aggrandisement  which  would  have 
destroycfl  the  equilibrium  of  Europe,  and  .surrounded  with  constant  perils 
the  states  bordering  on  the  Belgian  provinces.  Victorious,  the  adversaries 
of  Louis  XIX  came  to  an  understanding  in  1715  in  order  to  secure  the  success 
of  a  scheme  which  made  of  the  Belgian  provinces,  now  handed  over  to  the 
German  branch  of  the  house  of  Austria,  (he  harrier  of  (lie  United  Provinces 
and  the  tete-de-pont  of  the  English  on  the  continent.  But,  if  the  Barrier 
Treaty  wa,s  a  check  to  French  ambition,  the  Belgians  could  not  consider  as 
a  reparation  the  act  which  subordinated  them  to  the  Dutrh  republic  and 
which  legalisetl  the  abusf?  of  force.  In  fact,  far  from  restoring  the  territory 
which  had  been  torn  from  them,  Europe  recognisc^tl  the  successive  dismem- 
berments effected  since  1648.  The  country  was  oblige<i  to  resign  itself,  for 
it  was  powerless. 

All  these  disasters  had  annihilated  the  ancient  power  of  Belgium  but  had 
not  destroyed  the  inalienable  sentiment  of  nationalitv  which  was  religiously 
transmitte<l  from  generation  to  generation,  even  when  ten  different  flags 
floated  on  the  walls  of  her  conquered  cities, 

Reganled  without  prejudice  and  in  its  true  aspect,  the  history  of  the 
Belgians  presents  a  rare  and  imposing  spectacle.  Here  it  is  not  absolute 
monarchy  which  raises  itself  on  the  ruins  of  other  powers  and  constantly 
absorbs  the  attention  of  posterity;  on  the  contrary,  we  see  the  nation  acting. 
Preserving  the  full  enjojinent  of  provincial  anil  municipal  life,  the  nation 
really  figiu'es  on  the  scene:  it  is  (he  nation  which  we  follow  through  the  cen- 
turies, triun»phant  or  vanquished,  free  or  oppressed,  but  bearing  all  vicissi- 
tudes to  preserv^e  its  original  anil  ttistinctive  character.  From  the  dissolution 
of  the  Carlovingian  empire  down  to  the  fifteenth  century,  the  various  Belgian 
provinces  were  in  the  possession  of  different  dynasties.  Yet,  in  default  of 
political  unity,  there  was  between  them  community  of  origin,  of  manners, 
of  religious  ideas,  of  patriotism,  Belgiiuii  did  not  so  far  degenerate  as  to 
lose  herself  in  the  foreign  dominion.  She  kept  her  fundamental  laws,  her 
usages,  her  traditions,  her  manners:  she  remamcd  Belgian. <i 


808  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHEBLANDS 


PRIMITIVE   HISTORY 

It  would  be  neither  possible  nor  desirable  here  to  take  up  in  detui  the 
history  of  the  various  provinces  and  factions  that  make  up  the  early  Nether- 
lands. From  the  tangle  of  town  and  family  wars,  the  extraction  of  the  mng^ 
threads  entire  would  be  an  endless  task.  To  each  family  or  town  its  own 
career  was  intensely  iraj)ortant,  and  many  of  the  events  are  picturesque 
enough  to  be  of  general  interest,  but  their  value  in  the  world-chronicles  is 
of  the  slightest. 

It  is  well,  however,  before  proceeding  with  the  account  of  the  Nether- 
lands as  a  whole,  to  give  some  account  of  the  principal  divisions  in  onler 
that  the  unities  may  be  the  better  understood  when  tne  final  separation  of 
Belgium  from  Holland  is  accomplished.  Of  the  land  and  the  original  peo- 
ples, mention  has  already  been  made  in  the  introduction  by  Motley,  but  a 
brief  account  of  the  Roman  influence  in  Bel^um  proper  will  not  be  amiss.o 

Under  the  Romans 

Belgium,  as  we  have  said,  was  the  cradle  of  both  the  Merovingian  and 
Carlovingian  dynasties,  and  it  was  in  this  country  also  that  the  Frank  nation 
prepared  itself  to  carry  out  its  brilliant  destiny.  The  northern  extremity  of 
Gaul,  which  corresponds  to  modem  Belgium  and  tlie  Netherlands,  was  never 
conquered  by  the  Barbarians  as  was  the  Celtic  or  Roman  portion  of  the  land 
—  it  is  rather  from  here  that  conquerors  set  out.  The  original  Belgians 
belonged  to  the  great  Germanic  family,  like  all  the  Franks,  and  they  took, 
in  the  exploits  and  settlements  of  the  race  in  foreign  lands,  a  part  as  large 
as  it  was  glorious.  It  is  true  that  the  oldest  inhaoitants  of  Belgium  were 
Celts,  but  history  also  teaches  us  that  the  Germans  had  invaded  that  part  of 
Gaul  and  expelled  the  Celts  long  before  Ca?sar's  time.  The  people  found 
there  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  conquest  were  all  Germans;  Csesar*  himself 
affirms  this. 

When  the  Romans  organised  the  administration  of  the  southern  portion 
of  Gaul,  they  divided  it  into  provinces.  Under  Augustus  the  Treviri,  Nervii, 
and  Menapii  found  themselves  the  sole  occupants  of  the  province  of  Bel- 
gium. Later,  under  Diocletian  or  Constantme,  the  province  of  Belgium 
created  by  Augustus  was  divided  into  the  First  and  Second  Belgic  Provinces, 
and  at  the  same  time  Upper  and  Lower  Germany  l>ecame  the  First  and  Sec- 
ond German  Provinces.  No  portion  of  modern  Belgium  entered  into  the 
composition  of  the  First  Germanic  Provmce,  whose  capital  was  Mainz,  but 
to  the  Second  belonged  the  territory  of  the  Toxandri  and  Tungri.  Cologne 
was  its  metropolis  and  Tongres  its  second  largest  town. 

The  Romans  occupied  Belgium  for  several  centuries  and  founded  nu- 
merous establishments,  military  colonies,  and  permanent  camps,  of  which  a 
small  number  developed  into  towns. 

It  is  in  the  land  of  the  Treviri,  comprising  a  large  portion  of  modem 
Luxemburg,  that  one  finds  the  most  remams  of  Roman  occupation.  Treves 
(Colonia  Augusta  Trevirorum)  a  military  colony  in  the  beginnuig,  became  one 
of  the  principal  cities  of  the  empire.  We  know  it  was  the  residence  of  the 
prefect  of  Gaul  and  that  several  emperors,  among  them  Constantine,  held 
court  there.  There  were  at  Treves  a  famous  school  of  literature,  a  mint, 
several  manufactories  of  arms  and  cloth,  and  a  workshop  where  women 
made  military  equipments.    Ammianus  Marcellinus,^  citing  Cologne  and 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF   BELGIUM   AND   FLANDERS 


309 


Tongrcs  as  the  two  cities  of  the  Second  Germanic  Province,  says  that  they  were 
large  and  populous.  But  civiHsation  was  able  to  exercise  its  influence  only 
in  the  large  centres  of  population,  such  as  Treves,  Bavay,  Tongres,  Cologne, 
and  perhaps  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  east  and  south,  neighbours  of 
the  stations  and  fortified  posts.  "Elsewhere,"  says  SchayesJ  "  in  tlie  north, 
centre,  and  west  of  Belgium,  the  manners,  customs,  language,  and  religions 
of  the  natives  underwent  little  or  no  mo<lification  during  the  whole  period 
of  Roman  dominion." 

Christianity  seems  to  have  had  considerable  vogue  in  Treves,  but  was  not 
intrmiuced  until  later  into  the  more  or  less  romanised  towns  and  villages.  We 
know  positively  that  there  was  a  bishop  at  Tongres  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
century.  But  the  Christian  establishments  tlisappeared  entirely  from  the 
country  immediately  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Romans. 

It  was  both  at  Treves  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Moeelle  that  the  Latin 
language  made  most  progress;  the  Romans  imix>.se<l  their  tongue  upon  the 
conquered  nations  as  they  imposed  the  yoke  of  their  dominion.  It  is  some- 
what astonishing,  after  this,  that  the  dwellers  on  the  banks  of  the  Moselle 
should  not  have  adopted,  like  those  of  the  Maas,  a  Roman  ^lialect.  Perhaps 
also  the  use  of  the  Roman-Walloon  in  some  pro\inces  of  Belgium  does  not 
date  from  the  time  of  Roman  dtnninion  but  from  tliut  whtm  Chri.stianity 
returneil  to  the  land  after  the  conversion  of  the  Franks  and  the  establish- 
ment of  religious  houses  whose  inmates  spoke  a  rustic  Latin.? 

Under  (he  Franks  and  the  Dukes 

"Dark  is  the  fate  of  Western  Europe,  of  the  Netherlands  especially,  in 
the  century  of  misfortune  in  which  Rome  finally  ce^ised  to  be  mifstress  of  the 
West,"  says  Blok.^  The  Franks  were  nithless  conquerors,  and  the  history 
of  the  Netherlands  is  for  hundreds  of  years  the  story  of  the  rise  of  their  em- 
pire to  the  glory  of  a  Charlemagne  and  the  weakness  of  its  quick  disintegration 
m  S43.  The  realm  to  which  Lothair  II  surreeded  was  called  Lotharingia, 
whence  Lorraine  —  the  nieilia^'al  nariie  for  the  Low  Countries  excejjt  Flan- 
ders, which  fell  to  Charles  the  Bidd  and  suffered  heavily  from  the  Norse 
invasions. 

The  division  into  duchies,  counties,  and  free  cities  was  complex.  Among 
the  chief  were  the  duchies,  Brabant,  Limburg,  and  Luxemburg;  and  the 
counties,  Flanders,  Hainault,  and  Namur.  Li^ge  was  a  bishopric.  Hainault 
is  de^ribed  in  the  next  chapter. 

BRABANT 

Brabant,  once  second  to  Flanflers  in  importance  and  long  honourable  in 
the  history  of  the  arts,  is  now  divided  between  Belgium  and  Holland;  its 
first  count  was  Godfrey  the  Bearded.  His  great-grandson,  Henry  I  the 
Warrior  (1190-1235),  took  the  title  of  duke.  At  the  important  battle  of 
Woeringen  June  5th.  1288,  the  duke  John  1  tiefeated  an  alliance  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Cologne  with  the  counts  of  Luxemburg,  and  Gelderland;  he  killed 
Henry  of  Luxemburg  with  his  own  sword  ami  permanently  added  Limburg 
to  Brabant.  John  if  enlarge<l  his  pt^ople's  privileges  by  a  grant  of  the  Charter 
of  Cortemberg^  and  the  Statute  of  the  Common  Weal.    John  III  provoked 

['  The  charter  of  Cortemberjf,  granted  b_v  John  II  on  the  37th  of  September,  1312,  acquaintn 
ufl  with  the  conwfifiioDs  by  which  tbe  duke  paid  for  the  nervicos  of  his  subjectfl.  It  institutes 
a  life-council  of  forty  [lerHons,  recruited  from  amongst  the  nobility  and  the  Iowdh  and  whose 
xnisMion  it  was  to  see  that  tbe  privileges  and  cugtoms  of  the  dachy  were  observed.  This 
couDcil  was  to  assemble  every  tliree  weeks  and  its  decisions  were  to  be  sovereign.     If  the  duke 


510  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

a  rebellion  in  which  Brussels  and  Louvain  had  allies,  but  he  crushed  the 
uprising  (1340).  After  his  death  the  count  of  Flanders  claimed  Brabant, 
but  was  appeased  by  the  gift  of  Antwerp.  In  1404,  however,  all  Brabant 
went  over  to  Flanders.  In  1430  it  belonged  to  Burgundy,  and  from  1440 
was  ruled  by  the  Austrian  House.  Brabant  enjoyed  a  constitution  known 
as  the  Blyde  Inkomet  or  La  Jayeuse  Enirie  —  that  is,  "  the  Joyous  Entrance" 
—  because  it  was  granted  by  John  III  in  1356  at  the  time  when  his  daughter 
Joanna  married  Wenzel  of  Luxemburg  and  the  two  entered  Brussels  in  state 
as  prince  and  princess.  It  was  thb  Joanna  who,  after  Wenzel's  death  in 
1383,  found  support  from  Burgundy  in  resisting  the  demands  of  the  cities. 
In  1389  duchess  Joanna  mortgaged  certain  of  these  cities  to  Philip  of  Bur- 
gundy. The  next  year  she  revoked  the  deed  which  gave  Brabant  to  Lux- 
emburg and  made  the  duke  and  duchess  of  Burgundy  her  heirs.  This  deed 
was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  destiny  of  the  whole  Netherlands. 

LUXEMBURG   AND  LIEGE 

Luxemburg  was  originally  called  Ardenne,  but  the  chief  city  gradually 
displaced  the  name  of  the  county.  It  became  a  duchy  in  1354  and  kept 
its  independence  till  1451,  when  Philip  of  Burgundy  seized  it.  It  later  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Austria;  from  1659  its  cities  were  frequently  under  French 
sway.  Its  p>ossession  was  matter  for  frequent  dispute  as  late  as  the  nine- 
teenth century,  when  a  large  part  of  it  was  incorporated  in  the  Belgian  king- 
dom, the  rest  being  established  as  a  neutral  grand  duchy  imder  the  protection 
of  the  crown  of  Holland. 

Li^  was  chosen  in  720  as  the  seat  of  the  bishops  of  Tongas.  In  the 
tenth  century  it  became  the  bishopric  of  Lidge.  Four  centuries  later,  its 
bishops  were  made  princes  of  the  empire.  They  were  usually  despotic  and 
the  citizens  were  frequently  wrought  to  bloody  revolt,  obtaining  a  substantial 
recomition  of  their  rights  only  after  a  bitter  civil  war  ended  in  June,  1315,  by 
the  Peace  of  Fexhe,  a  treaty  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the  history  of 
human  liberties,  and  long  taken  as  a  model  for  the  abridgement  of  the  power 
of  rulers  and  the  precise  limitations  of  all  public  fimctions  and  functionaries.* 

FLANDERS:     ITS   EARLY  HISTORY 

Flanders,  to-day,  has  lost  its  national  identity  and  simply  makes  up  two 
of  the  provinces  of  the  minor  kingdom  of  Belgium.  But  for  centuries  it  was 
in  the  very  forefront  of  European  politics  and  commerce,  far  overshadowing 
the  England  of  that  day,  and  rivalling  France  and  the  empire.  Compared 
with  Ghent,  London  was  a  third-rate  town.  England  was  then  merely  an 
agricultural  district  of  small  population,  furnishing  raw  material  for  the 
great  industries  of  the  Flemings,  whose  trade  was  the  envy  of  the  world, 
whose  rich  men  and  women  provoked  the  jealousy  of  kings  and  queens,  and 
whose  art,  music,  and  letters  glittered  over  the  whole  continent. 

refused  to  observe  tbem  the  country  was  absolved  from  all  obedience  to  him  so  long  as  he 
persisted  in  this  resistance.  The  charter  of  Cortemberg  strongly  resembles  the  Peace  of 
Fexhe,  to  which  it  is  anterior  by  only  four  years.  At  the  same  time  it  is  distinguished  from  it 
by  numerous  traits.  In  the  first  place  it  was  not,  like  that  peace,  the  consequence  of  civil 
war ;  it  is  a  concession  granted  by  a  prince  as  the  result  of  a  contract,  or,  better,  of  a  concordat. 
Its  object  is  not  to  cut  short  a  long  quarrel  on  the  exercise  of  sovereignty  itself.  It  confines 
itself  to  simply  stipulating  the  conditions  of  that  exercise.  —  Pirknnk.'  ] 

['Pirenne'  credits  the  equalitarian  constitution  of  LiSge  to  the  absence  of  predominant 
trades,  rather  than  to  any  special  Walloon  democratic  sentiment  "as  alleged  by  some  his- 
torians."] 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    BELGIUM    AND    FLANDERS  SIX 

(804-1168  A.D.] 

Its  old  counts  wem  wont  to  trace  their  line  back  to  Priam  of  Troy;  but 
the  first  ruler  of  certain  character  is  Baldwin  Forester,  the  Iron  Arm,  who 
eloped  with  a  daughter  of  Charles  the  Bal<I,  and  was  finally  acknowledged 
by  his  father-in-law  as  governor  of  the  countship  of  Flanders,  from  864  a.d. 
to  his  deatli  in  878.  His  son  was  Baldwin  the  Bald,  who  strove  against  the 
Normans,  and  married  the  daughter  of  Alfred  the  Great  of  England.  His 
son  Arnold  (918-989)  had  difficulties  with  both  the  Normans  and  the  em- 
peror Otto  I.  In  this  reign  the  first  weavers  and  fullers  of  Ghent  were 
established.  His  son  Baldwiu  IV,  the  Comely  Beard,  defeated  both  the  king 
of  France  and  the  emperor  Henry  II,  ailcfing  to  his  realm  Valenciennes, 
Walcheren,  and  the  islands  of  Zealand.  His  son,  Baldwin  V  (1036-1067) 
the  Debonair,  was  also  a  remarkable  ruler.  His  daughter  Matilda  was  the 
wife  of  William  the  Conqueror;  his  son  married  the  countess  of  Hainault 
and  brought  it  into  the  control  of  Flanders;  while  another  son,  Robert  the 
Frisian,  was  by  marriage  the  ruler  of  the  counUship  of  Holland  and  Friesland. 
But  the  sons  quarrelled,  and  a  long  and  bitter  feuil  broke  out.  Robert  II 
(1093-1119)  wiis  a  crusader  and  earned  the  name  of  "the  Lance  and  Sword 
of  Christendom."  His  death  and  the  death  of  his  son  Bahlwin  VII  ''with 
the  Axe"  ended  the  old  line  of  Flemish  counts  in  1119. 

The  power  fell  to  Charles  the  Good,  of  Denmark:  he  was  the  son  of  King 
Canute,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Robert  the  Frisian.  Charles  wa.s 
assassinated  by  the  merchants,  because  he  threw  open  all  the  granaries  at 
Bruges  during  a  famine  in  1127,  thus  breaking  their  monoiwly.  The  people 
rose  in  horror,  besieged  the  wealthy  conspirators  in  Bruges,  and  taking  them 
at  length,  tortured  them  to  death.  Charles  left  no  heir,  and  six  clainianta 
demanded  the  throne.  In  the  words  of  Moke,/  "this  contest  offers  the  most 
precious  picture  of  the  political  condition  of  the  country.'' 

The  king  of  France  i)roi>osed  for  the  throne,  William  of  Norniantiy,  The 
nobility  elected  hiru  at  once.  The  fH^opIe  were  promised  the  abolition  of 
certain  taxes  if  they  would  consent.  They  du\  so,  but  William,  after  making 
most  solemn  promises,  hastened  to  violate  the  independence  of  the  bour- 
geois, whom  his  feudal  training  had  un{itt<?d  him  to  understanil.  His  ex- 
actions provoked  risings  in  various  cities^  whose  leaders  chose  for  Count, 
Thierry  or  Theodoric  of  Alsace,  the  nearest  relative  of  Charles  the  Good. 
After  some  fighting  he  was  besieged  in  Alost,  by  William,  who  was,  however, 
killed  in  a  skirmish,  Thierry  was  acknowledged  in  1128  and  was  a  liberal 
ruler  as  well  as  a  crasader.  His  son's  war  with  Floris  III  of  Holland,  whom 
he  captured  in  1157,  has  already  been  described,  in  the  previous  chapter. 
His  ride  is  important  in  the  history  of  Bclgimn  on  account  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  communes.** 

In  the  words  of  Baron  Kervijn  van  Lettenhove,  ''The  era  of  communes 
begins  July  27th,  1128,  and  ends  Novenilw^r  27th,  1382.  Nicaise  Borluut 
opens  it  at  the  siege  of  Alost.  Philip  van  Artevelde  closes  it  on  the  battle- 
field of  Roosebeke.  This  epoch,  signalised  by  numerous  triumphs  and  by 
efforts  the  nnxst  noble  and  [x^rsevering,  is  that  wherein  Fland4'rs,  marching 
by  rapid  strides  along  the  ()ath  of  social  prognvss,  presents  to  ail  the  nations 
the  inviolable  refuge  of  industry  and  liberty/'  * 


RISE   OF  THE   BELGIAN   COMMUNES 


The  first  urban  agglomerations  were,  in  the  full  force  of  the  term,  colonies 
of  tradesmen  and  artisans,  and  the  municipal  constitutions  were  elaborated 
in  the  midst  of  a  population  of  immigrants,  met  from  all  quarters  and  stran- 


SIS 


THE  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 


gers  to  one  another.  But  these  ImmigrantB,  if  they  were  the  anoestors  of  the 
bourgeoisie,  were  not  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  towns.  The  colonies  of 
traders,  in  fact,  did  not  come  into  existence  on  a  vii;gin  soil.  They  every- 
where grouped  themselves  at  the  foot  of  the  walls  of  a  monastery,  a  castle, 
or  an  episcopal  residence  (cintas,  cantnimj  municipium).  The  new  airivab 
found,  at  the  place  where  they  had  come  to  settle,  an  older  population, 
composed  of  serfs,  of  ministerialeH,  or  of  clerics. 

Thus  two  groups  of  men  were  everywhere  to  be  found  in  presence  of  one 
another,  but  without  interpenetrating.  It  was  only  very  dowly  that  the 
fusion  was  accomplished  and  that  the  trading  colony,  increasing  from  year 
to  year,  becoming  always  richer,  more  exuberant,  and  more  vigorous,  finally 
absorbed  all  the  foreign  elements  and  imposed  its  law  and  institutions  on  the 
whole  of  the  town.  It  took  three  hundred  years  to  arrive  at 
this.  The  evolution  was  accomplished  only  m  the  thirteenth 
century. 

Tlie  Roman  municipality  had  not  perished  with  the  empire 
of  the  west ;  it  was  stdl  to  be  found  during  the  ninth,  the 
tenth,  and  the  eleventh  centuries  in  the  cities  of  southern  Gaul. 
But  in  Belgium,  as  in  the  other  parts  of  northern  Gaul,  its  in- 
fluence scarcely  made  itself  felt:  here  the  commimal  privU^ea 
derived  their  origin  from  the  ancient  Germanic  freedom  com- 
bined with  the  gild  or  fraternal  association  of  Scandinavia. 

Under  the  empire  of  the  Germanic  institutions  maintained 
by  Charlemagne,  the  towns  were  subject  to  the  power  of  the 
courts  and  governed  as  simple  cantons.  Now  the  freemen  of 
the  cantons  had  the  right  to  join  the  courts  in  pronouncing 
judgments  in  criminal  matters  and  decrees  in  afiFairs  of  civfl 
and  local  interest.  In  803  Charlemagne,  desiring  to  regulate  the 
exercise  of  this  right  which  had  become  burdensome,  organised 
the  institution  of  the  scahini  (schepenen  or  sheriffs);  they  were 
^^  to  be  chosen  by  courts  and  it  required  at  least  seven  to  pass  a 

RioR "  OF  "the  decree.  After  the  triumph  of  feudalism  the  office  of  sheriff 
Fourteenth  became  in  the  Country  districts  generally  that  of  a  simple 
official  appointed  by  the  seigneurs.  In  localities  important  by 
reason  of  their  population  and  their  wealth,  this  cantonal  mag- 
istracy became  the  patrimony  of  the  principal  farnilies,  who 
preserved  and  extended  their  ancient  jurisdiction;  in  the  cities,  notably  in 
Brussels  and  Louvain,  these  privileged  families  took  the  generic  name  of 
lignages.  This  patrician  and  land-owning  bourgeoisie,  whose  privilege  was 
hereditarily  transmitted,  was  a  first  step  towards  the  commune. 

The  true  commune,  the  glory  of  Belgium,  was  constituted  during  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  by  the  alliance  of  artisans,  organised  in 
guilds  or  fraternities,  with  the  bourgeoisie  properly  so  called. 

There  are,  then,  two  periods  in  the  history  of  the  commimes;  the  first 
witnessed  the  growth  of  a  single  class,  tlie  bourgeoisie  proper;  whilst  in  the 
course  of  the  second  a  part  of  the  power  and  the  privilege  became  the  con- 
quest of  the  people.  The  lower  classes  would  no  longer  content  themselves 
with  the  sheriff's  jurisdiction,  which  emanated  from  the  privileged  bour- 
geoisie. In  order  to  defend  their  private  rights  they  instituted  a  magistracy 
composed  of  jur^s  or  consaux.  In  the  towns  where  German  or  Flemish  was 
spoken  the  two  chiefs  of  the  juris,  annually  chosen  by  them,  took  the  title 
of  masters  of  the  citizens  or  the  city  {burgermeister) .  Tlie  sheriff's  jurisdiction, 
which  belongs  to  the  first  period,  offered  civil  guarantees;   in  the  second 


Flemish  War- 


Century 

(From  tn  old 
flUtue) 


EARLY   HISTORY   OF   BELGIUM    AND   FLANDERS 


313 


I 


epoch  (tbirt-opnth,  fourt<*onth,  and  fifteenth  centuries),  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  trades,  combined  with  the  civil  jurisdiction,  consecrated  political  rights. 

In  Belgium  communal  emancipation  was  less  dramatic  than  in  France, 
although  more  fruitful  in  its  results.  Since  the  eleventh  centiu*y  charters  of 
franchise,  liix».rty,  immunity,  friendship,  hourgage,  and  the  like  had  pavetl 
the  way  for  charters  of  commune  or  poorteryerij  for  towns  **with  laws"  (h 
lots)  or  guikled  ((jilda).  There  was,  as  a  rule,  no  necessity  for  the  towns  of 
FlaiKlers  to  have  recourse  to  anus  to  win  for  themselves  free  sheriffs  and 
the  other  privileges  attache<l  to  the  commune.  For,  far  from  following  the 
example  of  the  German  emperors  and  the  kings  of  France,  the  counts  of 
Flanders  favoured  coiTinuinnl  (nnnncipation;  not  only  did  they  know  how  to 
respect  the  acquired  rights  of  their  subjects,  but,  more  than  this,  they  spon- 
taneously accorde<l  liberties  to  the  towns  which  were  still  without  them. 

In  Flanders,  the  laws  of  each  city,  granted  or  confirmed  by  the  count, 
were  called  keuren.  It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  regard  these  keuren 
as  being  all  charters  of  communes,  or  charters  instituting  communes.  "The 
keure,*'  says  Wamkonig/  "proceeded  both  from  the  territorial  seigneur  and 
the  inhabitants;  thus  that  whicli  formed  the  ftmdamental  law  of  a  town 
was  the  common  work  of  the  count  and  the  sheriffs  who  represented  it.  In 
the  early  days  it  was  generally  granted  by  the  seigneur  and  accepteil  tacitly,  or 
even  under  oath,  by  the  citizens.  But,  in  imitation  of  the  count,  the  sheriffs 
and  town  councillors  also  formed  keuren  for  their  subordinates,  so  that  this 
name  was  soon  extended  to  every  police  ordinance,  every  municipal  decree." 

Several  precious  and  characteristic  rights  were  connected  with  the  com- 
mune. The  inhabitants  enrolled  in  the  registers  of  the  privileged  town  were 
authorised  to  form  a  confederation;  and  all  engaged  by  an  oath  to  defend 
their  own  interests  as  well  as  those  of  the  prince.  The  members  of  the  com- 
mune possessed  a  college  of  sheriffs  with  jurisdiction,  a  common  treasury 
and  a  town  hall,  called  in  several  localities  the  house  of  peace  {mavion  de 

Cix)\  besides  this  they  might  employ  a  special  seal  and  own  a  belfry,  a 
ty  tower  enclosing  a  sonorous  bell.  The  belfry  of  Ghent  was  erected  in 
1183;  that  of  Toumay  was  begmi  in  1190,  that  of  Bruges  in  1291.  It  was 
by  the  sound  of  the  belfry  bell  that  the  inhabitants  were  summoned  to  a 
deliberative  assembly.  Here  decisions  were  made  on  all  affairs  outside  the 
province  of  the  administration;  here  also  the  accounts  of  the  towns  were 
discussed.  As  to  the  cities  which  had  no  belfry,  they  could  only  convoke 
the  Deople  by  hui  et  cri,  or  to  the  sound  of  the  horn  or  trumpet. 

The  towns  also  enjoyed  certain  financial  privileges;  amongst  these  must 
be  distinguished  the  market  right,  either  of  a  simj^e  weekly  market,  which 
was  held  on  a  fixe<.l  day  of  the  week,  or  of  fairs,  or  annual  markets^  which 
lasted  for  one  or  several  weeks  and  served  foreign  merchants  as  a  meeting 
place;  these  fairs  were  generally  held  in  vast  buildings  cidleti  guild  halls 
(Gild'hallen).  From  the  twelfth  century  the  citizens  of  most  of  the  cora- 
ZDunes  were  declared  exempt  from  the  judicid  combat  and  the  tests  by  fire. 

In  exchange  for  these*  privileges  cert^iin  charges  were  laid  on  the  bour- 
geoisies; but  most  of  those  obligations  resembled  those  in  force  in  our  own 
day:  such  were  the  impositions  known  by  the  name  of  failles  or  excise,  mili- 
tary service,  etc.  As  to  the  dues  which  owed  their  origin  to  the  state  of 
servitude,  they  had  been  for  the  most  part  suppreasefl  in  favour  of  the  mxmic- 
ipal  communities;  the  humiliating  prestations  (such  as  the  right  of  morte- 
nwzin,  or  meilleur  cathel)  had  become  the  portion  of  the  rustics.' 

'  The  meiUtur  calheU,  cathel,  or  ca/ft«u  was  the  inofit  valnable  piec«of  furniture.  Costom, 
fODDded  oa  Rervitude,  accorded  it  to  the  tsetgneur  on  the  death  uf  each  of  his  TossalB. 


SU  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

From  reasons  of  policy  the  counts  of  Flanders  tolerated,  favoured,  and 
sanctioned  the  communal  laws  derived  from  the  guild.  Always  obliged  to 
keep  a  watchful  e\'e  on  the  French  suzerainty  or  to  combat  it,  they  needed  to 
keep  in  good  humour  not  only  the  great  propertv  owners  of  the  towns,  but 
also  the  industrial  class,  who^  importance  daily  Increased.  The  conceasioDS 
granted  by  Philip  of  Alsace  have  justly  won  for  him  the  surname  of  the 
L^islator  of  Flanders.  He  abolished  in  several  places  the  ymitfi-mortr  and 
the  odious  right  of  "half-have";'  he  also  freed  the  still  servile  populations  of 
Alost  and  Courtrai. 

The  cities  which  possessed  no  guarantee  against  the  encroachments  of 
power  received  keuren  or  statutes:  those  which  already  enjoyed  some  privi- 
leges obtained]  fresh  ones.  Orchies,  Damme.  Bien-liet,  Dunkirk.  Xieuport, 
HuLst,  and  the  castellany  of  Bruges,  henceforth  called  the  free  (le  Frane)^ 
were  successively  raised  to  the  rank  of  municipalities.  The  pn\ileges  en- 
joyed by  more  ancient  towns  such  as  Ghent,  Bruges.  St.  Omer.  Oudenarde, 
Grammont.  were  either  confirmed  or  extended.  Ine  town  of  Aire  became  a 
model  commune:  the  charter  of  friendship  (Lex  amicitiaK  granted  by  Philip 
of  Alsace  in  1 IS8.  institutet^^l  a  veritable  evangelical  conmiunity.  This' charter 
laid  down  that  in  the  confederation  called  Vamitie  there  should  always  be 
twelve  chosen  judges,  who  were  to  engage  by  oath  to  make  no  distinctkm 
between  a  poor  man  and  a  rich  one.  between  a  noble  and  a  villein,  betweoi 
a  relative  and  a  stranger.  All  the  members  of  the  confederacy  promised  to 
aid  one  another  like  brothers'  in  all  that  was  u^ful  and  honest:  if  one  ooio- 
mitted  any  wrong  against  another  by  word  or  action  the  injured  party  would 
not  take  vengeance,  by  himself  or  through  his  followers.'  but  he  would  lodge 
a  complaint  and  the  culprit  would  repair  the  wrong  according  to  the  arbi- 
tration of  the  twelve  elected  judges. 

The  affranchisement  of  the  towns  and  boroughs  of  Flanders  continued 
during  the  thirteenth  centur>".  In  12S1  Bruges  recei^'ed  a  new  keurt  from 
Count  Gu}'  de  Dampierre.  Alost  passeJ  to  the  state  of  a  commune  in  1281, 
Douai  in  12>6.  Valenciennes  in  1291,  Messines  in  1293.  BaiUeul  in  1295, 
Sluvs  in  132S.  Roulers  in  1377.'^ 


fXAXDERS  ver.nt.s  fr.vxce 

Having  thus  sketched  the  methods  in  which  town  liberties  were  evolved, 
we  may  take  up  again  the  course  of  political  events,  where  we  left  them  —  at 
the  reign  of  Thierrj-. 

Thierr}-  die«d  in  116.S.  leading  a  son.  Philip  of  Alsace,  who  was  a  notable 
warrior  and  also  a  cmsader.  fie  is  known  as  Flanders'  ereatest  bwgiver. 
and  he  increased  the  liberties  of  the  people,  especially  of  Alost  and  Courtrai, 
But  he  had  no  chiltiren.  and  his  brother-in-law  Baldwin  of  Hainault  succeeded 

'  The  mai'i-nvyr'/t.  :a  :Le  s<»ii«#  in  whir'n  ::  wi*  -indersi'xvi  in  the  Midd'e  Ace*,  was  the 
5tat«  of  vass&lf  »:t*cl.<f2  :o  :be  s-jil  :a  y*r;."*:-i:T.  and  dezieu  the  p«?wer  '.*;  disposic^  of  :heir 
pr»>pertT.  ■■  Half-Lar*  '  w»^?  %  «r*«ri*'.  rl^ii:  of  s^rrltude  wLioh  acoinie»i  to  :he  o«.>-ai::*  of  Flan- 
c^r^  on'the  death  cf  eai:h  male  sserf  :hr«w  d*ni*r^  and  :he  half  of  all  fcU  movable  p?.^;*r:T.  For 
a  f*irs;ale  s«rf  this  rijht  w^*  o£>  one  deni-rr.  E^rn  the  noble*  and  frees:<:n  we?v  >ub;ec:«d  to 
this  exaction ;  on  their  drith  two  F.acders  =Ark<  were  paid  to  the  o  u::t.  who  claimed,  in 
aiidiiVjn.  the  half  of  their  rr'-p^rtv. 

''  N"t  oz.'.j  wer**  the  mezni-er*  r*!l«*d  "j-iili  br^'^thers."  but  the  emrlojee  wa*  called  the 
"TOin^^r  b^>ther  "  Jo^'^^r*  ^n^tUr  of  hi*  •=mrl*^jrr.  Blok ^  sav*  that  "the  P.emLsh  work- 
man '.-f  that  time  :-la:n>Vn;oj'i'i  far  better  c-.-n  ::t:>n*  than  the  Bc-l^lar.  w>rk,n:en  ■.■f  to-day. "J 

■  The  r»?*irr  :-  awkr*  t'hat  th-?  niann-rs  an  1  ■' i-itom*  of  thi:f  p^ri  >i  p^niiitte-i  everj  rr'an  to 
pur**:*:  hi>  Tec^at-rie  '.t-rnlT.  tVr^ii  div*  -f  •.\^  w-*i  only  wtrre  ex:eptr\:.  ani  th:<  siiae  of 
Rbpite  was  called  the  Tnce  of  *>.*!    Tfi'n'^x  lA'l.. 


I 


^ 


I 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    BELGIUM    AND    FLANDERS  SIS 

{1191-12MA.D.] 

in  1191.  Tho  French  opposed  him,  and  he  was  forced  to  yield  various  cities 
and  a  large  part  of  Flanders  to  France.  On  his  death  in  1195  hLs  son  Baldwin 
IX  became  count,  but  later  founded  the  Latin  empire  at  Constantinople. 
His  career  ant.1  death  in  1206  have  l3een  recounted  in  Volume  VII,  chapter  9. 
He  left  two  youiig  daughters  at  home  and  in  his  absence  the  government  was 
given  to  his  brother  Philip.  In  1214,  at  the  famous  battle  of  Bouvines,  the 
French  defeated  the  allied  forces  of  EngIan<I,  the  emperor.  Holland,  Brabant, 
and  Flanders.  In  1279,  owing  to  the  failure  of  heirs,  Hninault  went  to  John 
of  Avenues,  son  of  Baldwin's  daughter  Margaret  who  had  married  Bosschaert 
of  Avennes.  Flanders  went  to  Guy  de  Dampierre,  whose  father  Margaret 
had  taken  for  her  second  husband  after  Bosschaert's  death.** 

During  the  two  centuries  which  elapsed  Ijetween  the  deutli  of  Godfrey  de 
Bouillon  [1100]  and  the  battle  of  Woeringen  [12SS],  the  Belgian  provinces 
had  taken  on  practically  the  form  and  the  character  in  which  they  were  to 
continue.  Flanders,  stripped  of  her  Gallican  seigneuries  (the  county  of 
Artois),  found  herself  restf)red  to  her  natural  limits.  Brabant,  erJarged  by  the 
conquest  of  Limburg,  ruled  from  the  Schekle  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Maas, 
The  other  states  which  had  been  built  up  from  tho  d<5bris  of  the  ancient 
duchy  of  Lorraine  had  consolidat-ed  their  indf'()endeace  and  established 
their  frontiers.     Thus  was  the  provincial  formation  accomplished. 

But  the  internal  organisation  was  far  from  evidencing  the  same  stability, 
and  the  i>eriod  to  foll<»w  was  to  Ix^  signalised  by  the  struggle  of  the  commons 
against  all  other  powers.  Warnings  of  the  imminence  of  the  danger  had 
been  already  sounded;  it  was  in  the  fourteenth  century  that  the  .«torni  burst 
in  all  its  fury.  The  spect-ticle  of  this  age  is  the  most  remarkable  in  Br'!gian 
history:  all  the  great  cities  preparing  one  after  another  to  struggle  and  to 
reiffn;  the  populace  bursting  the  chains  of  country  an<l  breaking  the  yoke 
of  law;  fearful  convulsions,  nithless  wars,  irreparable  losses:  but,  as  well, 
magnificent  examples  of  energy  anil  patriotism:  of  heroic  efforts  followed 
sometimes  by  glorious  success  —  the  very  sufferings  of  the  country  revealing 
the  grandeur  of  the  national  character. 

Flanders  was  the  principal  theatre  of  the  strife  during  this  epoch.  The 
rulers  of  this  beautiful  province  had  lost  their  power  at  Bouvines.  Since 
that  fatal  day  France,  who  held  them  in  her  grasp,  made  tliem  feel  all  the 
weight  of  the  humiliatijig  conditions  of  the  Treaty  of  Mclun,  and  reduced 
them  to  an  obscure  vasvsalage. 

Personal  cousiderations  seem  to  have  dictated  to  Dampierre  a  timid  and 
peaceful  policy.  Poor  In  the  midst  of  riches,  he  never  neglected  an  opportunity 
to  le>'y  contributions  upon  his  communes.  Yet  the  beginning  of  his  reign  had 
seemed  happy  enougli:  he  had  braved  with  impunity  the  emperors  of  Ger- 
many, m  refusing  then^  the  homage  for  imperial  Flanders;  and  ho  succeeded 
in  establishing  brilliantly  .some  of  his  children  —  the  duke  of  Brabant  and 
the  countij  of  Holland  and  Jiilich  [or  Juliers]  were  liis  sons-in-law,  and  one 
of  his  sons  occupied  the  bishopric  of  Li^ge.  But,  faithful  to  tlie  hatred  which 
reigned  betw^een  iiis  house  and  that  of  Avennes,  he  mortally  offended  the 
count  of  Hainault,  his  nephew,  in  supporting  against  him  the  revoU-ed  com- 
mune of  \'alenciennes  (1292).  Soon  after  this  he  won  the  dislike  of  the 
proud  Philip  the  Fair  —  or  rather  he  afforded  a  pretext  for  the  latter's  prf»- 
jects  of  spoliation  —  by  engaging  in  marriage  his  daughter  Philippine  with 
the  son  of  Edward  I  of  Kngland  (1294).  Upon  his  invitation,  the  count 
repaired  whh  his  daughter  to  the  chateau  of  Corbeil,  where  the  court  of 
France  was  assembled.  But  he  had  scarcely  arrived  when  with  all  his  retinue 
he  was  arrest«l  and  carried  off  to  the  tower  of  the  Louvre,  where  he  waa 


316  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[lflM-1808A.li.] 

kept  in  close  captivity,  the  king  accusing  him  of  alliance  with  the  enonies 
of  France  and  holding  him  for  judgment  by  his  court  of  peers.  It  found 
him  innocent;  but  upon  liberatmg  him  the  king  refused  to  render  up  his 
daughter:  she  was  retained  as  hostage,  and  some  years  after  she  succumbed, 
the  victim  of  misfortune. 

Guy  de  Dampierre  was  wise  enough  at  first  to  hide  his  resentment;  but 
when  it  was  perceived  that  he  was  making  preparations  for  war  on  pretext 
of  defending  the  people  of  ^'^alenciennes,  who  had  ended  by  giving  them- 
selves up  to  him,  a  royal  edict  forbade  the  communes  of  Flanders  to  foUow 
his  banner  (1296).  In  revenge,  the  count  assembled  all  his  allies  at  Gram- 
mont  (December  25th) ;  and  to  this  rendezvous  came  Edward  of  £ng;landr 
the  emperor  Adolphus  of  Nassau,  the  archduke  Albert  of  Austria,  Duke 
John  II  of  Brabant,  the  counts  of  Holland,  Jiilich,  and  Bar,  who  all  united 
to  march  against  France.  Guy  then  sent  to  Philip  the  Fair  to  declare  that 
he  no  longer  recognised  him  as  sovereign;  the  king  on  his  side  ordered  the 
confiscation  of  Flanders  (January,  1297). 

The  cities  did  not  fancy  being  obliged  to  take  up  arms  in  Guy's  quarrel. 
Already  a  septuagenarian,  he  was  unable  to  lead  his  troops  to  battle,  and  he 
confided  them  to  his  eldest  son,  Robert  of  B6thune.  Tne  French  king  en- 
tered Flanders  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  cavalry  and  a  numerous  infantry. 
A  number  of  Flemish  gentlemen  openly  embraced  "the  party  of  the  lilies"* 
as  were  denominated  those  who  desired  the  king's  dommation.  Moreover, 
the  English  monarch  had  arrived  in  Flanders  wit^  so  small  an  army  that  he 
dared  not  remain  in  Bruges,  whose  inhabitants  inclined  towards  France- 
Guy,  now  deserted  by  all  his  allies,  consented  finally  to  put  himself  at  the 
king's  mercy,  together  with  his  eldest  sons,  Robert  and  William,  and  fifty 
of  his  principal  barons.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Paris  he  and  all  his  following 
were  imprisoned  by  order  of  the  inflexible  monarch;  and  nothing  that 
Charles,  who  had  promised  Guy  his  liberty,  was  able  to  do,  sufficed  to  pre- 
vent his  brother  from  breaking  the  promise  given  in  his  name. 

Flanders  was  confiscated.  Philip  governed  it  through  his  officers,  and 
in  May,  1301,  went  to  visit  his  conquest,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  Joan  of 
Navarre,  who  appeared  offended  at  observing  so  much  wealth  among  a  com- 
mercial people.  "  I  thought  myself  sole  queen  here,"  she  remarked  at  Bruges, 
"but  I  find  a  thousand  others  round  me."  Ever3^vhere  the  partisans  of 
France  received  the  sovereign  with  extravagant  demonstrations  of  joy;  but 
already  the  people  began  to  feel  that  they  no  longer  had  a  country,  and  to 
fear  that  they  were  destined  to  fall  heir  to  the  fate  of  "  those  French  provinces 
whose  inhabitants  were  treated  as  serfs."  These  bitter  thoughts  gave  rise 
among  the  bourgeoisie  of  the  large  towns  to  a  sombre  attitude  which  de- 
veloped shortly  into  direct  menace.  Discontent  fermented;  the  reaction 
had  begun:  it  burst  forth  at  the  first  signal.  A  month  after  the  king's 
departure  defiance  looked  forth  at  Bruges./ 

The  "Bruges  Matins''  (1302) 

At  first  thirty  heads  of  trades  waited  on  the  French  governor,  Chatillon, 
and  complained  that  payment  was  not  made  for  the  works  ordered  by  the 
king.  The  great  lord,  accustomed  to  the  rights  of  corv'i!^  and  purveyance, 
considered  remonstrance  insolent,  and  had  them  arrested.  The  people  took 
up  arms,  and  rescued  them,  to  the  great  dismay  of  the  rich,  who  declared 

[*  The  Flemisb  called  tliem  the  Leliatrts,  and  the  popular  or  natioualist  party  opposed  to 
them,  the  Clauwaerts.'\ 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF   BELGIUM   AND   FLANDERS  317 

[1302  A.D.] 

for  the  king^s  men.  The  affair  was  brought  up  before  the  parliament.  Here 
was  the  parliament  of  Paris,  sitting  in  judgment  on  Flanders,  as  just  before  it 
had  done  bv  the  king  of  England. 

The  parliament  decided  that  the  heads  of  trades  should  go  back  to  prison. 
Among  these  heads  were  two  men  beloved  by  the  people,  the  deans  of  the 
butchers  and  of  the  weavers.  The  latter,  Peter  de  ronyuc'  was  a  poor  and 
mean-looking  man,  small,  and  wanting  an  eye,  but  a  man  of  capacity  and  a 
bold  street  orator.  Inflaming  the  passions  of  the  artisans  by  his  eloquence, 
he  hurried  them  out  of  Bruges,  and  made  them  massacre  all  the  French  in 
the  neiglibouring  towns  and  castles.  They  then  returned  by  night.  Chains 
were  stretched  across  the  streets,  "to  prevent  the  French  from  running  about 
the  town";  each  townsman  undertook  to  steal  the  saddle  and  bridle  of  the 
horsefnan  who  lotlged  with  him.  On  May  19,  1302,  all  the  people  began  to 
beat  their  kettles;  a  butcher  struck  first,  antl  the  French  were  everywhere 
attacked  ami  massacred.'  The  women  were  the  most  furiously  active  in 
flinging  them  out  of  the  windows,  or  else  they  were  taken  to  the  shambles, 
where  their  throats  were  cut.  The  massacre  lasted  three  days;  twelve  huii- 
dretl  cavaliers,  and  two  thousanfl  foot  sergeants  perished.'" 

At  once  the  greater  part  of  Flanders  raisefl  the  old  standanl  of  the  lion. 
Lille  and  Ghent,  with  several  fortified  castles,  alone  remained  in  foreign 
hands. 

Leaders  were  not  lacking  among  the  people.  Peter  de  Conync  and  John 
Breydel,  head  men  of  the  weavers  and  butchers,  had  direcletl  the  revolt  of 
the  Brugeois.  The  army  which  they  gathered  counted  nearly  sixty  thousand 
men. 

Robert  of  Artois,  brother-in-law  to  the  king  of  France,  marched  against 
them  with  apparently  su|>erior  forces.  He  had  nearly  an  etjual  numl>er  of 
foot;  and  hb  cavalry,  composed  of  the  cream  of  the  French  nobility,  counted 
not  less  than  ten  thousand  combatants.  Upon  arriving  at  Lille  he  was 
joined  by  the  knights  of  Brabant  antl  Hainault,  the  former  Uxi  hy  Ooclfrey 
of  Brabant,  uncle  to  their  duke,  the  latter  by  John  the  Merciless,  count  of 
Hainault.  He  set  out  at  ona*  for  Courtrai,  burning  and  ravaging  all  in  his 
path. 

The  two  armies  met  on  the  llUi  of  July,  1302.  The  Flemings  awaited 
the  enemy  on  the  plain  of  Groeninghe,  east  of  Courtrai.  Alwut  them  stretched 
the  marshy  prairies,  crossed  by  brooks;  in  their  rear  flowed  the  Lys,  pre- 
venting ri'treut ;  hut  Ihey  wen*  determined  to  coiniuer  or  to  die.  The  arriviU 
of  a  body  of  militia  fmni  Naniur  and  of  a  troop  from  Ghent  commanded  by 
Simon  Borluut  had  redoubletl  their  confidence.^ 


The  Battle  of  the  Spurs  (1302) 

These  artisans,  who  had  hardly  ever  seen  service  in  the  open  field,  perhaps 
would  have  been  gla<l  to  retre^it,  but  the  attempt  would  have  Ix^n  too  haz- 
ardous in  a  great  plain,  and  in  presence  of  so  large  a  body  of  cavalry.  They 
waited,  therefore,  bnxvelVr  every  man  with  hi.s  fjoeden  Ta/f  ("good  day  to 
you"),  or  iron-shod  stake  planted  in  the  gn)und  before  liini.  Tlu^ir  motto 
was  a  fine  one:  Scilt  und  Vriendt,  "shield  and  friend.''  Thev  wished  to 
take  the  communion  together,  and  had  mass  Tread  to  them;  but  as  they 

['  TbU  name,  like  most  Flomish  namcH  aud  Indeed  Englmh  aiid  otlier  names  of  tills  period, 
is  variouslj  t^yeU  as  Koenig,  Kuninck,  Convnc  and  Deconlng.] 

F'  The  parly  morning  massacre,  res«ml)linp'  the  "Sicilian  Vespers"  of  the  year  1282  in 
which  the  Krencli  garrison  was  similarly  butchered,  has  been  called  the  "Bruges  Matins,"] 


818  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[UOBa-d.] 

could  not  all  receive  the  host,  eachj  acconiing  to  Villani,'^  stooped  down, 
picked  up  some  earth  and  put  it  in  his  mouth.  The  knights  who  were  with 
them,  in  order  to  encourage  them,  sent  away  their  horses;  and  whilst  they 
thus  made  infantry  of  themselves  they  made  knights  of  the  heads  of  the 
trades.  All  knew  that  they  had  no  mercy  to  expect.  It  was  told  that 
Ch&tillon  brought  with  him  casks  full  of  ropes  to  strangle  them.  The  queen, 
it  was  said,  had  laid  her  injunctions  on  the  French  that  when  they  were  KiUing 
the  Flemish  pigs  they  should  not  forget  the  Flemish  sows.* 

The  constable  Raoul  de  Nesle  proposed  to  turn  the  flank  of  the  Fleming 
and  cut  them  off  from  Courtrai,  but  the  king's  cousin,  Robert  ofArtois, 
said  rudely  to  him:  "Are  you  afraid  of  these  rabbits,  or  have  you  mdeed 
some  of  their  fur  on  you?"  The  constable,  who  had  married  a  daughter  of 
the  coimt  of  Flanders,  felt  the  insult,  and  answered  proudly:  "Sir,  you  will 
ride  far  ahead  if  you  keep  up  with  me!"  So  saying,  he  miade  a  headlong 
charge  followed  by  his  knights,  in  the  thick  dust  of  a  July  day.  Everyone 
followed  him  impetuously,  each-  eager  to  be  up  with  the  front,  and  the  hind- 
most pressing  upon  the  foremost  riders,  who,  when  they  came  up  near  the 
Flemings,  found  in  their  way,  what  is  to  be  found  everjrwhere  in  a  country 
so  intersected  by  canals  and  ditches  —  a  trench  five  fathoms  wide.  They 
fell  into  it  in  heaps,  without  the  possibility  of  escaping  up  the  sides,  the 
trench  being  of  the  haJf-moon  construction.  The  whole  chivalry  of  France 
foimd  its  grave  there,  besides  the  chancellor  [Peter  Flotte],  who,  doubtless, 
had  not  reckoned  on  falling  in  such  glorious  company. 

The  Flemings  killed  the  unhorsed  cavaliers  at  their  ease,  leisurely  selecting 
theu*  victims  in  the  trench.  When  the  cuirasses  resisted  their  blades,  they 
despatched  the  knights  with  leaden  or  iron  mallets.  Among  them  there 
were  numbers  of  working  monks,  who  conscientiously  wrought  at  this  bloody 
job.  One  of  these  monks  asserted  that  with  his  own  hand  he  had  killed 
forty  cftvaliers,  and  fourteen  himdred  foot  soldiers;  but  it  is  plain  he  bragged 
too  much.  Four  thousand  gilt  spurs  (another  accoimt  says  seven  hundred) 
were  hung  up  in  the  cathedral  of  Courtrai,  unlucky  spoils  that  brought  mis- 
chief on  the  town :  eighty  years  afterwards,  Charles  VI  saw  these  spurs  and 
caused  the  inhabitants  to  be  massacred. 

This  terrible  defeat  exterminated  all  the  vanguard  of  France — that  is  to 
say,  the  majority  of  the  great  lords.™  The  total  number  of  slain  was 
estimated  at  20,000. 

Last  Years  of  Gny^s  Reign 

After  the  battle  the  French  garrisons  in  the  neighbouring  towns  were  only 
too  glad  to  capitulate.  After  a  few  small  engagements  a  peace  was  concluded 
in  the  spring  of  the  following  year,  to  be  immediately  confirmed.  The  king 
even  allowed  the  old  count  Guy  de  Dampierre  to  emerge  from  the  fortress 
where  he  had  been  detained,  in  order  that  he  might  assist  in  the  peace  nego- 
tiations; but  the  old  man,  after  passing  several  months  among  his  sons, 
re-entered  his  prison  rather  than  betray  the  interests  of  Flanders.  The 
quarrel  was  to  be  settled  by  force  of  arms. 

Never  had  the  Flemings  taken  so  determined  a  stand,  and  never  had 
their  hopes  been  more  firmly  fixed.  Unfortunately  the  old  hatred  between 
the  houses  of  Dampierre  and  Avenues  was  not  yet  assuaged,  and  this  was 
yet  to  cause  fresh  disasters. 

*  Vaga  vi'naria  portare  restibus  plena,  ut  plebeioa  airangularet.  Ut  apros  quidem,  Aoc  eei 
viros,  hastis,  sed  sues  verutia  confoderertt,  infesta  admodum  muUeribtis,  quas  sues  vocabatt  ob 
fastum  ilium  femineum  visum  a  «  Brugis,  — Meyer.* 


EAKLY    HISTORY    OF   BELGIUM    AND   FLANDERS  319 

[iaM-13L5  ^D.] 

The  account  of  the  war  between  Holland  and  Flanders  (in  which  the 
first  Flemish  triumphs  provoked  a  general  uprising  of  the  Hollanders  and 
ended  in  defeats  for  the  Flemish  on  sea  and  land)  will  be  found  in  the  next 
chapter.^ 

At  sea,  on  the  10th  of  August.  1304,  Guy  of  Namur  sustained  a  bloody 
defeat  opposite  Zieriksee.  His  fleet  was  destroyed,  hinwelf  taken  prisoner, 
and  the  coast  left  defenceless.  Eight  days  later  the  land  army  gave  battle 
to  the  French  at  Mons-en-P6v(>le  (between  Douai  and  Orchies).  It  was 
commanded  by  Philip  de  Thiett^  for  Teano),  a  son  of  Guy  de  Dampierre. 
The  enemy's  cavalry,  instead  of  accepting  combat,  attempted  to  wettr  out 
the  Flemings  by  skirmishes,  and  succeeded  in  capturing  the  provision  ami 
baggage  wagons.  This  accident  forced  the  communes  to  quit  the  field  of 
batfle,  and  towards  night  the  greater  part  left  for  Lille.  William  of  Jiilich 
had jperLshod  in  this  attack. 

Tne  king  increased  hLs  forces  and  besieged  Lille  with  a  most  formidable 
equipment.  The  terrified  inhabitants  promised  to  surrender,  if  help  had 
not  arrived,  on  the  1st  of  October;  but,  two  days  before,  the  reunited  Flem- 
ings arrived  before  the  place,  and  John  of  Namur,  their  leader,  sent  forth  a 
defiance  to  the  king.  The  whole  country  was  in  arms;  the  factories  were 
closed,  the  cities  deserted;  and  the  troops  had  vowed  to  conquer  or  obtain 
an  honourable  peace.  The  king,  spying  upon  their  outp^jsts,  was  struck 
with  the  number  of  their  tents:  "One  would  think/'  he  exclaimed,  "that  it 
had  been  raining  Flemings!"  He  charged  the  duke  of  Brabant  and  the  count 
of  Savoy  to  treat  in  his  name  with  the  leaders. 

The  Flemings  demanded  and  obtained  the  restoration  of  all  their  former 
privileges,  authority  to  fortify  their  cities,  and  the  liberty  of  their  prisoners; 
as  well  as  the  restitution  of  those  portions  of  Flanders  still  occupie<i  by  the 
French.  They  consented  to  raise  a  fine  of  not  more  than  8(KJ,(KMJ  li\Tes  (the 
value  of  the  currency  had  been  considerably  depreciated  by  Philip's  alteration 
of  the  denominations),  and  to  leave  in  the  hands  of  the  king  until  payment 
of  that  sum  the  cities  of  Lille  and  Douai  (October  1st,  1304). 

Thus  the  fatal  war  seemed  to  have  ended;  but  the  negotiations  were  pro- 
longed during  several  months,  and,  before  harmony  was  completely  estab- 
lished, Guy  de  Dampierre  died,  a  prisoner  in  the  castle  of  Compi^gne,  March 
7th,  1305. 

ROBERT  OF  BtXHUNE    (130.'>-1328) 

Robert  of  B<?thune,  eldest  son  of  Guy  de  Dampierre,  was  still  a  prisoner 
in  France  when  his  father  died,  both  having  given  themselves  up  to  the 
king  at  the  same  time.  Philip  released  him  ordy  after  having  obliged  him 
to  sign  to  new  conditions,  much  more  severe  than  those  stipulated  before 
Lille.  These  outrageous  demands  had  for  result  the  rekindling  of  the  in- 
dignation of  Flanders.  The  infuriated  people  even  accused  of  treason  the 
lords  charged  to  negotiate  with  the  king,  and  a  part  of  the  nobility  came  under 
the  suspicion  of  the  communes.'  A  temporary  understan<ling  concluded  with 
France  in  1309  was  followed  in  1315  by  a  fresh  rupture;  and  Louis  the  Quar- 
relsome {Hutin)^  who  had  succeeded  Philip  the  Fair,  failed  completely  in  an 
expf^lition  directed  tf)wards  Courtrai  and  Casst^I. 

Still  the  war  dragged  on;  and  the  Flemings,  whose  successes  brought  no 
results,  drifted  into  new  discords.  The  citizens  of  Ghent  ended  by  declaring 
in  favour  of  peace,  and  n^fuaed  to  support  the  count.     He  was  obliged,  by 

['  Blok'^  says  that  the  Flemish  counts  were  from  this  time  little  more  than  the  lieutenaotB 
of  the  French  monarch,  claiming  his  aid  against  their  own  cities.] 


920  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

reason  of  this  defection,  to  sign  the  treaty  concluded  at  Paris  in  1320.  Lille, 
Douai,  and  Orchies  remalnea  in  the  hands  of  Philip  the  Tall  (2e  ^^oim),  the 
reigning  monarch,  and  his  daughter  was  wedded  to  the  grandson  of  the  flmiflh 
prince. 

The  end  of  Robert's  reign  presents  a  bloody  and  mysterious  spectacle, 
which  history  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  explaining.  His  eldest  son,  liouis  of 
Nevers,  it  seems,  nourished  a  profound  resentment  against  the  court  of 
France,  while  the  younger  allowed  himself  to  drift  into  its  service.  Tlie 
latter  accused  his  brother  of  a  parricidal  plot,  and  the  unhappy  Louis,  dragsed 
from  one  prison  to  another,  ended  by  dying  in  exile  at  Paris  in  1328.  Arew 
months  after,  the  old  count's  flame  flickered  out;  he  had  attained  the  age 
of  eighty-two. 

LOUIS  OF  NEVER8  AT  WAR  WITH  THE  PEOPLE 

The  longevity  of  the  later  sovereigns  of  Flanders  had  singularly  con- 
tributed to  weaken  the  government.  Guy  de  Dampierre  had  achieved  the 
throne  at  an  advanced  age,  and  Robert  of  B^thune  was  sixty-four  at  his 
succession.  Both  were  infirm  old  men  before  ceasing  to  reign,  and  the  enei;^ 
of  the  people  was  greater  than  that  of  the  ruler.  Out  of  this  grew  the  rapid 
propagation  in  certain  parts  of  the  country  of  a  spirit  of  local  independence 
and  an  animosity  towards  the  higher  classes.  Since  the  battle  of  Courtrai 
a  number  of  the  nobles  had  lived  shut  up  in  their  castles,  avoiding  participa- 
tion in  public  affairs;  while  the  tradespeople  and  the  craftsmen  ruled  the 
towns.  Ghent  almost  alone  possessed  a  powerful  aristocracy,  composed  of 
patrician  families,  which,  with  the  support  of  the  wealthy  middle  class,  kept 
the  people  within  bounds.  At  Bruges,  on  the  contrary,  the. ranks  of  the 
wealthy  were  swelled  by  artisans  and  the  lesser  bourgeoisie.  The  death  of 
Robert  of  B^thune  rendered  an  outburst  inevitable. 

His  grandson,  Louis  of  Nevers,  or  as  he  is  often  called  Louis  of  Cr6cy, 
was  only  eighteen  years  old  and  had  been  brought  up  in  France,  where  he 
possessed  the  counties  of  Nevers  and  Rhetel.  Scarcely  was  he  invested 
with  the  county  by  Philip  the  Tall,  his  father-in-law  (who  had  begun  by 
imprisoning  him  in  the  Louvre  until  he  renounced  all  pretension  to  Lule  and 
Douai),  when  he  presented  the  lordship  of  the  port  of  Sluys  to  his  great- 
uncle,  John  of  Naniur.  Thereupon  the  Brugeois,  all  of  whose  vessels  entered 
this  port,  indignant  at  I:>eing  exposed  to  taxation  by  that  prince,  attacked 
the  castle  of  Sluys,  carried  it,  and  imprisoned  John  himself.  This  riot  was 
followed  by  two  others.  Louis,  ignorant  both  of  the  country  and  of  his 
own  forces,  thrice  sold  to  the  city  a  complete  pardon,  profiting  by  the  inter- 
vals of  tranquillity  to  retire  to  his  comity  of  Ph6tel.  Thither  the  contempt 
of  the  people  followed  him,  and  the  factions  thereafter  recognised  no  further 
restraint. 

The  Communes  Defeated  at  Cassel  (AuguM  2Sthj  1328) 

In  1324  two  corps  of  the  army  of  the  bourgeoisie  departed  from  Bruges 
to  attack  the  castles  of  the  nobles  of  maritime  Flanders.  These  latter  pre- 
pared to  defend  themselves;  but  of  the  two  places  wherein  they  sought 
refuge  (Ghistelles  and  Ardcnbourg),  the  one  was  taken  and  the  other  rigor- 
ously blockaded.  Shortly  all  the  country  as  far  as  Dunkirk  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  popular  anny,  whose  leader  was  an  exile  from  Fumes,  by  name 
Nicholas  Zannekin.  The  pillaging  and  burning  of  castles  attested  to  the 
irritation  of  the  victors;  on  the  other  hand,  a  number  of  bourgeois  who  fell 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    BELGIUM    AND    FLANDERS 


S2l 


(133i-133fiA.D.] 

into  the  clutches  of  Rolx^'t  of  Ca.ssc],  uncle  to  tlie  young  count,  ended  on  the 
gallows.     As  in  all  civil  war,  the  hatred  w^aa  mutual  and  the  \nolence  equal. 

Louis  of  Nevers  then  returned  to  Flanders;  and,  supported  by  the  men 
of  Client,  he  at  first  obtaine*!  some  advantages  over  the  troops  of  the  people. 
But  having  marched  ujkjh  Courtrai  with  a  bcidy  of  about  four  hunched  cavaky 
to  assure  himself  of  that  to%vn,  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  attacked  by  five 
thousand  Brugeois.  Infuriated  Ijecause,  in  self-defence,  he  had  set  fire  to 
the  suburbs,  the  inhabitants  fell  u|)on  him,  mas.'yicred  a  uunilxT  of  his  nobles, 
took  him  prisoner  and  delivered  him  over  to  the  Bioigeois  (June  22nd,  1325). 
These  latter  carried  him  off  to  their  citj'  and  kept  him  captive  there  until 
the  end  of  the  year.  They  only  released  him  when  a  legate  of  the  holy  see 
launched  an  interdict  against  Flanders,  and  when  the  men  of  Ghent,  led  by 
Hector  Vilain,  had  been  victorious  in  some  slight  encounters. 

Louis  demanded  help  of  King  Philip  of  Valois,  complaining  that  he  was 
count  of  Flanders  in  name  only.  As  his  vassjil,  the  monarch  owed  him 
assistance:  he  raised  an  army,  which  was  joined  by  the  nobles  of  Flanders 
and  of  Hainault,  and  marched  upon  Cassel,  where  was  found  the  principal 
body  of  the  bourgeois  mihtla,  under  the  connnand  of  Zarmekin.  Twelve 
thousand  artisans,  or  peasants,  formed  these  troops,  which  liad  been  seasoned 
to  war  by  the  struggles  of  preceding  years. 

Far  from  refusing  to  give  battle,  they  awaited  the  Frenchj  and,  when 
these  had  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  of  Cassel,  the  intrepid  Zannekin 
fell  upon  their  camp.  The  attack  was  so  sudden  and  so  impetuous  that  the 
king  was  nearly  capturetl  anrl  his  army  was  thrown  at  first  mto  the  greatest 
disorder;  but  infenori(v  of  numlicrs  prevented  the  Flemings  from  following 
up  their  advantage.  They  soon  found  themselves  surrounded  on  all  sides; 
and  after  fighting  with  a  courage  amounting  almost  to  frenzy,  they  all 
perished  —  not  one  among  them  endeavouring  to  escape. 

Tliis  defeat  diseouraged  tlie  i)eople.  The  cities  which  had  taken  part  in 
the  war  surrendered.  Heavy  (>enalties  were  imposed  upon  them;  and  Louis, 
as  terrible  in  his  vengeance  as  he  had  been  weak  in  his  government,  executed 
the  leaders  of  the  vanquished  together  with  several  hundreds  of  those  who 
had  fought  under  their  banners,  Tliis  bloody  reaction  led,  if  not  to  tran- 
quillity, at  least  to  the  end  of  the  civil  war. 

Unfortunately,  the  Flemish  provinces  were  dragged  anew  into  a  European 
war  (1335).  The  English  monarch,  Edwarfl  III,  liad  already  claimed  the 
crown  of  France,  but  his  pretensions  had  been  set  aside  and  Philip  of  V^alois 
put  upon  the  throne.  Edward  finally  resolved  to  attack  his  enemy  upon 
the  continent;  and  he  sought  the  support  of  the  Belgian  princeji*.  But  the 
count  of  Flanders  evidenced  so  great  a  devotion  for  Philip  and  for  France 
that  it  seemed  impossible  to  alienate  him  from  his  lord. 

Disputes  having  arisen  l)etween  the  sailors  of  the  two  countries,  these 
served  Edward  as  a  pretext  to  interdict  the  exjxjrtation  from  England  of 
the  wool  necessary  to  the  drapers  of  Flanders  in  the  maimfacture  of  their 
clotlis.  The  Hemisli  cities  thus  saw  their  ftrineipiil  industries  threatened, 
and  alann  became  general.  Persuaded  by  their  entreaties,  Louis  made  ad- 
vances for  the  re-e^tablishment  of  trade;  Edward  resjxjnded  by  an  offer  of 
a  close  alliance  on  condition  that  he  should  abandon  France.  Trapped  thus 
Ijetweeii  the  interests  of  his  subjects  and  his  own  political  inclinations,  the 
count  could  not  bring  himself  to  change  sides.  He  looked  upon  himself 
always  as  a  subject  of  Philip  of  Valois;  and,  far  from  being  willing  to  abandon 
him,  he  would  not  even  consent  to  hold  a  neutral  position  between  the  two 
kings.    Commerce  thus  remained  at  a  standstill,  factories  were  closed,  and 


n.  W.  — TOU  Xltl.  T 


S«S  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[138^18iOA.D.] 

a  lai^  part  of  the  population  found  itself  without  bread.  When  matters 
were  at  their  worst,  Louis  assembled  his  vassals  "in  parliament"  to  consult 
as  to  what  should  be  done  for  the  people ;  but  the  onl^  remedy  was  to  treat 
with  England,  and  that  Louis  would  not  allow  mentioned.  He  even  went 
so  far,  some  time  afterwards,  as  to  have  arrested  and  beheaded  Sohier  le 
Courtroisin,  sire  de  Tronchiennes,  who  had  proposed  the  opening  of  nego- 
tiations with  Edward.  The  assembly  dissolved  without  havingoeen  able 
to  come  to  a  conclusion. 

The  English,  however,  disembarked  on  the  island  of  Cadsand  and  cut  to 
pieces  the  troops  of  the  seigneurs  who  guarded  the  coast  (this  in  November). 
Thereupon  the  men  of  Ghent  began  to  murmur  openly,  and  Jacob  van  Arte- 
velde,*  grandson  of  Sohier  and  one  of  the  wisest  among  the  leaders  of  tiie 
bourgeoisie,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  people  and  demanded  the  absolute 
neutrality  of  Flanders. 

VAN  ARTEVELDE  APPEARS 

The  efforts  of  the  coimt  to  overturn  the  national  resolution  proved  use- 
less. Artevelde,  nominated  Captain  of  Ghent,  soon  drew  over  the  other 
cities  to  his  party;  and,  displaying  as  much  capacity  as  vigour,  he  every- 
where checked  the  advances  of  the  prince  and  of  the  partisans  of  France. 

In  vain  did  Philip  of  Valois  send  troops;  in  vain  did  he  bribe  the  Fleminjgs 
with  offers  of  reimbursement  for  their  losses  through  extended  commereial 
privileges  with  France.  They  braved  his  soldiers,  they  scorned  his  offers; 
and  Louis,  urged  thereto  by  his  subjects,  himself  signed  a  provisoiy  treaty 
with  England.  After  this,  the  count  might  seek  in  vain  to  re-establish  his 
influence  over  his  subjects;  everjrwhere  he  found  the  boui^oisie  intractable; 
at  times,  menacing.  The  Brugeois  even  attempted  to  take  him  prisoner  at 
Dixmude,  and  he  had  scarcely  time  to  flee  to  St.  Omer. 

The  Flemings  were  beginning  to  wake  up.  It  was  understood  that  force 
alone  could  lead  to  recognition  of  the  rights  of  Flanders;  and  negotiations 
were  opened  with  Edward,  who  was  then  at  Antwerp.  These  negotiations 
were  not  restricted  to  an  alliance  with  England :  the  first  and  most  remark- 
able treaty  was  concluded  with  John  III,  duke  of  Brabant,  an  ally  of  the 
English  king.  It  was  a  confederation  between  Flanders  and  Brabant  founded 
upon  the  conmion  interests  of  the  two  states,  and  having  for  object  their 
re-imion  mto  a  single  body.  The  greatest  solemnity  was  observed  in  drawing 
up  this  act  of  ^liance  signed  by  seven  cities  and  forty  seigneurs. 

It  proved  more  difficult  to  force  upon  the  Flemings  the  alliance  with 
Edward,  half  of  the  nation  raising  scruples  against  taking  up  arms  against 
France.  They  had  vowed  fidelity  to  the  king,  and  even  the  pope  had  im- 
posed upon  them  the  fulfilment  of  this  promise  —  relying  upon  Philip's  vow 
to  undertake  a  new  crusade.  To  conquer  their  repugnance,  Van  Artevelde 
made  Edward  take  the  title  of  king  of  France,^  he  naving,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  certain  right  to  it.  Then  the  people  hesitated  no  longer.  Sixty  thousand 
foot  began  action  in  the  spring  (1340),  forced  the  French  out  of  Hainault, 

P  He  was  a  man  of  good  family,  his  father  had  been  sheriff  and  he  was  himself  a  wealthy 
member  of  the  clothoiaJcers'  guild.  Froissart  p  calls  him  a  brewer ;  the  fact  being  that  he  went 
to  the  brewers'  guild  later.] 

[■  Pirenne*  points  out  that  in  1328  William  de  Deken,  burgomaster  of  Bruges,  anticipating 
Artevelde,  had  already  offered  to  recognise  Edward  III  as  king  of  France  if  he  would  lend 
support  to  the  popular  party.  He  thinks  equally  local  motives  must  have  dictated  the  later 
English  alliances  of  Flemish  cities  under  Artevelde.  He  explains  Artevelde 's  motive  in  alliance 
aa  a  bold  stroke  to  secure  for  Ghent  a  supremacy  over  Flanders,  as  a  little  later  Bern  won  the 
predominance  over  the  other  Swiss  cantons.] 


EARLY   HISTORY    OF   BELGIUM   AND   FLANDERS 


323 


[1340-1345  A.x>.] 

and  at  once  returned  to  protect  their  coasts,  threatened  by  the  enemy's 
fleet.  Soon  aften^ards  this  fleet  attacked  that  of  Englan<l.  The  Enghsh 
prince,  who  had  aceeptad  combat  with  inferior  forces,  owed  his  victory  in 
part  to  the  assistance  of  the  Flemi.^h  marines.  The  French  na\'y  was  de- 
stroyed, and  Edward  entereii  triumphant  into  the  port  of  Sluys  on  the  24th 
of  June,  1340. 

The  confederates  having  immediately  undertaken  the  siege  of  Toumay, 
which  was  long  protracted  by  the  vigorous  resistance  of  the  inhabitants 
and  the  garrison.  PhiHp  sent  his  sister,  Joan  of  Valois,  to  negotiate  a  truce; 
and  she  concluded  it  abruptly  in  the  month  of  September.  The  conditions 
of  this  truce  were  advantageous  to  the  Flemings.  Philip  proclaimed  pardon 
for  the  past  and  remitted  all  sums  due  since  previous  treaties,  then  repre- 
senting more  than  thirty  millions.  The  orignial  deeds  were  dehvered  to 
Jacob  van  Artevelde,  who  destroyed  them  publicly  amid  cries  of  joy  from 
the  crowd. 

The  remainder  of  this  famoas  man's  career  offers  a  picture  perhaps  less 
brilliant,  though  not  less  remarkable.  After  having  conquered  for  his  country 
a  glorious  and  firm  position,  the  captain  attempted  to  consolidate  the  popular 
government.  The  three  principal  cities,  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Ypres,  exer- 
cised the  sovereignly  in  (lie  name  of  the  country.  The  trades  ilomiiiufed  in 
the  last  two  and  openly  supported  Artevelde;  but  he  met  vfith  more  oppo- 
sition in  his  own  district,  where  the  wealthy  class  exercised  a  powerful  influ- 
ence. Nearly  overthrown  by  this  class,  he  was  only  saved  by  the  devotion 
of  the  people,  who  took  up  arms  for  him. 

Followmg  this  revolution  he  organised  upon  a  new  basis  the  magistracy 
of  Ghent,  giving  the  preponderance  of  power  to  the  guilds  over  the  wealthy 
citizens.  His  authority  then  seemed  without  limit:  out  it  was  merely  that 
of  the  head  of  a  partv.  He  boasted  of  ruling  all  by  persuasion;  nevertheless, 
he  was  not  able  to  abstain  from  the  uf*e  of  arms,  nor  to  enchain  the  violence 
of  popular  passions.  Each  trade  Conned  an  indeiientlent  boily  in  the  city, 
as  each  city  formed  an  independent  boily  in  the  country.  At  Bruges  the 
weavers  massacrwl  the  brokers;  in  West  Flanders  the  inhabitants  of  Ypres 
plundered  Poperinghe.  At  Ghent  the  weavers  and  the  fullers  gave  combat 
upon  the  occasion,  and  in  the  j)lace  of  the  Friday  marketing  five  hundred 
corp^  were  left  on  the  scene. 

The  captain,  upon  encountering  these  obstacles,  experienced  that  secret 
irritation  which  tends  to  push  beyond  their  real  end  most  authors  of  political 
conunotions.  Weary  of  the  continual  struggle  with  Count  Louis,  whose 
authority,  however  despiseil,  was  still  legal/ he  ended  by  attemptins  to 
dethrone  him  and  to  put  a  son  of  Etiward  in  his  place.  This  proceeding, 
however,  was  repugnant  to  the  moral  S4mse  of  the  bourgeoisie  of  Ghent. 
They  could  not  bring  themselves  to  consent  to  it  imtil  it  became  obvious 
that  the  count  absolutely  refused  to  detach  himself  from  the  French  cause, 
A  sovereign  was  necessary  to  the  country  and  Artevelde  saw  no  other  alter- 
native than  to  propose  to  the  people  this  change  of  princes.  It  proved  his 
death.  The  idea  of  substituting  a  foreign  family  for  the  descendants  of  the 
okl  counts  offended  even  the  most  discontented.  Artevclde's  enemies  profited 
by  it  to  accuse  him  of  treason.  A  journey  of  some  days'  duration  to  Bruges 
and  to  Ypres  prevented  his  perceiving  the  storm  gathering  against  him  at 
Ghent./ 

The  account  of  Artevelde's  personality  and  of  his  death  is  most  vividly 
given  by  Sir  John  Froissart,  who  was  his  contemporary  and  also  a  native  of 
the  Low  Countries;  it  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  Froissart  was  an 


9S4  THE   HISTOBY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1S45A.S.] 

aristocrat  thoroughly  out  of  sympathy  with  the  creed  and  partisans  of  this 
shrewd  burgher  whom  his  people  had  been  wont  to  call  k  aaige  hommeJ^ 

FROI8SART*8  ACCOUNT  OF  ARTEVELDE  AND   HIS  DEATH 

There  was  in  Ghent  a  man  that  had  formerly  been  a  brewer  of  methe^in, 
called  Jacob  van  Artevelde,  who  had  ^ined  so  much  popular  favour  and 
power  over  the  Flemings  that  eveiythmg  was  done  according  to  his  will. 
He  commanded  in  all  Flanders,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  with  such 
authority  that  no  one  dared  to  contradict  his  orders.  Whenever  he  went 
out  into  the  city  of  Ghent,  he  was  attended  by  three  or  four  score  armed 
men  on  foot,  among  whom  were  two  or  three  that  were  in  his  secrets;  if  he 
met  anv  man  whom  he  hated  or  suspected,  he  was  instantly  killed;  for  he 
had  ordered  those  who  were  in  his  confidence  to  remark  whenever  he  should 
make  a  particular  sign  on  meeting  any  person,  and  to  murder  him  directly 
without  fail,  or  waiting  further  orders,  of  whatever  rank  he  might  be.    This 

happened  very  frequently;  so  that 
many  principal  men  were  killed; 
and  he  was  so  dreaded  that  no  one 
dared  to  speak  against  his  actions, 
or  scarce  to  contradict  him,  but  all 
were  forced  to  entertain  him  hand- 
somely. 

He  had  also  in  every  town  and 
castlewick,  through  Flanders,  ser- 
geants and  soldiers  in  his  pay,  to 
execute  his  orders,  and  serve  him  as 
spies,  to  find  out  if  any  were  in- 
.B  clined  to  rebel  against  him,  and  to 

^  give  him  information.    The  instant 

Ancient  Stkekt  Lamp  ok  Antwerp  he  knCW  of  any  SUch  being  in  a  tOWn, 

he  was  banished  or  killed  without 
delay,  and  none  were  so  great  as  to  be  exempted,  for  so  early  did  he  take 
such  measures  to  guard  himself.  At  the  same  time  he  banished  all  the  most 
powerful  knights  and  esquires  from  Flanders,  and  sucli  citizens  from  the 
principal  towns  as  he  thought  were  in  the  least  favourable  to  the  count, 
seized  one-half  of  their  rents,  giving  the  other  moiety  for  the  dower  of  their 
wives  and  support  of  their  chilclren. 

To  speak  the  truth,  there  never  was  in  Flanders,  or  in  any  other  country, 
coimt,  duke,  or  prince  who  had  such  perfect  command  as  Jacob  van  Artevelde. 

When,  on  his  return,  he  came  to  Ghent,  about  midnlay  [May  2nd,  1345], 
the  townsmen,  who  were  informed  of  the  hour  he  was  expected,  had  assembled 
in  the  street  that  he  was  to  pass  through;  as  soon  as  they  saw  him,  they 
began  to  murmur,  and  put  their  heads  close  together,  saying,  "  Here  comes 
one  who  is  too  much  the  master,  and  wants  to  order  in  Flanders  accord'mg 
to  his  will  and  pleasure,  which  must  not  be  longer  borne."  With  this  they 
had  also  spread  a  rumour  through  the  town  that  Jacob  van  Artevelde  had 
collected  all  the  revenues  of  Flanders,  for  nine  years  and  more;  that  he  had 
usurped  the  government  without  rendering  an  account,  for  he  did  not  allow 
any  of  the  rents  to  pass  to  the  count  of  Flanders,  but  kept  them  securely 
to  maintain  his  owti  state,  and  had,  during  the  time  above  mentioned,  re- 
ceived all  fines  and  forfeitures:  of  this  great  treasure  he  had  sent  part  into 
England.    This  information  inflamed  those  of  Ghent  with  rage;  and,  as  he 


EARLY   HISTORY    OF   BELGIUM   AND    FLANDEHS  8M 

PS4S  A.s.] 

was  rifling  up  the  streets,  he  perceived  that  there  was  something  in  agitation 
against  him ;  for  those  who  were  wont  to  salute  him  very  respectfully  now 
turned  their  backs,  and  went  into  their  houst*s.  He  Ix^an^  therefore,  to 
suspect  all  was  not  as  usual ;  and  as  soon  as  he  had  dismounted,  and  entered 
his  hotel,  he  ordered  the  doors  and  windows  to  be  shut  and  fastened. 

Scarcely  had  liis  ser\'ant.s  done  this,  wlien  the  stnM^t  was  filled  from  one 
end  to  the  other  with  all  sorts  of  peoj^le,  but  especially  by  the  lowest  of  the 
mechanics.  His  mansion  was  surrounded  on  every  side,  attacked  and  broken 
into  by  force.  Those  within  did  all  tliey  could  to  defend  it,  and  killed  an<l 
wounded  many;  but  at  hu^t  they  could  not  hold  out  against  such  vigorous 
attacks,  for  three  parts  of  the  town  were  there.  When  Jacob  van  Artevelde 
saw  what  efforts  were  making,  and  how  hardly  he  was  pushed,  he  came  to  a 
window,  and,  with  his  Jieaii  uncovered,  began  to  use  humble  and  fine  language, 
saying: 

"Sly  good  people,  what  aileth  you?  Why  are  you  so  enrage<i  against 
me?  By  what  means  can  I  have  incurred  your  displeasure?  Tell  me,  and 
I  will  conform  myself  entirely  to  your  wills."  Those  who  had  heard  him 
made  answer,  as  with  one  voice,  "We  want  to  have  an  account  of  the  great 
treasures  you  have  made  away  with,  without  any  title  of  reason." 

Artevelde  replied  in  a  soft  tone:  ** Gentlemen,  be  assured  that  I  have 
never  taken  anything  from  the  treasures  of  Flanders;  and  if  you  will  return 
quietly  to  your  homos,  and  come  here  to-morrow  morning,  I  will  be  provided 
to  give  so  gooil  an  account  of  them,  ihni  you  must  reasonably  Ix;  sjitisfied.*' 
But  they  cried  out,  "No,  no,  we  nuist  have  it  directly,  you  shall  not  thus 
escape  from  us;  for  we  know  that  you  have  emptied  the  treasury,  and  sent 
it  to  England,'  without  our  knowledge:   you  therefore  shall  suffer  death." 

When  he  heard  this,  he  clapped  his  hands  together,  began  to  weep  bitterly^ 
and  said:  ** Gentlemen,  such  as  I  am,  you  yourselves  have  made  me:  you 
formerly  swore  you  would  protect  me  against  all  the  world;  and  now,  without 
any  reason,  you  want  to  murder  me.  You  are  certainly  masters  to  do  it,  if 
you  please;  for  I  am  but  one  man  against  you  all.  Think  better  of  it,  for 
the  love  of  GckI:  recollect  former  times,  and  consider  how  many  favours  and 
kindnesses  I  have  conferrctl  upon  you.  You  wish  to  give  me  a  sorry  recom- 
pense for  all  the  generous  deeds  you  have  experienced  at  my  hands.  You 
are  not  ignorant  that,  when  commerce  was  dead  in  this  country,  it  was  I 
who  restored  it,  I  afterwards  governed  you  in  so  peaceable  a  manner  that 
under  my  administration  you  had  all  things  according  to  your  wishes  —  corn, 
oats,  riches,  and  all  sorts  of  merchandise  which  have  made  you  so  wealthy." 
They  began  to  bawl  out,  "Come  dowTi,  and  do  not  preach  to  us  from  such 
a  height;  for  we  will  have  an  account  and  statement  of  the  great  treasures 
of  Flanders,  which  you  have  governed  too  long  without  rendering  any  account; 
and  it  is  not  proper  for  an  officer  to  receive  the  rents  of  a  lord,  oi*  of  a  country, 
without  accounting  for  them." 

When  Jacob  var*  Artevelde  saw  that  he  could  not  appease  or  calm  them, 
he  shut  the  win<low,  and  intentled  getting  out  of  his  house  the  back  way,  to 
take  shelter  in  a  church  adjoining;  but  his  hotel  was  already  broke  into  on 
that  side,  and  upwards  of  four  hundred  were  there  calling  *>ut  for  him.  At 
last  he  was  sc^ized  by  them,  and  slain  without  mercy;  his  death-stroke  was 
^ven  him  bv  a  saddler,  called  Thomas  Deiiys.  In  this  manner  did  Jacob 
van  Artevelde  end  his  days,  who  in  his  time  had  been  complete  master  of 
Flanders.     Poor  men  first  raised  him,  and  wicked  men  slew  him.P 

[*  Blok,^  who  Cidls  Artevelde  "  the  f^reateat  Fleming  of  all  timefi/'  smjr  that  this  cbarge  was 
'absuid."] 


»«  THE  HISTOBY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 


KERVIJN  DE  LETTENHOVE'S   ESTIMATE   OF  VAN   ARTEVELDE 

The  power  of  Jacob  van  Artevelde  lasted  less  than  ten  years,  and  yet  in 
our  memories  it  seems  lo  fill  the  history  of  the  Middle  A^;  this  is  because 
his  genius  stirred  more  ideas,  excited  more  hopes,  conceived  more  profound 
designs  than  the  men  who  had  preceded  him  during  several  centuries.  After 
having  dared  to  dream  of  the  reconciliation  of  Europe  by  peace  and  liberty; 
after  contriving  to  unite  in  a  single  confederation  all  the  neighbouring  prov- 
inces of  Flanders,  he  died  at  last,  struck  down  by  the  armslie  had  endeav- 
oured to  break,  by  the  resentment  of  the  private  hatreds  and  jealousies  he 
had  attempted  to  stifle  in  the  unity  of  the  development  of  human  civilisation. 
He  had  thought  that  one  lever  was  sufficient  to  raise  the  world,  but  the  mission 
he  had  imposed  on  himself  did  not  conduct  him  to  triumph;  he  is  but  its 
martyr. 

If  Jacob  van  Artevelde  had  lived  a  few  years  longer,  if  he  had  been  able 
by  his  own  coimsels  to  re-establish  on  a  national  basis  the  authority  of  the 
young  prince  who  was  bom  at  Male,  what  might  not  have  been  his  influence 
on  the  vast  movement  which  broke  out  under  King  John?  Did  not  a  re- 
markable s3mfiptom  of  a  pacific  and  industrial  union  already  exist  in  the  man- 
ifestation of  those  common  sjonpathies  for  the  traditions  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  IX? 

England,  at  least,  preserved  some  traces  of  the  bonds  which  emsted 
between  one  of  her  princes  and  "  the  wise  citizen  of  Ghent."  Edward  III,  on 
becoming  his  ally,  had  subjected  his  own  greatness  and  renown  to  the  au- 
thority of  van  Artevelde's  prudence.^  It  is  to  the  period  of  Jacob  van  Arte- 
velde that  the  foundation  of  the  constitutional  nue  belongs,  as  it  exists  to 
this  day  in  England,  with  the  triple  direction  of  the  government  by  king, 
peers,  and  commons. 

The  voice  of  Artevelde  had  also  resounded  beyond  the  Alps,  as  far  as 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  which  he  had  once  visited  when  still  young  and  un- 
known; the  echo  of  the  ruins  of  Rome  answered  to  that  of  his  tomb.  A 
poet,  who,  in  the  silence  of  the  nights,  held  sublime  dialogues  with  the  heroes 
of  ancient  times,  had  traversed  all  Flanders,  enriched  by  the  industry  of  her 
weavers,  and  the  city  of  Ghent,  so  proud  of  being  able  to  attribute  its  origin 
and  its  name  to  the  conquests  of  Csesar.  Returning  to  his  country  and 
struck  with  shame  at  sight  of  the  ancient  queen  of  the  world  humiliated 
and  enslaved,  he  welcomed  with  joy  those  accents  of  liberty  which  moimted 
from  the  banks  of  the  Schelde  to  the  summit  of  the  Capitol,  where  his  brow 
had  been  encircled  with  the  laurel  of  Virgil. 

"  Hear  this  sound  which  comes  to  us  from  the  West;  the  future  is  still 
veiled  by  clouds.  Flanders,  who  seems  never  to  cease  fighting,  allies  herself 
with  the  peoples  of  England  and  Germany;  from  the  Alps  to  the  ocean  all 
is  in  agitation.  Ah,  that  we  might  find  here  the  signal  of  our  deliverance! 
Italy,  imhappy  country,  doomed  to  eternal  sorrows,  once  it  was  thou  alone 
who  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  nations  with  thine  arms,  and  behold  thou 
art  silent  to-day  while  the  fate  of  the  universe  is  decided." 

Petrarch  remembered  Jacob  van  Artevelde  when  he  addressed  his  famous 
"admonitory  epistle  concerning  the  struggle  for  liberty  "  to  Cola  di  Rienzi. 

f'  It  is  said  that  Artevelde  first  suggested  the  quartering  of  the  Ulies  of  France  in  the  Eng- 
lish king's  arms ;  and  that  Edward  III  addressed  him  as  cher  compare  and  grmid  ami.  In  spite 
of  this  royal  favour,  however,  Artevelde  worked  chiefly  for  the  neutrality  and  independence  of 
his  country.] 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    BELGIUM   AXD    FLANDERS  8«7 

After  Artevelde's  death  the  blood-Rtained  robe  of  Cspsar  stirred  the  spirit 
of  the  people  more  forcibly  than  all  the  splendour  of  his  genius.  Scarcely 
had  the  men  of  Ghent  learnetl  that  Louia  of  Nevers,  congratulating  himself 
on  the  success  of  the  most  o<lious  treason,  was  sending  his  knights*  to  occupy 
Hulst  and  Axel,  when  they  ran  to  anns  to  repel  hmi.  Axel  was  at  once 
taken  by  assault  and  Hulst  shared  the  same  fate.  The  militia  of  Ghent, 
supported  by  those  of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  n?solved  to  pursue  their  expedition 
in  the  direction  of  Dendermonde.  Their  number  and  courage,  the  enthu- 
siasm which  anlmat^^d  them,  their  ardour  to  avenge  the  death  of  Jacob  van 
Artevelde  on  the  men  whom  they  accused  of  having  prepared  it,  rendered 
their  power  irresistible.  The  count  of  Flanders  hastened  to  flee  to  France, 
whilst  the  duke  of  Brabant  hurried  to  the  camp  of  the  Flemish  communes 
to  renew  his  oaths  of  alliance  and  interpose  his  mediation.*^ 

THE   REIGX  OF  LOUIS  OF  MALE    (1346-1384) 

Dendermonde  was  pillaged  by  the  people  of  Ghent  in  punishment  for 
having  manufactured  cert-ain  kinds  of  cloth,  the  monopoly  of  which  Ghent 
reserved  to  itself.  Thus  the  communes  arrogated  to  themselves  even  that 
right  of  vengeance  and  of  private  quarrel  which  the  nobles  hati  lost  little  by 
little  through  the  influence  of  civilisation.  The  chaotic  condition  of  Flanders 
served  only  to  gain  for  her  the  hostility  of  the  neighbouring  princes;  in  her 
state  of  anarchy  the  death  of  Count  Louis,  who  survived  only  a  short  time 
Jacob  van  Artevelde,  was  perhaj)s  a  blessing.  Faithful  always  to  France, 
he  hatl  gone  to  join  Philip's  army,  threatened  anew  by  Edward.  He  found 
death  (1346)  on  the  bloody  field  of  Cr<5cy,  whence  the  king  of  England  went 
his  way  victorious. 

He  had  left  a  son,  bearing  the  name  of  his  father,  and  only  sixteen  years 
of  age.  This  young  prince  was  then  in  France,  where  he  had  won  his  spurs 
against  the  English  at  Cr^'cy;  but  Flanders  did  not  hesitate  to  recognise  him 
as  her  sovereign.  The  three  principal  cities,  however,  retained  the  direction 
of  public  affairs  during  his  minority.  They  vigoroasly  preserved  their  union 
with  the  king  of  England,  and  a  project  was  formed  to  marry  the  count  to  the 
daughter  of  Edward.  But  the  young  prince  obstinately  refused  to  ally  himself 
with  the  family  of  his  father's  enemy.  In  fear  of  being  constrained  thereto  he 
escaped  from  Flanders  directly  after  the  betrothal  ceremonies,  and  fie<l  into 
France.  Shortly  afterwards  he  married  MargunM.  of  Brabant,  second  duughter 
of  Duke  John  III,  who  ha<i  abandoned  Edward  to  ally  himself  with  France. 

But  the  Flemings,  irritateil  at  this  n^arriage,  sustained  only  the  more 
ardently  the  cause  of  the  English  king.  They  ravaged  the  frontiers  of  Artois, 
and  a  great  body  of  the  niiJitia  of  Ghent,  commanded  by  Captain  Gilles  de 
Rypergherste,  a  weaver,  completely  put  to  rout  the  French  troops  sent  to 
besiege  Cassel.  Meanwhile  Edward  blockaded  the  city  of  Calais,  to  whose 
surrender  he  attached  the  greatest  importance;  Philip  of  Valois  collected  an 
army  to  march  against  him,  but  was  obliged  to  retreat,  having  accom|:ilished 
nothing.     A  treaty  between  the  two  kings  suspended  hostilities  for  a  time. 

The  Brugeois  began  to  be  divideil,  and  the  wealthy  classes  to  grow  weary 
of  the  domination  of  the  artisans.  Count  Louis  was  wist*  enough  to  profit 
by  these  divisions  to  attach  the  town  to  his  party.  He  ha*^l  been  born  near 
Bruges  (in  the  castle  of  Male,  whence  his  surname),  and  he  promised  to  take 
up  his  rej^idenc-e  there.  Differences  thus  came  up  among  the  confederates, 
and  all  maritime  Flanders  having  embraced  the  cause  of  the  count,  Ghent 
and  Ypres  were  obliged  to  join  him  (1348).     Louis,  with  an  address  and 


S28  THE   HISTOBY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

finnness  beyond  his  years,  seized  every  occasion  to  re-establish  the  power 
weakened  in  previous  reigns.  He  made  himself  feared  without  sheddii^^ 
over  much  blood,  and  had  the  wisdom  to  adopt  a  policy  conformable  to  the 
needs  of  the  cotmtry,  declaring  himself  neutral  between  France  and  England. 

His  resolution  was  manifested  upon  the  death  of  Philip  of  Valois  (1351), 
when  he  refused  to  do  homage  to  King  John  unless  he  restored  to  the  Fleming 
those  cities  lost  to  them  during  long  years.  Negotiations  begun  with  this 
end  in  view  led  to  no  result.  Charles  the  Wise,  who  succeeded  to  the  throne 
of  France,  comprehended  the  advisability  of  rendering  justice  to  a  people 
and  to  a  prince  whose  resentments  hacl  not  decreased  with  time.  Lille, 
Douai,  B^thime,  Hesdin,  Orchies,  and  other  less  important  places  were  ceded 
to  the  coimt  in  1369;  and  for  this  price  his  only  daughter  Mar^ret  became 
the  wife  of  Philip  of  Burgundy,  one  of  the  king's  brothers.  The  duke  of 
Brabant,  Louis'  orother-in-law,  with  whom  he  had  had  sharp  disputes  fol- 
lowed by  open  war,  was  forced  in  1357  to  cede  to  him  Antwerp. 

But  in  the  midst  of  prosperity  the  count  was  poor.  It  was  the  state  of 
most  of  the  prmces  of  that  period:  the  greater  part  of  their  revenues  accrued 
from  taxes  and  dues.  They  thus  fell  into  dependence  on  the  communes, 
and  therein  lay  perhaps  the  principal  cause  of  the  weakness  of  their  govern- 
ment. Twice  Louis  went  bankrupt,  and  the  people  paid  his  debts.  A  third 
demand  for  subsidies  brought  forth  murmurs  from  the  citizens  of  Ghent. 
The  "White  Caps"  (such  was  the  name  they  went  by)  let  slip  no  occasion 
to  foment  strife;  and  the  count  having  granted  permission  to  the  town  of 
Bruges  to  open  up  a  canal  to  the  Lys,  they  atta-cked  the  workmen  and  dis- 
persed them.  All  effort  on  the  part  of  the  influential  middle  classes  to  prevent 
a  civil  war  proved  futile. 

Attacked  upon  all  sides  the  nobles  took  up  arms  in  their  own  defence; 
but  their  numbers  proved  too  small  to  hold  the  country  and  the  majority 
of  them  sought  refuge  in  the  city  of  Oudenarde,  which  became  their  head- 
quarters. Besieged  there  by  sixty  thousand  soldiers  of  the  communes,  they 
defended  themselves  vigorously  until  the  duke  of  Burgundy  came  to  inter- 
fere between  the  count  and  the  people.  A  temporary  reconciliation  was 
effected,  but  the  white  caps  having  taken  Oudenarde  by  surprise  after  the 
departure  of  the  nobles,  the  quarrel  broke  out  anew.  Bruges  thereupon 
withdrew  from  the  alliance  with  Ghent  and  opened  its  gates  to  Louis  of 
Male,  though  not  without  internal  dissension  and  new  massacres  (1380). 

Over  the  whole  country,  combat,  attack,  and  siege  shed  patriotic  blood. 
In  the  meanwhile  the  citizens  of  Ghent,  whose  animosity  bade  fair  to  eternalise 
the  war,  were  beginning  to  pay  dearly  for  the  blood  they  had  caused  to  flow; 
they  lost  a  battle  at  Nevele  (1381),  and  were  abandoned  by  all  the  other 
communes.  The  count's  soldiers  succeeded  in  blockading  the  city  in  the 
midst  of  a  conquered  province:  soon  provisions  gave  out;  indecision  and 
discouragement  crept  in  among  the  hitherto  haughty  population. 

PHILIP  VAN  ARTEVELDE  CHOSEN  AS  LEADER  (1381) 

It  was  then  that  the  leaders  offered  the  command  to  Philip  van  Artevelde, 
son  of  him  whose  name  was  still  dear  to  Flanders.  But  the  new  captain,  a 
stranger  to  the  profession  of  arms  and  finding  affairs  in  such  a  desperate 
state,  seemed  himself  overcome  with  terror  by  the  fate  which  menaced  the 
inhabitants.  He  counselled  them  to  surrender  to  the  count  and  went  himself 
to  plead  for  them,  consenting  to  every  sacrifice  on  condition  that  no  blood 
should  be  shed. 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF   BELGirM    AND    FLANDERS  3«9 

[1881-1S83  A.i>.] 

liouis  demandefl  that  the  citizens  should  siirrenrler  to  him  unconditionally 
and  that  they  should  come  to  him  outside  their  walls,  barefoot  and  with  conla 
around  their  necks. 

Philip  van  Artevelde,  altliough  educated  to  inaction^  had  from  the  first 
day  of  his  command  proved  his  character  to  be  not  without  vigour:  the  ex- 
tremity in  which  he  fouml  himself  gave  birth  to  an  unaccustometl  courage 
and  energy.  He  returned  to  Ghent,  assembled  the  people,  "of  whom  a 
large  part  had  no  longer  any  bread/'  and  having  reportetl  the  result  of  the 
conference  to  the  count  he  interrupted  the  wailings  of  the  crowd  by  ex- 
horting them  to  chfK)S<»  bet\ve<ni  death,  submission,  and  a  desiierate  attack; 
their  choice  was  soon  iletermined  upon,  their  pride  and  resentment  blinding 
them  to  the  inferiority  of  their  numbers.  Of  all  Ghent's  valiant  defenders, 
five  thousand  alone  remained;  these  set  out  with  the  young  leader  to  attack 
Louis  of  Male  within  the  walls  of  Bniges;  the  citizens  closed  the  gates,  re- 
solved to  bum  their  city  and  bury  themselves  in  it3  ruins,  if  their  comrades 
failed  of  \ictory. 

It  was  on  the  3rd  fif  May,  during  the  procession  of  the  Eucharist  at  Bruges, 
at  which  the  count  and  nearly  all  his  nobles  assisted,  that  the  last  army  of 
Ghent  approached  the  rival  city. 

Louis  and  his  knights,  transport-ed  with  indignation  at  the  news  of  the 
approach,  hurried  out  of  the  city,  followed  by  a  number  of  the  people,  and 
precipitated  themsf.4ves  upon  their  adversaries.  The  latter,  calm  and  reso- 
lute, ea.sily  sustained  the  shock  of  so  confused  and  disorderly  a  nuiltitude. 
All  gave  way  before  them,  and  after  a  short  combat  Artevelde  entered  tri- 
umphant into  the  gates  of  Bruges,  where  the  smaller  guilds  came  to  join  him. 
The  fugitive  count  with  difficulty  found  refuge  in  the  house  of  a  jxtor  widow, 
and  the  next  morning  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the  town. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ROOSEBEKE,  AND  FALL  OF  THE  GUILDS  (1382) 

For  the  moment  this  prodigious  !?uccess  seemed  to  have  re-<*stablished 
the  superiority  of  Ghent,  and  uearty  all  Flanders  took  up  anew  the  cause  of 
this  ptjwerful  conmiune  new-risen  in  all  it.s  might  ilcsptte  numerous  rcvers*^^; 
but  alre^idy  a  new  storm  was  gathering  in  toe  tlistancc.  Louis,  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  Paris,  had  found  the  young  king,  Charles  YJ,  disposed  to 
espouse  his  cause,  and  that  very  year  the  French  army  advance*!  along  the 
L^s,  le<l  by  the  monarch  himself.  The  leaders  of  Ghent  marched  to  meet 
him  with  forty  thousand  men  —  all  that  the  exhaustion  of  the  city  and  the 
ill-will  of  a  certain  s<'ction  of  the  country  would  permit  him  to  gather.  He 
caniped  at  Rooselx»ke,  near  Roulers. 

The  two  armies  remained  several  days  in  their  positions  without  giving 
battle,  butj  Artevelde's  impetuous  character  could  not  brook  delay.  On  the 
27th  of  November  he  left  his  trenches  to  attack  the  royal  troops.  The  first 
shock  gained  him  some  advantage;  the  Breton  infantry  were  repulsed  and 
their  banner  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Flemings.  Soon,  however,  a  body  of 
cavalry  attacked  their  rear,  while  fresh  forces  were  brought  into  play  in 
advance.  After  a  furious  batlle,  which  lasted  much  longer  than  they  could 
have  foreseen,  Artevelde  and  half  of  his  forces  perisheu  before  the  French 
nobles,*  and  from  that  day  the  count's  standard  was  raised  anew  in  Bruges 
and  throughout  maritime  Flanders. 

['  "Thero  is  an  important  difference  between  the  two  great  leaders  from  the  race  of  Arte- 
velde. But  thoiiffh  til*'  fftther  iK-riHhed  miKemhly  at  ih©  handHof  a  mob,  while  the  son  fell  in 
Uonourablt*  conflict  a^Dst  a  foreign  foe»  the  sTrnpathy  of  jwRterity  Las  gone  out  towards  the 
father.*'  — Blok.*] 


880  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[Uas-18MA.aL] 

The  war  seemed  ended,  since  the  defeat  at  Rooeebeke  had  dispersed  the 
army  of  Ghent.  But  the  indomitable  courage  of  which  that  city  nad  ^ven 
so  many  proofs  did  not  desert  her  on  this  terrible  occasion.  Abuidoned, 
defeated,  without  leaders  and  without  resources,  the  tradesmen  of  Ghent 
still  harboured  no  thought  of  submission.  They  ^ve  the  command  of  their 
troop  to  Francis  Ackennan,  a  capable  and  intrepid  leader,  who  held  himsdf 
on  the  defensive  until  after  the  departure  of  the  French  army,  and  thereupcm 
commenced  hostilities  against  the  defenders  of  the  count,  llhe  winter  pamed 
in  continued  combats,  whence  those  of  Ghent  reaped  certain  advantages. 
In  the  spring  a  large  body  of  English  disembarked  at  Calais  and  united  willi 
Ackerman  to  besiege  Ypres,  but  Charles  VI  himself  marched  to  its  assist- 
ance. The  besieged  retired  without  combat  and  unpursued.  The  duke  of 
Burgundy,  who  already  regarded  Flanders  as  his  appanage,  prevented  the 
kingfrom  following  up  the  war  too  eagerly,  to  the  ruin  of  so  rich  a  country. 

The  count  of  Flanders  submitted  with  but  indifferent  grace  to  hb  hu- 
miliating position.  A  treaty  for  one  year  between  England  and  Ghent  was 
concluded,  in  spite  of  his  efforts,  in  October,  1382;  and  ne  died  a  few  months 
afterwards  (January  9th,  1384),  either  from  grief  which  hastened  his  end,  or, 
as  some  historians  say,  from  a  mortal  blow  which  he  had  received  during  an 
altercation  with  one  of  the  French  princes./ 

He  was  succeeded  as  count  of  Flanders,  Artois,  Nevers,  and  Rethel,  by 
Philip  of  Burgundy,  his  son-in-law.  The  people  were  divided  in  the  matter  of 
acknowledging  him,  but  after  the  murder  of  Ackerman,  resistance  ended  and 
with  it  what  is  called  "  the  heroic  age  of  the  guilds  of  Flanders."** 

With  Louis  of  Male  died  in  Flanders  the  house  of  Dampierre,  which  had 

fovemed  the  country  for  nearly  a  century,  alternately  piersecuted  by  tiie 
ings  of  France  and  supported  by  them  against  the  communes.  Under 
this  d3masty  —  whose  reign  had  been  signalised  by  so  much  commotion 
and  so  many  vicissitudes  —  the  authority  of  the  count,  undermined  on  the 
one  hand  by  the  jealousy  of  the  sovereign,  on  the  other  by  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  F)eople,  had  been  so  rapidly  weakened  that  no  tie  remained 
firm  enough  to  guarantee  the  unity  of  government,  the  submission  of  the 
cities,  and  the  peace  of  the  country.  At  this  crisis  Flanders  had  need,  not 
of  new  liberties  but  of  repose  and  order. 

Philip  of  Burgundy  [the  son-in-law  of  Louis],  with  whom  was  to  begin  a 
new  dynasty,  was  to  have  for  life-work  the  creation  of  a  more  fixed  order 
of  thin^,  the  consolidation  of  a  tottering  throne,  and  the  imposition  of  habits 
of  obedience  upon  the  almost  entirely  independent  communes,  whose  pride 
—  the  growth  of  many  victories  —  was  not  yet  weakened  by  reverses;  but 
it  was  scarcely  to  be  hoped  that  either  he  or  his  descendants  woidd  succeed 
in  re-establishing  a  firm  government  in  a  coimtry  where  popular  resistance 
had  been  so  frequently  victorious./ 


CHAPTER   III 


HOLLAND  UNDER  THE  HOUSES  OF  HAINAULT  AND  BAVARL\. 

[12W-1486  A.D.] 

The  general  features  of  Netherlandish  history  thus  far  have  been  the 
feuds  between  the  different  sections  of  this  small  portion  of  Europe.  The 
long  struggle  of  Holland  against  the  domination  of  Utrecht  had  left  Holland, 
Utrecht,  and  Gelderland  mutually  independent  in  the  upper  part  of  Lower 
Lorraine  at  the  opening  of  the  twelfth  century.  About  this  time  Lorraine 
had  begun  to  lose  prestige  and  the  name  itself  to  give  place  to  the  various 
synonyms  for  terrce  inferiores  or  Netherlands. 

Flanders  fought  Holland  for  centuries  over  the  islands  of  55ealand.  A 
still  longer  race-war  embittered  Holland  and  Friesland  along  the  borders 
of  Kennemerland,  West  Friesland,  and  Waterland.  Holland  and  Brabant 
had  fought.  Holland  had  joined  with  Gelderland  against  Utrecht.  Gelder- 
land, itself  a  rival  for  power  with  Holland,  had  given  sympathy  to  the  Hohen- 
staufeus  and  had  been  in  collision  with  the  Guelfic  dukes  of  Brabant;  her 
vassal  counts  of  Looz,  or  Loon,  and  of  Namur  were  in  frequent  war  with 
Flanders,  Hainault,  Limburg,  and  Brabant.  The  houses  of  Luxemburg  and 
Limburg  were  tmited  by  marriage  in  1246,  and  Count  Henry  IV  of  the  dual 
line  eventually  became  emperor  of  Germany  after  marriage  with  the  daughter 
of  the  duke  of  Brabant.  The  embroilments  with  England  and  France  nave 
been  indicated  in  the  previous  chapter,  where  the  progress  of  Flanders  has 
been  recounted  down  to  the  accession  of  the  house  of  Bm^undy  in  1384. 

It  is  now  necessaiy  to  bring  the  history  of  the  northern  provinces  down 
to  the  same  point.  We  left  their  chronicle  at  the  year  1299,  when  the  death 
of  John  I  brought  to  a  close  the  long  and  excellent  line  of  the  counts  of  Hol- 

8S1 


SS2  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[I9B0-18Ma.I>.] 

land.    The  end  of  this  dynasty  threw  the  coimtship  to  on  alien  family  —  that 
of  Avennes  in  the  county  of  Hainault. 

THE  SWAY  OF  HAINAULT  (129fr-1356) 

Though  the  name  of  Holland  far  outweighs  the  name  of  Hainault  to-day, 
for  a  long  period  the  latter  name  was  the  weightier  in  Europe,  and  the  house 
of  Hainault  ruled  over  Holland  for  more  than  half  a  century,  "Its  position 
in  Netherlandish  history,"  says  Blok,**  "has  been  rarely  understood. 

Though  now  partly  absorbed  in  Belgium  and  partly  in  France,  it  had 
an  independent  existence  as  early  as  the  seventh  century,  when  the  name 
first  appears.  Tlie  first  lords  of  the  country  WTre  elective;  in  the  ninth 
century  the  title  became  hereditarj-,  and  the  nobility  took  a  high  rank  in 
Europe,  especially  as  Hainault  was  the  home  of  chivalry  and  romance.  It 
was  indeed  the  native  land  of  the  chronicler  Froissart,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  the  characteristic  contempt  for  such  presimiptuous  and  independent 
burghers  as  those  led  by  the  Van  Arteveldes.  Tlie  contrast  of  Hainault 
with  commercial  Holland  was  extreme,  and  when,  in  1299,  they  were  united 
imder  one  ruler,  there  was  little  sympathy.  But  by  contagion  the  cities  of 
Hainault  began  to  §row  independent  and  the  people  to  rise  in  power,  es- 
pecially as  the  nobility  perished  rapidly  in  the  wars. 

We  have  already  described  in  Chapter  I  the  means  by  which  the  Hainault 
count,  John  of  Avennes,  became  heir  to  the  rule  of  Holland  on  the  failure 
of  the  lineage  of  Dirks,  by  the  death  of  his  cousin  John  I.  The  history  that 
follows  is  for  fifty-seven  years  the  history  of  Holland  under  the  family  of 
Hainault. 

There  was  at  first  some  friction  with  the  emperor  of  Germany,  who  claimed 
Holland  as  an  escheated  fief,  but  he  was  force<l  to  retreat  and  accept  a  mere 
homage.  The  bishop  of  Utrecht,  in  1301,  began  hostilities,  but  perished  in 
the  first  battle,  and  John's  brother,  Guy,  procured  the  election  to  the  see, 
ending  the  disturbances  in  that  direction. a 

The  Zealanders  now  prevailed  with  Guy,  son  of  the  old  count  of  Flanders, 
who  was  still  a  prisoner  in  France,  to  grant  them  large  reinforcements  of 
men  and  ships  for  the  purpose  of  invading  Walcheren.  This  he  was  now 
enabled  to  do,  since  the  obstinate  and  decisive  battle  fought  w^ith  the  French 
at  Courtrai  (1302)  had  i)laced  him  in  possession  of  Flanders,  which  they 
were  forced  entirely  to  evacuate. 

Count  John,  unable  from  the  feeble  state  of  his  health  to  undergo  the 
slightest  exertion,  in  1304  surrendered  the  whole  government  of  the  coimty 
into  the  hands  of  his  son  William,  now  his  heir,  and  retired  into  Hainault 
for  the  last  time.  The  greatest  zeal  in  the  service  of  their  country,  imder 
the  young  prince  William,  then  just  eighteen,  was  found  to  pervade  all  ranks 
of  men.  But  a  severe  battle  ensued,  in  which  the  Hollanders  sustained  a 
total  defeat. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  Holland  was  now  ovemm  by  Flemish  troops.  It 
seemed,  indeed,  as  if  the  county  had  wholly  fallen  a  prey  to  her  ancient  and 
inveterate  foe,  when  it  was  at  once  set  free  by  one  of  those  sudden  bursts  of 
enthusiastic  energy  which  are  characteristic  of  this  remarkable  people.  Witte 
van  Hamstede,  a  natural  son  of  Floris  V,  proceeded  with  a  few  followers  to 
Haarlem,  the  only  town  of  North  Holland  which  had  not  submitted  to  the 
Flemings.  From  hence  he  sent  letters  to  the  other  towns,  upbraiding  them 
with  cowardice,  and  earnestly  exhorting  them  to  resist  to  the  last  their 
insolent  enemies.    Within  two  days  the  burghers  of  Delft,  Leyden,  and 


HOLLAND  UNDER  THg  HOUSES  OF  HAINAULT  AND  BAVAEIA  333 

[13M  A.D.] 

Schiedam  rose  with  one  accord,  slew  or  drove  out  the  Flemish  garrisons, 
ami  Nicholas  van  Putten,  of  Dordrecht,  taking  advantage  of  the  occasion  to 
attack  the  Flemings  m  Soutli  Holland,  the  county  in  the  space  of  a  single 
week  was  nearly  cleared  of  her  invaders. 

The  recover}'  of  Holland  was  ere  long  followed  by  that  of  Zealand.  Count 
"William,  hearing  that  Guy  was  preparing  a  fleet,  sent  to  petition  for  suc- 
cours from  Philip  IV  of  France.  Philip  sent  sixteen  Genoese  and  twenty 
French  vessels  to  Holland,  under  the  command  of  Rinaldo  di  Grimaldi,  of 
Genoa.  Tlie  French  fleet  united  with  that  of  Holland  in  the  mouth  of  the 
Maas;   and  after  being  long  delayed  by  contrary  winds,  came  within  sight 


DlTTOH  SntF  OF  THB  FirTKEKTH  CkKTOTIT 


of  the  Flemish  ships,  eighty  *  in  miml>erj  on  the  evening  of  the  10th  of  August. 
1304,  not  far  from  Zicriksce.  The  HoUamlers,  encouraged  by  a  short  and 
spirit^  address  from  their  leader,^  with  hnul  shouts  of  "Holland,  Holland! 
Paris,  Paris!"  threw  a  shower  of  arrows  and  stones  among  the  enemy,  which 
the  Flemings  were  not  slow  in  returning. 

The  fight  was  continued  by  nuxtnlight  with  unremitting  fury  until  past 
midnight,  when  the  victor}^  proved  decisive  on  the  side  of  the  Hollanders, 
iinost  of  the  Flemish  ships  l^eing  either  captured  or  destroyed.'  Count  Guy 
*"Was  carried  prisoner  to  France.  The  Flemish  troops  now  left  the  siege  of 
Zieriksee  in  confusion  and  dismay,  concealing  themselves  for  the  most  part 
among  the  sandhills  of  Schouwen,  where  about  five  thousand  were  made 
prisoners. 

The  imprisonment  of  Count  Guy  in  France  terminated  the  war.  Count 
John  died  on  the  22nd  of  August,  1304.  John  of  Avennes  was  pious,  affable, 
humane,  and  beneficent,  but  indolent  and  irresolute;  negligent  in  the  a<i- 
ministration  of  justice,  and  averse  to  any  kind  of  business;  pa&sionately 
fond  of  hunting  an<l  hawking,  and  too  much  addicted  to  the  ple-asures  of  the 

'  It  If*  nnt  mcntione^I  of  lio^v  many  voksoU  tlic  Frencli  and  Holland  fleet  consisted  ;  but  it 
must  have  boon  inferior  tti  that  of  Flander>,  fiince  Melis  Stoke  <^  says  that  lie  thinks  "it  never 
happfnerl  before  that  ro  small  a  ntimlxr  should  figbt  with  so  great  a  force."  lie  says  also  that 
the  Flemings  were  ten  to  one  on  the  water,  and  turee  to  one  on  laud ;  but  this  assertion  seems 
hardly  worthy  of  credit.  The  Flemish  historian  of  later  times  tells  us,  on  the  contrary,  that 
the  Hollanders  excelled  their  adversaries  in  large  ships,  but  that  their  number  of  small  vesseU 
was  inferior. 

<  Instead  nf  the  long  and  somewhat  untimely  orations  which  hi^itnriann  are  apt  to  put  into 
the  mouth  of  their  heroes^  Melis  Stoke «"  attribute?  to  William  merely  the&e  few  wonls  :  **  Let  u« 
defend  ourselves  bravely,  I  see  the  battle  won  :  God  will  crown  him  who  dies  in  heaven,  and 
he  who  lives  will  be  lauded  through  the  whole  world." 

'  Meyer  i<  gives  the  number  of  captured  vessels  as  one  thousand,  but  it  is  scarcely  credible. 


S34  THE   HISTOBY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[IKM-UBBa.!!.] 

table;  " he  laughed  m  his  very  heart,"  says  hb  historian,  Helis  Stoke/  "when 
he  saw  a  jolly  company  assembled  round  him." 

William  III 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  propitious  peace  which  put  a  final  termination 
to  the  long  and  desolating  wars  between  Holland  and  Flanders/  William  HI 
(1304-1337)  strengthened  himself  still  further  by  alliances  with  the  families 
of  the  principal  sovereigns  of  Europe.  The  marriage  of  his  younger  dau^ter 
Philippa  to  Edward  III  of  England  in  1328  proved,  in  the  sequel,  an  alliance 
no  less  honourable  than  advantageous  to  Holland,  The  old  count  expired 
at  Valenciennes,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1337,  leaving  one  son,  William,  who 
succeeded  him,  and  four  daughters  —  Margaret,  empress  of  Germany. 
Philippa,  queen  of  England,  Joanna,  married  to  the  count  of  Jiilich,  and 
Elizabeth. 

William  III,  besides  the  appellation  of  Good,  or  Pious,  added  to  his  name^ 
was  termed  the  master  of  knighte  and  the  chief  of  princes;  he  was  brave 
in  war,  affable  to  his  subjects,  strict  in  the  administration  of  justice.  Yet 
was  his  government  not  altogether  a  happy  one  for  Holland:  he  depressed 
the  rising  industry  of  the  towns  by  the  demand  of  enormous  "  petitions," 
to  supply  a  lavish  and  often  unnecessary  expenditure;  and  he  is  accused 
of  sacrificing  the  interests  of  Holland  to  those  of  Hainault,  or,  as  his  con- 
temporary historian  Gulielmus  Procurator  «  expresses  it,  "  forsaking  the  fruit- 
ful Leah  for  the  more  beautiful  Rachel."  Added  to  this,  he  was  negligent 
of  the  commercial  interests  of  his  subjects.'  He  however  effected  a  measure 
of  great  advantage  to  Holland,  by  incorporating  with  it  the  lordships  of 
Amstel  and  Woerden  after  the  death  of  his  imcle,  Guy,  bishop  of  Utrecht; 
and  from  this  time  may  be  dated  the  rise  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam. 

F27/w7?n  IV 

The  first  act  of  William  IV's  government  was  to  renew  the  treaty  made 
by  his  father  with  Edward  of  England,  stipulating  that,  if  summoned  by 
the  emperor,  his  vicar,  or  lieutenant,  to  defend  the  boundaries  of  the  empire, 
he  woidd  supply  one  thousand  men-at-arms  to  be  paid  by  the  king,  at  the 
rate  of  fifteen  Florentine  guilders  or  forty-five  shillings  a  month,  each  man; 
and  in  case  of  necessity,  the  count  should  levy  one  thousand  additional 
men  at  arms  for  the  king's  service:  besides  the  expenses  of  the  troops,  Edward 
was  to  pay  the  count  the  sum  of  £30,000.  The  immense  sacrifice  at  which 
Edward  purchased  the  alliance  of  the  princes  of  the  Netherlands  cannot 
fail  to  excite  our  astonishment,  and  events,  in  fact,  proved  that  he  rated 
it  far  above  its  value. 

The  allied  armies  united  with  Edward  to  lay  siege  to  Cambray,  in  1338; 
but,  finding  that  its  reduction  would  prove  a  work  of  time,  the  king  broke  up 
the  siege  and  began  his  march  towards  Picardy.  Thither  the  count  of  Hol- 
land refused  to  follow  him,  asserting  that,  being  a  vassal  of  the  king  of  France, 

[*  These  wars  over  Zealand  bad  lasted  a  century  and  a  Lalf,  and  had  involved  most  of  the 
other  Netherlandish  states.  At  the  same  time  the  century-old  feud  between  the  Flemish  houses 
of  Avennes  and  Dampierre  came  to  an  end.  The  still  longer  war  between  Holland  and  Friesland 
was  more  of  a  race- war ;  in  1827  the  Frieslanders  acknowledged  William's  authority.] 

[■  Blok**  does  not  agree  with  this  severe  judpnent  of  William  III,  and  calls  him  "  by  far 
the  most  able  ruler  who  had  ever  held  his  seat  in  the  Binnenhof  at  the  Hague."  Blok  admits, 
however,  that  he  ruled  with  an  iron  hand,  though  he  insists  that  the  country  was  very  pros- 
perous under  him.] 


HOLLAND  UNDER  THE  HOUSES  OF  HAIXAULT  AND  BAVARIA  335 

[18S0-1346  A.D.] 

in  respect,  of  Hainault,  he  was  bound  rather  to  ciefend  than  assist  hi  invafling 
his  dominions.  Edward,  out  of  revenge,  took  his  way  throuph  Hainault, 
which  suffered  grievously  from  the  passage  of  his  troops.  William  imme- 
diately joined  the  French  cainp. 

In  the  next  year,  the  count  of  Holland,  exas]x*rated  at  Philip,  again 
returned  to  the  English  alliance,  aiul  declared  war  against  France,  which  he 
now  invaded.  In  compliance  with  the  solicitations  of  his  ally,  Edward 
embarked  on  the  22nd  of  June,  1339,  at  Dover,  and  fell  in  with  the  French 
fleet  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  large,  besidi^s  numerous  smaller  vessels, 
near  Sluys.  It  does  not  appear  that  either  William  or  the  Hollanders  had 
any  share  in  the  signal  victory  gained  by  the  English  and  Flemish  on  this 
occasion;  a  truce  for  nine  months  was  brought  about,  which  was  afterwards 
prolonged  for  two  years.  In  1345  the  count  declared  war  against  Utrecht 
and  laid  siege  to  the  city.  He  was  induced  to  conclude  a  truce,  to  which 
he  consented  only  on  condition  that  four  hundred  citizens  should  sue  for 
pardon,  kneeling  before  him,  barefoot  and  hareheadedf  mid  that  he  should 
receive  a  sum  of  t%venty  thousand  pounds  Flemish  for  the  expenses  of  the 
war.  When  we  call  to  mind  the  termination  of  a  like  siege  in  1138,  we  can- 
not help  being  struck  with  the  vast  change  which  hatl  taken  place  in  the  rel- 
ative situations  of  the  count  and  bishop. 

From  Utrecht.  William  returned  to  Dordrecht,  whence  he  sailed  shortly 
after  to  the  Zuyder  Zee,  for  the  purpos<*  of  chastising  the  Frieslantlers,  who, 
irritated  by  his  continual  and  hasLVj  exactions,  hail  taken  up  arms  against 
him  (1345).  A  storm  separating  his  ships,  the  troops  were  forced  to  land 
in  small  bodies  indifferent  partes  of  the  country:  the  Frieidanders^  attacking 
them  while  thus  divided,  slew  thirty-seven  hundred;  and  the  count  himself, 
with  some  of  his  nobility,  being  surrounded  by  a  great  number  of  the  enemy, 
was  killed  exactly  on  the  spot  where  the  ancient  sovereigns  of  Friesland 
were  accustomed  to  hold  their  supreme  court.  He  left  no  children  by  his 
wife,  Joanna  of  Brabant.  She  afterwards  married  Wenceslaus^  count  of 
Luxemburg,  into  whose  family  she  brought  the  rich  duchy  of  Brabant. 

William  IV  was  the  first  count  of  Holland  who  resumed  the  imperfect 
fiefs  which  tlevolved  to  the  county  in  default  of  direct  heirs,  anil  divided 
them  amongst  his  vasstds,  instead  of  granting  them  to  one  of  the  nearest 
collateral  heirs,  upon  payment  of  a  reasonable  pric^e,  as  his  predecessors  were 
accustomed  to  do.  It  is  under  the  government  of  this  count,  also,  that  we 
meet  with  the  first  mention  of  loans.  To  enable  him  to  carry  on  the  war 
with  Utrecht,  he  urged  the  towns  of  Holland  and  Zealand  to  lend  him  a  sum 
equivalent  to  three  hundred  Enj^lish  fx>unds,  promising  not  to  levy  any  more 
petitions  till  this  debt  were  paid.  The  towns  made  it  a  condition  of  their 
compliance  that  he  shoukl  grant  them  new  privileges,  and  required  that  the 
nobles  should  become  surety  for  him. 


Margaret  and  the  Disputed  Claim  (1345) 

William  dying  without  issue,  his  nearest  heirs  were  his  four  sisters;  and 
as  the  county  had  always  been  an  undivided  heredit-ary  state,  it  appeared 
naturally  to  devolve  on  Margaret  the  eldest,  wife  of  the  emperor  of  Germany. 
Edward,  king  of  England,  however,  the  husband  of  Philippa,  the  second 
daughter  of  William  III,  put  in  his  claim  to  a  share  of  the  inheritance. 

As  the  emperor  Ludwig  considered  himself  entitled  to  the  whole  of  the 
states,  whether  as  husband  of  the  elder  daughter  or  as  suzerain  of  a  fief 
escheated  to  the  empire  on  failure  of  direct  heirs,  he  delayed  not  to  invest 


836  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

his  wife  with  the  titles  of  countess  of  Holland,  Zealand,  Friesland,  and  Hu- 
uault.  In  spite  of  the  rigorous  season,  Margaret  repaired  in  the  month  <rf 
January  to  Holland,  to  secure  herself  in  possession  of  her  states  before  the 
king  01  England  could  gain  a  footing  there. 

The  f)eople  took  advantage  of  her  anxiety  to  be  acknowledged,  to  obtain 
some  desired  rights  and  iiiiimunities,  of  which  the  most  important  was  the 
engagement  she  entered  into  for  herself  and  her  successors  never  to  undertake 
a  war  beyond  the  limits  of  the  county,  imless  with  consent  of  the  nobles, 
commons,  and  "good  towns";  and  if  she  did  so,  none  should  be  bound  to 
serve  except  by  their  own  favour  and  freewill.  She  was  then  unanimously 
acknowledged  by  all  the  members  of  the  state,  but  shortly  after  recalled  by 
her  husband  to  Bavaria.  As  Ludwig,  the  eldest  son  of  the  emperor,  had  re- 
signed his  right  to  the  succession,  she  sent  her  second  son,  William,  then  in 
early  youth,  to  take  the  administration  of  affairs  during  her  absence,  sur- 
rendering to  him  Holland,  Zealand,  Friesland,  and  Hainault,  and  retaining 
for  herself  merely  a  pension  of  ten  thousand  crowns. 

After  the  death  of  the  emperor,  which  happened  in  the  October  of  1347, 
Margaret,  finding  that  William  was  either  unable  to  pay  or  purposely  with- 
held this  trifling  annuity,  and  irritated  at  his  breach  of  faith,  returned  to 
Holland,  and  resuming  the  government,  obliged  William  to  retire  into  Hai- 
nault. He  did  not,  however,  remain  tranquil  under  this  deprivation,  but  secretly 
used  every  means  in  his  power  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  the  nobles;  and 
the  dissensions  that  now  arose  between  the  mother  and  son  gave  form  and 
vigour  to  the  two  parties  of  nobles  and  people,  which  in  this  century  divided 
Holland,  as  well  as  Germany  and  France. 


The  nobles  espoused  the  side  of  William,  while  the  people  and  inhabitants 
of  the  towns,  with  the  exception  of  the  larger  and  more  aristocratic  cities, 
adhered  to  Margaret,  who  was  supported  besides  by  the  lord  of  Brederode, 
and  a  few  others  of  the  most  popular  nobility.  The  former  were  called  by 
the  partv  name  of  Kabbeljauws  or  "Cods,"  oecause  the  cod  devours  all  the 
smaller  fish;*  and  the  latter  by  that  of  Hoeks  or  "Hooks,"  because  with  that 
apparently  insignificant  instrument  one  is  able  to  catch  the  cod.  It  does 
not  appear  what  occasion  gave  rise  to  these  very  primitive  appellations,  so 
characteristic  of  the  people  and  their  pursuits. 

The  cods,  dissatisfied  ere  long  with  the  somewhat  feeble  administration 
of  Margaret,  sent  repeated  messages  to  William  in  Hamault,  entreating  him 
to  come  without  delay  into  Holland,  and  assume  the  government  of  the 
coimty.  After  some  hesitation,  he  secretly  repaired  to  Gorkum,  and  shortly 
after,  most  of  the  principal  towns  of  Holland  and  West  Friesland  acknowl- 
edged him  as  count.  As  soon  as  Margaret  could  collect  a  fleet  of  English, 
French,  and  Hainault  ships,  she  sailed  to  the  island  of  Walcheren  (in  1351), 
where  she  fell  in  with  a  number  of  Holland  vessels,  commanded  by  her  son 
in  person.  A  sharp  engagement  ensued,  in  which  William  was  totally  de- 
feated, and  forceti  to  retreat  to  Holland.  Margaret,  anxious  to  improve 
her  advantage,  followed  him  to  the  Maas,  where,  William  having  received 
some  reinforcements,  another  desperate  battle  was  fought,  ending  in  the 
entire  discomfiture  of  Margaret.    A  vast  number  of  her  adherents  were  slain, 

[*  Blok^  thinks  tbo  name  may  bave  risen  from  "  the  light  blue  scaly-coat  of  arms  "  of  Duke 
William.  He  believes  that  the  guilds  were  involved  and  supported  the  Uooks,  though  William 
IV  had  sternly  repressed  and  forbidden  their  organisation.] 


HOLLAND  UNDER  THE  HOUSES  OF  HAINAULT  AND  BAVARIA  337 

[1351-1855  AM.] 

and  Dirk  van  Brederode,  one  of  the  few  nobles  who  espouserl  her  ciiusc,  and 
the  cliief  stay  of  her  party,  was  taken  prisoner.  The  remainder  of  the  hook 
nobles  were  afterwards  banished,  and 
their  castles  and  houses  razed  to  the 
ground. 

Margaret  fled  to  England,  where  she 
prevailed  upon  the  king  to  mediate  a 
peace  between  herself  and  her  son.  She 
was  shortly  after  followed  by  WiUiani 
himself,  who  marrie<i  there  Matilda,  eld- 
est daughter  of  Henry,  duke  h^SI   i'*\ 
of  Lancaster.    William  like-    ^^-r^-^^T^^^^^^ — ^^^-^i^E^^r^'^' 
wise  accepted  the  mediation 
of  Etlward,    According  to  the 
terms  of  the  agreement  of  1354,  Wil- 
liam   retained    Holland,  Zealand,  and 
Friesland,  while  Hainault  remained  in 
the  possession  of  Margaret  during  her 
life,   with   a  yearly  income  of    about 
twenty-four  hundred  pounds./ 


Ui 


Wemelburger  on  the  Wars  of  the  "  Cods" 
and  "Hooks" 

The  cod  and  hook  disturbances  are 
no  isolated  phenomena;  rather  do  they 
form  a  link  in  the  great  chain  of  his- 
torical processes  of  development  under 
which  Europe,  during  several  centuries, 
trembled  in  the  foundations  of  her  so- 
cial organisation,  that  she  might  make  Soldusk  or  th»  F:rTKKTH  Cehtubt 
way  for  new  conditions  and  new  \'iews. 
It  18  not  difficult  for  a  dispassionate  eye  to  find  and  piu*8ue  the  same 
scarlet  thread  which  runs  through  all  the  trials  of  strength  of  the  various 
parties;  on  the  one  side  the  towTks  form  the  keniol  of  the  party,  on  the  other 
the  old  nobility.  In  the  north,  in  Oostcrgoo,  the  Vetkoojx^rs  and  Schieringers 
bear  the  same  relation  to  one  another  as  the  coils  and  hooks;  in  Utrecht, 
the  Licht-cnbergen  and  Lockhorstcn ;  in  GeldcrlriiuJ  the  Heekennis  aiui  Bronck- 
horsten;  in  Liege  the  Warou.\  and  Awans;  in  Brussels  the  Hetfelds  and 
Lombecks;  in  Flanders  the  Clauwaert-s  and  the  Leliaerts  —  stootl  opposed  to 
one  another. 

"And  if,"  savs  Loher,?  "we  cast  our  eyes  on  the  great  German  Empire. 
here  also  we  shall  see  the  two  groups  step  into  the  foreground.  Here  indeed 
they  appear  in  a  (.lifFcrent  costume  and  with  different  weapons,  according  to 
whether  they  belong  to  the  eastern  or  western  portion  of  the  empire.  But, 
amid  the  bewildered  tangle  of  facts  and  circumstances,  the  same  fundamental 
political  and  social  ideas  will  unfold  themselves  before  his  eyes,  just  as  has 
already  been  the  case  with  regard  to  a  later  period,  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth centuT}',  since  the  art  and  penetration  of  our  historians  have  set  the 
days  of  the  Peasants'  War  at  the  beginning  of  (he  Refommtion  in  a  new  light," 

Adolphus  of  Nassau  and  Albert  of  Austria,  Ludwig  of  Bavaria  and  Charles 
IV  are,  when  measured  by  a  wider  standard,  nothing  else  than  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  same  principles  for  which  the  hooka  and  cods  contended  with 
n.  w.  —  vox.  xm,  z 


838  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHBELANDS 

[U51-1865a.i>.] 

one  another  in  Holland;  and  what  other  importance  have  the  wars  of  the 
Jacquerie,  of  the  Burgundian  party  with  the  Annagnacs  in  France,  the  civil 
wars  in  England,  the  rebellion  of  Wat  Tyler,  than  that  of  strengthenii^  the 
royal  power  by  the  humiliation  of  the  great  feudal  nobility  and  making  it 
the  omy  authority  in  the  state?  The  struggles  of  the  cods  and  hooks  must 
be  understood  in  this  connection,  and  only  thus  can  we  comprehend  tfieir 
long  duration,  which  was  only  possible  on  condition  that  the  parties  received 
new  impidse  and  fresh  nourishment  from  without.  As  in  many  other  ques- 
tions which  deeply  concern  the  fate  of  a  country,  here  also  it  is  idle  to  at- 
tempt to  measiu^  the  actions  and  desires  of  the  various  parties  from  the 
standpoint  of  abstract  justice. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  if  we  apply  to  history  the  petty  view  of  ri^ts — 
which  clings  to  yellow  parchments  and  holds  to  the  existing  order  with  its 
chartered  privileges,  even  though  this  may  actually  be  the  most  crying  injustice 
—  then  right  is  exclusively  on  the  side  of  the  hooks.  They  desired  only  the  con- 
firmation and  maintenance  of  existing  conditions,  the  secure  establishment 
of  the  rights  always  claimed  and  exercised  by  the  nobility;  whilst  the  opposing 
party  sought  to  destroy  them.  Moreover,  the  character  of  the  hooks  appeals 
far  more  to  sentiment  than  does  that  of  their  opponents.  There  the  true 
knightly  spirit  displayed  its  fairest  blossoms,  the  fidelity  of  the  hook  vassal 
to  Ms  feudal  lord  shines  in  a  halo  such  as  streams  forth  only  from  the  Ni- 
belungenlied  and  the  old  German  mythology.  Miracles  of  self-devoted 
gratitude  and  manly  contempt  of  death,  unshakable  composure  in  a  desperate 
and  hopeless  situation,  gloomy  defiance  and  quiet  contempt  of  the  victorious 
enemy  to  whom  necessity  compels  submission  —  these  are  only  to  be  found 
in  the  ranks  of  the  hook  champions  defending  the  rights  of  a  persecuted  lady. 

Far  otherwise  was  it  with  their  opponents.  As  the  towns  formed  the 
prevailing  element  of  the  pjarty,  so  here  every  enterprise  was  the  result  of 
skilful  and  cunning  calculation ;  their  unwieldiness  formed  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  readiness  to  strike  and  the  lightning  rapidity  of  the  noble  troops:  they 
were  ever  inclined  to  meet  the  enemy  half  way,  and  conclude  a  peace  with 
him,  to  which  they  consented  under  any  circumstances  so  long  as  it  suited 
their  interest  to  do  so.  The  hooks  are  not,  according  to  the  excellent 
characterisation  of  Hugo  Grotius,^  to  be  regarded  as  exactly  a  party,  but 
only  as  a  section  of  the  population  which  "remained  steadfast  in  its  duty, 
to  defend  the  laws,  usages,  liberties,  and  privileges  of  the  country,  against 
which  the  cods  waged  war,"  so  that  they  would  never  have  consented  if 
the  territorial  prince  had  laid  a  reforming  hand  on  the  existing  order.  The 
cods,  on  the  other  hand,  were  not  so  particular  about  the  conscientious 
observance  of  chartered  rights;  they  had  no  objection  if  the  territorial  lord 
demanded  more  than  his  due  so  long  as  he  raised  no  barrier  against  personal 
liberty  and  the  material  pursuit  of  industry  and  especially  of  trade. 

In  a  word,  the  hooks  represented  the  conservative  element  of  the  society 
of  the  period,  adhering  stoutly  to  what  was  old  and  had  been  handed  down 
from  times  past,  whilst  the  cods  instinctively  followed  the  forward-impelling 
pressure  of  the  times,  and  formed  the  progressive  factor  of  contemporary 
civilisation.  But  as  in  general  the  romantic  deeds  of  heroism  of  the  valiant 
knight  have  a  greater  charm  for  the  people  of  their  own  day  and  for  pos- 
terity than  the  quiet  effectiveness  of  the  citizen  who,  peaceful  and  modest 
as  he  was,  yet  still  laboured  ceaselessly  and  conscious  of  his  aim,  so  the 
sympathy  of  posterity  has  been  directed  almost  exclusively,  and  in  an  ex- 
tremely one-sided  fadfiion,  to  the  side  of  the  hooks,  round  whom  the  ivy  of 
poetic  legend  and  the  mournful  halo  of  tragedy  have  twined  themselves,* 


HOLLAND  UNDER  THK  HOUSES  OF  HAINAULT  AND  BAVAUL\  330 

[1856-13D0A.D.] 


THE   BAVARIAN  HOUSE  IN   POWER 

Margaret  did  not  lonp;  survive  the  reconciliation  with  her  son;  she  died 
in  1356,  and  thus  the  county  was  again  trausferreti  to  a  forei^  family,  passing 
from  the  house  of  Ilainault  into  that  of  Bavaria.  We  find  no  event  worthy 
to  arrest  our  attention  during  the  reign  of  William  V.  In  13.57  he  began  to 
show  symptoms  of  aberration  of  intellect,  which  soon  increased  to  uncon- 
trollable frenzy.  He  killed  witli  his  own  hand,  and  without  any  cause  of 
ofifence,  a  nobleman  highly  esteemed  in  the  country;  in  consequence  of 
which  act  he  was  deprived  of  the  government,  and  placed  in  confinement. 
He  continued  a  hopeless  lunatic  until  his  death,  which  did  not  occur  till 
twenty  years  afterwards. 

As  William  and  the  emperor  Ludwig,  his  father,  had  declared  Albert, 
younger  brother  of  the  former,  heir  to  the  county,  if  he  should  die  without 
issue,  the  government  in  the  present  ease  appeared  naturally  to  devolve 
on  him,  as  standing  next  in  succession.  The  cods  also,  after  some  resistance, 
acknowledged  Albert  as  governor  or  ruwarcP  in  1359. 

E<iwanl  III  gratified  the  governor  of  Holland  by  a  final  surrender,  in 
1372,  of  all  claims  in  right  of  his  wife  to  a  share  in  the  inheritance  of  Wil- 
liam in. 

The  extravagance  and  rapacity  of  Louis  of  Mule,  count  of  Flanders,  had 
excited  discontent  and  hatred  among  his  subjects,  especially  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Ghent,  and  their  rebellion  under  the  V'an  Arteveldes  has  been  already 
described  in  Chapter  IL  Tlic  death  of  Louis  in  January,  1384,  as  we  have 
seen,  made  way  for  the  succession  of  Philip,  duke  of  Burgundy,  in  right  of 
his  wife  Margaret,  the  only  legitimate  chdd  of  Louis,  to  the  counties  of 
Flanders  and  Artois.  Margaret  was  likewise  heiress  to  the  duchy  of  Brabant, 
through  her  aunt  Joanna,  the  present  duchess,  who,  in  oriier  to  extend  still 
fiu*ther  the  influence  of  tier  family  in  the  Netherlands,  labniinMl  effertually 
to  promote  a  union  between-the  houses  of  Burgundy  and  Holland.  Through 
her  means,  a  double  marriage  was  concluded  between  William,  count  of 
Oosterhaut,  eldest  son  of  the  count  of  Holland,  and  Margan^t,  daughttT  of 
Philip  of  Burgundy ;  and  between  John,  eldest  son  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy, 
and  Margaret,  daughter  of  Allx^rt  the  governor.  Their  nuptials,  attended 
by  the  king  of  France  in  person,  were  celebrated  at  Cainbray  in  1385  in  a 
style  of  unparalleled  magnificence. 

Albert,  after  the  loss  of  his  wife^  formed  an  illicit  connection  with  Aleida 
(or  Alice)  van  Poelgeest,  the  daughter  of  a  noblenum  of  tlie  colI  party,  whose 
youth,  hc&uiy,  and  insinuating  manners  soon  gained  such  an  ascpndtMicy 
over  the  mind  of  her  lover  that  the  whole  court  was  henceforward  gov- 
erned according  to  her  caprices. 

The  hook  noblei?,  instigated  at  once  by  ambition  and  revenge,  resolve<i 
upon  a  <leed  of  horror  and  bloml  to  which  it  is  siiid,  they  induced  Albert's 
son,  William  of  Oosterhaut,  to  lend  his  assistance.'    A  number  of  them 

[»  Uuward,  a  woril  si^^ifyiiig  "ronseirator  of  Um  JH-Ace."] 

[*  Petrus  SufTridti8-f  accuses  William  uf  jxirticipatinn  in  this  crime,  and  the  ac«u»&UaR  Uas 
been  ftdnpted  by  later  authors,  but,  as  it  seems,  without  sulBlcieut  fouudntion.  Neither  Jnii 
(ferhrandszr^>on(Jnhn  of  Leydenj'^hU  contemporary,  nor  Beka'  attributes  to  him  any  Hh&re  in  It ; 
that  he  befriended  the  peri>etrator»,  when  brought  to  justice  three  years  after,  is  undoubted : 
among^  them  were  some  of  the  most  ilUistrious  of  the  nobility,  and  his  ]>erHonaI  friends ;  but 
that  he  should,  if  he  had  been  a  party  conceroed.  have  forsaken  hiR  accomplices  to  attend  a 
tournament  in  England  a  month  after,  i»  highly  improbable  :  he  is  mentioned  by  Froisftart  as 
being  present  at  the  one  held  about  Michaelnoas  in  this  year  by  Richard  II,  when  he  was  mjule 
knight  of  the  garter.] 


840  THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

fia9O-140OA.ii.| 

assembled  at  tlie  Hnguo,  where  the  Lady  Aleida  was  then  residing,  and  on 
the  night  of  the  2l8t  of  August  forced  their  way,  comjiletely  aniied,  into  her 
apartment.  The  count's  steward  threw  himself  before  tlieni  to  defend  the 
terrified  girl  from  their  violence.  He  was  slaughtered  on  the  spot;  and,  a 
moment  after,  Aleida  heraelf  fell  dead,  and  covered  with  wounds,  at  their 
feet. 

William  of  OoBterhaut  repeatedly  besought  his  father  to  pardon  the  crim- 
inals; but,  finding  him  deaf  to  his  entreaties,  he  retired  in  anger  to  the  court 
of  France.  PhiHp  advised  him  to  seek 
a  reconciliation  with  his  father,  by 
proposing  an  expedition  into  Friesland, 
that  he  might  at  once  avenge  the  death 
of  hus  uncle,  William  IV,  and  reconquer 
his  inheritance. 

Albert  was  readily  induced  to  favour 
llie  designs  of  his  8on;  he  solicited  suc- 
cours from  France  and  England,  who 
each  sent  a  body  of  troops  to  his  aid. 
Tlit^  allied  troops  set  sail  on  the  22nd 
of  August,  1396,  in  a  fleet  of  four  thou- 
sand and  forty  ships.*  The  Frieslanders, 
meanwhile,  had  made  an  alliance  with 
the  bishop  of  Utrecht,  and  assenibleil 
together  in  arms  to  the  number  of  thirty 
thousand  men.  Unfortunately,  however, 
they  refused  to  follow  the  wise  counsel 
of  one  of  the  chief  of  their  nobility^  Juw 
Juwinga.  They  were  ill  able  to  with- 
stand the  well-tempered  weapons  and 
heavy  armour  of  their  enemies.  Four- 
teen hundred  were  slain,  and  the  rest 
forced  to  take  flight.  The  victorious 
army  carried  fire  ani.!  sword  through 
the  country,  until  the  approach  of  the 
rainy  season  obliged  them  to  retire 
into  winter  quarters:  they  carried  with 
them  the  body  of  Count  William,  which 
had  been  taken  up  from  the  place  of  its  sepulture.  Count  Albert  was,  for  the 
time,  acknowledged  lord  of  Friesland. 

But  Httle  more  than  a  year  elapsed,  however,  l^efore  the  Frieslanders 
again  threw  off  their  forced  subjection,  and  at  length,  in  1400,  Count  Albejt 
found  himself  obliged  to  make  a  truce  with  them  for  six  years,  without  in- 
sisting upon  their  acknowledgment  of  him  as  lord  of  Friesland.  The  prin- 
cipal re^ison  which  prompted  him  to  the  adoption  of  this  impdatable  measure 
was  the  exhausted  condition  of  his  finances;  added  to  this  was  the  rebellion 
of  one  of  his  own  subjects,  John,  lord  of  Arkel,  who  had  long  filled  the  office 
of  stadholder  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and  Friesland,  as  well  as  that  of  treasurer 

[' Tills  number  appears  immense;  bat  John  of  Leyden,*  a  contemporurr.  estimates  the 
nnmber  of  iroopfl  to  be  conveyed  across  the  Zaydor  Zee  at  one  hundred  and  mentj  tliousand,  in 
which  the  historian  of  Friesland  agrees.  Frolssart"*  say»  they  were  more  than  onehundred^ 
thousand  ;  rnn^nently.  If,  as  we  may  suppose,  the  vessels  were  for  the  most  part  small,  th^] 
xnu!4t  have  had  tills  number  for  their  transport,  since  five  and  twenty  men  would  have  bee 
a  Butficient  average  complement  for  each.  The  men  of  Uaarlem  alone  are  said  to  have  sai 
pUod  twelve  hundred  taarinera.] 


Door  or  Old  MiDDELBtmo  Abbbt 


HOLLAND  UNDER  THE  HOUSES  OF  HAINAULT  AND  BAVARIA  341 

[140^-1417  A.S.J 

of  the  count's  private  domains,  without  having  given  any  account  of  his  ad- 
ministration of  the  revenues. 

This  was  the  last  event  of  importance  wliich  occurred  under  Count  Albert's 
administration.  He  died  on  the  15th  of  December,  1404,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-seven,  having  governed  the  county  for  forty-six  years.  By  his  first 
wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  duke  (if  Brieg,  he  left  three  sons —  William, 
who  succeeded  him:  Albert,  duke  of  Mubingen;  and  John,  bishop-elect  of 
Lidge:  and  four  daughters,  Joanna  of  Luxemburg,  queen  of  Bohemia,  who 
died  without  issue;  Catherine,  duchess  of  Gelderland,  who  likewise  died 
chiliUess;  Margaret,  married  to  Jolm,  son  of  the  duke  cjf  Burgundy;  and 
another  Joanna,  wife  of  the  duke  of  Austria.  He  had  no  issue  by  his  second 
wife,  Margaret  of  Cleves,  who  survived  him. 

Allx^rt  api)ears  to  have  Ixnui,  on  the  whole,  a  mild,  just,  and  pious  prince, 
but  remarkably  ileficieiit  in  talent,  energy,  and  ilecision.  His  constant 
necessities  enabled  the  towns  to  purchase  of  him  many  valuable  additions 
to  their  privileges.  The  debts  which  he  left  unpaiti  at  his  death  were  so 
heavy  that  his  witlow  found  it  advi.sable  to  make  a  hoedela} standi ^  or  formal 
renunciation  of  all  claim  to  his  estate, 

William  VI  (1404-1417) 

The  animosities  between  the  cod  and  hook  parties,  which  appeared  to 
have  been  mitigated  for  a  few  years,  now  revived  with  increased  fury,  and 
a  number  of  the  most  respectable  burghers  lost  their  lives. 

The  Hollanders,  under  the  government  of  William,  entirely  lost  their 
footing  in  Friesland;  anil  in  the  year  1417  the  Frieslanders  obtained  from 
the  em|XTor  Sigismnnd  a  charter,  confirming  the  entin^  ini]e[H'U(l(UK:('  of  their 
state.  William  was  the  less  inclined  to  untlertake  any  expetlition  into  Fries- 
land,  as  the  alliance  he  had  formed  between  his  only  daughter,  Jacqueline, 
or  Jacoba,  and  a  son  of  tlie  king  of  Fmnce,  involved  him  in  some  degree  in 
the  cabals  of  that  court. 

The  insanity  of  the  king,  Charles  VI,  and  the  weak  and  vicious  character 
of  the  queen,  Isabella  of  Bavaria,  had  rendered  the  royal  authority  in  France 
utterly  inefficient,  leaving  the  kingdom  a  prey  to  the  fury  of  the  rival  factions, 
80  celebrated  in  history,  of  Burgundy  and  Orleans.  It  was  during  the  ascen- 
dency of  the  former  that  John,  duke  of  Touraine,  second  son  of  the  king  of 
France,  had  been  betrothed  to  Jacqueline  of  Holland,  niece  of  the  duke  of 
Burgundy,  Owing  to  the  youth  of  the  parties,  the  marriage  was  not  com- 
plete until  1415,  when  Jacqueline  was  declared  heir  to  Hamault,  Holland, 
and  Friesland, 

By  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  Louis,  John  succeeded,  a  few  months 
after,  to  the  title  of  dauphin^  ami  became  heir-apparent  to  the  French  crown, 
but  he  died  in  1417. 

To  William  his  loss  was  irreparable.  The  succession  to  the  county  had 
been  8(>ttled  on  his  only  legitimate  child,  Jaccjueline,  with  the  condition  that 
the  government  was  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  her  husband.  On  both  the  pre- 
vious occasions,  when  the  county  had  been  left  without  a  male  heir,  a  great 
proportion  of  the  Hollamlers  hail  shown  a  vehement  dislike  to  submit  to  the 
authority  of  a  femiUe,  and  he,  therefore,  dreaded  lest  the  clainis  of  his  daughter 
might  be  set  aside  in  favour  of  his  brother  John,  bishop-elect  of  Lidge.  To 
guard  against  any  such  attempt,  he  assembled  the  nobles  and  towns  of  Hol- 
land, who,  at  his  requisition,  solemnly  swore  to  acknowledge  Jacqueline 
lawiul  heir  and  successor,  in  case  he  should  die  without  a  son.     Most  of  the 


S4«  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

(1417-1418  A.ik] 

principal  nobles  and  the  large  towns  of  Folland  signed  this  agreement,  as 
well  as  the  states  of  Zealand;  and  William,  thinking  he  had  now  placed  the 
succession  of  his  daughter  on  a  firm  footing,  returned  to  Hainault.  Here  he 
soon  after  died  at  Bouchain,  in  May,  1417.  During  the  reign  of  William  the 
herring  fishery,  a  source  of  such  immense  national  wealth  to  Holland,  b^an 
rapidly  to  increase. 

THE  ROMANTIC  STORY  OP  JACJQtJELINB 

The  death  of  William  VI  left  the  government  of  the  county  in  the  hands 
of  his  young  and  widowed  daughter,  who  had  barely  attained  the  age  of  seven- 
teen. Yet,  endued  with  understanding  far  above  her  years  and  a  <!ourage 
imcommon  to  her  sex,  joined  to  the  most  captivating  grace  and  beauty,  the 
countess  had  already  secured  the  respect  and  affection  of  her  subjects,  which, 
after  her  accession,  she  neglected  no  method  to  retain,  bv  confirming  every- 
where their  ancient  charters  and  privileges;  and  the  Houanders  micht  have 
promised  themselves  long  years  of  tranquillity  and  happiness  imder  lier  rule, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  unprincipled  ambition  of  her  paternal  unde,  John  of 
Bavaria,  sumamed  the  Ungodly,'  bishop-elect  of  Li6ge. 

Being  resolved  to  abandon  the  spiritual  condition,  and  procure  himself  to 
be  acknowledged  governor  of  Holland,  he  repaired  to  Dordrecht,  where  he 
had  many  partisans,  and  was  proclaimed  there.  The  other  towns,  however, 
both  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  and  whether  espousing  the  hook  or  cod  party, 
refused  to  acknowledge  him.  Jacqueline  assembled  her  troops,  placine  her- 
self at  their  head.  The  followers  of  John  were  defeated,  and  more  than  a 
thousand  men  slain.  The  presence  of  so  formidable  an  enemy  in  her  states 
made  it  advisable  that  the  yoimg  countess  should  marry  without  delay. 
Her  father  had  in  his  will  named  as  her  future  husband,  John,  eldest  son 
of  Anthony,  late  duke  of  Brabant,  and  first  cousin  to  Jacqueline;  and  although 
she  showed  no  inclination  to  the  person  of  the  young  prince,  the  imion  was 
so  earnestly  pressed  by  her  mother  and  John,  duke  of  Burgundy,  her  imcle, 
that,  a  dispensation  having  been  procured  from  the  pope,  the  parties  were 
married  at  Biervliet  early  in  the  following  spring  (1418). 

John  of  Bavaria,  to  whom  this  marriage  left  no  pretence  for  insisting  on 
the  regency,  found  means  to  induce  the  pope,  Martin  V,  and  the  emperor 
Sigismund,  to  lend  their  aid  to  his  project.  John  sent  a  trusty  ambassador 
to  resign  his  bishopric  into  the  hands  of  the  pope,  and  to  solicit  in  return  a 
dispensation  from  holy  orders  and  liberty  to  enter  the  marriage  state.  Martin 
consented  to  his  wishes,  and  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  Elizabeth  of  Lux- 
emburg, widow  of  Anthony,  duke  of  Brabant,  and  niece  to  the  emperor, 
gained  him  the  favour  and  support  of  Sigismund,  who  declared  the  county 
of  Holland  and  Zealand  a  fief  reverted  in  default  of  heirs  male  to  the  empire, 
with  which  he  invested  John  of  Bavaria,  commanding  the  nobility,  towns, 
and  inhabitants  in  general,  to  acknowledge  allegiance  to  him,  and  releasing 
them  from  the  oaths  they  had  taken  to  Jacqueline  and  John  of  Brabant. 

John  of  Bavaria  assumed  the  title  of  count,  and  was  acknowledged  at 
Dordrecht;  but  the  other  towns  declared  that  the  county  of  Holland  and 
Zealand  was  no  fief  of  the  empire,  nor  was  the  succession  in  anywise  restricted 
to  heirs  male. 

P  Sine  pistate,  from  liis  refusal  to  receive  holy  orders  according  to  Monstrelet » ;  others 
^ve  nim  the  surname  of  "pitiless,"  which  it  is  said  he  obtained  by  his  cruelties  at  LiSge:  but 
he  gave  no  orders  for  executions  there,  except  in  conjunction  witli  the  duke  of  Burgundy  and 
the  count  of  Holland.] 


HOLLAND  UNDER  THE  HOUSES  OF  HAINAULT  AND  BAVARIA  343 

[141&-14221.D.] 

So  far  from  supporting  the  pwitensions  of  John^  the  towns  of  Haarlem, 
Delft,  and  I^yden  had  raised  a  loan  for  Jacquchnf*,  and  they  laid  siege  to 
Dordrecht,  the  expedition  being  eoniruanded  by  the  young  John  of  Brabant. 
His  troops  were  not  in  sufficient  ntimbtT  to  carry  the  town.  John  of  Bavaria 
advanced  to  Rotterdam,  the  capture  of  which  John  of  Brabant  found  himiiielf 
unable  to  prevent,  and  the  former,  in  consequence,  became  master  of  a  con- 
siderable |M)rtion  of  South  HolhuuL  The  finable  John  of  Brabant  wiu^  re- 
dLice<J  to  make  a  treaty  with  his  rival  in  1420,  whereby  he  ceded  to  him  Hol- 
land, Zealand,  and  Friesland  for  the  space  of  twelve  years;  and  this  con- 
duct, without  bettering  the  condition  of  his  afTairs,  served  but  to  increase 
the  dislike  with  which  he  ha<l  for  some  time  been  viewed  by  the  Brabanters. 

Nor  was  this  feeling  manifested  by  them  alone.  Countess  Jacqueline 
had  eoti.sented  to  the  nuirriagf*  with  llie  young  duke  of  Brabant,  without  the 
slightest  sentiment  of  affection  towards  him,  yielding  her  own  indinuUori.s 
on  this  |M)int  to  the  persuiu^ions  of  her  mother:  nor  were  the  circumstances 
of  their  union  such  as  subsequently  to  conciliate  her  love  or  esteem.  The 
princess  was  in  her  twenty-second  year,  of  a  healtiiy  constitution  and  vig- 
oroas  intellect,  lively,  spirited,  and  courageoas;  her  husband,  on  the  con- 
trary, about  two  years  younger  than  herself,  was  feeble  alike  in  botly  and 
mind,  inchilent,  and  eapricidus.  Throiigii  his  incapjicity,  she  now  saw  her- 
self stripi)4^d  of  her  fairest  possessions,  nor  did  there  appear  any  security 
for  her  retaining  the  rest;  he,  moreover,  maint-aincd  an  illicit  connection 
with  the  daughter  of  a  Brabant  nobleman;  and,  with  the  i^etty  tyranny 
which  little  minds  are  so  fond  of  exercising,  he  foree<l  her  to  dismiss  all  the 
Holland  ladies  from  her  service,  and  to  fill  tFieir  places  with  those  of  Brabant. 
She  secretly  c|uitted  the  court:  anti,  accompanied  by  her  mother,  escaped 
in  1421  by  way  of  Calais  to  England,  where  she  was  courteously  received 
'by  Henry  V,  and  a  hundred  pounds  a  month  allotted  for  her  maintenance. 
In  tlie  winter  of  the  same  year  she  held  at  the  baptismal  font  the  infant  son 
of  the  king,  afterwards  Henry  VI. 

Jacqueline  was  now  determined  at  all  risks  to  procure  the  dissolution 
of  the  bonds  that  had  become  so  odious  to  her;  and  Humphrey,  duke  of 
Gloucest-er,  brother  of  the  king,  tempted  by  her  large  inheritance  and  ca|>- 
tivated  by  her  perscmul  cliarms,  eagerly  entered  into  a  negotiation  with  her 
for  a  future  matrimonial  alliance^  which  liad  Ik'CU  projected  even  ]>eforc 
her  flight  from  Brabant.    An  almost  insurmountable  difficulty,  however, 

Kresentetl  itself,  in  the  necessity  of  procuring  a  dispensation  from  the  pope. 
iartin  V  had  granted  one  three  years  Ix'fore,  against  the  wishes  both  of  the 
emperor  and  John  of  Bavaria,  for  her  marriage  with  John  of  Brabant;  and 
it  appeared  scarcely  reasonable  to  ask  him  ni>vv  to  i*evoke  it.  Humphrey  and 
Jac<|ueline  applied  to  Benedict  XIH,  who  had  l>een  deposed  by  the  council 
of  PLsa  in  ini*,  and  was  acknowledged  only  by  the  king  cjf  Anig(in.  Benc^ 
diet,  flattered  with  the  recognition  of  his  authority,  and  pleased  with  the 
opportunity  of  acting  in  opposition  to  his  rival,  readily  granted  a  bull  of 
divorce,  which  they  pretendetl  to  have  obtained  from  the  legitimate  pope, 
and  which  Martin  V  afterwards  i)ub]icly  declared  to  be  fictitious. 

Although  such  a  divorce  could  not  by  any  means  be  considered  as  valid, 
the  marriage  between  the  duke  of  Gloucester  and  the  countess  Jacqueline 
was,  nevertheless,  solemnized  in  the  end  of  the  year  1422,  But  the  prox- 
imity of  his  claims  to  the  county  of  Holland  rendered  the  marriage  of  the 
English  duke  with  the  countess  in  the  highest  degree  distasteful  to  Philip  of 
Burgundy.  She  ha*l  no  children  by  the  duke  of  Brabant,  nor  did  it  appear 
probable  that  she  ever  would;  but  her  union  with  Humphrey  might  prove 


844  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[14aB-X4S4AJi.] 

more  fruitful,  and  the  birth  of  a  child  effectually  bar  Philip  from  the  suo- 
oegsion.  He  therefore  complained  of  this  step  as  an  affront  offered  to 
himself.  He  found  Hmnphrey,  however,  determined  to  resign,  on  no  oon- 
sideration,  either  his  wife  or  His  claim  to  her  states;  but  having  obtained 
for  her  an  net  of  naturalisation  from  the  English  parliament,  in  142^,  toother 
with  subsidies  of  troops  and  money,  he  set  out  for  Hainault,  where,  Philip  of 
Burgundy  and  John  of  Brabant  lieing  unprepared  for  resistance,  the  towns 
universally  opened  their  gates  to  him.  Little  occurred  during  the  campaign, 
except  mutual  defiances  between  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Gloucester; 
and  Humphrey,  accepting  the  challenge  of  the  former  to  single  combat,  in 


Dutch  Cbadxje,  FimsNTH  Csntubt 


the  presence  of  the  duke  of  Bedford,  returned  to  England  under  pretext  of 
making  the  necessary  preparations,  but  in  reality,  probably,  from  a  con- 
viction that  he  should  not  be  able  long  to  withstand  the  power  of  Burgundy. 
He  left  the  countess  in  Mons,  which,  shortly  after  his  departure,  was  threat- 
ened with  a  siege.  Jacqueline  wrote  a  letter,  couched  in  the  most  moving 
terms,  to  solicit  succours  from  her  husband,  which,  unhappily,  never  reached 
him,  being  intercepted  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy./ 


Jacqueline's  Letter  to  Her  Husband 
The  following  is  the  letter  as  quoted  by  Monstrelet: 

My  very  dear  and  redoubted  lord  and  father,  in  the  most  humble  of  manners  in  this  world 
I  recommend  myself  to  your  kind  favour.  May  it  please  you  to  know,  my  very  redoubted 
lord  and  father,  that  I  address  myself  to  you  as  the  most  doleful,  most  ruined,  and  most 
treacherously  deceived  woman  living ;  for,  my  very  dear  lord,  on  Sunday,  the  18th  of  this 
present  month  of  June,  the  deputies  of  your  town  of  Mons  returned,  and  brought  with  them  a 
treaty  that  had  been  agreed  on  between  our  fair  cousin  of  Burgundy  and  our  fair  cousin  of 
Brabant ;  which  treaty  had  been  made  in  the  absence  and  without  the  knowledge  of  my 
mother,  as  she  herself  signifies  to  me,  and  confirmed  by  her  chaplain,  Master  Qerard  le  Grand. 

My  mother,  most  redoubted  lord,  has  written  to  me  letters,  certifying  the  above  treaty  having 
been  made ;  but  that,  in  regard  to  it,  she  knew  not  how  to  advise  me,  for  that  she  was  herself 
doubtful  how  to  act.  She  desired  me,  however,  to  call  an  assembly  of  the  principal  burghers 
of  Mons,  and  learn  from  them  what  aid  and  advice  they  were  willing  to  give  me.  Upon  this, 
my  sweet  lord  and  father,  I  went  on  the  morrow  to  the  town-house,  and  remonstrated  with 
them,  that  it  had  been  at  their  request  and  earnest  entreaties  that  you  had  left  me  under  their 
safeguard  and  on  their  oaths,  that  they  would  be  true  and  loyal  subjects,  and  take  especial  care 
of  me,  so  that  they  should  be  enabled  to  give  you  good  accounts  on  your  return  ;  and  these 
oaths  had  been  taken  on  the  holy  sacrament  at  the  altar,  and  on  the  sacred  evangeliata. 


HOLTjAXD  under  the  houses  of  HAINAULT  and  BAVARIA  345 

[1434-1425  A.v.\ 

To  this  my  liarangue,  my  de&r  and  honoured  lord,  tlicy  simply  replied  tbat  tLer  were  not 
Bufflciently  strong  williin  the  town  to  defend  and  enard  me  ;  and  instantaneously  tbey  rri«e  In 
tumalt.  Baying  that  my  people  wanted  to  murder  them  ;  and,  my  sweet  lord,  they  carried  mat- 
ters BO  far  that,  in  despite  of  me,  tbey  arreste<l  one  uf  your  sergeantH,  ctilled  Maquart.  whom 
they  immediately  beheaucd.  and  hanged  very  many  who  were  of  your  party  and  Rtronifly  attached 
to  your  interests,  such  ns  BardouM  ue  la  Porte,  hiH  bnither  Colart.and  othera,  to  the  number  of 
250  of  your  a<iherenla.  They  also  wished  to  Heixe  Sir  Baldwin  the  treawnrer,  and  Sir  I»ul8  de 
Montfort ;  but  though  they  did  not  succeed.  I  know  not  what  thev  Intend  doing ;  for,  my  very 
dear  lord,  they  plainly  told  me  that  unless  1  make  jieace,  they  will  deliver  me  into  the  handfl  of 
the  duke  of  Brabant,  and  that  I  shall  only  remain  eight  days  longer  in  their  town,  when  I  shall 
be  forced  to  go  into  Flanders,  which  will  l>e  to  me  the  most  painful  of  events  ;  for  I  very  much 
fear  that,  unless  you  shall  hasten  to  free  mn  from  tlie  hands  I  am  now  in.  I  shall  never  see  you 
more.  Alas  1  my  most  dear  and  redoubted  father,  my  whole  ho]>e  is  In  your  power,  seeing,  my 
sweet  lord  and  only  dehght,  that  all  my  sufTeriiigs  arise  from  my  love  to  you.  I  therefore  en- 
treat, in  the  most  humble  manner  possible,  and  for  the  love  of  God,  that  you  would  bo  pleased 
to  have  compassion  un  me  and  on  my  alTairs ;  for  you  must  hasten  to  succour  your  most  doleful 
creature,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  lose  her  forever.  1  have  hopes  that  you  will  do  as  I  beg,  for, 
dear  father,  I  have  never  l>ehaved  111  to  you  in  my  whole  life,  and  so  long  as  I  shall  live  I  will 
never  do  anything  to  displease  you,  but  I  am  ready  to  die  for  love  of  you  and  your  noble  person. 

Your  government  pleases  me  much ;  and  by  my  faith,  my  verj'  redoubted  lord  sjid  prince, 
my  sole  consulaliou  and  ho^ie,  I  beg  you  will  consider,  by  the  love  of  liod  and  of  my  lonl  St. 
Qeorge,  the  melancholy  sitnation  of  myself  and  my  afTnira  more  maturely  than  you  bavB 
hitherto  done,  for  you  seem  entirely  to  have  forgotten  me. 

Nothing  more  do  I  know  at  present  than  that  1  ought  sooner  to  have  sent  Sir  Louis  de 
Montfort  to  you,  for  ho  cannot  longer  remain  here,  although  ho  attended  me  when  all  the  rent 
deserted  me;  and  he  will  tell  you  more  particularly  all  that  lias  happene<l  than  I  can  do  in  a 
letter.  I  entreat,  therefore,  that  you  will  be  a  kind  lord  to  him,  and  send  me  vour  got»d 
pleasure  and  commands,  which  1  will  most  heartily  obey.  This  Is  known  to  the  blessed  Son 
of  God,  whom  I  pray  to  grant  you  a  long  and  happy  life,  and  that  I  may  have  the  great  joy  of 
■Mbig  you  soon. 

Written  in  the  false  and  traitorous  town  of  Mons,  with  a  doleful  heart,  the  6th  day  of 
June.  Your  sorrowful  and  well-beloved  daughter,  sufiering  great  grief  by  your  commands  — 
your  daughter,  Db  Quikkkboubo." 

Last  Days  of  Jacqiteline 

The  appeal  never  reached  its  destination  and,  on  June  13th,  Jacqueline 
was  deltveoKi  by  the  eitizens  of  Mons  into  the  hands  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy 'a 
deputies,  and  conducted  to  Ghent,  to  be  detained  there  until  the  pope  should 
decide  the  question  of  her  marriage. 

After  renuiiniiig  soiiu^  little  time  in  confinement,  Jacqueline  escaped,  in 
male  disguise,  to  Antwerp,  and  resuming  the  attire  of  her  sex  proceeded 
thence  to  Woudrichen,  which  opened  its  gates  to  her,  as  well  as  Oudewater, 
Gouda,  and  Schoonhoven.  The  citadel  of  the  latter  resisted  for  some  days  the 
army  which  the  hook  nobles  assembled  to  besiege  it,  but  was  ultimately  forced 
to  surrender  on  conditions.  Their  lives  and  estates  were  granted  to  all  the 
defenders  except  one  named  Arnold  Beiling,  the  cause  of  whose  reservation 
is  not  known.  His  conduct  on  the  occasion  proved  that  the  high  principle 
of  honour  and  undaunteil  courage  which  we  are  accustomed  to  attribute 
peculiarly  to  the  knightly  and  the  noble  animated  no  less  strongly  the  breiist 
of  a  simple  Dutch  burgher.  He  was  condemned  to  be  buried  alive,  but 
besought  a  respite  of  one  month  to  arrange  his  affairs,  and  take  leAve  of  hia 
friends:  it  was  granted  upon  his  word  of  honour  alone,  antl  he  was  permitted 
to  depart  without  further  security.  He  returned  punctually  at  the  time 
appointed,  and  the  sentence  wiis  executed  a  short  distance  without  the  walla 
of  the  town.  The  confidence  with  which  this  singular  request  was  granted, 
showing,  as  it  does,  the  habitual  reliance  placed  on  the  good  faith  of  the 
Hollanders,  is  only  less  admirable  than  the  courageoas  integrity  with  which 
the  promise  was  fulfilled. 

The  death  of  John  of  Bavaria  in  1425  by  poison,  administered,  as  some 


346  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

say.  at  Iho  instigsition  of  the  counteas-<lowager.  others,  bv  his  stewanl,*  a 
knight  of  the  luK>k  piXTty,  Si>ine  moutlis  after  the  return  of  Jacqueline  to  Hol- 
land, althougli  it  delive'reil  her  from  an  inveterate  and  powerful  enemy,  did 
not  oiMitrilnite  to  retrieve  her  fortunes.  He  luiil  naine<i  Philip  of  Burgundy 
his  heir  in  ease  he  should  die  without  issue,  and  that  ambitious  prince  now 
tiX^k  advantage  of  the  event  to  obtain  from  Jolm  of  Brabant  the  title  of 
gvn-ernor  vor  ruuvnl)  and  heir  to  the  county  of  Holland;  John  himself  re- 
taining the  name  of  count,  and  Ix^ing  acknowleilgeil  as  such  by  all  the  towns 
which  liad  held  to  the  p:irty  of  John  of  Bavaria.  From  this  time  he  does 
not  apjvar  to  iiave  ci^ncernoil  hims*-li  in  any  way  with  the  government  of 
tho  ivuuty.  Philip  came  into  Hollauii.  when*  he  was  acknowletlged  gov- 
ernor by  the  gi\*ater  jx^nion  of  the  towns. 

The\vunte:^  Jai\|ueline  n^niaineil  meanwhile  at  Gouda,  where,  hearing 
that  s^Muo  towns  of  the  Cvxl  ^virty  had  unitovl  their  forces  to  besiege  her.  she 
obtaiiuxi  ai5«istaniv  frxnn  tho  I'trvohter^.  who  had  always  remainei-l  faithful 
to  luT  ca;i5!«\  arid  advatirtxi  at  the  heal  of  her  tr«>?}>?  to  meet  her  enemies 
near  Aljvn;.  when*  she  gaiutxi  a  cv^nslierable  vio:«>r\-  over  them.  This  success 
was  foUowixl  bv  the  wekvir.o  news  t!:at  a:i  English  tiovt  had  been  equipped 
tVr  hor  st^rvi^Y  Vy  the  duke  of  Glouoosior.  bringing  !:ve  hundreil  choice  land 
trvv^^x?,  1:  arrivixi.  in  erfix*:.  early  i:i  142^  at  S;houwer..  under  the  cotmnand 
of  the  earl  F::rw;iI:or.  who:r.  ho  had  apix"»:r.:tri  his  sta.ihol.ier  over  Holland 
ar.vi  Ix^ala::.:.  Philip  as6^^:v.bU\i  a::  ar:::y  c:  loiir  :ho-.i?£ir.-:  c;ea.  and  sailed 
:o  l^:\^i:wtr?*r.;ivo:..  whor^^  :::o  KngM:i*:*..  j-^int-.;  w::h  the  ZeiUandere  of  the 
hvx^k  Vvsr:y.  wc^o  or.c;i:r.:x\:.  I:v.:v.T\:ia:cIy  o::  :he  Lir..iLr.g  of  the  co*.ls  the 
rrvx'VJ?  oa::.!^  :o  a  sev^-Tv  o::ciCL^:v.-:r.:.  whioh  liistei  :r.r  wii.Ie  ..iay.  and  ter- 
r.'.:"A:<.\i  :o  :ho  .ii>ci.iv:w":AC:'  o:  :*:-.o  Kngiish  a::i  hxk.?:  cr.r  :hi?-.:san'l  four 
h;::..i:\\;  o:  :r.t  :;7:v.;t  &:*.-i  i^;:.-.:^  .:'  :ho  iriv-.^ival  r..*rU^  c:  Zealand  were 
s1a:v,.  F.:j\v::,l:«r  hi:v.:^l:  'xir.c  i-r.x'^-i  :o  jock  ?a:v:y  by  r.igr.:. 

Yris  u":.-t:^:":iv  ;":-.":":cri.>:  J:w^;::::i:"e  ::■:  ^::  'v  ::  Z-r^iLin ; :  nvverthe- 
^^r^.  shi"  .:..:  ::.:  >;:*.;  :o  .iv>v^;:T-  Vu:.  :.-.?v;:\^  :i  iv^n:^^  ::  :hf  ih?irnce  of 
-V.K;-  :  :.:..:•  :r-  ::.  :-.;.. .i:..:.  s:*.-;  ■.■•.■r.-^jT.':  :.-:  :v.vr.  ::  A..<::--.-.r.  T.-:r-  :r.^  Ken- 

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HOLLA^^^  imDER  THE  HOUSES  OP  HAINAULT  AND  BAVARIA  347 

123,300  crowns  within  six  months,  and  tn  be  subject  to  a  perpetual  tax  of 
four  grooUs  (halfpence)  for  every  hejirth.  Even  Uiowe  towns  which  had  been 
friendly  to  Philip  were  obliged  to  contribute  heavy  "petitions'*  for  the  pay- 
ment of  his  troops. 

The  countess  Jacqueline  found  her  affairs  in  a  desperate  condition.    The 

Co}x»  had  not  only  declare*!  her  marriage  with  the  auke  of  Brabant  valid, 
ut  prohibited  the  contraction  of  any  future  marriage  between  her  and  the 
duke  of  Gloucester,  even  after  the  death  of  John  of  Brabant/  whose  health 
and  strength  were  mpidly  decaying.  This  event,  which  occurred  within  a 
short  time  from  the  issuing  of  the  papal  bull,  and  the  intelligence  that  the 
English  parliament  hatl  granted  20,000  marks  expressly  for  her  relief,  in- 
spired Jaf!(iueline  with  liopeHj  nevertliclosw,  Miat  Gloucester  wou!<l  lend  cfTective 
aid  towards  reinst^iting  her  in  possession  of  her  inheritance,  and  emboldened 
her  to  aj>peal  to  a  general  council  of  the  Church  against  the  decree  of  the  pope. 
But  the  duke  of  Bedford,  having  concluded  a  truce  for  liis  bnither  with  the 
duke  of  Burgundy,  forbaile  him  to  go  to  Holland,  and  Gloucester  himself 
showed  no  inclination  to  second  the  efforts  of  the  countess. 

In  spite  of  her  remonstrances,  and  of  the  reproaches  of  his  owm  country- 
women, he  forsook  his  noble  and  liigliborn  bride  for  the  cliarms  of  Eleanor 
nobliam,  whom  he  now  married,  after  her  having  lived  with  him  some  years 
as  his  mistress.  Jacqueline,  conscious  of  possessing,  besides  her  princely 
birth  and  rich  estates,  all  the  alluring  attractions  of  her  sex,  was  struck  to 
the  heart  by  this  cruel  and  unlookeil-for  ilesertion.  Jacqueline  and  t!ie 
hook  nobles,  seeing  no  chance  of  defending  themselves,  offered  terms  of  com- 
promise to  the  duke,  to  which  he  readily  listtnied. 

By  this  treaty  [cAlletl  the  Reetmciliation  of  D<*lft,  July  3r<l,  142S]  Jacque- 
line was  to  surrender  her  states  to  the  administration  of  PhiHp  as  heir  and 
governor,  but  retain  the  title  of  countess,  with  an  engagement  not  to  con- 
tract another  marriage  without  the  consent  of  the  duke,  of  her  mother,  and 
of  the  three  estates;  in  which  case,  she  was  to  resign,  in  favour  of  Philip, 
her  claim  to  the  allegiance  of  her  subjects.  The  government  of  Holland » 
in  tlie  duke's  absence,  was  to  be  entrasted  to  nine  councillors,  of  whom  the 
counte.ss  should  name  three,  and  the  duke  the  six  others — thrive  natives,  and 
three  from  other  parts  of  his  dominions.  (It  had  been  an  express  stipulatitm, 
in  the  marriage  articles  of  Jacqueline  w^ith  the  <luke  of  Touraine,  that  no 
foreigners  were  to  l>c  admitted  to  oifice-s  within  the  county.)  The  duke 
was  to  have  the  sole  nomination  of  all  the  higher  offices,  both  in  the  towns 
and  open  country.  The  future  revenues  of  the  county,  after  the  subtraction 
of  salaries  to  public  officers,  and  other  necessary  expenses,  were  to  be  paitl 
to  the  comitess.  Tlie  exiles  on  both  sides  were  to  l>e  permitted  to  return  to 
their  countr>\  and  no  one,  under  a  penalty,  should  reproach  another  with  the 
party  names  of  hook  and  cod. 

Jacqueline  was  obliged  to  go  through  the  towns  of  Holland  with  the  duke, 
and  cause  the  oaths  to  be  taken  to  him  as  heir  and  governor;  and  thus  tle- 
prived  of  all  authority  in  the  government,  she  retired  to  Goes  in  South  Beve- 
land.  One  friend,  and  one  alone,  was  left  to  her  in  this  time  of  need.  Francis 
van  Borselen,  although  a  conspicuous  nienilx^r  of  the  cod  party,  and  appointed 
by  Philip  stadholder  of  Holland,  was  ever  ready  to  assist  her  with  his  purse 
and  counsel,  though  at  the  risk  of  alienating  his  friends,  and  even  of  losing 
his  valuable  offices.    The  gratitude  and  esteem  which  such  conduct  naturally 

'  This  prince,  ftltbouati  from  h\»  deficiency  in  talent  lie  appears  in  sn  contemptible  a  light, 
U  Raid  by  uisti>rians  to  have  lieen  Just,  pioua,  and  lienevolcnt.  Ilia  uame  ia  honourable  to 
poHterity  as  the  founder  of  the  university  of  Louvala  in  1426. 


348  THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

excited  in  the  breast  of  the  forsaken  princeeB  soon  deepened  into  feelings  ci 
the  tenderest  attachment;  and,  uncier  their  impulse,  she  consented  to  a 
secret  marriage  with  Borselen,  though  she  well  knew  the  penal^  wldch 
must  attach  to  a  discovery.  This  event  was  soon  known  to  Phuip,  who 
had  too  many  of  his  partisans  around  her  to  admit  of  its  remaining  long 
concealed;  nor  did  he  delay  to  make  use  of  it  as  a  means  of  depriving  Jacque- 
line of  her  title  of  coimtess,  all  that  now  remained  of  her  birthright. 

His  first  measure  was  to  cause  Francis  van  Borselen  to  be  arrested  at 
the  Hague,  and  conducted  prisoner  to  Ruppelmonde;  after  which,  he  aUowed 
a  report  to  go  abroad  that  the  unfortimate  nobleman  was  to  be  released  only 
by  death;  judging,  with  good  reason,  that  the  desire  to  save  a  husbcmd  so 
beloved  would  reduce  the  countess  to  such  terms  of  submission  as  he  diiould 
dictate. 

The  issue  justified  his  expectations.  Upon  condition  that  the  duke  should 
release  Francis  van  Borselen  and  confirm  their  marriage,  she  renounced  in 
1433  all  right  and  title  to  the  coimties  of  Holland,  Zealand,  Friesland,  and 
Hainaidt;  in  the  event  of  the  duke  dying  before  her,  the  coimty  was  to  revert 
to  herself  and  her  heirs.  Philip  afterwards  appointed  her  grand  forester  of 
Holland  and  created  Borselen  count  of  Oosterhaut,  but  deprived  him  of  the 
office  of  stadholder. 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  troubled  and  disastrous  reign  of  the  countess 
Jacqueline.  There  are  many  points  in  the  character  and  story  of  this  lovely 
and  imhappy  lady  which  strongly  remind  us  of  the  still  more  imfortunate 
Mary,  queen  of  Scots:  her  personal  beauty,  captivating  manners,  masculine 
courage,  and  extraordinary  talent;  her  early  marriage  to  the  heir  of  the 
French  crown,  with  the  disappointment  of  her  high  hopes,  caused  by  his 
premature  death;  the  disgust  and  misery  attendant  on  her  second  union; 
and  her  final  subjection  to  the  power  of  an  artful  and  ambitious  rival.  But, 
innocent  of  the  crimes  or  indiscretions  of  Mary,  she  escaped  also  her  violent 
and  cruel  death;  and  we  may  be  tempted  to  believe  that  the  period  which 
she  passed  in  obscurity,  united,  for  the  first  time,  by  the  ties  of  affection,  to 
an  object  every  way  worthy  of  her  love  and  esteem,  was  the  happiest  of  her 
life.  If  so,  however,  her  felicity  was  but  of  short  duration,  smce  in  1436 
she  died  of  consumption,  about  two  years  after  her  abdication,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-six./ 

Of  Jacqueline,  Blok  writes  vividly:  "Jacqueline  was  destined  to  play  a 
romantic  part  in  history.  Poets  have  sung  her  fate,  and  even  dry  chronicles 
wax  eloquent  when  she  is  their  theme.  The  barren  twigs  of  records  begin 
to  bear  blossoms  when  her  sorrows,  her  proud  resistance,  are  recorded.  She 
was  a  tall,  well-formed,  active  woman,  brought  up  in  an  isolated  castle  in 
Hainault,  hardened  by  hunting  and  feats  at  arms,  skilled  in  minnesong  and 
tourneys,  besides  being  at  home  in  the  English  and  French  tongues.  She 
was  quite  capable  of  leading  troops,  conducting  sieges,  and  making  plans  of 
policy  as  well  as  the  most  skilled  knight,  the  most  experienced  diplomat  in 
her  train.  And  she  won  many  hearts  by  her  courageous  bearing.  She  was 
a  woman  in  armour — the  worthy  granddaughter  of  the  valiant  empress 
Margaret;  the  worthy  kinswoman  of  her  famous  great-aunt,  Philippa  of 
Hainault,  queen  of  England;  the  worthy  daughter  of  her  proud  mother, 
Margaret  of  Burgundy,  and  of  her  chivalrous  father."  & 

It  is  a  striking  coincidence  that  this  brave  and  beautiful  princess,  who 
often  donned  man's  attire,  should  have  been  a  contemporary  of  the  warrior- 
p>easant  Joan  of  Arc.  Jacqueline  gave  up  her  long  struggle  in  1428;  Joan 
appeared  at  the  French  court  and  raised  the  siege  of  Orleans  in  1429;  Jacque- 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  NETHERLANDS  LTNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE 

[U36-1555  A.D.] 

Burgundy,  or  Bourgognr,  as  it  is  called  by  the  Fronch  wlio  now  posaess 
the  bulk  of  it^  has  played  so  important  and  complicated  a  role  in  the  |X)litic8 
of  Europe  that  some  separate  account  of  its  history  is  desirable.  The  Bur- 
gimdi  or  Biirguiulionps,  so  cnlled  from  living  in  burgi  or  burghs,  were  ap- 
parently of  Gothic  stock.  They  are  first  discovered  l>etween  the  Vistula  and 
the  Oder  about  289  a.i>.  They  defeated  the  Alamanni,  and  in  406  migrated 
to  Gaul  imder  Guntlier,  or  Gujulicar,  who  had  played  a  large  part  m  the 
election  of  the  emperor  Jovinus.  The  Romans  compelled  the  Gcltic  ^Eilui 
to  divide  lands,  property,  and  slaves  with  the  Burgundi,  whose  first  definite 
king<lom  was  founded  between  the  Rhone  and  the  Aar,  where  Christianity 
was  speedily  adopt^tl.  Gundicar  was  killed  in  a  liattle  with  tlie  CJaub,  and 
succeeded  by  Gunderic  (43fi-470),  whose  four  sons  di\dded  his  realm,  setting 
their  capitals  at  Geneva,  Besan^;on,  Lyons,  and  Vienne.  In  5()7  Gundil^ald 
reunited  the  fragments  into  one  realm,  and  made  the  code  known  either  by 
his  name,  or  ns  the  Loi  Gombette.  He  was  succeeded  *m  516  by  his  son  Sigis- 
mund,  and  he  by  Gundimar  in  524,  with  wliom  ended  this  Burgimdian  dy- 
nasty, for  in  534  he  was  expelled  anil  his  realm  absorbed  m  the  Frankish 
Empire. 

THE   RISE  OF   BURGUNDY 

After  the  division  of  Venlun  in  843  the  Burgundians  were  separated  into 
the  <luchy  and  the  realm  of  Burgundy.  The  realm  itself  was  subdivided, 
and  Boson  founded  the  kingdom  of  Lower  Burgundy  or  Oisjuran;  while  in 
888,  Rudolf,  a  Guelfic  iSwiss  count,  organised  the  kingdom  of  Upper  Bur- 
gundy or  Transjuran.  Boson  in  882  accept^^d  Charles  the  Stout  as  over- 
lord, and  Rudolf's  son,  Rudolf,  was  eventually  allowed  to  add  Cisjuran  to 
Transjuran  in  933,  in  exchange  for  his  rights  to  the  Italian  crown.  The 
united  kingdom,  often  knoAvn  as  Aries  or  the  Arelatian  Kingdom,  wjis  gov- 
erned by  a  line  of  princes  who  rivalled  and  often  overbore  the  Carlo\ingian 
rulers.    But  in  1033  it  was  absorbed  into  the  German  Empire  by  Conrad  II. 

Meanwhile,  Boson's  brother,  Richard,  had  given  his  allegiance  to  Charles 
the  Bald,  and  received  from  the  French  king  the  so-called  duchy  of  Burgundy. 


fliriKtfl 


THE  NETHERLANDS  TJNDEB  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIBE  351 

[100!^ia84  A.D.] 

It  was  reunited  to  the  French  crown  from  1002  to  1032,  when  Heiirv  I  trans- 
ferred it  to  his  brother^  Robert  the  Old^  whose  descendants  held  it  for  the 
older  Capetian  hne  till  1361,  when  the  French  king,  John  the  Goo<i,  seized  it. 

But  in  the  defeat  of  Poitiers  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  J'^nglish;  in 
that  disgraceful  rout,  his  youngest  son,  PhiHf)  the  Bold  (le  hardi),  duke  of 
Touraine,  was  the  only  one  of  the  sons  to  defend  his  father  with  his  sword. 
In  gratitude  he  gave  the  youth  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  with  the  rank  of  a 
first  peer  of  France.  Barante^^  in  his  history  of  the  Burgundian  thikes, 
quotes  tbe  old  charter  wliich  justifies  the  grant  "for  the  rea^soii  (hat  the  said 
Philip,  of  his  own  free  will,  exposed  liimself  to  death  with  us^  and,  all  W(5unded 
as  he  was,  remained  steiulfast  and  fearless  throughout  the  battle  of  Poitiers." 

It  was  a  kingly  reward  for  princely  valour,  but  the  consiHiucnees  were  not 
happy.  As  Martin'^  says:  "John  as  a  farewell  to  his  realm  left  an  act  tliat 
crowned  all  his  faults  —  the  alienation  of  the  duchy  of  Burgimdy,  which  had 
just  been  so  haj)pily  reunited  to  the  crown.  The  sage  policy  of  Louis  the 
Fat,  of  Philip  Augustus,  and  of  St.  Louis  was  very  remote.  The  insensate 
Valois  voluntarily  loosenetl  the  structure  of  the  monarchy,  to  constitute  this 
fatal  oligarchy  of  the  'sires  of  the  fleurs-de-lis,*  which  renewed  the  grand 
feudalism  and  upset  France  for  a  century." 

It  was  not  till  1364  that  Philip  the  Bold  came  into  full  possession  of  the 
duchy;  in  that  year  he  entered  nis  capita!,  Dijon,  in  state.  His  brother, 
Churies^  V  of  France,  enlarged  his  power  by  giving  him  the  stadholdership 
of  the  Tie-de-France,  and  arranging  his  marriage  with  Margaret  of  Flanders. 
Later  he  acquired  from  her  inheritance  also  Artois  and  the  countship  of  Bur- 
gundy, known  later  as  the  Franche-Comte,  uniting  two  of  the  most  unportant 
French  fiefs  in  the  hands  of  a  new  power  destined  to  rival  and  threaten  the 
French  crown.^ 

PHILIP  THE  BOLD 

Thus  the  house  of  Bnrgimdyf  which  soon  after  heeame  so  formirlabln  and 
celebrated,  obtained  this  vast  accession  to  its  power.  The  various  changes 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  neighbouring  provinces  during  tlie  continuance 
of  these  civil  wars  had  altered  the  state  of  Flanders  altogether.  John 
d'Avesnes,  count  of  Halnault,  having  also  succeeded  in  1299  to  the  county  of 
Holland,  the  two  provinces,  though  separated  by  Fhiiiders  and  Brabant, 
remained  from  that  time  under  the  goveriunent  of  the  siime  cliief,  who  soon 
becam*^  more  powerful  than  the  bishops  of  Utrecht,  or  even  than  their 
fomndabJe  rivals  the  Frisians. 

During  the  wars  wliich  desc^lated  these  opposing  territories,  in  consequence 
of  tlic  perj:MHuid  contlicrts  for  sujieriority,  the  jMiwer  of  the  various  towns 
insensiblv  became  at  least  as  great  as  that  of  the  nobles  to  whom  they  were 
constantly  opposed.  The  commercial  interests  of  Holland,  also,  were  con- 
siderably advanced  by  the  influx  of  Flemish  merchants  forced  to  seek  refuge 
there  from  the  convulsions  which  agitate^l  their  province.  Every  day  con- 
firmed and  increa.sed  the  privileges  of  the  people  of  Brabant;  while  at  Li^e 
the  inhabitants  gradually  began  to  gain  the  upper  hand,  and  to  shake  off 
the  former  subjection  to  their  sovereign  bishops. 

Although  Philip  of  Burgundy  l)ecame  count  of  Flanders,  by  the  death 

of  his  father-in-law,  in  the  year  1384,  it  was  not  till  the  following  year  that 

he  concluded  a  peace  with  the  people  of  Ghent,  and  entered  into  quiet  pos- 

rflession  of  the  province.     In  the  same  year  the  duchess  of  Brabant,  the  last 

descendant  of  the  duke  of  that  province,  died,  leaving  no  nearer  relative 


852  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHEELANDS 

P185-U19AJI.1 
than  the  duchess  of  Burgundy;  so  that  VhSlxp  obUuned  m  ri^t  of  his  wife 
this  new  and  important  accession  to  his  dominions. 

But  the  consequent  increase  of  the  sovereign's  power  was  not,  as  is  often 
the  case,  injurious  to  the  Hberties  or  happiness  of  the  people.  Philip  con- 
tinued to  govern  in  the  interest  of  the  country,  which  he  had  the  good  sense 
to  consider  as  identified  with  his  own.  He  augmented  the  privileges  of  the 
towns,  and  negotiated  for  the  return  into  Flanders  of  those  mercbints  who 
had  emigrated  to  Germany  and  Holland  during  the  continuance  of  the  civil 
wars.  He  thus  by  decrees  accustomed  his  new  subjects,  so  proud  of  their 
rights,  to  submit  to  his  authority;  and  his  peaceable  reign  was  only  dis- 
turbed by  the  fatal  issue  of  the  expedition  of  his  son,  John  the'FearieaSy 
count  de  Nevers,  against  the  Turks.  This  young  prince,  filled  with  ambition 
and  temerity,  was  offered  the  command  of  the  force  sent  by  Charles  VI  of 
France  to  the  assistance  of  Sigismimd  of  Hungary  in  his  war  against  Bajazet. 
Followed  by  a  numerous  body  of  nobles,  he  entered  on  the  contest,  and  was 
defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Turks  at  the  battle  of  Kioopoli.  His 
army  was  totally  destroyed,  and  himself  only  restored  to  liberty  on  the 
payment  of  an  immense  ransom. 

John  the  Fearless  succeeded  in  1404  to  the  inheritance  of  all  his  father's 
dominions,  with  the  exception  of  Brabant,  of  which  his  younger  brother, 
Anthony  of  Biu'gundy,  became  duke.  John,  whose  ambitious  and  ferocious 
character  became  every  day  more  strongly  developed,  now  aspired  to  the 
government  of  France  durmg  the  insanity  of  his  cousin  Charles  VI.  He 
occupied  himself  little  with  the  affairs  of  the  Netherlands,  from  which  he 
only  desired  to  draw  supplies  of  men.  But  the  Flemings,  taking  no  interest 
in  his  personal  views  or  private  projects,  and  equally  indifferent  to  the  rivalry 
of  England  and  France,  which  now  began  so  fearfully  to  afflict  the  latter 
kingdom,  forced  their  ambitious  count  to  declare  their  province  a  neutral 
coimtiy;  so  that  the  English  merchants  were  admitted  as  usual  to  trade 
in  all  the  ports  of  Flanders,  and  the  Flemings  equally  well  received  in  England; 
while  the  duke  made  open  war  against  that  country  in  his  quality  of  a  prince 
of  France  and  sovereign  of  Burgundy.  This  is  probably  the  earliest  well- 
established  instance  of  such  a  distinction  between  the  prince  and  the  people. 

Anthony,  duke  of  Brabant,  the  brother  of  Philip,  was  not  so  closely  re- 
stricted in  his  authority  and  wishes.  He  led  all  the  nobles  of  the  province 
to  take  part  in  the  quarrels  of  France;  and  he  suffered  the  penalty  of  his 
rashness,  in  meeting  nis  death  in  the  battle  of  Agincourt.  But  the  duchy 
suffered  nothing  by  this  event,  for  the  militia  of  the  country  had  not  followed 
their  duke  and  his  nobles  to  the  war;  and  a  national  council  was  now  estab- 
lished, consisting  of  eleven  persons,  two  of  whom  were  ecclesiastics,  three 
barons,  two  knights,  and  four  commoners.  This  council,  formed  on  princi- 
ples so  fairly  popular,  conducted  the  public  affairs  with  great  wisdom  during 
the  minority  of  the  young  duke.  Each  province  seems  thus  to  have  gov- 
erned itself  upon  principles  of  republican  independence.  The  sovereigns 
could  not  at  discretion,  or  by  the  want  of  it,  play  the  bloody  game  of  war 
for  their  mere  amusement;  and  the  emperor  putting  in  his  claim  at  this 
epoch  to  his  ancient  rights  of  sovereignty  over  Brabant,  as  an  imperial  fief, 
the  council  and  the  people  treated  the  demand  with  derision. 

John  the  Fearless,  after  having  caused  the  murder  of  his  rival  the  duke 
of  Orleans,  was  himself  assassinated,  on  the  bridge  of  Montereau,  by  the 
followers  of  the  dauphin  of  France,  and  in  his  presence.  Philip  duke  of 
Burgundy,  the  son  and  successor  of  John,  had  formed  a  close  alliance  with 
Henry  V,  to  revenge  his  father's  murder;  and  soon  after  the  death  of  the 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  353 

[141»-1436  A.D. 

king  Philip  married  his  sister,  and  thus  united  himself  still  more  nearly  to  the 
celebrated  John  duke  of  Bedford,  brother  of  Henry,  and  regent  of  France, 
in  the  name  of  his  infant  nephew,  Henry  VI.  But  besides  the  share  on  which 
he  reckoned  in  the  spoils  of  France,  Philip  also  looke<i  with  a  covetous  eye 
on  the  inheritance  of  Jacqueline  of  Holland,  his  cousin.  Her  death  in  1436, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  removed  all  restraint  from  Philip's  thirst  for  ag- 
grandisement, in  tfie  indulgence  of  which  he  drowned  his  remorse.  As  if 
lortune  had  conspired  for  the  rapid  consolidation  of  his  greatness,  the  death 
of  Philip  count  of  Saint  Pol,  who  had  succeeded  his  brother  John  in  the 
dukedom  of  Brabant,  gave  him  the  sovereignty  of  that  extensive  province; 
antl  his  dominions  soon  extended  to  the  verj'  limits  of  Picardy,  by  the  Peace 
of  Arras,  concluded  with  the  dauphin,  now  become 
Charles  VII,  and  by  his  finally  contracting  a  strict 
alliance  with  France. 

Philip  of  Burgundy,  thus  become  sovereign  of 
dominions  at  once  so  extensive  and  compact;  had 
the  precaution  and  address  to  obtain  from  the  em- 
peror a  formal  renunciation  of  his  existing  though 
almost  nominal  rights  as  lord  paramount.  He  next 
purchased  the  title  of  the  duchess  of  Luxemburg  to 
that  duchy;  and  thus  the  states  of  the  house  of  Bur- 
gundy gained  an  extent  about  equal  to  that  of  the 
existing  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands.  For  although 
on  the  nortn  and  east  they  did  not  include  Fries- 
land,  the  bisliopric  of  Utrecht,  Gelderlanti,  or  the 
province  of  Lidge,  still  on  the  south  and  west  they 
comprised  French  Flanders,  the  Boulonnais,  Artois, 
and  a  part  of  Picardy,  besides  Burgundy.^' 

PHILIP  AT  WAR  WITH   ENGLAND    (1436-1443) 

As  he  equalled  many  of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe 
in  the  extent  and  excelled  all  of  them  in  the  riches 
of  his  dominionSj  so  he  now  began  to  rival  them  in 
the  splendour  and  dignity  of  liis  coiu't.  On  the 
occasion  of  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth,  or  Isa- 
bella, daughter  of  John,  king  of  Portugal,  celebrated 
at  Bruges  in  Jantmry  1430,  he  histituted  the  fanious 
order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  *'  to  preserve  the  ancient 
religion,  and  to  extend  and  defend  the  boundaries 
of  the  state."    The  numlx^r  of  knights,  at  the  time 

of  their  institution,  was  twenty-four,  besides  the  duke  himself  as  president, 
and  it  was  subsequently  increased  by  the  emperor  Charles  V  to  fiftynDne. 

The  accession  of  a  powerful  and  ambitious  prince  to  the  government  of 
the  county  was  anything  but  a  source  of  advantage  to  the  Dutch,  excepting, 
perhaps,  in  a  commercial  point  of  view.  Its  effects  were  soon  {lerceived  in 
the  declaration  made  by  the  council  of  Holland  that  the  charters  and  privi- 
leges, acknowledged  by  tlie  duke  as  governor  and  heir,  were  of  no  elTect, 
udess  afterwards  confirmed  by  him  as  count.  Nor  was  the  diminution  of 
their  ci\'il  liberties  the  only  evU  which  foreign  dominion  brought  upon  them. 
The  last  nation  in  Europe  with  which  Holland  woulii  voluntarily  wage  war 
was  perhajJH  England,  and  yet  it  was  against  her  that  she  was  now  called 
upon  to  lavish  her  blood  and  treasure  in  an  unprofitable  contest. 

H.  W.— VOL.   XUL.  2A 


TonoBBKAREn  or  thb  Six- 

TBBNTH  CBWTUHY 


854  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHEELANDS 

[148&-14ttAD.] 

The  zeal  of  Philip  for  the  English  alliance  had  received  its  firat  check  by 
the  marna^  of  Jacqueline  with  Humphrey,  duke. of  Gloucester;  but  the 
ready  acquiescence  of  Humphrey  in  the  decision  of  thepope,  and  his  absm- 
domnent  of  his  wife,  had  softened  his  resentment.  The  achievements  of 
Joan  of  Arc  changed  the  face  of  affairs,  and  rendered  Philip  less  sanguine  of 
the  advantages  to  be  reaped  from  the  connection  with  England. 

In  1435  he  concluded  a  separate  treaty  with  Charles  VII,  The  English 
indignation  at  this  treachery,  as  they  termed  it,  knew  no  bounds.  The 
populace  of  London,  venting  their  rage  indiscriminately  on  all  the  subjects 
of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  spared  not,  in  the  general  pilla^,  even  the  houses 
of  the  Holland  and  Zealand  merchants  then  residing  in  England,  several  of 
whom  they  seized  and  murdered.  This  served  but  to  strengthen  the  deter- 
mination that  the  duke  had  already  formed  of  declaring  war  against  England, 
which  he  did  in  the  following  year  (1436).  He  opened  the  campaign  with 
the  siege  of  Calais,  which  the  cowardice  or  disaffection  of  his  Flemish  troops,* 
and  the  backwardness  of  the  Hollanders  in  bringing  a  fleet  to  his  assistance, 
soon  forced  him  to  raise. 

While  the  Hollanders  manifested  their  imwillingness  to  take  part  in  this 
xmpopular  war,  the  seditious  state  of  the  Flemish  towns,  caused  by  the  im- 
poffltion  of  a  tax  on  salt,  rendered  Philip  unable  to  prevent  the  ravages  of 
the  duke  of  Gloucester's  army,  which,  marching  from  Calais,  overran  Flan- 
ders and  Hainault  (1437).  The  same  cause  embarrassed  all  his  future  oper- 
ations against  the  English,  and  he  was  at  length  forced  by  his  rebelhous 
subjects  to  supplicate  the  king  of  England,  through  his  wife,  Isabella  of  Por- 
tugal, for  the  re-establishment  of  the  commerce  between  the  English  and  the 
Dutch  and  Flemings.  This  requisition,  being  granted,  was  followed  by 
negotiations  for  a  truce,  which,  prolonged  imtil  the  year  1443,  were  at  length 
concluded,  and  the  peace  was  agreed  upon.  During  the  war  between  Bur- 
gundy and  England,  the  Hollanders  were  engaged  in  hostilities  more  imme- 
diately on  their  own  accoimt  with  the  Easterlings,  or  Hanse  towns  of  the 
Baltic,  which  had  plundered  some  of  their  ships. 

Several  sharp  engagements  were  fought  in  which  the  Dutch  generally 
had  the  advantage,  though  without  any  decisive  event,  until  the  spring  of 
1440,  when  the  whole  of  a  Hanseatic  fleet  was  captured  with  little  resistance. 
In  1441  a  truce  was  concluded  with  the  towns  of  Liibeck,  Hamburg,  Rostock, 
Stralsund,  Wismar,  and  Liineburg,  for  twelve  years,  within  which  period 
their  differences  were  to  be  adjusted  by  five  towns  chosen  by  each  party. 
This  truce,  being  renewed  from  time  to  time,  had  all  the  beneficial  effects  of 
a  regular  and  stable  peace. 

The  cessation  of  foreign  wars  was,  ere  long,  followed  by  the  renewal  of 
those  intestine  hook  and  cod  commotions  which  had  now  for  so  protracted 
a  period  been  the  bane  of  Holland. 

The  lavish  expenditure  constantly  maintained  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy 
had  reduced  his  finances  to  so  low  an  ebb  that  he  was  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  tmpopular  and  even  arbitrary  measures,  for  the  purpose  of  replenishing 

[*  Only  with  diflaculty  could  Philip  keep  the  grumbling  Flemings  with  hia  army.  When 
at  laat  the  moment  arrived  that  Humphrey's  fleet  was  really  in  sight,  they  cried  loudly  about 
the  Welsh  treason,  burned  their  tents,  and  stole  away.  In  the  meantime,  Humphrey  had 
landed  without  the  least  opposition,  with  ten  thousand  troops ;  and  in  this  dilemma  Philip 
instantly  resolved  to  make  an  ignominious  retreat  with  the  small  part  of  his  army  that  re- 
mained. It  was  a  hateful  blot  on  the  escutcheon  of  the  grand  master  of  the  order  of  the  Golden 
Fleece:  and  the  inhuman  judgments  which  he  immediately  put  in  train  and  destined  for  the 
Flemish  states  were  chiefly  owing  to  his  indignation  at  being  compelled  to  make  this  disgzaee- 
fal  retreat,  to  which  the  mutinous  Flemings  had  forced  him.  — Wenkblbttboeb.'] 


I 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY   AND  THE  EMPIRE  355 

[t444-14&S  A.D.] 

Ms  treasury.  Of  tliiH  nature  was  the  duty  on  salt,  culled  in  France  the 
gabelle,  a  tax  long  established  in  that  country,  but  hitherto  unknown  m  any 
of  the  states  of  the  Netherlands.  Philip  liail  not  venture<l  to  lay  any  im- 
post of  this  kind  upon  Holland,  but  in  Flanders  he  demande<I  eighteen  pence 
upon  every  siu-k  of  .sjilt  sold  there,  whieh  the  citizens  of  Ghent  absolutely 
refused  to  pay;  and  a  new  duty  on  grain,  proposed  in  the  next  year,  met  in 
like  manner  with  a  universal  and  decided  negative. 

In  the  first  emotions  of  his  anger,  PhihiJ  removed  every  member,  both 
of  the  senate  and  great  council  of  CJhent,  from  their  offices;  and  the  city 
being  thus  deprived  of  its  magistrates,  no  power  was  left  sufficiently  strong 
to  arrest  the  progress  of  sedition,  for  which  men's  min<ts  were  already  too 
well  prepared.  Tlie  btirghers,  therefore,  without  delay,  tffok  an  oath  of 
mutual  defence  against  the  duke,  assumed  the  white  hood,  the  ciistomary 
badge  of  revolt,  elected  captains  of  the  burgher  guards  [fioojdmannen],  and  pre- 
panni  t-o  sustain  a  long  siege,  by  la^'ing  up  plentiful  ston»s  of  ammunitiuii  and 
provisions.  Several  skirmishes  were  fought  between  the  insurgents  and  the 
duke's  forces  with  alternate  success.  The  prisoners  on  both  sides  were  mas- 
sacred without  mercy, no  quarter  wius  given, and  no  amount  of  ransom  accepted. 

Philip  nsaenibled  an  inituenst^  force,  and  entering  Flanders  in  person  e^i()- 
tured  Gaveren,  The  Ghenters  marching  out  of  Ghent  to  the  numIxT  of  24,00(J, 
among  whom  were  7,000  volunteers  from  England,  advance*!  to  the  village 
of  Senmerssaken,  w'ithin  a  short  distance  of  Gaveren.  On  the  first  charge 
of  the  enemy,  July  22nd,  1453,  the  Ghenters  fled  in  disorder  towards  tlie 
Schelde,  whither  they  were  pursued  by  the  Burgumlians,  when  nearly  the  whole 
were  slaughtered  or  drowned  in  attempting  to  escape  by  crossing  the  river. 
This  overwhelming  misfortune  effectually   broke  the  spirit  of  the  in.surgent«s. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy  was  so  highly  gratified  with  the  rJacrity  whicli  the 
Hollanders  and  Zealanders  liad  shown  (with  a  sliort-sighted  policy  pc;rhaps) 
in  lending  their  assistance  to  sulxlue  the  Ghenters,  tliat  lie  proniis**d  to  release 
the  people  from  the  ten  years'  petition,  in  case  of  invasion,  or  the  occurrence 
of  a  flootl;  and  confinned  the  valuable  and  important  privilege  de  non  evocando 
—  that  is,  that  no  one  should  be  brought  to  trial  out  of  the  lx)uudaries  of 
the  county.  A  reservation,  such  as  arbitrary  prhices  have  ever  been  fond 
of  inserting  in  grants  of  popular  privileges,  that  Philip  himself  was  to  be 
sole  judge  when  a  case  of  exception  arose,  considerably  qualified  this  ancient 
right  80  deeply  cherished  by  the  Dutch  nation. 

It  was  during  the  war  with  the  Ghenters  that  his  son  the  count  of  Charolais, 
afterwards  Charles  the  Bold,  or  Rash,  first  began  to  draw  attention  to  himself. 

Events  now  occurred  in  Utrecht  which  prepare<l  the  way  for  the  future 

i 'unction  of  this  eeclesia^stieal  state  with  the  rest  of  the  Netherlands.  Philip 
lad  long  desired  this  see  for  his  natural  son,  David  of  Burgunfly;  but  upon 
the  death  of  the  bishop,  in  1455,  the  chapter  unanimously  elected  Gill>ert 
van  Brederode.  Philip  prepared  to  st^cure  by  force  the  n^eeption  of  his 
eon  in  the  bishopric;  and  for  this  purpose  repaired  to  Holland  to  raise  a 
general  levy  of  troops.  The  Hollanders  rarely  failed  to  take  advantage  of  a 
conjuncture,  when  their  sovereigns  required  their  support,  to  recover  or  extend 
their  privileges;  and  the  historian  has  often  to  mimirc  their  steady  patience 
in  waiting  their  opportunity — the  manly  but  respectful  earnestness  with 
which  they  vindicated  their  claims,  and  the  generous  patriotism  with  which 
they  made  vast  pecuniary  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  their  highly  prized  liberties. 
On  this  occasion  the  West  Frisians  and  Kennemerlanders,  knowing  that 
the  duke  must  have  recourse  to  their  assistance,  offered  lum  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  for  the  restoration  of  the  franchises  of  which  they  had  been 


SM  THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHBBLANDS 

deprived  in  1426:  the  duke,  in  return,  reinstated  them  in  the  same  privi- 
l^es  as  they  had  enjoyed  before  that  time.  The  duke  now  sent  an  anny 
into  Utrecht.  Gilbert  surrendered  all  daim  to  the  bishopric  in  favour  m 
David  of  Burgundy. 

Philip,  fearing  the  effects  of  the  restless  temper  of  his  son  at  the  court, 
had  created  him  stadholder-general  of  Holland;  ne  had  since  then  been  put 
in  possession  of  several  rich  lordships  in  the  county,  and  as  he  found  his 
influence  daily  increasing,  he  began  to  assmne  a  more  hau^ty  tone,  and  to 
give  evident  tokens  of  dissatisfaction  with  many  parts  of  his  father's  govern- 
ment./ 

The  relations  of  the  house  of  Burgundy  with  Charles  VII  of  France  and 
his  son,  later  Louis  XI,  have  been  so  fully  described  in  the  French  history, 
volume  XI,  chapters  9  and  10,  that  their  repetition  here  will  not  be  needed. 
It  will  only  be  necessary  to  remind  the  reaider  of  the  resemblance  between 
the  unruly  and  unfilial  natures  of  the  two  young  men,  Charles  and  Louis,  and 
the  mutiial  hatred  which  they  acquired  for  each  other,  probably  in  1456, 
when  Louis,  then  dauphin,  fled  from  his  father's  wrath  to  the  court  of  Philip 
of  Burgundy.  Later,  war  breaking  out  between  France  and  Buigundy, 
Charles  the  Bold  led  his  father's  army  to  the  very  gates  of  Paris  (1465),  and 
held  Louis  XI  at  his  mercy  till  after  the  conference  and  Treaty  of  ConfliBUiB.a 

After  the  conclusion  of  this  peace,  Charles  proceeded  to  chastise  the 
insolence  of  the  burghers  of  Li^  and  Dinant,  who,  having  made  an  alliance 
with  Louis  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  between  France  and  Bui]^undy, 
invaded  Brabant  and  Namur,  and  devastated  the  whole  country  with  fire 
and  sword.  Charles,  on  his  return  from  France,  laid  siege  to  Li^,  defeated 
an  army  of  Li^gois  before  its  walls,  and  the  town,  hopeless  of  asmstance  from 
Louis,  surrendered  on  conditions.  The  citizens  were  forced  to  pay  a  fine  of 
fflx  himdred  thousand  Rhenish  guilders.  Dinant  was  taken  by  storm  and 
pillaged  (1466),  its  fortifications  were  razed  to  the  ground,  and  eight  hundred 
(rf  the  inhabitants  drowned  in  the  Maas,  by  order  of  Charles. 

Whether  or  not  the  Hollanders  took  part  in  either  of  these  expeditions 
18  uncertain;  but  it  is  clear  that  they  were  by  no  means  exempt  from  a  share 
in  the  expenses  thev  entailed  on  the  states.  A  ten  years'  petition  was  levied 
on  Holland  and  West  Friesland,  amounting  to  55,183  crowns  a  year:  and 
Zealand  was  taxed  in  the  same  proportion.  Charles,  during  his  residence 
in  these  pro\'inces,  had  found  means  so  greatly  to  increase  his  influence  that 
he  was  little  likely  to  meet  with  resistance  to  any  of  his  demands,  even  if  the 
example  of  Ghent  hati  not  afforded  a  severe  lesson  to  such  as  might  be  in- 
clined to  offer  it.  He  obtained,  as  we  have  seen,  considerable  baronies  both 
in  Holland  and  Zealand;  he  reduced  the  number  of  the  council  of  state 
from  eight-and-twenty  to  eight,  besides  the  stadholder;  and  as  he  professed 
to  choose  them  rather  for  their  skill  in  affairs  than  for  the  nobility  of  their 
birth,  they  became  entirely  subservient  to  his  will.  He  likewise  deprived 
the  coimcU  of  the  office  of  auditing  the  public  accounts,  which  it  had  hitherto 
exercised,  uniting  the  chamber  of  finance  at  the  Hague  with  that  of  Brussels. 

This  was  the  first  st<?p  towards  a  union  between  Holland  and  the  rest  of 
the  Netherlands,  which  was  afterwards  partially,  but  never  entirely,  effected. 
(Tharles  was  rccallctl  from  Holland  into  Brabant  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1467,  by  the  declining  health  of  his  father,  who  lay  sick  at  Bruges  of  a  quinsy, 
which  terminated  his  existence  on  the  loth  of  Februarv,  in  the  seventy- 
second  vear  of  his  age.  He  left  by  his  wife,  Isabella  of  Portugal,  only  one 
son,  Charles.  The  number  of  his  illegitimate  children  is  said  by  some  to  have 
been  thirty,  but  he  made  provision  for  no  more  than  nineteen.    Philip's 


• 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  357 

[1444-1467  A.D.J 

humanity,  bencvolencp,  affability,  and  strict  regard  to  justice  obtained  for 
him  the  surname  of  Good;  while  his  love  of  peace,  and  the  advantageous 
treaties  which  the  extent  and  importance  of  his  dominions  enabled  him  to 
make  with  foreign  nations,  tended  greatly  to  increase  the  commerce  of  his 
subjectfl. 

ART  AND  CULTUKE  OF  THE  PERIOD 

The  wealth  procured  by  the  genius  and  industry  of  the  Netherlanders 
enabled  them  to  sustain  the  heavy  burdens  laid  upon  them  by  Duke  Philip 
with  a  comparative  ease  which  led  Coniines,9  a  contemporary  author,  to 
suppose  that  they  were,  in  fact,  more  lightly 
taxed  than  the  subjects  of  other  princes* 
As  Philip,  however,  during  the  whole  of  his 
reign  kept  up  a  court  which  surpassed  every 
other  in  Euroi>e  in  luxury  iuul  magnificence, 
and  contrivecl  besides  to  ama&s  vast  sums  of 
money,  it  is  evident  that  Ids  treasury  must 
have  been  liberally  supplied  by  his  people. 
During  hb  attendance  on  Louis  Al,  at 
Paris,  when  that  monarch  went  to  take  pos- 
session of  his  king<lom,  Monstrelet^  says 
"  he  excited  the  admiration  of  the  Parisiiuis 
by  the  splendour  of  his  dress,  table,  and 
equipages ;  the  hotel  d' Artols,  where  helived, 
was  hung  with  the  richest  tajx^fitries  ever 
seen  in  France.  When  he  rode  through  the 
streets,  he  wore  every  day  some  new  <lress,  or 
jewel  of  price  —  the  frontlet  of  his  horse  was 
covered  with  the  richest  jewels." 

We  are  told  by  Pontus  Ileuterus,'  a 
native  though  not  contemporary  author, 
tliat  Philip  "  received  more  money  from  his 
subjects  than  they  had  paid  in  four  centuries 
together  before;  but  they  thought  little  of 
it,  sbce  he  used  no  force,  nor  the  words  sic 
voh,  9ic  jubeo. ' ' 

The  supposition  of  Comines  is  contra- 
dicted also  by  the  fact  that  Philip  excited  a  dangerous  revolt  in  Ghent  by  the 
imposition  of  new  and  oppressive  taxes  on  the  Flemings;  while  in  Holland  he 
hitroduced  the  unprecedented  and  unconstitutional  custom  of  levying  peti- 
tions for  a  number  of  years  together.  He  left,  at  his  death,  a  treasure  amounting 
to  four  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  gold  and  one  hundred  thousanti  marks  of 
silver,  with  pictures,  jewels,  and  furniture,  supposed  to  be  worth  two  millions 
more.  The  necessary  expenses  of  the  government  must  have  been  comparatively 
small,  and  the  principal  portion  of  the  large  sums  Philip  drew  into  his  treas- 
ury was  expended  on  his  private  pleasures,  or  in  festivals,  shows,  and  entertain- 
ments. 

Tlie  example  of  prodigality  set  by  the  sovereign  infected  his  whole  court: 
Uie  nobles  vied  with  each  other  in  squandering  their  inconu^s  upon  articles 
of  effeminate  luxury,  or  puerile  ostentation;  ami  the  poverty  they  thus 
entailed  upon  themselves  and  their  ix>sterity  was  made  a  subject  of  bitter 
reproach  to  them  untler  his  successors. 

The  same  cause  retarded  in  Holland  the  progress  of  literature  and  the  arts, 


NoBLrvroMAH  or  tbe  Suctbkeyth  CiurnTBr 


358  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[i40r-i4asA.i>.] 

which  in  Flanders  and  Brabant,  imder  the  munificent  patronage  and  en- 
couragement of  Philip,  were  making  rapid  advances:  the  Dutch  had  no  name 
to  oppose  to  that  of  Jan  van  Eyck,  of  Bruges,  who,  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century,  marked  out  an  era  in  the  annals  of  painting  by  his  invention  of  oil 
colours:  and  it  is  in  the  works  of  foreigners  and  Flemings,  as  contemporary 
historians,  of  Monstrelet,  Roya,  and  Comines,  that  we  must  seek  for  the 

Sassing  notices  of  a  country  which  had  produced  a  John  of  Leyden  and  a 
[elis  Stoke.  The  beneficial  effects  of  printing  in  the  general  advancement  of 
learning  and  civilisation  were  not  as  yet  perceived,  mnce  the  expense  of  printed 
books  being  hitherto  little  less  than  that  of  manuscripts,  the  possession  of 
them  was  still  confined  to  the  wealthy  few.  The  honour  of  tUs  invention  ia, 
as  it  is  well  known,  disputed  between  Mainz  and  Haarlem./ 

CHARLES  THE  BOLD  (1467-1477) 

Charles  began  his  career  by  seizing  on  all  the  money  and  jewels  left  by 
his  father;  he  next  dismissed  the  crowd  of  useless  functionaries  who  had 
fed  upon,  under  the  pretence  of  managing,  the  treasures  of  the  state.  But 
this  salutary  and  sweeping  reform  was  only  effected  to  enable  the  sovereign 
to  pursue  uncontrolled  the  most  fatal  of  aU  passions,  that  of  war.  Nothing 
can  better  paint  the  true  character  of  this  haughty  and  impetuous  prince 
than  his  crest  (a  branch  of  holly),  and  his  motto.  Who  touches  it,  pricks 
himself."  Charles  had  conceived  a  furious  and  not  ill-founded  hatred  for 
his  base  yet  formidable  neighbour  and  rival,  Louis  XI  of  France. 

Charles  was  the  proudest,  most  daring,  and  most  immanageable  prince 
that  ever  made  the  sword  the  type  and  the  guarantee  of  greatness;  Louis 
the  most  subtle,  dissimulating,  and  treacherous  king  that  ever  wove  in  his 
closet  a  tissue  of  hollow  diplomacy  and  bad  faith  in  government.  The  struggle 
between  these  sovereigns  was  unequal  only  in  respect  to  this  difference  of 
character;  for  France,  subdivided  as  it  still  was,  and  exhausted  by  the  wars  with 
England,  was  not  comparable,  either  as  regarded  men,  money,  or  the  other 
resources  of  the  state,  to  the  compact  and  prosperous  dominions  of  Burgundy. 

Charles  showed  some  symptoms  of  good  sense  and  greatness  of  mind,  soon 
after  his  accession  to  power,  that  gave  a  false  colouring  to  his  disposition,  and 
encouraged  illusory  hopes  as  to  his  future  career.  Scarcely  was  he  proclaimed 
count  of  Flanders  at  Ghent,  when  the  populace,  surrounding  his  hotel,  abso- 
lutely insisted  on  and  extorted  his  consent  to  the  restitution  of  their  ancient 
privileges.  Furious  as  Charles  was  at  this  bold  proof  of  insubordination,  he 
did  not  revenge  it;  and  he  treated  with  equal  indulgence  the  city  of  Mechlin, 
which  had  expelled  its  governor  and  rased  the  citadel.  The  people  of  Li^, 
having  revolted  against  their  bishop,  Louis  of  Bourbon,  who  was  closely 
connected  with  the  house  of  Burgundy,  were  defeated  by  the  duke  in  1467, 
but  he  treated  them  with  clemency;  and  immediately  after  this  event,  in 
February,  1468,  he  concluded  with  Edward  IV  *  of  England  an  alliance,  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  against  France. 

Louis  demanded  an  explanatory  conference  with  Charles,  and  the  town 
of  P^ronne  in  Picardy  was  fixed  on  for  their  meeting.'  Louis,  willing  to 
imitate  the  boldness  of  his  rival,  who  had  formerly  come  to  meet  him  in  the 
very  midst  of  his  army,  now  came  to  the  rendezvous  almost  alone.  But  he 
was  severely  mortified,  and  near  paying  a  greater  penalty  than  fright,  for  this 

[J  IIo  also  married  the  king's  sister,  Margaret  of  York.] 

I  A  full  account  of  this  famous  interview  by  Comines,  who  was  present,  is  given  in  vol- 
ume XI.] 


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THE  NETHERLANDS  TTNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  359 

[1468-U73a.1>.] 

hazardous  conduct.  The  duke,  having  received  intelligence  of  a  new  revolt 
at  Li^ge  excited  by  some  of  the  agents  of  P'rance,  instantly  made  Louis 
prisoner,  in  defiance  of  every  law  of  lionour  or  fair  dealing.  The  excess  of  hia 
rage  and  hatred  might  have  carried  him  to  a  more  disgraceful  extremity,  liad 
not  Louis,  by  force  of  bribery,  gained  over  some  of  his  most  influential  coun- 
sellors, who  succeeded  in  appeasing  his  rage.  He  contented  himself  with 
humiliating,  when  he  was  disposed  to  punish.  He  fi)rrod  his  captive  to  ac- 
company him  to  Lidge,  and  witness  the  ruin  of  this  unfortunate  town,  which 
he  delivered  over  to  plunder;  and  having  given  this  lesson  to  Louis,  he  set 
him  at  liberty. 

From  this  period  there  wa.«:  a  markeil  and  material  change  in  the  conduct 
of  Charles.  He  hat!  been  previously  moved  by  sentiments  of  chivalry  and 
notions  of  greatness.  But  sullied  by  his  act  of  public  treachery  and  violence 
t-owards  the  monarch  who  had,  at  leiKSt  in  swming^  rnanifesE^^d  unlimite<l 
confidence  in  his  honour,  a  secret  sense  of  shame  embittered  his  feelings  and 
soured  his  temper.  He  became  so  insupportable  to  those  around  him  that 
he  was  abandoned  by  several  of  his  best  officers,  and  even  by  his  natural 
brother,  Hiildwin  of  Burgundy,  who  passeil  over  to  the  side  of  Louis.  Charles 
was  at  this  time  embarrassed  by  the  exjx'nse  of  entertaining  and  maintaining 
Edward  IV  and  numerous  English  exiles,  who  were  forced  to  take  refuge  in 
the  Netherlands  by  the  successes  of  tlie  earl  of  Warwick,  wln>  liud  replaced 
Henry  VI  on  the  throne.  He  then  entered  France  at  the  heail  of  his  army, 
to  assist  the  duke  of  Brittany;  but  he  lost  by  his  hot-brained  caprice  every 
advantage  within  his  easy  reach. 

But  he  soon  afterwards  acquired  the  duchy  of  Gelderland  from  the  old 
duke  Arnold  vim  Egniond,  who  had  been  temporarily  despoiled  of  it  by  his 
son  Adolphus.  It  was  almost  a  hereditary  consequence  in  this  family  that 
the  chiMren  should  rev(}lt  and  rebel  Hgainst  their  parents.  Ailolphus  had 
tlie  (^iTrontf^-y  to  found  his  justification  on  the  argument  that,  his  father 
ha\'ing  reigned  forty-four  years,  he  was  fully  entitled  to  his  sJiare  —  a  fine 
I^ractical  authority  for  greedy  and  expectant  heirs.  The  old  father  repliefl 
k)  this  rejisoning  by  offering  to  meet  his  son  in  single  corrd)at.  Charles  cut 
short  the  affair  by  makuig  Adolphus  prisoner  and  seizing  on  tlic  disputed 
territory,  for  which  he,  however,  paid  Arnold  (he  sum  of  2*i0,000  florins.*' 

Thus  the  whole  of  the  Netherlands,  with  the  exception  of  Friesland,  was 
at  this  time  under  the  dominion  of  the  house  of  Burgundy;  but  the  possession 
of  Gelderland,  which  Charles  so  eagerly  covela:!,  entailed  a  long  and  ruinous 
war  upon  his  successors. 

The  favourit^i  object  of  Charles'  ambition  was  now  to  lie  ranked  among 
the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  and  tc  revive  in  his  own  person  the  ancient  title  of 
king  of  Burgundy.'  He  obtained  the  emperor's  consent  to  invest  him  with 
this  much-desired  dignity  by  promising  his  only  daughter  and  sole  heiress, 
Mary,  in  marriage  to  Maximilian,  son  of  Freilerick,  and  a  meeting  at  Treves 
was  agreed  ujx^n  between  the  two  princes.  Both  repaired  thither  at  the  time 
appointed,  with  a  splendid  retinue;  the  crown,  the  sceptre,  and  the  chair  of 
state  were  already  preparetl,  when  tlie  emperor  insisted  that  tlie  marriage 
of  his  son  with  Lady  Mary  should  be  first  solemnised:  suspecting,  not 
without  reason,  that  Charles,  when  once  crowned,  would  never  fulfil  his  part 
of  the  engagement,  since  he  had  oft<?n  been  hearcj  to  say  that,  on  the  day  of 
his  daughter's  marriage,  he  woukl  shave  his  head  and  l>ecome  a  monk,  Charles 
waa  equally  determined  that  the  coronation  should  precede  the  marriage; 

*  He,  however,  poBseaaed  no  part  of  the  andent  kin^om  of  Burgundy,  which  coTttpHsed 
Franche-CuiutS,  DmupUn^,  Pruveuce,  Lyonoais,  Suvoy,  Breucla,  and  great  part  of  Switzerland. 


860  THE   HISTOKY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[U73-UTBaj».] 

and  the  coldness  and  mistrust  which  this  dispute  created  in  the  mind  of  Fred- 
erick was  so  great  that  he  suddenly  quitted  Treves,  leaving  the  duke  over- 
whelmed with  confusion  and  anger,  an  object  at  once  of  derision  and  suspicion 
to  the  German  princes. 

Thus  defeated  in  his  favomite  project,  Charles  was  now  obliged  to  turn 
his  ambitious  views  to  another  quarter,  and  since  he  could  not  raise  his  states 
to  a  kingdom,  he  sought  to  extend  them  still  more  widely,  by  the  possession 
of  all  the  fortified  places  on  the  left  side  of  the  Rhine,  from  Nimeguen,  where 
this  river  enters  the  Netherlands,  to  Bfile  on  the  confines  of  Switzerland.  / 

Charles,  urged  on  by  the  double  motive  of  thirst  for  aggrandisement  and 
vexation  at  his  late  failure,  attempted,  under  pretext  of  some  internal  dis- 
sensions, to  gain  possession  of  Cologne  and  its  territory,  which  belonged  to 
the  empire;  and  at  the  same  time  planned  the  invasion  of  France,  in  concert 
with  his  brother-in-law  Edward  IV,  who  had  recovered  possession  of  England. 
But  the  town  of  Neuss,  in  the  archbishopric  of  Cologne,  occupied  him  a  full 
year  before  its  walls  (1474^5).  The  emperor,  who  came  to  its  succour, 
actually  besieged  the  besiegers  in  their  camp;  and  the  dispute  was  terminated 
by  leaving  it  to  the  arbitration  of  the  pope's  legate,  and  placing  the  contested 
town  in  his  keeping.  This  half  triimiph  gamea  by  Charles  saved  Louis 
wholly  from  destruction.  Edward,  who  had  landed  in  France  with  a  nu- 
merous force,  seeing  no  appearance  of  his  Burgundian  allies,  made  peace  with 
Louis;  and  Charles,  who  arrived  in  all  haste,  but  not  till  after  the  treaty 
was  si^ed,  upbraided  and  abused  the  English  king,  and  turned  a  warm 
friend  mto  an  inveterate  enemy. 

Louis,  whose  crooked  policy  had  so  far  succeeded  on  all  occasions,  now 
seemed  to  favour  Charles'  plans  of  aggrandisement,  and  to  recognise  his  pre- 
tended right  to  Lorraine,  which  legitimately  belonged  to  the  empire,  and 
the  invasion  of  which  by  Charles  would  be  sure  to  set  him  at  variance  with 
the  whole  of  Germany.  The  infatuated  duke,  blind  to  the  ruin  to  which  he 
was  thus  hurrying,  marched  against  and  soon  overcame  Lorraine.  Thence 
he  turned  his  army  against  the  Swiss,  who  were  allies  to  the  conquered  prov- 
ince, but  who  sent  the  most  submissive  dissuasions  to  the  invader.  They 
begged  for  peace,  assining  Charles  that  their  romantic  but  sterile  moimtains 
were  not  altogether  worth  the  bridles  of  his  splendidly  equipped  cavalry. 
But  the  more  they  humbled  themselves,  the  higher  was  his  haughtiness 
raised.  It  appeared  that  he  had  at  this  period  conceived  the  project  of 
uniting  in  one  common  conquest  the  ancient  dominions  of  Lothair  I,  who 
had  possessed  the  whole  of  the  countries  traversed  by  the  Rhine,  the  Rhone, 
and  the  Po;  and  he  even  spoke  of  passing  the  Alps,  like  Hannibal,  for  the 
invasion  of  Italy. 

Switzerland  was,  by  moral  analogy  as  well  as  physical  fact,  the  rock  against 
which  these  extravagant  projects  were  shattered.  The  army  of  Charles,  which 
engaged  the  hardy  mountaineers  in  the  gorges  of  the  Alps  near  the  town  of 
Granson  (1476),  was  literally  crushed  to  atoms  by  the  stones  and  fragments 
of  granite  detached  from  the  heights  and  hurled  down  upon  their  heads. 
Charles,  after  this  defeat,  returned  to  the  charge  six  weeks  later,  having 
rallied  his  army  and  drawn  reinforcements  from  Burgundy.  But  Louis  had 
despatched  a  body  of  cavalry  to  the  Swiss  —  a  force  in  which  they  were  before 
deficient;  and  thus  augmented,  their  army  amounted  to  thirty-four  thousand 
men.  They  took  up  a  position,  skilfully  chosen,  on  the  borders  of  the  Lake 
of  Morat,  where  they  were  attacked  by  Charles  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand 
soldiers  of  all  ranks.  The  result  was  the  total  defeat  of  the  latter,  with  the 
loss  of  ten  thousand  killed  whose  bones,  gathered   into  an  immense  heap, 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  361 

[UiC-UT7  l.D.) 

and  bleaching  in  the  winds,  remained  for  above  three  centuries  —  a  terrible 
monument  oi  rashness  and  injustice  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  patriotism  and 
valour  on  the  other. 

Cliarles  was  now  plunged  into  a  state  of  profound  melancholy;  but  he 
soon  burst  from  this  gloomy  mood  into  one  of  renewed  fierceness  and  fatal 
desperation.  Nine  montlis  after  the  battle  of  Morat  he  re-entered  Lorraine, 
at  the  head  of  an  army  not  composed  of  his  faithful  militia  of  the  Netherlands, 
but  of  those  mercenaries  in  whom  it  was  mminess  to  jjlace  trust.  The  re- 
inforcements meant  to  be  d<*spatche(l  to  him  by  (hose  provinces  were  kept 
back  by  the  artifices  of  tlie  count  of  Campobasso,  an  Italian,  who  commanded 
his  cavalry,  and  who  only  gained  hLs  confidence  basely  to  betray  it,  Ren6 
duke  of  Lorraine,  at  the  head  of  tlie  confederate  forces,  offered  battle  to 
Charles  under  the  walls  of  Nancy:  and  tlie  night  before  the  combat  Campo- 
basso  went  over  to  the  enemy  with  the  troops  under  his  command.  Still 
Charles  had  the  way  ojx'u  for  retreat.  Fre&h  troops  from  Burgundy  antl 
Flanders  were  on  their  march  to  join  him;  but  he  would  not  lx»  dissuaded 
from  his  resolution  to  fight,  and  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune  once  more  with 
his  dispiritefl  ami  shattered  army.  On  this  occasion  the  fate  of  Charles  was 
decideil,  anti  the  fortune  of  Louis  triumphant.  The  rash  and  ill-fated  duke 
lost  both  the  battle  nn<l  his  life.  His  body,  mutilated  with  wounds,  was 
found  the  next  day,  and  buried  with  great  pomp  in  the  town  of  Nancy,  by 
the  orders  of  the  generous  victor,  the  duke  of  Lorraine.  Thus  perished  the 
last  prince  of  the  ixjwerful  house  of  Burgundy.*^ 


Motley^s  Estimate  of  Charles  the  Bold 

As  a  conqueror,  he  was  signallv  unsuccessful;  as  a  politician,  he  could 
outwit  none  but  himself;  it  was  only  as  a  tyrant  within  his  own  ground  that 
he  could  sustain  the  character  which  he  chose  to  enact.  He  lost  the  crown, 
which  he  niight  have  secured,  because  he  thought  the  emperor's  son  un- 
worthy the  heiress  of  Burgundy;  and  yet,  after  his  father's  death,  her  mar- 
riage with  that  very  Maximilian  alone  secured  the  possession  of  her  paternal 
inheritance. 

Few  princes  were  ever  a  greater  curse  to  the  people  whom  they  were 
allowed  to  hold  as  property.  He  nearly  succeedeil  in  establishing  a  cen- 
tralised despotism  upon  the  rums  of  the  provincial  institutions.  His  sudden 
death  alone  ilef erred  the  catastrophe.  His  removal  of  the  supreme  court  of 
Holland  from  the  Hague  to  Mechlin,  and  his  maintenance  of  a  standing 
army,  were  the  two  great  measures  by  which  he  prostrated  the  Netherlands. 
The  tribunal  had  been  remodelled  by  his  father;  the  expanded  authority 
which  Phihj)  had  given  to  a  bench  of  judges  dependent  upon  himself,  was  an 
infraction  of  the  rights  of  Holland.  The  court,  however,  still  held  its  sessions 
in  the  country;  and  the  sacred  privilege  —  de  non  ex'^>ca7ido  —  the  right  of 
every  Hollander  to  \)e  tried  in  his  own  land,  was,  at  least,  retained.  Charles 
threw  off  the  mask;  he  proclaimed  that  this  council  ^  composed  of  his 
creatures,  holding  office  at  his  pleasure  —  should  have  supreme  jurisdiction 
over  all  the  charters  of  the  provinces;  that  it  was  to  follow  his  person,  and 
derive  all  authority  from  hia  will.  The  usual  seat  of  the  court  he  transferred 
to  Meclilin.  It  wUl  be  seen,  in  tlie  sequel,  that  the  attempt  under  Philip  11 
to  enforce  its  supreme  authority  was  a  collateral  cause  of  the  great  revolution 
of  the  Netherlands. 

Cliarles,  like  his  father,  ailmtnistered  the  country  by  stadholders.  From 
the  condition  of  flourisliing  self-ruled  little  republics,  which  they  had,  for  a 


se%  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

moment,  almost  attiuned;  they  became  departments  of  an  Ol-assorted,  ill- 
conditioned,  ill-governed  realm,  which  was  neither  commonwealth  nor  em- 
pire, neither  ki^dom  nor  duchy,  and  which  had  no  homogeneousnesB  of 
population,  no  aJOFection  between  ruler  and  people,  small  sympathies  of 
lineage  or  of  language. 

His  triumphs  were  but  few,  his  fall  ignominious.  His  father's  treasure 
was  squandered,  the  curse  of  a  standing  army  fixed  upon  his  people,  the 
trade  and  manufactures  of  the  country  jjaralysed  by  his  extortions,  and  he 
accomplished  nothing.  He  lost  his  life  in  the  forty-fourth  year  of  his  afe 
(147V),  leaving  all  the  provinces,  duchies,  and  lordships,  which  formed  me 
miscellaneous  realm  of  Burgundy,  to  his  only  child,  the  lady  Mary.  Thus 
already  the  coimtries  which  Philip  had  wrested  from  the  feeble  hand  of 
Jacqueline  had  fallen  to  another  female.  Philip's  own  granddaughter,  as 
young,  fair,  and  unprotected  as  Jacqueline,  was  now  sole  mistress  of  those 
broad  domains. 

MARY  AND  THE  GREAT  PRIVILEGE  (1477) 

A  crisis,  both  for  Burgundy  and  the  Netherlands,  succeeds.  Within  the 
provinces  there  is  an  elastic  rebound,  as  soon  aa  the  pressure  is  removed 
from  them  by  the  tyrant's  death.  A  sudden  spasm  of  liberty  gives  the  whole 
people  gigantic  strength.  In  an  instant  they  recover  all,  and  more  than  all, 
the  rights  which  they  had  lost.  The  cities  of  Holland,  Flanders,  and  other 
provinces  call  a  convention  at  Ghent.  Laying  aside  their  musty  feuds,  men 
of  all  parties  —  hooks  and  cods,  patricians  and  people  —  move  forward  in 
phalanx  to  recover  their  national  constitutions.  On  the  other  hand,  Louis 
XI  seizes  Burgundy,  claiming  the  territory  for  his  crown,  the  heiress  for  his 
son. 

The  situation  is  critical  for  the  lady  Mary.  As  usual  in  such  cases,  ap- 
peals are  made  to  the  faithful  commons.  Oaths  and  pledges  are  showered 
upon  the  people,  that  their  loyalty  may  be  refreshed  and  grow  green.  The 
congress*  meets  at  Ghent  [February  3rd,  1477].  The  lady  Mary  professes 
much,  but  she  will  keep  her  vow.  The  deputies  are  called  upon  to  rally 
the  country  around  the  duchess,  and  to  resist  the  fraud  and  force  of  Louis. 
The  congress  is  willing  to  maintain  the  cause  of  its  young  mistress. 

The  result  of  the  deliberations  is  the  formal  grant  [February  11th,  1477] 
by  Duchess  Mary  of  the  Groot  Privikgie^  or  Great  Privilege,  the  Magna  Charta 
of  Holland.  Although  this  instrument  was  afterwards  violated,  and  indeed 
abolished,  it  became  the  foundation  of  the  republic.  It  was  a  recapitulation 
and  recognition  of  ancient  rights,  not  an  acquisition  of  new  privileges.  It 
was  a  restoration,  not  a  revdution.  Its  principal  points  deserve  attention 
from  those  interested  in  the  political  progress  of  mankind: 

"The  duchess  shall  not  marry  without  consent  of  the  states  (estates)  of 
her  provinces.  All  offices  in  her  gift  shall  be  conferred  on  natives  only. 
No  man  rfiall  fill  two  offices.  No  office  shall  be  farmed.  The  *  great  council 
and  supreme  court  of  Holland'  is  re-established.  Causes  shall  be  brought 
before  it  on  appeal  from  the  ordinaiy  courts.  It  shall  have  no  original 
jurisdiction  of  matters  within  the  cognisance  of  the  provincial  and  municipal 
tribunals.  The  states  and  cities  are  guaranteed  in  their  right  not  to  be 
summoned  to  justice  beyond  the  limits  of  their  territory.    The  cities,  in  com- 

[*  This  is  the  first  regular  assembly  of  the  states-general  of  the  Netherlands ;  the  county  of 
Holland,  before  this  time,  does  not  appear  to  have  sent  deputies  to  the  assemblies  of  the  other 
States.     In  negotiations  with  foreign  powers,  it  treated  separately  J] 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BTJHGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  303 

[H77  A.D.] 

mon  with  all  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  may  hold  dieta  as  often  and 

at  sucli  places  as  they  choose. 

"  No  new  taxes  shall  be  imposed  but  by  consent  of  the  provincial  st-ates. 
Neither  the  tUichess  nor  her  descendants  shall  begin  either  an  offensive  or 
defensive  war  without  consent  of  the  states.  In  cjuse  a  war  be  illegally 
undertaken,  the  states  are  not  bound  to  contribute  to  its  maintenance.  In 
all  public  and  legal  documents,  the  Netherland  language  shall  be  employed. 
The  conmiands  of  the  duchess  shall  Ix*  invxdid,  if  conflicting  with  the  privi- 
leges of  a  city.  The  s<nifc  of  the  supreme  council  is  transferred  from  Mechlin 
to  the  Hague.  No  money  shall  be  coined,  nor  its  value  raised  or  loweretl, 
but  by  consent  of  the  states.  Cities  are  not  to  be  compelkMi  to  contribute 
to  R*(juests  which  they  have  not  voted.  The  sovereign  shall  come  in  person 
beiore  the  states,  to  make  his  request  for  supplies." 

Here  was  good  work.  The  land  was  rescued  at  a  blow  from  the  helpless 
condition  to  which  it  had  l»een  reduced.  This  summary  annihihition  of  all 
the  despotic  arrangements  of  Charles  was  enough  to  raise  him  from  his  tomb. 
The  law,  the  sword,  the  purse  were  all  taken  from  the  hantl  of  the  sovereign 
and  placed  within  the  control  of  parliament.  Such  sweeping  reforms,  if 
maintained,  would  restore  health  to  the  body  politic.  They  gave,  more- 
over, an  earnest  of  what  was  one  day  to  arrive.  Certainly,  for  tlie  fifteenth 
century,  the  Great  Privilege  was  a  reasonably  liberal  constitution.  Where 
else  upon  earth,  at  that  day,  was  there  half  so  nuich  lilH*rty  as  was  thus 
guaranteed?  To  no  people  in  the  work!  more  than  to  the  stout  burghers  of 
Flanders  and  Holland  l>elongs  tiie  honour  of  having  battletl  audaciously  and 
perennially  in  behalf  of  human  rights. 

Similar  privileges  to  the  great  charter  of  Holland  are  granted  to  many 
other  provinces,  especially  to  Flanders,  ever  reaily  to  stand  forward  in  fierce 
vindication  of  freedom.  For  a  season  all  is  peace  and  joy;  but  the  duchess 
is  young,  weak,  and  a  woman.  There  is  no  lack  of  intriguing  politicians, 
reactionary  councillors,  Tliere  is  a  cunning  old  king  in  the  distance,  lying 
in  wait,  se*>king  what  he  can  devour.  A  mission  goes  from  the  states  to 
France.  The  weU-knowTi  tragedy  of  Imbrecourt  and  Hugonet  occurs.  En- 
voys from  the  states,  they  ilare  to  accept  secret  instructions  from  the  duchess 
to  enter  into  private  negotiations  with  the  French  monarch,  agaiast  their 
colleagues  —  against  the  great  charter  —  against  their  country,  Louis  l>e- 
trays  them,  thinking  that  policy  the  more  expedient.  They  are  seized  in 
Ghent,  rapidly  tried,  and  as  rapidly  beheaded  by  the  enraged  burghers.  All 
the  entreaties  of  the  lady  Mary,  who,  dressed  in  mourning  gannents,  with 
dishevelled  hair,  unloosed  girdle,  and  streaming  eyes,  appears  at  the  tow7i- 
house  and  afterwards  in  the  market  place^  humbly  to  intercede  for  her  ser- 
vants, are  fruitless.  There  is  no  help  for  the  juggling  diplomatists.  The 
Cunlshment  was  sharp.  Was  it  more  severe  autl  sudden  titan  that  which 
etrayed  ntonarehs  usually  inflict?  Would  the  Flemings,  at  that  critical 
moment,  have  deserved  their  freedom  had  they  not  taken  swift  and  signal 
veneeance  for  this  first  infraction  of  their  newly  recognised  rights?  Had  it 
not  oeen  weakness  to  spare  the  traitors  who  had  thus  stainerl  (he  childhood 
of  the  national  joy  at  liberty  regained? 

Another  step,  and  a  wide  one,  into  the  great  stream  of  European  history: 
the  lady  Mary  espouses  the  archduke  Maximilian.  The  Netherlands  are 
about  to  become  Habsburg  property.*^ 

Louis  XI,  having  frustrated  the  negotiations  for  peace,  poasessed  himself 
of  Arras,  Th6rouannc,  and  a  large  portion  of  Artois;  but  on  the  sea  affairs 
were  more  prosperous  for  the  Net^herlanders,  since  the  Hollanders  were  not 


S64  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHEBLANDS 

(1477-1488  A^.] 

only  able  to  protect  their  own  commerce,  but  likewise  to  capture  twenty 
large  vessels  belonging  to  the  enemy.  But  the  rapid  advances  made  by  Loui& 
who  had  subdued  Artois  and  the  county  of  Boulogne,  and  made  himsell 
master  of  Bouchain,  Le  Quesnoy,  and  Avesnes,  induced  the  states  to  hasten 
the  marriage  of  the  duchess.  Among  the  numerous  suitors  whom  her  late 
father  had  encouraged,  the  only  question  was  now  between  Maximilian,  son 
of  the  emperor  of  Germany,  and  the  dauphin  of  France.  But  with  respect 
to  the  latter — besides  the  probability  that,  from  the  di^arity  of  age  between 
the  parties,  the  princess  would  despise  her  youthful  bridegroom — who  had 
just  reached  his  eighth  year,  while  Mary  was  now  past  twenty,  there  were 
many  reasons  of  poBcy  that  rendered  the  marriage  little  desirable  to  tibe  kinp. 
The  contract,  therefore,  so  abruptly  broken  off  at  Treves  in  1473  was  a^am 
renewed,  Maximilian  was  summoned  to  repair  to  Ghent,  and  the  mamage 
was  solemnised  in  the  month  of  August;  not,  however,  witili  a  magnificence 
by  any  means  suitable  to  the  union  of  the  son  of  the  emperor  with  the  richest 
heiress  in  Eiux)pe.*  It  is  said,  indeed,  that  the  poverty  of  the  imperial  ex- 
chequer was  so  excessive  that  the  states  were  obliged  to  provide  funds  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  bridegroom's  journey  into  the  Netherliuids./ 

MAXIMILIAN   (1484^1494) 

They  not  only  supplied  all  his  wants,  but  enabled  him  to  m^tain  the 
wax  t^inst  Louis  XI,  whom  they  defeated  at  the  battle  of  Guinegate  *  in 
Picardy  in  1479  and  forced  to  make  peace  on  more  favourable  terms  than 
they  liad  hoped  for.  But  these  wealthy  provinces  were  not  more  zealous 
for  the  national  defence  than  bent  on  the  maintenance  of  their  local  privilc  _ 
which  Maximilian  little  understood,  and  sympathised  with  less.  He  was  bi 
in  the  school  of  absolute  despotism;  and  his  duchess  having  met  witti  a  too 
early  death  by  a  fall  from  her  horse  in  the  year  1482,  he  could  not  even  succeed 
in  obtaining  the  nomination  of  guardian  to  his  own  children  without  passing 
through  a  year  of  civil  war.  His  power  being  almost  nominal  in  the  northern 
provinces,'  he  vainly  attempted  to  suppress  the  violence  of  the  factions  of 
hooks  and  cods.  In  Flanders  his  authority  was  openly  resisted.  The  tur- 
bulent towns  of  that  coimtry,  and  particularly  Bruges,  taking  umbrage  at  a 
government  half  German,  half  Burgundian,  and  altogether  hateful  to  the 
people,  rose  up  against  Maximilian,  seized  on  his  person  in  1488,  imprisoned 
him  in  a  house  which  still  exists,  and  put  to  death  his  most  faithful  followers. 
But  the  fury  of  Ghent  and  other  places  becoming  still  more  outrageous, 
Maximilian  asked  as  a  favour  from  his  rebel  subjects  of  Bru^s  to  be  guarded 
while  a  prisoner  by  them  alone.  He  was  then  king  of  the  Komans  *  and  all 
Europe  became  interested  in  his  fate.    The  pope  addressed  a  brief  to  the 

['  The  simplicitT  ill-fitted  the  importance  of  the  event.  The  house  of  Austria  had  won  the 
heritage  of  Burgundy,  and  the  fate  of  the  Netherland  provinces  was  decided  for  a  lonff  period. 
It  was,  however,  fifteen  years  before  Maximilian  could  be  said  to  have  gained  the  Netoerlanda 
for  his  race.  They  were  fifteen  hard  years  for  the  provinces  as  well  as  for  Maximilian.  *- 
BlX)K./] 

['  This  dearly  bought  victory  deprived  Maximilian  of  the  flower  of  the  Ketherland  nobility, 
in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners.  The  losses  of  the  Netherlanders  by  sea  also  were  very 
considerable.  The  fleet  of  France,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Coulon,  captured  all  the 
vessels  engaged  in  the  herring  fishery,  besides  eighty  large  ships  returning  with  com  from  the 
Baltic,  and  carried  them  Into  the  ports  of  Normandy.  It  was  supposed  that  more  injury  waa 
done  to  the  Dutch  navy  In  this  year  than  during  the  whole  of  the  previous  century./] 

[*  According  to  the  terms  of  the  marriage  treaty,  his  eldest  son  Philip  succeeded  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands  immediately  upon  the  death  of  his  mother.  /J 

[*  For  fuller  accounts  of  his  European  relations  see  the  history  of  Germany  In  a  later 
Tolome.] 


V 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BUHQUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  365 

[1488-1499 1.D.] 

town  of  Bruges,  demanding  his  deliverance.  But  the  burghers  were  as  in- 
flexible as  factious;  and  (hey  at  length  released  him,  but  not  until  they  had 
concluded  with  him  and  the  assembled  states  '  a  treaty,  which  most  amply 
secured  the  enjoyment  of  their  privileges  and  the  panion  of  their  rebellion.^ 

Maximilian  is  to  be  regent  of  the  other  provinces;  Philip,  under  guardian- 
ship of  a  council,  is  to  govern  Flanders.  Moreover,  a  congress  of  all  the 
provinces  is  to  be  summoned  annually,  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare. 
Maximilian  signs  and  swears  to  the  treaty  on  the  16th  of  May,  1488.  He 
swears,  also,  to  dismiss  all  foreign  troops 
within  four  days.  Giving  hostages  for  his 
fidelity,  he  is  set  at  liberty.  What  are 
oaths  and  hostages  when  prerogative  and 
the  people  are  contending?  Emperor  Fred- 
erick sends  to  his  son  un  army  under  the 
duke  of  Saxony.  The  oatlis  are  broken,  the 
hostages  left  to  their  fate.  The  struggle 
lastB  a  year,  but,  at  the  end  of  it,  the  Flem- 
ings are  subdued.  What  could  a  single 
f)rovince  effect,  when  its  sister  states,  even 
Iberty-Ioving  Holland,  had  basely  aban- 
donefl  the  common  cause?  A  new  treaty 
is  made  (October,  1489).  Maximilian  ob- 
tains uncontrolled  guardianship  of  his  son, 
absolute  dominion  over  Flanders  and  the 
other  provinces.  The  insolent  burghers  are 
severely  punished  for  remembermg  that 
they  had  been  freemen.  The  magistrates 
of  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Ypres,  in  black  gar- 
ments, ungirdled,  bare-headed,  and  kneel- 
ing, are  compelled  to  implore  the  despot's 
forgiveness,  and  to  pay  three  hundred  thou- 
sand crowns  of  gold  as  its  price.  After 
this,  for  a  brief  season,  order  reigns  in 
Flanders. 

The  course  of  Maximilian  had  been 
stealthy,  but  decided.  Allying  himself  with 
the  city  party,  he  had  crushed  the  nobles. 
The  power  thus  obtained  he  then  turned 
against  the  burghers.  Step  by  step  he  had 
trampled  out  the  liberties  which  hia  wife  and  himself  had  sworn  to  protect. 
He  had  spurned  the  authority  of  the  Great  Privilege,  and  all  other  charters. 
Burgomasters  and  other  citizens  Imd  been  beheaded  in  great  numbers  for 
appealing  to  their  stiitutes  against  the  edicts  of  the  regent,  for  voting  in  favour 
of  a  general  congress  according  to  the  unquestionable  law.  He  had  pro- 
claimed that  all  landed  estates  should^  in  lack  of  heirs  male,  escheat  to  his 
own  exchequer.  He  had  debased  the  coin  of  the  country,  and  thereby  author- 
ised unlimited  swindling  on  the  part  of  all  his  agents,  from  stadholders  down 
to  the  meanest  official.  If  such  oppression  and  knavery  did  not  justify  the 
resistance  of  the  Flemings  to  t!»e  guardianship  of  Maximilian,  it  would  he 
difficult  to  find  any  reasonable  course  in  political  affairs  save  abject  submis- 
sion to  authority. 

['  Thin  afwemblr  was  one  of  the  e&rliest  and  moftt  imporUnt  signii  of  the  growing  sense  of 
Um  aiiitj  of  the  NetLerluidiah  interests,  and  the  need  of  co-operation.] 


*y<« 


ti.^^' 


COUBT  ATTEMDAKT  OT  TUB  SlXTUIMTB 

Cbmtuky 


S66  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[1400-11109  A.D.] 

In  1493  Maximilian  succeeds  t^  the  imperial  throne,  at  the  death  of  his 
father.  In  the  following  year  his  son,  Philip  the  Handsome,  now  seventeen 
years  of  age,  receives  the  homage  of  the  different  states  of  the  Netherlands. 
He  swears  to  maintain  only  the  privileges  granted  by  Philip  and  Charles  of 
Burffundy,  or  their  ancestors,  proclaiming  null  and  void  all  those  which 
might  have  been  acquired  smce  the  death  of  Charles.  Holland,  Zealand, 
and  the  other  provinces  accept  him  upon  these  conditions,  thus  ignomini- 
ously,  and  without  a  struggle,  relinquishing  the  Great  Privilege,  and  all 
similar  charters.^ 

PHILIP  THE  HANDSOME   (1494-1606) 

The  reign  of  Philip,  unfortunately  a  short  one,  was  rendered  remarkable 
by  two  intestine  quarrels,  one  in  Friesland,  the  other  in  Gelderland.  Tlie 
Frisians,  true  to  their  old  character,  held  firm  to  their  privileges,  and  fought 
for  their  maintenance  with  heroic  courage.  Albert  of  Saxonv,  furious  at 
this  resistance,  had  the  horrid  barbarity  to  cause  to  be  impaled  the  chief 
burghers  of  the  town  of  Leeuwarden,  which  he  had  taken  by  assault.  But 
he  himself  died  in  the  j^ear  1500,  without  succeeding  in  his  projects  of  an 
ambition  unjust  in  ite  principle  and  atrocious  in  its  practice. 

The  war  of  Gelderland  was  of  a  totally  different  nature.  In  this  case  it 
was  not  a  question  of  popular  resistance  to  a  tyrannical  nomination,  but  of 
patriotic  fidelity  to  the  reigning  family.  Adolphus,  the  duke  who  had  de- 
throned his  father,  had  died  in  Flanders,  leaving  a  son  who  had  been  brought 
up  almost  a  captive  as  long  as  Maximilian  governed  the  states  of  his  inheri- 
tance. This  yoimg  man,  called  Charles  van  Egmond,  who  is  honoured  in 
the  history  of  his  country  imder  the  title  of  the  Achilles  of  Gelderland,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  French  during  the  combat  in  which  he  made  his  first 
essay  in  arms.  The  towns  of  Gelderland  unanimously  joined  to  pay  his  ran- 
som; and,  as  soon  as  he  was  at  liberty,  they  one  and  all  proclaimed  him  duke. 
The  emperor,  Philip,  and  the  German  diet  in  vain  protested  against  this 
measure,  and  declared  Charles  a  usurper.  We  cannot  follow  this  warlike 
prince  in  the  long  series  of  adventures  which  consolidated  his  power;  nor 
stop  to  depict  his  daring  adherents  on  land,  who  caused  the  whole  of  Holland 
to  tremble  at  their  deeds;  nor  his  pirates  —  the  chief  of  whom,  Long  Peter, 
called  himself  king  of  the  Zuyder  Zee.  But  amidst  all  the  consequent  troubles 
of  such  a  struggle,  it  is  marvellous  to  find  Charles  of  Egmond  upholding  his 
country  in  a  state  of  high  prosperity,  and  leaving  it  at  his  death  almost  as 
rich  as  Holland  itself. 

The  incapacity  of  Philip  the  Handsome  doubtless  contributed  to  cause 
him  the  loss  of  this  portion  of  his  dominions.  This  prince,  after  his  first 
acte  of  moderation  and  good  sense,  was  remarkable  only  as  being  the  father 
of  Charles  V  (bom  in  1500).  The  remainder  of  his  life  was  worn  out  in 
undignified  pleasures;  and  he  died,  in  the  year  1506,  at  Burgos  in  Castile, 
whither  he  had  repaired  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  brother-in-law,  the  king  of 
Spain.^ 

[>  A  handsome  profligate,  devoted  to  his  pleasures  and  leaving  the  cares  of  state  to  his  min- 
isters, Philip,  **  crott'Conseil"  is  the  bridge  over  which  the  house  of  Habsburg  passes  to  almost 
universal  monarchy  ;  but,  in  himself,  he  is  nothing.  Two  prudent  marriages,  made  bv  Austrian 
archdukes  within  twenty  years,  have  altered  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  stream,  which  we  have 
been  tracing  from  its  source,  empties  itself  at  last  into  the  ocean  of  a  world-empire.  Count 
Dirk  I,  lord  of  a  half- submerged  corner  of  Europe,  is  succeeded  by  Count  Charles  II  of  Holland, 
better  known  as  Charles  V,  king  of  Spain.  Sicily,  and  Jerusalem,  duke  of  Milan,  emperor  of 
Germany,  dominator  in  Asia  and  Africa,  autocrat  of  half  the  world.  —  Motley.''] 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY   AND  THE  EMPIRE  367 


MAnCAHET,   GOVKR^TESS  FOH   CHARLES  V   Cl60ft-1530) 

Philip  hoing  dead  and  his  wifp,  Juana  of  Spain,  having  bocomo  mad  ^  from 
grief  at  his  loss,  after  nearly  losing  lier  senses  from  jealousy  during  his  life, 
the  regency  of  tlie  Netherfands  reverted  to  Maximilian,  who  immediately 
named  his  daughter  Margart»t  govornante  of  the  country  [in  the  name  of 
Charles,  who  wa-s  only  six  years  old].  This  prineess,  scarcely  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  had  been,  like  the  celebrated  .Jacqueline  of  Bavaria,  already 
three  times  married,  and  was  now  again  a  widow.  Her  first  hasband,  Charles 
VIII  of  France,  had  broken  from  his  contract  of  marriage  before  its  consum- 
mation; her  second,  the  infante  of  Spain,  died  immediately  after  their  union; 
and  her  third,  the  duke  of  Savoy,  left  her  again  a  widow  after  three  years  of 
wedde<l  life.  She  was  a  woman  of  talent  and  courage;  lx)th  iiroved  by  the 
couplet  she  composed  for  her  own  epitaph,  at  the  very  moment  of  a  dangerous 
accident  which  happencHl  during  her  journey  into  Spain  to  join  her  second 
affianced  spouse.*  She  was  received  with  the  greatest  joy  by  the  people  of 
the  Netherlands;  and  she  govemetl  them  as  peaceably  as  circumstances 
allowed.  Supported  by  England,  she  firmly  maintained  her  authority 
against  the  threats  of  France;  and  she  carried  on  in  person  all  the  negotia- 
tions between  Louis  XII,  Maximilian,  the  pope  Julius  11,  and  Ferdinand  of 
Ara^on.  for  the  famous  League  of  Venire.  She  also  succeeded  in  repressing 
the  rising  pretension.s  of  Charles  van  Egmond;  and,  assb^ted  by  the  inter- 
ference of  lh(^  king  <)f  France,  she  obliged  him  to  give  up  some  places  in  Hol- 
land which  he  illegally  held. 

From  this  period  the  alliance  between  England  and  Spain  raised  the  con> 
raerce  and  manufactures  of  the  southern  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  to  a 
high  degree  of  prosperity,  while  the  northern  |)urts  of  the  country  wert?  still 
kept  down  by  their  various  dissensions.  Holland  was  at  war  with  Detmiark 
and  the  Hanseatic  towns  [1510-1511],  The  Frisians  continued  to  struggle 
for  freetiom  against  the  heirs  of  Albert  of  Saxony.  Utrecht  was  at  variance 
with  its  bishopj  and  finall}'  recognised  Charles  van  Egmond  as  its  protector. 
The  consequence  of  all  these  causes  was  that  the  south  took  the  start  in  a 
course  of  prosperity  which  was,  however,  soon  to  become  common  to  the 
wliole  nation. 

A  new  rupture  with  France,  in  1513,  united  Maximilian,  Margaret^  and 
Henry  VIII  i>f  England  in  one  common  cause.  An  English  anil  Belgian 
anny,  in  which  Maxittiilian  figured  ils  a  spectator  (taking  cure  to  l)e  paid  by 
England),  marched  for  the  destnictioii  of  Th^rouanne,  and  defeated  and 
dispersed  the  French  at  the  second  "battle  of  the  Spurs.''  But  Louis  XII 
soon  persuaded  Henry  to  make  a  separate  peace;  and  the  unconrquerable 
duke  of  GelderlauLl  made  Margaret  and  the  em|>eror  pay  the  penalty  of  their 
success  against  France.  He  pursued  his  victories  in  Friesland,  and  forced 
the  country  to  recognise  him  as  stadliolder  of  Groningen,  its  chief  town; 
while  the  duke  of  Saxony  at  k'ligth  renounced  to  another  his  unjust  claim 
on  a  territory  which  engulfed  both  his  armies  and  his  treasure. 

['  See  tlie  history  of  BpAin  for  a  fuller  account  of  these  matters.] 

•  Oi-^  Margot  Ja  gente  demoiselU, 
Qut  cut  deux  maris^  et  se  mourut  pwelie. 

Heroeentle  Margot  quietly  is  laid, 

Who  bad  two  husbands,  and  yet  died  a  maid. 


8«8  THE  HISTOEY   OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[Un5-UMA.«.J 
CHARLEB  V  (1615-1666) 

About  the  same  epoch  (1515),  young  Charles,  son  of  Philip  the  Handsome, 
having  just  attained  his  fifteenth  year,  was  inaugurated  duke  of  Brabant 
and  count  of  Flanders  and  Holland,  having  purchased  the  presumed  ri^t 
of  Saxony  to  the  sovereignty  of  Friesland.  In  the  followii^  year  he  was 
recognised  as  prince  of  Castile,  in  right  of  his  mother,  who  associated  him 
with  herself  in  the  royal  power  —  a  step  which  soon  left  her  merely  the 
title  of  queen.  Charles  procured  the  nomination  of  bishop  of  Utrecht  for 
Philip,  bastard  of  Burgundy,  which  made  that  province  completely  dependent 
on  him.  But  this  event  was  also  one  of  general  and  lasting  importance  on 
another  account. 

The  Reformation 

Thb  Philip  of  Burgimdy  was  deeply  affected  by  the  doctrines  of  ihe 
Reformation,  which  had  burst  forth  in  Germany.  He  held  in  abhorrence 
the  observances  of  the  Roman  church,  and  set  his  face  against  the  celibacy 

of  the  clergy.  His  example  soon 
influenced  lus  whole  diocese,  and 
the  new  notions  on  points  oi  r^ 
gion  became  rapidly  popular.  It 
was  chiefly,  however,  m  Friedand 
that  the  people  embraced  the  opin- 
ions of  Luther,  which  were  quite 
conformable  to  many  of  the  local 
customs.  The  celebrated  Edzard 
count  of  East  Friesland  openly 
hk^d-orsbses  or  thb  sixtkbnth  cbhtuby        adopted  the  Reformation;   whife 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  without 
actually  pronouncing  himself  a  disciple  of  Lutheranism,  effected  more  than 
all  its  advocates  to  throw  the  abuses  of  Catholicism  into  discredit. 

The  refusal  of  the  dignity  of  emperor  by  Frederick  "  the  wise,"  duke  of 
Saxony,  to  whom  it  was  offered  by  the  electors,  was  also  an  event  highly 
favourable  to  the  new  opinions;  for  Francis  I  of  France,  and  Charles,  already 
king  of  Spain  and  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands,  both  claiming  the  succession 
to  uie  empire,  a  sort  of  interregnum  deprived  the  disputed  dominions  of  a 
chief  who  might  lay  the  heavy  hand  of  power  on  the  new-springing  doctrines 
of  Protestantism.  At  length  the  intrigues  of  Charles  and  his  pretensions  as 
grandson  of  Maximilian,  having  caused  him  to  be  chosen  emperor,*  a  desperate 
rivalry  resulted  between  him  and  the  French  king,  which  for  a  while  absorbed 
his  whole  attention  and  occupied  all  his  power. 

War  was  declared  on  frivolous  pretexts  in  1521.  Francis  being  obsti- 
nately bent  on  the  conquest  of  the  Milanese,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
imperial  troops  at  the  battle  of  Pavia  in  1525.  Charles'  dominions  in  the 
Netherlands  suffered  severely  from  the  naval  operations  during  the  war; 
for  the  French  cruisers  having,  on  repeated  occasions,  taken,  pillaged,  and 
almost  destroyed  the  principal  resources  of  the  herring  fishery,  Holland  and 
Zealand  felt  consideraoie  distress,  which  was  still  further  augmented  by  the 
famine  which  desolated  these  provinces  in  1524. 

While  such  calamities  afflicted  the  northern  portion  of  the  Netherlands, 

[^  Maximilian  died  Janoary,  1510,  and  Francis  I  dispated  with  Charlea  the  right  to  Bucceed 
him.1 


TUE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  369 

[  1527-1555  A.D.) 

Flanriers  and  Brabant  continued  to  flourish,  in  spite  of  temporarj'  embar- 
rassments. The  bishop  of  Utreeht  having  died,  Ins  successor  found  himself 
engaged  in  a  lio|K'le.sa  (quarrel  with  liis  new  (lincpse,  alreatiy  more  than  half 
converted  to  Protestantism;  and  to  gain  a  triumph  over  these  enemies,  even 
by  the  sacrifice  of  his  dignity,  he  ceded  to  the  emperor  in  1527  the  whole  of 
his  t-emporal  power.  The  tiuke  of  Gelderland,  who  then  occupie<i  the  city 
of  Utrecht,  redoubled  his  hostility  at  this  intelligence;  and  after  having 
ravaged  the  neighbouring  country,  he  di<l  not  lay  down  his  arms  till  the 
subsequent  year,  having  first  procured  an  honourable  and  advant!igeou8 
peace.  One  year  more  saw  the  term  of  this  long-continued  state  of  war- 
fai'e  by  the  Peace  of  Cam  bray,  between  Charles  and  Francis,  which  was  signed 
on  the  5th  of  August,  1529.*' 

The  perpetual  quarrels  of  Charles  V  with  Francis  I  and  Charles  of  Gelder- 
land  *  led,  as  may  be  supposed,  to  a  repeated  state  of  exhaustion,  which  forced 
the  princes  to  pause,  till  the  people  recovered  strength  and  resources.  Charles 
rarely  appeared  in  the  Netherlands  —  fixing  his  residence  chiefly  in  Spain, 
and  leaving  to  his  sister  the  regulation  of  those  distant  provinces.  One  of 
his  occasional  visits  was  for  the  purpose  of  inflicting  a  terrible  example  upon 
them.  The  people  of  Ghent,  suspecting  an  improper  or  improvident  appli- 
cation of  the  fmnia  they  had  furnislied  for  a  new  campaign,  a  sedition  was 
the  result.  On  this  occasion,  Charles  formed  the  daring  resf)lution  of  crossing 
the  kingflom  of  France,  to  take  promptly  into  his  o^^ti  hands  the  settlement 
of  this  atTair — trusting  to  the  generosity  of  his  scarcely  reconciled  enemy 
not  to  abuse  the  confidence  with  which  he  risked  himself  in  his  power.  Ghent, 
taken  by  surprise  [1540]^  did  not  dare  to  oppose  the  entrance  of  the  emperor, 
when  he  appeared  before  the  walls;  and  the  city  was  punished  with  extreme 
Beverity.  Twenty-seven  leaders  of  the  sedition  were  beheaded;  the  principal 
privileges  of  the  city  were  withdrawn;  and  a  citadel  was  built  to  hold  it  in 
check  for  the  future. 

The  Dutch  antl  the  Zwdanders  signalised  themselves  beyond  all  his  other 
subjects  on  the  occasion  of  two  expeilitions  which  Charles  undertook  against 
Tunis  and  Algiers  in  1541.  The  two  northern  provinces  furnished  a  greater 
number  of  ships  than  the  united  quotas  of  all  the  rest  of  his  states.  But 
though  Charles'  gratitude  did  not  lead  him  to  do  anything  in  return  as  pecu- 
liarly favourable  to  these  provinces,  he  obtained  for  them  nevertheless  a 
great  advantage  in  making  himself  nmster  of  Friesland  and  Gelderland  on 
the  death  of  Charles  van  Egmond.'  His  acquisition  of  the  latter,  which  took 
place  in  1548,  put  an  en<^l  to  the  domestic  w^ars  of  the  northern  provinces. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  career,  Charles  redoubled  his  severities  against  the 
Protestants,  and  even  introduce<l  a  modified  species  of  inquisition  into  the 
Netherlands,  but  with  little  cfTect  towards  the  suppression  of  tlie  iTformed 
doctrines.  The  misimderstandings  between  his  only  son  Philip  and  Mary  of 
England,  whom  he  induced  to  marry,  and  the  unaniiable  disposition  of  this 
young  prince,  tormented  him  ahuost  as  nmch  im  he  wius  humiliated  by  the 
victories  of  Henry  H  of  France,  the  successor  of  Francis  I,  and  the  successful 
dissimulation  of  Maurice  elector  of  Saxony,  by  whom  he  was  completely 
outwitted,  deceived,  and  defeated.  Impelled  by  these  motives,  and  others, 
perhaps,  which  are  and  must  ever  remain  unknown,  Cliarles  at  length  decided 

['  By  this  treaty  France  surrendered  the  claim  of  suxerainty  over  Flaodeni  and  Artois.  A 
year  Ial«r  Margaret  died.  Her  sway  had  been  in  many  ways  beneficial.  Charles  madp  a  visit 
to  the  Netht^r lands,  Ln  which  he  wheedled  many  coDcesaions  from  the  states  Hssembled  in  1591, 
and  appointed  a.i  governess  his  sistiT  Mary,  widow  of  King  I^nuis  M  of  Hungary.] 

f*  lu  1528  the  (ielderland  troops  saclccd  and  burned  tlio  Hague.] 
'  In  1540  Utrecht  also  was  finaUy  united  with  Hoilaad.] 
B.  w.  —  vou  xnt.  2b 


370  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[1865  A.a] 

on  abdicating  the  whole  of  his  immense  possessions.  He  chose  tlie  city  of 
Brussels  as  tlie  scene  of  the  solemnity,  and  the  day  fixed  for  it  was  the  25Ui 
of  October,  1555/  It  took  place  accordin^y,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense 
assemblage  of  nobles  from  various  countries.  Charles  resigned  the  empire 
to  his  brother  Ferdinand,  already  king  of  the  Romans;  and  all  the  rest  <rf 
his  dominions  to  his  son  Philip  II.  Soon  after  the  ceremony,  Charles  em- 
barked from  Zealand  on  his  voyage  to  Spain.  He  retired  to  the  monastery 
of  San  Yuste,  near  the  town  of  Plasencia,  in  Estremadura.  He  entered 
this  retreat  in  February,  1556,  and  died  there  on  the  2l8t  of  September,  1568, 
in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  The  last  six  months  of  his  existence^  con- 
trasted with  the  daring  vigour  of  his  former  life,  formed  a  melancholy  picture 
of  timidity  and  superstition.** 

Motley^s  Estimate  of  Charles  V 

What  was  the  emperor  Charles  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands 
that  they  should  weep  for  him?  His  conduct  towards  them  during  his  whole 
career  had  been  one  of  immitigated  oppression.  What  to  them  were  all  these 
forty  voyages  by  sea  and  land,'  these  joumej^ings  back  and  forth  from  Fries- 
land  to  Tunis,  from  Madrid  to  Vienna?  The  interests  of  the  Netherlands  had 
never  been  even  a  secondary  consideration  with  their  master.  He  had  ful- 
filled no  duty  towards  them:  he  had  committed  the  gravest  crimes  against 
them.  He  had  regjarded  them  merely  as  a  treasury  upon  which  to  draw; 
while  the  sums  which  he  extorted  were  spent  upon  ceaseless  and  senseless 
wars,  which  were  of  no  more  interest  to  them  than  if  they  had  been  waged 
in  another  planet.  Of  five  millions  of  gold  annually,  which  he  derived  from 
all  his  realms,  two  millions  came  from  these  industrious  and  opulent  prov- 
inces, while  but  a  half  million  came  from  Spain  and  another  half  from  the 
Indies.  The  mines  of  wealth  which  had  been  opened  by  the  hand  of  industry 
in  that  slender  territory  of  ancient  morass  and  thicket'  contributed  four 
times  as  much  income  to  the  imperial  exchequer  as  all  the  boasted  wealth 
of  Mexico  and  Peru.  Yet  the  artisans,  the  farmers,  and  the  merchants,  by 
whom  these  riches  were  produced,  were  consulted  about  as  much  in  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  imposts  upon  their  industry  as  were  the  savages  of  America 
as  to  the  distribution  of  the  mineral  treasures  of  their  soil.  They  paid  1,200,000 
crowns  a  year  regularly;  they  paid  in  five  years  an  extraordinary  subsidy  of 
eight  millions  of  ducats,  and  the  states  were  roundly  rebuked  by  the  coinily 
representatives  of  their  despot  if  they  presumed  to  inquire  into  the  objects 
of  the  appropriations,  or  to  express  an  mtcrest  in  their  judicious  administra- 
tion. Yet  it  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  a  matter  of  indifference  to  them 
whether  Francis  or  Charles  had  won  the  day  at  Pavia,  and  it  certainly  was 
not  a  cause  of  triumph  to  the  daily  mcreasing  thousands  of  religious  reformers 

[*  See  the  liistories  of  Spidn  and  Germany.  At  the  same  time  the  gnverncss  Mary  resigned 
the  office  she  had  held  for  twenty-five  years.] 

["  See  the  history  of  Spain,  vol.  X,  Chapter  8,  where  the  enormons  drain  Charles  V  made 
on  tlie  Spanish  treasury  will  be  found  similar  to  his  draughts  on  the  Netherlands.] 

*  Badovaro'  estimated  the  annual  value  of  butter  and  cheese  produced  in  those  meadows 
which  Holland  had  rescued  from  the  ocean  at  eight  hundred  thousand  crowns,  a  sum  which, 
making  allowance  for  the  difFerence  in  the  present  value  of  money  from  that  which  it  bore  in 
1557,  would  represent  nearly  eight  millions.  In  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures,  the 
Netherlanders  were  the  foremost  nation  in  the  world.  The  fabrics  of  Arras,  Toumay,  Brussels, 
Louvain,  Ghent,  and  Bruges  were  entirely  unrivalled.  Antwerp  was  the  great  commercial 
metropolis  of  Christendom.  "  .A veraa,"  says  Badovaro,  "<  stimata  la  mtwgiore  piaiza  del 
Mondo  —  «  puo  credere  quanta  sia  la  somma  ai  affermapasaare  40  milUoni  a  oro  ranno,  quelli 
che  incontanto  girano" 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  371 


I 

I 


I 
I 

I 


in  Holland  and  Flanders  tliat  their  brethren  had  been  crushed  by  the  emperor 
at  Miihlberg. 

But  it  was  not  aJoue  that  ho  drainrd  their  treasure  and  hampered  their 
industry.  He  was  in  constant  conflict  with  their  ancient  and  dearly-bought 
political  liberties.  Like  his  ancestor  Charles  the  Bold,  he  was  desirous  of 
constructing  a  kingdom  out  of  the  provinces.  He  was  disposed  to  place  all 
their  separate  and  individual  charters  on  a  Procrustean  be(l,  and  shape  them 
all  into  uniformity  simply  by  reducing  the  whole  to  a  nullity/  The  difheulties 
in  the  way,  the  stout  opposition  oflfored  by  burghers  whose  fathers  had  gained 
these  charters  with  Iheir  blood,  and  hiw  want  of  leisure  during  the  vast  labours 
which  devolved  upon  him  as  the  autocrat  of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  world, 
caused  him  to  defer  indefinitely  the  execution  of  his  plan.  He  found  time 
only  to  crush  some  of  the  foremost  of  the  liberal  ijistitutroiis  of  tlie  provinces 
in  detail.  He  found  the  city  of  Tournay  a  happy,  thriving,  self-governed 
little  republic  in  all  its  local  affairs;  he  destroyed  its  liberties,  without  a 
tolerable  pretext,  anti  reduced  it  to  the  condition  of  a  .Spanish  or  Italian 
provincial  town.  His  memorable  chastisement  of  Ohcnt  for  having  flared 
to  assert  its  ancient  rights  of  self-taxation  has  been  already  narrated.  Many 
other  instances  might  be  affduced^  if  it  were  not  a  superfluous  task,  to  prove 
that  Cliarles  was  not  only  a  iKiliticul  despot,  but  most  arbitrary  and  cruel 
in  the  exercise  of  his  despotism. 

But  if  his  sins  against  the  Netherlands  had  been  only  those  of  financial 
and  political  oppression,  it  would  be  at  least  conceival>le,  although  ecrtaiidy 
not  comraendabli*,  that  the  inhabitant*!  should  have  rpgretted  his  departure. 
His  hand  planted  the  inquisiition  in  the  Netherlands,  Before  his  day  it  is 
idle  to  say  that  the  diabolical  institution  ever  had  a  place  there.  The  isolated 
cases  in  which  inquisitors  had  exercised  functifms  i)n)ve<l  the  absence  and 
not  the  presence  of  the  system.  Charles  introduced  and  organised  a  papal 
inquisition^  side  by  side  with  those  terrible  "placanls''  of  his  invention^ 
which  constituted  a  masked  inquisition  even  more  cruel  than  that  of  Spain. 
The  execution  of  the  system  was  never  permitted  to  languish.  The  number 
of  Netherlanders  who  were  burned,  strangled,  Ixiheaded,  or  buried  iUive,  in 
obedience  to  his  edicts,  and  for  the  offences  of  reading  the  Scriptures,  of  look- 
ing askance  at  a  graven  image,  or  of  ridiculing  tlie  actual  presence  of  the  body 
and  bloml  of  Christ  in  a  w^afer^  has  been  placet!  as  high  as  one  lumdred  thou- 
sand by  distinguished  authorities,  and  has  rarely  been  put  at  a  lower  mark 
than  fifty  thousand.^  The  Venetian  envoy  Navigero  estinuitetl  the  victims 
in  the  provinces  of  Holland  and  Friesland  alone  at  thirty  thoasand,  and  this 
in  1546,  ten  years  before  the  abdication,  and  five  before  the  promulgation 
of  the  hideous  edict  of  L550! 

The  edicts  luui  the  inquisition  W7»re  the  gift  of  Cliarles  to  the  Netherlands, 
in  retuni  for  their  wiisted  treasure  and  their  constant  obedience,  For  this, 
his  name  deserves  to  be  handed  down  to  eternal  infamy,  not  only  throughout 
the  Netherlands,  but  in  every  land  where  a  single  heart  beats  for  political  or 
religious  freedom.    To  eradicate  these  institutions  after  they  had  been  watered 

['  The  character  of  Charles  has  perhaps  been  more  eloquently  and  elegantly  maligned  by 
Robertson'"  and  Motley*  than  he  deserved.  A  rtn^mt  life  by  Kdward  Armstronp*  offers  a 
oouDterwei^ht.  Against  the  charges  of  despotic  anibitioD  Armstrong  emphaslBes  tlie  fact  that 
he  convoked  the  diet*  in  Germany  more  frequently  than  even  the  Protestant  jirinceH  desirtxl, 
and  that  during  hl^  rel^  the  states-general  of  the  Netherlands  met  over  fifty  times.] 

[■  "  Nam  post  camificaia  hominum  non  minus  centum  miltia,  ex  quo  tentatum  an  posset  iti- 
iieTidium  hoe.  sanffuin*  restii^ui,  tanta  mult itudo  per  Belgicnm  in*ftrrt:r^rat,  ut  pubUca  inter' 
dum  auppUcia  quoiie^  insignior  reus,  aut  atroeiores  emciatus  etditione  impedireniur. — Ucoo 
Orotics  [dis  (inoaT].<»    But  Blok-'  scofis  at  so  high  an  estimate.     See  the  next  chapter.] 


mt  THE  HISTORY   OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

and  watched  by  the  care  of  his  successor,  was  the  work  of  an  eighty  3rearB' 
war,  in  the  course  of  which  millions  of  lives  were  sacrificed. 

Yet  there  i  no  doubt  that  the  emperor  was  at  times  almost  popular  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  that  he  was  never  as  odious  as  his  successor.  There 
were  some  deep  reasons  for  ttiis,  and  some  superficial  ones;  among  others,  a 
singularly  fortunate  manner.  He  spoke  German,  Spanish,  Italian,  French, 
and  Flemish,  and  could  assume  the  characteristics  of  each  country  as  easily 
as  he  could  use  its  language.  He  could  be  stately  with  Spaniards,  familiar 
with  Flemings,  witty  with  Italians.  He  could  strike  down  a  bull  in  the  ring 
like  a  matador  at  Madrid,  or  win  the  pr'  -.e  in  the  tourney  like  a  knight  of  old; 
he  could  ride  at  the  ring  with  the  Flemish  nobles,  hit  the  popinjay  with  his 
crossbow  among  Antwerp  artisans,  or  diink  beer  and  exchange  rude  jests 
with  the  boors  of  Brabant.  For  virtues  such  aa  these,  his  grave  crimes  a^inst 
God  and  man,  against  religion  and  chartered  and  solemnly-sworn  n^ts, 
have  been  palliated  as  if  oppression  became  more  tolerable  because  the  op- 
pressor was  an  accomplished  linguist  and  a  good  marksman.^ 

PROSPEROUS  CONDITION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

The  whole  of  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  being  now  for  the  first 
time  united  imder  one  sovereign,  such  a  junction  marks  the  limits  of  a  second 
epoch  in  their  history.  It  would  be  a  presumptuous  and  vain  attempt  to' 
trace,  in  a  compass  so  confined  as  ours,  the  vanous  changes  in  manners  and 
customs  which  arose  in  these  countries  during  a  period  of  one  thousand  years. 
The  extended  and  profound  remarks  of  many  celebrated  writers  on  the  state 
of  Europe  from  the  decline  of  the  Roman  power  to  the  epoch  at  which  we 
are  now  arrived  must  be  referred  to,  to  judge  of  the  gradual  progress  of  civili- 
sation through  the  gloom  of  the  dark  ages,  till  the  dawn  of  enlightenment 
which  led  to  the  grand  system  of  European  politics  commenced  during  the 
reign  of  Charles  V. 

The  amazing  increase  of  commerce  was,  above  all  other  considerations, 
the  cause  of  the  growth  of  liberty  in  the  Netherlands.  The  Reformation 
opened  the  minds  of  men  to  that  intellectual  freedom  without  which  political 
enfranchisement  is  a  worthless  privilege.  The  invention  of  printing  opened 
a  thousand  channels  to  the  flow  of  erudition  and  talent,  and  sent  them  out 
from  the  reservoirs  of  individual  possession  to  fertuise  the  whole  domain 
of  human  nature.  Manufactures  attained  a  state  of  high  perfection,  and 
went  on  progressively  with  the  growth  of  wealth  and  luxury.  The  opulence 
of  the  towns  of  Brabant  and  Flanders  was  without  any  previous  example 
in  the  state  of  Europe.  A  merchant  of  Bruges  took  upon  nimself  alone  the 
security  for  the  ransom  of  John  the  Fearless,  taken  at  the  battle  of  Nicopolis, 
amounting  to  two  hundred  thousand  ducats.  A  provost  of  Valenciennes 
repaired  to  Paris  at  one  of  the  great  fairs  periodically  held  there,  and  pur- 
chased on  his  own  account  every  article  that  was  for  sale.  The  meetings  of 
the  different  towns  for  the  sports  of  archery  were  signalised  by  the  most 
splendid  display  of  dress  and  tlccoration.  The  archers  were  habited  in  silk, 
damask,  and  the  finest  linen,  and  carried  chains  of  gold  of  great  weight  and 
value.  Luxury  was  at  its  height  among  women.  The  queen  of  Philip  the 
Handsome  of  France,  on  a  visit  to  Bruges,  exclaimed,  with  astonishment 
not  immixed  with  envy,  "I  thought  myself  the  only  queen  here;  but  I  see 
six  hundred  others  who  appear  more  so  than  I." 

The  dresses  of  both  men  and  women  at  this  chivalric  epoch  were  of  almost 
mcredible  expense.    Velvet,  satin,  gold,  and   precious  stones  seemed   the 


THE  NETHERLANDS  UNDER  BURGUNDY  AND  THE  EMPIRE  373 


ordinar>'  irmtoials  for  the  dress  of  either  sex;  while  the  very  housings  of  the 
horses  sparkled  with  brilliants  and  cost  immense  smns.  This  absurd  ex- 
travagance was  carried  so  f.^ir  that  Charles  V  found  himself  forced  at  length 
to  proclaim  sumptuary  laws  for  its  repression. 

Such  excessive  luxury  naturally  led  to  great  cornij^tion  of  maimers  and 
the  commission  of  terrible  crimes.  During  the  reigri  of  Philip  de  Male,  thv.rc 
wexe  committed  in  the  city  of  Ghent  and  its  outskirts,  in  less  than  a  year, 
alx)ve  fourteen  hundretl  murders  in  gambling-houses  and  other  resorts  of 
iebaucher>'.  As  early  as  the  tenth  centur)%  the  petty  sovereigns  establishetl 
on  the  ruins  of  the  empire  of  Charlemagne  be-gan  the  independent  coining  of 
money;  and  the  various  provinces  were  during  the  rest  of  this  epoch  iimn- 
dated  with  a  most  embarrassing  variety  of  gol<l,  silver,  and  copjxT. 

Even  in  ages  of  comparative  darkness,  literature  made  feeble  efTorta  to 
burst  through  the  entangled  weeds  of  superstition,  ignorance,  and  war.  In 
the  fourtectith  and  fifiet*tith  centuries  history  wjus  greatly  cultivated;  and 
Froissart,  Monytrclet,  Olivier  dc  la  Marches  and  Philip  de  Coniines  gave  to 
their  chronicles  and  memoirs  a  charm  of  style  since  their  days  almost  un- 
rivalled. PtM'try  began  to  Iw  followed  with  success  in  the  Netherlands,  in 
the  Dutch,  Flemish,  and  French  languages;  and  even  before  the  institution 
Df  the  Floral  Games  in  France,  Belgium  possessed  its  charnljers  of  rhetoric 
{rederykka7n€rs)f  which  laboured  to  keep  alive  the  sacred  flame  of  poetry 
with  more  zejd  than  success.  In  the  fourteenth  antl  fifteenth  centuries 
these  societies  were  established  in  almost  every  burgh  of  Flanders  and  Bra- 
bant, the  principal  towns  possessing  several  at  once. 

The  arts  in  their  sevend  branches  made  considerable  progress  in  the 
Netherlands  durhig  this  epoch.  Architecture  was  greatly  cultivat^ni  in  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  most  of  the  catliedrtds  and  town  houses 
being  constructed  in  that  age.  Their  vastness,  solidity,  and  beauty  of  design 
and  execution,  make  them  still  speaking  momiiiients  of  the  stem  magnificence 
An<l  finished  taste  of  the  times.  The  patronage  of  Philip  the  Good,  Charles 
the  Bokl,  and  Margaret  of  Austria  brought  music  into  fashion,  and  led  to  ita 
cultivation  in  a  remarkable  degree.  The  first  nmsicians  of  France  were  drawn 
from  Flanders;  and  other  professors  from  that  country  acquired  great  celel> 
rity  in  Italy  for  their  scientific  improvements  in  their  art. 

Painting,  which  had  languished  before  the  fifteenth  century,  sprang  at 
once  into  a  new  existence  from  the  invention  of  Jan  Van  Eyck.  His  acci- 
dental discovery  of  the  art  of  painting  in  oil  quickly  spreatl  over  Europe. 
Painting  on  glass,  polishing  diamonds,  the  carillon,  lace,  and  tapestry  were 
among  the  inventions  which  owed  their  birth  to  the  Netherlands  in  these 
age.s,  when  the  faculties  of  mankind  sought  so  many  new  channels  for  me- 
chanical development. 

T]\o  discovery  of  a  new  world  by  Columbus  and  other  eminent  navigators 
gave  a  fresh  and  powerful  impulse  to  European  talent,  by  affording  an  im- 
mense reservoir  for  its  rew^artl.  The  town  of  Antwerp  w^as,  during  the  reign 
of  Charies  V,  the  outlet  for  the  industry  of  Europe,  and  the  receptacle  for  the 
productions  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Its  port  was  so  often  crowded 
with  vessels  that  each  successive  fleet  was  obliged  to  wait  long  in  tlie  Schel^le 
before  it  could  obtain  admission  for  the  discharge  of  its  cargoes.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Louvain,  that  great  nursery  of  science,  was  fountfed  in  1425,  an*i 
served  greatly  to  the  spread  of  knowledge,  although  it  tiegenerated  into  the 
hotbed  of  those  fierce  disputes  which  stamped  on  theology  the  degraxlation 
of  bigotiy,  and  drew  down  odium  on  a  study  that,  if  purely  practisetlj  ought 
only  to  mspirc  veneration. 


S74 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 


The  Netherlands  were  never  in  a  more  flourishing  state  than  at  the 
eion  of  Philip  II.  The  external  relations  of  the  country  prcstMiUni  an  ntspeci^ 
of  prosperity  and  peace.  England  was  closely  allied  to  it  by  Queen  Mary^B 
marriage  with  Philip;  France,  fatigued  with  war,  had  just  concluded  witli  it 
a  five  years'  truce;  Gernmny,  paralysed  by  religious  dissensions,  exhausted 
itflelf  in  domestic  quarrels;  the  other  slates  were  too  distant  or  too  weak 
to  inspire  any  uneasiness;  and  nothing  appeared  wanting  for  the  public 
weal.  Nevertheless  there  was  something  dangerous  and  alarming  in  the 
situation  of  the  Low  Countries;  but  the  danger  consisted  wholly  in  the  con- 
nection between  the  monarch  and  the  people,  and  the  alarm  was  not  sounded 
till  tlie  mischief  was  beyond  remedy.*^ 


CHAPTER   V 


PHILIP   II   AND   SPANISH  OPPRESSION 

[1665-1507  A.D.] 

The  ominent  German  historian  and  poet,  Schiller,  opening  his  account  of 
the  Netherlandish  revolt,  says: 

"One  of  the  most  remarkable  political  events  which  have  rendered  the 
sixteenth  century  among  the  brightest  of  the  world's  epochs  appears  to  me 
to  be  the  foundatiun  of  the  freedom  of  the  Netherlantls.  If  the  glittering 
exploits  of  ambition  and  the  pernicious  lust  of  power  claim  our  admiration, 
how  much  more  shouhl  an  event  in  which  oppresscil  humanity  struggles  for 
its  noblest  rights^  where  with  the  good  caase  unwonted  powers  are  united, 
and  the  resources  of  resolute  ilespair  triumph  in  unequal  contest  over  the 
terrible  arts  of  tyranny.  It  is  not  that  which  is  extraordinary  or  heroic  in 
this  event  whicli  induces  me  to  describe  it.  The  annals  of  the  world  have 
recorder!  similar  enterprises,  wiiich  appear  even  bolder  in  the  conception  and 
more  brilliant  in  the  execution.  Some  states  have  fallen  with  a  more  im- 
posing convulsion,  others  have  risen  with  more  exalted  strides.  Nor  are  we 
here  to  look  for  prominent  heroes,  colossal  i)ersonages,  or  those  marvelloua 
exploits  which  the  history  of  past  times  presents  in  such  rich  abundance. 

"Tlie  people  here  presented  to  our  notice  were  the  most  peaceful  in  this 
quarter  of  the  globe,  and  less  capable  tlmn  their  neighbours  of  that  heroic 
spirit  which  imparts  a  higher  character  to  the  most  insignificant  actions.  The 
pressure  of  circumstances  surprised  them  with  its  peculiar  power,  and  forced 
a  transit^>ry  greatness  upon  tliem,  which  they  never  should  liave  poss(»ssed, 
and  may  perhaps  never  possess  again.  It  is,  indeed,  exactly  the  want  of 
heroic  greatness  which  makes  this  event  peculiar  and  instructive;  and  while 
others  aim  at  showing  the  superiority  of  genius  over  chance,  I  present  here 
a  picture  where  necessity  created  genius,  and  accident  made  heroes."* 

It  Ls  impossible  to  comprehemi  the  character  of  the  great  Netherland 
revolt  in  the  sixteenth  century  without  taking  a  rapid  retrospective  survey 
of  the  religious  phenomena  exhibited  in  the  provinces.    Tlie  introduction  of 

875 


876  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

Christiflnity  has  been  already  indicated.  From  the  earliest  times,  neither 
prince,  people,  nor  even  prelates  were  veiy  dutiful  to  the  pope.  As  the  papal 
authority  made  progress,  strong  resistance  was  often  made  to  its  decrees. 
The  bishops  of  Utrecht  were  dependent  for  their  wealth  and  territonr  upon 
the  good  will  of  the  emperor.  Iney  were  the  determined  opponents  of  Hilde- 
brand,  warm  adherents  of  the  Hohenstauffens  —  Qhibelline  rather  than  Guelf . 
Heresy  was  a  plant  of  early  growth  in  the  Netherlands.  As  early  as  the 
beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  notorious  Tanchelyn  [or  Tanchdinos, 
or  Tanchelm]  preached  at  Antwerp,  attacking  the  authority  of  the  pope  and 
of  all  other  ecclesiastics — scoffing  at  the  ceremonies  and  sacraments  of  the 
Church. 

EARLY  KETHERLAND   HERESY 

The  impudence  of  Tanchelyn  and  the  superstition  of  his  followers  seem 
alike  incredible.  All  Antwerp  was  his  harem.  He  levied,  likewise,  vast 
sums  upon  his  converts,  and  whenever  he  appeared  in  public  his  apparel 
and  pomp  were  befitting  an  emperor.  Three  thousand  armed  satellites 
escorted  his  steps  and  put  to  death  all  who  resisted  his  commands.  So 
grovelling  became  the  superstition  of  his  followers  that  they  drank  of  the 
water  in  which  he  had  washed,  and  treasured  it  as  a  divine  elixir.  Advancing 
still  further  in  his  experiments  upon  human  credulity,  he  announced  his  ap- 
proaching marriage  with  the  Virgin  Mary,  bade  all  his  disciples  to  the  wed- 
ding, and  exhibited  himself  before  an  immense  crowd  in  company  with  an 
image  of  his  holy  bride.  His  career  was  so  successful  in  the  Netherlands 
that  he  had  the  effrontery  to  proceed  to  Rome,  promulgating  what  he  called 
his  doctrines  as  he  went.  He  seems  to  have  been  assassinated  by  a  priest 
in  an  obscure  brawl,  about  the  year  1115. 

By  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  other  and  purer  heresiarchs  had 
arisen.  Many  Netherlanders  became  converts  to  the  doctrines  of  Waldo. 
From  that  period  until  the  appearance  of  Luther,*  a  succession  of  sects  — 
Waldenses,  Albigenses,  Perfectists,  Lollards,  Poplicans,  Amaldists,  Bohemian 
Brothers  —  waged  perpetual  but  unequal  warfare  with  the  power  and  deprav- 
ity of  the  Church,  fertilising  with  their  blood  the  future  field  of  the  Reformar 
tion.  Nowhere  was  the  persecution  of  heretics  more  relentless  than  in  the 
Netherlands.  Suspected  persons  were  subjected  to  various  torturing  but 
ridiculous  ordeals.  After  such  trial,  death  by  fire  was  the  usual  but,  perhaps, 
not  the  most  severe  form  of  execution.  In  Flanders,  monastic  ingenuity  had 
invented  another  most  painful  punishment  for  Waldenses  and  similar  male- 
factors. A  criminal,  whose  guilt  had  been  established  by  the  hot  iron,  hot 
ploughshare,  boiling  kettle,  or  other  logical  proof,  was  stripped  and  boimd 
to  the  stake ;  he  was  then  flayed,  from  the  neck  to  the  navel,  while  swarms  of 
bees  were  let  loose  to  fasten  upon  his  bleeding  flesh  and  torture  him  to  a  death 
of  exquisite  agony. 

Nevertheless  heresy  increased  in  the  face  of  oppression.  The  Scriptures. 
translated  by  Waldo  into  French,  were  rendered  into  Netherland  rhyme,  and 
the  converts  to  the  Vaudois  doctrine  increased  in  numbers  and  boldness.  At 
the  same  time  the  power  and  luxury  of  the  clergy  were  waxing  daily.  The 
bishops  of  Utrecht,  no  longer  the  defenders  of  the  people  against  arbitrary 
power,  conducted  themselves  like  little  popes.  Yielding  in  dignity  neither 
to  king  nor  kaiser,  they  exacted  homage  from  the  most  powerful  princes  of 
the  Netherlands. 

['  For  a  funeral  account  of  the  ReformatioD  and  fuller  details  concerning  Erasmus,  see  the 
history  of  Germany.] 


PHTLTP   n    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  377 

[1300-1533  A,u.J 

By  the  end  of  the  thirt<^enth  century^  however,  the  rlerieal  power  was 
already  beginning  to  decUne.  It  was  not  tlie  w>rriiption  of  the  C-hurch,  hut 
its  enormous  wealth,  which  engendered  the  hatred  with  which  it  was  by  many 
regarded.  Temporal  princes  and  haughty  barons  Ix^gan  to  dispute  the  right 
of  ecclesiastics  to  enjoy  vast  estates,  while  refusing  the  burden  of  taxation 
and  unable  to  draw  a  sword  for  the  common  defence.  At  this  period,  tlie 
counts  of  Flanders,  of  Holland,  and  other  Netherland  sovereigns  issued 
decrees  forbidding  clerical  institutions  from  acquiring  property,  by  devise, 
gift,  purcliase,  or  anv  other  mode.  The  (kmufidl  of  the  rapacious  and  licen- 
tious Ivnightfi  Templar  in  the  pro^ces  and  throughout  Europe  was  another 
severe  blow  ailmintstered  at  the  same  time.  The  attacks  upon  Church 
abuse-s  redoubled  in  l)oldness,  as  its  autliority  declined. 

In  1459,  Duke  Philip  of  liurgundy  prohibits  the  churches  from  affording 
.protection  to  fugitives.  Charles  the  Bolii,  in  whose  eyes  nothing  is  sacred 
i,ve  war  and  the  means  of  making  it,  lays  a  heavy  impost  upon  all  clerical 
oiK»rty.  Upon  beuig  resisted,  he  enforces  collection  with  the  anaed  hand. 
le  sword  and  the  pen,  strength  and  intellect,  no  longer  the  exclusive  ser- 
vants or  instruments  of  priestcraft,  are  both  in  of^en  revolt.  Charles  the 
Bold  stonns  one  fortress.  Doctor  Grandfort,  of  Groningcn,  batters  another. 
Tliis  learned  Frisian,  called  "the  light  of  the  world,"  frienil  and  compatriot 
of  the  grt»at  Rudolf  Agricola,  preaches  throughout  the  provinces,  uttering 
bold  tlenunciations  of  ecclesiiistical  error.  He  even  disputes  the  infallibility 
of  the  pope,  denies  tlie  utility  of  prayers  for  the  dead,  and  inveiglis  against 
the  whole  doctrine  of  purgatory  and  absolution. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  great  Reformation  was 
actually  alive.  The  nniiie  of  ErasnuLs  of  Rotterdam  was  already  celehrat^nl 
—  the  man  who,  according  to  Grotius,*^  "so  well  showed  the  roail  to  a  reason- 
able reformation."  But  if  Erasmus  showed  the  road,  he  certainly  did  not 
travel  far  upon  it  himself.  Perpetual  type  of  the  quietist,  the  moderate  man, 
he  censured  the  errors  of  the  Church  with  discrimination  and  gentleness.  He 
was  not  of  the  stuff  of  which  martyrs  are  made,  as  he  handsomely  confessed 
on  more  than  one  occasion.  The  Reformation  might  have  been  delayed  for 
centuries  had  Erasmus  and  other  moderate  men  been  the  only  refunners. 
He  will  long  be  honoured  for  his  elegant  Latinity.  In  the  republic  of  letters, 
his  eflforts  to  infuse  a  pure  taste,  a  sound  criticism,  a  love  for  the  beautiful 
and  the  classic,  in  place  of  the  owlish  pedantry  which  had  so  long  flapped  and 
hooted  through  meditcval  cloisters,  will  always  be  held  in  grateful  reverence. 
In  the  history  of  the  religious  Reformation,  his  name  seems  hardly  to  deserve 
the  commendations  of  Grotius. 

Erasnuis,  however,  was  offending  both  parties.  A  swarm  of  monks  were 
already  buzzing  about  him  for  the  bold  language  of  his  Commentaries  and 
Dialogues.  On  the  other  hanil,  he  was  reviled  for  not  taking  sitle  manfully 
with  the  reformer.  Tlie  moderate  man  received  much  denunciation  from 
zealots  on  either  side.  He  soon  clears  himself,  however,  from  all  suspicions 
of  Lutheranism.  He  is  appalled  at  the  fierce  conflict  which  rages  far  and 
wide. 


8KVERE    PUNISHMENT   OF   HEREBY  :    THE   ANABAPTISTS 

Imperial  edicts  are  soon  employed  to  suppress  the  Refonnation  in  the 
Netherlands  by  force.  Tlie  provinces,  unfortunately,  are  the  private  prop- 
erty of  Charles,  his  paternal  mheritance;  and  most  paternally,  accfirding  to 
his  view  of  the  matter,  does  he  deal  with  tliem.  Tlie  papal  inquisition  was 
introtluced  into  the   provinces  to  assist   its  operations.    The  bloody  work 


878  THE  HISTOBT   OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

(UBB-U8BA.91] 
for  which  the  reign  of  Charles  is  mainly  distinguished  in  the  Netherlands  now 
b^an.  In  1523,  July  1st,  two  Augustine  monks  were  burned  at  Bruasels, 
the  first  victims  to  Lutheranism  ^  in  the  provinces.  Erasmus  observed,  with 
a  sigh,  that  "  two  had  been  burned  at  Brussels,  and  that  the  city  now  began 
strenuously  to  favour  Lutheranism," 

Another  edict,  published  in  the  Netherlands,  forbids  all  private  assemblies 
for  devotion;  all  reading  of  the  Scriptures;  all  discussions  within  one's  own 
doors  concerning  faith,  the  sacraments,  the  papal  authority,  or  other  reli^ous 
matter,  under  penalty  of  death.  The  edicts  were  no  dead  letter.  The  fires 
were  kept  constantly  supplied  with  human  fuel  by  monks,  who  knew  the  art 
of  bummg  reformers  better  than  that  of  arguing  with  tnem.  The  scafifold 
was  the  most  conclusive  of  syllogisms,  and  used  upon  all  occasions.  Still  the 
people  remained  unconvinced.  Thousands  of  burned  heretics  had  not  made 
a  single  convert. 

A  fresh  edict  renewed  and  sharpened  the  pimishment  for  reading  the 
Scriptures  in  private  or  public.  At  the  same  time,  the  violent  personal  alter- 
cation between  Luther  and  Erasmus,  upon  predestination,  together  with  the 
bitter  dispute  between  Luther  and  Zwingli  concerning  the  real  presence,  did 
more  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  than  ban  or  edict,  sword  or 
fire.  The  spirit  of  humanity  hung  her  head,  finding  that  the  bold  reformer 
had  only  a  new  dogma  in  place  of  the  old  ones,  seeing  that  dissenters,  in  their 
turn,  were  sometimes  as  ready  as  papists  with  axe,  fagot,  and  excommunicar 
tion.  In  1526,  Felix  Mantz,  the  anabaptist,  is  drowned  at  Zurich,  in  obe- 
dience to  Zwingli's  pithy  formula  —  Qui  iterum  mergii  mergatur.  Thus  the 
anabaptists,  upon  their  first  appearance,  were  exposed  to  the  fires  of  the 
Church  and  the  water  of  the  Zwinglians. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  anabaptist  delusion  was  so  ridiculous  and  so 
loathsome  as  to  palliate,  or  at  least  render  intelligible,  the  wrath  with  which 
they  were  regarcled  by  all  parties.  The  turbulence  of  the  sect  was  alarming 
to  constituted  authorities,  ita  bestiality  disgraceful  to  the  cause  of  religious 
reformation.  The  evil  spirit,  driven  out  of  Luther,  seemed,  in  orthodox 
eyes,  to  have  taken  possession  of  a  herd  of  swine.  The  Germans,  Miinzer 
and  Hoffmann,  had  been  succeeded,  as  chief  prophets,  by  a  Dutch  baker, 
named  Matthiaszoon,  of  Haarlem,  who  announced  himself  as  Enoch.  Chief 
of  this  man's  disciples  was  the  notorious  John  Bockhold  [or  Beukelzoon],  of 
Leyden, 

Under  the  government  of  this  prophet,  the  anabaptists  mastered  the 
city  of  Miinster.  Here  they  confiscated  property,  plundered  churches,  vio- 
lated females,  murdered  men  who  refused  to  join  the  gang,  and,  in  brief, 
practised  all  the  enormities  which  humanity  alone  can  conceive  or  perpetrate. 
The  prophet  proclaimed  himself  king  of  Sion,  and  sent  out  apostles  to  preach 
his  doctrines  in  Germany  and  the  Netherlands.  Polygamy  being  a  leading 
article  of  the  system,  he  exemplified  the  principle  by  marrying  fourteen 
wives.  Of  these,  the  beautiful  widow  of  Matthiaszoon  was  chief;  she  was 
called  the  queen  of  Sion,  and  wore  a  golden  crown.  The  prophet  made  many 
fruitless  efforts  to  seize  Amsterdam  and  Leyden.  The  armed  invasion  of  the 
anabaptists  was  repelled,  but  their  contagious  madness  spread. 

The  plague  broke  forth  in  Amsterdam.  On  a  cold  winter's  night  (Febru- 
ary, 1535),  seven  men  and  five  women,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  threw 
off  their  clothes  and  rushed  naked  and  raving  through  the  streete)  shrieking, 
"Woe,  woe,  woe!  the  wrath  of  God,  the  wrath  of  God!"  When  arrested,  they 

['  Luther  wrote  a  Lymn  in  their  honour,  exchdmlng  that  "their  ashes  would  not  be  lost  bnt 
scattered  in  all  the  lands."] 


PHILIP    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION 


S79 


[1536-1549  A.U.] 

obstinatdy  rpfiisfnl  to  put  on  clothing.  "We  an?/'  they  observed,  "the 
nakeil  truth.'*  In  a  day  or  two,  these  furioas  lunatics,  who  certainly  de- 
served a  madhouse  rather  than  the  scaffold,  were  all  executed.  The  num- 
bers of  the  sect  increased  with  the  martyrdom  to  which  they  were  exposed, 
and  the  tiisordcr  spread  to  every  part  of  the  Netherlands.  Many  were  put 
to  death  in  lingering  torments,  but  no  perceptible  effect  wa.s  produce<l  by 
the  chastisement.  Meantime  the  great  chief  of  the  sect,  the  prophet  John, 
was  (iefeated  by  the  forces  of  the  l)ishi)p  of  Miinster.  who  rei'overefl  his  city 
and  caused  the  "king  of  Sion"  to  be  pinchoil  to  deatii  with  rtHJ-liot  tongs. 

Unfortunately  the  severity  of  government  was  not  wreaked  alone  upon 
the  prophet  and  his  mischievous  crew.  Thousan(b  antl  ten  thousjmds*  of 
virtuous,  well-<lispose(l  men  ami  women,  who  had  as  little  sympathy  with 
anal)aptistioal  as  with  Roman  dopnivity^  were  butchered  in  cold  blood,  un<ler 
the  sanguinary  rule  of  Charles  V',  in  the  Netherlands.  In  1535  an  imperial 
edict  was  Issued  at  Brussels,  condemning  all  lien^tics  to  death:  repentant 
males  to  be  executed  with  the  sword,  repentant  females  to  be  buried  alive; 
the  obstinate,  of  both  sexes,  to  be  burned.  This  and  similar  edicts  were  the 
law  of  the  land  for  twenty  yeai's,  and  rigidly  enforced.  In  the  midst  of  the 
carnage,  the  emperor  sent  for  his  son  Philip,  that  he  niiglit  receive  the  fealty 
of  the  Netherlands  as  their  future  lord  and  master.  Contemporaneously  a 
new  edict  was  published  at  HrusseLs  (April  29th,  1549),  contirmiTig  and  re- 
enacting  all  previous  derr(^*s  in  their  most  sevem  provisions.  Thus  sto(xl 
religious  matters  in  the  Netherlands  at  the  epoch  of  the  imperial  abdication. 


A   B.\CKWARD  QIJ^CE 

Thus  fifteen  ages  have  passed  away,  and  in  the  place  of  a  horde  of  sav- 
ages, living  among  swamps  and  tliickots,  swarm  three  millions  of  people, 
the  mast  industrious^  t!ie  most  prasperous,  jx^rhaps  the  most  intelligent  imder 
the  sun.  Their  cattle,  grazing  on  the  lx>ttoin  of  the  sea,  are  the  finest  in 
Europe,  their  agricultural  prothicts  of  more  exchangeable  value  than  if  nature 
IumI  made  their  land  to  overflow  with  wine  anfl  oil.  Their  navigators  are  the 
boldest,  their  mercantile  marine  Hie  most  powerful  their  mereiiants  the  nifjst 
enterprising  in  the  worM.  Holland  and  Flanders^  peopleil  by  one  race,  vie 
with  each  other  in  the  punniits  of  civilisation. 

Within  the  little  circle  which  encloses  the  seventeen  pro>nnces  are  208 
walled  cities,  many  of  them  among  the  most  stately  in  Christendom,  150 
chartered  tow^ns,  6,300  villages,  with  their  watch-towers  and  steeples,  besides 
numerous  other  more  insignificant  hamlets;  the  whole  guarded  by  a  belt  of 
sixty  fortreases  of  surpiissing  strength. 

TliiLs  in  this  rapid  sketch  of  the  course  and  development  of  the  Nether- 
land  nation  during  sixteen  centuries,  we  have  seen  it  ever  marked  by  one 
prevailing  charactt^ristic,  one  master  passion  —  the  love  of  liberty,  the  instinct 
of  self-goveriuiient.  Largely  compoumled  of  the  bravest  Teutonic  elements, 
Batavian  and  Frisian,  the  race  ever  battles  to  the  death  with  tyranny,  organ- 
ises extensive  revolts  in  the  age  of  Vespasian,  maintains  a  partial  independence 

[*  The  figarea  range  from  fifty  thoasond  to  one  htmdred  thousand,  according  to  the  words 
of  Hago  OrotiuH  "^  aud  according?  to  William  of  Orange's  Apology  ;  but  Blok  '  declares  that  theHO 
figures  exceed  the  entire  number  of  the  reformed  congregations,  while  the  martyrH*  books 
enumerate  hardly  a  thousand.  The  number  of  those  punished  otherwise  than  by  death,  he 
thinks,  must  have  run  high  into  the  thousands.  He  quotes  the  "  blood-placard  "  of  1550  which 
rorders  that  "the  men  shall  he  executed  with  the  sword  and  the  women  buried  alive."     Bat  he 

emphasises  the  freedom  of  large  districts  from  any  persecution  wbatfMH*ver,  aud  the  general 
incUnatiun  of  the  rast  majority  of  the  popuhu:«  towanl  the  tenets  of  the  reformers.] 


380  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[1855  A.lk.] 

even  against  the  sagacious  dominion  of  Charlemagne,  refuses  in  Friesland  to 
accept  the  papal  yoke  or  feudal  chain,  and,  throughout  the  dark  ages,  stru^^ 
resolutely  towards  the  light,  wresting  from  a  series  of  petty  sovereigns  a 
gradual  and  practical  recognition  of  the  claims  of  humanity.  \^th  the 
advent  of  the  Burgundian  family,  the  power  of  the  commons  has  reached 
so  high  a  point  that  it  is  able  to  measure  itself,  undaunted,  with  the  spirit 
of  arbitraiy  rule,  of  which  that  engrossing  and  tyrannical  house  is  the  em- 
bodiment. For  more  than  a  century  the  strugde  for  freedom,  for  civic  life, 
g3es  on  —  Philip  the  Good,  Charles  the  BoldTMary's  husband  MayimiliRn^ 
Charles  V,  in  tiun,  assailing  or  imdermining  the  bulwarks  raised,  age  after 
age,  against  the  despotic  pnnciple.  The  combat  is  ever  renewed.  Liberty, 
often  crushed,  rises  again  and  again  from  her  native  earth  with  redoubled 
energy. 

At  last,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  a  new  and  more  powerful  spirit,  the 
genius  of  reli^ous  freedom,  comes  to  participate  in  the  great  conflict.  Aii>i- 
trary  power,  incamateil  in  the  second  Charlemagne,  assails  the  new  combi- 
nation \iith  unscrupulous,  unforgi\'ing  fierceness.  Venerable  civic  ma^s- 
trates,  haltereil,  grovel  in  sackcloth  and  ashes;  innocent  religious  reformers 
bum  in  holocausts.  By  the  middle  of  the  century,  the  battle  rages  more 
fiercely  than  ever.  In  the  little  Netherland  territory,  Himmnity,  bleeding 
but  not  killeii,  still  stands  at  bay  and  defies  the  hunters.  Hie  two  great 
powers  have  been  gathering  strength  for  centuries.  They  are  soon  to  be 
matchetl  in  a  longer  and  more  determinwl  combat  than  the  worid  had  ever 
seen.  The  empen>r  is  about  to  lea\'e  the  stage.  The  pro\Tnces,  so  pas- 
sionate for  nationality,  for  municipal  freedom,  for  religious  reformation,  are 
to  become  the  property  of  an  utter  stranger  —  a  prince  foreign  to  their 
blood,  their  tongue,  their  religion,  their  whole  habit  of  life  and  thou^t. 

Such  \v*Hs  the  (x>litical.  religious,  and  social  condition  of  a  nation  who 
wTre  now  to  witness  a  new  and  momentous  spectacle.** 


THE   ACOKSSIOX  OP  PHIUP  II    (1555) 

Philip  II  was  in  j\H  the  direct  opposite  of  his  father.  As  ambitious  as 
Charles,  but  with  U^s?  knowloiii^*  of  men  and  of  the  rights  of  man,  he  had 
fonmsi  to  him:^*lf  a  notion  of  nn-al  authority  which  regarvled  men  as  simply 
the  !v^^•ilo  instmments  of  desivtic  will,  and  was  outraged  by  every  symptom 
of  lilvrty.  B^^ni  in  Sjvun,  ana  t\lucatevl  under  the  in>n  discipline  of  the  monks, 
he  denwn\ioii  of  othor?  the  same  pKx^my  foniiality  and  res?r>-e  that  marked 
his  own  olwr^iotor.  Tlio  ohivriul  merriment  of  his  Flemish  subjects  was  as 
uuovMijeinual  to  his  vlisjx^sition  .^id  tomjx^r  as  their  pri>-ileg)es  were  offensive 
to  his  imjx^rious  will.  He  sjvke  no  other  la:^.irv*Aee  than  the  Spanish,  en- 
duTwi  lu^v.e  but  SjvHr.iarvis  alxnit  his  |x^n^>r..  a::d  obs;i:iately  adhered  to  all 
their  out^toTr.s.  Ir.  v^iin  divi  tb.o  loN-a!  :r.j^*::;:::y  of  the  FleniijJi  towns  through 
wiv.oh  b.e  j\i:^\;  vio  with  oaoh  oilier  ir.  sv>:.^:v.r.:?:r4:  his  arrival  with  costly 
tWtivitit^s,  r::iVtp's  eve  rt^:v,aiiu\i  dark:  .si!  the  rn.^:usion  of  magnificejice, 
all  :V.o  Ivn-.vi  .sv.^i  :uv%r:y  o*T;:sivv..s  v^:  :!:e  sir.cx-rx^:  ;oy  cv-uli  no:  win  from  him 
tM:o  ,srpT\n'ir,jj  s:v.iU\ 

Oh.'ir.t^  or.r.rt^ly  -.v.i^^^^x;  V.is  ,si:u  by  rreA".::ir.i:  hi?  scr.  to  the  Flemings. 
l>.ey  r.::j:h:  o\vv.:;:.HV.y  h.s\o  o!\iurt\i  his  vAo  with  't^s>  inu-sAtienoe  if  he  had 
r.evor  At  h.;s  :\\^:  .r.  tho.r  *:*.:*..i  But  his  *vvk  :\n'\k"s-:t\:  ther.^*  what  they 
hA.i  t.^  e\;>v: :  h.,s  er.tr\  :r.:.^  Bn;j%^\s  I^-tiit  hi:v.  .^r.  he^arts.  Tbe  emperor  s 
CTxiiunis  A^alv.litv  x^th  h:s  :\vi\e  or.'.v  i^'Tvxv.  to  thrv  w  a  viarkor  shade  on  the 


riilLIP    11    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSIOX  SBl 

[1655  A.D.] 

haughty  gravity  of  his  .son.*    They  read  in  his  countenance  the  destructive 

Curpose  against  their  liberties,  which  even  then  he  already  revolved  in  his 
reast.    Forewarned  to  find  in  him  a  tyrant,  they  were  forewarned  to  resist 
him. 

The  throne  of  the  Netherlands  was  the  first  which  Charles  V  abdicated. 
Before  a  solemn  convention  in  Brussels,  he  had  absolved  the  states-general 
of  their  oath,  and  transferre*l  their  allegi*ancc  to  King  Philip,  ids  son. 

The  filarm  which  the  arbitrary  government  of  the  emperor  had  inspired, 
and  the  distrust  of  his  son,  are  aJready  visible  in  the  formula  of  his  oath,  which 
was  drawn  up  in  far  more  guarded  and  explicit  terms  than  that  which  had 
been  administered  to  Charles  V  himself,  and  all  the  dukes  of  Bur^untly. 
Philip,  for  instance,  was  compellerl  to  swear  to  the  niaintoiuince  of  their  cus- 
toms and  usages,  which  before  hLs  time  liad  never  been  required.  In  the  oath 
which  the  states  took  to  him,  no  other  obedience  was  promised  than  such  as 
should  be  consistent  with  the  privileges  of  the  country.  Lastly,  in  this  oath 
of  allegiance,  Pliilip  is  simply  styled  only  the  nat\iral,  the  hereditary  prince, 
and  notj  as  the  emperor  hatl  desired,  sovereign  or  lord  —  proof  enough  how 
little  confidence  was  placed  in  the  justice  and  liberality  of  the  new  sovereign. 

Philip  II  received  the  lordship  of  the  Netherlands  in  the  brightest  period 
of  their  prosperity.  He  was  the  first  of  tlieir  princes  who  united  them  all 
under  his  authority.  They  now  consisted  of  seventeen  provinces:  the  duchies 
of  Brabant,  Liiuburg,  Luxemburg,  and  Geldcrhunl;  the  seven  counties  of 
Artois,  Hainault,  Flanders,  Naniur,  Zutphen^  Holland,  and  Zealand;  the 
marquisate  of  Antwerp;  and  the  five  lordships  of  Friesland,  Mechlin  (Malines), 
Utrecht,  Overyssel,  and  Groningen,  which,  collectively,  formed  a  great  and 
powerful  state  able  to  contend  with  monarchies.  Higher  than  it  then  stood, 
their  commerce  coukl  not  rise.  The  sources  of  their  wealth  were  above  the 
earth's  surface,  but  they  were  more  valuable  and  inexhaustible,  and  richer 
than  all  tlie  mines  in  America. 

The  numerous  nobility,  formerly  so  powerful,  cheerfully  accompanied 
their  sovereign  in  his  wars,  or  amid  the  civil  changes  of  the  state  courted 
the  approving  smile  of  royalty. 

A  large  portion,  moreover,  of  the  nobility  were  deeply  sunk  in  poverty 
and  debt.  Charles  V  had  cripple<l  all  tlie  most  dangerous  vassals  of  the 
crown,  by  expensive  embassies  to  foreign  courts,  under  the  specious  pretext 
of  honorary  distinctions.  Thus*  William  of  Orange  was  despatched  to  Ger- 
many with  the  imperial  crowTi,  and  Count  Egmont  to  conclude  the  marriage- 
contract  between  Philip  and  Queen  Mary,  Both,  also,  aftenvards  accom- 
panied the  tluke  of  Alva  to  France,  to  negotiate  the  peace  between  the  two 
crowns,  and  the  new  alliance  of  their  sovereign  with  Madame  Elizabeth. 
The  expenses  of  these  journeys  amounted  to  three  hundred  thousand  florins, 
towards  which  the  king  did  not  contribute  a  single  pcnny.^ 


FIRST  DEEDS   OF  PHILIP 

Philip  di<i  not  at  first  act  in  a  way  to  make  himself  more  particularly  hateti. 
He  rather,  by  an  apparent  consideration  for  a  few  points  of  political  interest 
and  individual  privilege,  and  particularly  by  the  revocation  of  some  of  the 
etUcts  against  heretics,  removed  the  suspicions  his  earlier  con<]uct  had  ex- 
cited. He  succeeded  in  persuading  the  states  to  grant  him  considerable 
subsidies,  some  of  which  were  to  be  paid  by  instahnents  during  a  perio<l  of 

P  For  a  fuller  presentation  of  tUo  strange  charactor  of  Pbili|»  U  and  for  hia  deeds  outside 
tlie  Netherlands  consult  the  history  of  Spain,  volume  X,  chapter  0.] 


38<  THE   lllSTOKY    OF   THE   NKTIIEIJLAXDS 

[1055-15591.0.] 

iiino  years,  niat  was  gaining  a  groat  stop  towanls  bis  designs,  as  it  super- 
wxieif  the  necessity  of  a  yearly  application  to  the  three  orilers,  the  guardians 
of  the  public  lilvrty.  At  the  s;inie  time  he  st»nt  secret  agent.s  to  Rome,  to 
obtain  the  a|iim»bation  of  the  po|x>  to  his  insidious  but  most  effective  plan 
for  placing  tlie  whole  of  the  clergy  in  <le|x»nilence  ui)on  the  crox^Ti.  He  also 
kept  up  the  army  of  Spaniards  and  Ciormans  which  his  father  had  formed  on 
the  fn^ntiers  of  France:  ami  although  he  ilid  not  Remove  from  their  employ- 
ments the  functionaries  aln»ady  in  place,  he  t<H»k  care  to  make  no  new  ap- 
{Hnntments  to  oilice  among  tlie  natives  of  the  Xelherlands. 

Philip  was  suddenly  attacked  in  two  t|uarters  at  once  —  by  Henry  II  of 
Fninoe,  and  by  Pojv  Paul  I\'.  Ho  promptly  mot  the  throatenetl  dangers. 
He  turiuni  his  tirst  attentii>n  towards  his  contest  with  the  po|x»;  and  he  ex- 
IricatiHl  hims<^lf  fn>m  it  with  an  adroitness  that  proved  the  whole  force  and 
cunning  i>f  his  character.  Having  tirst  publicly  obtained  the  opinion  of 
s^^vend  doctors  of  thooK»gy.  that  he  was  justified  in  taking  arras  against  the 
innuitT.  ho  pnv**tH'utod  the  war  with  the  utmost  vigour,  by  means  of  the  after- 
wanls  notorii>us  duke  of  Alva,  at  that  time  viceroy  of  his  Italian  dominions. 
l\iul  SiHni  yioldovl  to  suivrior  skill  and  force,  and  ilemamiei.1  terms  of  peace. 

In  the  war  with  Franco,  his  army,  under  the  command  of  Emmanuel 
Pfiililvrt  duke  of  Savoy,  consisting  of  1^'lgians,  Gemums,  and  ?>paniards, 
with  a  consivloniblo  Unly  of  English  stmt  by  Marj'  to  the  iissistanee  of  her 
husUuuL  iviiotniti\l  into  Pioaniy.  anl  gainovi  a  complete  wtor^"  over  the 
Fr\nioh  fonvs.  The  honour  oi  this  brilliant  affair,  which  took  place  near 
St.  liuentin.  was  almost  wholly  vhio  to  the  coiuit  of  Eemont.  a  Belgian  noble, 
who  ooumuuuU\l  the  Uglit  cavalry.  Iti  th.o  early  j^\rt  of  the  year  looS,  one 
i^f  the  giMionds  oi  Honry  II  nuuio  an  irruption  into  West  Flander?:  but  the 
sndlaut  vvunt  of  Fgtuoiu  otuv  i!iv>n*  prx^vovl  liis  valour  and  skill  by  attacking 

Loar  trie  touii  of  Gravolines, 
:::  Avr:'..  I.>M"*.  which  N-rv  the  name  of 
:'-..o  '.vh.vrt-  ::  was  r.-citiatod.    Philip 
:r  ^  :.  ;;  <>.  t:  v:>::  :o  S:^-.::::  a::d  created 
:>::■..'.  ji.  v-;r:".:::-:u:.  ohU::y  ct?mposed  of 


and  t- 

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"■-;":  -:f.:r'  iit'opposi- 
,<  :  r  :>t:-r  :xeeution. 

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vrv. 

:".  >:..vr;»:r:  —  ;i  swret 

PUILir    II    AND   SrANISn    OPPRESSION  S88 

[1658  A.i>.l 

article  in  the  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambr^is  obliged  the  king  of  France  to  assist 
him  with  the  whole  armies  of  Krance  against  his  Belgian  subjects,  should 
they  pnjve  refractory.  Thus  the  hite  war,  of  wliirh  tlie  Netherlniuls  ha*i 
borne  all  the  weight  and  earned  all  the  glory,  only  brought  about  the  junction 
of  the  defeated  enemy  with  their  own  kmg  for  the  extinction  of  their  national 
independence. 

Philip  convened  an  assembly  of  all  the  states  at  Ghent,  August  7th,  1559,* 
This  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  the  three  orders  of  tlie  state  offered 
no  apparent  obstacle  to  Philip's  views.  The  clerg\',  alarmed  at  tlie  progress 
of  the  new  doctrines,  gatliered  more  closely  round  the  government  of  wliich 
they  required  the  support.  The  nobles  haa  lost  much  of  their  ancient  attach- 
ment to  liberty;  and  ha^l  become,  in  various  ways,  dependent  on  the  royal 
favour.  It  wius  only  from  the  third  order  —  that  of  the  cammons  —  that 
Philip  had  to  ex|>ect  any  opposition.  Already,  during  the  war,  it  had  shown 
some  discontent,  and  had  msisted  on  the  nomination  of  commissioners  to 
control  the  accounts  and  the  disbursement-s  of  the  subsidies. 

Anthony  Perrenot  de  Granvella,  bishop  of  Arras,  who  was  consiilered 
Philip's  favourite  counsellor,  was  commissioned  to  address  the  assembly  in 
the  name  of  his  master,  wlio  spoke  only  Spanish.  His  oration  was  one  of 
cautioiLs  deception,  and  contained  the  most  flattering  assurances  of  Philip*s 
attachment  to  the  fwople  of  the  Netherlands.  It  excusetl  the  kin^  for  not 
having  nominated  his  only  son  Don  Carlos  to  reign  over  them  in  his  name; 
alleging,  as  a  proof  of  his  royal  affection,  that  he  preferred  giving  them  as 
governant  a  Belgian  princess,  Margaret,  duchess  of  Parma. 

But  notwithstandmg  all  the  talent,  the  caution,  and  the  mystery  of  Philip 
and  his  minister,  there  was  among  the  nobles  one  man  who  saw  through  all. 
This  indiviilual,  endowed  with  many  of  the  highe-st  attributes  of  political 
genius,  and  pre-eminently  with  judgment,  the  most  important  of  all,  entered 
fearlessly  into  the  contest  against  tyranny  —  despising  every  personal  sacri- 
fice for  the  country's  good.  Without  making  himself  suspiciously  prominent, 
he  privately  warned  some  membera  of  tlie  states  of  tlie  coming  flanger.  Those 
in  whom  he  confided  diil  not  betray  the  trust.  They  spread  among  the  other 
deputies  the  alarm,  and  pointed  out  the  danger  to  which  tliey  had  been  so 
judiciously  awakened.  The  corLstiiuerice  wjts  a  n^ply  to  Philip's  demand, 
in  vague  and  general  terms,  without  bintling  tlie  nation  by  any  pleilge;  and 
a  unanimous  entreaty  that  he  would  diminish  the  taxes,  withdraw  the  foreign 
troops,  and  entrust  no  official  cniploymcntH  to  any  but  natives  of  the  country. 
Tlie  object  of  this  last  request  was  the  removal  of  Granvella,  who  was  born 
in  Franche-Comte. 

Philip  was  utterly  astoundc<!  at  all  tliis.  In  the  first  moment  of  his  vexa- 
tion he  impruilenlly  cried  out,  "Would  ye,  then,  also  bereave  me  of  my  place 
—  I,  who  am  a  Spaniard?"  But  he  soon  recovered  his  self-command,  and 
resumed  his  usual  mask;  expressed  his  regret  at  not  having  sooner  learned 
the  wishes  of  the  states;  promised  to  remove  the  fitrcign  troops  within  three 
months;  and  set  off  for  Zealand,  with  assumed  composure,  but  filled  with 
the  fury  of  a  discovered  traitor  and  humiliated  despot. 

A  fleet  under  the  command  of  Count  Horn,  the  admiral  of  the  United 
Provinces^  waited  at  Flushine;  to  form  his  escort  to  Spain.  At  the  very 
moment  of  his  departure,  William  of  Nassiiu,  prince  of  Orange  and  governor 
of  5Sealand,  waited  on  him  to  pay  his  official  resj)ects.  The  king,  taking  him 
apart  from  the  other  attendant  nobles,  recommended  iiim  to  hasten  the 

['  This,  sayt*  Blok.'  was  the  last  time  tliat  a  Burgundlao  prince  ever  took  part  la  an  as- 
sembl/  of  reprebentativeti  from  the  seveuteea  j)roviace8.J 


884  THE   HISTORY   OP  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[15BDA.D.] 

execution  of  several  gentlemen  and  wealthy  citizens  attached  to  the  newly  in- 
troduced religious  opinions.  Then,  quite  suddenly,  whether  in  the  random 
impulse  of  suppressed  rage,  or  that  his  piercing  glance  discovered  William's 
secret  feelings  in  his  countenance,  he  accused  him  with  having  been  the  means 
of  thwarting  his  designs.  "Sire,"  replied  William,  "it  was  the  work  of  the 
national  states."  "No!"  cried  Philip,  grasping  him  furiously  by  the  ann; 
"  it  was  not  done  by  the  states,  but  by  you,  and  you  alone! "  * 

This  glorious  accusation  was  not  repelled.  He  who  had  saved  his  country 
in  unmasking  the  designs  of  its  t3Tant,  admitted  by  his  silence  his  title  to 
the  hatred  of  the  one  and  the  gratitude  of  the  other.  On  the  20th  of  August, 
Philip  embarked  and  set  sail,  turning  his  back  forever  on  the  country  which 
offered  the  first  check  to  his  despotism;  and,  after  a  perilous  voyage,  he 
arrived  in  that  which  permitted  a  free  indulgence  to  his  ferocious  and  san- 
guinary career. 

For  some  time  after  Philip's  departure  the  Netherlands  contmued  to 
enjoy  considerable  prosperity.  From  the  period  of  the  Peace  of  Cateau-' 
Cambr^is  commerce  and  navigation  had  acquired  new  and  increasing  activity. 
The  fisheries,  but  particularly  that  of  herrings,  became  daily  more  important, 
that  one  alone  occupying  two  thousand  boats.  While  Holland,  Zealand, 
and  Friesland  made  this  progress  in  their  peculiar  branches  of  industry,  the 
southern  provinces  were  not  less  active  or  successful.^' 

Schiller's  portrait  of  william  of  orange 

Among  the  Flemish  nobles  who  could  lay  claim  to  the  chief  stadholder- 
ship,  the  expectations  and  wishes  of  the  nation  had  been  divided  between 
Count  Egmont  and  the  prince  of  Orange,  who  were  alike  entitled  to  this  high 
dignity  by  illustrious  birth  and  personal  merits,  and  by  an  equal  share  in  the 
affections  of  the  people. 

William  I,  prmce  of  Orange,  was  descended  from  the  princely  German 
house  of  Nassau,  which  had  already  flourished  eight  centuries,  had  long  dis- 
puted the  pre-eminence  with  Austria,  and  had  given  one  emperor  to  Germany. 
Besides  several  extensive  domains  in  the  Netherlands,  which  made  him  a 
citizen  of  this  republic  and  a  vassal  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  he  possessed 
also  in  France  the  independent  princedom  of  Orange.  William  was  bom 
in  the  year  1533,  at  Dillenburg,  in  the  county  of  Nassau,  of  a  countess  Stol- 
berg.  His  father,  the  count  of  Nassau,  of  the  same  name,  had  embraced 
the  Protestant  religion,  and  caused  his  son  also  to  be  educated  in  it;  but 
Charles  V,  who  early  formed  an  attachment  for  the  boy,  took  him,  when  quite 
young,  to  his  court,  and  had  him  brought  up  in  the  Romish  chiu'ch.  This 
monarch,  who  already  in  the  child  discovered  the  future  greatness  of  the  man, 
kept  him  nine  years  about  his  person,  thought  him  worthy  of  his  personal 
instruction  in  the  affairs  of  government,  and  honored  him  with  a  confidence 
beyond  his  years.  He  alone  was  permitted  to  remain  in  the  emperor's  pres- 
ence, when  he  gave  audience  to  foreipi  ambassadors  —  a  proof  that,  even 
as  a  boy,  he  had  already  begim  to  merit  the  surname  of  the  Silent. 

William  was  twenty-three  years  old  when  Charles  abdicated  the  govern- 
ment, and  had  already  receiveti  from  the  latter  two  public  marks  of  theliighest 
esteem.  The  emperor  had  entrusted  to  him,  in  preference  to  all  the  nobles 
of  his  court,  the  honourable  office  of  conveying  to  his  brother  Ferdinand  the 
imperial  crown.    Wlien  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who  conmiandetl  the  imperial 

"  The  words  of  PliUip  were  :  "  A'o.  no  ht»  estados ;  ma  V08^  vos,  vos  I "  Vo9  thus  oaed  in 
Spanbli  is  a  tena  of  contempt,  equtvmlent  u>  toi  in  French. 


PillLir    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION 


385 


army  in  the  Netherlands,  was  called  away  t^  Italy  by  the  exigence  of  his 
domestic  affairs,  the  emperor  ap|>ointed  him  conimandcr-in-chicf,  against 
the  united  representations  of  his  military  council,  who  declared  it  altogether 
hazardous  to  oppose  so  young  a  tjTo  in  arms  to  the  experienced  generals  of 
P>ancc.  Absent  and  unreconunendefl  by  any,  he  was  preferred  by  the  mon- 
arch to  the  laurel-crowned  band  of  his  heroes,  and  the  rej^ult  gave  him  no 
cause  to  repent  of  his  choice. 

The  marked  favour  which  the  prince  had  enjoyed  with  the  father  was,  in 
itself,  a  siifhcierit  gn^und  for  his  exclusion  from  the  confidence  of  the  son. 
Philip,  it  appears,  had  laid  it  down  for  himself  as  a  rule  to  avenge  the  wrongs 
of  the  Spanish  nobility  for  the  preference  which  Charles  V  had,  on  all  impor- 
tant occasions,  shown  to  his  Flemish  nobles.  Still  stronger,  liowever,  were 
the  secret  motives  which  alienated  him  from  the  prbice.  William  of  Orange 
was  one  of  those  lean  and  pale  men  who,  according  toCicaar's  words,  "sleep 
not  at  night,  and  tliink  too  iiuich,"  and  before  whom  the  most  fear](\s.s  snirits 
(juail.  The  calm  tranquillity  of  a  never  varjing  countenance  concealed  a 
busy,  ardent  soul,  which  never  even  ruffled  the  veil  behind  which  it  worked, 
and  was  alike  inaccessible  to  artifice  and  to  love  —  a  versatile,  formidable, 
indefatigable  mind,  soft  anti  ductile  enough  to  be  instantaneously  moulded 
into  all  forms,  guarded  enough  to  lose  itself  in  none,  and  strong  enough  to 
endure  every  vicissitude  of  fortune. 

A  greater  master  in  n^ading  and  in  winning  men's  hearts  never  existx^d  tlian 
William.  Not  that,  after  the  fashion  of  courts,  his  lips  avowed  a  servility 
to  which  his  nroud  heart  gave  the  lie,  but  bec-ause  he  was  neither  too  sparing 
nor  too  lavisfi  of  the  marks  of  his  esteem,  and  through  a  skilful  economy  of 
the  favours  which  mostly  bind  men,  he  increase*!  his  real  stock  in  them.  The 
fruits  of  his  meditation  were  as  perfect  as  they  were  slowly  formed;  his  re- 
solves were  as  steadily  and  indomitably  accomplished  as  they  were  long  in 
maturing.  No  obstacles  could  defeat  the  plan  which  he  had  once  adopted 
as  the  best;  no  accidents  frustrated  it,  for  they  all  had  Ixien  foreseen  before 
they  actually  occurred.  High  as  his  feelings  were  raised  above  terror  and 
joy,  they  were,  nevertheless,  subject  in  the  same  degree  to  fear;  but  his  fear 
was  earlier  than  the  danger,  and  he  was  calm  in  tumult,  because  he  had  trem- 
bled in  repose.  William  lavished  his  gold  with  a  profuse  hand,  but  he  was 
a  niggard  of  his  moments.  The  hours  of  repast  were  the  sole  hours  of  relaxa- 
tion, but  Ihese  were  exclusively  devoted  to  his  family  and  his  friends.  His 
household  wjis  magnificent;  the  splendour  of  a  numerous  retinue,  the  number 
and  respectability  of  those  who  surroimded  his  person  made  his  habitation 
resemble  the  court  of  a  sovereign  prince. 

No  one,  probably,  was  better  fitted  by  nature  for  the  leader  of  a  con- 
spiracy than  William  the  Silent.  A  comprehensive  and  intuitive  glance  into 
the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future;  the  talent  for  improving  every  favour- 
able opportunity;  a  commanding  influrnee  over  the  minds  of  men;  vast 
schemes  which,  only  when  view^^l  from  a  distance,  show  form  and  synmietry, 
and  bold  calculations,  which  were  wound  up  in  the  long  chain  of  futurity  —  all 
these  faculties  he  possessed,  and  kept,  moreover,  under  the  control  of  that 
free  and  eidightened  virtue  which  moves  with  firm  step,  even  on  the  very 
edge  of  the  abyss. 

A  man  like  this  might,  at  other  times,  have  remained  imfathomed  by 
his  entire  generation;  but  not  so  by  the  distrustful  spirit  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lived.  Philip  II  saw  quickly  and  deeply  into  a  character  which,  among 
good  ones,  most  resembled  his  own.  In  him,  Philip  had  to  deal  with  an 
antagonist  who  was  anned  against  his  policy,  and  who,  in  a  good  cause, 


D.  W. 


VOL.  XUl.  Zii 


386 


THE   HISTOKY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 


could  also  comnmnd  the  rosourcps  of  a  had  one.     And  it  was  exactly  this, 
last  circunifitance  which  accounts*  for  his  having  hated  this  man  so  iniplacahlyJ 
above  all  others  of  his  day,  and  his  having  hail  so  supernatural  a  dread  of  hiiiL 
The  suspicion  which  already  attachetl  to  the  i)rince  was  increase*!  by 
the  doubts  which  were  entertained  of  his  religious  bias.    iSo  long  a^  the  em- 
peror, his  benefactor,  lived,  William  believed  m  the  pope;  but  it  was  feared, 
with  good  ground,  that  the  predilection  for  the  reformed  religion  which  had 
been  impart<*d  to  his  young  heart  harl  never  ejitircly  left  it.     Wliatever 
church  he  may,  at  certain  periods  of  his  life,  have  preferred,  each  might' 
console  itself  with  tlie  reflection  that  none  other  possesse<l  him  more  entirely. 
In  later  years,  he  went  over  t-o  Calvinism  with  almost  as  little  scruple  as  in 
his  early  childhood  he  deserted  the  Lutheran  profession  for  the  Rotniah, 
He  defended  the  rights  of  the  Protestants,  rather  than  their  opinions,  against 

Spanish    oppression :    not    their 

faith,  but  their  wrongs,  ha<l  made, 
him  their  brother. 

These  general  grounds  for  sua-, 
picion  appeared  to  be  j\istified  by 
a  discovery  of  his  real  intentions, 
which  accident  had  made.  Wil- 
liam had  remained  in  France  as 
hostage  for  the  Peace  of  Cateau-j 
Cambresis,  in  concluding  which  he 
had  borne  a  part ;  and  here, 
through  the  imprudence  of  Henry 
II,  who  imagined  he  spoke  with 
the  confidant  of  the  king  of  Spain, 
he  became  acquainted  with  a  se- 
cret plot,  which  the  French  and 
Spanish  courts  had  formeii  against 
Protestants  of  both  kingdoms. 
The  j)rincc  hastened  to  conuuuni- 
cate  this  important  discovery  to 
his  friends  in  Brussels,  whom  it  so 
nearly  concerned,  and  the  letters  which  he  exchanged  on  the  subject  fell,  unfor- 
tunately, into  the  hands  of  the  king  of  Spain.  Philip  was  less  surprised  at  this 
decisive  disclosure  of  William's  sentiments,  than  incensed  at  the  disappoint- 
ment of  his  sclieme;  and  the  Spanish  nobles,  who  had  never  forgiven  the  prince 
that  moment  when,  in  the  last  act  of  his  life,  the  greatest  of  emperors  leaned 
upon  his  shoulders,  did  not  neglect  this  favourable  opportunity  of  finally 
ruining,  in  the  good  opinion  of  their  kmg,  the  betrayer  of  a  state  secret. 


W^ILUAM  THB  BiiJurr 


COUNT  EQMONT 

Of  a  lineage  no  less  noble  than  that  of  William  was  Lamoral,  count  of 
Egmont*  and  prince  of  Gavrc,  a  descen*lant  of  the  dukes  of  Gelderland, 
whose  martial  courage  had  wearied  out  the  arms  of  Austria.  His  family 
was  highly  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  the  country:  one  of  his  ancestors 
had,  under  Maximilian,  already  filled  the  office  of  stadholder  over  Holland. 
Egmont's  marriage  with  the  duchess  Sabina  of  Bavaria  reflected  additional 
lustre  on  the  splendour  of  his  birth,  and  made  him  powerful  through  the  great- 

['  Tlus  name  in  derived  from  ibat  abbey  of  Esmond  which  was,  as  we  said  in  the  first  chAp* 
ter,  bestowed  on  Dirk  I  of  Holland  bj  Cliarlee  the  Simple  in  912.] 


PHILIP    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  S87 

ncss  of  this  alliance.  Chrirlcs  V  liml,  in  the  year  1516,  conferred  on  him,  at 
Utrecht,  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece;  the  wars  of  this  emi>eror  were  the 
school  of  his  niilitary  genius,  and  the  battles  of  St.  Quentin  and  Gravelines 
made  him  the  Itero  of  his  age. 

Egmont  united  all  the  eminent  qualities  which  form  the  hero:  he  was  a 
better  soldier  than  the  prince  of  Orange,  but  far  inferior  to  him  as  a  st-atesman: 
the  latter  saw  the  world  as  it  really  was;  Egmont  viewed  it  in  the  magic 
mirror  of  an  imagination  that  embellished  all  that  it  reflected.  Intoxicated 
with  the  idea  of  his  ovm  merits,  which  the  love  and  gratitude  of  his  fellow 
citizens  had  exaggerated,  he  staggered  on  in  this  sweet  reverie,  as  in  a  de- 
lightful world  of  dreams.  Even  the  nm.st  terrible  exjx^rience  of  Spanish 
perfidy  could  not  aftenvards  eradicate  this  confiilence  from  his  soul,  and  on 
the  scaffold  itself  his  latest  feeling  was  hope.  A  tender  fear  for  his  family 
kept  his  patriotic  courage  fettered  by  lower  <hities.  Because  he  trembled 
for  property  and  life,  he  could  not  venture  much  for  the  republic.  William 
of  Orange  broke  with  the  throne,  because  its  arbitrary  power  was  ofifensive  to 
his  pride;  Egmont  was  vain,  and  therefore  valued  the  favours  of  the  monarch. 
The  former  was  a  citizen  of  the  world;  Egmonl  had  never  been  more  than  a 
Fleming. 

Two  such  competitors,  so  equal  in  merit,  might  have  embarrassed  Philip 
in  his  choice,  if  he  hud  ever  seriously  thought  of  selecting  either  of  them  for 
the  appointment.  But  the  preH?rnine[it  qualities  by  which  they  supported 
their  claim  to  this  ofhce  were  the  very  cause  of  their  rejection;  ancl  it  was 
precisely  the  ardent  desire  of  the  nation  for  their  election  to  it  that  irrevocably 
annulled  their  title  to  the  appointment. 


MARGAUET  OF  PARMA,  REGENT  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 


While  the  general  expectation  was  concerned  with  the  future  destinies  of 
the  provinces,  there  appeared  on  the  frontiers  of  the  country  the  duchess  Mar- 
garet of  Parma,  having  been  summoned  by  the  king  from  Itiily,  to  assume  the 
fovemment.  Margaret  was  a  natural  slaughter  of  Charles  V  and  of  a  noble 
lemish  lady,  named  Vimgeest,  an*.l  bom  1522,  Out  of  regard  for  the  honour 
of  her  mother's  house,  she  was  at  first  educated  in  obscurity;  but  her  mother, 
who  possessed  more  vanity  than  honour,  was  not  very  anxious  to  preserve  the 
secret  of  her  origin,  and  a  princely  education  I^trayed  the  daughter  of  the  em- 
peror. While  yet  a  child,  she  was  entrusted  to  the  regent  Margaret,  her 
great-aunt,  to  be  brought  up  at  BriLSsels,  under  her  eye.  This  guardian  she 
lost  in  her  eighth  year,  and  the  care  of  her  education  devolved  on  Queen  Mary 
of  Hungary,  the  successor  of  Margaret  in  the  regency.  Ottavio  Farnese,  a 
prince  of  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  nephew  of  Paul  III  had  obtaine<l,  with  her 
person,  the  duchies  of  Parma  an*l  Pincenza  as  her  portion.  Thus,  by  a  strange 
destiny,  Margaret,  at  the  age  of  maturity,  was  contracted  to  a  boy,  as  in  the 
years  of  infancy  she  had  been  sold  to  a  man.  Her  dispasition,  which  was 
anything  but  feminine,  maile  this  last  alliance  still  more  unnatural,  for  her 
taste  and  inclinations  were  masculine,  and  the  whole  tenor  of  her  life  bellied 
her  sex. 

These  unusual  qualities  were  crowned  by  a  monkish  superstition,  which 
was  infuseti  into  her  mind  by  Ignatius  Loyola,  her  confessor  and  teacher. 
Among  the  charitable  works  and  penances  with  which  she  mortified  her  vanity, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  was  that  during  Passion- Week,  she  yearly  washed, 
with  her  own  hands,  the  feet  of  a  number  of  poor  men  (who  were  most  strictly 


588  THE   HISTORY   OP  THE   NETHERLANDS 

forbidden  to  cleanse  themselves  beforehand),  waited  on  them  at  table   like 
a  servant,  and  sent  them  away  with  rich  presents. 

Margaret  was  bom  and  also  educated  in  the  Netherlands.  She  had  spent 
her  early  youth  among  the  people,  and  had  acquired  much  of  their  national 
manners. 

According  to  an  arrangement  already  made  by  Charles  V,  three  councils 
or  chambers  were  added  to  the  regent,  to  assist  her  in  the  administration  of 
state  affairs.  As  long  as  Philip  was  himself  present  in  the  Netherlands,  these 
courts  had  lost  much  of  their  power,  and  the  functions  of  the  first  of  them, 
the  state  council,  were  almost  entirely  suspended.  Now,  that  he  quitted 
the  reins  of  government,  they  recovered  their  former  importance.  In  the 
state  council,  which  was  to  deliberate  upon  war  and  peace,  and  security 
against  external  foes,  sat  the  Bishop  of  Arras,  the  prince  of  Oran^,  Count 
Egmont,  the  president  of  the  privy  council  Wigeie  or  Viglius  van  Zwychem 
van  Aj[tta,  and  the  count  of  Barlaymont,  president  of  the  chamber  of  finance. 
All  knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  all  privy  counsellors,  and  counsellors  of 
finance,  as  also  the  members  of  the  great  senate  at  Mechlin,  which  had  been 
subjected  by  Charles  V  to  the  privy  coimcil  in  Brussels,  had  a  seat  and  vote 
in  the  council  of  state,  if  expressly  invited  by  the  regent.  The  management 
of  the  royal  revenues  and  crown  lands  was  vested  in  the  chamber  of  finance, 
and  the  priw  council  was  occupied  with  the  administration  of  justice  and 
the  civil  regulation  of  the  country,  and  issued  all  letters  of  grace  and  pardon. 
The  governments  of  the  provinces,  which  had  fallen  vacant,  were  either  filled 
up  afresh,  or  the  former  governors  were  confirmed. 

Count  Eemont  received  Flanders  and  Artois;  the  prince  of  Or^ige, 
Holland,  Zealand,  Utrecht,  and  West  Friesland.  Other  provinces  were  given 
to  some  who  have  less  claim  to  our  attention.  Philip  de  Montmorency,  count 
of  Horn  [Hoom],  was  confirmed  as  admiral  of  the  Belgian  navy.  Brabant, 
alone,  was  placed  under  the  inimetiiate  jurisdiction  of  the  regent,  who,  ac- 
cording to  custom,  chose  Bnissels  for  her  constant  residence.  The  induction 
of  the  prince  of  Orange  into  his  governments  was,  properly  speaking,  an 
infraction  of  the  constitution,  since  he  was  a  foreigner;  but  several  estates 
which  he  either  himself  possessed  in  the  provinces  or  managed  as  guardian 
of  his  son,  his  long  residence  in  tlie  countrj-,  and  above  all  the  unlimited 
confidence  the  nation  reposed  in  him,  gave  him  substantial  claims  in  default 
of  a  real  title  of  citizenship.  But  at  the  ver\-  time  when  Philip  obliged  the 
prince  with  these  public  marks  of  his  esteem,  he  privately  inflicted  the  most 
cruel  injur}'  on  him.  Apprehensive  lest  an  alliance  with  the  powerftd  house 
of  Lorraine  might  encourage  this  suspected  vassal  to  bolder  measures,  he 
thwarted  the  negotiation  for  a  marriage  between  him  and  a  princess  of  that 
family,  and  crushed  his  hopes  on  the  verj*  eve  of  their  accomplishment  —  an 
injur}-  which  the  prince  never  forgave. 

The  establishment  of  the  council  of  state  was  intended  rather  to  flatter 
the  vanity  of  the  Belgian  nobility  than  to  impart  to  them  any  real  influence.  • 
The  historian  Strada*  (who  drew  his  information  with  reganl  to  the  re^nt 
from  her  own  papers)  has  preser^•el^  a  few  articles  of  the  secret  instructions 
which  the  Spanish  ministry  g:ive  her.  Among  other  things  it  is  there  stated, 
if  she  obser^'eil  that  the  councils  were  divideil  by  factions,  or,  what  would  be 
far  worse,  prepans.1  by  private  conferences  before  the  session,  and  in  league 
with  one  another,  then  she  was  to  prorogue  all  the  chambers  and  dispose 
arbitrarily  of  the  dispulevi  articles  in  a  more  select  council  or  committee. 
In  this  select  committee,  which  was  calleil  the  consuUa,  sat  the  arehbishop 
of  Arras,  the  president  A'iglius  [or  Wigelo],  and  the  count  of  Barla\'mont.    A 


PHILIP    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  889 

tla55-lMl  A.D.] 

second  maxim  which  tlie  regent  was  especially  to  obsen'e  was  to  select  the 
very  members  of  council  who  had  voted  against  any  decree,  to  carry  it  into 
execution.  By  this  means,  not  only  would  the  people  be  kept  in  ignorance 
of  the  originators  of  such  a  law,  but  the  private  quarrels  also  of  the  members 
would  be  restrained,  and  a  greater  freedom  insured  in  voting  in  compliance 
with  the  wishes  of  the  coiu't. 

In  order,  at  the  same  time,  to  assure  himself  of  the  fidelity  of  the  regent, 
Philip  subjected  her,  and  through  her  all  the  affairs  of  the  judicature,  to 
the  higher  control  of  the  bishop  of  Arras,  Granvella.  In  this  single  indi- 
vidual he  possessed  an  adequate  counterpoise  to  the  most  dreaded  cabal. 
To  him,  as  nn  infallible  oracle  of  majesty,  the  duchess  was  referred,  and  in 
him  there  watched  a  stern  supervisor  of  her  administration.  Among  all  liis 
contemporaries,  Granvella  was  the  only  one  whom  Philip  II  appears  to  have 
excepted  from  his  universal  distrust:  as  long  as  he  knew  that  this  man  was 
in  Brussels,  he  could  sleep  calmly  in  Segovia.* 

ORANVEIXA  AND  THE  REGENCY 

This  man,  an  immoral  ecclesiastic,  an  eloquent  orator,  a  supple  courtier, 
and  a  profound  politician,  bloated  with  pride,  envy,  insolence,  and  vanity, 
wius  the  reiJ  head  of  the  governriient.  Next  to  him  among  (ho  royalist  party 
was  Viglius,  president  of  the  privy  council,  an  erudite  schoohnanj  attached 
less  to  the  broad  principles  of  justice  than  to  the  letter  of  the  laws^  and  thus 
carrying  pedantry  into  the  very  councils  of  the  state.  Next  *m  order  came 
the  count  of  Barlaymont,  head  of  the  financial  department  —  a  stem  and 
intolerant  satellite  of  the  court,  and  a  furious  enemy  to  those  national  insti- 
tutions which  operated  as  checks  upon  fraud.  These  three  individuals 
formed  the  govornante's  privy  council.  The  remaining  creatures  of  the  king 
were  mere  subalt-ern  agents. 

A  government  so  composed  could  scarcely  fail  to  excit«  discontent,  and 
create  danger  to  the  public  weal.  The  first  proof  of  incapacity  was  elicited 
by  the  measures  rec^uired  for  the  departure  of  the  Spanish  troops.  The 
period  fixed  by  the  king  had  already  expired,  and  these  obnoxious  foreigners 
were  still  in  the  country^  living  in  part  on  pillage,  and  each  day  committing 
some  new  excess.  Complaints  were  carried  in  successive  gradation  from  the 
government  to  the  council,  and  from  the  coimcil  to  the  king.  The  Spaniards 
were  removed  to  Zealand;  but  instead  of  being  embarked  at  any  of  its  port**, 
they  were  detained  there  on  various  pretexts  ;  until,  the  king  requiring  his 
troops  in  Spain  for  some  domestic  project,  they  took  their  long-clesircd  de- 
parture in  the  l>eginning  cjf  the  year  1501.  The  public  discontent  at  this 
just  cause  was  soon,  however,  overwhelnietl  by  one  infinitely  more  important 
and  lasting.  The  13elgian  clergy  had  hitherto  formed  a  free  and  powerful 
order  in  the  state,  governed  arul  represented  by  four  bishojjs  chosen  by  the 
chapters  of  the  towTis,  or  elected  by  the  monks  of  the  principal  abbeys.  These 
bishops,  pt^sessing  an  independent  territorial  revenue,  and  not  directly  sub- 
ject to  the  influence  of  the  crown,  had  int4?rests  and  feelings  in  common  with 
the  nation.  But  Philip  had  prepared,  and  the  pope  had  sanctioned,  anew 
system  of  ecclesiastical  organisation,  and  the  provisional  government  now 
put  it  into  execution.  Instead  of  four  bishops,  it  was  intended  to  appoint 
eighteen,  their  nomination  being  vested  in  the  king.  By  a  wily  system  of 
trickery  the  subserviency  of  the  abbeys  was  also  aimetl  at.  The  consequences 
of  this  vital  blow  to  the  integrity  of  the  national  institutions  were  evident; 
and  the  indignation  of  both  clergy  and  laity  was  universal.    Every  legal 


300  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[I6ei-1S88AD.] 

means  of  opposition  was  resorted  to,  but  the  people  were  without  leaders  ; 
the  states  were  not  in  session.  Tlie  new  bishops  were  appointed;  GranveUa 
securine  for  himself  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Mechlin,  with  the  title  of  |pri- 
mate  of  the  Low  Countries.  At  the  same  time  the  pope  put  the  crowning 
point  to  the  capital  of  his  ambition,  by  presenting  him  with  a  cardinal's  hat. 

The  new  bishops  were  to  a  man  most  violent,  intolerant,  and  it  may  be 
conscientious  opponents  to  the  wi(le-«preading  doctrines  of  reform.  Ilie 
execution  of  the  edicts  against  heresy  was  confided  to  them.  The  provincial 
governors  and  inferior  magistrates  were  commanded  to  aid  them  with  a 
strong  arm;  and  the  most  unjust  and  frightful  persecution  inmiediately 
commenced.  The  prince  of  Orange,  stadholder  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and 
LTtrecht,  and  the  count  of  Egmont,  governor  of  Flanders  and  Artois,  per- 
mitted no  persecutions  in  those  five  provinces. 

Among  the  various  causes  of  the  general  confusion,  the  situation  of  Bra- 
bant gave  to  that  province  a  peculiar  share  of  suffering.  Brussels,  its  capital, 
being  the  seat  of  government,  had  no  particular  chief  magistrate,  like  the 
other  i)rovinces.  William  penetrateil  the  cause,  and  proposed  the  remedy 
in  moving  for  the  a|)pointment  of  a  provincial  governor. 

GranveUa  energetically  dissented  from  the  proposed  measure,  and  William 
immediately  desisted  from  his  demand.  But  he  at  the  same  time  claimed, 
in  the  name  of  the  whole  country,  the  convocation  of  the  states-general. 
This  assembly  alone  was  competent  to  decide  what  was  just,  1^1,  and 
obligatory  for  each  province  and  ever}'  town.  GranveUa  found  himself  at 
length  forced  to  avow  that  an  express  order  from  the  king  forbade  the  con- 
vocation of  the  states,  on  any  pretext,  during  his  absence. 

The  veU  was  thus  rent  asiintler,  which  had  in  some  measure  concealed  the 
deformity  of  PhUip's  despotism.  Tlie  result  was  a  powerful  confederacy  in 
1562  for  the  overthrow  of  GranveUa,  to  whom  they  chose  to  attribute  the 
kini^'s  coniiuct:  thus  bringing  into  practical  result  the  sound  principle  of 
ministerial  n^sjwnsibUity,  without  which  the  name  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment is  but  a  mockery.  Many  of  the  royalist  nobles  united  for  the  national 
caust^ ;  and  even  the  govemanto  joined  her  efforts  to  theirs,  for  an  object 
which  woidil  relieve  her  from  the  tjTiinny  which  none  felt  more  than  she  did. 
The  duchess  of  Parma  battel  the  minister,  as  a  domestic  spy  robbing  her  of 
ali  Tvixl  authority;  the  rt>yalist  nobles,  as  an  insolent  upstart  at  ever)'  instant 
mortifying  their  pride.  But  it  is  doubtful  if  any  of  the  confederates  except 
the  prina^  of  Orange  clearly  s:iw  tliat  they  were  putting  themselves  in  direct 
and  wrsonal  op^xx^ition  to  the  king  himself.  WUliam  alone,  clear-sighted 
in  jHiJitics  and  proftmiul  in  his  views,  knew,  in  thus  devoting  himself  to  the 
public  caust\  the  adverscm-  with  whom  he  entennl  the  lists. 

This  gn*at  man,  for  whom  the  natioiml  trailitions  still  preser\'e  the  sacred 
title  of  "  father"  {Vader-Wilicm'i,  and  who  was  in  tnith  not  merely  the  parent 
but  the  jHilitical  cn^ator  of  tlie  countn.-,  was  at  this  period  in  his  thirtieth 
year.     He  aln\\dy  joiiu\l  the  viginir  of  manhooil  to  the  \i-is<lom  of  age. 

Ho  Ih^UUv  put  himst^lf  at  xhv  head  of  the  confiHieracy.  He  wrote  to  the 
king,  in  li>tW.  conji^intly  with  counts  Kgmont  and  Horn,  faitlifuUy  portray- 
ing the  stale  of  atlairs.  The  liuehivs  of  Panna  backevl  this  remonstrance 
with  a  striMiuous  n\]uest  for  Gmnvella's  dismission.  Philip's  reply  to  the 
tlmv  noblemen  was  a  men*  tissue  of  duplicity  to  obtain  delay. 

In  the  nioniuime  every  jxvsiiiHe  indignity  was  offerevl  to  the  cardinal  by 
private  pique  and  public  sjitirw  Philip,  ifriven  U^fore  the  popular  voice, 
found  hiiust*lf  ionwi  to  the  choiiv  oi  thrvming  off  the  mask  at  once,  or  of 
ssuTiticing  GranveUa.    An  invincible  inclination  for  mana^uvring  and  deceit 


PHILIP   II    AND   SPANISH   OPPRESSION  891 

[1564-15ftSA.x>.] 

decided  him  on  the  latter  measure;  and  the  cardinal,  recalled  but  not  dis- 
graced, quitted  the  Netherlands  on  the  13th  of  March,  1564.  The  secret 
instructions  to  the  govenmnt  remained  unrevoked;  the  president  Viglius 
succeeded  to  the  post  which  GranveDa  had  occupied;  and  it  was  clear  that 
the  projects  of  the  king  had  suffered  no  change. 

The  public  fermentation  subsided;  the  patriot  lonis  reappeared  at  court; 
and  the  prince  of  Orange  acquired  an  increasing  influence  in  the  council  and 
over  the  governant,  who  by  his  advice  adopted  a  conciliatory  line  of  conduct 
—  a  fallacious  but  still  a  temporary  hope  for  the  nation.  But  the  calm  was 
of  short  duration.  Scarcely  was  this  moderation  evinced  by  the  government, 
than  Philip,  obstinate  in  his  designs  and  outrageous  in  his  resentment,  sent 
an  order  to  have  the  edicts  against  heresy  put  mto  most  rigorous  execution, 
and  io  proclaim  throughout  the  seventeen  provinces  the  furious  decree  of 
the  council  of  Trent. 

The  revolting  cruelty  and  illegality  of  the  first  edicts  were  already  ad- 
mitted. As  to  the  decrees  of  this  memorable  council,  they  were  only  adapted 
for  countries  in  submission  to  an  absolute  despotism.  They  were  received 
in  the  Netherlands  with  general  reprobation.  Even  the  new  bishops  loudly 
denounced  them  as  unjust  innovations;  and  thus  Philip  found  zealous  op- 
ponents in  lho.s(^  on  whom  he  hail  reckonoii  us  liis  most  servile  tools.  The 
govemant  was  not  the  less  urged  to  implicit  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the 
king  by  Viglius  and  Barlaymont,  who  took  upon  themselves  an  almost  men- 
acmg  tone.  The  ducheas  assembled  a  council  of  state,  and  asketl  its  advice 
as  to  her  proc*»edings.  The  prince  of  Orange  at  once  boldly  proposed  dis- 
obedience to  measures  fraught  with  danger  to  the  monarchy  and  ruin  to 
the  nation.  The  council  could  not  resist  his  appeal  to  their  best  feelings. 
His  proposal  tbnt  fresh  remonstrances  should  be  addressed  to  the  king  met 
with  almost  general  support.  The  prosi<lent  Viglius,  who  had  spoken  in  the 
ofx^ning  of  the  council  in  favour  of  the  king*s  orders,  was  overwhelmed  by 
William's  reasoning,  and  demandetl  time  to  prepare  his  reply.  His  agitation 
during  the  debate,  an<l  his  despair  of  carrying  the  measures  against  the 
patriot  party,  brought  on  in  the  night  an  attack  of  apoplexy. 

It  was  resolved  to  despatch  a  special  envoy  to  Spain,  to  explain  to  Philip 
the  views  of  the  council,  and  to  lay  before  him  a  plan  proposed  by  the  prince 
of  Orange  for  forming  a  junction  between  the  two  councils  and  that  of  finance, 
and  forming  them  into  one  body.  Tlie  object  of  this  measure  was  at  once  to 
give  greater  union  and  power  to  the  provisional  government,  to  create  a 
central  administration  in  the  Netherlands,  and  to  remove  from  some  obscure 
and  avaricious  financiers  the  exclusive  management  of  the  national  resources. 
The  count  of  Egmont,  chosen  by  the  council  for  this  important  mission, 
set  out  for  Madrid  in  the  month  o?  January,  1565.  Philip  received  him  with 
profound  hypocrisy;  loadeii  him  with  the  most  flattering  promiH«^s;  sent 
him  back  in  the  utmost  elation:  and  when  the  credulous  count  returned  to 
Brussels,  he  found  that  the  written  orders,  of  which  he  was  the  bearer,  were 
in  direct  variance  with  every  W{)rd  which  the  king  had  uttered. 

These  orders  were  chiefly  concerning  the  reiterated  subject  of  the  perse- 
cution to  be  inflexibly  pursued  against  the  religious  reformers.  Not  satisfied 
with  the  hitherto  established  forms  of  punishment,  Philip  now  expressly 
commamlcd  that  the  more  revolting  n^eans  dtTrwd  by  his  father  in  the 
rieour  of  his  early  zeal,  such  as  burning,  living  burial,  and  the  like,  should  be 
atlopted;  and  he  somewhat  more  obscurely  directed  that  the  victims  should 
be  no  longer  publicly  immolated,  but  secretly  destroyed.  He  endeavoured, 
by  this  vague  phra5eolog>',  to  avoid  the  actusJ  utterance  of  the  word  "  inqui- 


8M  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[1M5a.d.] 

sition";  but  he  thus  virtually  established  that  atrocious  tribunal,  with 
attributes  still  more  terrific  than  even  in  Spain;  for  there  the  condemned  had 
at  least  the  consolation  of  dyinff  in  open  my,  and  of  displajdng  the  fortitude 
which  is  rarely  proof  against  the  horror  of  a  private  execution. 

Even  Viglius  was  terrified  by  the  nature  of  Philip's  commands;  and  the 
patriot  lords  once  more  withdrew  from  all  share  in  the  government,  leaving 
to  the  duchess  of  Parma  and  her  ministers  the  whole  responsibility  of  the 
new  measures.  They  were  at  length  put  into  actual  and  vigorous  execution 
in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1566.  The  inquisitors  of  the  faith,  with  their 
familiars,  stalked  abroad  boldly  in  the  devoted  provinces,  carrying  persecu- 
tion and  death  in  their  train.  Numerous  but  partial  insurrections  opposed 
these  odious  intruders.  Every  district  and  town  became  the  scene  of  fn^tful 
executions  or  tumultuous  resistance.^ 


THE  iNQinsmoN 

The  great  cause  of  the  revolt  which,  within  a  few  years,  was  to  break 
forth  throughout  the  Netherlands,  was  the  Inquisition.  It  is  almost  puerile 
to  look  further  or  deeper,  when  such  a  soiu-ce  of  convulsion  lies  at  the  very 
outset  of  any  investigation.  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  somewhat  super- 
fluous discussion  concerning  the  different  kinds  of  inquisition.  The  dis- 
tinction drawn  between  the  papal,  the  episcopal,  and  the  Spanish  inquisitions 
did  not,  in  the  sixteenth  centuiy,  convmce  many  unsc^histicated  minds  of 
the  merits  of  the  establishment  m  any  of  its  shapes.*  However  classified  or 
entitled,  it  was  a  machine  for  inquiring  into  a  man's  thoughts,  and  for  burn- 
ing him  if  the  result  was  not  satisfactory.  The  Spanish  inquisition  —  techni- 
caUy  so  called  —  was,  according  to  Cabrera  *  the  biographer  of  Philip,  a  "  hea- 
venly remedy,  a  guardian  angel  of  Paradise,  a  lion's  den  in  which  Daniel 
and  other  just  men  could  sustain  no  injury,  but  in  which  perverse  sinners 
were  torn  to  pieces." 

The  Spanish  inquisition  had  never  flourished  in  any  soil  but  that  of  the 
peninsula.  It  is  possible  that  the  king  and  Granvella  were  sincere  in  their 
protestations  of  entertaining  no  intention  of  introducing  it  into  the  Nether- 
lands, although  the  protestations  of  such  men  are  entitled  to  but  little  weight. 
Tlie  truth  was  that  the  Inquisition  existed  already  in  the  provinces.  This 
establishment,  like  the  edicts,  was  the  gift  of  Charles  V. 

In  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Good,  the  vicar  of  the  inquisitor-general  gave 
sentence  against  some  heretics,  who  were  burned  in  Lille  (1448).  In  1459, 
Peter  Troussart,  a  Jacobin  monk,  condemned  many  Waldenses,  together  with 
some  leading  citizens  of  Artois,  accused  of  sorcery  and  heresy.  Charles  V 
had  in  the  year  1522  applied  for  a  staff  of  inquisitors  to  his  ancient  tutor, 
whom  he  had  placed  on  the  papal  throne. 

Adrian,  accordingly,  commissioned  Van  der  Ilulst  to  be  universal  and 
general  inquisitor  for  all  the  Netherlands.  At  the  same  time  it  was  expressly 
stated  that  his  functions  were  not  to  supersede  those  exercised  by  the  bishops 
as  inquisitors  in  their  own  sees.  In  1537,  Ruard  Tapper  and  Michael  Drutius 
were  appointed  by  Paul  III.  The  powers  of  the  papal  inquisitors  had  been 
gradually  extended,  and  they  were,  by  1545,  not  only  entirely  independent 
of  the  episcopal  inquisition,  but  had  acquired  right  of  jurisdiction  over  bishops 
and  archbishops,  whom  they  were  empowered  to  arrest  and  imprison. 

['  The  historj  and  methods  of  the  Inquisition  in  its  various  forms  have  l>een  full/  treated 
in  Appendix  A  to  Volume  X.] 


PHILIP    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  SOS 

[UM-1565  A.D.] 

The  instructions  to  the  inquisitors  had  been  renewed  and  confirmed  by 
Philip,  in  the  very  first  month  of  his  reign  (28th  Nov.  1555). 

Among  all  the  inquisitors,  the  name  of  Petor  Titolrnan  was  now  pre- 
eminent. He  executeii  his  infamoiLs  functions  throughout  Flanilers,  Douai, 
and  Toumay^  the  most  thriving  and  populous  portions  of  the  Netherlands, 
with  a  swiftness,  precision,  and  even  with  a  jocularity  which  hardly  seemed 
human.  He  burned  men  for  idle  words  or  suspected  thoughts;  he  rarely 
waited,  according  to  his  frank  confession,  for  deeds. 

This  kini!  of  work,  which  went  on  daily,  did  not  increase  the  love  of  the 
people  for  the  inquisition  or  the  edicts.  It  terrified  many,  but  it  inspired 
more  with  that  noble  rcsiHtance  to  opprtvssion,  particularly  tu  rt'ligious  opprc-s- 
sion,  which  is  the  sublimest  instinct  of  human  nature.  Men  confronted  the 
terrible  inquisitors  with  a  courage  equal  to  their  cruelty.  At  Tournay,  one 
of  the  chief  cities  of  Titelman's  district,  anil  ahnast  before  his  eyes,  one  Ber- 
trand  le  Blafl,  a  velvet  manufacturer,  coniinitt^<l  what  was  held  an  almost 
incredible  crime.  Having  begged  his  wife  and  children  to  pray  for  a  blessing 
upon  what  he  was  about  to  muiertake,  he  went  on  Christmas-<lay  to  the 
cathednd  of  Toiirnay  and  stationed  himself  near  the  altar.  Having  awaited 
the  moment  in  which  the  priest  held  on  high  the  consecrat<?d  host,  Le  Bias 
then  forceil  his  way  through  tlie  crowd,  snatched  the  wafer  from  the  hands 
of  the  astonishci:!  ecclesiastic,  and  broke  it  into  bits,  crying  aloud,  as  he  did 
so,  "MLsguided  men,  do  ye  take  this  thmg  to  be  Jesus  Christ,  your  Lord  iiiui 
Saviour?  '  With  the-se  wonls,  lie  tJirew  the  fragments  on  the  ground  and 
trampled  them  with  his  feet. 

The  amazement  antl  liorror  were  so  universal  at  such  an  appalling  offence, 
that  not  a  finger  was  raLse<l  to  arrest  the  criminal.  Priests  and  congregation 
were  alike  paralysed,  so  that  he  would  have  found  no  difficulty  in  making  his 

tpe.  He  did  not  stir,  however;  he  had  come  to  the  church  determmetl 
to  execute  what  he  considered  a  sacred  duty,  anil  to  abide  the  consequences. 
After  a  time  he  was  apprehended.  The  inquisitor  demanded  if  he  repent<*d 
of  what  lie  had  tlone.  He  protested,  on  the  contrary,  that  he  gloried  in  the 
deed,  antl  that  Fie  would  tlie  a  hundred  deaths  to  rescue  from  such  daily  pro- 
fanation the  name  of  his  Retleemer,  Christ.  He  was  then  put  thrice  to  the 
torture,  that  he  might  be  forced  to  reveal  his  accomplices.  IkTtrand  had 
none,  however,  and  could  denounce  none.  A  frantic  sentence  was  then  de- 
vised as  a  feeble  punishment  for  so  much  wickedness.  He  was  dragged  on  a 
hurdle,  with  his  mouth  closed  with  an  iron  gag,  to  the  market-place.  Here 
his  right  hand  and  foot  were  burned  and  twisted  off  between  two  retl-hot 
irons.  His  tongue  was  then  torn  out  by  the  roots,  and  because  he  still  en- 
deavoured to  call  upon  the  name  of  Go<l,  tlie  irfni  gag  was  again  applied. 
With  his  arms  and  legs  fastened  together  behind  his  back,  he  was  then  hooked 
by  the  middle  of  his  body  to  an  iron  chain,  and  matie  to  swing  to  and  fro  over 
a  slow  fire  till  he  was  entirely  roasted.  His  life  lasted  almost  to  the  end  of 
these  ingenious  tortures,  but  his  fortitude  lasted  as  long  as  Ids  lift'. 

In  the  next  year,  Titelman  caused  one  Robert  Ogier,  of  Lille,  to  be  arrested, 
together  with  his  \vife  and  two  sons.  Their  crime  consisted  in  not  going  to 
noass,  and  in  practising  private  worsliip  at  home.  They  confessed  the  offence, 
for  they  protested  that  they  could  not  endure  to  see  the  profanation  of  their 
Saviour's  name  in  the  idolatrous  sacraments.  They  were  asked  what  rites 
they  practised  in  their  own  house.  One  of  the  sons,  a  mere  boy,  answered, 
"We  fall  on  our  knees,  and  pray  to  God  that  he  may  enlighten  our  hearts, 
and  forgive  our  sins.  We  pray  for  our  sovereign,  that  his  reign  may  be  pros- 
perous, and  his  life  peaceful.    We  also  pray  for  the  magistrates  and  others 


8M  THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

(1585-1866  A.n.J 

in  authority,  that  God  may  protect  and  preserve  them  all."  The  hoy's  mmple 
eloiquence  drew  tears  even  from  the  eyes  of  some  of  his  judges;  for  tlte  m- 
quiffltor  had  placed  the  case  before  the  civil  tribunal.  The  father  and  ddest 
son  were,  however,  condemned  to  the  flames.  "0  God!"  prayed  the  youtli 
at  the  stake,  "Eternal  Father,  accept  the  sacrifice  of  our  lives,  in  the  name 
of  thy  beloved  Son."  "Thou  liest,  scoundrel!"  fiercely  interrupted  a  m<»ik. 
who  was  lighting  the  fire;  "God  is  not  your  father;  ye  are  the  devil's  children. 
As  the  flames  rose  about  them,  the  boy  cried  out  once  more, "  Look^  my  fattier, 
all  heaven  is  openine,  and  I  see  ten  himdred  thousand  angeb  rejoicing  over 
us.  Let  us  be  gladi  for  we  are  dyinc  for  the  truth."  "Thou  liest!  thou 
liest!"  a^in  screamed  the  monk;  "all  nell  is  opening,  and  you  see  ten  thou- 
sand devils  thrusting  you  mto  eternal  fire."  Eight  days  afterwards,  the  wife 
of  Oner  and  his  other  son  were  burned;  so  tlmt  there  was  an  end  of  that 
family.  Such  are  a  few  isolated  specimens  of  the  manner  of  proceeding  in  a 
single  district  of  the  Netherlands. 

Are  these  things  related  merely  to  excite  superfluous  horror?  Are  the 
sufferings  of  these  obscure  Christians  beneath  the  dignity  of  history?  Is  it 
not  better  to  deal  with  murder  and  oppression  in  the  abstract,  without  enter- 
ing into  trivial  details?  The  answer  is  that  these  things  are  the  history  oi 
the  Netherlands  at  this  epoch;  that  these  hideous  details  furnish  the  causes 
of  that  immense  movement  out  of  which  a  great  republic  was  bom  and  an 
ancient  tyranny  destroyed;  and  that  Cardinal  Granvella  was  ridiculous 
when  he  asserted  that  the  people  would  not  open  their  mouths  if  the  sen 
gniors  did  not  make  such  a  noise.  Because  the  great  lords  "  owned  their  verr 
souls,"  because  convulsions  might  help  to  pay  their  debts  and  furnish  forth 
their  masquerades  and  banquete,  because  the  prince  of  Orange  was  ambitious 
and  Egmont  jealous  of  the  cardinal  —  therefore  superficial  writers  foimd  it 
quite  natural  that  the  country  shoulil  be  disturbed,  although  that  "vile  and 
mischievous  animal,  the  people,"  might  have  no  objection  to  a  continuance 
of  the  system  which  had  been  at  work  so  long.  On  the  contrary,  it  was 
exactly  because  the  movement  was  a  popular  and  a  religious  movement  that 
it  will  always  retain  its  place  among  the  most  important  events  of  history. 
Dignified  documents,  state  papers,  solemn  treaties,  are  often  of  no  more 
value  than  the  lambskin  on  which  they  are  engrossed.  Ten  thousand  name- 
less victims,  in  the  cause  of  religious  and  civil  freedom,  may  build  up  great 
states  and  alter  the  aspect  of  whole  continents. 

Upon  some  minds,  declamation  concerning  liberty  of  conscience  and  re- 
ligious tyranny  makes  but  a  vague  impression,  while  an  effect  may  be  pro- 
duced upon  them,  for  example,  by  a  dry,  concrete,  cynical  entr}r  in  an 
account  book,  such  as  the  following,  taken  at  hazard  from  the  register  of 
municipal  expenses  at  Toumay,  during  the  years  with  which  we  are  now 
occupied: 

"  To  M.  Jacques  Barra,  executioner,  for  having  tortured,  twice,  Jean  de 
Lannoy,  ten  sous.  To  the  same,  for  having  executed,  by  fire,  said  Lannoyi 
sixty  sous.    For  having  thrown  his  cinders  mto  the  river,  eight  sous." 

This  was  the  treatment  to  which  thousands  had  been  subjected  in  the 
provinces.  Men,  women,  and  children  were  burned,  and  their  "cinders" 
thrown  away,  for  idle  words  against  Rome,  spoken  years  before,  for  praying 
alone  in  their  closets,  for  not  kneeling  to  a  wafer  when  they  met  it  in  the 
streets,  for  thou^ts  to  which  they  had  never  given  utterance,  but  which,  on 
inquiry,  they  were  too  honest  to  deny.  Certainly  with  this  work  going  on 
year  after  year  in  every  city  in  the  Netherlands,  and  now  set  into  renewed 
and  vigorous  action  by  a  man  who  wore  a  crown  only  that  he  might  the  better 


I 


PHILIP    11    AND    SPANISH   OPPRESSION  395 

[lfiS5-1585  A.t>.] 

torture  his  fellow  creatures,  it  was  time  that  the  very  stones  in  the  streets 
should  bo  moved  to  mutiny. 

Tlius  it  nmv  Ix*  seen  of  how  nnioh  vfthic  wore  the  protestations  of  Philip 
and  of  Granvella,  on  which  much  stress  has  latterly  been  laid,  that  it  was 
not  their  intention  to  introduce  the  Spanish  inquisition.  With  the  etlicts 
and  the  Netherland  inquisition,  such  as  we  have  described  thern,  the  step 
was  hardly  necessary. 

In  fact,  the  main  difference  between  the  two  Institutions  consisted  in  the 
greater  efficiency  of  the  Spanish  in  discovering  such  of  its  victims  as  were 
disposed  to  deny  their  faith.  The  invisible  niacliinery  was  less  requisite  for 
the  Netherlands.  There  was  comparatively  little  tlifficulty  in  ferreting  out 
the  "vermin"  —  to  use  the  expression  of  a  Walloon  historian  of  that  age 
(Renon  de  France?)  —  so  that  it  was  onlv  necessary  to  maintain  in  goo<:l  work- 
ing onler  the  npparatu.s  for  destroying  1.)ie  noxious  creatures  when  unearthwl. 
Philip,  who  did  not  often  say  a  great  deal  in  a  few  words,  once  expressed 
the  whole  truth  of  the  matter  in  a  single  sentence:  "\\lierefore  introduce 
the  Spanish  infiuisition?"  sriid  he;  ''the  inquisition  of  the  Netherlands  is 
much  more  pitiless  than  that  of  Spain." 

Such  was  the  system  of  religious  persecution  commenced  by  Charles, 
and  perfected  by  Philip.  The  king  c<juM  not  claim  the  merit  of  the  invention, 
whiclj  justly  belonged  to  the  emperor.  At  the  same  time,  his  responsibility 
for  the  unutterable  woe  caused  by  the  continuance  of  the  scheme  is  not  a  jot 
diminished.^ 

THE  COMPROXUSE  OF  FEBRUARY,   1566 

At  length  the  moment  came  when  tlie  people  had  n^ached  that  pitch  of 
despair  which  is  the  great,  force  of  the  oppressed.  Up  to  the  present  moment 
the  prince  of  Orange  an<:i  the  coimts  Egniont  and  Horn,  with  their  partisans 
and  friends,  had  sincerely  desired  the  public  peace,  antl  acted  in  the  comnion 
interest  of  the  king  and  the  peojile.  But  all  the  noblcH  had  not  acted  with 
the  same  constitutional  moderation.  Many  of  those,  disappointed  on  personal 
accounts,  others  professing  the  new  doctrines,  and  the  rest  variously  afTected 
by  manifold  motives,  formed  a  body  of  violent  and  .sometimes  of  imprudent 
malcontenta.  The  marriage  of  Alessandro  prince  of  Parma,  son  of  the  gov- 
emante,  which  w;iscelebrate<l  in  1565  at  Brussels,  brought  together  an  im- 
mense number  of  these  diasatisfied  nobles. 

Nothing  seemed  wanting  but  a  leader,  to  give  consistency  and  weight  to 
the  confederacy  which  was  as  yet  but  in  embryo.  This  was  doubly  furnished 
in  the  persons  of  Louis  of  Nassau  and  Henry  of  Brederode.  Tlie  former, 
brother  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  was  posseased  of  many  of  those  brilliant 
qualities  which  mark  men  as  worthy  of  distinction  in  times  of  peril.  Edu- 
cated at  Geneva,  he  was  passionately  attached  to  the  reformed  religion,  and 
identified  in  his  hatred  the  Catholic  church  and  the  tyranny  of  Spain.  Brave 
and  impetuous,  he  was,  to  his  elder  brother^  btit  as  an  adventurous  partisan 
compKired  with  a  sagacious  general.  lie  loved  William  as  well  as  he  did  their 
common  cause,  and  his  life  was  devoted  to  both, 

Henry  of  Brcflerode,  lortl  of  Vianen  and  marquis  of  Utrecht,  was  de- 
scended from  the  ancient  counts  of  Holland.  This  illustrious  origin,  which 
in  his  own  eyes  fonned  a  high  claim  to  distinction,  had  not  procured  him 
any  of  those  employments  or  dignities  which  he  considered  his  dues' 

Louis  of  Naasau,  Nicholas  de  Hames,  ami  certain  otlier  gentlemen  met 
at  the  baths  of  Spa.    At  this  secret  assembly,  tlie  foundations  of  the  Com- 


390  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

promise  were  definitely  laid.'  A  document  was  afterwards  drawn  up,  which 
was  circulated  for  signatures  in  the  early  part  of  1566.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  this  memorable  paper  was  simultaneously  signed  and  sworn 
to  at  any  solemn  scene  like  that  of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence, 
or  like  some  of  the  subsequent  transactions  in  the  Netherland  revolt  arranged 
purposely  for  dramatic  effect.  Several  copies  of  the  Compromise  were  passed 
secretly  from  hand  to  hand,  and  in  the  course  of  two  months  some  two  thou- 
sand signatures  had  been  obtained.    The  original  copy  bore  but  three  names 

—  those  of  Brederode,  Charles  of  Mansfeld,  and 
Louis  of  Nassau.  The  composition  of  the  paper 
is  xisuallv  ascribed  to  Philip  van  Mamix,  lortl  of 
Sainte-Aldegonde,  although  the  fact  is  not  indis- 
putable. 

At  any  rate,  it  is  very  certain  that  he  was  one 
of  the  originators  and  main  supporters  of  the 
famous  league.  The  language  of  the  document 
was  such  tnat  patriotic  Catholics  could  sign  as 
honestly  as  Protestants.  It  inveighed  bitterly 
against  the  tyranny  of  '*a  heap  of  stran^rs, 
who,  influenced  oidy  by  private  avarice  and  am- 
bition, were  making  use  of  an  affected  zeal  for  the 
Catholic  religion,  to  persuade  the  king  into  a  vio- 
lation of  his  oatlis.  It  denounced  the  refusal  to 
mitigate  the  severity  of  the  edicts.  It  declared 
the  Inquisition,  which  it  seemed  the  intention  of 
government  to  fix  permanently  upon  them,  as 
"  iniquitous,  contrary  to  all  !a\\'a,  human  and  di- 
vine, surpassing  the  greatest  barbarism  which  was 
ever  practised  by  tyrants,  and  as  redounding  to 
the  dishonour  of  God  and  to  the  total  desolation 
of  the  country." 

The  signers  protested,  therefore,  that  "having 
a  due  regard  to  their  duties  as  faithful  vassals  erf 
his  majeHty,  and  especially  as  noblemen,  and  in 
order  not  to  be  deprived  of  their  estates  and  their 
lives  by  those  wno,  under  pretext  of  religion, 
wished  to  enrich  themselves  by  plunder  and 
murder,*'  they  had  boimd  themselves  to  CAch 
other  by  holy  covenant  and  solemn  oath  to  resist 
the  Inquisition.  Tliey  mutually  promised  to  op- 
pose it  in  ever}'  shape,  open  or  covert,  uniler  whatever  mask  it  might  assume, 
whether  bearing  the  name  of  inquisition,  placard,  or  edict,  "and  to  extirpate 
and  eradicate  the  thing  in  any  torm,  as  the  mother  of  all  iniquity  and  dis- 
onler."  Tliey  protested  before  Gfxl  and  man  that  they  would  attempt 
nothing  to  the  aislionour  of  the  Lord  or  to  the  diminution  of  the  king's  gran- 
deur, majesty,  or  dominion.  They  declared,  on  the  contrary,  an  honest  pur- 
pose to  "  mamtain  the  monarch  in  his  estate,  and  to  suppress  all  seditions, 

'  Tbia  appeare  from  the  sentence  pronounced  against  De  Uainos  (Tolain  d'Or)  brtbe  Btood- 
Couucil  on  the  17th  Mav.  1508.  "  Charge  d'avoir  esle  utiff  d«i  autheurs  de  la  Mditieuse  ei  per* 
nicieuM  eontureUion  ft  ligut  des  oonfedem  {gui'U  appeU^nt  Ctrnipromia)  et  dir.tlU  premiertmeni 
avoir  yerte  7m  fondemena  d  la  fontaiiu  d6  Spa,  avecv  U  Compte  Loya  de  NaMnu  tt  oulir9$  6i 
aprh  eninron  U  moia  df.  Derfmbre.,  1585.  tarreaU  fa  aigna  ft  jure  tn  ««/*•  vllU  de  BnusfU 
ett  ea  maiaort  ei  a  irrlle  attire  ft  induict  plvMeura  nultrfa." —  Reffistre  dea  CtmdamnSa  et  Ban 
t»ia  a  eauae  dea  IVoubka  dea  J^yaBaa  dap.  fan  1568  d  1572. 


A   COSTCHB  OP  TBK  SiXTKUtTB 

CmsrtVHX 


rUlLlP    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  307 

[ifie5A.i>.] 

tumults,  monopolies,  and  factions/'  Thoy  engaged  to  preserve  their  con- 
federation, thus  formed,  forever  inviolable,  and  to  perniit  none  of  ita  members 
to  be  persecuted  in  any  niamier^  in  body  or  goods,  by  any  proceeding  founded 
on  the  Inquisition,  the  edicts,  or  the  present  league. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  Compromise  was  in  its  origin  a  covenant 
of  nobleii.  It  was  directed  against  the  foreign  influence  by  which  the  Nether- 
lands were  exclusively  governed,  and  against  the  Inquisition,  whether  papal, 
episcopal,  or  by  edict.  There  is  no  doubt  that  ihe  country  was  controlled 
entirely  by  Spanish  masters^  and  that  it  was  intended  to  reduce  the  ancient 
liberty  of  the  Netherlands  into  subjection  to  a  junta  of  foreigners  sitting  at 
Madrid.  Nothing  more  legitimate  could  be  imagined  than  a  constitutional 
resistance  to  such  a  policy.*^ 

Men  of  all  ranks  and  cliusses  offered  their  signatures,  and  several  Catholic 
priests  among  the  rest.  The  prince  of  Orange  and  the  counts  Eginont, 
Horn,  and  Meghem  decline<l  becoming  actual  parties  to  this  bold  measure ;  ancl 
when  the  question  was  debated  as  to  the  most  appropriate  way  of  presenting 
an  address  to  the  govemante,  these  noblemen  advised  the  mildest  and  most 
respectful  demeanour  on  the  part  of  the  purposed  deputation. 

At  the  first  intelligence  of  these  proceedings,  the  duchess  of  Parma,  ab- 
sorbed by  terror,  had  no  resource  but  io  assemble  hastily  such  members  f)f 
the  council  of  stat€  as  were  at  Brussels;  ami  she  entreated,  by  the  most 
pressing  letters,  the  prince  of  Orafige  and  Count  Honi  to  resume  their  places 
at  this  council.  But  three  courses  of  conduct  seemed  afjpiicuhlc  to  the 
emergency:  to  take  up  anus;  to  grant  the  iiemands  of  the  confederates;  or 
to  temporise  and  to  amuse  them  with  a  feint  of  moderation,  until  the  orders 
of  the  king  might  be  obtainetl  from  Spain.  It  was  not,  however,  till  after  a 
lapse  of  four  montlis  that  the  couneil  finally  met  to  ilelil>erale  on  these 
important  questions;  and  during  this  long  mterval  at  such  a  crisis,  the 
confederates  gained  constant  accession  to  their  numbers,  and  completely 
cons<j]idateil  their  plans. 

The  opinions  in  the  council  were  greatly  divided  fus  to  the  mode  of  treat- 
ment towards  those  whom  one  party  considered  patriots  acting  in  their 
constitutional  rights,  and  the  other  as  rebels  in  o{)en  revolt  against  the  king. 
The  princes  of  (jrange  and  Barlaymont  were  the  princiijal  leailers  and  chief 
speakers  at  either  slile.  But  the  reasonings  of  the  former,  backed  by  the 
urgency  of  events,  carried  the  majority  of  the  suffrages;  and  a  promised 
redress  of  grievances  was  agreed  on  beforchaiui,  as  the  anticipated  answer 
to  the  coming  demands. 


THE    "rKQUESt"   of  THE    "BEGGAUS" 


Even  whUe  the  coimcil  of  state  held  its  sittmgs,  the  report  was  spread 
through  Brussels  that  the  confederates  were  approaching.  And  at  length 
they  did  enter  the  city,  to  the  amount  of  some  hundreds  of  the  representatives 
of  the  first  families  in  the  country.'  On  the  following  day,  the  5th  of  April, 
1566,  they  walked  in  solemn  procession  to  the  palace.  Their  demeanour  was 
highly  imposirig,  from  their  mingled  air  of  forbearance  and  determination. 
All  Brussels  thronged  out  to  gaze  and  synmpathise  with  this  extraortlinary 
spectacle,  of  men  wliose  resolute  step  showed  they  were  no  common  sup- 
pliants, but  whose  modest  bearing  had  none  of  the  seditious  air  of  faction. 
The  government  received  the  distinguished  petitioners  with  courtesy,  listened 

P  The  loul  number  wm  ftbnnt  four  huDdred  instead  of  the  thirty- fivo  thousand  soldiers 
the  regent  hAd  been  wamod  to  expect.  —  Blok.'] 


S08  THE   HISTOBY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1568  A.O.] 

to  their  detaU  of  grievances  [called  "  the  Request"],  and  returned  a  moderate^ 
conciliatory,  but  evasive  answer. 

The  confederation,  which  owed  its  birth  to  and  was  cradled  in  social 
enjoyments,  was  consolidated  in  the  midst  of  a  feast.  The  day  following 
this  first  deputation  to  the  government,  Brederode  gave  a  grand  repast  to 
his  associates  in  the  h6tel  Kuilenburg.  Three  hundred  guests  were  present. 
Inflamed  by  joy  and  hope,  their  spirits  rose  high  under  the  influence  of  wine, 
and  temperance  gave  way  to  temerity.  In  the  midst  of  their  carousing, 
some  of  the  members  remarked  that,  when  the  govemante  received  the  written 
petition.  Count  Barlaymont  observed  to  her  that  she  had  "nothing  to  fear 
from  such  a  band  of  be^ars"  (tas  de  guevx).  The  fact  was  that  many  of 
the  confederates  were,  from  individual  extravagance  and  mismanagement, 
reduced  to  such  a  state  of  poverty  as  to  justify  in  some  sort  the  sarcasm. 
The  chiefs  of  the  company  h^ing  at  that  very  moment  debating  on  the  name 
which  they  should  choose  for  this  patriotic  league,  the  title  of  gueux  was 
instantly  proposed,  and  adopted  with  acclamation.* 

The  reproach  it  was  originally  intended  to  convey  became  neutralised, 
as  its  general  application  to  men  of  all  ranks  and  fortunes  concealed  its  effect 
as  a  stigma  on  many  to  whom  it  might  be  seriously  applied.  Neither  were 
examples  wanting  of  the  most  absurd  and  apparently  dishonouring  nicknames 
being  elsewhere  adopted  by  powerful  political  parties.  "Long  live  the 
gueux!"  was  the  toast  given  and  tumultuously  drunk  by  this  madbrained 
company;  and  Brederode,  setting  no  bounds  to  the  boisterous  excitement 
which  followed,  procured  inmietiiately  and  slung  across  his  shoulders  a  wallet 
such  as  was  worn  by  pilgrims  and  beggars;  drank  to  the  health  of  all  present, 
in  a  wooden  cup  or  porringer;  and  loudly  swore  that  he  was  ready  to  sacrifice 
his  fortune  and  life  for  the  common  cause.  Each  man  passed  roimd  the  bowl, 
which  he  first  put  to  his  lips,  repeated  the  oath,  ana  thus  pledged  himself 
to  the  compact. 

The  timiult  caused  by  this  ceremony,  so  ridiculous  in  itself  but  so  sub- 
lime in  its  results,  attracted  to  the  spot  the  prince  of  Orange  and  counts 
Egmont  and  Horn,  whose  presence  is  universally  attributed  by  the  historians 

[*  Notwithstanding  the  scepticism  of  Gachard  *  it  is  probable  that  the  seigneur  of  Barlay- 
mont will  retain  the  reputation  of  originating  the  famous  name  of  the  *' beggars.**  Qacbard 
cites  Wesenbeke,*  Bor,"  Le  Petit,"  Meteren,**  among  contemporaries,  and  Strada,*  and  Van 
der  VrncktP  among  later  writers,  as  having  sanctioned  the  anecdote  in  which  the  taunt  of 
Barlaymont  is  recorded.  The  learned  and  acute  critic  is  disposed  to  question  the  accuracy  of  the 
report,  both  upon  a  priori  grounds,  and  because  there  is  no  mention  made  of  the  circumstance 
either  in  the  official  or  confidential  correspondence  of  the  duchess  Margaret  with  the  king.  It 
is  possible,  however,  that  the  duchess  in  her  agitation  did  not  catch  the  expression  of  Barlay- 
mont, or  did  not  understand  it,  or  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  chronicle  it,  if  she  did.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  she  was  herself  not  very  familiar  with  the  French  language,  and  that 
she  was  writing  to  a  man  who  thought  that  **pistoUe  meant  some  kind  of  knife."  She  cer- 
tainly did  not  and  could  not  report  everything  said  upon  that  memorable  occasion.  On  the 
other  hand,  some  of  the  three  hundred  gentlemen  present  might  have  heard  and  understood 
better  than  Madame  de  Parma  the  sarcasm  of  the  finance  minister,  whether  it  were  uttered 
upon  their  arrival  in  the  council -chamber,  or  during  their  withdrawal  into  the  hall.  The  testi- 
mony of  Pontus  Payen,«  a  contemporary,  almost  always  well  informed,  and  one  whose  position 
as  a  Catholic  Walloon,  noble  and  officiad,  necessarily  brought  him  into  contact  with  many  per- 
sonages engaged  in  the  transactions  which  he  describes,  is  worthy  of  much  respect.  It  is  to  be 
observed,  too,  that  thi«  manuscript  alludes  to  a  repetition  by  Barlaymont  of  his  famous  sarcasm 
upon  the  same  day.  To  the  names  of  contemporary  historians,  cited  bv  Gachard,  may  be 
aaded  those  of  Van  der  Haer''and  of  two  foreign  writers,  President  De  ^ou«  and  Cardinal 
Bentivoglioi*  Hooft,"  not  a  contemporary  certainly,  but  born  within  four  or  five  years  of  the 
event,  relates  the  anecdote,  but  throws  a  doubt  upon  its  accuracy.  Those  inclined  to  acquit  the 
baron  of  having  perpetrated  the  immortal  witticism  will  give  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  if 
they  think  it  a  reasonable  one.  That  it  is  so,  they  have  the  high  authority  of  M.  Gachard  and 
of  the  provost  Hooft.  —  MoTLET.**] 


PHILIP    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION 


399 


[15W  i.i>.] 

to  accident.  They  entered;  and  Ennlerode,  who  did  the  honours  of  the 
mansion,  forced  thorn  to  be  seated,  and  to  join  in  the  festivity.  The  ap- 
pearance of  three  such  distinguished  personages  heightened  the  general 
excitement;  and  the  most  important  assemblage  that  had  for  centuries  met 
together  in  the  Netherlands  iningle<i  the  discussion  of  affairs  of  state  with  all 
the  burlesque  extravagance  of  a  debauch. 

But  this  frantic  scene  fiid  not  finisli  the  affair.  What  they  resolved  on 
while  drunk,  they  prepared  to  [MTfonn  when  sober.  Rallyuig-signa  and 
watchwords  were  adopted  and    soon  displayed.  ^^^  __  ^ 

It  was  thought  that  nothing  better  suited  the 
occasion  than  the  immediate  adoption  of  the 
costume  as  well  as  the  title  of  beggary.  In  a  very 
few  days  the  city  streets  were  fiilecf  with  men  in 
grey  cloaks,  fashione<l  on  the  model  of  those  used 
by  Tiiendicanta  and  pilgrims.  Each  confederate 
caused  this  uniform  to  be  worn  by  every  mem- 
ber of  his  family,  and  replaced  with  it  the  livery 
of  his  servants.  Several  fastened  to  their  girdles 
or  their  sword-hilts  small  wooden  drinking-cups, 
clasp-knives,  an<l  other  symbols  of  the  begging 
fraternity;  while  all  f:.oon  wore  on  their  breasts 
a  me<]al  of  gold  f>r  silver,  re[)resf>nting  on  one  side 
the  efhgy  of  Philip,  with  the  words,  "P'aithful  to 
the  king,"  and  on  the  reverse,  two  hands  clasped, 
with  the  motto,  **Juiiqu'd.  la  heaace  "  (even  to  the 
wallet).  From  this  origin  arose  the  application 
of  the  word  giteux,  in  its  political  sense,  as  com- 
mon to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands 
who  embraced  the  cause  of  the  Rcfonnation,  and 
took  up  arms  against  their  tyrant. 

Having  presented  two  subsequent  remon- 
strances to  the  governante  and  ootained  some 
consoling  promises  of  moderation,  the  chief 
confederates  quitted  Brussels,  leainng  several 
directors  to  sustain  their  c^use  in  the  capital; 
while  they  thenis<^Iv(*s  Hpnwl  into  the  various 
provinces,  exciting  the  people  to  join  the  legal 
and  constitutional  resistance  with  whicli  they 
were  resolved  to  oppose  the  march  of  bigotry 
and  despotism. 

A  new  form  of  e<iict  was  now  decided  on  by  the  governante  and  her 
coimcil;  and  after  various  insidious  and  illegal  but  successful  tricks,  the  eon- 
sent  of  several  of  the  provinces  was  obtainetl  to  the  adoption  of  measures 
that,  under  a  guLse  of  comparative  moderation,  were  little  less  alKiminable 
than  those  commanded  by  the  king.  These  were  formally  signed  by  the 
council,  and  despatched  to  Spain  to  receive  Philip's  sanction,  and  thus  acquire 
the  force  of  law.  The  embassy  to  Madrid  was  confided  to  the  marquis  of 
Bergen  and  the  baron  of  Montigny,  the  latter  of  whom  was  brother  to  Count 
Horn,  and  had  formerly  heex\  employed  on  a  like  mission.  Montigny  appears 
to  have  had  some  qualms  of  apprehension  in  undertaking  this  new  office. 
His  good  genius  seemed  for  a  while  to  stand  between  him  and  the  fate  which 
awaited  him.  An  accident  which  happened  to  his  colleague  allowed  an  ex- 
cuse for  retarding  his  journey.    But  the  govcmant-e  urged  him  away:  he 


A  Mak  or  I.vrBRioR  Rakk, 

TKKKTH   CBKTITRY 


Six- 


400  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[IfiOSjuD.] 

set  out,  and  reached  his  destination  —  not  to  defend  the  cause  of  his  country 
at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  but  to  perish  a  victim  to  his  patriotism. 

The  situation  of  the  patriot  lords  was  at  this  crisis  peculiarly  embarrassing. 
The  conduct  of  the  confederates  was  so  essentially  tantamount  to  open  re- 
bellion, that  the  prince  of  Orange  and  his  friends  toimd  it  almost  impoceible 
to  preserve  a  neutrality  between  the  court  and  the  people.  All  their  wishes 
ui^d  them  to  join  at  once  in  the  public  cause;  but  they  were  restrained  bv 
a  fingering  sense  of  loyalty  to  the  king,  whose  employments  they  still  held, 
and  whose  confidence  they  were,  therefore,  nominaUy  supposed  to  share. 
Be  their  individual  motives  or  reasoning  what  they  might,  they  at  length 
adopted  the  alternative,  and  resigned  their  places.  Coimt  Horn  retired  to 
his  estates;  Count  Egmont  repaired  to  Aix-la-Chapelle  [Aachen],  \mder  the 
pretext  of  being  ordered  thither  by  his  physicians;  the  prince  of  Orange  re- 
mained for  a  while  at  Brussels. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  confederation  gained  ground  every  day.  Its  meas- 
ures had  totally  changed  the  face  of  affairs  in  all  parts  of  the  nation.  The 
general  discontent  now  acquired  stability  and  consequent  importance.  The 
chief  merchants  of  many  of  the  towns  enroUed  themselves  in  the  patriot 
band. 

THE  CALVINI8T  OUTBREAK 

An  occasion  so  favourable  for  the  rapid  promulgation  of  the  new  doctrines 
was  promptly  taken  advantage  of  by  the  French  Huguenots  and  their  Protes- 
tant brethren  of  Germany.  The  disciples  of  reform  poured  from  all  quarters 
into  the  Low  Coimtries,  and  made  prodigious  progress,  with  all  the  energy 
of  proselytes,  and  too  often  with  the  fury  of  fanatics.  The  three  principal 
sects  into  which  the  reformers  were  divided  were  those  of  the  Anaoaptiste, 
the  Calviniste,  and  the  Lutherans.  The  first  and  least  numerous  were  chiefly 
established  in  Friesland.  The  second  were  spread  over  the  eastern  provinces. 
Their  doctrines  being  already  admitted  into  some  kingdoms  of  the  north, 
they  were  protected  by  the  most  powerful  princes  of  the  empire.  The  third, 
ancl  by  far  the  most  nimierous  and  wealthy,  abounded  in  the  southern  prov- 
inces, and  particularly  in  Flanders.  They  were  supported  by  the  zealous 
efforts  of  French,  Swiss,  and  German  ministers;  and  their  dogmas  were  nearly 
the  same  as  those  of  the  established  religion  of  England.  The  city  of  Antwerp 
was  the  central  point  of  union  for  the  three  sects;  but  the  only  principle  they 
held  in  common  was  their  hatred  against  popery,  the  Inquisition,  and  Spain. 

The  govemante  had  now  issued  orders  to  the  chief  magistrates  to  pro- 
ceed with  moderation  against  the  heretics  —  orders  which  were  obeyed  in 
their  most  ample  latitude  by  those  to  whose  sympathies  they  were  so  congenial. 
Until  then,  the  Protestants  were  satisfied  to  meet  by  stealth  at  night;  but 
under  this  negative  protection  of  the  authorities  they  now  boldly  assembled 
in  public.  Field-preachings  commenced  in  Flanders;  and  the  minister  who 
first  set  this  example  was  Herman  Strieker,  a  converted  monk,  a  native  of 
Overyssel,  a  powerful  speaker  and  a  bold  enthusiast.  He  soon  drew  together 
an  audience  of  seven  thousand  persons.  A  furious  magistrate  rushed  among 
this  crowd,  and  hoped  to  disperse  them  sword  in  hand;  but  he  was  soon 
struck  down,  mortally  woimded,  with  a  shower  of  stones.  Irritated  and 
emboldened  by  this  rash  attempt,  the  Protestants  assembled  in  still  greater 
numbers  near  Alost;  but  on  this  occasion  they  appeared  with  poniards, 
guns,  and  halberds.  They  entrenched  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
wagons  and  all  sorts  of  obstacles  to  a  sudden  attack;  placed  outposts  and 


PHILIP    ir    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  401 

11666  JUD.I 

videttes;  and  thus  took  the  field  in  the  doubly  dangerous  aspect  of  fanaticism 
and  war. 

Similar  assemblies  soon  spread  over  the  whole  of  Flanders,  inflamed  by 
the  exhortations  of  Strieker  and  another  preacher,  called  Peter  Dathen,  of 
Poperinghe.  It  was  calculate<i  that  fifteen  thousand  men  attended  some 
of  these  preachings;  while  a  third  apostle  of  Calvinism,  Ambrose  Ville,  a 
Frenchman,  succea*^fully  exciteil  the  inhabitants  of  Toumay,  Valenciennes, 
and  Antwerp,  to  fomi  a  common  league  for  the  promulgation  of  their  faith. 
The  sudden  appearance  of  Brederode  at  the  latter  place  tiecided  their  plan, 
and  gave  the  courage  to  fix  on  a  day  for  its  execution.  An  immense  assem- 
blage simultaneou>fIv  quittal  tlie  three  cities  at  a  preconcerted  time:  and 
when  they  united  their  forces  at  the  appointed  rendervous.  the  preachings, 
exhortations,  and  psalm-singing  commenced,  under  the  auspices  of  several 
Huguenot  ami  German  ministers,  and  continued  for  several  tlays  in  all  the 
zealous  extravagance  which  may  be  well  iraaginetl  to  characterise  such  a 
scene. 

The  citizens  of  Antwerp  were  terrified  for  the  safety  of  the  jilace,  and 
courier  after  courier  was  despatched  to  the  governante  at  Brussels  to  implore 
her  presence.  The  duchess,  not  daring  to  take  such  a  step  without  the  au- 
thority of  the  king,  sent  Count  Meghem  as  her  representative,  with  proposals 
to  the  magistrates  to  call  out  the  garrison.  The  populace  soon  understood 
the  object  of  this  messenger;  and  aKsailing  him  with  a  violent  outcry,  forced 
him  to  fly  from  the  city.  Then  the  CufvinistH  jiotitioned  the  magistrates 
for  pennission  to  openly  exercise  their  religion,  and  for  the  grant  of  a  temple 
in  which  to  celebrate  its  rites.  The  magistrates  in  this  conjuncture  re- 
newed their  application  to  the  governant,  and  entreated  her  to  send  the  prince 
of  Orange,  as  the  only  person  capable  of  saving  the  city  from  destruction. 
The  duchess  was  forced  to  adopt  this  bitter  alternative;  and  the  prince,  after 
repeated  refusals  to  mix  again  in  public  affairs,  yiekled  at  length,  less  to  the 
supplications  of  the  govenuuite  than  to  his  own  wishes  to  do  nnottier  service 
to  the  cause  of  his  country.  At  half  a  league  from  the  city  he  was  met  by 
Brederode,  with  an  immense  concourse  of  i>eople  of  all  sects  and  opinions, 
who  hailed  him  as  a  protector  from  the  tyranny  of  the  king,  and  a  saviour 
from  the  dangers  of  their  own  excess.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  wis<lom, 
the  firmness,  and  the  benevolence  with  which  he  managed  all  conflicting 
interests  and  preserved  tranquillity  amidst  a  chaos  of  opposing  prejudices 
and  pa.ssions. 

From  the  first  establishment  of  the  field-preacliings  the  governante  had 
implored  the  confederate  lords  to  aid  her  for  the  re-establishment  of  order, 
Brederode  seized  this  excuse  for  convoking  a  general  meeting  of  the  associates, 
which  consequently  took  place  at  the  town  of  St.  Trond,  in  the  district  of 
Li^e  (July  13th,  1566).  Full  two  thousaml  of  the  members  appeare<l  on 
the  summons.  The  language  held  in  this  assembly  was  much  stronger  and 
less  equivocal  than  that  fonnerly  used.  The  delay  m  the  arrival  of  the  king's 
answer  presaged  ill  as  to  his  intentions:  while  the  rapid  growth  of  the  public 
power  seemed  to  mark  the  present  as  the  time  for  successfully  demandmg  all 
that  the  i)eople  rcguircd.  Several  of  the  Catholic  members,  still  royalists 
at  heart,  were  shocKed  to  hear  a  t-otal  liJ>erty  of  conscience  spoken  of  as  one 
of  the  privileges  sought  for.  The  young  count  of  Mansfeld,  among  others, 
withdrew  immediately  from  the  confederation:  and  thus  the  first  stone 
seemed  to  lx»  removed  from  this  imperfectly  constructe<]  edifice. 

The  prince  of  Orange  antl  Count  Egmont  were  applied  to,  and  appointed 
by  the  governante,  with  full  powers  to  treat  with  the  confederates.  Twelve  of 
n.  w. — Toi.  xni.  2d 


402  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[IMS  ▲.!».] 

the  latter,  among  whom  were  Louis  of  Nassau,  Brederode,  and  KuUenburg 
[or  Culenborg],  met  them  by  appointment  at  Duflfle,  a  village  not  far  from 
Mechlin,  The  result  of  the  conference  was  a  respectful  but  firm  address  to 
the  goveraante,  repelling  her  accusations  of  having  entered  into  foreign  treaties ; 
declaring  their  readiness  to  march  against  the  French  troops,  should  ^ey 
set  foot  in  the  country;  and  claiming,  with  the  utmost  force  of  reasoning, 
the  convocation  of  the  states-general.  This  was  replied  to  by  an  entreaty 
that  they  would  still  wait  patiently  for  twenty-four  days,  in  hopes  of  an 
answer  from  the  king;  and  she  sent  the  marquis  of  Bergen  in  all  speed  to 
Madrid,  to  support  Montigny  in  his  efforts  to  obtain  some  prompt  deciaon 
from  Philip. 

The  king,  who  was  then  at  Segovia,  assembled  his  council,  consisting  of 
the  duke  of  Alva  and  eight  other  grandees.  The  two  deputies  from  the 
Netherlands  attended  the  deliberations,  which  were  held  for  several  successive 
days;  but  the  king  was  never  present.  The  whole  state  of  affairs  being  de- 
bated with  what  appears  a  calm  and  dispassionate  view,  considering  the 
hostile  prejudices  of  this  council,  it  was  decided  to  advise  the  king  to  adopt 
generally  a  more  moderate  line  of  conduct  in  the  Netherlands,  and  to  abolish 
the  Inquisition;  at  the  same  time  prohibitinjg  imder  the  most  awful  threats  all 
confederation,  assemblage,  or  public  preachings,  imder  any  pretext  whatever. 

The  king's  first  care  on  receiving  this  advice  was  to  order,  m  all  the  principal 
towns  of  Spain  and  the  Netherlands,  prayer  and  procession  to  implore  the 
divine  approbation  on  the  resolutions  which  he  had  formed.  He  appeared 
then  in  person  at  the  coimcil  of  state,  and  issued  a  decree,  by  which  he  refused 
his  consent  to  the  convocation  of  the  states-general,  and  bound  himself  to 
take  several  German  regiments  into  his  pay.  He  ordered  the  duchess  of 
Parma,  by  a  private  letter,  to  immediately  cause  to  be  raised  three  thousand 
cavalry  and  ten  thousand  foot,  and  he  remitted  to  her  for  this  piupose  three 
himdred  thousand  florins  in  gold.  He  next  wrote  with  his  own  hand  to 
several  of  his  partisans  in  the  various  towns,  encouraging  them  in  their  fidelity 
to  his  purposes,  and  promising  them  his  support.  He  rejected  the  adoption 
of  the  moderation  recommended  to  him;  but  he  consented  to  the  abolition 
of  the  Inquisition  in  its  most  odious  sense,  re-establishing  that  modified 
species  [the  Episcopal  inquisition]  which  had  been  introduced  into  the  Nether- 
lands by  Charles  V.  The  people  of  that  devoted  country  were  thus  successful 
in  obtaining  one  important  concession  from  the  king,  and  in  meeting  xmex- 
pected  consideration  from  this  Spanish  council.  Whether  these  measures 
had  been  calculated  with  a  view  to  their  failure,  it  is  not  now  easy  to  determine : 
at  all  events  they  came  too  late  [Aug.  12th,  1566].  When  Philip's  letters 
reached  Brussels,  the  iconoclasts  or  image-breakers  were  abroad. 

It  requires  no  profound  research  to  comprehend  tlie  impulse  which  leads 
a  horde  of  fanatics  to  the  most  monstrous  excesses.  That  the  deeds  of  the 
iconoclasts  arose  from  the  spontaneous  outburst  of  mere  vulgar  fury,  admits 
of  no  doubt.ff 

The  historian  Strada^  was  a  contemporary'  of  these  scenes  and  has  vividly 
described  them,  from  the  Spanish  and  Jesuit  viewpoint.  The  old  translation 
of  Sir  Robert  Stapleton  well  accords  with  the  spirit.** 

STRADA'S  account  of  the  image-breaking  frenzy   (1566) 

The  people,  partly  corrupted  with  heresie,  partly  dreading  the  Inquisition, 
exceedingly  favoured  the  hereticks  that  fought  to  overthrow  that  judicature. 
Upon  Assumption-eve,  they  began  to  rifle  the  low-countrey  churches;  first 


PHILIP    11    AND    SPANISH   OPPRESSION  403 

[isee  A.D.] 

rising  in  the  lower  Flanders.  In  these  parts  a  few  of  the  raskall  sort  of 
heretieks  met  aiul  joyned  thenist*lves  witli  some  companies  of  thieves,  upon 
the  day  appointed  for  proelaiming  war  against  heaven,  led  on  by  no  com- 
mander but  impietie;  their  arras  w^re  staves,  hatchets,  hammers,  and  ropes, 
fitter  to  pull  down  houses  than  to  fight  withall;  some  few  of  theiti  ha<i  swords 
and  muskets.  Thus  accoutred,  as  if  they  had  bet^n  furies  vomited  from  hell, 
they  broke  into  the  towns  and  villages  about  St.  Omer^  and  if  they  had  found 
the  doors  of  churches  or  monasteries  shut,  forced  them  open,  fighting  away 
their  religious  inhabitants;  and  overturning  the  altars,  they  defaced  the 
monumentvS  of  saints,  and  broke  to  pieces  their  sacred  images.  Whatsoever 
they  saw  dedicated  to  God,  and  to  the  blessed,  they  pulled  it  down  and  trod 
it  under  their  feet  to  dirt,  whilst  their  ringleaders  clapt  them  on  the  backs 
and  incouraged  them  witli  all  their  force  to  destroy  the  idols. 

The  heretieks,  glarl  of  this  successe,  "with  unanimous  consent,  shouted 
and  cryed  aloud  —  ''Let  us  to  Ypres!"  that  being  a  city  much  frequented  by 
the  Calvinists.  Ant!  they  were  drawn  thither,  as  well  out  of  hope  of  protec- 
tion, as  out  of  hatred  they  bare  to  the  bishop  of  that  city,  Martin  Rithovins, 
an  eminently  virtuous  and  learned  man,  and  therefore  meriting  the  spleen 
of  heretieks.  \Vliereupi>n  they  ran  violently  thither,  gathering  ujjon  the 
way  such  vagabonds  and  beggars  as  joyned  with  them  out  of  hope  of  plunder. 
And  as  a  snowball  rolling  from  the  top  of  a  hill  grows  still  greater  by  the 
accesse  of  new  snow,  through  which  it  paases,  and  w^herein  it  is  involved;  so 
these  thievish  vagabonds  multiplying  by  the  way,  the  farther  they  go  the 
more  they  rage,  and  the  more  considerable  (heir  thievish  strength  api>ears. 

And  when  they  had  pillaged  a  few  small  villages  about  Ypres,  upon  the 
very  day  of  the  assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  citizens  of  Ypres  open- 
ing their  gates  unto  them,  they  entered  the  town,  and  went  directly  to  the 
cathedral  church,  where  everj^one  fell  to  work.  Some  set  ladders  to  the 
walls,  with  hammers  and  staves  battering  tlie  pictures.  Others  broke  asunder 
the  iron  work,  seats,  and  pulpits.  Others,  casting  ropes  about  the  great 
statues  of  our  Saviour  Christ  anti  the  saints,  pulled  them  down  to  the  grounfL 
Others  stole  the  consecrated  plate,  burnt  the  sacred  books,  and  stript  the 
altars  of  their  holy  ornaments;  and  that,  with  so  much  securitie,  with  so 
little  regard  of  tlu^  magistrate  or  prelates,  as  you  would  think  they  had  heon 
sent  for  by  the  coamion  councell,  and  were  in  pay  with  the  citie.  With  the 
same  fury  they  likewise  burnt  the  bishop  of  YpR\s'  library  and  destroyed 
the  rest  of  the  churclies  and  religioiLs  houses  of  llie  town,  reacting  their 
villanies,  and  because  the  first  prosperetl,  still  presuming.  Tliis  sacrflegious 
robbery  continued  a  whole  day.  Part  of  the  people  ^ing  amazed  to  see 
them,  not  taking  them  for  men,  but  devils  in  human  shapes;  and  part  re- 
joicing, that  now  those  things  were  done  which  they  themselves  had  long 
ago  designed.  Nor  had  the  magistrate  and  senatours  any  greater  care  of 
religion. 

The  Sack  of  the  Antwerp  Cathedral 

Upon  the  21st  of  August,  the  heretieks,  increasing  in  their  number,  came 
into  the  great  chiu-ch  with  concealed  weapons;  as  if  they  had  resolve<J,  after 
some  light  skirmishes  for  a  few  days  past,  to  come  now  to  a  battel.  And 
expecting  till  even-song  was  done,  they  shouted  with  a  hideous  cry — "Long 
live  the  Gheuses!''  nay.  they  commanded  the  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
to  repeat  their  acclamation,  which,  if  she  refused  to  do,  they  madly  SAvore 
they  woidd  beat  and  kill  her. 

Hearing  the  clock  strike  the  last  houre  of  the  day,  and  darkness  adding 


404 


THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 


confidence,  one  of  them  (lest  their  wickedness  should  want  formality)  begaii 
to  sing  a  Geneva  Psalme,  and  as  if  the  trumpet  had  sounded  a  charge,  the 
spirit  moving  them  altogether,  they  fell  upon  the  effigies  of  the  mother  of 
God,  and  upon  the  pictures  of  Christ  ana  his  saints:  some  tumbled  them 
down  and  trod  upon  them;  others  thrust  swords  into  their  sides;  others 
chopped  ofF  their  heads  with  axes  —  with  so  much  concord  and  forecast  in 
their  sacrilege  that  you  would  think  everyone  had  his  severall  work  assigned 
him.  For  the  very  harlots,  those  common  appurtenances  to  thieves  and 
drunkards,  catching  up  the  wax  candles  from  the  altars,  and  from  the  vestry, 
held  them  to  light  the  men  that  were  at  work.*  Part  whereof,  getting  upon 
the  altars,  cast  down  the  sacred  plate,  broke  asimder  the  picture  frames, 
defaced  the  painted  walls;  part,  setting  up  ladders,  shattered  the  goodly 
organes,  broke  the  windows  nourished  with  a  new  kind  of  paint. 

Huge  statues  of  saints  that  stood  in  the  walls  upon  pedistalls,  they  im- 

f  astened  and  hurled  down, 
among  which,  an  ancient 
and  great  crucifix  with 
the  two  thieves  hanging 
on  each  hand  of  our  Sa- 
viour, that  stood  right 
against  the  high  altar, 
they  pulled  down  with 
ropes  and  hewed  it  in 
pieces;  but  touched  not 
the  two  thieves,  as  if  they 
onely  worshipped  them, 
and  desired  them  to  be 
their  good  lords.  Nay, 
they  presumed  to  break 
open  the  conser\'atory  of 
the  celestial  bread;  and 
putting  in  their  polluted 
hands,  to  pull  out  the 
blessed  body  of  Our  Lord. 
Those  base  offscourings  of  men  trod  upon  the  Deity  adored  and  dreaded  by 
the  angels.  The  pixes  and  chalices  which  they  found  in  the  vestr};  they  filled 
with  wine  prepared  for  the  altar,  and  drank  them  off  in  derision.  Thev 
greased  their  shoes  with  the  chrisme  or  holy  oyl;  and  after  the  spoyl  of  all 
these  things,  laughed  and  were  very  merry  at  the  matter.  My  meaning  is 
not  lest  I  should  scandalise  mankind,  nor  suits  it  with  history  to  repeat  all 
these  foul  actions  wherewith,  in  the  destruction  of  holy  things,  these  traitours 
to  God  and  his  saints  glutted  their  cruelty. 

But  the  greatest  wonder  was  to  see  them  make  so  quick  dispatch  that  one 
of  the  fairest  and  greatest  churches  of  Europe,  full  of  pictures  and  statues, 
richly  adorned  with  about  seventy-five  altars,  by  a  few  men  (for  they  were 
not  above  one  hundred  as  the  govemesse  wrote  to  the  king  that  she  was  cer- 
tainly informed),  should  before  midnight,  when  they  began  but  in  the  evening, 
have  nothing  at  all  left  entire  or  unprofaned.  TriUy  if  the  hundred  men  had 
not  an  hundred  hands  apiece,  that  in  so  short  a  space  demolished  such  a 

['  Oresbam,  the  Koglisli  agent,  is  quoted  by  Uis  biographer  Burgon,*'  as  follows :  *'  And 
coming  into  Cure  L*ady  Church,  yt  looked  like  hell  where  were  above  1,000  torches  brannying 
and  syche  a  noise  !  as  yf  beren  and  ertb  bad  gone  together,  with  fallying  of  images  and  fallying 
down  of  costly  works."] 


The  Port  ov  Antwerp  in  1530 
(Faceimlle  of  a  drawing  by  Albert  DUrer) 


PHILIP   II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION 


405 


[1S66A.D.] 

multitude  of  tilings,  it  is  not  unrea-sonable  to  believe  (which  I  know  some  at 
that  time  suspected)  that  devils,  mixing  with  them,  jo\7ied  in  dispatching 
their  own  work;  or  at  least  tliat  the  furious  violence  which  (in  scorn  of  reli- 
gion) stript  the  altars,  mangled  the  statues  and  pictures,  defaced  the  tombes, 
and  in  foure  houres'  time  robbed  and  laid  waste  so  goodly  a  church,  could 
not  have  tiny  other  cause  but  the  immediate  repulsion  of  those  rebellious  and 
infernal]  spirits,  that  add  both  rage  and  strength  to  sacrilegious  villains, 
offering  an  aet^eptable  sacrifice  to  hell. 

Whde  this  was  done  at  and  about  Antwerp,  the  rage  of  these  traitours 
was  no  lease,  upon  the  very  same  dayes  at  Ghent,  Oudenarde,  and  other  towns 
in  Flanders,  from  the  river  of  Lys  as  farre  as  Schclde  and  Dcndcr,  all  the 
churches  and  holy  ornaments  going  to  wrack.  For  this  destruction  was 
more  like  an  earthquake,  that  devours  all  at  once,  than  like  the  plague  that 
steals  upon  a  country  by  degrees.  Insomuch,  as  the  same  tainture  and 
whirlwind  of  religion,  in  an  in  tant,  miserably  involve*!  and  laid  waste  Bra- 
bant, Flanders,  Holland,  Zealand,  Gelderland,  Friesland,  Overyssel,  an<l 
almost  all  the  low  countreys  except  three  or  four  provinces  —  viz.,  Namur, 
Luxemburg,  Artois,  and  part  of  Hainault.  And  as  of  old,  in  the  reign  of 
Tiberius  Ctesar,  they  tell  us  that  twelve  cities  were  swallowed  by  an  earth- 
quake in  one  night,  so  in  the  low  countreys,  not  the  like  number  of  cities, 
but  [jrovinces,  by  the  spirit,  struggling  and  burstine  out  from  hell,  were 
devoured,  with  so  sudden,  with  so  great  a  mine,  that  the  Netherlands,  which 
had  as  many  populous  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  as  any  part  of  Europ)e, 
within  ten  days  was  overwhelmed  in  this  calamitie;  the  particular  province 
of  Flantiers  having  four  hundred  consecrated  houses  either  profaned  or  burnt 
to  the  groun<l.'» 

RESULTS  OF  THE  OUTBREAK;  THE  ACCORD 

Such,  in  general  outline  an<i  in  certain  inrlividual  details,  was  the  cele- 
brated iconomachy  of  the  Netherlands.*  The  movement  was  a  sudden 
explosion  of  popular  revenge  against  the  symbols  of  that  Church  by  which 
the  reformers  lm<l  been  enduring  such  terrible  persecution.  It  was  also  an 
xpression  of  the  general  sympathy  for  the  doctrines  which  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  national  heart.  It  was  tlie  depravation  of  that  instinct  which 
had  in  the  beginning  of  the  summer  drawn  Calvinists  and  Lutherans  forth 
iu  armed  boiiies,  twenty  thousand  strong,  to  worship  God  in  the  open  fields. 
The  difference  between  the  two  phenomena  was  that  the  field-preacliing  waa 
a  crime  committed  by  the  whole  mass  of  the  reformers  —  men,  women,  and 
children  confronting  the  penalties  of  death,  by  a  general  determination; 
w^hile  the  image-breaking  was  the  act  of  a  small  jiortion  of  the  |>opulace.  A 
hundred  persons  belonging  to  the  lowest  order  of  society  sufficed  for  the  dese- 
cration of  the  Antwerp  churches.  It  was,  said  Orange,  "a  mere  handful  of 
rabble"  who  did  the  deed.  Sir  Richard  riough  siiw  ton  or  twelve  persons 
entirely  sack  church  after  church,  while  ten  thousand  spectators  looked  on, 
indifferent  or  horror-struck.  The  bands  of  iconoclasts  were  of  the  lowest 
character,  and  few  in  numl>er.  Perhaps  the  largest  assemblage  was  that 
which  ravaged  the  province  of  Tournay,  but  this  was  so  weak  as  to  be  entirely 
routed  by  a  small  and  determined  force.  The  duty  of  repression  devolve<l 
upon  both  Catholics  and  Protestants.  Neither  party  stirred.  All  seemetl 
overcome  with  special  wonder  as  the  tempest  swept  over  the  land. 

['  This  incWpnt  is  not  to  be  confu!M*d  with  the  icmoclasm  of  the  eiffhth  century,  which 
was  far  ranre  hi(»o»ly  :  it  is  deacrlherf  in  the  hisit.ry  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  voTume  VII,  chapter  7, 
aiid  in  the  history  uf  the  Papacy,  volume  VIH,] 


406  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

f100BA.DL] 

The  ministers  of  the  reformed  religion,  and  tlie  chiefs  of  the  liberal  party, 
all  denounced  the  image-breaking.  The  prince  of  Orange,  in  his  private 
letters,  tleplored  the  riots,  and  stigmatistHi  the  perpetrators. 

The  next  remarkable  characteristic  of  these  tiuiiults  was  the  almost 
entire  abstinence  of  the  rioters  from  personal  outrage  and  from  pillage.  The 
testimony  of  a  very  bitter,  but  honest  Catholic  at  Valenciennes,  is  remarkable 
upon  this  point:  Certain  chroniclers,*'  said  he,  "have  greatly  mistaken  the 
.character  of  this  image-breaking.    It  has  been  said  that  the  Calvmists  killed 

a  hundred  priests  in  this  city,  cutting  some  of 
them  into  pieces,  and  biuning  others  over  a 
slow  fire.  I  remember  very  well  everything 
which  happened  upon  that  abominable  day, 
and  I  can  affirm  that  not  a  single  priest  was 
injured.  The  Huguenots  took  ^ood  care  not 
to  injure  in  any  way  the  livnng  images/* 
This  was  the  case  everywhere.  Catholic  and 
Protestant  writers  agree  that  no  deeds  of 
violence  were  committed  against  man  or 
woman. 

It  would  l>e  also  very  easy  to  accumulate 
a  vast  weight  of  testimony  as  to  their  for- 
bearance from  robbery.  They  destroyed  for 
destruction's  sake,  not  for  pur])as<*s  of  plun- 
der. Although  l>elonging  to  the  lowest  classes 
of  society,  they  left  heaps  of  jewelrj',  of  gold 
and  silver  plate,  of  costly  embroidery,  lying 
unheeded  upon  the  ground.  They  felt  in- 
stinctively that  a  ^eat  passion  would  be  con- 
^         _  tfiminated  by  admixture  with  paltry  motives. 

1  BIBJ^I ]r   V ^iJE  If  ^'*  Flanders  a  coni])Hny  of  rioters  hanged  one 

!  WJMK^  f,!-^- ?'^   ■  'p^^  -- ,       of  their  o\mi  nuinlw^r  for  stealing  articles  to 
2|u  -■;  V  I  r  "_ii„-      i  Lv-  the  value  of  five  shillings. 

At  Toumay,  the  greatest  scrupulousness 
was  obser\'ed  upon  this  point.  The  floor  of 
the  cathedral  was  strewn  with  "  pearls  and 
precious  stones,  with  chalices  and  reliquaries 
of  silver  and  gold";  but  the  ministers  of 
the  reformed  religion,  in  company  with  the 
magistrates,  came  to  the  spot,  and  found  no 
(lifhculty,  although  utterly  without  power  to 
prevent  the  storm,  in  taking  quiet  f>os8ession 
of  the  wreck.  Who  will  dare  to  censure  in 
very  severe  language  this  havoc  among  stocks  and  stones  in  a  land  where  so 
many  li\*ing  men  and  women,  of  more  value  tlian  many  statues,  had  been 
slaughtered  by  the  Inquisition,  and  where  Alva's  ''blowi  tribunal"  was  so 
soon  to  eclipse  even  thai  terrible  institution  in  the  number  of  its  victims  and 
the  amount  of  its  confiscations? 

Yet  the  effect  of  the  riots  was  destined  to  be  most  disastrous  for  a  time 
to  the  reforming  party.  It  fumishetl  plausible  excuses  for  many  lukewarm 
friends  of  their  cause  to  withdraw  from  all  connection  \vith  it.  Egmont  de- 
nounced the  proceedings  as  highly  flagitious,  and  busied  himself  with  punishing 
the  criminals  in  Flanders.  The  regent  was  beside  herself  with  indigrmtion 
and  terror.    Philip,  when  he  heard  the  news,  fell  into  a  paroxysm  of  frenzy. 


ToWBROFST.  BaVOS,  WnKRKTHK  PTRI- 
TAEtlCAL.  Ot'TKAUBS  TOUK    PUACE 


PHILIP    H    AND    SPANISH    OPPBESSION 


40T 


[1608  A.1>.] 

''It  shall  cost  them  dear!"  he  cried,  as  he  tore  his  beard  for  rage;  "it  shall 
cost  them  dear!    I  swear  it  by  the  soul  of  my  father!'' 

Nevertheless,  the  first  effect  of  the  tumults  was  a  temporary  advantage  to 
the  reformers.  A  great  concession  was  extorted  from  the  fears  of  the  duchess 
regent,  wlio  was  certainly  placed  in  a  terrible  position. 

On  the  2oth  of  August  came  the  crowning  act  of  what  the  reformers 
considered  their  most  complete  triumph,  and  the  regent  her  deepest  degra- 
dation. It  was  found  necessary,  under  the  alarming  asi>ect  of  affairs,  Uiat 
liberty  of  worship,  in  places  where  it  had  been  already  established,  should  be 
accorde<l  to  the  new  religion.  Articles  of  agreement  to  this  effect  were  ac- 
cordingly drami  up  and  exchanged  between  the  government  and  Louis  of 
Na-ssau,  attendeti  l>y  fifteen  others  of  the  confederacy.  A  corresponding 
pledge  wa.s  signed  by  tliem  that,  so  long  as  the  rpgent  wa,s  true  to  her  engagf- 
ment,  they  would  consider  their  previously  existing  league  annuilerK  and 
would  assist  cordially  in  every  endeavour  to  maintain  tranquillity  and  support 
the  authority  of  his  maje.sty.  The  important  "accord"  was  then  duly  signed 
by  the  duchess.  It  cieclart*d  that  the  Inquisition  was  abi:)lished,  thai  his 
majesty  would  soon  issue  a  new  general  edict,  expressly  and  une(|uivocally 
protecting  the  nobles  against  all  4*vil  conscijuenct^s  from  jmst  tran.sactions, 
that  they  were  to  be  employed  in  the  royal  sersnce,  ami  that  public  preaching 
acconling  to  the  forms  of  the  new  religion  was  to  l)e  practiset!  in  places  where 
it  had  already  taken  place,  letters  general  were  immediately  despatched 
to  tlie  senates  of  all  the  cities,  proclainihig  these  articles  of  agreement  and 
ordering  their  execution.  Thus  for  a  fleeting  moment  there  was  a  thrill  of 
joy  throughout  the  Netherlands,  The  Inquisition  was  thought  forever 
abolished,  the  era  of  rellgii>us  refonnation  arrived.'* 


A   BRIEF  RESPITE 

Soon  after  this  the  several  governors  repaired  to  their  respective  provinces, 
and  their  efforts  for  the  re-establishment  of  tranquillity  was  attended  with 
various  degrees  of  success.  Several  of  the  ringleaiiers  in  the  late  excesses 
were  executed;  and  this  severity  was  not  confined  to  the  partisans  of  the 
Catholic  church.  The  prince  of  Orange  and  Count  Egmont,  with  others  of 
the  patriot  lords,  set  the  example  of  this  just  severity. 

Again  the  Sjnuiish  council  appears  to  have  interfered  Ix'tween  the  |)eople 
of  the  Netherlands  and  the  enmity  of  the  monarch;  and  the  offered  media- 
tion of  the  emperor  was  recommended  to  liis  acceptance,  to  avoid  the  appear- 
ance of  a  forced  concession  to  the  prjpular  will.  Philip  was  also  strongly 
urged  to  repair  to  the  scene  of  the  thsturbances;  ami  a  main  question  of  de- 
bate was  whether  he  should  march  at  the  head  of  an  army  or  confide  himself 
to  the  loyalty  and  good  faith  of  his  Belgian  subjects.  But  the  indolence  or 
the  pride  of  Philip  was  ttxj  strong  to  admit  of  his  taking  so  vigorous  u  measure; 
and  all  these  consultations  ended  in  two  letters  to  the  govemant.  In  the 
first  he  declared  his  finii  intention  to  visit  the  Netherlands  in  person;  refused 
to  convoke  the  states-general;  iwussed  in  .siU'nce  the  treaties  concluded  with 
the  Protestants  and  the  confederates;  and  finished  by  a  tleclaration  that  he 
woiJd  throw  himself  wholly  on  the  fidelity  of  the  country.  In  his  second 
letter,  meant  far  the  governante  ahme,  ho  authorised  her  to  assemble  the 
states-general  if  public  opinion  became  ti>o  powerful  for  resistance,  but  on 
no  account  to  let  it  transpire  that  he  had  under  any  circumstances  given  his 
consent. 

During  these  deliberations  in  Spain,  the  Protestants  in  the  Netherlands 


408  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

amply  availed  thenii5elves  of  the  privileges  they  had  gainc<l.  They  erected 
numerous  wooden  churches  with  incredible  actiAity.  Youne  ami  old,  noble 
and  plebeian,  of  these  energetic  men,  assisted  in  the  manual  labours  of  these 
Cfccupations :  and  the  women  freely  applied  the  produce  of  their  ornaments 
and  jewels  to  forward  the  pioui^  work.  But  the  furious  outragen  of  the  icono- 
clasts had  done  infinite  mischief  to  both  political  and  religious  freedom: 
many  of  the  Catholics,  ami  particularly  the  priests,  gradually  withdrew  them- 
selves from  the  confederacy,  which  thus  lost  some  of  its  most  firm  supporters. 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  severity  with  w^hich  some  of  its  members  pursne<I 
the  guilty  offended  anil  alarmed  the  body  of  the  people,  who  could  not  dis- 
tinguish the  shades  of  difference  between  the  love  of  liberty  and  the  practice 
of  licentiousness. 

The  govemante  and  her  satellites  adroitly  took  advantage  of  this  state 
of  things  to  sow  dissension  among  the  patriots.  Autograph  letters  from 
Philip  to  the  principal  lords  were  distributed  among  theni  with  such  artful 
and  mysterious  precautions  as  to  throw  the  rest  into  perplexity,  and  give 
each  suspicions  of  the  other's  fidelity.  The  report  of  the  immediate  arrival 
of  Philip  had  also  considerable  effect  over  the  less  resolute  or  more  selfish; 
and  the  confederation  was  dissolving  rapidly  imder  the  operations  of  intrigue, 
self-interest,  and  fear/  Even  Count  Egmont  was  not  proof  against  the 
subtle  seductions  of  the  wily  monarch,  whose  severe  yet  flattering  letters 
half  frightened  and  htdf  soothed  him  into  a  relapse  of  royalism.  But  with 
the  prince  of  Orange  Philip  had  no  chance  of  success.  It  is  unquestionable 
that,  be  his  means  of  acfiuiring  information  what  they  might,  he  did  succeetl 
in  procuring  iiiiimte  intelligence  of  all  that  was  going  on  in  the  king's  most 
secret  council/ 

Willtimi  summoned  his  brother  Louis,  the  counts  Egmont,  Horn,  and 
Hoogstraten,  to  a  secret  conference  at  Dendermonde;  and  he  tliere  submitte<l 
to  them  letters  which  he  had  received  from  Spain,  confirmatory  oi  his  worst 
fears.  Louis  of  Nassau  voted  for  open  and  instant  rebellion;  William  recom- 
mended a  cautious  observance  of  the  projects  of  government,  not  doubting 
but  tliat  a  fair  pret<*xt  w^ould  be  soon  given  to  justify  the  most  vigorous 
overt  acts  of  revolt:  but  Egmont  at  once  struck  a  death-blow  to  the  energetic 
project  of  one  brother  and  the  cautious  amendment  of  the  other,  by  declaring 
his  present  resolution  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  service  of  the  king, 
and  on  no  inducement  whatever  to  risk  the  perils  of  rebellion.  He  expressed 
his  perfect  reliance  on  the  justice  and  the  gooilness  of  Philip,  when  once  he 
should  see  the  determined  loyalty  of  those  whom  he  had  hitherto  had  so 
much  reason  to  HUKjX'Ct;   and  he  exhortetl  the  others  to  follow  his  exarnjile. 

[' Tbe  uob]t*8  made  a  erett  luiBtoke  in  |>eruutttiie  tlie  dissolation  of  the  confederatiun  at 
thiR  juncture.  Tboy  sbonlii  nnt  have  truHted  a  promise  forced  from  a  bard-presHed  and  relac- 
tant  gDTemment.  They  actually  threw  their  bt^st  weapon  away,  voluntarily.  They  thought 
that  all  was  won  —  ut  least  the  inajority  tbonght  so,  and  thus  they  Heparatcd  rejoicin§^  over  the 
saocosa  finally  obiaLmd. —  Bi^k.'I 

[•  Philip  bad  here  to  do  with  a  bead  wbich,  in  cunning,  was  Buptrior  to  bio  own,  The 
prince  of  Oran^  had,  for  a  long*  time,  held  watch  over  him  and  lii:^  privy  ronncil  in  Madrid  and 
B^ovia,  throuf^h  a  liost  of  spies,  who  reported  to  him  everrtbing  of  importance  that  vrna 
transacted  there.  The  court  of  this  most  secret  of  all  despots  liad  become  accessible  to  his  in- 
trifculng  Rpirit,  and  bis  money  ;  in  this  manner,  he  had  gained  poaeession  of  several  aatograph 
letters  of  tbo  regent,  which  she  bad  secretly  written  to  Madrid,  and  bad  caused  copi»?8  to  be 
circulated  in  triumph  in  Brussels,  and.  in  a  measure,  under  her  own  eyes,  insomuch  that  she 
saw  with  astonishment  in  everjbody'fi  hands  what  she  thought  was  j>reBerved  with  so  much 
care,  and  entreated  the  king  fur  the  future  to  deslroy  her  despatches  immediatelv  they  were 
read.  William's  vigilance  did  not  confine  iiwlf  pim])ly  to  the  court  of  Spain  :  he  bad  spies  in 
France,  and  even  in  more  dintant  courts.  He  i!«  also  cbarired  with  not  having  been  overacmpu- 
loas  in  regard  to  the  means  by  which  he  acquired  bis  Intelligence.  —  ScHlLl^a.^] 


PHILIP    11    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  409 

[1566-1567  A.D.] 

The  two  brothers  antl  Count  Horn  implored  him  in  their  turn  to  abandon 
this  blind  reliance  on  the  tyrant;  but  in  vain.  His  new  and  unlooked-for 
profession  of  faith  completely  paralysed  their  plans.  He  possessed  too  largely 
the  confidence  of  both  the  soldiery  and  the  people  to  make  it  possible  to  at- 
tempt any  serious  measure  of  resistance  in  which  he  would  not  take  a  part. 
The  meetmg  broke  up  without  coming  to  any  decision.  All  those  who  bore 
a  part  in  it  were  expected  at  Brussels  to  attend  the  council  of  state;  Egmont 
alone  repaired  thither. 

EAHLY   FAILURES   OF  THE  REBELS 


The  ^ovemante  now  applied  her  whole  effort  to  destroy  the  imion  among 
the  patriot  lords.  She  in  the  mean  time  ordered  levies  of  troops  to  the  amount 
of  some  thousands,  the  c(«nnmn(l  of  which  was  given  to  the  nobles  on  whose 
attachment  she  coult!  reckon.  The  most  vigorous  measures  were  adopted, 
Noircarmes,  governor  of  Hainault,  apj^eared  before  Valenciennes,  which 
being  in  the  power  of  the  Calvinists  had  assumed  a  most  determined  attitude 
of  resistance.  He  vainly  aummonetl  the  place  to  submission,  and  to  admit 
a  royalist  garrison;  and  on  receiving  an  obstinate  refusiU,  he  commenced 
the  siege  in  form.  An  undisciplined  rabble  of  between  three  thousand  and 
four  th<tusand  gueux,  under  the  direction  of  John  <le  Sorejis,  gathered  together 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lille  and  Toumay,  with  a  show  of  attacking  these 
places.  But  the  governor  of  the  former  town  tlispersed  one  party  of  them ; 
and  Noircarmes  surprised  and  almost  tiestroyed  the  main  bod}'  —  their 
leader  falling  in  the  action. 

These  were  the  first  encounters  of  the  civil  war,  which  ragc<i  without 
cessation  for  upwards  of  eighty  years  in  these  devotfd  countries,  and  which 
is  universidly  allowed  to  be  the  most  remarkable  that  ever  desolated  any 
isolated  portion  of  Europe.  Fierce  events  succeeded  each  other  with  fright- 
ful rapidity. 

While  Valenciennes  prepared  for  a  \igorous  resistance,  a  general  synod 
of  the  Protestjmts  was  helil  at  Antwerp,  and  Brederode  undertotjk  an  attempt 
to8eethegovernante,and  lay  l^efore  lier  the  complaints  of  this  botly ;  but  she 
refused  to  admit  him  into  the  capital.  He  then  a<ldressed  to  her  a  remon- 
strance in  writing,  in  which  lie  reproached  her  with  her  violation  of  (he  treaties, 
on  the  faith  of  which  the  confederates  had  dispersed,  and  the  majority  of  the 
Protestants  laid  down  their  arms.  He  implored  her  to  revoke  the  new  procla- 
mations, by  which  she  prohibited  them  from  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion; 
and  above  all  things  he  insisted  on  the  abandonment  of  the  siege  of  Valen- 
ciennes, and  the  disbanding  of  (he  new  levies.  The governante's  reply  was 
one  of  haught}'  reproach  and  defiance.  The  gauntlet  was  now  thrown  down; 
no  jxissible  hope  (tf  reconciliation  remained;  and  the  whole  country  flew  to 
arms.  A  sudden  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  royalists,  under  Count  Meghem, 
against  Bois-lenluc,  was  repulsed  by  eight  hundre<l  men,  commanded  by  an 
officer  named  Bomberg,  in  the  immediate  service  of  Brederode,  who  had  forti- 
fied himself  in  his  garrison  towni  of  Vianen. 

The  prince  of  Orange  maintained  at  Antwerp  an  attitude  of  extreme  firm- 
ness and  caution."  His  time  for  action  had  not  yet  arrived;  but  his  advice 
and  protection  were  of  infinite  importance  on  many  occasions,  John  van 
Mamix,  lord  of  Toulouse,  brother  of  Philip  of  Sainte--\ldegonde,  took  posses- 

['  Tlie  Cslviiiidts  and  beggars  implored  William  to  take  tlie  leaden*bip.  Tliey  blamed  bis 
refuna]  to  act  for  tbeir  defeat*,  and  were  »o  exaupt^rated  at  bin  caution  ibal  the  Antwerp  Calvin- 
katn  tbreatencd  e%-en  to  kill  him.     But  bo  was  immovable.] 


410  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1M5-U07A.O.] 

sion  of  Osterweel  on  the  Schelde,  a  quarter  of  a  league  from  Antwerp,  and 
fortified  himself  in  a  strong  position.  But  he  was  impetuously  attacked  by 
Lannoy  of  Beauvoir  with  a  considerable  force,  and  perished,  after  a  desperate 
defence,  with  full  one  thousand  of  his  followers.  Three  hundred  who  laid 
down  their  arms  were  immediately  after  the  action  butchered  in  cold  blood. 

Antwerp  was  on  this  occasion  saved  from  the  excesses  of  its  divided  and 
furious  citizens,  and  preserved  from  the  horrors  of  pillage,  by  the  calmness 
and  mtrepidity  of  the  prince  of  Orange.  Valenciennes  at  length  capitulated 
to  the  royalists,  disheartened  by  the  defeat  and  death  of  Mamix,  and  terrified 
by  a  bombardment  of  thirty-six  hours.  The  governor,  two  preachers,  and 
about  forty  of  the  citizens  were  hanged  by  the  victors,  and  the  reformed 
reli^on  was  prohibited.  Noircarmes  promptly  followed  up  his  success. 
Maestricht,  Tumhout,  and  Bois-le-duc  submitted  at  his  approach;  and  the 
insurgents  were  soon  driven  from  all  the  provinces,  Holland  alone  excepted. 
Brederode  fled  to  Germany,  where  he  died  the  following  year.^ 

The  govemante  showed,  in  her  success,  no  small  proofs  of  decision.  She 
and  her  counsellors,  acting  under  orders  from  the  king,  were  resolved  on 
embarrassing  to  the  utmost  the  patriot  lords;  and  a  new  oath  of  allegiance, 
to  be  proposed  to  every  functionary  of  the  state,  was  considered  as  a  certain 
means  for  attaining  this  object  without  the  violence  of  an  unmerited  dis- 
missal. The  terms  of  this  oath  were  strongly  opposed  to  every  principle  of 
patriotism  and  toleration.  Count  Mansfeld  was  the  first  of  the  nobles  who 
took  it.  The  duke  of  Aerschot,  counts  Meghem,  Barlaymont,  and  Egmont, 
followed  his  example.  The  counts  of  Horn,  Hoogstraten,  Brederode,  and 
others,  refused  on  various  pretexts.  Every  artifice  and  persuasion  was  tried 
to  induce  the  prince  of  Orange  to  subscribe  to  this  new  test;  but  his  resolution 
had  been  for  some  time  formed.  He  saw  that  every  chance  of  constitutional 
resistance  to  tyranny  was  for  the  present  at  an  end.  The  time  for  petitioning 
was  gone  by.  The  confederation  was  dissolved.  A  royalist  army  was  in 
the  field;  the  duke  of  Alva  was  notoriously  approaching  at  the  head  of  another, 
more  numerous.  It  was  worse  than  useless  to  conclude  a  hollow  convention 
with  the  governante,  of  mock  loyalty  on  his  part  and  mock  confidence  on  hers. 
Many  other  important  considerations  convinced  William  that  his  only  hon- 
ourable, safe,  and  wise  course  was  to  exile  himself  from  the  Netherlands 
altogether,  imtil  more  propitious  circumstances  allowed  of  his  acting  openly, 
boldly,  and  with  effect. 

WILLIAM   OF   ORANGE   WITHDRAWS    (1567) 

Before  he  put  this  plan  of  voluntary  banishment  into  execution,  he  and 
Egmont  had  a  parting  interview,  at  the  village  of  Willebroeck,  between 
Antwerp  and  Brussels.  Count  Mansfeld,  and  Berti,  secretary  to  the  gover- 
nant,  were  present  at  this  memorable  meeting.  The  details  of  what  passed 
were  reported  to  the  confederates  by  one  of  their  party,  who  contrived  to 
conceal  himself  in  the  chimney  of  the  chamber.     Nothing  could  exceed  the 

['  The  utter  annihilation  of  the  popular  party  at  this  period  proves  how  erroneous  is  the 
assertion  of  the  Jesuit  Strada'^  and  others,  who  state  that  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands  was  to 
be  attributed  not  to  the  Inquisition  or  the  introduction  of  the  new  iiishops,  but  solely  to  the 
machinations  of  some  impoverished  and  disappointed  nobles.  In  the  first  formation  of  the 
confederacy  the  nobles  rather  obeyed  than  excited  the  popular  impulse  which,  instead  of  con- 
tributing to  sustain,  they,  by  their  vacillation  and  dissensions,  served  but  to  divide  and  weaken. 
So  far  as  they  were  concerned,  the  movement  was  now  entirely  at  an  end ;  and  it  is  to  their 
selfishness,  treachery,  or  inconstancy  that  the  temporary  ruin  of  the  people's  cause  is  to  be 
ascribed.  —  Da  vies.'/] 


PHILIP    II    AND    SPANISH    OPPRESSION  411 

energetic  warmth  with  which  the  two  illustrious  friends  reciprocally  en- 
deavoured to  turn  each  other  from  their  respective  line  of  conduct;  but  in 
vain.  Egmont's  fatal  confidence  in  the  king  was  not  to  be  shaken;  nor  was 
Nassau's  penetratine  mind  to  be  deceived  by  the  romantic  delusion  which 
led  away  his  friend.  They  separated  with  most  affectionate  expressions; 
and  Nassau  was  even  moved  to  tears.  His  parting  words  were  to  the  follow- 
ing effect:  "Confide,  then,  since  it  must  be  so,  in  the  gratitude  of  the  king; 
but  a  painful  presentiment  (God  grant  it  may  prove  a  false  one!)  tells  me  that 
you  will  serve  the  Spaniards  as  the  bridge  by  which  they  will  enter  the  coun- 
try, and  which  they  will  destroy  as  soon  as  they  have  passed  over  it!"* 

On  the  11th  of  April,  a  few  days  after  this  conference,  the  prince  of  Orange 
fiet  out  for  Germany,  with  his  three  brothers  and  his  whole  family,  with  the 
exception  of  his  eldest  son,  Philip  William  count  of  Buren,  whom  he  left 
behind  a  student  in  the  university  of  Louvain.  He  believeii  tiiat  the  privi- 
leges of  the  college  and  tlie  franchises  of  Brabant  would  prove  a  sufficient  pro- 
tection to  the  youth;  and  this  appears  the  only  instance  in  which  William's 
vigilant  prudence  wius  tlcceived.  The  departure  of  the  prince  seemed  to 
remove  all  hope  of  protection  or  support  from  the  unfortunate  Protestants, 
now  the  prey  of  their  implacable  tyrant.  The  confetleratioii  of  the  nobles 
was  completely  broken  up.  The  counts  of  Hoogstraten^  Bergen,  and  Kuilen- 
burg  followed  the  example  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  escaped  to  Germany; 
and  the  greater  numl>er  of  those  who  remaineii  behind  took  the  new  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  became  reconciled  to  the  government. 

This  tot4il  dis|)ersion  of  the  confederacy  brought  tiW  the  towns  of  Hollanil 
into  obedience  to  the  king.  But  the  emigration  which  immediately  com- 
menced threatened  the  country  with  ruin.'  Englan<i  and  Germany  swarmed 
with  Dutch  and  Belgian  refugees;  andal!  the  efforts  of  the  governanto  could 
not  restrain  the  thousands  that  took  to  flight.  She  was  not  more  successful 
in  her  attempts  to  influence  the  measures  of  tlie  king.  She  implored  him, 
in  repeated  letters,  to  abandon  his  ciesign  of  sending  a  foreign  army  into  the 
country,  which  she  reprewniteLl  as  lacing  now  quite  reduct»d  to  submission 
and  tranquillity.  She  abided  that  the  mere  report  of  this  roya!  invasion 
(so  to  call  it)  had  already  deprived  the  Netherlands  of  many  thousands  of 
its  Ijest  inhabitant's;  and  that  the  appearance  of  the  troops  would  change 
it  into  a  desert.  These  arguments,  meant  to  dissuade,  were  the  very  means 
of  encouraging  Pliilip  in  his  design.  lie  conceived  his  project  to  be  now  ripe 
for  the  complete  suppression  of  freedom. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  15fi7,  Alva,  (he  celebrated  captain  whose  reputation 
was  so  quickly  destined  to  sink  into  the  notoriety  of  an  executioner,  began 
his  memorable  march.*' 


P  H»>oft "  alludt'H  to  a  rumour,  according  to  which  Efftnont  said  to  Oranjfe  at  parting'. 
'*  Adieo,  landless  prince  !"  and  was  answeretl  by  his  friend  with  "  Adieu,  headle&a  count!" 
"  3/ffn  voeghtW  6y  dat  zy  voorta  elkandrv.  Prins  zander  goedt,  Qraaf  zander  hoofl,  tovden  adieii 
gezeit  heboen."  The  story  has  h«jn  uft«u  rei»eat«?d,  yet  nothing  couid  well  Iw  more  insipid  than 
auch  an  Invention.  Hooft  observes  that  the  wliole  conversation  was  reported  by  a  portion 
whom  the  (.'alviiiisls  had  concealed  in  the  chimney  of  the  apartment  where  the  interripw  unyk 
place,  it  woulii  Iw  diflicult  to  believe  in  such  epigrams  even  had  the  historian  himHelf  been  in 
the  chimney.  He,  however,  only  gives  the  anecdote  as  a  rumor,  which  ho  does  not  himself 
believe.  —  Motley.  ''J 

[*  Blolc '  accepts  an  estimate  that,  in  thirty  or  forty  years,  four  hundred  thousand  people 
emigrated.] 


CHAPTER  VI 

ALVA 


[1667-1578  A.D.] 

The  reTolt  of  the  Netherlands  against  Spain,  in  1568,  changed  the 
political  aspect  of  the  greater  part  of  the  world.  It  is  because  of  this 
revolt,  and  the  war  of  eighty  years  following,  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  are  not  a  Spaaish-speaking  nation,  bat  are,  instead,  an 
EngUah-Bpeaking  one. 

HmA  the  reigning  famil  v  and  the  authorities  of  Spain  exercised  wise 
foretibought  in  their  dealings  with  the  Netherland  people,  Spanish 
domination  —  assisted  by  Dutch  co-operation  under  Spanish  suprem- 
acy —  would  have  rendered  the  whole  of  this  territory  Spanish  many 
years  before  the  English  would  have  become  strong  enough  to  at* 
tempt  the  conquest  and  the  independent  settling  of  any  part  of  the 
American  continent.  —  Vkrstkeo.'' 

It  was  determined  at  last  that  the  Netherland  heresy  should  be  conquered 
by  force  of  arms.  The  invasion  resembled  both  a  crusade  against  the  mfidel 
and  a  treasure-hunting  foray  into  the  auriferous  Indies,  achievements  by 
which  Spanish  chivalry  had  so  often  illustrated  itself.  The  banner  of  the 
cross  was  to  be  replanted  upon  the  conquered  battlements  of  three  hundred 
infidel  cities,  and  a  torrent  of  wealth,  richer  than  ever  flowed  from  Mexican 
or  Peruvian  mines,  was  to  flow  into  the  royal  treasury  from  the  perennial 
fountains  of  confiscation.  Who  so  fit  to  be  the  Tancred  and  the  rizarro  of 
this  bicoloured  expedition  as  the  duke  of  Alva,  the  man  who  had  been  devoted 
from  his  earliest  childhood,  and  from  his  father's  grave,  to  hostility  against 
imbelievers,  and  who  had  prophesied  that  treasure  would  flow  in  a  stream,  a 
yard  deep,  from  the  Netherlands  so  soon  as  the  heretics  began  to  meet  with 
their  deserts? 

Fernando  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  duke  of  Alva,'  was  now  in  his  sixtieth  year. 
He  was  the  most  successful  and  experienced  general  of  Spain,  or  of  Europe. 
In  the  only  honourable  profession  of  the  age,  he  was  the  most  thorough 
and  the  most  pedantic  professor.  Since  the  days  of  Demetrius  Poliorcetes, 
no  man  had  besieged  so  many  cities.    Since  the  days  of  Fabius  Cunctator,  no 

['  The  name  is  also  spelled  Alba,  the  Spanish  pronunciation  still  remaining  Alva.] 

418 


ALVA 


413 


[1WJ7  A.D.] 

general  had  avoided  so  many  battles,  and  no  soldier,  courageous  a.s  he  was. 
ever  attained  to  a  more  sublime  indifference  to  calumny  or  depreciation. 

He  was  born  in  1508,  of  a  family  which  boasteil  imj)enal  descent.  A 
Palffologus,  brotJier  of  a  Byzantine  emperor,  had  conquered  the  city  of 
Toledo,  and  transmitted  its  appellation  as  a  family  name.  The  father  of 
Fernando,  Don  Garcia,  had  been  slain  on  the  isle  of  Gerbes,  in  battle  with 
the  Moors,  when  his  son  was  but  four  years  of  age.  The  child  wa.*^  brought 
up  by  his  grandfather,  Don  Fre<lerick»  and  trained  from  his  tenderest  infancy 
to  arms.  His  maiden  sword  was  fioshed  at  Fuentcrrabia^  where,  although 
but  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  was  considered  to  have  contributed  in  no  small 
degree  to  the  success  of  the  Spanish  anus.  In  1530  he  accompanied  the 
emj^eror  in  his  campaign  against  the  Turk.  His  mad  ride  from  Hungary  to 
Spain  and  back  agam,  accomplished  in  seventeen  daj's  for  the  sake  of  a  brief 
visit  to  his  newly  married  wife,  is  not  the  least  attractive  episode  in  the  his- 
tory of  an  existence  which  was  destined  to  be  so  dark  and  sanguinary.  In 
1546  and  1547  he  was  generalissimo  in  the  war  against  the  Snialkaldian 
League. 

Having  accompanied  Philip  to  England  in  1554,  on  his  matrimonial  expe- 
dition, he  was  destined  in  the  following  years,  as  viceroy  and  generalissimo 
of  It^ly,  to  be  placed  in  a  series  of  false  positions.  A  great  captain  engiiged 
in  a  little  war,  the  champion  of  the  cross  in  arms  against  the  successor  of 
St.  Peter,  he  had  extricated  himself,  at  last,  with  his  usual  adroitness,  but 
with  very  little  glory.  While  he  had  been  paltering  with  a  dotard,  whom  he 
was  forbidden  to  crush,  Egmont  had  struck  down  the  chosen  troops  of  France, 
and  conquered  her  most  illustrious  commanders.  Here  was  the  unpardonable 
crime  which  could  only  be  expiated  by  the  blood  of  the  victor.  Unfortunately 
for  his  rival,  the  time  was  now  approaching  wtien  the  long-ilef erred  revenge 
was  to  lx>  satisfied. 

On  the  whole,  the  duke  of  Alva  was  inferior  to  no  general  of  his  age.  As 
a  disciplinarian  he  was  foremost  in  Spain,  perhaps  in  Europe.  As  a  states- 
man, he  ha<l  neither  experience  nor  talent.  As  a  man,  his  character  was 
simple.  He  did  not  combine  a  great  variety  of  vices,  but  those  which  he 
had  were  colassal,  and  he  possessed  no  virtues.  He  was  neither  lustful  nor 
intemi^erate,  but  his  professed  eulogists  admitted  his  enonnous  avarice, 
while  the  world  has  agreed  that  such  an  amount  of  stealth  and  ferocity,  of 
patient  vindictiveness  and  universal  bloodthirstiness,  were  never  found  in  a 
savage  l)east  of  the  forest,  and  but  rarely  in  a  human  basom.  As  difficult 
of  access  as  Philip  himself,  he  was  even  more  haughtj^  to  those  who  were 
admitted  to  his  presence.  He  addreSvSed  everyone  with  the  depreciating 
second  |)erson  plural.  Poasessing  the  right  of  being  covered  in  the  presence 
of  the  Spanish  monarch,  ho  had  been  with  difficulty  brought  tt>  renounce  it 
before  the  German  emperor. 

In  person  he  was  tall,  thin,  erect,  with  a  small  head,  a  long  visage,  lean 
yellow  cheeks,  dark  twinkling  eyes,  a  dust  complexion,  black  bristling  hair, 
and  a  long  sable-silvered  beard,  descending  in  two  waving  streams  upon  his 
breast. 

Such  lx?ing  the  design,  the  machinery  was  well  selected.  The  best  man 
in  Europe  to  lead  the  invading  force  was  placed  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand 
picked  veterans.  The  privates  in  this  exf|uisite  little  army,  said  the  enthu- 
siastic connoisseur  Brant<5me.^  who  travelled  post  into  Lorraine,  expressly 
to  see  them  on  tlieir  march,  all  wore  engrave<l  or  gildet^i  armour,  and  were  in 
every  respect  equipped  like  captains.  They  were  the  first  who  carried 
muskets,  a  weaiK)n  which  ver}'  much  astonished  the  Flemings  when  it  first 


414  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[uorAj>.3 

rattled  in  their  ears.  The  musketeers,  he  observed,  might  have  been  mis- 
taken for  princes,  with  such  agreeable  and  graceful  arrogance  did  they  present 
themselves.    Each  was  attended  by  his  servant  or  esquire,  who  earned  hia 

Eiece  for  him,  except  in  battle,  and  all  were  treated  with  extreme  deference 
y  the  rest  of  the  army,  as  if  they  had  been  officers.  The  cavalry,  amoimting 
to  about  twelve  hundred,  was  under  the  command  of  the  natural  son  of  the 
duke,  Don  Fernando  de  Toledo,  prior  of  the  knights  of  St.  John. 

With  an  army  thus  perfect,  on  a  small  scale,  in  all  its  departments  —  and 

furnished,  in  addition,  with 
a  force  of  two  thousand 
prostitutes,  as  regularly 
enrolled,  disciplined,  and 
distributed  as  the  cavalry 
or  the  artillery  —  the  duke 
embarked  upon  his  mo- 
mentous enterprise. 

The  duchess  had  in  her 
secret  letters  to  Philip  con- 
tinued to  express  her  dis- 
approbation of  the  enter- 
pnse  thus  committed  to 
Alva.  She  had  bitterly 
complained  that  now, 
when  the  country  had 
been  pacified  by  her  ef- 
forts, another  rfioidd  be 
sent  to  reap  all  the  glory» 
or  perhaps  to  imdo  all 
that  she  had  so  painfully 
and  so  successfully  done. 
She  stated  to  her  brother, 
in  most  unequivocal  lan- 
guage, that  the  name  of 
Alva  was  odious  enough 
to  make  the  whole  Span- 
ish nation  detested  in  the 
Netherlands.  She  also 
wrote  personally  to  Alva, 
imploring,  commanding, 
and  threatening,  but  with  equally  ill  success.  As  to  the  effects  of  his  armecl 
invasion  upon  the  temper  of  the  provinces,  he  was  supremely  indifferent. 
He  came  as  a  conqueror,  not  as  a  mediator.  "  I  have  tamed  people  of  iron 
in  my  day,"  said  he  contemptuously;  "shall  I  not  easily  crush  these  men  of 
butter?" 


The  Duke  of  Alva 

<150a-1582) 


THE  ARRfVAL  OF  ALVA    (1567) 

At  Thionville  he  was  officially  waited  upon  by  Barlaymont  and  Noircarmes, 
on  the  part  of  the  regent.  He  at  this  point,  moreover,  began  to  receive  depu- 
tations from  various  cities,  bidding  him  a  hollow  and  trembling  welcome, 
and  deprecating  his  displeasure  for  anything  in  the  past  which  might  seem 
offensive.  To  all  such  embassies  he  replied  in  vague  and  conventional 
language;  saying,  however,  to  his  confidential  attendants:   "I  am  here:  so 


ALVA 


415 


[1567  A.D.] 

much  is  certain;  whether  I  am  welcome  or  not  is  to  me  a  matter  of  little 
consequence." 

At  Tirlemont,  on  the  22n(l  of  August,  he  wiis  met  by  Count  Egmont,  who 
had  ridden  forth  from  Brussels  to  show  him  a  becoming  respect,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  his  sovereign.  The  count  wa.s  accom|>anicil  by  several  other 
noblemen,  and  brought  to  the  duke  a  present  of  stneral  beautiful  horses. 
Alva  received  him,  however,  but  coldly,  for  he  was  miable  at  first  to  adjust 
the  mask  to  his  countenance  as  adroitly  as  was  necessary.  "Behold  the 
greatest  of  all  the  heretics,"  he  obser\'ed  to  his  attendants,  as  soon  as  the 
nobleman's  presence  wa-s  annoimced,  and  in  a  voice  loud  enough  for  him 
to  hear.  After  a  brief  inten'al,  however,  Alva  seems  to  have  commanded 
himself.  He  passed  his  arm  lovingly  over  that  stately  neck  which  he  had 
alr-eady  devotetl  to  the  block,  and  the  two  rode  tdong  side  by  side  in  frienrlly 
conversation;  Alva,  still  attemleil  by  Egmont,  rode  soon  afterwards  through 
the  Louvain  gate  into  Bnissels. 

The  day  of  doom  for  all  the  crimes  which  had  ever  been  committed  in 
the  course  of  ages  seemed  now  to  have  dawned  upon  the  Netherlands.  The 
sword  which  had  so  long  Ix'cn  hanging  over  tliem  seemed  about  Ui  descend. 
Throughout  the  provinces  there  was  but  one  feeling  —  cold  and  lutjK'less 
disrnav.  Those  who  still  siiw  a  possibility  of  effecting  their  escapt^  from  tlie 
lated  land  swarmed  across  the  frontier.  -\11  foreign  merchants  deserted  the 
great  marts.  The  cities  became  as  still  a.s  if  the  plague-banner  had  been 
unfurled  on  every  house-top.  Meantime  the  captain-genertd  [iroeeeded 
methodically  with  his  work.  He  distributetl  his  troops  through  Brussels, 
Ghent,  Antwerp,  and  other  principal  cities.  As  a  measure  of  necessity  and 
mark  of  the  last  humiliation,  he  required  the  municipalities  to  transfer  their 
keys  to  his  keeping. 

In  onler  that  Egmont,  Horn,  and  other  distinguished  victims  might  not 
take  alarm,  and  thus  escape?  the  doom  delilx^rately  arranged  for  thorn,  royal 
assurances  were  dt^spatclied  to  the  Netherlands,  cheering  their  ties|>oniIency 
and  dispelHng  their  doubts.  With  his  own  hand  Fhilip  WTote  a  letter,  full 
of  afTection  and  confidence,  to  Egmont.  He  wrote  it  after  Alva  had  left 
Madrid  upon  his  mission  of  vengeance.  The  same  stealthy  measures  were 
pursued  with  regard  to  otliers.  The  prince  of  Orange  was  not  likely  to  be 
lured  into  the  royal  trap,  however  cautiously  baited.  Unfortunately  he 
coulfl  not  comnmnicate  his  wisdom  to  his  friends. 

It  is  dilhcult  to  comprehend  so  very  sjuigiiinc  a  ternfierament  as  that  to 
which  Egmont  owed  his  destruction.  It  wa>:  not  the  jirince  of  Orange  alone 
who  had  [)rophesied  his  doom.  Warnings  had  come  to  the  count  from  every 
quarter,  and  they  were  now  frequently  repeated.  Certaitily  he  was  not 
without  anxiety,  but  he  had  made  liis  ilecision  —  detennined  to  believe  in 
the  royal  word'  and  in  the  royal  gratitude  for  his  ser\-ices  rendered. 

The  duke  manifested  the  most  friendly  dispositions,  taking  c^re  to  send 
him  large  presents  of  Spanisli  and  Italian  fniits,  receivcfi  frec|uentlv  by  the 
government  couriers.  Lapped  in  this  fatal  security,  Egmont  not  only  forgot 
his  fears,  but  unfortunately  succeeded  in  inspiring  Count  Horn  with  a  portion 
of  his  confidence.  The  achniral  left  his  retirement  at  Wcert  to  fall  into  the 
pit  which  his  enemies  had  been  so  skilfully  pre|)aring  at  Bruasels.  September 
9th,  the  grand  prior,  Don  Fernando,  gave  a  magnificent  dinner,  to  which 
Egmont  ami  Horn,  together  with  Noircarmes,  the  viscount  of  Ghent,  and 
many  other  noblemen  were  in\'ite<l. 

At  four  o'clock,  the  dinner  being  finished,  Horn  and  Egmont,  accom- 
panied by  the  other  gentlemen,  proceeded  to  the  "  Jassy  "  house,  then  occupied 


416  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1B67  A.D.] 

by  Alva,  to  take  part  in  the  deliberations  proposed.  They  were  received  by 
the  duke  with  sreat  courtesy.  The  council  lasted  till  near  seven  in  the 
evening.  As  it  broke  up,  Don  Sancho  de  Avila,  captain  of  the  duke'a  guard, 
requested  Egmont  to  remain  for  a  moment  after  the  rest.  After  an  insig- 
nificant remark  or  two,  the  Spanish  ofl&cer,  as  soon  as  the  two  were  alone, 
requested  Egmont  to  surrender  his  sword.  At  the  same  moment  the  doors 
of  the  adjacent  apartment  were  opened,  and  Egmont  saw  himself  surroimded 
by  a  company  of  Spanish  musqueteers  and  halberdmen.  Finding  himaelf 
thus  entrapped,  he  gave  up  his  sword,  saying  bitterly,  as  he  did  so,  that  it 
had  at  least  rendered  some  service  to  the  king  in  times  which  were  past. 
Count  Horn  was  arrested  upon  the  same  occasion.  Upon  the  23rd  of  Sep- 
tember both  were  removed  under  a  strong  guard  to  the  castle  of  Ghent. 
The  consternation  was  universal  throughout  the  provinces  when  the  arrests 
^  became  known. 

The  unfortunate  envoys,  the  marquis  of  Bergen  and  the  baron  of  Mon- 
tigny,  had  remained  in  Spain  imder  close  observation.  Of  those  doomed  vic- 
tims who,  in  spite  of  friendly  remonstrances  and  of  ominous  warnings,  had  thus 
ventured  into  the  lion's  den,  no  retreating  footmarks  were  ever  to  be  seen. 
Their  fate,  now  that  Alva  had  at  last  been  despatched  to  the  Netherlands, 
seemed  to  be  sealed,  and  the  marquis  of  Bergen,  accepting  the  augury  in  its 
most  evil  sense,  immediately  afterwards  had  sickened  imto  death.  Before 
his  limbs  were  cold,  a  messenger  was  on  his  way  to  Brussels,  instructing  the 
regent  to  sequestrate  his  property,  and  to  arrest,  upon  suspicion  of  heresy, 
the  youthful  kinsman  and  niece,  who,  by  the  will  of  the  marquis,  were  to  be 
united  in  marriage  and  to  share  his  estate.  The  baron  of  Montigny  was 
closely  confined  in  the  alcazar  of  Segovia,  never  to  leave  a  Spanish  prison 
alive, 

THE   BLOODY   "COUNCIL  OF  TROUBLES" 

In  the  same  despatch  of  the  9th  of  S3ptember,  in  which  the  duke  com- 
municated to  Philip  the  capture  of  Egmont  and  Horn,  he  announced  to  him 
his  determination  to  establish  a  new  court  for  the  trial  of  crimes  committed 
during  the  recent  period  of  troubles.  This  wonderful  tribunal  was  accord- 
ingly created  with  the  least  possible  delay.  It  was  called  the  council  of 
Troubles,  but  it  soon  acquired  the  terrible  name,  by  which  it  will  be  forever 
known  in  history,  of  the  Blood  Council.  It  superseded  all  other  institutions. 
Every  court,  from  those  of  the  municipal  magistracies  up  to  the  supreme 
councils  of  the  provinces,  were  forbidden  to  take  cognisance  in  future  of  any 
cause  growing  out  of  the  late  troubles.  Not  only  citizens  of  every  province, 
but  the  municipal  bodies  and  even  the  sovereign  provincial  estates  themselves, 
were  compelled  to  plead,  like  humble  individuals,  before  this  new  and  ex- 
traordinary tribunal. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  allude  to  the  absolute  violation  which  was  thus  com- 
mitted of  all  charters,  laws,  and  privileges,  because  the  very  creation  of  the 
council  was  a  bold  and  brutal  proclamation  that  those  laws  and  privileges 
were  at  an  end.  The  constitution  or  maternal  principle  of  this  suddenly 
erected  court  was  of  a  twofold  nature.  It  defined  and  it  ptmished  the  crime 
of  treason.  The  definitions,  couched  in  eighteen  articles,  declared  it  to  be 
treason  to  have  delivered  or  signed  any  petition  against  the  new  bishops, 
the  Inquisition,  or  the  edicts;  to  have  tolerated  public  preaching  under  any 
circumstances;  to  have  omitted  resistance  to  the  image-breaking,  to  the 
field-preaching,  or  to  the  presentation  of  the  Request  by  the  nobles,  and 
"either  through  sympathy  or  surprise"  to  have  asserted  that  the  king  did 


ALVA  417 

[1867  ▲.D.] 

not  possess  the  right  to  deprive  all  the  pro^^nces  of  their  liberties,  or  to  have 
maintained  that  this  present  tribunal  was  bound  to  respect  in  any  manner 
any  laws  or  any  charters.  In  these  brief  and  simple  but  comprehensive 
terms  was  the  crime  of  high  treason  defined.  The  punishment  was  still 
more  briefly,  simply,  and  comprehensively  stated,  for  it  was  instant  dcAth 
in  all  casei.  *So  well,  too,  did  this  new  and  terrible  engine  perform  its  work 
that,  in  less  than  three  months  from  the  time  of  its  erection,  eighteen  hundred 
human  beings  had  suffered  death  by  its  summary  proceedings;  some  of  the 
highest,  the  noblest,  and  the  movst  virtuous  in  the  land  among  the  number. 
Yet,  strange  to  say,  this  tremendous  court,  thus  established  upon  the  ruins 
of  all  the  ancient  institutions  of  the  country,  had  not  been  provided  with 
even  a  nominal  authority  from  any  source  whatever.  The  Blood  Council 
was  merely  an  informal  club,  of  which  the  duke  was  perp>etual  president, 
while  the  other  members  were  all  appointed  by  himself. 

No  one  who  was  offered  the  office  refused  it.  Noircarmes  and  Barlay- 
mont  accepted  with  very  great  eagerness,  Several  presidents  and  councillors 
of  the  different  provincial  tribunals  were  appf)inted,  but  all  the  Nether- 
landers  were  men  of  straw.  Two  Spaniards,  Del  Rio  and  Vargas,  were  the 
only  members  who  could  vote;  while  their  decisions  were  subject  to  reversal 
by  Alva.  Del  Rio  was  a  man  without  character  or  talent,  a  mere  tool  in 
the  hands  of  his  superiors,  but  Juan  do  Vargas  was  a  terrible  reality. 

No  better  man  coukl  have  !>e('n  found  in  Europe  for  the  post  to  which 
he  was  thus  elevated.  To  shed  human  blood  was,  in  his  opinion,  the  only 
important  basiness  and  the  only  exliilarating  pastime  of  life.  His  youth 
had  been  stained  with  other  crimes.  He  had  been  obligeil  to  retire  from 
Spain,  because  of  his  violation  of  an  orphan  child  to  whom  he  was  guartlian; 
but,  in  his  manhood,  he  found  no  pleasure  but  in  murder.  He  executed 
Alva's  bloody  work  with  an  industry  which  was  almost  superhuman,  and 
with  a  merriment  which  would  have  shamed  a  <lemon.  His  execrable  jests 
ring  through  Ihe  blootl  and  smoke  anil  death-cries  of  those  days  of  perpetual 
sacrifice.  The  figure  of  Vargas  rises  upon  us  through  the  mist  of  three  cen- 
turies with  terrible  distinctness.  Even  his  barbarous  grammar  has  not  been 
forgotten,  and  his  crimes  against  syntax  and  against  humanity  have  acquired 
the  same  inmiortality. 

Among  the  ciphers  who  composed  the  rest  of  the  board  was  the  Flemish 
councillor  Hessels.  Hessels  was  accustomeil  to  doze  away  his  afternoon 
hours  at  the  council  table,  and  when  awakened  from  his  nap  in  order  that  he 
might  express  an  opinion  on  the  case  then  before  the  court,  was  wont  to  rub 
his  eyes  and  to  call  out  *' Ad  palibulum,  ad  jmHbidum!''  ("to  the  gallows 
with  him,  to  the  gallows  with  him!'')  with  great  fer\^our,  but  in  entire  igno- 
rance of  the  culprit's  name  or  the  merits  of  the  case.  His  wife,  naturally 
dlsturbeil  that  her  husband's  waking  and  sleeping  hours  were  alike  absorbed 
with  this  hangman's  work,  more  than  once  ominously  expressed  her  hope 
to  him  that  he,  whose  head  and  heart  were  thus  engrossed  with  the  gibbet, 
might  not  one  day  come  to  hang  upon  it  himself;  a  gloomy  prophecy  which 
the  future  most  terribly  fulfilled. 

The  council  of  Blood,  thus  constituted,  held  its  first  session  on  the  20th 
of  September,  1567,  at  the  lodgings  of  Alva.  There  was  a  nide  organisation 
by  which  a  crowd  of  commissioners,  acting  as  inferior  officern  of  the  council, 
were  spread  over  the  provinces,  whose  business  w^as  to  collect  information 
concerning  all  persons  who  might  be  incriminated  for  participation  in  the 
recent  troubles.  The  greatest  crime,  however,  was  to  be  rich,  and  one  which 
could  be  expiate<l  by  no  virtues,  however  signal.    Alva  was  bent  upon 

II.  w.  — VOL.  xui.  Si 


418  THE    aiSTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1807  A.DL] 

proNnng  himsolf  as  accomplished  a  financier  as  he  was  indisputably  a  consum- 
mate commander,  and  he  had  promised  his  master  an  annual  income  of 
500,000  ducats  from  the  confiscations  which  were  to  accompany  the  executions. 
It  was  necessary  that  tlie  blood  torrent  should  flow  at  once  through  the 
Netherlands,  in  orcler  that  the  promist»d  golden  river,  a  yard  deep,  according 
to  his  vaunt,  should  begin  to  irrigate  the  thirsty  soil  of  Spain.  It  is  obvious, 
from  the  fundamental  laws  which  wen?  made  to  define  treason  at  the  same 
moment  in  which  they  established  the  council,  that  any  man  might  be  at 

any  instant  summoned  to  the  court. 
Every  man,  whether  innocent  or 
guilty,  whether  papist  or  Protes- 
tant, felt  his  head  shaking  on  his 
shoulilers.  If  he  were  wealthy, 
there  seemed  no  remedy  but  flight, 
which  was  now  almost  impossible, 
from  the  Iteavy  penalties  affixed  by 
the  new  edict  u{M:)ri  all  carriers,  ship- 
masters, and  wagoners,  who  should 
aid  in  the  escape  of  heretics. 

The  register  of  every  city,  vil- 
lage, and  handet  throughout  the 
Netherlands  showed  the  daily  lists 
of  men,  women,  and  children  thus 
sacrificed  at  theshrineof  the  demon 
who  hafl  obtained  the  mastery  over 
this  unhflpi)y  land.  It  was  not  often 
that  an  indi\ndual  was  of  sufficient 
importance  to  be  tried  —  if  trial  it 
could  be  called  —  by  himself.  It 
was  found  more  expeditious  to  send 
them  in  batches  to  the  furnace. 
Thus,  for  example,  on  the  4th  of 
January,  eighty-four  inhabitants  of 
Valenciennes  were  condemned;  on 
another  day,  ninety-five  miscel- 
laneous individuals  from  different 
places  in  Flanders ;  on  another, 
fortj'-six  inhabitants  of  Mechlin;  on 
another,  thirty-five  f>ersons  from 
flifferent  localities;  and  so  on. 
The  sentenc<?s  were  occasionally  in  n<lvance  of  the  docket.  Thus  upon 
one  occasion  a  man's  case  was  called  for  trial,  but  before  the  investigation 
was  conmienced  it  was  discovered  that  he  had  been  alreadj'  executed.  A 
cursory  examination  of  the  pai}ers  j)rovetl,  moreover,  as  usual,  that  the  culprit 
had  committed  no  crime.  "No  matter  for  that,"  said  Vargas,  jocosely; 
"if  he  has  died  innocent,  it  will  be  all  the  better  for  him  when  he  takes  his 
trial  in  the  other  world." 

But  however  the  councillors  miglit  indulge  in  these  gentle  jests  among 
themselves,  it  was  obvious  that  innocence  was  in  reality  impossible,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  which  had  been  laid  down  regarding  treason.  The  practice 
wjis  in  accordan(!e  with  the  prec^'pt,  and  jxTsons  were  daily  executed  with 
senseless  pretexts,  wliich  was  worse  than  executions  with  no  pretexts  at  all. 
Thus  Peter  de  Witt  of  Amsterdam  was  beheaded,  because  at  one  of  the 


Porte  db  Hai^  Bhitbski^  krbctcd  1391.    Vbu> 
Br  Alva  aba  Bastiixb  (1&o^]573) 


ALVA 

tumults  in  that  city  he  had  persuaded  a  rioter  not  to  fire  upon  a  magistrate. 
This  was  taken  as  sufficient  proof  that  he  was  a  man  in  authority  among  the 
rebels,  and  he  was  accordingly  put  to  death.  Madame  Jimaen,  who,  in 
1566,  ha<l  struck  with  her  slipper  a  little  wooden  image  of  the  \'irgin,  together 
with  her  maid-servant,  who  had  witnessed  without  denouncing  tlie  crime^ 
were  both  drowned  by  the  hangman  in  a  hogshead  placed  on  ttie  scaffold. 
Death,  even,  did  not  in  all  cases  place  a  criminal  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
executioner.  Egbert  Meynartzoon,  a  man  of  high  official  rank,  had  l^een  con- 
demne<l,  together  with  two  colleagues,  on  an  accusation  of  coiiccting  money 
in  a  Lutheran  church.  He  died  in  prison  of  dropsy.  The  sheriff  consoled 
himself  by  placing  the  hfMJy  on  a  chair,  and  having  the  dead  man  beheaded 
in  company  with  his  colleagues. 

Thus  the  whole  countr}'  became  a  charnel-house;  the  death-bell  tolled 
hourly  in  every  Aillage;  not  a  family  but  was  called  to  mourn  for  its  dearest 
relatives,  while  the  survivors  stalked  listlessly  about,  the  ghosts  of  their 
former  selves,  among  the  wrecks  of  their  former  Iiomes.  The  spirit  of  the 
nation,  within  a  few  months  after  the  arrival  of  Alva,  seemed  hopelessly 
broken. 

DEPARTURE  OF  THE   REGENT   (DECEMBER,    1567) 

The  duchess  of  Parma  had  been  kept  in  a  continued  state  of  irritation. 
She  had  not  ceased  for  many  months  to  demand  her  release  from  the  odious 
position  of  a  cipher  in  a  land  where  she  had  so  lately  been  sovereign,  and 
she  had  at  hist  obtained  it.  Philip  transmitted  his  acceptance  of  her  resigna- 
tion by  the  same  courier  who  brought  Alva's  commission  to  be  governor- 
general  in  her  place.  The  letters  to  the  tluchess  were  full  of  conventional 
compliments  for  her  past  services,  accompanied,  however,  with  a  less  bar- 
ren and  more  acceptable  acknowledgment,  in  the  shape  of  a  life  income 
of  14,000  ducats  instead  of  the  eight  thousand  hitherto  enjoyed  by  her 
highness. 

The  horrors  of  the  succeeding  administration  proved  Ix^neficial  to  her 
reputation.  Upon  the  dark  ground  of  succeeding  years  the  lines  which 
recorded  her  histor>'  seemed  written  with  letters  of  light.  Yet  her  conduct 
in  the  Netherlands  offers  but  few  points  for  approbation,  and  many  for 
indignant  censure.  That  she  was  not  entirely  destitute  of  feminine  softness 
ami  sentiments  of  boiuity,  her  parting  despatch  to  her  brother  proved.  In 
that  letter  she  reconunended  to  him  a  course  of  clemency  and  forgiveness, 
and  remindetl  him  that  the  nearer  kings  approached  to  God  in  station,  the 
more  they  should  endeavour  to  imitate  him  in  his  attributes  of  benignity. 
But  the  language  of  this  farewell  was  more  tender  than  had  been  the  spirit 
of  her  government.  One  looks  in  vain,  too,  through  the  general  atmospliere 
of  kinilness  wliich  pervades  the  epistle,  for  a  special  recommendation  of 
those  distinguished  and  doomed  seigniors,  whose  attachment  to  her  person 
and  whose  chivalrous  and  conscientious  endeavours  to  fulfil  her  own  orders 
hatl  placed  them  ujKtn  the  eflge  of  that  precipice  from  which  they  were  shortly 
to  be  hurled. 

Meantime  the  second  civil  war  in  France  had  broken  out.  The  hollow 
truce  by  which  the  Guise  party  and  the  Huguenots  had  partly  pretended  to 
deceive  each  other  was  hastenetl  to  its  end,  among  other  causes,  by  the  march 
of  Alva  to  the  Netheriands.  The  Huguenots  nad  taken  alarm,  for  they 
recognised  the  fellowship  which  united  their  foes  in  all  countries  against 
the  Reformation,  and  Cond^  anrl  Coligny  knew  too  well  that  the  same  influence 
which  had  brought  Alva  to  Brussels  "would  soon  create  an  exterminating 


420  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[Ifi87-U08  A.D.] 

anny  against  their  followers.  Hostilities  were  resumed  with  more  bittemew 
than  ever.  The  duke  of  Alva  not  only  furnished  Catherine  de'  Medici  with 
advice,  but  with  two  thousand  foot  and  fifteen  hundred  horse,  under  the 
count  of  Arenberg,  attended  by  a  choice  band  of  the  Catholic  nobility  of 
the  Netherlands. 

Alva  was  not  meantime  unmindful  of  the  business  which  had  served  as 
a  pretext  in  the  arrest  of  the  two  counts.  The  fortifications  of  the  principal 
cities  were  pushed  on  with  great  rapidity.  The  memorable  citadel  of  Antwerp 
in  particular  had  already  been  commenced  in  October  imder  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  celebrated  engineers,  Pacheco  and  Gabriel  de  Cerbelloni. 
In  a  few  months  it  was  completed,  at  a  cost  of  1,400,000  florins,  of  which 
8tmi  the  citizens,  in  spite  of  their  remonstrances,  were  compelled  to  contribute 
more  than  one  quarter.  To  four  of  the  five  bastions,  the  captain-general, 
with  characteristic  ostentation,  gave  his  own  names  and  titles.  One  was 
called  the  Duke,  the  second  Ferdinando,  a  third  Toledo,  a  fourth  Alva,  while 
the  fifth  was  baptised  with  the  name  of  the  ill-fated  engineer,  Pacheco. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1568,  the  prince  of  Orange,  his  brother  Louis 
of  Nassau,  his  brother-in-law  Count  van  den  Berg,  the  coimt  Hoogstraten; 
the  count  Kuilenburg,  and  the  baron  of  Montigny  were  summon^  in  the 
name  of  Alva  to  appear  before  the  Blood  Council,  within  thrice  fourteen 
days  from  the  date  of  the  proclamation,  under  pain  of  peipetual  banishment 
with  confiscation  of  their  estates.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  these  seigniors 
did  not  obey  the  summons.  They  knew  full  well  that  their  obedience  would 
be  rewarded  only  with  death.  The  prince  replied  to  this  summons  by  a 
brief  and  somewhat  contemptuous  plea  to  the  jurisdiction.  As  a  knight  of 
the  Fleece,  as  a  member  of  the  German  Empire,  as  a  soverei^  prince  in 
France,  as  a  citizen  of  the  Netherlands,  he  rejected  the  authority  of  Alva 
and  of  his  self-constituted  tribunal.  His  innocence  he  was  willing  to  estab- 
lish before  competent  courts  and  righteous  judges. 

From  the  general  tenor  of  the  document,  it  is  obvious  both  that  the  prince 
was  not  yet  ready  to  throw  down  the  gauntlet  to  his  sovereign,  nor  to  pro- 
claim his  adhesion  to  the  new  religion.  On  departing  from  the  Netherlands 
in  the  spring,  he  had  said  openly  that  he  was  still  in  possession  of  sixty  thou- 
sand florins  yearly,  and  that  he  should  commence  no  hostilities  against 
Philip,  so  long  as  he  did  not  disturb  him  in  his  honour  or  his  estates. 

His  character  had,  however,  already  been  attacked,  his  property  threat- 
ened with  confiscation.  His  closest  ties  of  family  were  now  to  be  severed 
by  the  hand  of  the  tyrant.  His  eldest  child,  the  count  of  Buren,  torn  from 
his  protection,  was  to  be  carried  into  indefinite  captivity  in  a  foreign  land. 
It  was  a  remarkable  oversight,  for  a  person  of  his  sagacity,  that,  upon  his 
own  departure  from  the  provinces,  he  should  leave  his  son,  then  a  boy  of 
thirteen  years,  to  pursue  his  studies  at  the  college  of  Louvain.  Thus  exposed 
to  the  power  of  the  government,  he  was  soon  seized  as  a  hostage  for  the  good 
behaviour  of  the  father.  A  changeling,  as  it  were,  from  his  cradle,  he  seemed 
completely  transformed  by  his  Spanish  tuition,  for  he  was  educated  and  not 
sacrificed  by  Philip.  When  he  returned  to  the  Netherlands,  after  a  twenty 
years'  residence  in  Spain,  it  was  difficult  to  detect  in  his  gloOmy  brow,  sat- 
urnine character,  and  Jesuitical  habits  a  trace  of  the  generous  spirit  which 
characterised  that  race  of  heroes  of  Orange-Nassau. 

Events  now  marched  with  rapidity.  Early  in  the  year,  the  most  sublime 
sentence  of  death  was  promulgated  which  has  ever  been  pronounced  since 
the  creation  of  the  world.  The  Roman  tyrant  wished  that  his  enemies' 
heads  were  all  upon  a  single  neck,  that  he  might  strike  them  off  at  a  blow; 


ALVA 


4«I 


[1668  A.D.] 

the  Inquisition  assisted  Philip  to  placo  tlie  heads  of  all  his  Netherland  eul>- 
jects  upon  a  single  neck  for  the  same  fell  purpose.  Upon  the  16th  of  Februarj; 
1568,  a  sentence  of  the  holy  office  condenine<i  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Nether- 
lands to  death  as  heretics.  From  this  universal  doom  only  a  few  persons, 
especially  narm-d,  were  excepted.  A  proclamation  of  the  king^  dated  ten 
tlays  later,  confirnictl  this  decree  of  the  Inquisition,  and  ordered  it  to  be 
carried  into  instant  execution,  without  regard  to  age,  sex,  or  comlition. 

This  is  probably  the  most  concise  death-warrant  tliat  was  ever  framed. 
Three  millions  of  people,  men,  women,  and  children,  were  sentenced  to  the 
scaffold  in  three  lines;  and,  as  it  was  well  known  that  these  were  not  harm- 
less thimders,  like  some  bulls  of  the  \'"atican,  but  serious  and  practical  meas- 
ures, which  were  to  be  enforced,  the  horror  which  they  produced  may  be  easily 
imagined.  It  was  hardly  the  purpose  of  government  to  compel  the  absolute 
completion  of  the  wholesale  plan  in  all  its  length  and  breadth;  yet,  in  the  hor- 
rible times  upon  wliich  they  had  fallen,  the  Netherlanders  miglit  be  excused 
for  believing  that  no  measure  was  too  monstrous  to  be  fulfilled.  At  any  rate^ 
it  was  certain  that  when  all  were  condemned,  any  might  at  a  moment's 
warning  be  carried  to  the  scaffohl,  and  this  was  precisely  the  course  adopted 
by  the  authorities. 

Men  in  the  highest  and  humblest  positions  were  daily  and  hourly  dragged 
to  the  stake.  Alva,  in  a  .single  letter  to  Philip,  coolly  estimated  the  number 
of  executions  which  were  to  take  place  immediately  after  the  expiration  of 
holy  week  "at  eight  hundred  heads."  Many  a  citizen,  convicted  of  a  hundred 
thousand  florins  and  of  no  other  crime,  saw  himself  suddenly  tied  to  a  horse's 
tail  with  his  hanib  fastened  lx*hind  him,  and  so  dragged  to  the  gallows.  But 
although  wealth  was  an  uni>ardonable  sin,  poverty  proved  rarely  a  protection. 
Reasons  sufficient  could  always  be  found  for  doommg  the  starveling  labourer 
as  well  as  the  opulent  burgher.  To  avoid  the  disturbances  created  in  the 
streets  by  the  frequent  harangues  or  exhf>rtations  addressed  to  the  bystanders 
by  the  victims  on  their  way  to  the  scaffohl,  a  new  gag  was  invented.  The 
tongue  of  each  prisoner  was  screwed  into  an  Iron  ring,  and  then  seared  with 
a  hot  iron.  Tlie  swelling  and  iiiflammntion  which  were  the  immediate  result, 
prevented  the  tongue  from  slipping  through  the  ring,  and  of  course  effectually 
precluded  all  possibility  of  speech.*' 


TRIAL  AND  FATE   OF  EGMONT  AND   HORX    (1568) 

The  two  counts  had  been  confined  in  the  citadel  of  Ghent  for  more  than 
eight  months.  Their  trial  commenced  in  <lvip  form  before  the  council  of 
Twelve.  The  indictment  against  Egmont  consisted  of  ninety  counts,  and 
that  against  Horn  of  sixty.  Every  action,  however  innocent,  every  omission 
of  duty,  was  interpreletl  on  the  prineifile,  which  liad  Ijeen  laid  down  in 
the  oj)ening  of  the  indictment,  that  the  two  counts,  in  conjunction  with 
the  prince  of  Orange,  had  {)lanned  the  overthrow  of  the  royal  authority  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  the  usurpation  of  the  government  of  the  countrj^;  the 
expulsion  of  Granvella,  the  embass}-  of  Egmont  to  Madrid,  the  confederacy 
of  the  gueux,  the  concessions  which  they  made  to  the  Protestants  in  the 
provinces  under  their  government  —  all  were  made  to  have  a  connection  with, 
and  a  reference  to,  this  delilx*rate  design.  The  accasations  were  sent  to  each 
of  the  prisoners,  who  were  required  to  reply  to  them  within  five  days. 

The  first  step  was  to  demur  against  the  tribimal  which  was  to  try  them, 
since,  by  the  privilege  of  their  order,  they,  as  knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece, 
were  amenable   only   to   the   king   himself,    the  grand   master.     But  this 


4%Z  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

ri86S  A.D.J 

demurrer  was  overruled,  and  they  were  required  to  produce  their  witnesses,  in 
default  of  which  they  were  to  be  proceeded  against  in  contumaciam.  Egmont 
had  satisfactorily  answered  to  eighty-two  counts,  while  Count  Horn  had 
refuted  the  charges  against  him,  article  by  article.  The  accusation  and  the 
defence  are  still  extant;  on  that  defence  every  impartial  tribunal  would 
have  acquitted  them  both. 

Egmont's  wife,  by  birth  a  duchess  of  Bavaria,  succeeded  in  obtaining 
the  intercessions  of  almost  every  German  court  in  behalf  of  her  husband. 
Alva  rejected  them,  with  a  declaration  that  they  had  no  force  in  such  a  case 
as  the  present.  On  the  1st  of  June,  1568,  the  council  of  Twelve  declared 
them  guilty,  and  on  the  4th  of  that  month  sentence  of  death  was  pronoimced 
against  them. 

The  execution  of  twenty-five  noble  Netherlanders,  who  were  beheaded 
in  three  successive  days,  in  the  market-place  at  Brussels,  was  the  terrible 
prelude. 

The  duke  had  reason  to  hasten  the  execution  of  the  sentence.  Count 
Louis  of  Nassau  had  ^ven  battle  to  the  count  of  Arenberg,  near  the  monastery 
of  Heiligerlee  in  Gronmgen,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to  defeat  him.  Inunedi- 
ately  after  his  victory,  he  had  advanced  against  Groningen,  and  laid  siege 
to  it.  The  success  of  his  arms  had  raised  the  courage  of  his  faction,  and  the 
prince  of  Orange,  his  brother,  was  close  at  hand  with  an  army  to  support  him. 

On  the  day  after  the  sentence  was  passed,  the  two  counts  were  brought, 
under  an  escort  of  three  thousand  Spaniards,  from  Ghent  to  Brussels.  Dur- 
ing the  night  between  the  4th  and  5th  of  June  the  sentences  were  brought 
to  the  prisoners,  after  they  had  already  gone  to  rest.  Egmont  called  for  pen 
and  ink,  and  wrote  two  letters,  one  to  nis  wife,  the  other  to  the  king;  the 
latter  was  as  follows: 

SntE  :  I  have  learned,  this  eTenlng,  the  sentence  which  your  majesty  has  been  pleased  to 
pronounce  upon  me.  Although  I  have  never  had  a  thought,  and  believe  myself  never  to  have 
done  a  deed  which  could  tend  to  the  prejudice  of  your  majesty's  person  or  service,  or  to  the 
detriment  of  our  true  ancient  and  Catholic  religion,  nevertheless  I  take  patience  to  bear  that 
which  it  has  pleased  the  good  God  to  send.  If,  during  these  troubles  in  the  Netherlands,  I 
have  done  or  permitted  aught  which  had  a  different  appearance,  it  has  been  with  the  true  and 
good  intent  to  serve  God  and  your  majesty,  and  the  necessity  of  the  times.  Therefore,  I  pray 
your  majesty  to  forgive  me,  and  to  have  compassion  on  my  poor  wife,  my  children,  and  my 
servants  ;  having  regard  to  my  past  services.  In  which  hope  I  now  commend  myself  to  the 
mercy  of  God. 

From  Brussels, 

Ready  to  die,  this  5th  June,  156S. 

Your  majesty's  very  humble  and  loyal  vassal  and  servant, 

Lahoral  d'Eqmont. 

The  family  of  the  count  was  subsequently  reinstated  in  all  his  property, 
fiefs,  and  rights,  which,  by  virtue  of  the  sentence,  had  escheated  to  the  royal 
treasury. 

Egmont  paced  the  scaffold  with  noble  dignity,  and  lamented  that  it  had 
not  been  permitted  him  to  die  a  more  honourable  death  for  his  king  and  his 
country.  Up  to  the  last  he  seemed  unable  to  persuade  himself  that  the  king 
was  in  earnest,  and  that  his  severity  would  be  carried  any  further  than  the 
mere  terror  of  execution.  He  then  clenched  his  teeth,  threw  off  his  mantle 
and  robe,  knelt  upon  the  cushion  and  prepared  himself  for  the  last  prayer. 
He  drew  a  silk  cap  over  his  eyes,  and  awaited  the  stroke.  Over  the  corpse 
and  the  streaming  blood  a  black  cloth  was  immediately  thrown. 

All  Brussels  thronged  around  the  scaffold,  and  the  fatal  blow  seemed  to 
fall  on  every  heart.     Loud  sobs  alone  broke  the  appalling  silence.    The 


ALVA  ^ —         49!) 

[1566  A.X}.] 

duke  himself,  who  watched  the  execution  from  a  window  of  the  town-house, 
wiped  his  eyes  a,s  his  victim  died.* 

Shortly  afterwards,  Count  Horn  advanced  on  the  sc^iffold.  Of  a  more 
violent  temperament  than  his  frienti,  he  burst  forth  in  bitter  reproaches 
against  the  king,  and  the  bishop  with  difficulty  prevailed  upon  him  to  make 
a  better  use  of  his  last  moment.^  than  to  abuse  them  in  imprecations  on  hia 
enemies.  At  last,  however,  he  l>ecaine  more  collected,  and  made  his  confession 
to  the  bishop,  which  at  first  he  was  disposeil  to  refuse.  He  mounted  the 
scafifold  witli  the  same  attenilants  as  his  friend.  In  passing,  he  saluted  many 
of  his  acquaintances;  his  Imuds  were,  like  Eginont's,  free.  When  he  had 
ascended,  he  cast  his  eyes  upon  the  corpse  which  lay  under  the  cloth,  and 
asked  one  of  the  by-standers  if  it  was  the  body  of  his  friend.  On  being  an- 
ST^'cred  in  the  afiinnative,  he  siiid  some  words  in  Spanish,  threw  his  cloak 
from  him,  and  knelt  upon  the  cushion.  AH  shrieked  aloud  as  he  received 
the  fatal  blow. 

The  heads  of  both  were  fixed  upon  poles  which  were  set  upon  the  scaffold, 
where  they  remained  until  past  three  in  the  afternoon,  when  they  were  taken 
down,  and,  with  the  two  bodies,  placed  in  leaden  coffins  and  deposited  in  a 
vault.  In  spite  of  the  number  of  spies  and  executioners  who  surrounded 
the  scaffold,  the  citizens  of  Bnissfila  would  not  bt?  prevented  from  dipping 
their  handkerchiefs  in  the  streaming  blood,  and  carrying  liome  with  them 
these  precious  memorials.^ 

Egmont  is  a  great  historical  figure,  but  he  was  certainly  not  a  great  man. 
His  execution  remains  an  enduring  monument  not  only  of  Philip's  cruelty  and 
perfidy  but  of  his  dulness.  The  king  had  everything  to  hope  from  Egmont 
and  nothing  to  fear.  Granvella  knew  the  man  well,  and,  almost  t-o  the  last, 
could  not  l)elieve  in  the  passibility  of  so  unparalleled  a  bhmder  as  that  which 
was  to  make  a  victim,  a  martyr,  and  a  popular  idol  of  a  personage  brave 
indeed,  but  incredibly  vacillating  and  inordinately  vain,  who,  by  a  little 
management,  might  have  been  converted  into  a  most  useful  instrument  for 
the  royal  purposes. 

He  had  no  sympathy  with  the  people,  but  he  loved,  as  a  grand  seignior, 
to  l>e  looked  up  to  and  admired  by  a  gaping  crowd.  He  was  an  unwavering 
Catholic,  held  st^ctaries  in  utti*r  loathing,  and,  after  the  image-breaking,  took 
a  positive  pleasure  in  hanging  ministers,  together  with  their  congregations, 
and  in  pressing  the  l^esieged  Christians  of  Valenciennes  to  extremities.  U[)on 
more  than  one  occasion  he  pronounced  his  unequivocal  approval  of  the  in- 
famous edicts,  and  he  exerted  himself  at  times  to  enforce  them  within  his 
pro\'ince.  The  transitory  impression  made  upon  his  mind  by  the  lofty  nature 
of  Orange  was  easily  effaced  in  Spain  by  court  flattery  and  by  royal  bribes. 
Upon  the  departure  of  Orange,  Egmont  was  only  too  eager  to  be  eniploye<i 
by  Philip  in  any  work  which  the  monarch  could  find  for  him  to  do.  Yet  this 
was  the  man  whom  Philip  chose,  through  the  executioner's  sword,  to  convert 
uito  a  popular  idol,  and  whom  Poetry  has  loved  to  contemplate  as  a  romantic 
champion  of  freedom. 

Aa  for  Horn,  he  was  a  person  of  mediocre  abilities  and  thoroughly 


P  Even  BentivopUo*  becomes  Boftened  In  relatinff  Ibe  pathetic  scene.  "I  hear."  wrote 
Monllon  to  Granvella  (Jano  7ih,  1508),  "that  his  eTceUency  abed  tears  as  biff  as  peaae  durin;; 
the  execution."  (Atject4dfislarmuausnffrata»sqitepoix,)  —  yAy  OitOKX  PntNeTEHEH-^-Ar- 
ehii^es.  The  preliendary  goes  on  to  say  that  "he  had  caused  tho  story  of  the  duke's  tenderness 
to  be  trumpeted  in  uiauy  places  '*  (a  faict  aofirur  od  i7  iuy  a  8&mbii  eonvenir,  quia  muUomm 
animi  exucfrhi'ti),  Morillon  alno  quotes  Alva  as  hnTinj?  bad  the  effrontery  to  sav  that  lie 
desdred  a  mitigation  of  the  punishment,  but  that  the  king  had  answere<l  that  he  could  forgive 
offences  against  himself,  but  the  crimes  committed  agunat  God  were  nnpardonnhle.<'] 


424  THE   HISTORY   OP   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1806  A.D.} 

commonplace  character.  His  high  rank  and  his  trai^c  fate  are  all  which  make 
him  interesting.  The  most  interesting  features  in  his  character  are  his  ^ner* 
osity  toward  his  absent  brother  and  the  manliness  with  which,  as  Montigny's 
representative  at  Toumay,  he  chose  rather  to  confront  the  aneer  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  to  incur  the  deadly  revenge  of  Philip,  than  m^e  himself  the 
executioner  of  the  harmless  Christians  in  Toumay.  In  this  regard,  his  con- 
duct is  vastly  more  entitled  to  our  respect  than  that  of  Egmont,  and  he  was 
certainly  more  deserving  of  reverence  from  the  people,  even  though  deserted 
by  all  men  while  living,  and  left  headless  and  solitary  in  his  coffin  at  St. 
Gudule.  The  hatred  for  Alva,  which  sprang  from  the  graves  of  these  illustrious 
victims,  waxed  daily  more  intense.*^ 

THE  FIRST  CAMPAIGN   (1568) 

Everything  seemed  now  ripe,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  to  favour  the 
enterprise  on  which  the  prince  of  Orange  was  determined  to  risk  his  fortime 
and  nis  life.  But  his  pnncipal  resources  were  to  be  foimd  in  his  genius  and 
courage,  and  in  the  heroic  devotion  partaken  by  his  whole  family  in  the  cause 
of  their  country.  His  brother,  Coimt  John,  advanced  him  a  considerable 
sum  of  money;  the  Flemings  and  Hollanders,  in  England  and  elsewhere, 
subscribed  largely;  the  prince  himself,  after  raising  loans  in  every  possible 
way  on  his  pnvate  means,  sold  his  jewels,  his  plate,  and  even  the  furniture 
of  his  houses,  and  threw  the  amoimt  into  the  common  fund. 

The  queen  of  England,  the  French  Huguenots,  and  the  Protestant  princes 
of  Germany  all  lent  him  their  aid  in  money  or  in  men;  and  he  opened  his 
first  campaign  with  great  advantage.  He  formed  his  army  into  four  sevex^ 
corps,  intending  to  enter  the  country  on  as  many  different  points,  and  by  a 
sudden  irruption  on  that  most  vulnerable  to  rouse  at  once  the  hopes  and  the 
co-operation  of  the  f)eople.  His  brothers  Louis  and  Adolphus,  at  the  head 
of  one  of  these  divisions,  had  already  penetrated  into  Friesland,  and  there 
commenced  the  contest.  The  count  of  Arenberg,  governor  of  this  province, 
assisted  by  the  Spanish  troops  under  Gonsalvo  de  Braccamonte,  had  quickly 
opposed  the  invaders.  They  had  met  on  the  23d  of  May  near  the  abbey  of 
Heiligerlee,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  battle;  and  after  a  short  contest  the 
royalists  were  defeated  with  great  loss.  The  count  of  Arenberg  and  Adolphus 
of  Nassau  encoimtered  in  single  combat,  and  fell  by  each  other's  hands. ^ 
Hie  victory  was  dearly  purchased  by  the  loss  of  this  gallant  prince,  the  first 
of  his  illustrious  family. 

Alva  immediately  hastened  to  the  scene  of  this  first  action,  and  soon 
forced  Count  Louis  to  another  at  a  place  called  Jemmingen,  near  the  town 
of  Embden,  on  the  21st  of  July.  Their  forces  were  nearly  equal  —  about 
fourteen  thousand  at  either  side:  but  all  the  advantage  of  discipline  and  skill 
was  in  favour  of  Alva,  and  the  consequence  was  the  total  rout  of  the  patriots 
with  a  considerable  loss  in  killed  and  the  whole  of  the  cannon  and  baggage. 
The  entire  province  of  Friesland  was  thus  again  reduced  to  obedience,  and 
Alva  hastened  back  to  Brabant  to  make  head  against  the  prince  of  Orange. 
The  latter  had  now  under  his  command  an  army  of  twentv-eight  thousand 
men  —  an  imposing  force  in  point  of  numbers,  being  double  that  which  his 
rival  was  able  to  muster.  He  soon  made  himself  master  of  the  towns  of 
Tongres  and  St.  Trond,  and  the  whole  province  of  Lidge  was  in  his  power. 
He  advanced  boldly  against  Alva,  and  for  several  months  did  all  that 

[*  This  is  Strada's  ^  account,  but  others  differ  so  much  that  it  is  possible  only  to  say  that 
both  men  died  in  the  battle.] 


I 


ALVA  4«5 

[1568-1560  A.T>.] 

mancpuwing  could  do  to  force  him  to  a  battle.  But  the  wily  veteran  knew  his 
trade  too  well;  he  felt  sure  that  in  time  the  prince's  force  would  disperse 
for  want  of  pay  ami  supplies;  and  he  managed  his  resources  so  ably  that  with 
little  risk  and  scarcely  any  loss  he  finally  succeeded  in  his  object.  In  the 
month  of  October  the  prince  found  himself  forced  to  tlisband  nis  large  but 
imcHsciplined  force;*  and  he  retired  into  France  to  recruit  his  funds  and 
consider  on  the  l:)e8t  measures  for  some  future  enterprise. 

The  insolent  triumph  of  Alva  knew  no  bounds.  The  rest  of  the  year 
was  consumed  in  new  executions.  The  hotel  Kuilenburg,  the  early  cracUe 
of  Bredero<ie's  confederacj',  was  rased  to  the  ground,  and  a  pillar  erected 
on  the  spot  commemorative  of  the  deed ;  while  Alva,  resolved  to  erect  a  monu- 
ment of  his  success  as  well  as  of  his  hate,  hati  his  own  statue  in  brass,  formed 
of  the  cannons  taken  at  Jemmingen,  set  up  in  the  citadel  of  Antwerp,  with 
various  symbols  of  power  and  an  inscription  of  inflated  pride.* 

OPPRE.SSIVE  taxation;   the  amnesty 

The  maintenance  of  the  army  required  from  two  to  four  million  florins 
(over  a  million  guineas),  and  it  was  the  royal  treasury  that  had  to  pay  the 
costs.  Philip,  deceived  by  the  popular  attitude  or  overwhelmed  by  the 
enormity  of  the  bunlen  imposed  upon  him,  enjoined  his  general  to  seek  in 
Belgium  the  needed  resources.  A  plan  of  taxation  was  even  drawn  up  in 
Madrid,*  and  sent  to  the  governor,  with  orders  to  put  it  into  immediate 
execution.  It  confined  itself  to  two  mca.sures,  which  were  to  be  general: 
first,  the  immediate  levy  of  a  duty  amounting  to  the  hundredth  part  of  the 
value  of  all  property,  real  and  personal;  and  for  the  future  a  fixed  tax  of 
one  twentieth  on  the  sale  of  all  real  estate  anrl  one  tenth  on  the  sale  of  all 
merchandise  and  personal  pro[>er{y.  These  were  the  taxe^^  known  as  the 
hundredth,  twentieth,  and  tenth  pennies. 

Tlie  duke  of  Alva  called  a  general  assembly  of  the  states-general  at  Brus- 
sels, in  March,  1569,  and  hims<*lf  proposed  the  imposition  of  these  taxes;  but 
immediately  lively  protests  came  hum  id!  cjuarters.  It  was  evident  that  a 
tax  of  a  tenth  on  all  sales  would  deal  a  mortal  blow  to  commerce,  and  conse- 
quently to  the  general  prasperity  of  the  country,  already  compromi-*ed  by 
internal  troubles  and  by  the  commotions  agitating  the  re-^t  of  Euroj^e.  The 
king's  partisans  were  the  first  to  try  to  turn  the  governor  from  a  measure  '^  as 
imprudent  as  it  was  impracticable  and  Vigliuj?  above  all  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  frankness.  He  succeetied  in  convincing  the  duke,  who  contented 
hims<'lf  with  a  8ul>siily  of  two  millions,  to  whicli  the  assembly  consented. 
But  the  king  and  his  council  were  far  from  sati.sfied  with  this  transaction, 
which,  far  from  furnishing  the  means  to  pay  debts  already  contracted,  was 
nul  oven  sulTu'ient  to  guarantee  the  nmintenance  of  the  troops  in  the  future. 

Philip  hatl  moreover  some  rea.'ion  tcf  accuse  his  general,  tne  latter  having 
shown  on  this  occasion  no  disposition  to  follow  the  course  prescribed  for  him. 
The  monarch  had  sent  with   the  scheme  of  taxation  a  proclamation  of 

['He  melted  liLs  lost  pUte  to  satisfy  bis  clamorous  German  mercenaries;  then,  with 
twelve  hundred  men.  he  joined  the  Uoeuenots  in  Oascony  and  fought  under  tlu^  duke  of  Zwei- 
brOcken  [or  Deux  Fonts].  The  campaign  there  was  also  a  failure.  The  emperor  was  recon- 
ciled with  Philip,  and  even  (Jueen  Klixabeth  nf  Kngland  for  the  present  wished  him  well.] 

['  Motler,*'  however.  st&Len  that  this  T>lan  of  taxation  was  due  entirely  to  the  duke  of  Alva 
aud  that  the  authoritieA  at  Madrid  had  noihlog  to  do  with  it.l 

[*  Uloki  aUo  points  out  that  a  cherished  scheme  nf  Alva  8  was  the  unifving  of  all  the  prov- 
inces under  one  ruler  with  one  capital  and  one  law.  Thin  meant  a  sacrince  of  dearly  bought 
and  ancient  municipal,  religious,  aud  individual  privileges  that  aroused  ferooioufl  prot«flt.  The 
ex]>ehmeut,  however,  failed  even  of  trial,  uu  account  of  new  complications.] 


426  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[lS«fr-lS7S  a.dO 

amnesty  which  was  to  reassure  the  minds  of  the  people  at  the  very  moment 
when  they  were  to  be  called  on  to  make  new  sacrifices.  But  the  duke  of 
Alva  thought  this  amnesty  premature.  He  withheld  its  publication;  and 
when  it  was  finally  proclaimed  the  following  year  (1570),  it  contained  so 
manjr  restrictions  that  the  tardy  and  incomplete  pardon  made  no  favour- 
able impression. 

The  situation,  daily  becoming  more  difficult,  was  further  complicated  by 
an  open  rupture  with  England,  which  dealt  a  fatal  blow  to  the  prosperity  of 
Antweip  and  Bn^es.  Elizabeth,  who  had  succeeded  Mary,  had  lot^  shown 
herself  hostile  to  Philip.  She  made  the  duke  of  Alva  feel  her  ill-will  by  the 
retention  of  800,000  gulden  sent  him  by  a  ship  that  had  put  into  Plymouth 
(1568).  Elizabeth  had  appropriated  this  sum,  charging  herself,  however, 
with  its  repayment  to  the  Italian  merchants  from  whom  the  king  had  bor- 
rowed it.  But  the  duke,  who  was  awaiting  this  money  in  order  to  Miy  his 
troops,  had  been  furious  and  had  seized  the  property  and  ships  of  the  English 
in  Belgian  ports.  Whereupon  the  queen  had  retaliated  and,  not  content 
with  forbidding  all  trade  with  the  Low  Coimtries,  offered  asylum  to  the  pri- 
vateers which  the  discontented  faction  began  to  fit  out  and  which  caused  some 
serious  losses  to  commerce. 

Thus  came  into  existence  the  Beggars  of  the  Sea  —  a  band  of  bold, 
adventurous  men,  whose  leaders  were  the  emigrant  nobles,  the  rest  sailors 
from  the  coast.  The  success  of.  their  first  attempts  at  piracy  excited  fresh 
clamours  against  the  government  in  Belgium;  and  later  deeds  of  a  less 
doubtful  clmracter  were  to  efface  these  obscure  beginnings  and  to  assign  to 
their  names  a  very  different  place  in  history. 

While  unrest  and  discontent  thus  increased  around  the  Spanish  governor, 
Wlliam  of  Nassau  preserved  a  threatening  attitude.  This  prince  and  his 
brother  Louis  were  equally  allied  with  Lutheran  princes  of  Germany  and  with 
the  leaders  of  the  Calvinist  party  in  France.  They  had  even  fought  for  the 
cause  of  the  latter;  for  in  spite  of  their  exile  they  took  part  in  all  the  great 
Protestant  enterprises,  identifying  their  cause  with  that  of  the  cult  they 
professed  and  seeking,  in  each  European  commotion,  in  some  way  to  advance 
their  own  interests.  Their  hopes  revived  when  the  celebrated  Coligny  and 
the  Huguenots  came  to  an  understanding  with  King  Charles  IX  (1570).  A 
plan  was  then  formed  to  lead  into  the  Belgian  provinces  a  number  of  those 
old  bands  which  for  years  had  been  fighting  in  France.  Coligny  and  his 
brothers-at-arms  were  to  enter  Hainault  with  their  French  soldiers,  while 
the  prince  of  Orange  at  the  head  of  a  Grerman  army  penetrated  into  Limburg 
and  Brabant.  Charles  IX  ^ave  his  consent  to  this  project;  the  old-time  jeal- 
ousyagainst  Spain  made  him  desire  the  abasement  and  humiliation  of  Philip. 

Tlie  duke  of  Alva  saw  the  storm  approaching.  Pressed  by  the  need  of 
money  and  by  the  orders  from  the  court,  he  made  fresh  attempts  to  obtain 
the  consent  of  the  states  to  the  taxes  the  king  wished  to  establish,  but  the 
resistance  was  the  same  as  in  former  years.  Thereupon  he  took  it  upon 
himself  to  direct  without  their  consent  the  collection  of  the  tenth  and  twen- 
tieth penny,  violating  thus  all  the  rights  of  the  provinces,  but  imputing  the 
bold  step  to  stem  necessity.  He  consented,  however,  that  a  deputation 
should  be  sent  to  the  king  —  in  protest.  Philip  received  the  deputies  with  the 
greatest  demonstrations  of  good  will.  It  is  related  that  he  first  tried  to  make 
them  accept  the  tax  as  a  war  contribution;  but,  finally  yielding  to  their 
remonstrances,  he  agreed  to  its  provisional  suspension.^ 

One  of  those  frightful  inundations  to  which  the  northern  provinces  were 
so  constantly  exposed  occurred   in   1572,  carrying  away  the  dikes,  and 


4S7 

[1572  A.D.] 

destroying  lives  an<l  property  to  a  considerable  amount.  In  Friesland  alone 
twenty  thousand  men  were  victims  to  this  calamity.  But  no  suffering  couhl 
affect  the  inflexible  stenmess  of  the  fluke  of  Alva;  and  to  such  excess  did  he 
carry  his  persecution  that  Philip  himself  began  to  be  discontented,  and 
thought  his  representative  was  overstepping  the  bounds  of  delegated  tyranny. 
He  even  reproaclied  him  sharply  in  some  of  his  flespatches.  The  governor 
replied  in  the  same  strain;  and  such  was  the  effect  of  this  correspondence 
that  Philip  resolved  to  remove  him  from  his  commanrl.  But  the  king's 
marriage  with  Anne  of  Austria,  daughter  of  the  emperor  Maximilian  II, 
obliged  him  to  defer  his  intentions  for  a  while;  and  he  at  length  nanietl  John 
de  la  Cerda,  duke  of  Meilina-Celi,  as  Alva's  successor.  I'pwanls  of  a  year, 
however,  elapsed  before  this  new  govenior  was  finally  appointeil;  and  he 
made  his  ai»pearanee  on  the  coast  of  Flanders  with  a  considerable  fleet,  on 
the  11th  of  May,  1572,  He  was  afforded  on  this  very  day  a  srjecimen  of 
the  sort  of  people  he  came  to  contend  with;  for  his  fleet  was  suddenly  attacked 
by  that  of  the  patriots,  and  many  of  his  vessels  were  burned  and  taken  before 
his  eyes,  with  their  ri<'h  cargoes  and  consitlerable  treasures  intended  for  the 
service  of  the  state/ 

The  duke  of  Medina-Celi  proceeded  rapidly  to  Brussels,  where  he  was 
ceremoniously  receive<i  by  Alva,  who  however  refusetl  to  resign  the  govern- 
ment, under  the  pretext  that  the  term  of  his  ap|X)intment  had  not  expired, 
an<l  that  he  was  resolved  first  to  completely  suppress  all  symptoms  of  revolt 
in  the  northern  provinces.  He  succeeded  in  effectually  disgusting  La  Cerda, 
who  demanded  and  obtained  his  own  recall  to  Spain.  Alva,  left  once  more 
in  undisputetl  possession  of  his  power,  turned  it  with  increased  vigour  into 
new  channels  of  oppression.  He  was  soon  again  employcrl  in  efforts  to  effect 
the  levying  of  his  favourite  taxes;  and  such  was  the  resolutitjn  of  the  trades- 
men of  Brussels  that,  sooner  than  submit,  they  almost  universally  clased 
their  shops  altogether.  Alva,  furious  at  this  measure,  caused  sixty  of  the 
citizens  to  be  seized,  and  ordered  them  to  be  hanged  opposite  their  own 
doors.  The  gibl>ets  were  actually  erected,  when,  on  the  very  day  fixed  for 
the  executions,  he  received  despatches  that  wholly  disconcerted  him,  and 
stopped  their  completion.* 

In  the  night  arrived  the  intelligence  that  the  tomi  of  Briel  had  been 
captured.  The  duke,  feeling;  the  full  gravity  of  the  situation,  postponed  the 
chastisement  which  he  had  thus  secretlv  planned  to  a  more  convenient  season, 
in  ordor,  without  an  instant  s  hesitation,  to  avert  the  consequences  of  this 
new  movement  on  the  jiart  of  tlie  rebels. 


THE   SKA    BEGGARS  TAKE   BRIEL 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  those  formidable  partisans  of  the  patriot 
cause,  the  marine  outlaws.  Cheated  of  half  their  birthright  by  nature,  and 
now  driven  forth  from  their  narrow  isthmus  by  tyraimy,  the  exiled  Hol- 
landers took  to  the  ocean.  Its  boundless  fields,  long  arable  to  their  industry, 
became  more  fruitful  than  ever  now  that  oppression  was  transforming  a  peace- 
ful seafaring  [x^ople  into  a  nation  of  corsiiirs. 

The  beggars  of  the  sea  asked  their  alms  through  the  mouths  of  their 


[*  It  waft  the  richest  booty  vbicb  the  insurfcvnto  had  yet  acquired  by  nea  or  land.  Thn 
fleet  was  l&den  with  apices,  moner,  jewelry,  and  the  richest  uierchandiw.  Five  hundred 
thoij<%and  crowus  of  gold  wtrre  taken,  and  it  was  calculated  that  the  plunder  altogether  wuuld 
flUtBre  to  maintain  the  war  for  two  years  at  least.  One  thousand  Spanish  soldiers  aud  a  good 
amount  of  ammunitiou  were  aUo  capturvd.  — Motley.''] 


488  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHEBLANDS 

[1578  A.i>.] 

cannon.  Unfortunately^  they  but  too  often  made  their  demands  upon  both 
friend  and  foe.  Everv  ruined  merchant,  every  banished  lord,  every  reckless 
mariner,  who  was  wining  to  lay  the  commercial  world  under  contribution 
to  repair  his  damaged  fortunes,  could,  without  much  difficulty,  be  supplied 
with  a  vessel  and  crew  at  some  northern  port,  imder  colour  of  cruising  against 
the  viceroy's  government.  Nor  was  the  ostensible  motive  simply  a  pretext. 
To  make  war  upon  Alva  was  the  leading  object  of  all  these  freebooters,  and 
they  were  usually  furnished  by  the  prince  of  Oran^,  in  his  capacity  of  sov- 
ereign, with  letters  of  marque  for  that  purpose.  ^  The  prince,  indeed,  did  his 
utmost  to  control  and  direct  an  evil  which  had  inevitably  grown  out  of  the 
horrors  of  the  time.  His  admiral,  William  de  la  Marck,  was.  however,  in- 
capable of  comprehending  the  lof  t)[  purposes  of  his  superior.  A  wild,  sangui- 
nary, licentious  noble,  wearing  his  hair  and  beard  imshom,  according  to 
ancient  Batavian  custom,  imtil  the  death  of  his  relative  Egmont  should 
have  been  expiated,  a  worthy  descendant  of  the  Wild  Boar  of  Ardennes,  this 
hirsute  and  savage  corsair  seemed  an  embodiment  of  vengeance.  He  had 
sworn  to  wreak  upon  Alva  and  upon  popery  the  deep  revenge  owed  to  them 
by  the  Netherland  nobility,  and  m  the  cruelties  afterwards  practised  by  him 
upon  monks  and  {)riests,  the  Blood  Council  learned  that  their  example  had 
made  at  least  one  ripe  scholar  among  the  rebels.  He  was  Ij^ing  at  this  epoch 
with  his  fleet  on  the  southern  coast  of  England,  from  which  advantageous 
position  he  was  now  to  be  ejected  in  a  summary  manner. 

The  negotiations  between  the  duke  of  Alva  and  Queen  Elizabeth  had 
now  assumed  an  amicable  tone,  and  were  fast  ripening  to  an  adjustment. 
It  was  urged  that  the  continued  coimtenanoe  afforded  by  the  Enmsh  people 
to  the  Netherland  cruisers  must  inevitably  lead  to  a  war  with  Philip.  In 
the  latter  days  of  March,  1572,  therefore,  a  sentence  of  virtual  excommuni- 
cation was  pronounced  against  De  la  Marck  and  his  rovers.  A  peremptory 
order  of  Elizabeth  forbade  any  of  her  subjects  to  supply  them  with  meat, 
bread,  or  beer.  The  command  being  strictly  complied  with,  their  further 
stay  was  rendered  impossible.  Twenty-four  vessels  accordingly  set  sail 
from  Dover  in  the  very  last  days  of  March.  Being  almost  in  a  state  of  starva- 
tion, these  adventurers  determined  to  make  a  sudden  foray  upon  the 
coasts  of  North  Holland.  On  Palm  Sunday  they  captured  two  Spanish 
merchantmen.  Soon  afterwards,  however,  the  wind  becoming  contrary, 
they  abandoned  their  original  intention,  dropped  down  towards  Zealand,  and 
entered  the  broad  mouth  of  the  river  Maas. 

Among  the  ships  was  that  of  William  of  Blois,  seigneur  of  Treslong.  This 
adventurous  noble,  whose  brother  had  been  executed  by  the  duke  of  Alva 
in  1568,  had  himself  fought  by  the  side  of  Count  Louis  at  Jemmingen,  and, 
although  covered  with  wounds,  had  been  one  of  the  few  who  escaped  alive 
from  the  horrible  carnage.  During  the  intervening  period  he  had  become 
one  of  the  most  famous  rebels  on  the  ocean,  and  he  had  always  been  well 
known  in  Briel,  where  his  father  had  been  governor  for  the  king.  Treslong, 
who  was  really  the  hero  of  this  memorable  adventm^,  persuaded  'De  la 
Marck  to  send  a  message  to  the  city  of  Briel,  demanding  its  surrender.  This 
was  a  bold  summons  to  be  made  by  a  handful  of  men. 

The  city  of  Briel  (or  Brill)  was  not  populous  but  it  was  well  walled  and 
fortified.  It  was,  moreover,  a  most  commodious  port.  The  whole  rebel 
force  was  divided  into  two  parties,  one  of  which  under  Treslong  made  an 
attack  upon  the  southern  gate.  Treslong,  after  a  short  struggle,  succeeded 
in  forcing  his  entrance.  De  la  Marck  and  his  men  made  a  bonfire  at  the 
northern  gate,  and  then  battered  down  the  half-burned  portal  with  the  end 


ALVA  ^      m        ^  449 

(1673  A.1).] 

of  an  old  mast.  Thus  rudely  and  rapidly  did  the  Netherland  patriots  con- 
duct their  first  successful  siege.  The  two  parties,  not  more  perhaps  than 
two  hundretl  and  fifty  men  in  all,  met  before  sunset  in  the  centre  of  the  city, 
and  the  foundation  of  the  Dutch  Republic  was  laid.  The  wearj^  spirit  of  free- 
dom, so  long  a  fugitive  over  earth  and  sea,  had  at  last  found  a  resting  place, 
which  rude  and  even  ribald  hands  had  prepared. 

The  panic  created  by  the  first  api>earance  of  the  fleet  had  -been  so  exten- 
sive that  hardly  fifty  citizens  had  remained  in  the  town.  The  rest  had  all 
escaped,  with  as  much  pro|>erty  as  they  could  carry  away.  The  admiral, 
in  the  name  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  as  lawful  stadholder  of  Philip,  took 
formal  possession  of  an  almost  deserted  city.  No  indignity  was  offered  to 
the  inhabitants  of  cither  sex,  but  as  soon  as  the  conquerors  were  fairly  es- 
tablished in  the  best  houses  of  theplace,  the  inclination  to  plunder  the  churches 
could  no  longer  be  restrained.  The  altars  ami  iniages  were  all  destroyed,  the 
rich  furniture  and  gorgeous  vestments  appropriated  to  private  use.  Adam 
van  Haren  api)eareJon  his  vessel's  deck  attired  in  a  nuignificent  high  mass 
chasuble.  Treslong  thenceforth  useil  no  drinking  cups  in  his  cabin  save  the 
golden  chalices  of  the  sacrament.  Unfortunately,  their  hatred  to  poperj' 
was  not  confined  to  such  demonstrations.  Thirteen  unfortunate  monks 
and  priests,  who  had  been  unable  to  affect  their  escape,  were  arrested  and 
throwTi  into  prison,  from  whence  they  were  taken  a  few  days  later,  by  order 
of  the  ferocious  admiral,  and  executed  under  circumstances  of  great  barbarity. 

The  news  of  this  important  exploit  spread  with  gn»at  rapidity.  Alva, 
surprised  at  the  very  moment  of  venting  his  rage  on  the  butchers  and  grocers 
of  Brussels,  deferred  this  savage  design  in  order  to  tleal  with  the  new  ilimculty. 
He  had  certainly  not  expected  such  a  result  from  the  ready  compliance  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  with  his  request.  The  punsters  of  Brussels  were  sure  not 
to  let  such  an  opportunity  escape  them,  for  the  name  of  the  captured  to^^Ti 
was  susceptible  of  a  quibble,  and  the  event  had  taken  place  upon  AH  Fools' 
Day. 

On  Ai>rn  Fool's  Day. 

Duke  Alva'8  speculcJes  were  stolen  away 

became  a  popidar  couplet.  The  word  "spectacles,"  in  Flemish,  as  well  as 
the  name  of  the  suddenly  .surpri.sed  city,  bemg  Brill,  this  allusion  to  the  duke's 
loss  ami  implied  purblindness  was  not  destitute  of  ingenuity. 

The  duke,  however,  lost  not  an  instant  in  attempting  to  repair  the  disaster. 
Count  Bossu,  who  hatl  act^'d  as  statlhokler  of  Holland  and  Zealand  under 
Alva's  authority,  since  the  prince  (>f  Orange  had  resigned  that  office,  was 
ordered  at  once  to  recover  the  conquereti  seaport,  if  possible.  The  patriots, 
being  very  few  in  number,  were  at  first  afraid  to  venture  outside  the  gates 
to  attack  the  much  superior  force  of  their  invatlers.  A  carr>enter,  however, 
da.^hed  into  the  water  with  his  axe  in  his  hand,  and  swimmmg  to  the  Niew- 
land  sluice  hackmi  it  open  with  a  few  vigorous  strokes.  The  sea  poured  in 
at  once,  making  the  approach  to  the  city  upon  the  north  side  impossible. 
Bossu  then  led  his  Spaniards  along  the  Niewlanil  dike  to  the  southern  gate, 
where  they  were  received  with  a  warm  discharge  of  artillery,  which  completely 
staggered  them.  Meantime,  Treslong  and  Uobol  had,  in  the  most  daring 
manner,  roweti  out  to  the  ships  which  had  brought  the  enemy  to  the  island, 
cut  some  adrift,  and  set  others  on  fire.  The  Spaniards  at  the  southern  gate 
caught  sight  of  their  blazing  vessels,  saw  the  sea  rapidly  rising  over  the  dike, 
became  panic-struck  at  Ix^ing  thus  enclased  Ix'tween  fire  and  water,  and  daj^ht^l 
off  in  precipitate  retreat  along  the  slippery  causeway  anil  through  the  slimy 


430  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1S73  A.D.) 

and  turbid  waters,  which  were  fast  threatening  to  overwhelm  them.*  Many 
were  drowned  or  smothered  in  their  flight,  but  the  greater  portion  of  the  force 
effected  their  escape  in  the  vessels  which  still  remained  within  reach.  This 
danger  averted,  Admiral  de  la  Marck  summoned  all  the  inhabitants,  a  Iwro 
nunaber  of  whom  had  returned  to  the  town  after  the  capture  had  been  fainv 
established,  and  required  them,  as  well  as  all  the  population  of  the  island, 
to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  prince  of  Orange  as  stadholder  for  his 
majesty. 

THE  REVOLT  OF  THE  TOWNS 

The  example  thus  set  by  Briel  and  later  by  Flushing  was  rapidly  followed. 
The  first  halt  of  the  year  1572  was  distinguished  by  a  series  of  triumphs 
rendered  still  more  remarkable  by  the  reverses  which  followed  at  its  close. 
Of  a  sudden,  almost  as  it  were  by  accident,  a  small  but  important  seaport, 
the  object  for  which  the  prince  had  so  long  been  hoping,  was  secured. 
Instantly  afterwards,  half  the  island  of  Walcheren  renoimced  the  yoke  of  Alva. 
Next,  Enkhuizen,  the  key  to  the  Zuyder  5iee,  the  principal  arsenal  and  one 
of  the  first  commercial  cities  in  the  Netherlands,  rose  against  the  Spanish 
admiral,  and  hung  out  the  banner  of  Orange  on  its  ramparts.  The  revolu- 
tion effected  here  was  purely  the  work  of  the  people  —  of  the  mariners  and 
bui^hers  of  the  city.  By  the  same  spontaneous  movement,  nearly  all  the 
important  cities  of  Holland  and  Zealand  raised  the  standard  of  him  in  whom 
they  recognised  their  deliverer.  The  revolution  was  accomplished  under 
nearly  similar  circumstances  everywhere.  With  one  fierce  bound  of  enthusi- 
asm the  nation  shook  ofif  its  chain. 

Nor  was  it  in  Holland  and  Zealand  alone  that  the  beacon  fires  of  freedom 
were  lighted.  City  after  city  in  Gelderland,  Overyssel,  and  the  see  of  Utrecht; 
all  the  important  towns  of  Friesland,  some  sooner,  some  later,  some  without 
a  struggle,  some  after  a  short  siege,  some  with  resistance  by  the  functionaries 
of  government,  some  by  amicable  compromise  —  accepted  the  garrisons  of 
the  prince,  and  formally  recognised  his  authority.  Out  of  the  chaos  which 
a  long  and  pretematursJ  tyranny  had  produced,  the  first  struggling  elements 
of  a  new  and  a  better  world  began  to  appear.  It  were  superfluous  to  narrate 
the  details  which  marked  the  sudden  restoration  of  liberty  in  these  various 
groups  of  cities.  Traits  of  generosity  marked  the  change  of  government  in 
some,  circumstances  of  ferocity  disfigured  the  revolution  in  others.  The 
combats  were  perpetual  and  sanguinary,  the  prisoners  on  both  sides  instantly 
executed.  On  more  than  one  occasion,  men  were  seen  assisting  to  hang 
with  their  own  hands  and  in  cold  blood  their  own  brothers,  who  had  been 
taken  prisoners  in  the  enemy's  ranks.  When  the  captives  were  too  many 
to  be  hanged,  they  were  tied  back  to  back,  two  and  two,  and  thus  hurled  into 
the  sea.  The  islanders  found  a  fierce  pleasure  in  these  acts  of  cruelty.  A 
Spaniard  had  ceased  to  be  human  in  their  eyes.  On  one  occasion,  a  surgeon 
at  Veer  cut  the  heart  from  a  Spanish  prisoner,  nailed  it  on  a  vessel's  prow, 
and  invited  the  townsmen  to  come  and  fasten  their  teeth  in  it,  which  many 
did  with  savage  satisfaction.  In  other  parts  of  the  country  the  revolution 
was,  on  the  whole,  accomplished  with  comparative  calmness.  Even  traits 
of  generosity  were  not  uncommon. 

A  new  board  of  magistrates  had  been  chosen  in  all  the  redeemed  cities, 
by  popular  election.  They  were  required  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
kmg  of  Spain,  and  to  the  prince  of  Orange  as  his  stadholder;  to  promise 

['  "  Door  8lyk,  door  slop,  door  dik  en  dun"**  are  the  homely  but  vigorous  expressions  of  the 
Netherlaud  chronicler  Bor.Q 


ALVA  ^^^^^^"^  431 

[1672  A.D.] 

resistance  to  the  duke  of  Alva,  the  tenth  penny,  and  the  Inquisition ;  "  to  sup- 
port every  man's  freedom  and  the  welfare  of  the  country  —  to  protect  widows, 
orphans,  and  miserable  persons,  and  to  maintain  justice  and  truth." 

Diedrich  Sonoy  arrived  on  the  2nd  of  June  at  Enkhuizen.  He  was  pro- 
vided  by  the  prince  with  a  conunission,  appointing  him  lieutenant-governor 
of  North  Holland  or  Waterlanii.  Thus,  to  combat  the  authority  of  AJva, 
was  set  up  the  authority  of  the  king.*  The  stadholderatc  over  Holland  and 
Zealand  to  which  the  prince  ha<l  been  appointeti,  in  1559,  he  now  reassumed. 
Upon  this  fiction  n*i»ostHl  the  whiile  provisional  polity  of  the  revolteii  Nether- 
lands. 

The  written  instructions  eiven  by  the  prince  to  his  lieutenant  Sonoy  were 
to  "sec  that  the  wonl  of  God  wa«  preached,  without,  however,  suffering  any 
hinderance  to  the  Roman  Church  in  the  exercise  of  its  religion;  to  restore 
fugitives  and  the  banished  for  conscience*  sake,  and  to  require  of  all  magis- 
trates and  officers  of  guilds  and  brotherhoods  an  oath  of  fidelity."  The 
prince  likewise  prescribed  the  form  of  that  oath,  repeating  therein,  to  his 
etemiil  honour,  the  same  strict  prohibition  of  intolerance.  "Likewise,"  said 
the  formula,  "shall  those  of  'the  religion'  ofTer  no  let  or  hinderance  to  the 
Roman  churches." 

The  prince  was  still  in  Germany,  engaged  in  raising  troops  and  providing 
funds.  He  directed,  however,  the  affairs  of  the  insurgent  provinces  in  their 
minutest  details,  by  virtue  of  the  dictatorship  inevitably  forced  upon  him 
both  by  circumstances  and  by  the  people.  In  the  meantime,  Louis  of  Nassiui, 
the  Bayard  of  the  Netherlands,  perfonned  a  most  unexpected  and  brilliant 
exploit.  He  had  been  long  in  France,  negotiating  with  the  leaders  of  the 
Huguenots,  and,  more  secretly,  with  the  court.  He  was  suppos<^<l  by  all  the 
world  to  be  still  in  that  kingdom,  when  the  startling  intelligence  arrived  that 
he  had  surprised  and  captured  the  important  city  of  Mona,  the  capital  of 
Hainault. 

THE   STATES-GEXERAL    AT    I>OKT    (1572) 

Meantime,  the  duke,  w^ho  was  literally  "without  a  single  real"  was  forced 
at  last  to  smother  his  pride  in  the  matter  of  the  tenth  penny.  On  the  24th 
of  June  he  summoneil  the  states  of  Holland  to  assemble  on  the  1 5th  of  the 
ensuing  month.  In  the  missive  issued  for  this  purpose  he  formally  agreed 
to  abolish  the  wh^ile  tax,  on  condition  that  the  states-general  of  the  Nether- 
lands would  furnish  him  with  a  yearly  suj)ply  of  two  millions  of  florins. 

The  states  of  Holland  met,  indeed,  on  the  appointed  day  of  July,  but 
they  assembled  not  in  obedience  to  Alva  but  in  consequence  of  a  summons 
from  William  of  Orange.  Tlie  prince  hat!  again  a-ssemblerl  an  arm}'  in  Ger- 
many, consisting  of  fifteen  thousand  foot  and  seven  thousand  horse,  besides 
a  number  of  Netherlamiers,  mostly  Walloons,  amounting  to  nearly  three 
thousand  more.  Before  taking  the  field,  however,  it  was  necessary  that  he 
should  guanintee  at  least  three  months'  pay  to  his  troops.  This  he  could 
no  longer  do,  except  by  giving  bonds  endorsed  by  certain  cities  of  Holland 
as  his  securities.  He  had  accordingly  a<ldressed  letters  in  his  owti  name  to 
all  the  principal  cities,  fervently  adjuring  them  to  remember,  at  last,  what 
was  due  to  him,  to  the  fatherianfl.  and  to  their  own  character. 

"I.*et  not  a  sum  of  gold,"  said  he,  m  one  of  these  letters,  "be  so  dear  to 
you,  that  for  its  sake  you  will  sacrifice  your  lives,  your  wives,  your  chilth-en, 
and  all  your  descendants,  to  the  latest  generations;   that  you  will  bring  sin 

[t  Willi  tbis  attitude  of  loyally  to  a  8overei(n»  aud  reBistance  to  hi^  ministcri!.  sliould  be 
compared  the  similar  beginningsuf  the  French  and  American  RevolutionB.* 


43C  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1573  A.l>.] 

and  shame  upon  yourselves,  and  destruction  upon  us  who  have  so  heartily 
striven  to  assist  you.  Think  what  scorn  you  wul  incur  from  foreign  nations, 
what  a  crime  you  will  commit  against  the  Lord  Ood,  what  a  bloody  yoke  you 
will  impose  forever  upon  yourselves  and  your  children,  if  you  now  seek  for 
subterfuges;  if  you  now  prevent  us  from  taking  the  field  with  the  troops 
which  we  have  enlisted.  On  the  other  hand,  what  inexpressible  benefits 
you  will  confer  on  your  country,  if  you  now  help  us  to  rescue  that  fatherland 
from  the  power  of  Spanish  vultures  and  wolves." 

This  and  similar  missives,  circulated  throughout  the  province  of  Holland, 
produced  a  deep  impression.  In  accordance  with  his  suggestions,  the  deputies 
from  the  nobili^  and  from  twelve  cities  of  that  province  assembled  on  the 
15th  of  July,  at  Dort.  Strictly  speaking,  the  states  or  government  of  Holland, 
the  bodjr  which  represented  the  whole  people,  consisted  of  the  nobles  and  six 
great  cities.  On  tnis  occasion,  however,  Amsterdam,  being  still  in  the  power 
of  the  king,  could  send  no  deputies;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  all  the  small 
towns  were  invited  to  send  up  their  representatives  to  the  congress.  Eight 
accepted  the  proposal;  the  rest  declined  to  appoint  delegates,  partly  from 
motives  of  economy,  partly  from  timidity. 

These  states  were  the  legitimate  representatives  of  the  people,  but  they 
had  no  legislative  powers.  The  people  had  never  pretended  to  sovereignty, 
nor  did  they  claim  it  now.  The  source  from  whicn  the  government  of  the 
Netherlands  was  supposed  to  proceed  was  stiU  the  divine  mandate.  The 
prince  represented  the  royal  authority,  the  nobles  represented  both  themselves 
and  the  people  of  the  open  country,  while  the  twelve  cities  represented  the 
whole  body  of  burghers.  Together,  they  were  supposed  to  embody  all 
authority,  both  divine  and  human,  which  a  congress  could  exercise.  Thus 
the  whole  movement  was  directed  against  Alva  and  against  Count  Bossu, 
appointed  stadholder  by  Alva  in  the  place  of  Orange.  Philip's  name  was 
destined  to  figure  for  a  long  time  at  the  head  of  documents  by  which  moneys 
were  raised,  troops  levied,  and  taxes  collected,  all  to  be  used  in  deadly  war 
against  himself. 

The  states  were  convened  on  the  15th  of  July,  when  Paul  Buys,  pen- 
sionary of  Ley  den,  the  tried  and  confidential  friend  of  Orange,  was  elected 
advocate  of  Holland.  The  convention  was  then  adjourned  till  the  18th, 
when  Sainte-Aldegonde  made  his  appearance,  with  fuU  powers  to  act  pro- 
visionally in  behalf  of  his  highness.  The  impassioned  eloquence  of  Sainte- 
Aldegonde  produced  a  profound  impression.  The  men  who  had  obstinately 
refused  the  demands  of  Alva  now  imanimously  resolved  to  pour  forth  their 
gold  and  their  blood  at  the  call  of  Orange.  "Truly,"  wrote  tne  duke,  a  little 
later,  "  it  almost  drives  me  mad  to  see  the  difficulty  with  which  your  majesty's 
supplies  are  furnished,  and  the  liberality  with  which  the  people  place  their 
lives  and  fortunes  at  the  disposal  of  this  rebel."  It  seemed  strange  to  the 
loyal  governor  that  men  should  support  their  liberator  with  greater  alacrity 
than  that  with  which  they  served  their  destroyer!  All  seemed  determined, 
rather  than  pay  the  tenth  to  Alva,  to  pay  the  whole  to  the  prince. 

The  states,  furthermore,  by  unanimous  resolution,  declared  that  they 
recognised  the  prince  as  the  king's  lawful  stadholder  over  Holland,  Zealand, 
Friesland,  and  Utrecht,  and  that  they  would  use  their  influence  with  the 
other  provinces  to  procure  his  appointment  as  protector  of  all  the  Nether- 
lands during  the  king's  absence.  His  highness  was  requested  to  appoint  an 
admiral,  on  whom,  with  certain  deputies  from  the  water-cities,  the  conduct 
of  the  maritime  war  should  devolve.  With  regard  to  religion,  it  was  firmly 
established  that  the  public  exercises  of  divine  worship  should  be  permitted 


ALVA  "^^^^^""  4SS 

[1572  A.D.] 

not  only  to  the  Reformed  Church  but  to  the  Roman  Catholic  —  the  clergy 
of  both  being  protecteti  from  all  molestation. 

After  these  proceedings,  Count  de  hi  Marck  made  his  appearance  before 
the  assembly.  His  commission  from  Orange  was  read  to  the  deputies,  and 
by  them  ratified.  The  prince,  in  that  document,  authoris<>d  his  "  dear  cousin" 
to  enlist  troops,  to  accept  the  fealty  of  cities,  to  furnish  them  with  garrisons, 
to  re-establish  all  the  local  laws,  municipal  rights,  and  ancient  privileges 
which  had  been  suppressed. 

FIRST  SUCCESSES 


Meanwhile  the  war  Imd  opened  vigorously  in  Hainault,  Louis  of  Nassau 
had  no  S(X>ner  found  hinLself  in  possession  of  Mons  than  he  had  despatched 
Genlis  to  France  for  those  reinforcements  which  had  been  promised  by  royal 
lips.  On  the  other  hand,  [Alva's  son]  Don  Frederick  hehl  llie  city  closely 
belciiguered ;  s!mr[>  i-oinhats  before  the  walls  were  of  ahiiost  daily  occurrence. 

On  the  7th  of  July  William  crossed  the  llliine  at  Duisburg,  with  fourteen 
thousjiod  foot  and  seven  thousand  horse,  enlisted  in  Germany,  besides  a 
force  of  three  thousand  Walloons.  On  the  2;?r(i  of  July  he  took  the  city  of 
Roermond,  after  a  sharp  cannonade,  at  which  place  his  troops  already  began 
to  disgrace  the  honourable  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged,  by  imitating 
the  cruelties  and  barbarities  of  their  antagonists;  many  priests  and  monks 
were  put  to  death  by  the  sohliery  unth^  circumstances  of  great  barbarity. 
The  prince,  incensed  at  such  conduct,  but  being  unable  to  exercise  very 
stringent  authority  over  troops  whose  wages  he  was  not  yet  able  to  pay  in 
full,  issue<i  a  proclamation  denouncing  such  excesses  and  commanding  his 
followers,  upon  pain  of  death,  to  respect  the  rights  of  all  in<Hvitluals,  whether 
papist  or  Protestant,  and  to  protect  religious  exerciser  both  in  Catholic  and 
Reformed  churches. 

It  was  hardly  to  bo  expected  that  the  troops  enlisted  by  the  prince  in 
the  same  great  magazirie  of  hireling  soldiei-Sj  Germany,  whence  the  duke 
also  derived  his  annual  supplies,  would  be  likely  to  differ  very  much  in  their 
propensities  from  those  enrolled  under  Spanish  banners;  yet  there  was  a  vast 
contrast  between  the  characters  of  the  two  commanders.  One  leatler  in- 
culcated the  practice  of  robbery,  rape,  and  murder,  as  a  duty,  and  issued 
distinct  orders  to  butcher  "every  mother's  soir'  in  the  cities  which  he  cap- 
tured; theother  rest  rained  every  excess  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability,  protecting 
not  only  life  and  property  but  even  the  ancient  religion. 

The  prince  had  been  tlelaye<l  for  a  month  at  Roerraond;  because,  as  he 
expressed  it,  "he  had  not  a  single  sou,"  and  because,  in  consequence,  the 
troops  refused  to  advance  into  the  Netherlands.  Having  at  last  been  fur- 
nished with  the  requisite  guarantees  from  the  Holland  cities  for  three  months* 
pay,  on  the  27th  of  August  he  crossed  the  Maas  and  took  his  circuitous  way 
through  Diest,  Tirlemont,  Sichem,  Dendennonde,  Ltiuvain,  Meclilin,  Oude- 
narde,  Nivelles.  Many  cities  and  villages  accepted  his  authority  and 
admitted  his  garrisons. 

Louvain  purchased  its  neutrality  for  the  time  with  IG.OCK}  ducats;  Brussels 
obstinately  refused  to  listen  to  him,  anil  was  too  ptjwiTful  to  be  forcibly 
attacked  at  that  juncture;  other  important  cities,  convinced  by  the  argu- 
ments and  won  by  the  eloquence  of  the  various  proclamations  which  he  scat- 
tered as  he  advanced,  ninged  themselves  spontaneously  and  even  enthusi- 
astically upon  his  side.  How  different  would  liavo  been  the  result  of  his 
campaign  but  for  the  unexpected  earthquake  which  at  that  instant  was  to 

K.  W.  — TOU  XIII.  Sr 


434  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1572a.i>.j 

appal  Christendom,  and  to  scatter  all  his  well-matured  plans  and  legitimate 
hopes.  His  chief  reliance,  under  providence  and  his  own  strong  heart,  had 
been  upon  French  assistance. 

On  the  11th  of  August,  Coli^y  had  written  hopefully  of  his  movements 
towards  the  Netherlands,  sanctioned  and  aided  by  his  king.  A  fortnight 
from  that  day  occurred  the  "  Paris  wedding"  [the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre], 
and  the  admiral,  with  thousands  of  his  religious  confederates,  invited  to 
confidence  by  superhuman  treachery,  and  lulled  into  security  by  the  music 
of  August  marriage-bells,  was  suddenly  butchered  in  the  streets  of  Paris  by 
royal  and  noble  hands. 

The  prince  proceeded  on  his  march,  but  he  felt  convinced  that,  with  the 
very  arrival  of  the  awful  tidings,  the  fate  of  that  campaign  was  sealed,  and 
the  fall  of  Mons  inevitable.  In  his  own  language,  he  had  been  struck  to  the 
earth  "  with  the  blow  of  a  sledge-hammer  " ;  nor  did  the  enemy  draw  a  different 
augury  from  the  great  event.  Nothing  certainly  could,  in  Philip's  appre- 
hension, be  more  delightful  than  this  most  imexpected  and  most  opportune 
intelligence.  Charles  IX,  whose  intrigues  in  the  Netherlands  he  had  long 
known,  had  now  been  suddenly  converted  by  this  stupendous  crime  into  his 
most  powerful  ally,  while  at  the  same  time  the  Protestants  of  Europe  would 
learn  that  there  was  still  another  crowned  head  in  Christendom  more  deserving 
of  abhorrence  than  himself. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  the  prince  of  Orange  arrived  at 
P6ronne,  between  Binche  and  the  duke  of  Alva's  entrenchments.  The 
besieging  army  was  rich  in  notabilities  of  elevated  rank.  Don  Frederick 
of  Toleao  had  hitherto  commanded,  but  on  the  27th  of  August  the  dukes  of 
Medina-Celi  and  of  Alva  had  arrived  in  the  camp.  Directly  afterwards  came 
the  warlike  archbishop  of  Cologne,  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  cavalry.  There 
was  but  one  chance  for  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  experience  had  taught  him, 
four  years  before,  its  slendemess."  He  might  still  provoke  his  adversary 
into  a  pitched  battle,  and  he  relied  upon  God  for  the  result.  In  his  own 
words,  "  he  trusted  ever  that  the  great  God  of  armies  was  with  him,  and  would 
fight  in  the  midst  of  his  forces." 

The  Huguenot  soldiers  within  Mons  were  in  despair  and  mutiny;  Louis 
of  Nassau  lay  in  his  bed  consuming  with  a  dangerous  fever;  Genlis  had  been 
taken  prisoner,  and  his  army  cut  to  pieces;  Coligny  was  murdered,  and  Pro- 
testant France  paralysed;  the  troops  of  Orange,  enlisted  but  for  three  months, 
were  already  rebellious,  and  sure  to  break  into  open  insubordination  when 
the  consequences  of  the  Paris  massacre  should  become  entirely  clear  to  them. 

At  midnight  September  11,  the  Spaniards  made  a  sudden  attack,  the 
sentinels  were  cut  down,  the  whole  army  surprised,  and  for  a  moment  power- 
less, while,  for  two  hours  long,  from  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  three, 
the  Spaniards  butchered  their  foes,  hardly  aroused  from  their  sleep,  ignorant 
by  how  small  a  force  they  had  been  thus  suddenly  surprised,  and  unable 
in  the  confusion  to  distinguish  between  friend  and  foe. 

The  boldest,  led  by  Julian  Romero,  made  at  once  for  the  prince's  tent. 
His  guards  and  himself  were  in  profound  sleep,  but  a  small  spaniel  was  a 
more  faithful  sentinel.  The  creature  sprang  forward,  barking  furiously  at 
the  sound  of  hostile  footsteps,  and  scratching  his  master's  face  with  his  paws. 

[*  Bloki  calls  attention  to  tlio  fact  tliat  William  was  now  suffering,  in  addition  to  his  po- 
litical distresses,  a  grievous  domestic  calamity :  Anna  of  Saxony,  wliom  he  had  taken  to  wife 
after  some  opposition,  repeatedly  offered  submission  to  Alva,  and  finally  was  found  guilty  of 
adultery  with  the  father  of  the  great  painter  Rubens.  She  was  shut  up  in  prison  at  Dillen- 
burg,  in  March,  1571,  as  a  madwoman,  and  died  insane.  Meanwhile  Alva  kept  paid  assassins 
on  the  hunt  for  William's  life.] 


ALVA 


485 


[157S  A.D.] 

There  was  but  just  time  for  the  prince  to  mount  a  horse  which  was  ready 
saddled,  and  to  effect  his  escape  tlirough  the  darkness,  before  his  enemies 
sprang  into  the  tent.  His  servants  were  cut  down,  his  master  of  the  horse 
and  two  of  his  secretaries,  who  gained  their  saddles  a  moment  later,  all  lost 
their  lives;  and  but  for  the  little  dog's  watchfulness  William  of  Orange, 
upon  whose  shoulders  the  whole  weight  of  his  country's  fortunes  depended, 
would  have  been  led  within  a  week  to  an  ignominious  death.  To  his  dying 
day,  the  prince  over  afterwards  kept  a  spaniel  of  the  same  race  in  his  bed- 
chamber. Six  hundred  of  the  iirince's  tn»ops  had  l)een  put  to  the  sword, 
while  many  others  were  burned  in  their  beds,  or  drowned  in  the  little  rivulet 
which  flowed  outside  their  camp.     Only  sixty  Spaniards  lost  their  lives. 

COLLAPSE   OF  WILUAM's   PLANS 

Tlie  whole  marrow  of  Wiiruun's  enterprise  hfid  bt»eii  destroyed  in  an 
instant  by  the  maj^sacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  He  retreated  to  P^ronne  and 
Nivelles,  an  assassin,  named  Heist,  a  (lerman  by  birtli  but  a  French  chevalier, 
following  him  secretly  in  his  camp,  pledged  to  take  his  life  for  a  large  reward 
promised  by  Alva  —  an  enterprise  not  destined,  however,  to  be  successful 

The  soldiers  flatly  refused  to  remain  an  hour  longer  in  the  field,  or  even 
to  furnish  an  escort  for  Count  Louis,  if,  by  chance,  he  could  be  brought  out 
of  the  town.  The  prince  was  obliged  to  inform  his  brother  of  the  ilesperate 
state  of  his  affairs,  and  to  advise  him  to  capitulate  on  the  best  terms  whicli 
he  could  make.  With  a  heavy  iieart,  he  left  the  chivalrous  Louis  besieged 
in  the  city  wfiich  he  had  so  gallantly  captun-il,  and  t^Kjk  his  way  across  the 
Maas  towards  the  Rhine.  A  furious  mutiny  broke  out  among  his  troofjs. 
His  life  was,  with  difficulty,  saved  from  the  brutal  soldiery  mfuriated  at 
his  inability  to  pay  them  except  in  the  overdue  securities  of  tFie  Holland 
cities.     Crossing  the  Rhine  at  Orsoy,  he  rlisbanded  his  army. 

Yet  even  in  this  hour  of  liistress  and  defeat,  the  prince  seemed  more 
heroic  than  many  a  conqueror  in  his  day  of  triumph.  He  went  to  Holland, 
the  only  province  which  remained  true,  and  which  still  looketl  up  to  him  as 
its  saviour;  but  he  went  thilher  expecting  and  [jrepared  to  perish.  "There  I 
will  make  my  sepulchre,"  was  his  simple  and  sublime  exprebsion  in  a  private 
letter  to  his  brother. 

Meanwhile,  Count  Louis  lay  confined  to  his  couch  with  a  burning  fever. 
His  soldiers  refused  any  longer  to  hold  the  city. 

On  the  19th  of  Septenil>er,  accordingly,  articles  of  capitulation  were  signed. 
The  town  was  given  over  to  Alva,  but  all  the  soMiers  were  to  go  out  with  their 
weapons  and  property.  Aft<*r  Louis  and  his  troops  had  retired,  Noircarme,s, 
in  brutal  violation  of  the  terms  upon  which  the  town  had  surrendered,  now 
set  about  the  work  of  massacre  and  pillage.  A  commission  of  Troubles,  in 
close  imitation  of  the  famous  Blood  Council  at  Brussels,  was  established, 
the  mendx^rs  of  the  tribunal  being  appointed  by  Noircarmes  anil  all  iM^ing 
inhabitants  of  the  town.  The  council  commenced  proceedings  by  condemn- 
ing all  the  volunteers,  although  expressly  included  in  the  capitulation.  Their 
wives  and  children  were  all  banished;  their  pro|x^rty  was  all  confiscated. 
On  the  15th  of  December  the  executions  commenced. 


SPANISH   ATROCITIES 


The  Spaniards  hatl  thus  recovered  Mons.  by  wliich  event  the  temporary 
revolution  throughout  the  whole  Southern  Netherlands  was  at  an  end.    The 


436  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

keys  of  that  city  unlocked  the  gates  of  every  other  in  Brabant  and  Flanders. 
The  towns  which  had  w)  lately  embraced  the  authority  of  Orange  now  has- 
tened to  disavow  the  prince  and  to  return  to  their  ancient,  hvfKMTitlcal,  and 
cowardly  allegiance.  The  new  oaths  of  fidelity  were  in  general  accepted  by 
Alva,  but  the  beautiful  archiepiscopal  city  of  Mechlin  was  8electe<i  for  an 
example  an<l  n  sacrifice.  Tliere  were  heavy  arrears  due  to  the  Spanish  troops. 
To  indemnify  them,  and  to  make  go(xi  his  blasphemous  prophecy  of  divine 

chiistisement  for  its  past  misaeeds,  Alva  now 
abandoned  this  town  to  the  license  of  liis 
soldiery. 

Three  days  long  the  horrible  scene  con- 
tinue<l  —  one  day  for  the  benefit  of  the  Span- 
iards, two  more  for  that  of  the  Wallwins  and 
Germans.  All  the  churches,  monasteries,  reli- 
gious houses  of  every  kind  were  completely 
sacked.  Every  vjduable  article  which  they 
contained,  the  oniaments  of  altare,  the  reli- 
quaries, chalices,  euibroidered  curtains,  and 
carpets  of  velvet  or  damask,  the  golden  robes 
of  the  priests,  the  repositories  of  the  host,  the 
precious  vessels  of  chrism  and  extreme  unction, 
the  rich  clothing  and  jewelry  adorning  the 
effigies  of  the  Holy  Virgin  —  all  were  mdis- 
criininately  rifled  by  the  Spanish  soldiers.  The 
holy  wafers  were  trampled  under  foot,  the 
sacramcntjU  wine  was  poured  upon  the  ground , 
and,  in  briefj  all  the  horrors  which  had  been 
committed  by  the  iconoclasts  in  their  T^ildest 
moments,  and  for  a  thou.sandth  part  of  which 
enonnities  heretics  had  fx?en  bunied  in  droves, 
were  now  repeated  in  Meclilin  by  the  especial 
soldiers  of  Christ,  by  Roman  Catholics  who  had 
been  sent  to  the  Netherlands  to  avenge  the 
msults  offered  to  the  Ronmn  Catholic  faith. 
The  motive,  too,  which  inspired  the  sacri- 
legious crew  was  not  fanaticism,  but  the 
desirt*  of  plunder. 

The  iconoclasts  of  1500  had  destroyed  mil- 
lions of  property  for  the  sake  of  an  idea,  but  they  had  appropriated  nothing. 
Moreover,  they  had  scarcely  injured  a  limnan  being,  confining  their  wrath  to 
graven  images.  The  Hjxmiards  at  Mechlin  spared  neither  man  nor  woman. 
The  murders  and  outrages  would  be  incredible,  were  they  not  attested  by 
most  respectable  Catholic  witnesses.  Men  were  butchered  in  their  houses,  in 
the  streets,  at  the  altars.  Women  were  violated  by  hundreds  in  churches  and 
iij  graveyards.  Jlorcover,  tlie  deed  had  l>een  as  deliberately  arranged  as 
it  was  thoroughly  {)erforTned,  It  was  sanctioned  by  the  liighest  autliority. 
Zutphen  attempted  a  feeble  opposition  to  the  entrance  of  the  king's  troops, 
and  received  a  dreadful  duistisement  in  consetpence.  Alva  sent  orders  to 
his  son  to  leave  not  a  single  man  alive  in  the  city,  and  to  bum  every  house 
to  the  ground.  Tlie  duke's  command  was  almost  literally  obeyed.  As  the 
work  of  death  became  too  fatiguing  for  the  butchers,  five  hundred  innocent 
burgliers  were  tied  two  and  two,  back  to  back,  and  drowmed  like  dogs  in  the 
rivei'  Yfisel.    A  few  stragglers,  who  had  contrived  to  elude  pursuit  at  first, 


A   KOBLCWOMAK   or  THE  SiX* 
TJOHTH   CKKTUKV 


ALVA  m 

[167S  A.D.] 

were  afterwards  taken  from  their  hiding-places,  and  hung  upon  the  giillows 
by  the  feet,  some  of  which  victims  suffered  days  and  nights  of  agony  before 
death  eame  io  their  rr4ief.  Nearly  all  of  the  inhabitants  of  Najinien  were 
similarly  destroyed,  and  for  a  long  time  Naarden  ceased  to  exist.  Alva 
i^Tote,  with  his  usual  complacency  in  such  cases,  to  his  sovereign,  that  they 
had  cut  the  throats  of  the  burghers  and  all  the  garrison,  and  that  they  had 
not  left  a  mother^s  s<m  alive.  The  statement  was  almost  literally  correct, 
nor  was  the  cant  i^ith  which  these  bloodliounds  commented  upon  their  crimes 
leas  odious  than  their  guilt. 

It  Ls  not  without  reluctance,  but  still  with  a  et^m  determination,  that  the 
historian  should  faithfully  record  these  transactions.  To  extenuate  would 
be  base;  to  exaggerate  impo.s.sible.  It  is  good  that  the  world  should  not 
forget  how  much  wrong  has  been  endured  by  a  single  nation  at  the  hands  of 
despotism,  and  in  the  sacred  name  of  God.  There  have  been  tongues  and 
pens  enough  to  narrate  the  excesses  of  the  people,  bursting  from  time  to 
time  out  of  slavery  into  madness.  It  is  good,  too,  (hat  those  eriines  should 
b(*  r('mend>en'(l,  and  freshly  pondered;  but  it  is  e(pinlly  wliolescmu^  to  study 
the  opposite*  picture.  Tyranny,  ever  young  and  ever  oM,  constantly  repro- 
fluolng  herself  with  the  same  stony  features,  with  the  same  imposing  mask 
wliich  she  has  worn  through  all  ages,  ciin  never  be  too  minutely  examined, 
especially  when  she  paints  her  own  portrait,  and  when  the  secret  histr^ry  of 
her  guilt  is  furnished  by  the  confessions  of  her  lovers.  The  perusal  of  her 
traits  wtII  not  make  us  love  popular  Iil)erty  the  less. 

The  Iiistory  of  Alva's  administraiion  in  the  Netherlands  is  one  of  those 
pictures  which  strike  us  almost  dumb  with  womler.  Was  it  necessarv  that 
many  generations  should  wade  through  this  blood  in  order  to  acquire  for 
their  (h'scen^lants  t!ic  blessings  of  civil  and  religious  freedom? 

The  hearts  of  the  Hollanders  were  rather  steeled  to  resistance  than  awed 
into  submission  by  the  fate  of  Naarden.  A  fortunate  event,  too.  was  accepted 
as  a  lucky  omen  for  the  coming  contest.  A  little  fleet  of  armed  vessels, 
belonging  to  Holland,  hail  l»een  frozen  up  in  the  neigh bourhooil  of  Anisk'rdam. 
Don  Frederick,  on  his  arrival  from  Naarrlen,  despatched  a  body  of  picked 
men  over  the  ice  to  attack  the  imprisoned  vessels.  The  crews  had,  however, 
fortified  themselves  by  <^iigging  a  wide  trench  around  the  whole  iieet,  which 
thus  bt^came  from  the  moment  an  almost  imJ>^egnai^Ie  f(»rtress.  Out  of  thia 
frozen  citadel  a  strong  ban<l  of  well-armed  and  skilful  musketeers  sallierl  forth 
U[x>n  skates  as  the  besieging  force  advanced.  A  rapid,  brilliant,  ami  slippery 
skirmish  succeeded,  in  which  the  Holliiiiders,  so  accustomed  to  siK-h  sports, 
easily  vanquished  their  antagonistic,  and  drove  them  off  the  held,  witli  the 
loss  of  several  hundred  loft  dead  upon  the  ice.  ^*  'Twas  a  thing  never  heard 
of  before  to-<lay,"  saifl  ^VJva,  "  to  see  a  body  of  arquebusiers  thus  skinnishing 
upi)n  a  frozen  .sea."  In  the  course  of  the  next  four-and-twenty  liours  a  fiood 
and  a  rapid  thaw  released  the  vessels,  which  all  escaped  to  Enkhuizen,  while 
a  frost,  immediately  and  strangely  succee<ling,  marie  pursuit  impossible. 

The  Spaniards  were  astonished  at  these  novel  mana['u\Tes  upon  the  ice. 
It  is  amusing  to  read  their  elaln^rate  description.^  f>f  the  wonderful  appendagea 
which  had  enabled  the  Hollanders  to  glide  so  glibly  into  battle  with  a  superior 
force,  and  so  rapidly  to  glance  away,  after  achieving  a  signal  triumph.  Never- 
theless, the  Spaniards  could  never  be  dismayed,  and  were  always  apt  scholars, 
even  if  an  enemy  were  the  teacher.  Alva  immediately  ordered  seven  tlnjusand 
p>airs  of  skates,  and  his  soldiers  s(:H-)n  learneil  to  ]>erforni  military  evolutions 
with  these  new  accoutrements  as  audaciously^  if  not  as  adroitly,  as  the  Hol- 
landers. 


4S8  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[157&-1678  A.D.] 
THE  SIEGE  OF  HAAHLEM   (1672-1573) 

On  December  11th,  1572,  Don  Frederick  appeared  before  the  walls  of 
Haarlem  and  proceeded  regularly  to  invest  tne  place,  nor  did  he  cease 
reinforcing  himself  imtil  at  least  thirty  thousand  men,  including  fifteen 
hundred  cavalry,  had  been  encamped  around  the  city.  Against  this  unmense 
force,  nearly  equal  in  number  to  that  of  the  whole  population  of  the  city,  the 
garrison  within  the  walls  never  amounted  to  more  than  four  thousand  men, 
one  thousand  pioneers  or  delvers,  three  thousand  fighting  men,  and  about  three 
himch-ed  fightmg  women.  The  last  was  a  most  efficient  corps,  all  females  of 
respectable  character,  armed  with  sword,  musket,  and  dagger.  The  chief, 
Kanau  Hasselaer,  was  a  widow  of  distinguished  family  and  imblemished 
reputation,  about  forty-seven  years  of  age,  who,  at  the  head  of  her  amazons, 
pwl-icipated  in  many  of  the  most  fiercely  contested  actions  of  the  siege,  both 
within  and  without  the  walls. 

Meantime,  the  prince  of  Orange,  from  his  headquarters  at  Sassenheim,  on 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  mere,  made  every  effort  to  throw  succour  into 
the  place.  The  famous  siege  lasted  during  the  winter  and  early  spring. 
Alva  might  well  write  to  his  sovereign,  that  "it  was  a  war  such  as  never 
before  was  seen  or  heard  of  in  any  land  on  earth."  Yet  the  duke  had  known 
near  sixty  years  of  warfare.  After  nearly  six  years'  experience,  he  had  found 
its  "people  of  butter"  less  malleable  than  even  those  "iron  people"  whom 
he  boasted  of  having  tamed. 

All  efforts  at  relief  failing,  however,  the  ravages  of  starvation  compelled 
a  formal  surrender  on  the  12th  of  July,  1573.  On  the  following  mommg  the 
massacre  commenced.  The  plunder  had  been  commuted  for  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  guilders,  which  the  citizens  bound  themselves  to  pay 
in  four  instalments;  out  murder  was  an  indispensable  accompaniment  of 
victory  and  admitted  of  no  compromise.  The  garrison  were  immediately 
butchered.  Five  executioners,  with  their  attendants,  were  kept  constantly 
at  work;  and  when  at  last  they  were  exhausted  with  fatigue,  or  perhaps 
sickened  with  horror,  three  himdred  wretches  were  tied  two  and  two,  back  to 
back,  and  drowned  in  the  Haarlem  Lake. 

At  last,  after  twenty-three  hundred  human  creatures  had  been  murdered 
in  cold  blood,  within  a  city  where  so  many  thousands  had  previously  perished 
by  violent  or  by  lingering  deaths,  the  blasphemous  farce  of  a  pardon  was 
enacted.  Ten  thousand  two  himdred  and  fifty-six  shots  had  been  discharged 
against  the  walls  during  the  siege.  Twelve  thousand  of  the  besieging  army 
had  died  of  wounds  or  disease,  during  the  seven  months  and  two  days 
between  the  investment  and  the  surrender. 


REVIVAL  OF  DUTCH  EFFORTS 

It  was  obvious  that,  if  the  reduction  of  Haarlem  were  a  triumph,  it  was 
one  which  the  conquerors  might  well  exchange  for  a  defeat.  At  an^  rate,  it 
was  certain  that  the  Spanish  empire  was  not  strong  enough  to  sustain  many 
more  such  victories.  If  it  had  required  thirty  thousand  choice  troops,  among 
which  were  three  regiments  called  by  Alva  respectively  the  "  Invincibles," 
the  "Immortals,"  and  the  "None-such,"  to  conquer  the  weakest  city  of  Hol- 
land in  seven  months,  and  with  the  loss  of  twelve  thousand  men ;  how  many 
men,  how  long  a  time,  and  how  many  deaths  would  it  require  to  reduce  the 
rest  of  that  little  province?  Even  the  treasures  of  the  New  World  were 
inadequate  to  pay  for  the  conquest  of  that  little  sand-bank.    Within  five 


^  ^^^^^^^^^"^        ALVA  4S0 

[1673-1573  A.D.] 

years,  25,000»000  florins  had  been  sent  from  Spain  for  war  expenses  in  the 
Netherlands.  Yet  this  amount,  with  the  u<ldition  of  hirge  sums  annually 
derived  from  confiscations,  of  five  millions  at  which  the  proceeds  of  the 
hundredth  penny  was  estimate<i,  and  the  two  millions  yearly  for  which  the 
tenth  anti  twentieth  pence  had  been  compounded,  was  insufficient  to  save 
the  treasury  from  beggary  and  the  unpaiil  troops  from  nmtiny.'' 

Tcr  Goes  in  South  Beveland  and  other  to\\Tis  were  about  the  same  period 
the  scenes  of  gallant  actions,  and  of  subsequent  cruelties  of  the  most  revolting 
nature,  as  soon  as  they  fell  into  the  power  of  the  Spaniards.  Horrors  like 
these  were  sure  to  force  reprisals  on  the  part  of  the  maddened  patriots.  De 
la  Marck  carriefl  on  his  danng  exploits  with  a  cruelty  which  excited  the  indig- 
nation of  the  prince  of  Orange,  by  whom  he  was  removed  from  his  command. 
The  contest  was  for  a  while  pn»secuted,  witli  a  decrease  of  vigour  propor- 
tioned to  the  serious  losses  on  both  sides;  money  and  the  nnmitions  of  war 
began  to  fail:  and  though  the  Spaniards  succeeded  in  taking  the  Hague,  they 
WfTe  repulsi^d  Ix'fore  Alkmaar  with  great  loss,  and  their  fl(*et  was  almost 
entirely  destroyed  In  a  naval  combat  on  the  Zuycler  Zee.  The  count  Bossu, 
their  admiral,  was  taken  in  this  fight,  with  about  three  hundred  of  his  best 
sailors. » 

Tlie  states  of  the  Netherlands  had  been  formally  assemblfd  by  Alva  in 
September,  at  Brussels,  to  devise  ways  and  means  for  continuing  the  strugj^le. 
It  seemetl  to  the  prince  a  good  opportunity  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  patriotism 
of  the  whole  country.  He  furnished  the  province  of  Holland,  accordingly, 
with  the  outlines  of  an  addnvss  which  was  forthwith  despatched,  in  their  own 
and  his  name,  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  Netherlands: 

"  Tis  only  by  iho  Nfttliorlands  thnt  tho  Nptherlandfl  are  cruHUod,"  haU\  tlio  appeal. 
"Whence  has  the  duke  of  Alva  the  power  of  whicb  be  bonsU,  but  from  yourselves — from 
Netherlaiid  cities?  Whence  bis  ships,  supplies,  money,  weapons,  soldiers?  Frf)m  the  Nelher- 
Und  people.  Why  has  poor  Nothcrland  ibuH  become  degenerate  and  bastard?  Whither  has 
fled  the  noble  spirit  of  our  brave  forefatbern,  that  never  brook«Ml  the  tyranny  of  foreign  nations, 
nor  fiufferfd  a  stranger  even  to  bold  office  within  nur  horders?  If  tlip  litlle  province  of  Holland 
can  thus  hold  ai  bay  the  ijowi-r  of  Spain,  what  rouhl  nut  all  the  Nolhwrlands —  Brabant,  Flan- 
ders, Kriealaud,  and  the  rest  united — accomplish?" 

At  almost  the  same  time  the  prince  drew  up  and  put  in  circulation  one 
of  the  most  impassioned  productions  which  ever  came  from  his  jwn.  It  was 
entitled,  an  "Epistle,  in  form  of  supj^lieation,  to  his  royal  majesty  of  Spain, 
from  the  prince  of  Orange  and  tlie  states  of  Holland  and  Zealand."  The 
document  protluced  a  profound  impression  throufchout  Christendom.  It 
was  a  loyal  appeal  to  tlie  monarch's  loyjdty  ^  a  demand  that  the  land  privi- 
leges should  be  restored,  and  the  duke  of  Alva  removed.  It  contained  a 
startling  picture  of  his  atrocities  and  the  nation's  misery,  ami,  with  a  few 
energetic  strokes,  demolished  the  jiretence  that  these  sorrows  had  l>een  caused 
by  the  people's  f^uilt.  In  this  connection  the  prince  alluded  to  those  acta 
of  condemnation  which  the  governor-general  ha<!  promulgated  under  the 
name  of  panii^ns,  and  treateti  with  scorn  the  hypothesis  that  any  crimes  had 
been  committed  for  Alva  to  forgive. 

After  having  set  forth  the  tyranny  of  the  government  and  the  innocence 
of  the  people,  tlie  prince,  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  the  states,  announced 
the  detennination  at  which  they  had  arrivcil: 


"  The  tyrant,"  he  contlnned.  "  would  rather  stain  every  river  and  brook  with  oar  blood, 
and  hang  our  bodies  upon  every  tree  In  the  country,  than  not  feed  to  the  full  bin  vengeanoo, 
and  Hteep  biinHelf  to  the  lip«t  in  our  misery.  Tlierefore  we  have  t^ken  up  arms  aninst  the 
duke  of  Alva  and  his  adherents,  to  free  ourselTes,  our  wive?,  and  children  from  bis  blood- 


440  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1578  A.i>.] 
thirsty  hands.  If  he  prove  too  strong  for  as,  we  will  rather  die  an  honourahle  death  and  leave 
a  praiseworthT  fame,  than  bend  our  necks  and  reduce  oar  dear  fatherland  to  sach  slavery. 
Herdji  are  all  oar  cities  pledged  to  each  other  to  stand  every  siege,  to  dare  the  utmost,  to 
endare  every  poasihle  misery,  yea,  rather  to  set  fire  to  all  oar  homes,  and  be  consumed  with 
them  into  ashes  together,  than  ever  submit  to  the  decrees  of  this  cruel  tyrant." 

As  Alva's  administration  drew  to  a  close  it  was  marked  by  disaster  and  dis- 
grace on  land  and  sea.  The  brilliant  exploits  by  which  he  had  struck  terror 
into  the  heart  of  the  Netherlanders,  at  Jemraingen  and  in  Brabant,  had  been 
effaced  by  the  valour  of  a  handful  of  Hollanders,  without  discipline  or  expe- 
rience. To  the  patriots,  the  opportune  capture  of  so  considerable  a  personage 
as  Bossu,  the  admiral  and  governor  of  the  northern  province,  was  of  great 
advantage.  Such  of  the  hostages  from  Haarlem  as  had  not  yet  been  executed 
now  escaped  with  their  lives.  Moreover,  Sainte-Aldegonde,  the  eloquent 
patriot  and  confidential  friend  of  Orange,  who  was  taken  prisoner  a  few  weeks 
later,  in  an  action  at  Maeslandsluis,  was  preserved  from  inevitable  destruction 
by  the  same  cause.  The  prince  hastened  to  assure  the  duke  of  Alva  that  the 
same  measure  would  be  dealt  to  Bossu  as  should  be  meted  to  Sainte-Alde- 
gonde. It  was,  therefore,  impossible  for  the  governor-general  to  execute  his 
prisoner,  and  he  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  vexation  of  seeing  a  leading 
rebel  and  heretic  in  his  power,  whom  he  dared  not  strike.  Both  the  distin- 
guished prisoners  eventually  regained  their  liberty. 

THE   RECALL  OF  ALVA    (1573) 

The  duke  was,  doubtless,  lower  sunk  in  the  estimation  of  all  classes  than 
he  had  ever  been  before,  during  his  lon^  and  generaUy  successful  life.  The 
reverses  sustained  by  his  army,  the  belief  that  his  master  had  grown  cold 
towards  him,  the  certainty  that  his  career  in  the  Netherlands  was  closing 
without  a  satisfactory  result,  the  natural  weariness  produced  upon  men^s 
minds  by  the  contemplation  of  so  monotonous  and  unmitigated  a  tyranny 
during  so  many  years,  all  contributed  to  diminish  his  reputation.  He  felt 
himself  odious  alike  to  princes  and  to  plebeians.  With  his  cabinet  councillors 
he  had  long  been  upon  unsatisfactory  terms.  President  Tisnacq  had  died 
early  in  the  summer,  and  Viglius,  much  against  his  will,  had  been  induced, 
provisionally,  to  supply  his  place.  But  there  was  now  hardly  a  pretence 
of  friendship  between  the  learned  Frisian  and  the  Governor.  Each  cordially 
detested  the  other. 

The  duke  had  contracted  in  Amsterdam  an  enormous  amount  of  debt, 
both  public  and  private.  He  accordingly,  early  in  November,  caused  a  procla- 
mation to  be  made  throughout  tlie  city  by  sound  of  trumpet,  that  all  persons 
having  demands  upon  him  wore  to  present  their  claims,  in  person,  upon  a 
specified  day.  During  the  night  preceding  the  day  so  appointed,  the  duke 
and  his  train  very  noiselessly  took  their  departure,  wntliout  notice  or  beat  of 
drum.  By  this  masterly  generalship  his  unhappy  creditors  were  foiled  upon 
the  very  eve  of  their  anticipated  triumph;  the  heavy  accounts  which  had 
been  contracted  on  the  faith  of  the  king  and  the  governor  remained  for  the 
most  part  unpaid,  and  many  opulent  and  respectable  families  were  reduced 
to  beggary.  Such  was  the  consequence  of  the  unlimited  confidence  which 
they  had  reposed  in  the  honour  of  their  tyrant. 

On  the  17th  of  November,  1573,  Don  Luis  de  Requesens  y  Cuiiiga,  grand 
commander  of  St.  lago,  the  appointed  successor  of  Alva,  arrived  in  Brussels, 
where  he  was  received  with  great  rejoicings.  The  duke,  on  the  same  day, 
wrote  to  the  king  "kissing  his  feet"  for  thus  relieving  him  of  his  functions. 


441 

[1573  AJ>,] 

On  the  ISth  of  Dprenil>pr,  1573,  the  duke  of  Alva  departerl  from  the  provinces 
forever.  He  hail  kept  his  bed  for  tJie  greater  \ydvi  of  the  time  during  tlie 
last  few  weeks  of  his  government  —  partly  on  account  of  his  gout,  partly 
to  avoid  being  w^en  in  his  humiliation;  but  mainly,  it  was  said,  to  escape  the 
pressing  demands  of  Iiis  creditors.  He  expressed  a  fear  of  travelling  home- 
ward through  France,  on  the  ground  that  he  might  very  probably  receive  a 
shot  out  of  a  window  as  he  went  by.  He  complained  pathetically  that,  after 
all  his  labours  he  had  not  "gained  the  approbation  of  the  king,"  while  he  had 
incurred  "the  malevolence  and  miiversal  hatred  of  every  individual  b  the 
country." 

On  his  jnuniey  from  the  Nctherlanfls  he  is  said  to  have  boasted  that  he 
had  caused  eighteen  thousand  six  hundred  inhabitants  of  the  provinces  to 
be  executed  during  the  period  of  his  government/  The  number  of  those 
who  had  perished,  by  battle,  sie^e,  starvation,  and  massacre,  detied  computa- 
tion. The  duke  wilh  well  received  by  his  royal  master,  and  remained  in 
favour  until  a  new  adventure  of  Don  Frederick  l)rought  father  and  son  into 
disgrace.  Having  deceived  and  aban*ioned  a  maid  of  honour,  he  suddenly 
espoused  his  cousin,  in  order  to  uvoiil  that  repunitioii -by  marriage  which 
was  demanded  for  his  offence.  In  conseciuence,  both  the  duke  and  Don 
Frederick  were  imprisoned  and  banished,  nor  was  Alva  released  till  a  general 
of  experience  was  required  for  the  conquest  of  Portugal.  Thither,  as  it  were 
with  fetters  on  his  legs,  he  went.  After  having  accomplished  the  military 
enterprise  entnisted  to  him,  he  feU  into  a  lingering  fever,  at  the  termination 
of  which  he  was  so  much  retfuced  that  he  was  only  kept  alive  by  milk,  which 
lie  drank  from  a  woman's  breast.  Such  was  Hie  gentle  s(*corid  childliood  of 
the  man  who  had  almost  literally  been  drinking  blood  for  seventy  years.  He 
died  on  the  12th  of  December.  1582, 


MOTLEY  8   ESTIMATE  OF  ALVA 

The  duke's  military  fame  was  unquestionable  when  he  came  to  the  prov- 
inces, anri  both  in  stricken  fields  and  in  long  campaigns  he  showed  !iow  thor- 
oughly it  had  Ix^n  deserved;  yet  he  left  the  Netherlands  a  baffled  man. 

As  a  commander,  therefore,  he  gained,  upon  the  wbole^  no  additional 
laurels  during  his  long  administration  of  the  Netherhnuls.  As  a  financier, 
he  exhibited  a  wonderful  ignorance  of  the  first  principles  of  political  economy. 

As  an  administrator  of  the  civil  and  judicial  affairs  of  the  country,  he  at 
once  reduced  its  institutions  to  a  friglitfu)  simpllrHy.  He  strode  with  gigantic 
steps  over  haughty  statutes  and  popular  constitutions;  crui^hin^  alike  the 
magnates  who  claimed  a  bench  of  monarchs  for  their  jury^  and  the  ignoble 
artisans  who  coukl  appeal  only  to  the  laws  of  their  land.  From  the  pompous 
and  theatrical  scaffolds  of  Egmont  and  Hom^  to  the  ninet^?en  halters  prepared 
by  Master  Karl  t^j  hang  up  the  chief  bakers  and  brewers  of  Brussels  on  their 
own  thresholds;  from  the  lx*heading  of  the  twenty  nobles  on  the  horse-market, 
in  the  opening  of  the  governor's  career,  to  the  roasting  alive  of  Uitenhoovc 
at  its  close;  from  tlie  block  on  which  fell  (he  honored  litvid  of  Antony  Stnuden, 
to  the  obscure  chair  m  which  tlie  ancient  gentlewoman  of  Amsterdam  suffered 
death  for  an  act  of  vicarious  mercy;  from  one  year's  end  to  another's;  from 
the  most  signal  to  the  most  squalid  scenes  of  sacrifice  —  the  eye  and  harni 

['  Oacbard,"  after  ft  cIo«>e  study  of  the  docutnentft,  tliinkH  tliat  Alva  boasted  extravagaotly 
and  thnt  the  pight**nn  thounand  victims  of  his  Blood  Omnril  should  Iw  reduend  to  eix  or  eight 
thoutgind.  He  adds  grimly  that  "ereo  the  smaller  number  will  Buifice  to  justify  the  execratiuu 
to  which  history  has  devoted  the  name  of  the  dtike  of  Alva."] 


THE  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 


of  the  great  master  directed,  without  weariness,  the  task  imposed  by  the 

sovereign. 

With  all  the  bloodshed  at  Mons,  and  Naarden,  and  Mechlin,  and  by  the 
council  of  Tunuilts,  daily,  for  six  years  long,  still  crying  from  the  ground, 
he  taxed  himself  with  a  misplaced  and  foolish  tenderness  to  the  people.  He 
aasured  the  king  that  when  Alkmaar  should  be  taken,  he  would  not  spare  a 
"living  soul  among  its  whole  population";  and,  as  his  parting  advnoc,  he 
recommended  that  every  city  m  the  Netherlands  should  be  burned  to  the 
ground,  except  a  few  which  could  be  occupied  permanently  by  the  royal  troops. 
On  the  whole,  so  finished  a  picture  of  a  perfect  and  absolute  tyranny  ha.s 
rarely  been  presented  to  mankind  by  history,  as  in  Alva's  administration  of 
the  Netherlands. 

No  mode  in  which  human  beings  have  ever  caused  their  fellow  creatures 
to  suffer  was  omitted  from  daily  practice.  Men,  women,  and  chikken,  old 
and  young,  nobles  and  paupers,  opulent  burghers,  hospital  patients,  lunatics, 
dead  bodies,  all  were  indiscriminately  made  to  furnish  food  for  tlie  scaffold 
and  the  stake.  Men  were  tortured,  beheaded,  hanged  by  the  neck  and  by  the 
legs,  burned  before  slow  fires,  pinched  to  death  with  re<l-hot  tongs,  broken 
ui>on  the  wheel,  starved,  and  flayed  alive.  Their  skins,  stripped  from  the 
living  bfHly,  were  stretched  upon  drums,  to  l)e  beaten  in  the  march  of  their 
brethren  to  the  gallows.  The  bodies  of  many  who  had  died  a  natural  death 
were  exhumed,  and  their  festering  remains  hanged  upon  the  gibbet,  on  pre- 
text that  they  hati  died  without  receiving  the  sacrament,  but  in  reaJity  that 
their  property  might  become  the  legitimate  prey  of  the  treasury. 

Marriages  of  long  standing  were  dissolved  by  order  of  government,  that 
rich  heiresses  iniglit  i>e  married  against  their  will  to  foreigners  whom  they 
abhorred.  Women  and  children  were  executed  for  the  crime  of  assisting 
their  fugitive  Imsbands  ami  parents  with  a  penny  in  their  utmast  need,  and 
even  for  consoling  them  with  a  letter  in  their  exile.  Such  was  the  regular 
course  of  affairs  ^Ls  administered  by  the  Blood  CouneiL  Tlie  additional  bar- 
barities committeil  amid  the  sack  and  ruin  of  those  blazing  and  starving  cities 
are  almost  beyond  belief;  unborn  infants  were  torn  from  the  living  oodies 
of  their  rrmHiers;  women  an(.l  chihlren  were  violated  l)y  thousjinds;  and 
whole  populations  burned  and  hacked  to  pieces  by  soldiers  in  every  mode 
which  cruelty,  in  its  wanton  ingenuity,  could  devise.  Such  was  the  admini- 
stration, of  which  Vargas  affirmed,  at  its  close,  that  too  much  mercy,  "nimia 
mvicricordia,^^  had  l^een  its  ruin. 

The  character  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  so  far  as  the  Netherlands  are  con- 
cerned, seems  almost  like  a  caricature.  As  a  creation  of  fiction,  it  would 
seem  grotesque:  yet  even  that  hanly,  historical  scepticism  which  deliglits  in 
reversmg  the  judgment  of  centuries,  and  in  re-establishing  reputations  long 
emce  degraded  to  the  dust,  must  find  it  difficult  to  alter  thts  man's  posi- 
tion. No  historical  decision  is  final;  an  appeal  to  a  more  remote  posterity, 
fountleil  upon  more  accurate  evidence,  is  always  valid:  but  when  the  verdict 
has  been  pronounce*!  upon  facts  which  are  undisputed,  and  upon  testimony 
from  the  criminals  lips,  there  is  little  chance  of  a  reversal  of  the  sentence. 

The  time  is  pjist  when  it  coukl  lie  said  that  the  cruelty  of  Alva,  or  the 
enomiities  of  his  administration,  have  been  exaggerated  by  party  violence. 
Human  invention  is  incapable  of  outstripping  the  truth  upon  thl^^  subject. 
To  attempt  the  defence  of  either  the  man  or  his  measures  at  the  present 
day  is  to  convict  oneself  of  an  amount  of  ignorance  or  of  bigotry  against 
which  history  and  argument  are  alike  powerless.  The  publicution  of  the 
d'lke's  letters  in  the  correspondence  of  Simancas  and  in  the  Besangon  papers, 


ALVA 


448 


together  with  that  compact  mass  of  horror  long  before  the  world  under  the 
title  of  Sententien  van  Alva  in  which  a  portion  only  of  the  sentences  of  death 
and  banishment  pronounced  by  him  duiing  his  reign  have  been  copied  from 
the  official  records  —  these  in  themselves  would  te  a  sufficient  justification 
of  all  the  charges  ever  brought  by  the  most  bitter  contemporary  of  Holland 
or  Flanders.  If  the  investigator  should  remain  sceptical,  however,  let  him 
examine  the  Registre  des  C&ndamnis  et  Bannis  h  Cause  des  Troubles  des  Pays* 
Bas  in  three,  together  with  the  Records  of  the  ConseU  des  Troubles,  in  forty- 
three  folio  volumes,  in  the  Royal  Archives  at  Brussels.  After  going  through 
all  these  chronicles  of  iniquity,  the  most  determined  historic  doubter  will 
probably  throw  up  the  case.  It  is  an  affectation  of  philosophical  candour  to 
extenuate  vices  which  are  not  only  avowed,  but  claimed  as  virtues.*^ 


CHAPTER  VII 
PROGRESS   TOWARDS  UNION 

[1578-1579  A.D.] 

The  horrors  of  Alva's  administration  had  caused  men  to  look  back  with 
fondness  upon  the  milder  and  more  vacillating  tyranny  of  the  duchess  Mar- 
garet. From  the  same  cause  the  advent  of  the  grand  commander  was  hailed 
with  pleasure  and  with  a  momentary  gleam  of  hope. 

Don  Luis  de  Rcquesens  and  Cufiiga,  grand  commander  of  Castile  and  late 
governor  of  Milan,  was  a  man  of  metliocre  abilities,  who  possessed  a  reputation 
for  moderation  and  sagacity  which  he  hardly  deserved.  His  military  prowess 
had  been  chiefly  displayed  in  the  bloody  and  barren  battle  of  Lepanto,  where 
his  conduct  and  counsel  were  supposed  to  have  contributed,  in  some  measure, 
to  the  victorious  result.  His  administration  at  Milan  had  been  characteriseci 
as  firm  and  moderate.  Nevertheless  his  character  was  regarded  with  anything 
but  favourable  eyes  in  the  Netherlands.  Men  told  each  other  of  his  broken 
faith  to  the  Moors  in  Granada,  and  of  his  unpopularity  in  Milan,  where,  not- 
withstanding his  boasted  moderation,  he  had,  in  n^ality,  so  oi)pressed  the 
people  as  to  gain  their  deadly  hatred.  They  complaineci,  too,  that  it  was  an 
insiilt  to  send,  as  governor-general  of  the  provinces,  not  a  ])rincc  of  the  blood, 
as  used  to  be  the  case,  but  a  simple  "gentleman  of  cloak  and  sword." 

It  was  now  evident  to  the  world  that  the  revolt  had  reached  a  stage  in 
which  it  could  be  terminated  only  by  absolute  conquest  or  concession.  The 
new  governor  accordingly,  in  case  the  Netherlanders  would  abandon  every 
object  for  which  they  had  been  so  heroically  contending,  was  empowered 
to  concede  a  pardon.  It  was  expressly  enjoined  upon  him,  however,  that 
no  conciliatory  measures  should  be  adopted  in  which  the  king's  absolute 
supremacy,  and  the  total  prohibition  of  every  form  of  worship  but  the  Roman 
Catholic,  were  not  assumed  as  a  basis.  Now,  as  the  people  had  been  con- 
tending at  least  ten  years  long  for  constitutional  rights  against  prerogative, 

444 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS   UNION 


445 


and  at  least  seven  for  liberty  of  conscience  against  papistry,  it  yvas  easy  to 
foretell  how  much  effect  any  negotiations  tlius  coniuieneed  were  likely  to 
produce. 

COST   OP  THE  WAR 

The  rebellion  had  been  an  expensive  matter  to  the  Crown.  The  army  in 
the  Netherlands  numbered  more  than  sixty-two  thousand  men,  eight  thou- 
sand being;  Spaniards,  the  rest  Walloons  and  Germans.  Forty,  millions  of 
dollars  had  already  been  sunk,  and  it  seemed  probable  that  it  would  require 
nearly  the  whole  annual  produce  of  the  Americiui  mines  to  sustain  the  war. 
Tlie  transatlantic  gold  and  silver,  disinterred  from  the  depths  where  they 
had  been  buried  for  ages»  were  employed,  not  to  expand  tlie  current  of  a 
healthy,  life-giving  coiinntTee,  l)ut  Ui  Ik*  nielliMl  into  blood.  The  *sweat  and 
the  tc^rtures  of  the  kind's  pagan  subjects  in  the  primeval  forests  of  the  New 
World  were  made  subsidiary  to  tlie  extermination  of  his  Netherlund  peo]>le 
and  the  dcstriH'tinn  of  an  ancient  civilisati{>n.  To  this  end  had  Colund)Us 
discovere<l  a  hemisphere  for  Castile  and  Aragon,  and  the  new  Indies  revealed 
their  hidden  treasures? 

Forty  millions  of  ducats  had  been  spent.  Six  and  a  half  millions  of 
arrearages  were  due  to  the  anny,  while  its  current  expenses  were  six  hundred 
thousand  a  month.  The  military  exix»nses  idone  of  the  Netherlands  were 
accordingly  more  than  seven  millions  of  dollars  yearly,  anfl  the  mines  of 
the  New  World  f)roduced,  tluring  the  half-century  of  Philip's  reign,  an  anunal 
average  of  only  eleven.  Against  this  constantly-increasing  deficit,  there  was 
not  a  stiver  in  the  exchequer,  nor  the  means  of  raising  one.  The  tenth  penny 
had  Ix^en  long  virtually  extinct,  and  was  soon  to  be  formally  aboli-shed. 
Confiscation  had  ceased  to  afTonl  a  |M*rmanent  revenue,  and  the  estates 
obstinately  refused  to  grant  a  dollar.  Such  was  the  condition  to  which  the 
unrelenting  tyranny  antl  the  financial  experiments  of  Alva  had  reduced  the 
country.  It  was  tlierefore  obvious  to  Requesens  (liat  it  woulil  be  useful  at 
the  moment  to  hold  out  hopes  of  pardon  and  reconciliation. 


AULITARY  AFFAIRS 

It  wnSj  however,  not  possible  to  apply  these  hypocritical  measures  imme- 
diately. The  war  was  in  fidl  career  ancl  could  not  be  arrested  even  in  that 
wintry  season.  The  patriots  held  Mondragon  closely  besieged  in  Middelburg, 
the  la.st  point  in  the  Isle  of  Walcheren  which  held  for  the  king.'  There  was  a 
considerable  treasure  in  money  and  merchandise  shut  up  in  that  city;  and, 
moreover,  so  deserving  and  distinguished  an  officer  as  Mondragon  could  not 
be  abandoned  to  his  fate.     At  the  same  time,  famine  was  pressing  him  sorely. 

p  The  Spanlsli  garrlnon,  under  Aloudragoii,  bad  now  sustajned  a  blix'kttdv  of  uetarly  two 
ycmrtt,  with  a  cuaatancy  ami  fidolit/  wbidi  tbv  Hollanders  tbt^mselvcs  c-oitld  ncvt  Hurpass.  l^n 
Sanclio  de  Avilo,  admirtil  of  the  S{mni.sh  fliMM,  bad  fruiii  lim«  to  time  Ifepn  nbk*  to  throw  in  Kup- 
pliea,  but  it  was  ijivariably  a  work  of  miicb  dauger  and  difficulty,  and  attended  witli  beavy  toss 
iMitb  of  men  and  Hbifis,  the  gueux  bein^  constantly  victoriou»<  iu  tho  nuniert>iLKftldnru8bLtH  wLicU 
occurred.  The  attempt  to  preserve  Mlddelburg  bad  cost  tbc  king  of  Spain  nn  !?»»  a  nuiu  than 
7,000,000  florins,  besides  the  pay  of  the  soldiers.  The  giieux  (or,  an  they  were  usually  called, 
"  water  gueux  "),  on  the  other  band,  bad  no  regular  fund  to  depend  uiwn  for  either  pay  or 
subfdHtonce.  being  chiefly  supported  by  the  inbabitjintit  of  the  pUoe«  where  they  anchored,  who 
gmve  them  bread,  money,  and  8ucb  other  neceararies  as  ther  could  afford  ;  when  this  resource 
failed,  they  went  in  chase  of  the  merchant  dblps  going  to  iHanders.  and  lived  upon  the  booty 
they  tbu8  raptured  ;  Homeiimes,  however,  they  were  reduced  to  extreme  scArcity,  and  even  the 
biguetft  otBcers  were  content  to  uubaitit  fur  weeks  together  on  nothing  but  ualted  herrings,  — 

DaVTU.c] 


446  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1573-1674  A.D.] 

On  the  other  hand,  the  situation  of  the  patriots  was  not  very  encoura^g. 
Their  superiority  on  the  sea  was  unquestionable,  for  the  Hollanders  and 
Zealanders  were  the  best  sailors  in  the  world,  and  they  asked  of  their  country 
no  payment  for  their  blood  but  thanks.  The  land  forces,  however,  were 
usually  mercenaries,  who  were  apt  to  mutiny  at  the  commencement  of  an 
action  if,  as  was  too  often  the  case,  their  wages  could  not  be  paid.  Holland 
was  entirely  cut  in  twain  by  the  loss  of  Haarlem  and  the  leaguer  of  Leyden, 
no  communication  between  the  dissevered  portions  being  possible,  except 
with  difficulty  and  danger.  The  states,  although  they  had  done  much  for 
the  cause,  and  were  prepared  to  do  much  more,  were  too  apt  to  wrangle 
about  economical  details.  They  irritated  the  prince  of  Orange  by  huxtering 
about  subsidies  to  a  degree  which  he  could  hardly  brook.  He  had  strong 
hopes  from  France.^ 

Requesens  had  first  of  all  to  purchase,  by  victories  over  the  people,  the 
right  to  offer  them  p)eace.  He  fitted  out  at  Antwerp  and  at  Bergen-op-Zoom 
an  expedition  against  the  Zealand  islands.  But  the  indefatigable  Boisot 
headed  it  oflF,  attacked  the  fleet  from  Bergen-op-Zoom  before  it  could  effect 
a  junction  with  the  other,  and  captured  a  majority  of  the  ships  (January, 
1574);  Middelburg  surrendered  February  18th.  This  defeat,  which  would 
have  discouraged  a  less  able  leader,  did  not  stop  Requesens. 

The  bulk  ol  his  troops  was  assembled  on  the  banks  of  the  Schelde  awaiting 
transportation  to  Zealand.  He  led  them  in  the  direction  of  the  Maas,  whither 
he  summoned  at  the  same  time  the  division  encamped  before  Leyden;  and 
thus,  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  his  entire  body  of  troops,  he  set  out  to 
meet  a  German  army  which  the  prince  of  Orange  was  awaiting.  This  army, 
ten  thousand  men  strong,  had  just  crossed  Limburg  under  the  leadership  of 
Coimts  Louis  and  Henry  of  Nassau.  The  governor  came  upon  them  above 
Nimeguen  on  a  wide  plam  known  as  the  Mooker  Heath  or  Mookerheyde.  He 
offered  them  battle;  and  the  two  counts,  who  accepted  it,  were  disastrously 
defeated  and  included  in  the  number  of  dead.     (April  15th,  1574.) 

After  having  re-established  by  this  success  the  honour  of  his  arms,  the 
governor  had  to  contend,  for  a  time,  with  mutiny  among  his  soldiers.  The 
Spaniards,  to  whom  twenty-eight  months'  pay  was  owing,  rebelled  against 
their  officers,  elected  a  chief  called  an  elettOj  and  marched  upon  Antwerp,  where 
the  garrison  permitted  them  to  enter  the  town.  They  were  threatening  to 
sack  the  city  when  Requesens  succeeded  in  pacifying  them  by  distributing 
all  the  money  he  could  get  out  of  the  citizens  or  borrow  elsewhere  among 
them.  He  even  pawned  his  own  plate.  He  then  led  his  men  to  Leyden 
and  recommenced  the  siege  of  that  place  *  with  such  vigour  that  its  inhabitants 
were  soon  reduced  to  the  last  extremity. 

Requesens  resolved  to  convoke  the  provincial  states  in  order  to  obtain 
further  subsidies  and  ask  the  king  for  a  fleet  powerful  enough  to  attain  the 
mastery  of  the  sea.  Philip,  in  truth,  did  order  a  fleet  to  be  sent,  but  an 
epidemic  made  such  ravages  among  the  sailors  that  the  ships  could  not  sail. 
As  to  the  states,  they  assembled  at  Brussels,  May,  1574;  but  although  the 
governor  made  them,  in  the  king's  name,  several  important  concessions  — 
general  and  unreserved  amnesty,  abolition  of  the  new  taxes,  and  suppression 
of  the  council  of  Troubles  —  yet  the  public  discontent  wanted  a  more 
extended  satisfaction.  They  demanded  the  retirement  of  the  foreigners  and 
repression  of  "the  extortions  and  pillaging"  of  the  soldiers,  who  treated 
the  king's  subjects  as  "poor  slaves  and  infidels."    This  was  an  allusion  to  the 

['  In  tbe  mean  while  Admiral  Boisot  had  found  and  defeated  a  Spanish  fleet  of  twenty-two 
ships  off  Antwerp,  sinking  fourteen  of  them  and  taking  Vice- Admiral  Haemstede  prisoner.] 


PROGRESS    TOWARDS    UNION  447 

[1573-1574  A.  D.l 

cruelties  of  the  Spaniards  in  America.  Besides  this  they  called  for  the 
restoration  of  ignored  and  broken  privileges,  and  some  agreement  with  the 
provinces  which  had  taken  up  anns.  The  deputies,  taken  aside  one  after 
another,  proved  inflexible.  They  refused  to  vote  the  money,  and  the  governor 
cot  nothing  from  them  but  complaints  and  remonstrances.  Such  was  the 
itterness  of  the  language  that  Requesens  was  affrighted  at  the  ferment  they 
raised.  "God  preserve  us,"  he  exclaimed,  "from  such  estates!  '*  For  a 
moment  he  seemed  to  despair  of  the  future.  Nevertheless,  he  made  a  suffi- 
ciently favourable  response  to  the  demands  he  had  received,  and  obtained  a 
promise  of  the  subsidy.*' 


THE   SIEGE   OF  LEYDEN 


The  invasion  of  Louis  of  Nassau  had,  a.s  idready  stated^  effected  the  raising 
of  the  first  siege  of  Leyden.  That  leaguer  had  lastetl  from  the  3lst  of  Octo- 
ber, 1573,  to  the  21st  of  March,  1574.  By  an  extraordinary  and  culpable 
carelessness,  the  citizens,  neglecting  the  advice  of  Uie  prince,  htui  not  takr^n 
advantage  of  the  breathing  time  thus  afforded  them  to  victual  the  city  and 
strengthen  the  garrison.  On  the  2t>th  of  iMay,  Valdez  rea{>peared  before  the 
place,  at  the  head  of  eight  thousand  Walloons  and  Germans. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  days  Leyden  was  thoroughly  invested,  no  less 
than  sixty-two  redoubts,  some  of  them  having  remained  unticstroyed  from 
the  previous  siege,  now  girdling  the  city.  On  the  other  liand,  there  were  no 
Irrmps  in  the  town,  save  a  small  corps  t>f  "freebooters,'^  and  five  cnmpanieg 
of  the  burgher  guard.  The  main  reliance  of  the  city  was  on  the  stout 
liearts  of  its  inhabitants  within  the  walls,  and  on  the  sleepless  energy  of 
William  the  Silent  without.  The  prince  implored  them  to  hold  out  at  least 
three  mouths,  assuring  them  that  he  would,  within  that  time,  devise  the 
means  of  their  deliverance. 

It  was  now  thought  expedient  to  publish  the  amnesty  which  had  been  so 
long  in  preparation,  and  this  time  the  trap  was  more  liberally  baited.  Tlie 
pardon,  which  had  passed  the  seals  upon  the  8th  of  March,  was  f<jrnially 
issued  by  the  grand  commander  on  tlie  6th  of  June.  By  the  terms  of  this 
document  the  king  invit^'d  all  his  erring  and  repentant  subjects  to  return  to 
his  anns,  and  to  accept  a  full  forgiveness  for  their  past  ofFences,  upon  the  sole 
condition  that  they  shoultl  once  more  throw  themselves  upon  the  bosom  of 
the  Mother  Church. 

It  was  received  with  universal  and  absolute  contempt.  No  man  came 
forward  to  take  advantage  of  its  conditions,  save  one  brewer  in  Utrecht,  anil 
the  son  of  a  refugee  jKnldler  from  Leyden.  With  these  exceptions,  the  only 
ones  recorded,  Hollanil  remained  tleaf  to  the  royal  voice  although  certain 
Netherlanders  belonging  to  the  king's  party,  and  fauiiliarly  called  "GlipperSj" 
despatched  from  the  camp  many  letters  to  their  rebellious  acquaintances  m 
the  city.  In  these  epistles  the  citizens  of  Leyden  were  urgently  and  even 
patheticully  exhorted  to  submission. 

The  prince  had  his  headnuarters  at  Delft  an^l  at  Rotterdam.  He  .still 
held  in  his  hand  the  keys  with  which  he  could  unlock  the  ocean  gates  and  let 
the  waters  in  upon  the  lantl,  and  he  had  long  been  convinced  that  nothing 
could  save  the  city  but  to  break  the  tlikes.  Leyden  was  not  upon  the  sea, 
but  he  could  send  the  sea  to  Leyden,  although  an  army  fit  lo  encoujiter  the 
besieging  force  under  Valdez  could  not  be  levied.  Tfie  damage  to  the  fields, 
villages,  and  growing  crops  would  l>e  enoruious;  hut  he  felt  that  no  other 
course  could  rescue  Leyden,  and  with  it  the  whole  of  Holland,  from  destruction. 


448  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1S74  X.D.] 

His  clear  expositions  and  impassioned  eloquence  at  last  overcame  all  resist- 
ance. By  tne  middle  of  July  the  states  fully  consented  to  his  plan,  and  its 
execution  was  immediately  undertaken. 

"Better  a  drowned  land  than  a  lost  land,"  cried  the  patriots,  with  enthu- 
siasm, as  they  devoted  their  fertile  fields  to  desolation.  The  enterprise  for 
restoring  their  territory,  for  a  season,  to  the  waves  from  which  it  had  been 
so  patiently  rescued,  was  conducted  with  as  much  regularity  as  if  it  had 
been  a  profitable  undertaking.  A  capital  was  formally  subscribed,  for  which 
a  certain  number  of  bonds  were  issued,  payable  at  a  long  date.  In  addition 
to  this  preliminary  fxmd.  a  monthly  allowance  of  forty-five  guldens  was 
voted  by  the  states,  until  the  work  should  be  completed,  and  a  large  sum 
was  contributed  by  the  ladies  of  the  land,  who  freely  furnished  their  plate, 
jewelry,  and  costly  furniture  to  the  furtherance  of  the  scheme. 

On  the  3rd  of  August,  the  prince,  accompanied  by  Paul  Buys,  chief  of 
the  commission  appointed  to  execute  the  enterprise,  went  in  person,  and 
superintended  the  rupture  of  the  dikes  in  sixteen  places.  The  gates  at  Schie- 
dam and  Rotterdam  were  opened,  and  the  ocean  began  to  pour  over  the 
land.  While  waiting  for  the  waters  to  rise,  provisions  were  rapidly  collected, 
according  to  an  edict  of  the  prince,  in  all  the  principal  towns  of  the 
neighbourhood.  The  citizens  of  Leyden  were,  however,  already  becoming 
impatient,  for  their  bread  was  gone.  They  received  on  the  21st  of  August 
a  letter,  dictated  by  the  prince,  who  now  lay  in  bed  at  Rotterdam  with  a 
violent  fever,  assuring  them  that  the  dikes  were  all  pierced,  and  that  the  water 
was  rising. 

In  the  city  itself,  a  dull  distrust  succeeded  to  the  first  vivid  gleam  of  hope, 
while  the  few  royalists  among  the  population  boldly  taunted  their  fellow 
citizens  to  their  faces  with  the  absurd  vision  of  relief  which  they  had  so  fondly 
welcomed.  "  Go  up  to  the  tower,  ye  beggars,"  was  the  frequent  and  taunt- 
ing cry  —  "go  up  to  the  tower,  and  tell  us  if  ye  can  see  the  ocean  coming 
over  the  dry  land  to  your  relief," 

The  fever  of  the  prince  had,  meanwhile,  reached  its  height.  He  lay  at 
Rotterdam,  utterly  prostrate  in  body,  and  with  mind  agitated  nearly  to 
delirium,  by  the  perpetual  and  almost  unassisted  schemes  which  he  was  con- 
structing. Never  was  illness  more  unseasonable.  His  attendants  were  in 
despair,  for  it  was  necessary  that  his  mind  should  for  a  time  be  spared  the 
agitation  of  business.  But  from  his  sick  bed  he  continued  to  dictate  words 
of  counsel  and  encouragement  to  the  city;  to  Admiral  Boisot,  commanding 
the  fleet,  minute  directions  and  precautions. 

By  the  end  of  the  first  week  of  September,  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  his 
brother,  assuring  him  of  his  convalescence  and  expressing,  as  usual,  a  calm 
confidence  in  the  divine  decrees.  The  preparations  for  the  relief  of  Leyden, 
which,  notwithstanding  his  exertions,  had  grown  slack  during  his  sickness, 
were  now  vigorously  resumed.  On  the  1st  of  September,  Admiral  Boisot 
arrived  out  of  Zealand  with  a  small  number  of  vessels,  and  with  eight  hun- 
dred veteran  sailors,  A  wild  and  ferocious  crew  were  those  eight  hundred 
Zealanders.  Scarred,  hacked,  and  even  maimed,  in  the  unceasing  conflicts 
in  which  their  lives  had  passed;  wearing  crescents  in  their  caps,  with  the 
inscription,  *^  Rather  Turkish  than  popish";  renowned  far  and  wide,  as  much 
for  their  ferocity  as  for  their  nautical  skill  —  the  appearance  of  these  wildest 
of  the  "sea-beggars"  was  both  eccentric  and  terrific.  They  were  known 
never  to  give  nor  to  take  quarter,  for  they  went  to  mortal  combat  only,  and 
had  sworn  to  spare  neither  noble  nor  simple,  neither  king,  kaiser,  nor  pope, 
should  they  fall  into  their  power. 


^^^^^  PROGRH;aS   TOWARDS   UNION  449 

(1574  A.l>.] 

More  than  two  hundred  vessels  had  been  now  assembled,  carrying  generally 
ten  pieces  of  cannon,  with  from  ten  to  eighteen  oars,  and  mamiecl  witli  twenty- 
five  hundred  veterans,  experienced  both  on  land  and  water  The  work  was 
now  undertaken  in  earnest.  The  distance  from  Iveyden  to  the  outer  dike, 
over  whose  ruins  the  ocean  had  already  been  admitted,  was  nearly  fifteen 
miles.  This  reclaimed  territory,  however,  was  not  maintained  against  the 
sea  by  these  external  barriers  alone.  The  flotilla  made  its  way  with  ease  to 
the  Land-scheiding,  a  strong  dike  within  live  miles  of  Leyden;  but  here  its 
progress  was  arrested.  It  was  necessary  to  break  through  a  twofold  series 
of  defences. 

The  prince  had  given  orders  that  the  Land-scheiding,  which  was  still  one 
and  a  half  feet  above  water,  should  be  taken  possession  of,  at  every  hazard. 
On  the  night  of  the  10th  and  11th  of  September  this  was  accomplished,  by 
Hurjirise,  and  in  a  nuisterly  manner.  No  time  was  lost  in  breaking  it.  tfirough 
in  several  places,  a  work  which  was  accomplislied  under  the  very  eyes  of  the 
enemy.  The  fleet  sailed  through  the  gaps;  but*  after  their  passage  iiad  lx»en 
effected  in  good  order,  the  admiral  found,  to  his  surprise,  that  it  was  not  the 
only  rampart  to  be  carried. 

The  Green-way,  another  long  dike,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  further  inward, 
now  rose  at  least  a  fo<:)t  above  the  water,  to  oppose  their  further  progress. 
Promi)tly  (ukI  nudaclnusly  Admiral  Hoi.^^ot  took  possession  of  this  barrier 
also,  levelled  it  in  niiiny  places,  and  brought  his  flotilla,  in  triumph,  over  its 
ruins.  Again,  however,  he  was  doonied  to  disappointment.  A  large  mere, 
called  the  Fresh-water  Lake,  was  known  to  extend  itself  directly  in  iiis  path 
about  midway  Iwtween  the  Laud-scheiding  and  the  city.  To  this  piece  of 
water,  into  which  he  had  expected  to  float  instantly,  his  only  passage  lay 
through  one  deep  canal.  The  sea  which  had  thus  far  borne  him  on,  now 
diffusing  itself  over  a  verj'  wide  surface,  and  under  the  inHueuce  of  an  adverse 
wind,  had  become  too  shallow  for  his  ships.  The  canal  alcme  wa-s  deep 
enough,  but  it  let!  directly  towards  a  bridge,  strongly  occupied  by  the  enemy. 
Hostile  troops,  moreover,  to  the  amount  of  three  thousand,  occupied  both 
sides  of  the  canal.  The  hnU]  fioisot^  nevertheless,  determined  U)  force  his 
passiige,  if  possible.  After  lo.^ing  a  few  men,  and  a.scertaining  the  impregnable 
Ix>sition  of  the  enemy,  he  was  obligetl  to  withdraw,  ilefeated  and  almost 
despairing.  A  week  had  elapsed  since  the  great  <like  liud  jjecn  [>ifTrfd,  and 
the  flotilla  now  lay  motionless  in  shallow  water,  having  accomplished  Irss  than 
two  miles.  Tlie  wind,  too,  was  easterly,  causing  the  sea  rather  to  sink  than 
to  rise.  Everything  wore  a  gloomy  Jispect,  wlien,  fortunately,  on  the  ISth, 
the  wind  shifted  to  tlie  northwest,  and  for  three  days  blew  a  gale.  The  waters 
rose  rapidly,  anil  before  the  second  day  was  closed  the  armada  was  afloat 
again.  S<^me  fugitives  fmm  Zoetermeer  village  now  arrived,  and  informed 
the  admiral  that,  by  making  a  detour  to  the  right,  he  could  completi'ly  cir- 
cumvent the  bridge  and  the  !nen\  They  guided  him,  acconiingly,  to  a  com- 
paratively low  dike,  which  led  between  the  villages  of  Zoetermeer  and  Ben- 
thuyzen.  A  strong  force  of  Spaniards  was  stationed  in  each  place,  but  seized 
with  a  panic  they  fled  inwardly  towards  Leyden,  and  halted  at  the  village 
of  North  Aa. 

The  fleet  was  delayed  at  North  Aa  by  another  barrier,  c-alled  the 
"Kirkway."  The  waters,  too,  spreading  once  more  over  a  wider  space,  and 
diminishing  under  an  east  w^ind,  which  had  again  arisen,  no  longer  permitted 
their  progress;  so  that  very  soon  the  w^hole  arnmda  was  stranded  anew. 
The  waters  fell  to  tlie  depth  of  nine  inches,  wlule  the  vessels  required  eighteen 
and  twenty. 

u.  w.  —  vou  xm.  Sa 


450  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[m4  ▲.!>.] 

Meantime,  the  besieged  city  was  at  its  last  gasp.  At  the  dawn  of  each 
day  every  eye  was  turned  wistfully  to  the  vanes  of  the  steeples.  So  long  as 
the  eaeterly  breeze  prevailed,  they  felt,  as  they  anxiously  stood  on  towers 
and  housetops,  that  they  must  look  in  vain  for  the  welcome  ocean.  Even 
the  misery  endiu^d  at  Haarlem  had  not  reached  that  depth  and  intensity 
of  ^ony  to  which  Leyden  was  now  reduced. 

The  pestilence  stalked  at  noonday  through  the  city,  and  the  doomed 
inhabitants  fell  like  grass  beneath  its  scythe.  From  six  thousand  to  eight  thou- 
sand hmnan  beings  sank  before  this  scourge  alone,  yet  the  people  resolutely 
held  out.  Leyden  was  sublime  in  its  despair.  A  few  murmurs  were,  how- 
ever, occasionally  heard  at  the  steadfastness  of  the  magistrates,  and  a  dead 
body  was  placed  at  the  door  of  the  burgomaster,  as  a  silent  witness  aminst 
his  mflexibility.  A  party  of  the  more  faint-hearted  even  assailed  the  heroic 
Pieter  Adriaanszoon  van  der  Werff  with  threats  and  reproaches  as  he  passed 
through  the  streets.  He  waved  his  broad-leaved  felt  hat  for  silence,  and 
then  exclaimed,  in  langua^  which  has  been  almost  literally  preserved: 

"  What  would  ye,  my  friends?  Why  do  ye  murmur  that  we  do  not  break 
our  vows  and  surrender  the  city  to  the  Spaniards  —  a  fate  more  horrible 
than  the  agony  which  she  now  endures?  I  tell  you  I  have  made  an  oath  to 
hold  the  city,  and  may  God  give  me  strength  to  keep  my  oath!  I  can  die 
but  once;  whether  by  your  hands,  the  enemy's,  or  by  the  hand  of  God;  my 
life  is  at  your  disposal:  here  is  my  sword,  plunge  it  into  my  breast,  and  divide 
my  flesh  among  you.  Take  my  body  to  appease  yoiu*  hunger,  but  expect 
no  siurender,  so  long  as  I  reniain  alive." 

The  words  of  the  stout  burgomaster  inspired  a  new  coura^.  From  the 
ramparts  they  hurled  renewed  defiance  at  the  enemy.  "  Ye  caU  us  rat-eaters 
and  dog-eaters,"  they  cried,  **and  it  is  true.  So  long,  then,  as  ye  hear  dog 
bark  or  cat  mew  within  the  walls,  ye  may  know  that  the  city  holds  out. 
And  when  all  has  perished  but  ourselves,  be  sure  that  we  will  each  devour 
our  left  arms,  retaining  our  right  to  defend  our  women,  our  liberty,  and  our 
religion,  against  the  foreign  tyrant.  When  the  last  hour  has  come,  with  our 
hands  we  will  set  fire  to  the  city,  and  perish,  men,  women,  and  children  to- 
gether, in  the  flames,  rather  than  suffer  our  homes  to  be  polluted  and  our 
liberties  to  be  crushed." 

"As  well,"  shouted  the  Spaniards,  derisively,  to  the  citizens,  "as  well 
can  the  prince  of  Orange  pluck  the  stars  from  the  sky  as  bring  the  ocean  to 
the  walls  of  Leyden." 

A  violent  equinoctial  gale,  on  the  night  of  the  1st  and  2nd  of  October, 
came  storming  from  the  northwest,  shifting  after  a  few  hours  full  eight  points, 
and  then  blowing  still  more  violently  from  the  southwest.  The  waters  of 
the  North  Sea  were  piled  in  vast  masses  upon  the  southern  coast  of  Holland, 
and  then  dashed  furiously  landward,  the  ocean  rising  over  the  earth,  and 
sweeping  with  unrestrained  power  across  the  ruined  dikes.  The  Kirk-way, 
which  had  been  broken  through  according  to  the  prince's  instructions,  was 
now  completely  overflowed,  and  the  fleet  sailed  at  midnight,  in  the  midst 
of  the  storm  and  darkness.  There  was  a  fierce  naval  midnight  battle  —  a 
strange  spectacle  among  the  branches  of  those  (^uiet  orchards,  and  with  the 
chimney  stacks  of  half-submerged  farm-houses  rising  around  the  contending 
vessels.  The  enemy's  vessels  were  soon  sunk,  their  crews  hurled  into  the 
waves. 

As  they  approached  some  shallows,  which  led  into  the  great  mere,  the 
Zealanders  dashed  into  the  sea,  and  with  sheer  strength  shouldered  every 
vessel  through.    The  panic,  which  had  hitherto  driven  their  foes  before  the 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS   UNION 

flST4  A.l>.] 

advancing  patriots,  had  reached  Zoeterwoude,  Tiie  Spaniards,  in  the  early 
morning,  poured  out  from  the  fortress,  and  fled  precipitately.  Their  narrow 
path  wafl  rapidly  vanisliing  in  the  waves,  and  huiulre<ls  sank  beneath  the 
oonstantly-<Ieepening  and  treacherous  flood.  The  wild  Zealanders,  too, 
sprang  from  their  vessels  upon  the  crumbling  dike  and  drove  their  retreating 
foes  into  the  sea.  They  liurled  their  hjiqioons  at  them,  with  an  accuracy 
acquired  in  many  a  polar  chase;  they  plunged  into  the  waves  in  the  keen 
pursuit,  attacking  them  with  boat-hook  and  dagger. 

A  few  strokes  of  the  oars  brought  the  whole  fleet  close  to  Lammen.  This 
last  obstacle  rose  formidable  antl  frowiiing  tlirectly  across  their  path.  Swarm- 
ing as  it  was  with  soldiers,  and  bristling  with  artillery,  it  seemed  to  defy  the 
armada  either  to  carry  it  by  storm  or  to  pass  under  its  guns  into  the  city. 
Boistjt  anchoreil  his  flef't  within  a  ro8])«»ctful  distance,  and  spent  what 
remained  of  the  day  in  carefully  rttcormoitring. 

Night  descended  upon  the  scene,  a  pitch  dark  night,  full  of  anxiety  to 
the  Spaniards,  to  the  armada,  to  Leyden.  iStrange  sights  and  sounds  oc- 
curred at  different  momenta  to  bewilder  the  anxious  sentinels.  A  long 
procession  of  light-s  issuing  from  the  fort  was  seen  to  flit  across  the  black 
face  of  the  waters,  in  the  dead  of  night,  and  the  whole  of  the  city  wall,  between 
the  Cow-gate  and  the  tower  of  Hurgiindy,  fell  with  a  loud  crash.*  The  horror- 
struck  citizen.":^  thought  that  the  Spaniards  were  upon  them  at  kust;  the 
Spaniards  imagined  the  noise  to  indicate  a  desperate  sortie  of  the  citizens. 
Everything  was  vague  and  mysterious.  Day  dawned,  at  length,  after  the 
feverish  night,  and  the  admiral  prepared  for  the  assault.  Suddenly  a  man 
was  descried,  wading  breast-high  through  the  wat^r  from  Lanmicn  towards 
the  fleet;  while,  at  the  same  time,  one  solitary  boy  was  seen  to  w^ave  his  cap 
from  th(?  summit  of  the  fort.  Aft^er  a  moment  of  doubt,  the  happy  mystery 
was  solved.  The  Spaniards  had  fled,  panic-struck,  during  the  darkness.  All 
obstacles  being  now  removed,  the  fleet  of  Boisot  swept  by  Lammen,  and 
entcreii  the  city  on  the  morning  of  the  3rd  of  October.     Leyden  was  relieved. 

The  quays  were  lined  with  the  famishing  pojjulation,  as  the  fleet  rowetl 
through  the  canals,  every  human  being  who  could  stand  coming  forth  to 
greet  the  preservers  of  the  city.  Bread  was  thrown  from  every  vessel  among 
the  crowd.  The  (X)or  creatures  who  fur  two  months  hiu\  tasted  no  wholesome 
human  food,  and  who  had  literally  been  living  wnthin  the  jaws  of  death, 
snatched  eagerly  the  blessed  gift,  at  last  too  liberally  bestowed.  Many 
choked  themselves  to  death,  in  the  greediness  with  which  they  devoure<l 
their  bread.  Magistrates  and  citizens,  wil<l  Zealanders,  emaciated  l>urghrr 
guards,  saili)rs,  sctldiers,  women,  children  —  nearly  every  living  person  within 
the  walls  all  repaired  without  delay  to  the  great  church,  stout  Admiral  Boisot 
leading  the  way.  After  prayers^  the  whole  vast  congregation  joined  in  the 
thanksgiving  hymn.  Thousands  of  voices  rais<?d  the  song,  but  few  were  able 
to  carrj'  it  to  its  conclusion^  for  the  universal  emotion,  deepened  by  the 
music,  became  too  full  for  utterance.  ITie  hymn  was  abruptly  suspended, 
while  the  nuiltitU4]e  wept  like  chililren. 

On  the  4th  of  October,  the  day  following  that  on  which  tlie  relief  of  the 
city  was  elTected,  the  wind  shifted  to  the  northeast,  and  again  blewa  tempt^st. 
It  was  as  if  tlie  waters,  having  now  done  their  w(»rk,  had  Ikhmi  rolled  hack 
to  tlie  ocean  by  an  onmipotent  hand;  for  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  the  land 
was  bare  again,  and  the  Work  of  reconstructing  the  dikes  commenced. 

Aft-er  a  brief  interval  of  repose,  Leyden  had  regained  its  former  position. 


['  According  to  llofdyk*  the  fallen  portion  wa»  only  iilxt«en  feet  wide.] 


45«  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHEBLANDS 

[1574  A.S;] 

The  prince,  with  advice  of  the  states,  had  granted  the  city,  as  a  reward  for 
its  sufferings,  a  ten  days*  annual  fair,  without  tolls  or  tuxes;  and,  as  a  further 
manifestation  of  the  gratitude  entertained  by  the  people  of  Holland  and 
Zealand  for  the  heroism  of  the  citizens,  it  was  resolved  that  an  academy  or 
university  should  be  forthwith  established  within  their  walb.  The  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden,  afterwards  so  illustrioue,  was  thus  founded  in  the  very  darkest 
periwi  of  the  eountry's  struggle. 

The  document  by  which  the  institution  was  founded  was  certainly  a 

masterpiece    of   ponderous 
/?  A  irony,  for  as  tJic  tictioo  of 

the  khig's  sovereignty  was 

still  nmmtained,  Philip  was 

gravely  made  to  establish 

/';|^       JSJryflf^  the  university,  as  a  reward 

to  Leyden  for  rebellion  to 
"Jf^-^^'Sf^H '^  !^^  himself. 

THE  STADHOLDER^S  POWERS 
ENLARGED 

Changes  fast  becoming 
necessary  in  the  interad 
government  of  the  prov- 
inces were  undertaken  dur- 
ing 1574.  Hitherto  the 
prince  had  exercised  his 
power  under  the  convenient 
fiction  of  the  monarch's  au- 
thority, systeniatitrally  con- 
ilucting  the  rebellion  in  the 
name  of  his  majesty,  and 
as  his  majesty's  stadholder. 
By  this  process  an  immense 
power  was  lodged  in  his 
hands;  nothing  less,  indeed, 
than  llie  supnnne  <»xecutive 
and  legislative  functions  of 
the  land. 

The  two  provinces,  eveji 
while  deprived  of  Haarlem 
and  Amsterdam,  now  raised 
210,000  florins  monthly, 
whereas  Alva  had  never  Ix^m  able  to  extract  from  Holland  more  than 
271,000  florins  yearly.  In  consequence  of  this  liberality,  the  cities  insen- 
sibly acquired  a  greater  influence  in  the  government.  Moreover,  while  grow- 
ing more  ambitious,  they  became  less  lilx'ral. 

The  prince,  dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  the  cities,  brought  the  whole 
subject  before  an  assembly  of  the  states  of  Holland,  on  the  20th  of  October, 
1574.  He  staled  the  inconveniences  j)roduced  by  the  anomalous  condition 
of  the  government  He  complninfMl  tiiat  the  coninion  ]>tMtple  had  often 
fallen  into  the  error  that  the  money  raised  for  public  purposes  had  been 
levied  for  his  benefit  only,  and  that  they  had,  tlierefore,  been  less  willing  to 
contribute  to  the  taxes.    As  the  only  remedy  for  these  evils,  he  tendered  hia 


Old  Amstkkdam  Oath:,  IlAAitfjfu 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS   UNION  *53 

[1574-1375  A.D.] 

resignation  of  all  the  powers  with  wlaich  ho  was  clothed,  so  that  the  estates 
might  then  take  the  government,  which  they  could  exercise  without  conflict 
or  control.  For  himself,  he  had  never  desired  power,  except  a.s  a  meiins  of 
being  useful  to  his  country,  and  he  did  not  offer  his  resignation  from  un\nlUng- 
ness  to  stand  by  the  cause,  but  from  a  hearty  desire  to  save  it  from  disputes 
among  its  friemls.  He  was  ready  now,  na  ever,  to  shed  the  last  drop  of  his 
blood  to  maintain  the  freedom  of  the  land. 

Tliis  straightforward  language  produced  an  instantaneous  effect.  Tliey 
were  embarrassed,  for  they  did  not  like  to  relinquish  the  authority  which 
they  had  begun  to  relish,  nor  to  accept  the  resignation  of  a  man  who  was 
indisj>ensable.  They  felt  that  to  give  up  William  of  Orange  at  that  time  was 
tn  accept  the  Spanish  yoke  forever.  At  an  assembly  licld  at  Delft  on  the 
12th  of  November,  1574,  they  accordingly  requested  him  '*  to  continue  in  his 
blessed  government,  with  the  council  established  near  him,"  and  for  this  end 
they  formally  offered  to  him,  "under  the  name  of  governor  or  regent,"  abso- 
lute power,  authority,  and  sovereign  commanfl.  But  they  made  it  a  condition 
that  the  states  should  l>e  convened  and  consu]te<I  upon  rcfpiest^s,  impositions, 
and  upon  all  changes  in  the  governing  body.  It  was  also  stipulated  that  the 
judges  of  tlie  supreme  court  and  of  the  exchequer,  with  other  high  officers, 
should  be  appointed  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  states. 

The  prince  expressed  himself  as  wilhng  to  accept  the  government  upim 
these  terms.  He,  however,  demamled  an  allowance  of  45,(K)0  florins  monthly 
for  the  army  expenses  and  other  currents  outlays.  Here,  however,  the  states 
n'fused  their  cniistMit.  In  a  uioreantilo  spirit,  unworthy  the  occasion  and  the 
man  with  whom  they  were  dealing,  they  endeavoured  to  chaffer  where  they 
should  have  been  only  too  willing  to  comply,  and  they  aitempted  to  reduce 
the  rea-sonabtc  demand  of  tlie  [>rince  to  SO/XH)  1k>rins.  The  prince  denounced 
the  niggurd!in(\sK  of  the  states  in  the  strongest  language,  and  <leehired  that  he 
would  rather  leave  the  country  forever,  with  the  maintenance  of  his  own 
honour,  than  accept  the  government  upon  such  disgraceful  terms.  The  states, 
disturbed  by  his  vehemence,  and  struck  with  its  justice,  instantly,  and  without 
further  delilwration,  consented  tn  his  tlemand.  They  granted  (he  ^►rly-five 
thousand  florins  montldy,  and  the  prince  assumed  the  government,  thus 
remodelleii. 

During  the  autumn  and  early  winter  of  the  year  1574,  the  emperor  Maxi- 
milian hacl  been  actively  exerting  himself  to  bring  about  a  pacification  of  the 
Netherlands.  Ten  commissioners,  who  were  appointed  by  the  states  for 
peaee  negotiations,  were  all  friends  of  the  prince.  Among  them  were  Sainte- 
Aldegonde,  Paul  Buys,  Charles  BoLsot,  and  Doctor  Jimius,  The  pleni|>o- 
tentiaries  of  the  Spanish  government  were  I^oninus,  the  seigneur  de  lias- 
singhem,  Cornelius  Suis,  and  Amohl  Sashout. 

Tlie  proceedings  were  nix?ncd  at  Brtnla  upon  the  'inl  of  Atarch,  1575. 
They  ended  July  13th,  with  nothing  accomplished.  The  internal  government 
of  the  insurgent  pro\inces  had  remained  upon  the  footing  which  we  have 
seen  established  m  Xht*  autunm  of  1574,  but  in  the  course  of  this  summer 
(1575),  however,  the  foundation  was  laid  for  the  union  of  Holland  and  Zea- 
land, under  the  authority  of  Orange.  The  selfish  principle  of  municipal  aris- 
tocracy, which  had  tended  to  keefi  asiuider  these  various  groups  of  cities, 
was  now  repressed  by  the  energy  of  the  prince  and  the  strong  determination 
of  the  people. 

On  the  4th  of  June  this  first  imion  was  solemnised.  Upon  the  11th  of 
July,  the  prince  fom^ally  accepteil  the  government.  Early  in  this  year  the 
prince  had  despatched  Sainte-Aldegonde  on  a  private  mission  to  the  elector 


454  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1575  A.D.] 

Ealatine.  During  some  of  his  visits  to  that  potentate  he  had  seen  at  Heidel- 
ei^  the  princess  Charlotte  of  Bourbon,  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Montpensien 
the  most  ardent  of  the  Catholic  princes  of  France.  A  woman  of  oeauty, 
intelligence,  and  virtue,  forced  before  the  canonical  age  to  take  the  religious 
vows,  she  had  been  placed  in  the  convent  of  Jouarre,  of  which  she  had  becomei 
abbess.  Always  secretly  inclined  to  the  Reformed  religion,  she  had  fled 
secretly  from  her  cloister,  in  the  year  of  horrors  1572,  and  had  found  refuge 
at  the  court  of  the  elector  palatine,  after  which  step  her  father  refusra 
to  receive  her  letters,  to  contribute  a  farthing  to  her  support,  or  even  to 
acknowledge  her  claims  upon  him  by  a  single  line  or  message  of  affection. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  outcast  princess,  who  had  arrived  at  years 
of  maturity,  might  be  considered  her  own  mistress,  and  she  was  neither 
morally  nor  legally  bound,  when  her  hand  was  sought  in  marriage  by  the  great 
champion  of  the  Reformation,  to  ask  the  consent  of  a  parent  who  loathed 
her  religion,  and  denied  her  existence.  The  legality  of  the  divorce  from  Amia 
of  Saxony  had  been  settled  by  a  full  expression  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
which  she  most  respected;  the  facts  upon  which  the  divorce  had  been  founded 
having  been  proved  beyond  peradventure. 

So  far,  therefore,  as  the  character  of  Mademoiselle  Bourbon  and  the 
legitimacy  of  her  future  offspring  were  concerned,  she  received  ample  guar- 
antees. For  the  rest,  the  prince,  in  a  simple  letter,  informed  her  that  he  was 
already  past  his  prime,  having  reached  his  forty-second  year,  and  that  his 
fortune  was  encumbered  not  only  with  settlements  for  his  children  by  previous 
marriages,  but  by  debts  contracted  in  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  country. 
A  convention  of  doctors  and  bishops  of  France,  siunmoned  by  the  duke  of 
Montpensier,  afterwards  confirmed  the  opinion  that  the  conventional  vows 
of  the  princess  Charlotte  had  been  conformable  neither  to  the  laws  of  France 
nor  to  the  canons  of  the  Trent  Council.  She  was  conducted  to  Briel  by  Sainte- 
Aldegonde,  where  she  was  received  by  her  bridegroom,  to  whom  she  was 
united  on  the  12th  of  June.  The  wedding  festival  was  held  at  Dort  with 
much  revelry  and  holiday-making,  "but  without  dancing." 

In  this  connection,  no  doubt  the  prince  consulted  his  inclination  only.  It 
was  equally  natural  that  he  should  make  many  enemies  by  so  impolitic  a  niatch. 

While  these  important  affairs,  public  and  private,  had  been  occurring  in 
the  south  of  Holland  and  in  Germany,  a  very  nefarious  transaction  had  dis- 
graced the  cause  of  the  patriot  party  in  the  northern  quarter.  Diedrich 
Sonoy,  governor  of  that  portion  of  Holland,  a  man  of  great  bravery,  but  of 
extreme  ferocity  of  character,  had  discovered  an  extensive  conspiracy  among 
certain  of  the  inhabitants,  in  aid  of  an  approaching  Spanish  invasion.  The 
governor,  determined  to  show  that  the  duke  of  Alva  could  not  be  more  prompt 
nor  more  terrible  than  himself,  improvised,  of  his  own  authority,  a  tribunal 
in  imitation  of  the  infamous  Blood  Council.  Fortunately  for  the  character 
of  the  country,  Sonoy  was  not  a  Hollander,  nor  was  the  jurisdiction  of  this 
newly  established  court  aUowed  to  extend  beyond  very  narrow  limits.  Eight 
vagabonds  were,  however,  arrested  and  doomed  to  tortures  the  most  horrible, 
in  order  to  extort  from  them  confessions  implicating  persons  of  higher  posi- 
tion in  the  land  than  themselves.  The  individuals  who  had  been  thus  desig- 
nated were  arrested.  Charged  with  plotting  a  general  conflagration  of  the 
villages  and  farm-houses,  in  conjunction  with  an  invasion  by  Hierges  and 
other  Papist  generals,  they  indignantly  protested  their  innocence;  but  two 
of  them,  a  certain  Kopp  Comeliszoon,  and  his  son,  Nanning  Koppezoon, 
were  selected  to  undergo  the  most  cruel  torture  which  had  yet  been  practised 
in  the  Netherlands. 


PBOGRESS   TOWARDS    UXIOX  iM 

(1575  A.  i>.] 

It  was  shown  that  Reformers  were  capable  of  giving  a  lesson  even  to  in- 
quisitors in  this  diabolical  science.  The  affair  now  reached  the  ears  of  Orange, 
His  peremptory  orders,  with  the  universal  excitement  produced  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, at  last  checked  the  course  of  the  outrage.  It  is  no  impeachment 
upon  the  character  of  the  prince  that  these  horrible  crimes  were  not  pre- 
vented. It  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  omnipresent.  Neither  is  it  just  to 
fonpider  the  tortures  and  (k-ath  thus  inflirted  upon  innocent  men  an  indel- 
ible stain  upon  the  cause  of  lih-rty.  ^Fliey  were  the  crimes  of  an  individual 
who  had  iK'fU  useful,  but  \vhn,  like  the  count  de  la  Marck,  had  now  con- 
taminated his  hand  with  the  blood  of  the  guiltless.  The  new  triliunal  never 
took  root,  and  was  abolished  as  soon  as  its  mitiatory  horrors  were  known. 


.\   SPANISH   EXPLOIT 

The  grand  commander  had  not  yet  given  up  the  hope  of  naval  assistance 
from  Spain,  notwitkstanding  the  abrupt  termmation  to  the  last  expedition 
which  had  been  organised.  It  was,  however,  necessary  that  a  foot-hold 
should  be  recovered  upon  the  seaboard,  before  a  descent  from  without  could 
be  met  with  proper  co-operation  from  the  land  forces  within,  and  he  waa 
most  anxious,  therefore,  to  effect  the  recontpiest  of  some  portion  of  Zealand, 
Traitors  from  Zealand  itself  now  came  forward  to  teach  the  Spanish  com- 
mander liow  to  strike  at  the  heart  of  their  own  country.  These  refugees 
explained  to  Ilequesens  that  a  narrow  flut  extended  under  the  sea  from 
Philipsland,  as  far  as  the  shore  of  Duiveland,  A  force  sent  through  these 
dangeroiLs  shallows  might  take  possession  of  Duiveland  and  lay  siege  to 
Zieriksee  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  Zealand  fleet,  which  would  be  unable  to  sail 
near  enough  to  intercept  their  passage. 

Requesens  a^sseml>led  three  thou.Kand  infantry,  partly  Spaniards,  partly 
Germans,  partly  Walloons,  besides  a  picked  corps  of  two  hundred  sappers 
and  miners.  One  half  was  to  remain  in  boats,  under  the  commaiui  of  Morid- 
ragon;  the  nther  half,  arcorufianied  by  two  lumilred  [lioneers,  to  wade  through 
the  sea  from  Philipsland  to  Duiveland  and  Schnuwcn.  Each  soldier  of  this 
detachment  was  provided  with  a  pair  of  shoes,  two  pounds  of  powd(»r,  and 
rations  for  three  days,  in  a  canvas  bag  suspended  at  his  neck.  The  leader 
of  this  expedition  was  Don  Osorio  de  Ulloa.  It  was  a  wild  night,  the  27th 
of  September.  Incessant  lightning  alternately  revealed  and  obscured  the 
progress  of  the  midnight  march  through  the  black  waters. 

As  they  advanced  cautiously,  two  by  two,  the  daring  adventurers  found 
tliemselves  soon  nearly  up  to  their  necks  in  the  waves,  while  so  narrow  wjis 
the  submerged  liank  along  which  they  were  marching,  that  a  niis-stop  to  the 
right  or  left  wns  fatal.  L\icklf!ss  individuals  repeatotity  sank  t-f*  rise  no  more. 
Meantime,  as  the  sickly  light  of  the  waning  moon  came  forth  at  intervals 
through  the  stormy  clouds,  the  soldiers  could  plainly  perceive  the  tiles  of 
Zealand  vessels  through  which  they  were  to  march,  and  which  were  auchnn-d 
as  close  to  the  flat,  as  the  water  would  allow. 

Standing  breast-high  in  the  waves,  and  surroun<led  at  intervals  by  total 
darkness,  they  were  yet  able  to  pour  an  occasional  well-directed  volley  into 
the  hostile  ranks.  The  Zealanders,  however,  did  not  assail  them  with  fire- 
anna  alone.  Tliey  transfixed  some  with  their  fatal  harpoons;  they  dragged 
fithers  from  the  path  with  boat-hooks;  they  beat  out  the  brains  of  otHers 
with  heavy  flails. 

The  night  wore  on,  and  the  adventurers  still  fought  it  out  manfully,  but 
very  slowly,  the  main  body  of  Spaniards,  Germans,  and  Walloons,  soon  after 


456  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1575  ▲.D.] 

daylight,  reaching  the  opposite  shore,  having  sustained  considerable  losses, 
but  in  perfect  order.  The  pioneers  were  not  so  fortunate.  The  tide  rose 
over  them  before  they  could  effect  their  passage,  and  swept  nearly  every  one 
away.    TTtie  rear-guard  were  fortunately  enabled  to  retrace  their  step)s. 

Don  Osorio,  at  the  head  of  the  successful  adventurers,  now  effected  his 
landing  upon  Duiveland.  Reposing  themselves  but  for  an  instant  after  this 
unparalleled  march  through  the  water,  of  more  than  six  hours,  they  took  a 
slight  refreshment,  prayed  to  the  Virgin  Mary  and  to  St.  James,  and  then 
prepared  to  meet  their  new  enemies  on  land.  Ten  companies  of  French, 
Scotch,  and  English  auxiliaries  lay  in  Duiveland,  under  the  command  of 
Charles  van  Boisot.  Strang  to  relate,  by  an  inexplicable  accident,  or  by 
treason,  that  general  was  slain  by  his  own  soldiers,  at  the  moment  when  the 
royal  troops  landed.  The  panic  created  by  this  event  became  intense,  as  the 
enemy  rose  suddenly,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  depths  of  the  ocean  to  attack  them. 
They  magnified  the  numbers  of  their  assailants,  and  fled  terror-stricken  in 
every  direction.  The  city  of  Zieriksee  was  soon  afterwards  beleaguered. 

The  siege  was  protracted  till  the  following  June,  the  city  holdmg  out  with 
firmness.  Want  of  funds  caused  the  operations  to  be  conducted  with  languor, 
but  the  same  cause  prevented  the  prince  from  accomplishing  its  relief.  Thus 
the  expedition  from  Philipsland,  the  most  brilliant  military  exploit  of  the 
whole  war,  was  attended  with  important  results.  The  communication 
between  Walcheren  and  the  rest  of  Zealand  was  interrupted,  the  province 
cut  in  two,  a  foot-hold  on  the  ocean,  for  a  brief  interval  at  least,  acquired  by 
Spain.  The  prince  was  inexpressibly  chagrined  by  these  circumstances, 
and  felt  that  the  moment  had  arrived  when  all  honoxu'able  means  were  to 
be  employed  to  obtain  foreign  assistance. 


INDEPENDENCE  DECLARED    (1575) 

Hitherto  the  fiction  of  allegiance  had  been  preserved,  and,  even  by  the 
enemies  of  the  prince,  it  was  admitted  that  it  had  been  retained  with  no  dis- 
loyal intent.  The  time,  however,  had  come  when  it  was  necessary  to  throw 
off  allegiance,  provided  another  could  be  found  strong  enough  and  frank 
enough  to  accept  the  authority  which  Philip  had  forfeited.  The  question 
was,  naturally,  between  France  and  England,  unless  the  provinces  could 
effect  their  re-admission  into  the  body  of  the  German  Empire. 

The  states  were  summoned  by  the  prince,  to  deliberate  on  this  important 
matter,  at  Rotterdam.  On  the  1st  of  October  he  formally  proposed  either 
to  make  terms  with  their  enemy  (and  that  the  sooner  the  better),  or  else, 
once  for  all,  to  separate  entirely  from  the  king  of  Spain,  and  to  change  their 
sovereign.  After  an  adjournment  of  a  few  days,  the  diet  again  assembled 
at  Delft,  and  it  was  then  unanimously  resolved  by  the  nobles  and  the  cities, 
that  they  would  forsake  the  king  and  seek  foreign  assistance;  referring 
the  choice  to  the  prince,  who,  in  regard  to  the  government,  was  to  take  the 
opinion  of  the  states. 

Thus  the  great  step  was  taken,  by  which  two  little  provinces  declared 
themselves  independent  of  their  ancient  master.  That  declaration,  although 
taken  in  the  midst  of  doubt  and  darkness,  was  not  destined  to  be  cancelled, 
and  the  germ  of  a  new  and  powerful  commonwealth  was  planted.  So  little, 
however,  did  these  republican  fathers  foresee  their  coming  republic,  that  the 
resolution  to  renounce  one  king  was  combined  with  a  proposition  to  ask  for 
the   authority  of  another.    It  was  not  imagined  that  those  two  slender 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS   UNION  457 

[1575  A.D.1 

columns,  which  were  all  that  had  yet  been  raised  of  the  future  stately  perifitylcj 
would  be  strong  enougli  to  stand  alone. 

Germany,  England,  France,  however,  all  refused  to  stretch  out  their 
hands  to  save  the  heroic  but  exhaustless  little  provinces.  It  was  at  this 
moment  that  a  desperate  but  sublime  resolution  took  possession  of  the  prince's 
mind.  There  seemed  but  one  way  left  to  exrhuie  the  Spaniards  forever  from 
Hollami  and  Zealand,  and  t^  rescue  the  inhabitants  from  impending  ruin. 
The  prince  had  long  brooded  over  the  scheme,  and  the  hour  seemed  to  have 
struck  for  its  fulfilment.  His  project  was  to  collect  all  the  vessels,  of  every 
description,  which  could  lx>  obtJ^ined  throughout  the  Netherlands.  The 
whole  popidation  of  the  two  proA-inces,  men,  women,  and  children,  together 
with  all  the  movable  property  of  the  country,  were  then  to  he  embarked  on 
board  this  numerous  fleet,  and  to  seek  a  new  home  beyond  the  seas.  The 
windmills  were  then  to  be  burned,  the  dikes  pierced,  the  sluices  opened  in 
every  direction,  and  the  country  restored  forever  to  the  ocean,  from  which 
it  had  sprung.' 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  the  resolution,  if  providence  had  permitted 
its  fulfilment,  would  have  been,  on  the  whole,  better  or  worse  for  humanity 
and  civilisation.  The  ships  which  would  have  borne  the  prince  and  his 
fortunes  might  have  taken  the  direction  of  the  newly  discovored  western 
hemisplu^re.  A  religious  colony,  planted  by  a  commercial  and  lil>erty-Ioving 
race,  in  a  virgin  soil,  and  directed  by  patrician  but  selfnlenying  hands,  might 
have  preceded,  by  half  a  century,  the  colony  which  a  kindred  race,  impelled 
by  similar  motives,  and  under  somewhat  similar  circumstances  and  conditions, 
was  destined  to  plant  upon  the  stern  shores  of  New  England.  Had  they 
directed  their  course  to  the  wami  antl  fragrant  islands  of  the  East,  an  inde- 
pendent Christian  commonwealth  might  have  arisen  among  those  prnlific 
regions,  superior  in  inip4Ttance  to  any  subse(|uent  colony  of  Holland,  cramped 
from  its  birth  by  absolute  subjection  to  a  far-distant  metropolis. 

DEATH  OF  REQUESEN8   C1570) 

The  unexpected  death  of  Requesens  suddenly  dispelled  these  schemes. 
A  violent  fever  seized  htm  on  the  1st,  and  terminated  his  existence  on  the  5th 
of  March,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  life. 

Requesens  was  a  man  of  high  position  by  birth  and  office,  but  a  thoroughly 
commonplace  personage.  His  talents  either  for  war  or  for  civil  employments 
were  not  above  mediocrity.  His  sudden  death  arrested,  for  a  moment,  the 
ebb-tide  in  the  affairs  of  the  Netherlands,  which  was  fast  leaving  the  country 
bare  and  desolate,  and  was  followed  by  a  train  of  unforeseen  transactions. 

THE   RISE  OF  FLANDERS  AND  BRABANT 

The  suddenness  of  Requesens'  illness  had  not  allowed  time  for  even  the 
nomination  of  a  successor,  to  which  he  was  authorised  by  letters  patent  from 

*  Bor/ relates  that  this  plan  had  been  definitelj  formed  by  the  prince.  lUa  authority  Is 
"a credible  Kentluinanof  quality  "  {etn  ffeioofawa^rdia  tdtlmann  van  qualitetl)  who,  at  thu  t'mie, 
was  a  iDeinbf-r  of  the  eBtates  and  goverument  of  Holland.  Groen  van  PriiiHterer."  however, 
rejects  tbe  tale  as  fabulous ;  or  believes,  at  any  rate,  that  the  personape  alluded  to  by  Bor  took 
the  prince's  words  too  literally.  It  la  probable  that  the  thnnght  was  often  in  the  prince's  mind, 
and  found  oocafdonal  expression,  although  It  bad  never  been  actually  reduced  to  a  scheme.  It 
is  ditiicult  to  #ee  that  it  was  not  consistent  with  his  character,  Hupp^^ninpr  that  there  tiad  been 
no  longer  any  room  for  hope.  Hooft  *  adopts  the  story  without  hesitation.  VVagena/tr  *  alludes 
to  U  as  a  matter  uf  current  report 


458 


THE    HISTORY    OF    THE   NETHERLANDS 


the  king.  The  gnvemment  now  devolved  onlircly  into  the  hands  of  the 
council  of  state,  which  was  at  that  period  composed  of  nine  members.  The 
principal  of  these  was  Philip  de  Croy  duke  of  Aerschot;  the  other  leading 
members  were  Viglius,  counts  Mansfeld  and  Barlaymont;  and  the  covmcil 
was  degraded  by  numbering,  among  the  rest,  Debria  and  De  Roda,  two  of  the 
notorious  Spaniards  who  had  formed  part  of  the  council  of  Blood. 

The  king  resolved  to  leave  the  authority  in  the  hands  of  this  incongruous 
mixture,  until  the  arrival  of  Don  John  of  Austria,  his  natural  brother,  whom 
he  had  already  named  to  the  office  of  governor-general.    But  in  the  interval 

the  government  assumed 
an  aspect  of  unprecedented 
disonler,  and  widespread 
anarchy  embraced  the 
whole  country.  The  royal 
troops  openly  revolted, 
and  fought  against  each 
other  like  deaclly  enemies. 
The  nobles,  divided  in 
their  views,  arrogated  to 
themselves  in  different 
places  the  titles  and  powers 
of  command. 

The  siege  of  Zieriksee 
was  continued;  but  speedy 
dissensions  among  the 
members  of  the  govern- 
ment rendered  their  au- 
thority contemptible,  if 
not  utterly  extinct,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  people.  The 
exhaustion  of  the  treasury 
deprived  them  of  all  power 
to  put  an  end  to  tlie  mu- 
tinous excesses  of  the  Span- 
ish troops,  and  the  latter 
carried  their  licentiousness 
to  the  utmost  bounds. 
Zieriksee,  admitted  to  a 
surrender,*  and  saved  from  pillage  by  the  payment  of  a  large  suni,  was  lost 
to  the  royalist^s  within  three  monthn,  from  the  want  of  discipline  in  its  garri- 
son: and  the  towns  an<l  burghs  of  Brabant  suffered  as  much  from  the  excesses 
of  their  nominal  i>rotectors  as  could  have  been  inflicted  by  the  enemy.  The 
mutineers  at  length,  to  the  number  of  some  thousands,  attacked  and  carried 
by  force  the  town  of  Alost'  [or  Aalstj;  imprisoned  the  chief  citizens;  and 
levied  contributions  on  all  the  country  round.  It  was  then  that  the  council 
of  state  found  it^lf  forced  to  proclaim  them  rebels,  traitors,  and  enemies  to 
the  king  and  the  country,  and  called  on  all  loyal  subjects  to  pursue  and 
exterminate  them  wherever  they  were  found  in  anns. 

This  prascription  of  the  Spanish  mutineers  was  followed  by  the  convo- 

p  The  brmve  admiral  I^aU  Boisot  was  kUlcd  while  attempting  to  relieve  the  town,  whkh 
surrendered  June  21s!.  1576.] 

['  Acf'ordin^  u*  BIi>ky  the  nnldipnicongrejBrated  at  Alnst  in  Ruch  numbers  as  to  leave  Holland, 
Zealand,  Gelderland.  and  Utrecht  almost  free  of  foreign  soldierr.] 


Mahkbt-pulck  AiTD  Bkuj-towxr  at  Alkmaar 


PBOGRESS   TOWARDS   UNION  459 

[167«  A  J>.] 

cation  of  the  statcs-genenJ;  and  the  government  thus  hoped  to  maintain 
some  show  of  union,  and  some  chance  of  authority.  But  a  new  scene  of 
mtesfcine  violence  completed  the  picture  of  executive  inefficiency.  On  the 
4th  of  September,  the  grand  bailiff  of  Brabant,  as  lieutenant  of  the  baron 
de  Hesse  [or  H^^e],  governor  of  Brussels,  entered  the  council  chamber  l)y 
force,  and  arrested  all  the  members  present,  on  suspicion  of  treacherously 
maiiitainine  intelligence  with  the  Spaniards.  Counts  Miinsfrld  and  Barlay- 
mont  were  imprisoned,  with  some  others.  Viglius  escaped  tliis  indignity  by 
being  absent  from  indisposition.  This  bold  measure  was  hailed  by  the  people 
with  unusual  jo}',  as  the  signal  for  that  total  change  in  the  government  which 
they  reckoned  on  as  the  prelude  to  complete  freedom. 

The  states-general  were  all  at  this  time  assembled,  with  the  exception  of 
those  of  Flanders,  who  joined  the  others  with  but  little  delay.  The  general 
reprobation  against  tfie  Spaniards  procured  a  second  decree  of  proscription; 
and  their  desperate  conduct  justified  the  utmost  violence  with  which  they 
might  be  pursued.  They  slil!  held  the  citadels  of  Ghent  and  Antwerp,  as 
well  as  Mae.striclit,  which  tliey  had  si^ized  on,  sacked,  and  pillaged  witn  all 
the  fury  which  a  barbarous  enemy  inflicts  on  a  town  carried  by  assault.'  On 
the  3rd  of  November,  the  other  body  of  mutineers,  in  possession  of  Alost^ 
marched  to  the  support  of  their  fellow  brigands  in  the  citadel  of  Antwerp; 
and  both,  simultaneously  attacking  thus  magnificent  city,  became  nuusfers  of 
it  in  all  ix)ints,  in  spite  of  a  vij^orous  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  citizens. 
They  then  began  a  scene  of  rapine  and  destruction  unequallerl  in  the  annals 
of  these  desperate  wars,  and  the  most  opulent  town  in  Europe  was  thus 
reduced  to  ruin  and  desolation  by  a  few  thousand  frantic  ruifians.P 

THE  SPANISH   FURY   AT  ANTWERP 

Five  thousand  veteran  foot  soldiers,  besides  six  hundred  cavalry,  armed 
to  the  t^^eth,  sallied  from  the  portals  of  Alva's  citadel.  In  the  counterscarp 
they  fell  ujwn  their  knees,  to  invoke,  according  to  custom,  the  blessing  of 
God  upon  the  devil's  work  which  they  were  about  to  commit.  The  eletto 
bore  a  standard,  one  side  of  which  was  emblazoned  with  the  crucified  Saviour, 
and  the  oilier  with  (fu*  Virgin  Mary. 

The  eletto  was  first  to  mount  the  rampart;  the  next  instant  he  was  shot 
dead,  while  his  followers,  undismayed,  sprang  over  his  body,  and  poured 
into  the  streets.  So  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  Spanianls  had  cros.se<.l 
the  rampart,  that  its  six  thousand  defenders  were  in  full  retreat,  it  was 
inevitable  that  a  panic  should  seize  the  city. 

Their  entrance  once  efTected,  the  Spanish  force  had  separated,  according 
to  previous  arrangement,  iriUi  two  divisioa^:^  one  lialf  charging  up  the  long 
street  of  St.  Michael,  tfie  other  forcing  its  way  tlirough  the  street  of  St.  Joris. 
** Santiago,  Santiago!  EspaFia,  Ei^pa/ia!  d  sangre^  d  came,  d  fitego^d  sacco!** 
(St.  James,  Spain,  blood,  flesh,  fire,  sack!)  —  such  were  the  hideous  cries 
which  rang  through  every  quarter  of  the  city,  as  the  savage  horde  advanced. 

[*  Even  Spanish  bravery  recoiled  at  so  desperate  an  andertaking,  but  anRcnipnlous  fe- 
rocity supplifni  an  expedient  where  courage  was  at  fault.  Each  aoldler  was  commanded  to  seize 
a  woman,  and  placing  lier  before  his  own  body,  to  advance  acros-s  the  bridge.  Tlie  column, 
thus  bucklered,  to  the  shame  of  SpaniHh  chivalry,  by  female  boRoms,  moved  in  good  order 
toward  the  Intterr.  The  soldiers  levelled  their  muHkete  with  Rteady  aim  over  the  shoulders  or 
under  the  armx  of  the  women  whom  they  thus  held  before  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
cltiKcos  dared  not  discharge  their  cannon  at  their  own  townswomen,  among  whose  numbers 
many  recognised  mothers,  Mstera,  or  wives.  Maestricht  was  recovered,  and  an  indiscriminate 
slaughter  instantly  avenged  lis  temporary  loss.^] 


460  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1576  A.i>.] 

Van  Ende,  with  his  German  troops,  had  been  stationed  by  the  marquis  of 
lfavr6  to  defend  the  St,  Joris  gate,  but  no  sooner  did  the  Spaniards  imder 
Vargas  present  themselves  than  he  deserted  to  them  instantly  with  his  whole 
force.  United  with  the  Spanish  cavalry,  these  traitorous  defenders  of  Ant- 
werp dashed  in  pursuit  of  those  who  had  been  only  faint-hearted.  Thus  the 
bm^hers  saw  themselves  attacked  by  many  of  their  friends,  deserted  by 
more.  Whom  were  they  to  trust?  Nevertheless,  Oberstein's  Germans  were 
brave  and  faithful,  resisting  to  the  last,  and  d3ang  every  man  in  his  harness. 
Tlie  tide  of  battle  flowed  hither  and  thither,  through  every  street  and  narrow 
lane.  The  confused  mob  of  fugitives  and  conquerors,  Spaniards,  Walloons, 
Germans,  buighers,  struggling,  shouting,  striking,  cursing,  dying,  swayed 
hither  and  thither  like  a  stormy  sea.  Eveiy  house  became  a  fortress.  It 
was  difficult  to  carry  the  houses  by  storm,  but  they  were  soon  set  on  fire. 

In  a  brief  interval,  the  city  hall  and  other  edifices  on  the  square  were  in 
flames.  The  conflagration  spread  with  rapidity  —  house  after  house,  street 
after  street,  taking  fire.  Nearly  a  thousand  buildings,  in  the  most  splendid 
and  wealthy  quarter  of  the  city,  were  soon  in  a  blaze,  and  multitudes  of 
human  beings  were  burned  with  them.  The  many  tortuous  streets  which 
led  down  a  Sight  descent  from  the  rear  of  the  town-house  to  the  quays  were 
all  one  vast  conflagration.  On  the  other  side,  the  magnificent  cathedral, 
separated  from  the  Grande  place  by  a  single  row  of  buildings,  was  lighted  up, 
but  not  attacked  by  the  flames.  The  tall  spire  cast  its  gigantic  shadow 
across  the  last  desperate  conflict.  Women,  children,  old  men  were  killed  in 
countless  numbers,  and  still,  through  all  this  havoc,  directly  over  the  heads  of 
the  struggling  throne,  suspended  in  mid-air  above  the  din  and  smoke  of  the 
conflict,  there  sounded,  every  half  quarter  of  every  hour,  as  if  in  gentle 
mockery,  from  the  belfry  of  the  cathedral,  the  tender  and  melodious  chimes. 

Never  was  there  a  more  monstrous  massacre,  even  in  the  blood-stained 
history  of  the  Netherlands.  It  was  estimated  that,  in  the  course  of  this  and 
the  two  following  days,  not  less  than  eight  thousand  human  beings  were 
murdered.*  The  Spaniards  seemed  to  cast  off  even  the  vizard  of  humanity. 
Hell  seemed  emptied  of  its  fiends.  Night  fell  upon  the  scene  before  the  soldiers 
were  masters  of  the  city;  but  worse  horrors  began  after  the  contest  was 
ended.  This  army  of  brigands  had  come  thither  with  a  definite,  practical 
purpose,  for  it  was  not  blood-thirst,  nor  lust,  nor  revenge  which  had  impelled 
them,  but  it  was  greediness  for  gold.  The  fire,  spreading  more  extensively 
and  more  rapidly  than  had  been  desired  through  the  wealthiest  quarter  of 
the  city,  had  unfortunately  devoured  a  vast  amount  of  property.  Six  mil- 
lions, at  least,  had  thus  been  swallowed;  a  destruction  by  which  no  one  had 
profited.  There  was,  however,  much  left.  The  strong  boxes  of  the  merchants, 
the  gold,  silver,  and  precious  jewelry,  the  velvets,  satins,  brocades,  laces,  and 

'  This  is  the  estimate  of  Mendozai  ;  ti>.,  two  tbousand  five  hundred  slain  witli  the  sword, 
and  double  that  number  burned  and  drowned.  Cabrera  *  puts  the  figures  at  seven  thousand  and 
upwards.  Bor/  and  Hooft  'i  give  the  same  number  of  dead  bodies  actually  found  in  the  streets, 
vtz,,  two  thousand  five  hundred;  and,  estimating  the  drowned  at  as  many  more,  leave  the 
Dumber  of  the  burned  to  conjecture.  Meteren  ,' who  on  all  occasions  seeks  to  diminish  the 
number  of  his  countrymen  slain  in  battle  or  massacre,  while  he  magnifies  the  loss  of  his  oppo- 
nents, admits  that  from  four  to  five  thousand  were  slain  ;  adding,  however,  that  but  fifteen 
hundred  bodies  were  found,  which  were  all  buried  together  in  tvvo  great  pits.  He  thus  deducts 
exactly  one  thousand  from  the  numl>er  of  counted  corpses,  as  given  by  every  other  authority, 
Spanish  or  Flemish.  Strada"*  gives  three  thousand  as  the  number  of  those  slain  with  the 
Bword.  The  letter  of  Jerome  de  Hoda  to  the  king,  written  from  the  citadel  of  Antwerp  upon 
the  6th  of  November,  when  the  carnage  was  liardly  over,  estimates  the  number  of  the  slain  at 
eight  thousand,  and  one  thousand  horses.  This  authority,  coming  from  the  very  hour  and 
spot,  and  from  a  man  so  deeply  implicated,  may  be  considered  conclusive.  —  [Blok  "  puts  the  num- 
ber of  slain  at  between  six  and  seven  thousand.] 


PROGRESS    TOWARDS    UNION  4«1 

Biniilar  wpll-concontratful  and  portablp  plunder,  were  rapidly  appropriat^^d. 
So  far  the  course  was  plain  and  easy,  but  in  private  houses  it  was  more  diffi- 
cult. The  cash,  plate,  and  other  valuables  of  individuals  were  not  so  easily 
discovered.  Torture  was,  therefore,  at  once  employed  to  discover  the  hidden 
treasures. 

Two  days  longer  the  havoc  lasted  in  the  city.  Of  all  the  deeds  of  dark- 
ness yet  compassed  in  the  Netherlands,  this  was  the  worst.  It  was  called 
the  Spanish  Fury,  by  which  dread  ntime  it  hius  l)een  known  for  ages.  The 
city  wliich  had  been  a  world  of  wealth  and  splendour  was  changed  to  a  charnel- 
house,  and  from  that  liour  its  commercial  prosf)erity  was  blasted. 

Rarely  has  so  snmll  a  band  obtained  in  three  days'  roblx'ry  so  large  an 
amount  of  wealth.  Four  or  five  millions  divided  among  five  thousand  soltliers 
made  up  for  long  arrearages. 

In  this  Spanisii  Fur>'  many  more  were  massacred  in  Antwerp  than  in  the 
St.  Hartlioldrnew  at  Paris.  Almost  as  many  living  humati  beings  were  dasFied 
out  of  existence  now  as  there  had  been  statues  destroyed  in  the  memorable 
image-breaking  of  Antwerp,  t^n  years  before  —  an  event  wjiieh  had  sent 
such  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  heart  of  Catholic  Christendom. 

Marvellously  few  Spaniards  were  slain  in  these  eventful  days.  Two 
hundred  killed  is  the  largest  number  stated.  Tlie  discrepancy  seems  mon- 
strous, but  it  is  hardly  more  tlian  oft^n  existed  between  the  losses  inflicted 
and  sustained  by  iUv  Spaniards  in  such  combats.  Tlieir  prowess  wa,s  equal 
to  their  ferocity,  and  this  was  enough  to  make  them  seem  endowed  with  pre- 
terhuman powers. 

Bor's/  estimate  Ls  two  hundred  Spanianls  killed  and  four  hundred 
wounded.  Hooft^  gives  the  same.  Mendoxa/  allows  only  fourteen  Span- 
iards to  have  been  killed,  and  rather  more  than  twenty  wounded.  Meteren' 
as  usual,  considering  the  honour  of  his  countr^'men  at  stake,  linds  a  grim  con- 
solation in  adding  a  few  to  the  ruimber  of  the  enemies  slain,  arid  gives  a  total 
of  three  hundred  Spaniards  killed.  Strada  "»  gives  the  two  extremes;  so 
that  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  numb(»r  was  not  less  than  fourteen  nor  more 
than  two  himdretl.  These  statistics  are  certainly  curious,  for  it  would  st^em 
almost  impossible  that  a  forc€  numbering  between  t!iirty-five  hundred  and 
five  thousimd  men  (there  is  this  amount  of  discrepancy  in  the  different  esti- 
mates) should  capture  and  plunder,  with  so  little  loss  to  themselves,  a  city 
of  two  hundred  thousand  smils,  ildrncb^l  by  an  army  of  at  least  twelve  thou- 
sand besides  a  large  proportion  of  burghers  bearing  weapons.  No  wonder 
that  the  cliivalrous  Brantfime  "  was  in  an  ecstasy  of  delight  at  the  achieve- 
ment, and  that  the  Netherhuiders,  seeing  the  prowess  and  the  cruelty  of  their 
foes*  should  come  to  doubt  whether  they  were  men  or  de\'il8. 

This  disproportion  between  the  number  of  Sj)anianls  and  states'  soldiers 
elain  w^is  the  same  in  all  the  great  encount-ers,  partieultirly  in  those  of  the 
period  which  now  occupies  us.  In  the  six  mouths  between  the  enrl  of  August, 
157(),  and  the  signing  of  the  Perpetual  Edict  on  the  17th  of  February,  1577, 
the  Spaniards  killed  twenty  thousand,  by  the  achnission  of  the  Netherlanders 
theuLselves,  an<l  acknowledged  less  than  six  slain  on  their  own  side!  So 
much  for  the  blood  expended  annually  or  montlily  by  the  Netlierlandcrs  in 
defence  of  liberty  and  religion.  As  for  the  money  consumed,  the  usual  esti- 
mate of  the  expense  of  the  stat<*s'  army  was  from  800,000  to  1  ,(X)0,000  guldens 
monthly,  according  to  Meteren,^  The  same  historian  calculates  the  expense 
of  Philip's  army  at  42,000.000  cro^iis  for  the  nine  years,  from  1567  to  1576, 
which  would  give  nearly  400,000  dollars  monthly,  half  of  which,  he  says,  came 
from  Spain.    The  Netherlanders,  therefore,  furnished  the  other  half,  bo  that 


462  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

200,000  dollars,  equal  to  500,000  guldens,  monthly  were  to  be  added  to  the 
million  required  for  their  own  war  department.  Here  then  was  a  tax  of  one 
and  a  half  millions  monthly,  or  eighteen  millions  yearly,  simply  for  the  keep- 
ing of  the  two  armies  on  foot  to  destroy  the  Netherlanders  and  consume 
their  substance.  The  frightful  loss  by  confiscations,  plunderings,  brand- 
schettings,  and  the  sackings  of  cities  and  villages  innumerable,  was  all  in 
addition,  of  course,  but  that  enormous  amoimt  defies  calculation.  The 
regular  expense  in  money  which  they  were  to  meet,  if  they  could,  for  the  mere 
pay  and  provision  of  the  armies,  was  as  above,  and  equal  to  at  least  sixty 
millions  yearly  to-day,  making  allowance  for  the  difference  in  the  value 
of  money.  This  was  certainly  sufficient  for  a  population  of  three  millions. 
Their  frequent  promise  to  mamtain  their  liberty  with  their  '*  goods  and  their 
blood"  was  no  idle  boast  —  three  thousand  men  and  one  and  a  half  million 
florins  being  consumed  monthly. 

THE  PACIFICATION  OF  GHEXT  (1576) 

Meantime  the  prince  of  Orange  sat  at  Middelburg,  watching  the  storm. 
The  position  of  Holland  and  Zealand  with  regard  to  the  other  fifteen  provinces 
was  distinctly  characterised.  Upon  certain  points  there  was  an  absolute 
sympathy,  while  upon  others  there  was  a  grave  and  almost  fatal  difference. 
It  was  the  task  of  tne  prince  to  deepen  the  sympathy,  to  extinguish  the  differ- 
ence. In  Holland  and  Zealand  there  was  a  warm  and  nearly  universal  adhe- 
sion to  the  reformed  religion,  a  passionate  attachment  to  the  ancient  politi- 
cal liberties.  The  prince,  although  an  earnest  Calvinist  himself,  did  all  in 
his  power  to  check  the  growing  spirit  of  intolerance  towards  the  old  religion, 
omitted  no  opportunity  of  strengthening  the  attachment  which  the  people 
justly  felt  for  their  liberal  institutions. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  most  of  the  other  provinces,  the  Catholic  religion 
had  been  regaining  its  ascendency.  Even  in  1574,  the  states  assembled  at 
Brussels  declared  to  Requesens  that  they  would  rather  die  the  death  than 
see  any  change  in  their  religion.  That  feeling  had  rather  increased  than 
diminished. 

As  to  political  convictions,  the  fifteen  provinces  differed  much  less  from 
their  two  sisters.  There  was  a  strong  attachment  to  their  old  constitutions, 
a  general  inclination  to  make  use  of  the  present  crisis  to  effect  their  restora- 
tion. At  the  same  time,  it  had  not  come  to  be  the  general  conviction,  as  in 
Holland  and  Zealand,  that  the  maintenance  of  those  liberties  was  incom- 
patible with  the  continuance  of  Philip's  authority.  The  great  bond  of  sym- 
pathy, however,  between  all  the  seventeen  was  their  common  hatred  to  the 
foreign  soldiery.  Upon  this  deeply  embedded,  immovable  fulcrum  of  an 
ancient  national  hatred,  the  sudden  mutiny  of  the  whole  Spanish  army  served 
as  a  lever  of  incalculable  power.  The  prince  seized  it  as  from  the  hand  of 
God.  Thus  armed,  he  proposed  to  himself  the  task  of  upturning  the  mass 
of  oppression  under  which  the  old  liberties  of  the  country  had  so  long  been 
crushed.    To  effect  this  object,  adroitness  was  as  requisite  as  courage. 

The  prince,  therefore,  in  all  his  addresses  and  documents,  was  careful  to 
disclaim  any  intention  of  disturbing  the  established  religion,  or  of  making 
any  rash  political  changes. 

Having  sought  to  impress  upon  his  countr5anen  the  gravity  of  the  jDOsition, 
he  led  them  to  seek  the  remedy  in  audacity  and  in  union.  He  familiarised 
them  with  his  theory  that  the  legal,  historical  government  of  the  provinces 
belonged  to  the  states-general,  to  a  congress  of  nobles,  clergy,  and  commons, 


^•^•^^  PBOQKESS   TOWARDS   UNION  469 

f  I6W  A-D.] 

appointed  from  each  of  the  sevent^n  provinces.  He  maintained,  with 
rea^son,  that  the  government  of  the  Netherlands  was  a  representative  con- 
stitutional government,  undnr  the  hereditary  authority  of  the  king.  Letters 
were  addressed  to  the  states  of  nearly  every  province.  Those  bodies  were 
urgently  implored  tn  appoint  deputies  to  a  general  congress,  at  which  a  close 
and  formal  union  between  Holland  and  Zealand  with  the  other  pro\'incea 
might  be  effected.  The  place  appoint+'d  for  the  deliberations  was  the  city 
of  Ghent.  Here,  by  the  middle  of  October,  a  large  number  of  delegates  had 
already  assembled  although  tiie  citadel  commanding  the  city  was  held  by 
the  Spaniards. 

The  massacre  at  Antwerp  and  the  eloquence  of  the  prince  produced  a 
most  quickening  effect  upon  the  congress  at  Ghent,  Their  deliberations 
had  f>rf>ceeded  witli  df^corum  and  earnestness,  in  the  midst  of  the  ciinn(inadit»g 
against  the  citadel,  and  the  fortress  fell  on  the  same  day  which  saw  the  con- 
clusion of  the  treaty. 

This  important  instrument,  by  which  the  sacrifices  and  exertions  of  the 
prince  were,  for  a  brief  season  at  least,  rewanled^  contained  twenty-five 
articles.  The  prince  of  Orange^  with  the  states  of  Holland  and  Zealand  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  provinces  signing,  or  thereafter  to  sign  the  treaty,  on 
the  other,  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  mutual  forgiving  and  forgetting, 
as  regarded  the  past.  They  vowed  a  close  and  faithful  friendship  for  the 
future.  They  plighted  a  mutual  promise  to  expel  the  Spaniards  from  the 
Netherlands  without  delay.  As  soon  as  this  great  deed  should  be  done,  there 
was  to  Ije  a  convocation  of  tlie  states-general^  on  the  basis  of  that  assembly 
before  which  the  abdication  of  the  emperor  had  taken  place. 

By  this  congress,  the  affairs  of  religion  in  Holland  and  Zealand  should  be 
regulated,  as  well  as  the  surrender  of  fortresses  jind  oilier  places  belongirig 
to  his  majesty.  There  was  to  be  full  hl)erty  of  communication  and  trullic 
between  the  citizens  of  the  one  side  and  the  other.  It  should  not  he  legal, 
however,  for  those  of  Holland  and  Zealand  to  attempt  anything  outride 
their  own  territory  against  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  nor  for  cause  thereof 
to  injure  or  irritate  any  one,  by  deed  or  word.  All  the  placards  ami  edicts 
on  the  subject  of  heresy,  together  with  the  criminal  ordinances  made  by  the 
duke  of  Alva,  were  susjx^ndcd,  until  the  states-general  should  otherwise 
ordain.  The  prince  was  to  remain  lieutenant^  admiral,  and  general  for  his 
majesty  in  Holland,  Zealand,  and  the  associated  places,  till  otherwise  pro- 
vided by  the  states-general,  after  the  departure  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
cities  and  places  included  in  the  prince's  commiasion,  but  not  yet  acknowleflg- 
ing  his  authority,  should  receive  satisfaction  from  him,  as  to  the  point  of 
religion  and  other  matters,  before  subscribing  to  the  union.  All  prisoners, 
and  particularly  the  count  of  Rossu,  should  be  relea.sed  without  ransom.  All 
estates  and  other  property  not  already  alienated  should  bt*  restored,  id!  con- 
fiscations since  1566  Ix-ing  declared  null  and  void.  The  countess  palatine, 
widow  of  Brederotle,  and  count  of  Buren,  son  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  were 
expressly  named  in  this  provision.  Prelates  and  ecclesujstical  i>ersons,  huvuig 
property  in  Holland  and  Zealand,  should  be  reinstated,  if  possible;  but  in 
case  of  alienation,  which  was  likely  to  be  generally  the  case,  there  should  be 
reasonable  compensation.  It  was  to  be  decided  by  the  states-general  whether 
the  provinces  should  discharge  the  debts  incurred  by  the  prince  of  Orange  in 
his  two  campaigns.  Provinces  and  cities  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  this 
union  until  tliey  had  signed  the  treaty,  but  they  should  be  permitted  to  sign 
it  when  they  chose. 

This  memorable  document  was  subscribed  at  Ghent  on  the  8th  of  Novem- 


i 


464  THE   HISTORY   OP   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1570  A.D.] 

ber,  by  Sainte-Aldegonde,  with  eight  other  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
prince  of  Orange  and  the  estates  of  Holland  on  the  one  side,  and  by  Elliertus 
Jjeoninus  and  other  deputies  appointed  by  Brabant,  Flanders,  Artois,  Hai- 
nault,  Valenciennes,  Lille,  Douai,  Orchies,  Namm*,  Toumay,  Utrecht,  and 
Mechlin  on  the  other  side. 

The  arrangement  was  a  masterpiece  of  diplomacy  on  the  part  of  the 
prince,  for  it  was  as  effectual  a  provision  for  the  safety  of  the  reformed  religion 
as  could  be  expected  imder  the  circumstances.  It  was  much,  considering 
the  change  which  had  been  wrought  of  late  years  in  the  fifteen  provinces, 
that  they  should  consent  to  any  treaty  with  their  two  heretic  sisters.  It 
was  much  more  that  the  Pacification  should  reco^ise  the  new  religion  as 
the  established  creed  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
infamous  edicts  of  Charles  were  fommlly  abolished.  In  the  fifteen  Catholic 
provinces,  there  was  to  be  no  prohibition  of  private  reformed  worship.  The 
whole  strength  of  the  nation  enlisted  to  expel  the  foreign  soldiery  from  the 
soil.  This  was  the  work  of  William  the  Silent,  and  the  prince  thus  saw  the 
labour  of  years  crowned  with  at  least  a  momentary  success. 

His  satisfaction  was  very  great  when  it  was  announced  to  him,  many 
days  before  the  exchange  of  the  signatures,  that  the  treaty  had  been  con- 
cluded. He  was  desirous  that  the  Pacification  should  be  referred  for 
approval,  not  to  the  municipal  magistrates  only,  but  to  the  people  itself.  Pro- 
claimed in  the  market-place  of  every  city  and  village,  it  was  ratified,  not  by 
votes,  but  by  hjmins  of  thanksgiving,  by  triumphal  music,  by  thundering  of 
cannon,  and  by  the  blaze  of  beacons,  throughout  the  Netherlands. 

Another  event  added  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  hour.  The  country  so 
recently  and  by  deeds  of  such  remarkable  audacity  conquered  by  the  Span- 
iards in  the  north,  was  recovered  almost  simultaneously  with  the  conclusion 
of  the  Ghent  treaty.  It  was  a  natural  consequence  of  the  great  mutiny. 
The  troops  having  entirely  deserted  Mondragon,  it  became  necessary  for  that 
officer  to  abandon  Zieriksee,  the  city  which  had  been  won  with  so  much 
valour.  In  the  beginning  of  November,  the  capital,  and  with  it  the  whole 
island  of  Schouwen,  together  with  the  rest  of  Zealand,  excepting  Tholen, 
was  recovered  by  Count  Hohenlohe,  lieutenant-general  of  the  prince  of  Orange, 
and  acting  according  to  his  instructions. 

Thus  on  this  particular  point  of  time  many  great  events  had  been  crowded. 
At  the  very  same  moment  Zealand  had  been  redeemed,  Antwerp  ruined,  and 
the  league  of  all  the  Netherlands  against  the  Spaniards  concluded.  It  now 
became  known  that  another  and  most  important. event  had  occurred  at  the 
same  instant.  On  the  day  before  the  Antwerp  massacre,  four  days  before 
the  publication  of  the  Ghent  treaty,  a  foreign  cavalier,  attended  by  a  Moorish 
slave  and  by  six  men-at-anns,  rode  into  the  streets  of  Luxemburg.  The 
cavalier  was  Don  Ottavio  Gonzaga,  brother  of  the  prince  of  Meln.  The 
Moorish  slave  was  Don  John  of  Austria,  the  son  of  the  emperor,  the  con- 
queror of  Granada,  the  hero  of  Lepanto.  The  new  governor-general  had 
traversed  Spain  and  France  in  disguise  with  great  celerity,  and  in  the  romantic 
manner  which  belonged  to  his  character.  He  stood  at  last  on  the  threshold 
of  the  Netherlands,  but  with  all  his  speed  he  had  arrived  a  few  days  too  late. 

DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRIA 

Don  John  of  Austria  was  now  in  his  thirty-second  year,  having  been  born 
in  Ratisbon  on  the  24th  of  February,  1545.  His  father  was  Charles  V, 
emperor  of  Germany,  king  of  Spain,  dominator  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  America; 


PROGRESS    TOWARDS   UNION  4«5 

[1676  A.T>.] 

his  mother  was  Barbara  BIomlxTg,  washenvoman  of  Ratisbon.  Introduced 
to  the  emperor,  originaHy,  that  she  iniglit  idlevinte  his  melaneholy  by  her 
singing,  she  soon  exhausted  all  that  was  harmonious  in  her  nature,  for  never 
was  a  more  uncomfortable,  unmanageable  personage  than  Barbara  in  her  after 
life.  Married  to  one  Pyramus  Kegell,  who  was  made  a  military  commissary 
in  the  Netherlands,  she  was  left  a  widow  in  the  beginning  of  Alva's  adminis- 
tration. Placed  under  the  especial  superintendence  of  the  duke,  she  l>ecame 
the  torment  of  that  warrior's  life.  TJie  terrible  governor,  who  could  almost 
crush  the  !ieart  out  of  a  nation  of  three  millions,  was  unable  to  curb  this 
single  termagant. 

Notwithstanding  ever}'  effort  to  entice,  to  intimidate,  and  to  kidnap  her 
from  the  Netherlands,  there  she  remained,  through  all  vicissitudes,  even  till 
the  arrival  of  Don  Jolm.  By  his  (>ersuasions  or  comrniuids  she  was,  at  last, 
induced  to  accept  an  exile  for  the  remainder  of  her  days  in  Spain,  but 
revenged  lierself  by  asserting  that  he  was  quite  mistaken  in  supposing  himself 
the  emperor's  child;  a  point,  certainly,  upon  which  her  authority  might  be 
thought  conclusive.  Thus  there  was  a  tlouble  mystery  about  Don  John. 
He  might  be  the  issue  of  august  parentage  on  one  side;  he  was,  possibly, 
sjirung  of  most  ignoble  blood  on  both.  Base-born  at  lx»st,  he  was  not  sure 
whether  to  lfM>k  (nr  the  author  of  his  being  in  the  halls  of  the  ca'sars  or  the 
l)ooths  of  Ratisbon  mechanics. 

Perhaps  there  was  as  nmch  good  faith  on  the  j)art  of  Don  John,  when  he 
arrived  in  Luxemburg,  as  couhl  1>p  expected  of  a  man  coming  directly  from 
the  cabinet  of  Philip.  The  king  had  secretly  instructed  him  to  conciliate 
the  provinces,  but  to  concetle  nothing.  He  was  directed  to  restore  the 
government  to  its  stat^  during  the  imjwrial  epoch.  Seventeen  provinces,  in 
two  of  which  the  population  were  all  <lissen(ers,  in  all  of  which  the  principle 
of  mutual  toleration  had  just  been  accepted  by  Catholics  and  Protestant^s, 
were  now  to  Iw  brought  back  to  the  condition  according  to  which  all  Pro- 
testants were  lx*headed,  burned,  or  buried  alive.  The  crusaiier  of  Granada 
and  Lepanto,  the  chamjiion  of  (lie  ancient  church,  Wiis  not  likely  to  please 
the  rugged  Zealanders  who  had  let  themselves  l>e  hacked  to  pieces  rather  than 
saj'  one  Paternoster,  and  who  hati  worn  crescents  in  their  caps  at  Leyden,  to 
prove  their  deeper  hostility  to  the  pope  than  to  the  Turk. 

It  was  with  a  calm  determination  to  comiteract  and  crush  the  policy  of 
the  youthful  governor  that  William  the  Silent  awaited  his  antagonist.  Were 
Don  John  aduiitted  to  confidence,  the  peace  of  Holland  and  Zealand  was 
gone.  He  had  arrived,  with  all  the  self-confi<lence  of  a  conqueror;  he  did 
not  know  that  he  was  to  be  played  upon  like  a  pij^e,  to  l>e  caught  in  meshes 
sprea^^l  by  his  own  hands,  to  struggle  blindly,  to  rage  impotently  —  to  die 
ingloriously> 

CONCILIATORY   POLICE'   OF   DON  JOHN 

It  is  probable  that  hLs  intentions  were  really  honourable  and  candid. 
Tlie  stAtes-general  were  not  less  embarrassed  than  the  prince.  His  sudden 
arrival  threw  them  into  great  perplexity,  which  was  increased  by  the  con- 
ciliatory tone  of  his  letter.  They  had  now  removed  from  Ghent  to  Brussels; 
and  first  sending  deputies  to  pay  the  honour's  of  a  ceremtmious  welcome  to 
Don  John,  they  wTOte  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  then  in  liollantl,  for  his  advice 
in  this  difficult  conjuncture.  The  prince  replied  by  a  memorial  of  considerable 
length,  dated  Middelburg,  the  30tn  of  November,  in  which  he  gave  them  the 
mofit  wise  and  prudent  advice?;  the  substance  of  which  was  to  receive  any 
propositions  coming  from  the  wily  and  perfidious  Philip  with  the  utmost 

B.  w.  —  VOL.  xni.  iH 


460  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHEBLAXDS 

[1577  AJ>.] 

suspicion,  and  to  refuse  all  negotiation  with  his  deputy,  if  the  imnoecfiate 
withdrawal  of  the  foreign  troops  was  not  at  once  conceded  and  the  acceptance 
of  the  pacification  guaranteed  in  its  most  ample  extent. 

This  advice  was  implicitly  followed;  the  states  in  the  mean  time  taking 
the  precaution  of  assembling  a  largje  body  of  troops  at  Wavre,  between  Brussels 
and  Namur,  the  command  of  wmch  was  given  to  the  count  of  Lalaing.  A 
still  more  important  measure  was  the  despatch  of  an  envoy  to  Eng^d,  to 
implore  the  assistance  of  Elizabeth.  She  acted  on  this  occasion  with  frajik- 
ness  and  intrepidity;  giving  a  distinguished  reception  to  the  envoy  Sweveg- 
hem,  and  advancing  a  loan  of  £100,000,  on  condition  that  the  states  made  no 
treatjr  without  her  knowledge  or  participation. 

To  secure  still  more  closely  the  federal  union  that  now  bound  the  different 
provinces,  a  new  compact  was  concluded  by  the  deputies  on  the  9th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1577,  known  by  the  title  of  the  Union  of  Brussels,  and  signed  by  the 
prelates,  ecclesiastics,  lords,  gentlemen,  magistrates,  and  others,  representing 
the  states  of  the  Netherlands.*  A  copy  of  this  act  of  union  was  transmitted 
to  Don  John,  and  after  some  months  of  cautious  parleying,  in  the  latter  part 
of  which  the  candour  of  the  prince  seemed  doubtful,  and  which  the  native 
historians  do  not  hesitate  to  stigmatise  as  merely  a^umed,  a  treaty  was  signed 
at  Marche-en-Fani6ne,  a  place  between  Namur  and  Luxemburg,  in  which 
every  pwint  insisted  on  by  the  states  was,  to  the  surprise  and  delight  of  the 
nation,  fully  consented  to  and  guaranteed. 

This  important  document  is  called  the  Perpetual  Edict,  bears  date  the 
12th  of  February,  1577,  and  contains  nineteen  articles.  They  were  all  based 
on  the  acceptance  of  the  Pacification;  but  one  expressly  stipulated  that  the 
count  of  Buren  should  be  set  at  liberty  as  soon  as  the  prince  of  Orange,  his 
father,  had  on  his  part  ratified  the  treaty  .P 

In  the  Pacification  of  Ghent,  the  prince  had  achieved  the  price  of  his  life- 
long labours.  He  had  banded  a  mass  of  provinces,  by  the  ties  of  a  common 
Iiistory,  language,  and  customs,  into  a  le^e  against  a  foreign  tyranny.  He 
had  grappled  Holland  and  Zealand  to  their  sister  provinces  by  a  common 
love  for  thoir  ancient  liberties,  by  a  common  hatred  to  a  Spanish  soldiery.  He 
had  exorcised  the  evil  demon  of  religious  bigotry  by  which  the  body  politic 
iiad  b{HMi  possessed  so  many  years;  for  the  Ghent  treaty,  largely  inter- 
pret(Hl,  opened  the  door  to  universal  toleration.  In  the  Perpetual  Edict 
the  prince  saw  his  work  undone.  Holland  and  Zealand  were  again  cut  adrift 
from  the  other  fifteen  provinces,  and  war  would  soon  be  let  loose  upon  that 
devoted  little  territory.* 

Don  John  inacle  his  solemn  entry  into  Brussels  on  the  1st  of  May,  and 
assumed  the  functions  of  his  limited  authority.  The  conditions  of  the  treaty 
wen*  promptly  and  regularly  fulfilled.  The  citadels  occupied  by  the  Spanish 
soldiers  were  ^iven  up  to  the  Flemish  and  Walloon  troops;  and  the  departure 
of  these*  ferocious  foreigners  took  place  at  once.  The  large  sums  required 
to  facilitate  this  measure  made  it  necessary  to  submit  for  a  while  to  the  pres- 
ence of  the  (icnnan  mercenaries. 

Hut  Don  John's  conduct  soon  destroyed  the  temporary  delusion  which 
had  tleceived  the  country.    Whether  his  projects  were  hitherto  only  concealed, 

[» Tb*»  (9hent  Pacification,  which  was  in  the  nature  of  a  treaty  between  the  prince  and  the 
tttatOH  of  Holland  and  Zt»aland  on  the  one  side,  and  a  certain  number  of  provinces  on  the  other, 
had  only  been  Rigned  by  the  envoys  of  the  contracting  parties.  Though  received  with  deserved 
and  universal  acclamation,  it  had  not  the  authority  of  a  popular  document.  This,  however, 
was  the  character  Btudiously  impressed  ui>on  the  Brussels  Union,  The  people,  subdivided  ac- 
omlinff  to  the  various  grades  of  their  social  hierarchy,  had  been  solemnlv  summoned  to  ooon- 
cil,  and  had  deliberately  recorded  their  conviction.^] 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS   UNION"  407 

[1577  A.D.1 

or  that  they  were  now  for  the  first  time  excitx^d  by  the  disappointment  of 
these  ho[)es  of  authority  hehi  out  to  hini  by  Philip,  and  whicli  his  predecessors 
had  shared,  it  is  certain  that  ho  very  early  displayed  his  ambition,  and  very 
iniprudently  attempted  to  put  it  in  force.  He  at  once  demanded  from  the 
council  of  state  the  commiiad  of  tbe  trcKips  and  the  disposal  of  the  revenues. 
The  answer  was  a  simple  reference  to  the  Pacification  of  Ghent:  and  tlie 
prince's  rejoinder  was  an  apparent  submission,  and  the  immediate  despatch 
of  letters  in  cipher  to  the  king,  demanding  a  supply  of  troops  sufficient  to 
restore  his  ruined  authority.  These  letters  were  intercepted  by  the  king  of 
Navarre,  afterwards  Henry  IV  of  France,  who  inmiediately  transmitted  them 
to  the  prince  of  Orange,  his  old  friend  and  fellow  soldier. 

Public  opinioji,  to  the  susjiicions  of  which  Don  John  had  been  from  the 
first  obnoxious,  was  now  unanimous  in  attributing  to  design  all  that  was  un- 
constitutional and  unfair.  His  impetuous  character  could  no  longer  submit 
to  the  n'straint  of  dissimulMtioii,  and  he  resolved  to  take  some  JHiId  and  de- 
cided measure.  A  very  favourable  opportunity  was  presented  in  the  arri\al 
of  the  queen  of  Navarre,  Marguerite  of  Valois,  at  Namur,  on  her  way  to  iSpa. 
The  prince,  numerously  attendetl,  hastened  to  the  former  town  under  jjre- 
tence  of  paying  his  respects  to  the  queen.  As  hoou  as  she  left  the  j»hice,  he 
repaired  to  the  glacis  of  the  town,  as  if  for  the  mere  enjoyment  of  a  walk, 
admired  the  ext^'rnal  appearance  of  the  citadel,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  be 
admitted  inside.  The  young  count  of  Bariaymont,  in  the  absence  of  his 
father,  the  governor  of  the  place,  anil  an  accomplice  in  the  plot  with  Don 
John,  freely  admitted  him.  The  prince  immediately  drew  forth  a  pistol, 
and  exclaimed  that  that  was  the  first  nioment  of  his  government,  took  pos- 
session of  the  placid  with  liis  immediate  guard,  and  instantly  formed  tliem 
into  a  devoted  garrison. 


ORANGE   MADE  RtTWARD;    MATTHUS  GOVERNOR 

The  prince  of  Orange  immediately  made  public  the  intercepted  letters; 
and,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  states-general,  repaired  to  Brussels;  into  which 
city  he  made  a  truly  triuniphant  entry  on  the  23rd  of  September,  and  was 
inmiediately  noniinated  governor,  protector,  or  ruward  ^  of  Brabant  —  a 
dignity  which  had  fallen  mto  disuse,  but  was  revived  on  this  occasion^  and 
which  was  little  inferior  in  power  to  that  of  the  dictators  of  Rome.P  A  ruward 
was  not  exactly  dictator,  although  his  authority  was  universal.  He  was 
not  exactly  protector,  nor  governor,  nor  stadholder.  His  functions  were 
unlimited  as  to  time  —-  then^foi-e  sui>erior  iu  those  of  an  ancient  dictator; 
they  were  conunonly  conferred  on  tlie  natural  heir  to  the  sovereignty  — 
therefore  more  lofty  than  those  of  ordinary  stadholders.  The  individuals 
who  had  previously  held  the  office  in  the  Netherlands  had  usually  reigned 

p  The  fact  tb&ttbe  election  of  Orange  as  ruirard  or  ruVHiert  of  Brabant  wat>  due  to  violence, 
thonf^b  not  mentioned  by  EnifUsh  and  American  historians  of  the  Netherlands,  liaH  been  clearly 
eatabiished  by  Belgian  soholars.  In  fact,  the  prince  himself,  when  charged  In  Philip's  ban 
Ith  »ecurlDf;  his  election  "  by  force  and  tumult,"  did  ntJt  deny  that  theue  means  were  em- 
)Tf>d,  but  declared  in  hifi  memorable  Apohffy  that  instf^d  of  seeking;  he  had  refused  the 
'Office.  HiH  8nhti«qnent  acceptance  uf  it  showed  that  he  thought  It  was  time  to  use  this  exalted 
position  to  baHle  the  desi^n^  of  his  enemies.  The  importatit  fact,  which  even  Motley^  does 
not  mention,  that  Orange  owed  his  election  to  a  popular  tumult,  is  proved  by  liachard.* —  Cor- 
reapondanct  dt  Uuillaume  U.  Tacitume ;  and  by  De  Hobaulx  de  Soumoy,''  the  learned  editor 
of  Mimoirta  d«  Wrid^rir  Ptrrenot  (the  famous  Champagny).  It  is  noticeable  that  l>oth  these 
competent  critics  trace  the  prince's  aubtle  agency  in  Ihiu  nprising,  as  well  as  in  the  st'izure  of 
the  dake  of  Aerschot  uud  other  Catholic  leaders,  which  had  such  serious  resultii  for  the  cause 
of  liberty  and  union  in  the  Netherlands.  — Young.*] 


468  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[1570-1S77A.D.] 

afterwards  in  their  own  right.  Duke  Albert,  of  the  Bavarian  line,  for  ex- 
ample, bad  been  ruward  of  Hatnault  and  Holland  for  thirty  years,  durinfl; 
the  insanity  of  his  brother,  and  on  the  death  of  Duke  William  liad  succeeded 
to  his  title.  Philip  of  Burgundy  had  declared  himself  ruward  of  Brabant 
in  1425,  and  had  shortly  afterwards  deprived  Jacqueline  of  all  her  titles  and 
appropriated  them  to  lumself.^ 

The  prince's  authority,  now  almost  imlimited,  extended  over  every  prov- 
ince of  the  Netherlands,  except  Namur  and  Luxembmrg,  both  of  wmch  ac- 
knowledged Don  John. 

The  first  care  of  the  liberated  nation  was  to  demolish  the  various  citadels 
rendered  celebrated  and  odious  by  the  excesses  of  the  Spaniards.  This  was 
done  with  an  enthusiastic  industry  in  which  every  age  and  sex  bore  a  part, 
and  which  promised  well  for  liberty.  Among  the  ruins  of  that  of  Antwerp 
the  statue  of  the  duke  of  Alva  was  discovered,  draped  through  the  filthiest 
streets  of  the  town,  and,  with  all  the  indignity  so  welTmerited  by  the  ori^nal, 
it  was  finally  broken  into  a  thousand  pieces.* 

The  coimtry,  in  conferring  such  extensive  powers  on  the  prince  of  Orange, 
had  certainly  gone  too  far  —  not  for  his  desert,  but  for  its  own  tranquiUity. 
It  was  impossible  that  such  an  elevation  shoiild  not  excite  the  discontent 
and  awaken  the  energy  of  the  haughty  aristocracy  of  Flanders  and  Brabant; 
and  particularly  of  the  house  of  Croy,  the  ancient  rivals  of  that  of  Nassau. 
The  then  representative  of  that  fainily  seemed  the  person  most  suited  to 
counterbalance  William's  excessive  power.  The  duke  of  Aerschot  was  there- 
fore named  governor  of  Flanders;  and  he  inmiediately  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  confederacy  of  the  Catholic  party,  which  quickly  decided  to  offer 
tJie  chief  government  of  the  coimtry,  still  in  the  name  of  Philip,  to  the  arch- 
duke Matthias,  brother  of  the  emperor  Rudolf  II,  and  cousin  german  to 
Philip  of  Spain,  a  youth  but  nineteen  years  of  age.  A  Flemish  gentleman 
named  Maelsted  was  entrusted  with  the  proposal.  Matthias  joyously  con- 
sented; and,  quitting  Vierma  with  the  greatest  secrecy,  he  arrived  at  Maes- 
tricht,  without  any  previous  announcement,  and  expected  only  by  the  party 
that  had  invited  him,  at  the  end  of  October,  1577. 

The  prince  of  Orange,  instead  of  showing  the  least  symptom  of  dissatis- 
faction at  this  underhand  proceeding  aimed  at  his  personal  authority,  an- 
nounced his  perfect  approval  of  the  nomination,  and  was  the  foremost  in 
recommending  measures  for  the  honour  of  the  archduke  and  the  ^curity  of 
the  country.  He  drew  up  the  basis  of  a  treaty  for  Matthias'  acceptance,  on 
terms  which  ^aranteed  to  the  council  of  state  and  the  states-general  the 
virtual  sovereignty,  and  left  to  the  young  prince  little  beyond  the  fine  title 
which  had  dazzled  his  boyish  vanity.  The  prince  of  Orange  was  appointed 
his  lieutenant,  in  all  the  branches  of  the  administration,  civil,  military,  or 
financial;  and  the  duke  of  Aerschot,  who  had  hoped  to  obtain  an  entire 
domination  over  the  puppet  he  had  brought  upon  the  stage,  saw  himself 
totally  foiled  in  his  project,  and  left  without  a  chance  or  a  pretext  for  the 
least  increase  to  his  influence. 

But  a  still  greater  disappointment  attended  this  ambitious  nobleman  in 
the  very  stronghold  of  his  power.  The  Flemings,  driven  by  persecution  to 
a  state  of  fury  almost  imnatural,  had,  in  their  antipathy  to  Spain,  adopted 
a  hatred  against  Catholicism  which  had  its  source  only  in  political  frenzy, 
while  the  converts  imagined  it  to  arise  from  reason  and  conviction. 

Two  men  had  taken  advantage  of  this  state  of  the  public  mind,  and 

[}  The  bulk  was  melted  again  and  reconverted  by  a  most  natural  metamorphosis  into  the 
cannon  from  which  it  had  originally  sprung.  —  Motley.^] 


N 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS    UNION 

[1577-1578  A.D.] 

gained  over  it  an  unbounded  luscendeney.  They  were  Francis  van  dor  K^ 
thuUe  lord  of  Ryhovc,  and  Jan  van  Ilembyze  [or  Imbize],  who  each  seemed 
formed  to  realise  the  beau-ideal  of  a  factious  demagogue.  They  had  ac- 
quired supreme  power  over  the  people  of  Ghent,  and  had  at  their  command 
a  bofly  of  twenty  thousand  resolute  and  well-armed  supjwrters.  The  duke 
of  Aerschot  vainly  attempted  to  oppose  his  authority  to  that  of  these  men; 
and  he  on  one  occasion  imprudently  exclaimed  that  "  he  would  have  them 
hanged,  even  though  they  were  protected  by  the  i)rinee  of  Ora!i|j<»  himself." 
^he  same  night  Ryhove  summonetl  the  leaders  of  his  bands;   and  quickly 

»mbling  a  considerable  force,  they  repaired  to  the  duke's  hotel,  made  him 
'isoner,  and,  without  allowing  him  time  to  dress,  carried  him  awny  in  tri- 
umph. At  the  same  time  the  bishops  of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  the  high  bailiffs 
of  Ghent  and  Courtrai,  the  governor  of  Oudenarde,  and  other  important 
magistrates,  were  arrested  —  accused  of  complicity  with  the  duke,  but  of 
what  particular  offence  tiie  lawless  demagogues  dirl  not  deign  to  specify. 
The  two  tribunes  immediately  divided  the  whole  honours  and  authority  of 
administration  —  Ryhove  as  mllitar>',  and  Hembyze  as  civil  chief.' 

The  latter  of  these  legislators  comfiletnly  changed  the  forms  of  the  gov- 
enmient;  he  revived  the  ancient  privileges  destroyed  by  Charles  V,  and  took 
all  preliminary  measures  for  forcmg  the  various  provinces  to  join  with  the 
city  of  Ghent  in  Forming  a  fcilerative  republic.  The  states-general  and  the 
[>ririce  of  Orange  were  alanned  lest  tliese  troubles  niiglit  Ictnl  to  a  renewal 
of  the  anarchy  from  the  effects  of  which  the  country  had  but  just  obtained 
breathing  time.  Ryhove  consented,  at  the  remonstrance  of  the  prince  of 
Orange,  to  release  the  duke  of  Aerschot;  but  William  was  obliged  to  repair 
to  Ghent  in  jierson,  in  the  hope  of  establishing  onier.  He  arrived  on  the  29th 
of  December,  and  entered  on  a  strict  inquiry  with  his  usual  calnmcss  and  deci- 
sion. He  could  not  succeed  in  obtaining  the  liberty  of  the  other  prisoners, 
llumgh  he  pleaded  for  them  strongly.  Having  severely  reprimanded  the 
factious  leaders,  and  pointed  out  the  dangers  of  their  illegal  course,  he  re- 
turned to  Brussels,  le^iving  the  factious  city  in  a  temporary  tranquillity 
which  his  firmness  and  discretion  could  alone  have  obtained. 

The  archduke  Matthias,  ha\nng  visited  Antwerp,  and  acceded  to  all  the 
conditions  required  of  him,  made  his  public  entry  into  Brus.sels  on  the  18th 
of  January,  1578,  and  was  installed  in  his  dignity  of  governor-general  amidst 
the  usual  fi^tes  and  rejoicings.  Don  -John  of  Austria  was  at  the  same  time 
declared  an  enemy  to  the  country,  with  a  public  order  to  quit  it  without 
delay;  and  a  prohibition  was  issued  against  any  inhabitant  acknowledging 
hia  forfeited  authority. 

OUTBREAK   OF  WAH 

War  was  now  onc<^  more  oi>enly  declared,  some  fruitless  negotiations  having 
afforded  a  fair  pretext  for  hostilities.  The  rapid  appearance  of  a  numerous 
army  under  the  orders  of  Don  John  gave  strength  to  the  suspicions  of  his 
former  dissimulation.  It  wius  currently  believe<l  that  hirge  bodies  of  the  Span- 
ish troops  had  remained  conceale*.!  in  the  forests  of  Luxemburg  and  Lorraine; 
while  several  regiments,  which  had  remained  in  France  in  the  service  of  the 
League,  immediately  re-entered  the  Netherlands.    Alessandro  Famese  prince 

t'  Thus  aatlacioasly,  saccessfullT',  and  hitherto  witboat  bloodshed,  was  the  anti-CatboHc 
ntion  commeoced  In  Flanders.  The  «vent  was  the  first  of  a  long^  and  moet  signal  series. 
The  effect  of  thla  sudden  rising  of  the  popular  party  was  prodigioun  throughout  the  Nether- 
lands. At  the  same  time  the  audacity  of  sucu  extreme  proceedings  could  hardly  be  counto- 
tianced  by  any  conidderable  party  in  the  states* gene ral>] 


470  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

of  Parma,  son  of  the  former  govemant,  came  to  the  aid  of  his  imcle  Don  John 
at  the  head  of  a  large  force  of  Italians;  and  these  several  reinforcements, 
with  the  German  auxiliaries  still  in  the  country,  composed  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  men.  The  army  of  the  states-general  was  still  larger,  but  far 
inferior  in  point  of  discipline.  It  was  commanded  by  Antoine  de  Goignies,  a 
gentleman  of  Hainault,  and  an  old  soldier  of  the  school  of  Charles  V. 

After  a  sharp  affair  at  the  village  of  Riminants,  in  which  the  royalists  had 
the  worst,  the  two  armies  met  at  Gembloux  [or  Gemblours]  on  the  31st 
of  January,  1578.P 

THE  DISASTER  OF  OEMBLOUX   (1678) 

Don  John,  making  a  selection  of  some  six  himdred  cavalry,  all  picked  men, 
with  a  thousand  infantry,  divided  the  whole  into  two  bodies,  which  he  placed 
under  conmiand  of  Gonzaga  and  the  famous  old  Christopher  Mondragon. 
These  officers  received  orders  to  hang  on  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  to  harass 
him,  and  to  do  him  all  possible  damage  consistent  with  the  possibility  of 
avoiding  a  general  eng^ement,  until  the  main  army  under  Parma  and  Don 
John  should  arrive.  The  retiring  army  of  the  states  was  then  proceeding 
along  the  borders  of  a  deep  ravine,  filled  with  mire  and  water,  and  as  broad 
as  and  more  dangerous  than  a  river.  In  the  midst  of  the  skirmishing,  Ales- 
sandro  of  Parma  rode  up  to  reconnoitre.  He  saw  at  once  that  the  columns  of 
the  enemy  were  marching  imsteadily  to  avoid  being  precipitated  into  this 
creek.  He  observed  the  waving  of  their  spears,  the  general  confusion  of  their 
ranks,  and  was  cjuick  to  take  advantage  of  the  fortimate  moment. 

He  drew  up  his  little  force  in  a  compact  column.  Then,  with  a  few  words 
of  encour^ment,  he  launched  them  at  the  foe.  The  violent  and  entirely 
unexpecteil  shock  was  even  more  successful  than  the  prince  had  anticipated. 
The  hostile  cavalry  reeled  and  fell  into  hopeless  confusion,  Egmont  in  vain 
striving  to  rally  them  to  resistance.  That  name  had  lost  its  magic.  Goignies 
abo  attempted,  without  success,  to  restore  order  among  the  panic-struck 
ranks.  Assaulted  in  flank  and  rear  at  the  same  moment,  and  already  in 
temporary  confusion,  the  cavalry  of  the  enemy  turned  their  backs  and  fled. 
The  centre  of  the  states'  army,  thus  left  exposed,  was  now  warmly  attacked 
by  Parma.  It  had,  moreover,  been  already  thrown  into  disorder  by  the 
retreat  of  its  own  horse,  sls  they  charged  through  them  in  rapid  and  disgraceful 
panic.  The  whole  army  broke  to  pieces  at  once,  and  so  great  was  the  trepi- 
dation that  the  conquered  troops  had  hardly  courage  to  run  away.  They 
were  utterly  incapable  of  combat.  Not  a  blow  was  struck  by  the  fugitives. 
Hardly  a  man  in  the  Spanish  ranks  was  wounded ;  while,  in  the  course  of  an 
hour  and  a  half,  the  whole  force  of  the  enemy  was  exterminated. 

It  is  impossible  to  stat«  with  accuracy  the  exact  numbers  slain.  Some 
accounts  spoke  of  ten  thousand  killed,  or  captive,  with  absolutely  no  loss  on 
the  royal  side. 

Rarely  had  a  more  brilliant  exploit  been  performed  by  a  handful  of  cavalry. 
A  whole  army  was  overthrown.  Everything  belonging  to  the  enemy  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  Thirty-four  standards,  many  field-pieces, 
much  camp  equipage,  and  ammunition,  besides  some  seven  or  eight  thousand 
dead  bodies,  and  six  hundred  living  prisoners,  were  the  spoils  of  that  winter's 
day.  Of  the  captives,  some  were  soon  afterwards  hurled  off  the  bridge  at 
Namur,  and  drowned  like  dogs  in  the  Maas,  while  the  rest  were  all  hanged, 
none  escaping  with  life.  Don  John's  clemency  was  not  superior  to  that  of 
his  sanguinary  predecessors. 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS    UNION  471 

[1578  A.D.] 

And  so  another  proof  was  a(Ide<l  —  if  proofs  wore  still  necessary  —  of 
Spanish  prowess.  The  Netherlanders  may  Iw  pardoned  if  their  foes  seemed 
to  them  supernatural,  and  almost  invulnerable.  How  else  could  these  enor- 
mous successes  be  accounted  for?  How  else  could  thousands  fall  before  the 
Spanish  swords,  while  hardly  a  single  Spaniy!i  corpse  told  of  effectual  re- 
sistance? At  Jemmingen,  Alva  had  Tost  seven  soMiers,  and  slain  seven  thou- 
sand; in  the  Antwerp  Fur}%  two  hundred  Spaniards,  at  most,  had  fallen, 
while  eight  thousand  burghers  and  states*  troops  had  been  butchered;  and 
now  at  Gemhloux,  six,  seven,  eight,  ten  —  heaven  knew  how  many  thou- 
sands had  been  exterminated,  and  hardly  a  single  Spaniard  had  l>een  slain  f 
Undoubtedly,  the  first  reason  for  this  result  was  the  superiority  of  the  Spanish 
soldiers.  They  w**n*  the  boldest,  the  h)eRt  disciplinetl,  the  most  experienced 
in  the  world.  Their  audacity,  promptness,  anrl  ferocity  made  them  almost 
invincible.  Moreover,  they  were  commanded  by  the  mast  renowned  cap- 
tains of  the  age.'' 

The  news  of  this  battle  threw  the  states  into  the  utmost  consternation. 
Brussels  being  considered  insecure,  the  archduke  Matthias  and  his  council 
retireii  to  Antwerp;  but  the  victors  rlid  not  feel  their  forces  siifTicient  to 
justify  an  attack  upon  the  capital.  They,  however,  took  Louvain,  Tirlemont, 
and  several  other  towTis;  but  these  conquests  were  of  little  import  in  com- 
parison with  the  loss  of  Amsterdam,  which  declared  openly  and  unanimously 
for  the  patriot  cause.  The  states-general  recovorcti  their  courage,  and 
prepared  for  a  new  contest.  They  sent  deputies  to  the  diet  of  Worms,  to 
ask  succour  from  the  princes  of  the  empire.  The  count  palatine  John  Kasimir 
repaired  to  their  assistance  with  a  considerable  force  of  Germans  and  p]nglish, 
all  eijuipped  and  paid  by  Queen  Ehzabeth.  Francis  duke  of  AleTu;on  and 
of  Anjou^  and  brother  of  Henry  III  of  France,  hovered  on  the  frontiers  of 
Hainault  with  a  respectable  anny/ 

But  all  the  various  chiefs  had  separate  interests  and  opjwsite  views; 
while  the  fanatic  violence  of  the  people  of  (ihent  sjipiK-d  the  fonndations  of 
the  pacification  to  which  the  town  had  given  its  name.'  The  Walloon  prov- 
inces, deep-rooted  in  their  attachment  to  religious  bigotry,  which  they  loved 
still  better  than  political  freedom,  gradually  withdrew  from  the  common 
cause;  and  without  yet  openly  becoming  reconcik'd  with  Spain,  thf»y  adof^led 
a  neutrality  which  was  tantamount  to  it.  Don  John  was,  however,  deprived 
of  all  chance  of  reaping  any  advantage  from  these  unfortunate  dissensions. 
He  was  sutldenly  taken  ill  in  his  enmp  at  Hougy:  and  died  [probably  of  a 
eamp  fever],  after  a  fortnight's  suffering,  on  the  1st  of  October,  1578,  in  the 
33rd  year  of  his  age.P 


ADMINI8TR.\TION   OF  THE   DUKE  OF  PARMA 


On  the  death  of  Don  John  the  command  of  the  royal  army  fell  to  his 
nephew  Alessandro  Farnese,  duke  of  Parma.  He  was  descended  from  Charles 
V  through  his  mother  the  duchess  Margaret,  under  whose  administration 
the  first  troubles  had  broken  out.  He  had  already  fought  in  Belgium  on 
the  side  of  his  young  and  unfortunate  relative  —  they  were  both  of  the  same 

^*  He  bftd  been  va'mly  offered  the  sovereignty  of  the  pmvinces.  and  called  to  a»sUt  uuder 
the  title  of  "  Proloctor  of  Netherlandish  lllwrty."  Motley  ''  accuspM  him  of  liein^  "  the  most 
deepicable  peraonage  who  had  ever  entered  the  Netherlands,"  and  claiinH  that  Orange  cncour- 
agea  him  onlr  to  keep  ijueen  Elizabeth  anxious  to  forestall  a  French  alliance.] 

[*  All  Flanders  waa  prey  to  a  Calviulst  terrorism  which  made  the  Catholics  long  for  Don 
John's  sovereignty.     They  had  lost  failh  in  Urmnge.  —  BlokJ] 


47«  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[ISTB-mV  A.D.] 

sgR  —  and  the  latter,  on  his  death-bed,  had  named  him  as  his  sucoesaor. 
^eiYthin^  justified  the  choice  —  none  of  the  old  Spanish  generals  exceeded 
the  duke  m  valour,  military  experience,  prudence  m  council,  and  resources 
in  danger.  To  these  qualities  was  joined  great  executive  ability.  Perhaps 
he  had  more  talents  than  virtues,  but  his  conduct  was  that  of  a  man  who  was 
master  of  himself,  and  too  used  to  leading  others  to  let  his  own  faults  interfere 
with  his  success. 

He  soon  managed  to  get  together,  in  the  provinces  that  remained  loyal 
to  him  (Namur  and  Luxemburg),  as  many  as  thirty-two  thousand  soldiers, 
ahnost  all  foreigners.  This  woind  have  been  but  a  small  force  to  oppose  to 
the  Belgians  if  harmony  had  reigned  among  the  latter.  But  there  was 
already  open  schism  between  the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants.  Hembyze 
and  Ryhove  took  John  Kasimir's  troops  into  the  pay  of  the  city  and  with  this 
reinforcement  made  themselves  master  of  all  La  Fuindre  FlaminaaTite,  where 
Protestantism  had  already  spread  among  the  lower  classes;  ml  the  more 
eager  for  the  change  since  they  were  experiencing  a  condition  of  affairs  the 
like  of  which  had  never  been  known  before.  Everywhere  power  was  seized 
by  the  most  factious,  and  such  was  their  violence  that  French  Flanders, 
.Aitois,  and  Hainault  became  indignant  and  formed  a  defensive  alliance, 
seceding  in  a  formal  manner  from  the  confederated  provinces  (January  6th, 
1579).<« 

THE  UNION   OF  UTRECHT  (1579) 

The  states-general  and  the  whole  national  party  regarded,  with  prophetic 
dismay,  the  approaching  dismemberment  of  their  common  country.  They 
sent  deputation  on  deputation  to  the  Walloon  states,  to  warn  them  of  their 
danger,  and  to  avert,  if  possible,  the  fatal  measure.  Treachery  and  religious 
fanaticism  had  undermined  the  bulwark  almost  as  soon  as  reared.  ^,  in 
besieged  cities,  a  sudden  breastwork  is  thrown  up  internally,  when  the  out- 
ward defences  are  crumbling  —  so  the  energy  of  Orange  had  been  silently 
Creparing  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  as  a  temporary  defence  until  the  foe  should 
e  Deaten  back  and  there  should  be  time  to  decide  on  their  future  com^  of 
action. 

During  the  whole  month  of  December,  an  active  correspondence  had  been 
carried  on  between  the  prince  and  his  brother  John,  with  various  agents  in 
Gelderland,  Friesland,  and  Groningen,  as  well  as  with  influential  personages 
in  the  more  central  provinces  and  cities.  Gelderland,  the  natural  bulwark 
to  Holland  and  Zealand,  commanding  the  four  great  rivers  of  the  country, 
had  been  fortunately  placed  under  the  government  of  the  trusty  John  of 
Nassau,  that  province  being  warmly  in  favour  of  a  closer  union  with  its  sister 
provinces,  and  particularly  with  those  more  nearly  allied  to  itself  in  religion 
and  in  language. 

Already  in  December  (1578),  Count  John,  in  behalf  of  his  brother,  had 
laid  before  the  states  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  assembled  at  Gorkum,  the 
project  of  a  new  imion  with  "  Gelderland,  Ghent,  Friesland,  Utrecht,  Overyssel, 
and  Groningen."  The  proposition  had  been  favourably  entertained,  and  com- 
missioners had  been  appointed  to  confer  with  other  commissioners  at  Utrecht, 
whenever  they  should  be  summoned  by  Count  John.  The  prince  chose  not 
to  be  the  ostensible  mover  in  the  plan  himself.  He  did  not  wish  to  startle 
unnecessarily  the  archduke  Matthias,  nor  to  be  cried  out  upon  as  infringing 
the  Ghent  Pacification,  although  the  whole  world  knew  that  treaty  to  be 
hopelessly  annulled.     For   these   and   many   other   weighty   motives   he 


^  PROGRESS    TOWARDS    UNION  473 

(1678-15TOA.D.3 

proposed  that  the  new  union  should  be  the  apj^arent  work  of  other  hands, 
unci  only  offerod  to  him  and  to  the  country  when  nearly  coniplctt^d. 

After  various  preltminary  meetings  in  December  and  January,  the  deputies 
of  Gelderland  and  Zutphen,  with  Count  John,  stadholder  of  these  provinces, 
at  their  head,  met  with  the  deputies  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and  the  provinces 
between  the  Ems  and  the  Lauwers,  early  in  January,  1579,  and  on  the  23rd 
of  that  month,  without  waiting  longer  for  the  deputies  of  the  other  provinces, 
they  agreed  provisionally  upon  a  treaty  of  union  which  was  published  after- 
wards on  the  211(1],  from  the  town-house  of  Utrecht. 

Tiiis  memorable  document  —  which  is  ever  regarded  as  the  foundation  of 
the  Netherland  Republic  —  contained  twenty-six  articles.  The  preamble 
stated  the  object  of  the  union.  It  was  to  strengthen,  not  to  forsake  the  Ghent 
Pacification^  already  nearly  annihilated  by  the  force  of  foreign  soldiery.  The 
contracting  provinces  agreed  to  remain  eternally  unite<lj  as  if  they  were  but 
one  province.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  understood  that  each  was  to  retain 
\\s  particular  privileges,  lil>erties,  laudable  anrl  traditionary  customs,  and 
other  laws.  The  cities,  corporations,  and  inhabit-ants  of  every  province  were 
to  be  guaranteed  as  to  their  ancient  constitutions.  The  provinces,  by  virtue 
of  the  union,  were  to  defend  each  other  '*  with  life,  goods,  and  bloo(l,"  against 
all  force  brought  against  them  in  the  king's  name  or  behalf.  They  were  also 
to  defend  each  other  against  all  foreign  or  domestic  potentates,  provinces, 
or  cities,  provided  such  defence  were  controlled  by  the  *' generality"  of  the 
union.  For  the  expense  occasioned  by  the  protection  of  the  provinces,  certain 
imposts  and  excises  were  to  be  equally  assessed  and  collected.  No  truce 
or  peace  was  to  be  concluded,  no  war  commenced,  no  impost  establbhed 
affecting  the  '* generality,"  but  by  unanimous  advice  and  consent  of  the 
provinces. 

Upon  other  matters  the  majority  was  to  decide,  the  votes  being  taken  in 
the  maimer  then  customary  in  the  assembly  of  states-general.  None  of  the 
united  provinces,  or  of  their  cities  or  coqjorations,  was  to  make  treaties  with 
other  potentates  or  states,  without  consent  of  its  confederates.  If  neighbour- 
ing princes,  provinces,  or  cities  wished  to  enter  into  this  confederacy,  they 
were  to  be  received  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  united  provinces.  A  com- 
mon currency  was  to  be  estaliliwhed  for  the  confederacy.  In  the  matti?r  of 
di\ine  worship,  Holland  and  Zealand  were  to  conduct  themselves  as  they 
should  think  j)roper.  The  other  provinces  of  the  union,  however,  were  either 
to  ctinfonii  to  the  *'  religious  peace''  already  laid  down  by  Archduke  Matthias 
and  his  council,  or  to  make  such  other  arrangements  as  each  province  should 
for  itself  consider  appropriate  for  the  maintenance  of  its  internal  tranquillity 
—  provifknl  always  that  every  individual  should  remain  free  in  hia  R'ligion, 
and  that  no  man  should  be  molested  or  questioned  on  the  subject  of  divine 
worship  as  had  been  already  established  by  the  Ghent  Pacification. 

Such  were  the  simple  provisions  of  that  instrument  which  became  the 
foundation  of  the  powerful  commonwealth  of  the  United  NetherlaniLs.  On 
the  day  when  it  was  concluded,  there  were  present  deputies  from  five  provinces 
only.  Count  John  of  Nassau  signed  first,  as  stadhokler  of  Gelderland  and 
Zutphen.  His  signature  was  followed  by  those  of  four  ileputicH  from  that 
doul)le  province;  and  the  envoys  of  Holland,  Zealand,  Utrecht,  and  the 
Frisian  provinces  then  signed  the  document. 

The  prince  himself,  although  in  reality  the  principal  director  of  the 
movement,  delayed  api>ending  his  signature  until  May  the  8rd,  1579.  Herein 
he  was  actuated  by  the  reasons  already  stated,  and  by  the  hope  which  he  still 
entertained  that  a  wider  union  might  be  established,  with  Matthias  for  its 


474  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHEBLANDS 

nominal  chief.  His  enemies,  as  usual,  attributed  this  patriotic  delay  to 
baser  motives.  They  accused  him  of  a  desire  to  assume  the  govemor-^eneral- 
ship  himself,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  archduke  —  an  insinuation  which  the 
states  of  Holland  took  occasion  formally  to  denounce  as  a  calumny.  For 
those  who  have  studied  the  character  and  history  of  the  man,  a  defence 
against  such  slander  is  superfluous.  Matthias  was  but  the  shadow,  Orange 
the  substance.  The  archduke  had  been  accepted  only  to  obviate  the  evil 
effects  of  a  political  intrigue,  and  with  the  express  condition  that  the  prince 
should  be  his  lieutenant-general  in  name,  his  master  in  fact.  Directly  after 
his  departure  in  the  following  year,  the  prince's  authority,  which  nominally 
departed  also,  was  re-established  in  his  own  person,  and  by  express  act  of 
the  states-general. 

The  Union  of  Utrecht  was  the  foundation-stone  of  the  Netherland  Repub- 
lic: but  the  framers  of  the  confederacy  did  not  intend  the  establishment 
of  a  republic,  or  of  an  independent  commonwealth  of  any  kind.  They  had 
not  forsworn  the  Spanish  monarch.  It  was  not  yet  their  intention  to  for- 
swear him.  Certainly  the  act  of  union  contained  no  allusion  to  such  an 
im|X)rtant  step.  On  the  contrary,  in  the  brief  preamble  they  expressly  stated 
their  intention  to  strengthen  the  Ghent  Pacification,  and  the  Ghent  Pacifica- 
tion acknowledged  obedience  to  the  king.  They  intended  no  political  innova- 
tion of  any  kind.  No  doubt  the  formal  renunciation  of  allegiance,  which  was 
to  foUow  within  two  years,  was  contemplated  by  many  as  a  future  probability; 
but  it  could  not  be  foreseen  with  certainty. 

The  establishment  of  a  republic,  which  lasted  two  centuries,  which  threw 
a  girdle  of  rich  dependencies  entirely  round  the  globe,  and  which  attained 
so  remarkable  a  height  of  commercial  prosperity  and  political  influence,  was 
the  result  of  the  Utrecht  Union;  but  it  was  not  a  premeditated  result.  The 
future  confederacy  was  not  to  resemble  the  system  of  the  German  Empire, 
for  it  was  to  acknowledge  no  single  head.  It  was  to  differ  from  the  Achsean 
League,  in  the  far  inferior  amount  of  power  which  it  permitted  to  its  general 
assembly,  and  in  the  consequently  greater  proportion  of  sovereign  attributes 
which  were  retained  by  the  individual  states. 

It  was,  on  the  other  hand,  to  furnish  a  closer  and  more  intimate  bond  than 
that  of  the  Swiss  confederacy,  which  was  only  a  union  for  defence  and  external 
purposes,  of  cantons  otherwise  independent.  It  was,  finally,  to  differ  from 
the  American  federal  commonwealth  in  the  great  feature  that  it  was  to  be 
merely  a  confederacy  of  sovereignties,  not  a  representative  republic.  Its 
foundation  was  a  compact,  not  a  constitution.  The  contracting  parties 
were  states  and  corporations,  who  considered  themselves  as  representing 
small  nationalities  de  jure  el  de  facto,  and  as  succeeding  to  the  supreme  power 
at  the  very  instant  in  which  allegiance  to  the  Spanish  monarch  was  renounced. 
The  general  assembly  was  a  collection  of  diplomatic  envoys,  bound  by  instruc- 
tion from  independent  states.  The  voting  was  not  by  heads,  but  by  states. 
The  deputies  were  not  representatives  of  the  people,  but  of  the  states;  for 
the  people  of  the  United  States  of  the  Netherlands  never  assembled  —  as 
did  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America  two  centuries  later  —  to  lay 
down  a  constitution,  by  which  they  granted  a  generous  amount  of  power 
to  the  union,  while  they  reserved  enough  of  sovereign  attributes  to  secure 
that  local  self-government  which  is  the  life-blood  of  liberty. 

Could  the  jealousy  of  great  nobles,  the  rancour  of  religious  differences, 
the  Catholic  bigotry  of  the  Walloon  population  on  the  one  side,  contending 
with  the  democratic  insanity  of  the  Ghent  populace  on  the  other,  have  been 
restrained  within  bounds  by  the  moderate  counsels  of  William  of  Orange, 


PROGRESS   TOWARDS   UNION  %U 

[1579  A.i>.] 

it  would  have  been  possible  to  unite  seventeen  provinces  instead  of  seven, 
and  to  save  many  long  and  blighting  years  of  civil  war. 

Thus  by  the  Union  of  Utrecht  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  fast  approaching 
reconciliation  of  the  Walloon  provinces  on  the  other,  the  work  of  decomposition 
and  of  construction  went  hand  in  hand.^ 


'4r*t:iJ!^l/,  J 


P^^^^-  '' 


CHAPTER    VIII 


THE   LAST   YEARS   OF   WILLIAAI   TIIE   SILENT 

[1579-1584  A.D.] 

By  a  few  wise  concessions  inarlc  in  good  time  at  the  origin  of  the  troubles 
and  loyally  maintained,  Fhllip  II  might  have  saved  intact  the  heritage  of 
the  liouse  of  Burgundy,  and  also  preserved  the  old  religion  in  the  whole 
extent  of  the  seventeen  provinces.  As  a  result  of  adopting  an  inexorable 
system  an<l  calling  t>Tanny  to  his  aid,  before  his  death  the  son  of  Charles  V 
Indield  his  iiilicritan<^e  disiiicmhenHl  and  Protestfintism  triumphant  and 
dominant  in  the  new  republic  of  the  united  provinces.  The  punishment  of 
the  proudest  and  most  powerful  king  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  still  more 
cruel. 

Tliat  Batavian  federation,  so  feeble  in  its  commencement,  gradually  be- 
came one  of  the  most  formidable  states  of  Europe,  and  as  stadholders  the 
descendants  of  the  proscribed  William  the  Silent  raised  themselves  above 
the  descendants  of  his  proscriber.  They  vanquishe<i  Spain  and  dictated 
laws  to  it.  The  Dutch  Republic  was  extending  it«  power  and  commanding 
admiration  when  the  Spanish  monarchy,  exhausted  by  such  a  long  struggle, 
was  drawing  after  it  in  its  humiliation  and  its  ruin  the  states  which,  unhappily 
for  themselves,  had  not  been  able  to  detach  themselves  irrevocably  from  the 
fatal  dominion  of  Philip  11. 

Aft^r  joining  the  Protestants  and  valiantly  fighting  with  tbem,  the  Bel- 
gian malcontents  finally  abandoned  them,  thiLs  deserting  the  grejit  cause  of 
the  Netherlands.  But  this  fat-al  determination,  which  even  the  tumults  and 
aggressions  of  the  Calvinist  party  coul<l  scarcely  excuse,  was  cruelly  expiated. 
The  submi.ssion  of  the  Catholic  Belgians  to  Spain,  accomplished  too  quickly 
and  with  too  great  lack  of  foresight,  was  the  principal  cause  of  the  long  tlecay 
and  dismemberment  of  the  southern  Netherlands.'' 

476 


THE    l^VST    YEARS    OF    WILLIAM    THE    SILENT  477 

[1679 1.D.] 

PARMA   BESIEGES  MAESTRICHT  (1579) 

After  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  the  North  and  Huuth  ceased  to  fight  together. 
The  duke  of  Alen<jon,  jealoufi  of  the  coimt  palatine,  had  abruptly  returned  to 
France,  and,  as  the  archduke  Matthiiu?  possessed  neither  money  nor  troops, 
he  was  reduced  to  an  absolute  nullity.  The  duke  of  Pumia  knew  how  to 
profit  skilfully  by  those  cireuTiistances.  He  advanced  into  Brabant  with  all 
his  forces  and  compelled  the  troops  of  the  states  to  fall  back  uixju  Antwerp. 
This  movement  brought  to  light  John  Kasirair's  German  bands,  isolated  m 
Flanders  and  already  embroiled  with  the  people  of  Ghent.    Their  leader  had 

fone  to  EnglauLl,  and,  without  waiting  his  return,  they  matie  terms  with 
'arma  and  obtained  a  safe  conduct  to  return  to  their  own  country. 
Then  the  duke,  now  master  of  the  country,  came  dow^n  uprm  Maestricht.c 
The  investment  of  Maestriclit  wms  coiiiinenced  upon  \lw  I'ith  of  March,  1579. 
In  the  city,  besides  the  population,  there  were  two  thousand  pe:i8ant.s,  both 
men  and  women,  a  garrison  of  one  thousanti  sokliers,  iuid  a  trained  burgher 
guard  numbering  about  twelve  hundred.  The  name  of  the  military  com- 
mandant was  Melchior.  Sebastian  Tappin,  a  Lorraine  officer,  was,  in  truth, 
the  principal  director  of  the  operations. 

After  a  heavy  cannonade  from  forty-six  great  guns,  continued  for  several 
days,  a  portion  of  the  brick  curtain  had  cnunhled,  but  through  the  breach 
was  seen  a  massive  terreplein,  w^ell  moated,  which,  after  six  thousand  shots 
already  delivered  on  the  outer  wall,  still  remained  uninjured.  Four  thou- 
sand miners,  who  had  passeil  half  tlieir  lives  in  burrowing  for  coal  in  that 
anthracites  region,  had  Vmh^u  furnished  by  the  bishop  of  LitW,  and  this  force 
was  now  set  to  their  subterranean  work.  A  mine  having  been  opened  at  a 
distance,  the  besiegers  slowly  worked  their  way  towanls  the  Tongres  gate, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  more  ostensible  o(>erations  were  in  the  opposite 
direction.  Tlie  besieged  liad  their  miners  also,  for  the  peasants  in  the  city 
had  been  used  to  work  with  mattock  and  pickaxe.  The  women,  too,  enrolled 
themselves  into  companies,  chose  their  officers  —  or  "mine-mistresses,"  as 
they  wei-e  called  —  and  diil  good  service  daily  in  the  caverns  of  the  earth. 

Subterranean  Fighting 

Thus  a  whole  array  of  gnomes  were  noiselessly  at  work  to  destroy  and 
defend  the  beleaguered  city.  The  contending  forces  met  daily,  in  deadly 
encounter,  within  these  st^pulchral  gangways.  The  citizens  secretly  con- 
structed a  dam  across  the  Spanish  mine,  and  then  deluged  their  foe  with 
hogsheads  of  boiling  water.  Hundreds  were:  thus  scalded  to  death.  They 
heaped  branches  and  light  fagots  in  the  hostile  mine,  s(*t  fire  to  the  pile,  and 
blew  thick  volumes  of  smoke  along  the  passage  with  organ  bellows,  brought 
from  the  churches  for  the  purpose.     Many  were  thus  suffocated. 

The  discomfiteil  besiegers  abandoned  the  mine  where  they  had  met  with 
Buch  able  countennining,  and  sank  another  shaft,  at  midniglit,  in  secret. 
They  worked  their  way,  unobstructetl,  till  they  arrived  at  their  subterranean 
port,  directly  beneath  the  doomed  ravelin.  Here  they  constructed  a  spacious 
chamber,  supporting  it  with  columns,  and  making  all  their  architectural 
arrangements  with  as  much  i>recision  an^i  elegance  as  if  their  object  had  been 
purely  aesthetic.  Coffers  full  of  powder,  to  an  enormous  amount,  were  then 
pla<^d  in  every  direction.  The  explosion  was  prodigious;  a  part  of  the 
tower  fell  with  the  concussion,  and  the  moat  was  choked  with  heaps  ol 


478  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

71079  A.9.] 

rubbish.    The  aasailants  sprang  across  the  passage  thus  afforded,  and  mastered 
the  rumed  portion  of  the  fort. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  after  uniting  in  prayer,  and  listening  to  a  speech 
from  Alessandro  Famese,  the  great  mass  of  the  Spanish  army  advanced  to 
the  breach.  The  tried  veterans  of  Spain,  Italy,  and  Burgundy  were  met  face 
to  face  by  the  bui^hers  of  Maestricht,  together  with  their  wives  and  children. 
All  were  armed  to  the  teeth,  and  fought  with  what  seemed  superhuman 
valour.  The  women,  fierce  as  tigresses  defendijog  their  young,  swarmed  to 
the  walls,  and  fought  in  the  foremost  rank.  Tney  threw  pails  of  boiling 
water  on  the  besiegers,  they  hurled  firebrands  in  their  faces,  th^  quoitea 
blazing  pitch-hoops  with  imerring  dexterity  about  their  necks.  The  rustics 
too,  armed  with  their  ponderous  flails,  worked  as  cheerfully  at  this  bloody 
harvesting  as  if  threshing  their  com  at  home. 

A  new  mine  —  which  was  to  have  been  sprung  between  the  ravelin  and 
the  gate,  but'  which  had  been  secretly  coimtermmed  by  the  townspeople, 
exploded  with  a  horrible  concussion,  at  a  moment  least  expected  by  the 
besiegers.  Ortiz,  a  Spanish  captain  of  engineers,  who  had  been  inspecting 
the  excavations,  was  thrown  up  bodily  from  the  subterranean  depth.  He 
fell  back  again  instantly  into  the  same  cavern,  and  was  buried  by  the  returning 
shower  of  earth  which  had  spouted  from  the  mine.  Forty-five  years  after- 
wards, in  digging  for  the  foundations  of  a  new  wall,  his  skeleton  was  found. 
Clad  in  complete  armour,  the  helmet  and  cuirass  still  sound,  with  his  golcl 
chain  around  his  neck,  and  his  mattock  and  pickaxe  at  his  feet,  the  soldier 
lay  nnmutilated,  seeming  almost  capable  of  resuming  his  part  in  the  same 
war  which,  even  after  his  half-century  sleep,  was  still  rava^;ing  the 
land. 

Five  hundred  of  the  Spaniards  perished  by  the  explosion,  but  none  of  the 
defenders  were  injured,  for  they  had  been  prepared.  Recovering  from  the 
momentary  panic,  the  besiegers  again  rushed  to  the  attack.  The  battle 
raged.  Six  hundred  and  seventy  officers,  commissioned  or  non-commissioned, 
had  already  fallen,  more  than  half  mortally  wounded.  Four  thousand  roy- 
alists, horribly  mutilated,  lay  on  the  ground. 

Alessandro  reluctantly  gave  the  signal  of  recall  at  last,  and  accepted  the 
defeat.  For  the  future  he  determined  to  rely  more  upon  the  sapper  and 
miner.  His  numerous  army  was  well  housed  and  amply  supplied,  and  he 
had  built  a  strong  and  populous  city  in  order  to  destroy  another.  Ilelief  was 
impossible. 

At  length,  on  June  29th,  after  three  months  of  siege,  the  Spanish  forced 
their  way  through  a  breach,  and  surprised  at  last  —  in  its  sleep  —  the  city 
which  had  so  long  and  vigorously  defended  itself.  The  battle,  as  usual  when 
Netherland  towns  were  surprised  by  Philip's  soldiers,  soon  changed  to  a 
massacre.  Women,  old  men,  and  children  had  all  been  combatants;  and 
all,  therefore,  had  incurred  the  vengeance  of  the  conquerors.  Women  were 
pursued  from  house  to  house,  and  hurled  from  roof  and  window.  They  were 
hunted  into  the  river;  they  were  torn  limb  from  limb  in  the  streets.  Men 
and  children  fared  no  better;  but  the  heart  sickens  at  the  oft-repeated  tale. 
Horrors,  alas,  were  commonplaces  in  the  Netherlands. 

On  the  first  day  four  thousand  men  and  women  were  slaughtered.  The 
massacre  lasted  two  days  longer;  nor  would  it  be  an  exaggerated  estimate, 
if  we  assume  that  the  amount  of  victims  upon  the  last  two  days  was  equal 
to  half  the  number  sacrificed  on  the  first.*    It  was  said  that  not  four  hundred 

*  Stradad  puts  the  total  number  of  inhabitants  of  Maestricht  slain  during  the  siege  at  eight 
thouBand,  of  whom  seventvuu  hundred  were  w*omen. 


THK    LAST   YEARS    OF    WILLIAM    THE    SILENT  47fl 

[1579  A.D.] 

citizens  were  left  ulive  after  the  termination  of  the  siege.*  The.se  soon  wan- 
dered away^  their  places  being  supplied  by  a  rabble  rout  of  Walloon  sutlers 
and  vagabonds.    Maestricht  was  aepopulat-ed  as  well  as  captured. 


ORANGE   BECOMES  ST.U)HOLDER   OF  FL.\XDER3 


I 


The 


ofOi 


usual, 


blamed  for  the 


prince  oi  urange,  as  usual,  was  Diaiiicu  lor  uie  tragical  tcmnnation  to 
this  long  drama.  All  that  one  man  could  do  lie  had  done  to  awaken  his 
countrymen  to  the  importance  of  the  siege.  He  had  repeatedly  brought  the 
subject  solemnly  before  the  assembly,  and  Implored  for  Maestricht,  almost 
upon  his  kneeH.  Now  that  the  matisacre  to  be  averted  was  accomplished, 
men  were  loud  in  rt^proof,  who  had  been  silent  and  passive  while  there  was 
yet  time  to  speak  and  to  work. 

To  save  himself,  they  insinuated,  hn  was  now  jjlotting  to  deliver  the  land 
into  the  power  of  the  treacherous  Frenchman,  and  he  alone,  they  asserted, 
was  the  insuperable  obstacle  to  an  honoura!>!e  peace  with  Spain. 

A  letter  brought  by  an  unknown  messenger  was  laid  before  the  states' 
asseml>Iy,  in  full  session,  and  sent  to  the  clerk's  table,  to  !)e  read  aloud.  After 
the  first  few  sent^nc^s,  that  functionary  faltered  in  his  recital.  Several 
meml>ej*s  also  jjeromptorily  ordered  hirn  to  stop;  for  the  letter  proved  to  be 
a  violent  and  caluinDious  libel  upon  Orange,  together  with  a  strong  appeal 
in  favour  of  the  peace  propositions  then  under  debate  at  Cologne.  The 
prince  alone,  of  all  the  assembly,  presen'ing  his  tranquiUity,  ordered  the 
document  to  be  brought  to  him,  and  forthwith  read  it  aloud  himself,  from 
Ix'ginning  to  end.  Afterwards,  he  took  occjisioa  to  express  his  niitid  eone/^rn- 
ing  the  ceaseless  calumnies  of  which  he  was  the  mark.  He  especially  alluded 
to  the  oft-repeated  accusation  that  he  was  the  only  obstacle  to  peace,  and 
repeated  that  he  was  ready  at  that  moment  to  leave  the  land,  and  to  close 
his  lips  forever,  if  by  so  doing  he  could  benefit  liis  country  and  restore  her 
to  honourable  repose.  The  outcr}'^,  with  tlie  j)rotestations  of  attacimient 
and  confidence  which  at  once  broke  from  the  assembly,  convinced  him,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  nil  patriotic  Nctherlanders, 
and  that  it  was  beyond  the  power  of  slanderers  to  loosen  his  hold  upon  their 
aflFection. 

Meantime,  his  efforts  had  again  and  again  been  demanded  to  restore 
order  in  that  aboile  of  anarcFiy,  tlie  city  of  Ghent.  Early  in  March  however, 
that  master  of  misrule,  Jan  van  Hembyze,  had  once  more  excited  the  populace 
to  sedition.  Again  the  property  of  Catholics,  clerical  and  lay,  was  plundered* 
again  the  persons  of  Catholics,  of  every  degree,  were  maltreated.  The  magis- 
trates, with  first  senator  Hembyze  at  their  head,  rather  encouraged  than 
rebuked  the  ilisorder.  Hembyze,  fearing  the  influence  of  the  prince,  indulged 
in  open-mouthed  abase  of  a  man  whose  character  he  was  unable  even  to 
comjin^hend.  In  all  the  insane  ravings,  the  demagogue  was  most  ably  sec- 
onded by  the  ex-monk.  Incessant  and  unlicensed  were  the  invectives  hurled 
by  Peter  Dathen  from  his  pulpit  upon  William  the  Silent's  head.  He  de- 
nounced him  —  as  he  had  often  done  before  —  as  an  atheist  in  heart;  as  a 


'  Not  more  than  three  or  fonr  hundred,  Raya  Bor.*  Not  more  than  four  hundred,  saTS 
Iloofty  Xot  three  hundred,  sars  Meteren.i'  This  must  of  course  be  an  exaergoration,  for  the 
population  had  numbered  thirly-fuur  thousand  at  the  commencement  of  the  siegiv  At  any 
rati*,  the  Burvivors  were  but  a  remnant,  and  thoy  all  waikdered  aw&y.  The  p1ace»  which  bad 
bet-n  M)  rvcvntly  a  very  tbrlvitiir  and  lndu[*triou*>  town,  remained  a  desert.  During  the  ensuing 
wintrr  nio?.t  of  the  remaining  buildinp^  were  torn  down,  that  tht  limber  and  woudwork  might 
be  used  aa  tlruwoud  by  the  Buldiers  and  vagulxiuds  who  from  time  to  time  housed  there. 


480  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[U70A.]».] 

man  who  changed  his  religion  as  easily  as  his  garments';  as  a  man  who  knew 
no  God  but  state  expediency,  which  was  the  idol  of  his  worship;  a  mere 
politician,  who  would  tear  his  shirt  from  his  back  and  throw  it  in  the  fire,  if 
he  thought  it  were  tainted  with  religion. 

Such  witless  but  vehement  denunciation  from  a  preacher  who  was  both 
popular  and  comparatively  sincere  could  not  but  affect  the  imagination  of 
the  weaker  portion  of  his  hearers.  The  faction  of  Hembyze  fecame  tri- 
umphant. By  the  influence  of  Ryhove,  however,  a  messenger  was  despatched 
to  Antwerp  in  the  name  of  a  considerable  portion  of  thecommunity  of  Ghent. 
The  counsel  and  the  presence  of  the  man  to  whom  all  hearts  in  every  part  of  the 
Netherlands  instinctivelv  turned  in  the  hour  of  need  were  once  more  invoked. 

The  prince  again  addressed  them  in  langua^  which  none  but  he  could 
employ  with  such  effect.  He  told  them  that  his  life,  passed  in  service  and 
sacrifice,  ought  to  witness  sufficiently  for  his  fidelity.  As  for  the  matter  of 
religion  it  was  almost  incredible  that  there  should  be  any  who  doubted  the 
zealwhich  he  bore  the  religion  for  which  he  had  suffered  so  much.  "I  desire," 
he  continued  fervently,  "that  men  should  compare  that  which  has  been 
done  by  mjr  accusers  during  the  ten  years  past  with  that  which  I  have  done. 
In  that  which  touches  the  true  advancement  of  religion,  I  will  yield  to  no 
man.  They  who  so  boldly  accuse  me  have  no  liberty  of  speech,  save  that 
which  has  been  acquired  for  them  by  the  blood  of  my  kindred,  by  my  labours, 
and  my  excessive  expenditures.  To  me  they  owe  it  that  they  dare  speak  at 
all."  This  letter  (which  was  dated  on  the  24th  of  July,  1579)  contained  an 
assurance  that  the  writer  was  about  to  visit  Ghent. 

On  the  following  day,  Hembyze  executed  a  coup  d^itat.  Having  a  body 
of  near  two  thousand  soldiers  at  his  disposal,  he  suddenly  secured  the  persons 
of  all  the  magistrates  and  other  notable  individuals  not  friendly  to  his  policy, 
and  then,  in  violation  of  all  law,  set  up  a  new  board  of  eighteen  irresponsible 
ftmctionaries,  according  to  a  list  prepared  by  himself  alone. 

The  prince  came  to  Ghent,  August  18th,  1579,  great  as  had  been  the 
efforts  of  Hembyze  and  his  partisans  to  prevent  his  coming.  His  presence 
was  like  magic.  The  demagogue  and  his  whole  flock  vanished  like  unclean 
birds  at  the  first  rays  of  the  sun.  Orange  rebuked  the  populace  in  the  strong 
and  indignant  language  that  public  and  private  virtue,  energy,  and  a  high 

Eurpose  enabled  such  a  leader  of  the  people  to  use.  He  at  once  set  aside  the 
oard  of  eighteen  —  the  Grecian-Roman-Genevese  establishment  of  Hem- 
byze —  and  remained  in  the  city  until  the  regular  election,  in  conformity 
with  the  privileges,  had  taken  place.  In  company  with  his  clerical  companion, 
Peter  Dathen,  Hembyze  fled  to  the  abode  of  John  Kasimir,  who  received  both 
with  open  arms,  and  allowed  them  each  a  pension. 

Order  being  thus  again  restored  in  Ghent  by  the  exertions  of  the  prince, 
when  no  other  human  hand  could  have  dispelled  the  anarchy  which  seemed 
to  reign  supreme,  William  the  Silent,  having  accepted  the  government  of 
Flanders,  which  had  again  and  again  been  urged  upon  him,  now  returned 
to  Antwerp.^ 

FURTHER  SECESSION  FROM  THE  CAUSE 

The  states-general  in  session  at  Antwerp  had  not  made  any  serious  efforts 
to  support  the  neroic  defence  of  Maestricht,  as  we  have  seen.     The  assembly 

[*  So  Strada**  says :  "^^lletller  be  wrote  truth,  and  was  indeed  a  Calrinist  in  opinion ; 
or  rather  by  that  means  sought  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  men  whose  service  he  bad  use  of, 
some  have  made  a  doubt :  it  is  most  probable  bis  religion  was  but  pretended,  which  he  could 
pat  on  like  a  cloak,  to  serve  him  for  such  a  time,  and  put  it  off  again  when  it  was  out  of  fashion. '] 


THE    LAST   YEARS   OF    WILLIAM    THE    SILEXT  i81 

[1579-1580  A.c] 

was  divided  in  opinion  and  stripped  of  all  authority.  Under  its  verv  eyes  fa- 
natical preachers  had  incited  the  populace  to  fresh  violence  against  tlie  clergy. 
On  Ascension  Day,  a  Catliolic  procession  had  been  attacked  and  dispersed 
in  spite  of  the  archduke  Matthias'  presence.  This  was  an  added  pjrievance 
for  the  malcontent^,  and  on  the  19th  of  Ma}%  1579,  the  deputies  of  Hainault 
and  Artois  as  well  as  of  French  Flanders  had  concluded  a  treaty  with  the 
duke  of  Parma,  By  this  treaty  the  provinces  returned  to  the  king's  authority 
and  n^jected  all  other  creeds  than  tlie  Catholic  religion,  hut  they  exacted  that 
he  should  send  his  foreign  troops  out  of  the  countrj',  ami  he  was  coini>elled 
to  put  this  hard  condition  into  execution  immediately  after  the  capture  of 
Muestricht. 

It  was  not  the  Walloon  provincee  alone  that  returned  to  the  king's  side; 
Mechlin  passed  about  the 
same  time  over  to  the  duke 
of  Parma,  and  Bois-le-Duc 
opened  its  gate  to  him  as 
well  after  a  struggle  between 
the  Catholic  ancl  Protestant 
townspeople.  Similar  trou- 
ble took  place  at  Bruges, 
and  the  preachers  were 
driven  out  by  the  inhabi- 
tants. But  a  body  of  Scotch 
troops,  in  the  ser\'icc  of  the 
states,  threw  itself  upon  the 
town  and  prevented  its  being 
given  over  to  Parma^s  sol- 
diers. Some  of  the  nobles' 
who  hitherto  had  fought 
under  the  banner  of  the  con- 
fetleration  also  came  to  terms 
with  the  duke  of  Pannawhen 
they  saw  vanish  the  hopes  of 
pacification  roused  by  a  con- 
gress assembled  at  Cologne, 
through  the  emperor's  ef- 
forts.    One    of    them    who 

thus  set  the  example  was  the  duke  of  Aerschot,  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
congress  as  a  delegate  from  the  provinces  still  under  arms. 

These  successes,  as  important  as  they  were  rapid,  fright4*ned  the  estates; 
of  the  large  force  they  had  raised  the  year  before  but  a  small  body  remained 
garrisoned  in  the  to\\'ns,  for  whom  there  was  no  means  of  pay.  The  pnnce 
of  Orange,  who  still  nHained  some  influence  in  the  asseinbly^  had  recourse 
to  the  old  expedient  of  offering  the  Low  Countries  to  a  foR^ign  prince;  but 
this  time  he  propose*^!  iirst  to  declare  the  downfall  of  Philij).  This  bold  reso- 
lution was  adopted,  in  May,  1580.  and  homage  given  to  the  same  duke  of 
Alenvon  and  Anjou  who  hail  already  received  the  title  of  protector  —  a  man 
of  slight  mind,  weak  and  inconstant,  from  whom  neither  finnness  nor  wisdom 
could  be  expected.  But  he  could  bring  a  French  army  with  him  and  thus 
provide  for  the  immediate  defence  of  the  count rj';  this  was  probably  all  that 

P  Among  tliese  was  the  young  count  PhU!p  of  Egmont.  whose  fathiT  had  been  extKuted 
bj  Alva. ;  Reaneberff.  the  prince's  trusted  stadholder  in  Oroniugeii,  turned  traitor  and  was  pat 
in  cummand  of  rojdlsl  troops.] 

H.  W.— VOU  Z1II.21 


Old  HotTBia  ov  AIschlin 


482  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1680  A.i>.] 

he  could  be  counted  on  to  do.  William,  however,  knew  how  to  reserve  the 
right  to  serve  him  as  counsel  and  guide.*^ 

The  war  continued  in  a  languid  and  desultory  manner  in  different  parts 
of  the  country.  At  an  action  near  Ingelmunster,  the  brave  and  accomplished 
De  la  Noue  was  made  prisoner  and  placed  in  the  castle  of  Limbui^g.  At 
last,  in  June,  1585,  he  was  exchanged,  on  extremely  rigorous  terms,  for  Egmont 
[who  had  been  captured].  During  his  captivity  in  this  vile  dungeon,  De  la 
Noue  composed  not  only  his  famous  political  and  military  discourses  but 
several  other  works. 

The  siege  of  Groningen  proceeded,  and  Parma  ordered  some  forces  under 
Martin  Schenk  to  advance  to  its  relief.  On  the  other  hand,  the  meagre  states 
forces  imder  Sonoy,  Hohenlohe,  Entes,  and  Count  John  of  Nassau's  young 
son,  William  Louis,  had  not  yet  made  much  impression  upon  the  city. 

After  a  few  trifling  operations  before  Groningen,  Hohenlohe  was  summoned 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  Koeworden,  by  the  reported  arrival  of  Martin  Schenk, 
at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force.  On  the  15th  of  June,  the  count  marched 
all  night  and  a  part  of  the  following  morning,  in  search  of  the  enemy.  He 
came  up  with  them  upon  Hardenberg  Heath,  in  a  broiling  summer  forenoon. 
Hohenlohe's  army  was  annihilated  in  an  hour's  time,  the  whole  population 
fled  out  of  Koeworden,  the  siege  of  Groningen  was  raised,  Renneberg  was  set 
free  to  resume  his  operations  on  a  larger  scale,  and  the  fate  of  all  the  north- 
eastern provinces  was  once  more  swinging  in  the  wind.  The  boors  of  Drenthe 
and  Friesland  rose  again.  They  had  already  mustered  in  the  field  at  an  earlier 
season  of  the  year  in  considerable  force.  Calling  themselves  "  the  desperates," 
and  bearing  on  their  standard  an  egg-shell  with  the  yolk  runnbg  out  —  to 
indicate  that  having  lost  the  meat  they  were  yet  ready  to  fight  for  the  shell 
—  they  had  swept  through  the  open  country,  pillaging  and  Duming. 

A  small  war  now  succeeded,  with  small  generals,  small  armies,  small  cam- 
paigns, small  sieges.  For  the  time,  the  prince  of  Orange  was  even  obliged 
to  content  himself  with  such  a  general  as  Hohenlohe.  As  usual,  he  was 
almost  alone.     "Dcmec  eris  jelix"  said  he,  emphatically  — 

multos  numerabis  amicos, 
Tempora  cum  erunt  nubila,  nidlus  erii, 

and  he  was  this  summer  doomed  to  a  still  harder  deprivation  by  the  final 
departure  of  his  brother  John  from  the  Netherlands  in  August,  1580.  The 
count  had  been  wearied  out  by  petty  miseries.  His  stadholderate  of  Gelder- 
land  '  had  overwhelmed  him  with  annoyance,  for  throughout  the  northeastern 
provinces  there  was  neither  system  nor  subordination.  Never  had  praetor 
of  a  province  a  more  penurious  civil  list.  "The  baker  has  given  notice," 
wrote  Count  John,  in  November,  "  that  he  will  supply  no  more  bread  after 
to-morrow,  unless  he  is  paid."  The  states  would  furnish  no  money  to  pay 
the  bill.  It  was  no  better  with  the  butcher.  "The  cook  has  often  no  meat 
to  roast,"  said  the  count,  in  the  same  letter,  "so  that  we  are  often  obliged  to 
go  supperless  to  bed."  His  lodgings  were  a  half-roofed,  half-finished,  unfur- 
nished barrack,  where  the  stadholder  passed  his  winter  days  and  evenings 
in  a  small,  dark,  freezing-cold  chamber,  often  without  firewood.  Having 
already  loaded  himself  with  a  debt  of  600,000  florins,  which  he  had  spent  in  the 
states*  service,  and  having  struggled  manfully  against  the  petty  tortures  of 
his  situation,  he  cannot  be  severely  censured  for  relinquishing  his  post. 

p  His  office  was  technically  that  of  "  Director  of  the  college  of  the  Nearer  Union."] 


THE    LAST    YEARS    OF   WILLTAM    THE    SILENT  483 

[1580A.D.1 

Soon  aft4?n\^ardfl,  a  special  legation,  Txith  Sainte-AUIogoniie  at  its  heiwl, 
was  despatched  to  France  to  consult  with  the  duke  of  /Vnjou,  and  settled 
terms  of  agreement  with  him  by  the  Treaty  of  Plessis-les-Tours  (on  the  29th 
of  September,  L580),  afterwards  definitely  ratified  by  the  convention  of 
Bordeaux,  signed  on  the  23rd  of  the  following  January. 

The  states  of  Hnlland  and  Zealand,  however,  kept  entirely  alwif  from 
this  transaction,  lacing  fn>iii  the  lipginiiing  opposed  to  the  choice  of  Anjou. 
From  the  first  to  the  last,  they  would  have  no  master  but  Orange,  lunl  to  him, 
therefore,  this  year  tiiey  fonnally  offered  the  sovereignty  of  their  provinces; 
but  they  ofTereil  it  in  vain. 

The  conquest  of  Portugal  had  effected  a  iHversion  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Netherlands.  It  was  but  a  transitory  one.  From  the  moment  of  this  con- 
quest, Philip  was  more  disposed,  and  more  at  leisure  than  ever,  to  vent  his 
wrath  against  the  Netherlands,  and  against  the  man  whom  he  considered 
the  incarnation  of  their  revolt. 


THE  "  BAN "   AGAINST  WTLLIAM   (1580) 


Cardinal  Granvella  had  ever  whis]3eretl  in  the  king*s  ear  the  ex]>ediency 
of  taking  off  the  prince  bv  assassination.  In  accordance  with  these  sugges- 
tions and  these  nopes,  the  famous  ban  was  drawn  up,  and  dated  on  the 
15th  of  March,  15S(i.  It  was,  h(twever,  not  funnally  publisheil  in  the 
Netherlands  until  the  month  of  June  of  the  same  yeai\ 

This  edict  will  remain  the  most  Ifusting  monument  to  the  memory  of  Car- 
dinal Granvella.  It  will  be  read  when  all  his  other  state-papers  and  epistles 
—  able  as  they  incontestably  are  —  shall  have  piusscd  inU.*  oblivion.  No 
paneg3Tic  of  friend,  no  palliating  magnanhnity  of  foe,  can  roll  away  this  rock 
of  infamy  from  his  tomb.  It  was  by  Cardinal  Granvella  and  by  Philip  that 
a  price  was  set  upon  the  head  of  the  foremost  man  of  his  age,  as  if  he  had 
been  a  savage  b'itst,  and  that  admission  into  tlie  ranks  of  Spain's  haughty 
nobility  was  made  the  additiontd  l>ribe  to  tempt  the  assassin. 

The  ban  consisted  of  a  preliminary  narrative  to  justify  the  penalty. 

"For  these  causes,"  concluded  the  ban,  "we  declare  him  traitor  and  mis- 
creant, enemy  of  ourselves  and  of  the  country.  As  such  we  banish  hirn  per- 
petually from  all  our  realms,  forbidding  all  our  subjects,  of  whatever  (.juaiity, 
to  communicate  with  him  openly  or  privately  —  to  administer  to  him  victuals, 
drink,  fin*,  or  other  necessiiries.  \Ve  allow  all  to  injure  him  in  proi>erty  or 
life.  We  expose  the  said  William  Nassau  as  an  enemy  of  the  human  race  — 
gi%ing  his  property  to  all  who  may  seize  it.  And  if  any  one  of  our  subjects 
or  any  stranger  should  be  found  sufficiently  generous  of  heart  to  rid  as  of  this 
pest,  delivering  hiiu  to  us,  alive  or  dead^  or  taking  his  life,  we  will  cause  to  be 
furnished  to  him  immerliately  after  the  deed  shall  have  been  done^  the  sum 
of  twenty-five  thousand  crowns  in  gold.  If  he  have  conmiitted  any  crime, 
however  heinous,  we  promise  to  panlon  him;  and  if  he  be  not  alrea^ly  noble, 
we  will  ennoble  him  for  his  valour." 


THE      APOLOGY       OF  WILLIAM 


Such  was  the  celebrated  ban  against  the  prince  of  Orange.  It  was 
answered  before  the  end  of  the  year  by  the  memorable  A'pology  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange^  one  of  the  most  startling  documents  in  history.  No  defiance  was 
ever  thundered  forth  in  the  face  of  a  despot  in  more  terrible  tones.  It  had 
become  sufficiently  manifest  to  the  royal  party  that  the  prince  was  not  to  be 


484  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1S80AJX] 

purchased  by  "millions  of  money,"  or  by  unlimited  family  advancement  — 
not  to  be  cajoled  by  flattery  or  offers  of  illustrious  friendship.  It  had  been 
decided,  therefore,  to  terrify  him  into  retreat,  or  to  remove  nim  by  murder. 
The  government  had  been  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  only  way  to  finish 
the  revolt,  was  to  "  finish  Orange,  according  to  the  ancient  acfvice  of  Antonio 
Perez.  Tlie  rupture  being  thus  complete,  it  was  right  that  the  "wretched 
hypocrite"  should  answer  ban  with  ban,  royal  denunciation  with  sublime 
scorn.  He  had  ill  deserved,  however,  the  title  of  hypocrite,  he  said.  When 
the  friend  of  government,  he  had  warned  them  that  by  their  complicated  and 
perpetual  persecutions  they  were  twisting  the  rope  of  their  own  ruin.  Was 
that  hypocrisy?  Since  becoming  their  enemy,  there  had  likewise  been  little 
hypocrisy  foimd  in  him  —  imless  it  was  hypocrisy  to  make  open  war  upon 
government,  to  take  their  cities,  to  expel  their  armies  from  tne  country. 

The  proscribed  rebel,  towering  to  a  moral  and  even  social  superiority 
over  the  man  who  affected  to  be  his  master  by  right  divine,  repudiated  the 
idea  of  a  king  in  the  Netherlands,  The  word  might  be  legitimate  in  Castile, 
or  Naples,  or  the  Indies,  but  the  provinces  knew  no  such  title.  Philip  had 
inherited  in  those  coimtries  only  the  power  of  duke  or  coimt  —  a  power 
closely  limited  by  constitutions  more  ancient  than  his  birthright.  Orange 
was  no  rebel  then  —  Philip  no  legitimate  monarch.  Even  were  the  prince 
rebellious,  it  was  no  more  than  Philip's  ancestor,  Albert  of  Austria,  had  been 
towards  his  anointed  sovereign,  emperor  Adolphus  of  Nassau,  ancestor  of 
William.  The  ties  of  alle^ance  and  conventional  authority  being  severed, 
it  had  become  idle  for  the  kmg  to  affect  superiority  of  lineage  to  the  man  whose 
family  had  occupied  illustrious  stations  when  the  Habsbiugs  were  obscure 
squires  in  Switzerland,  and  had  ruled  as  sovereign  in  the  Netherlands  before 
that  overshadowing  house  had  ever  been  named. 

But  whatever  the  hereditary  claims  of  Philip  in  the  country,  he  had 
forfeited  them  by  the  violation  of  his  oaths,  by  his  tyrannical  suppression  of 
the  charters  of  the  land;  while  by  his  personal  crimes  he  had  lost  all  preten- 
sion to  sit  in  judgment  upon  his  fellow  man.  Was  a  people  not  justified  in 
rising  against  authority  when  all  their  laws  had  been  trodden  under  foot, 
"not  once  only,  but  a  million  of  times"?  —  and  was  William  of  Orange, 
lawful  husband  of  the  virtuous  Charlotte  de  Bourbon,  to  be  denounced  for 
moral  delinquency  by  a  lascivious,  incestuous,  adulterous,  and  murderous 
king?  With  horrible  distinctness  he  laid  before  the  monarch  all  the  crimes 
of  which  he  believed  him  guilty,  and  having  thus  tokl  Philip  to  his  beard, 
"thus  didst  thou,"  he  had  a  withering  word  for  the  priest  who  stood  at  his 
back.  "Tell  me,"  he  cried,  "by  whose  command  Cardinal  Granvella  ad- 
ministered poison  to  Emperor  Maximilian?  I  know  what  the  emperor  told 
me,  and  how  much  fear  he  felt  afterguards  for  the  king  and  for  all  Spaniards." 

He  ridiculed  the  effrontery  of  men  like  Philip  and  Granvella  in  charging 
"distrust  upon  others,  when  it  was  the  very  atmosphere  of  their  own 
existence."  He  proclaimed  that  sentiment  to  be  the  only  salvation  for  the 
country.  He  reminded  Philip  of  the  words  which  his  namesake  of  Macedon 
—  a  school-boy  in  tyranny,  compared  to  himself  —  had  heard  from  the  lips  of 
Demosthenes  —  that  the  strongest  fortress  of  a  free  people  against  a  t3Tant 
was  distrust.  That  sentiment,  worthy  of  eternal  memory,  the  prince  declared 
that  he  had  taken  from  the  "divine  philippic,"  to  engrave  upon  the  heart 
of  the  nation,  and  he  prayed  God  that  he  might  be  more  readily  believed 
than  the  great  orator  had  been  by  his  i>cople.  He  treated  with  scorn  the 
price  set  upon  his  head,  ridiculing  this  project  to  terrify  him,  for  its  want 
of  novelty,  and  asking  the  monarch  if  he  supposed  the  rebel  ignorant  of  the 


THE   LAST   YEARS   OF   WILLIAM   THE    SILENT  485 

[15«H581  4..D.] 

various  bargains  which  had  frcquontly  been  matin  before  with  cut-throats 
and  poisoners  to  take  away  his  life.  "1  am  in  the  hand  of  Goci,"  said  Wil- 
ham  of  Orange;  '*niy  worldly  poods  and  my  life  have  lienn  long  since  dedi- 
cated to  his  ser\ice.  He  will  dispose  of  them  as  seems  best  for  his  glory  and 
my  salvation." 

On  the  contrary,  however,  if  it  could  be  dpnionRtnited,  or  even  hoped, 
that  his  absence  would  benefit  the  cause  of  the  country,  he  proclaimed  himself 
ready  to  go  into  exile.  "Would  to  God/*  said  he,  in  conclusion,  ''that  my 
perpetual  banisliment,  or  even  my  death,  could  bring  you  a  true  deliverance 
from  so  many  calamities.  Oh,  how  consoling  woultl  be  such  banislmient  — 
how  sweet  such  a  death!  For  why  have  I  expose<i  my  property?  Was  it 
that  I  might  enrich  myself?  Why  have  I  lost  my  brothers?  Was  it  that  I 
might  find  new  ones?  Wlty  have  I  left  my  son  so  long  a  prisoner?  Can  you 
give  me  another?  Wliy  have  I  put  my  life  so  often  in  chmger?  Wliat  re- 
ward can  I  hope  after  my  long  servnces,  and  the  almost  total  w^reck  of  my 
earthly  fortunes,  if  not  the  prize  of  ha\'ing  acquired,  perhaps  at  the  expense 
of  my  life,  your  lilxrty?  If  then,  my  ma'^ters,  you  judge  that  my  absence  or 
my  death  can  serve  you»  behold  me  ready  to  obey.  Command  me  —  send 
me  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  —  I  will  obey.  Here  is  my  head,  over  which  no 
jmnce,  no  monarch,  has  ptjwer  but  yourselves.  Dispose  of  it  for  your  good, 
for  the  preser\^ation  of  your  republic,  but  if  you  ju<lge  that  the  moderate 
amount  of  experience  and  industry  which  is  in  me^  if  you  judge  that  the  re- 
mainder of  my  property  and  of  my  life  can  yet  be  a  service  to  you,  I  dedicate 
them  afresh  to  you  and  to  the  country."  * 

His  motto  —  most  appropriate  to  his  life  and  character — **Je  main- 
tiendrai,'^  was  the  concluding  phrase  of  the' document.  His  arms  and  signa- 
tuH'  were  also  formally  appeniled,  and  the  Apology,  translated  into  moKt 
modern  languages,  was  sent  lo  nearly  every  potentate  in  Christendom.  It 
had  l>een  previously,  on  the  l.'ith  of  Deceml>er,  1580,  read  before  the  assem- 
bly of  the  united  states  at  Delft,  and  apiirovnd  an  cortUaJly  as  the  ban  was 
indignantly  denounced. 


ALLEGIANCE  TO   PHILIP   FORM.KLLY  REVOUXCED    (1581) 

During  the  remainder  of  the  year  15^S(3,  and  the  half  of  the  following  yejir, 
the  seat  of  hostilities  was  mainly  in  the  northeast  —  Parma,  while  waiting 
the  arrival  of  fresh  troops,  being  inactive.  The  operations,  like  the  armies 
and  the  generals,  were  petty.  Hohenlohe  was  opposed  to  Renncberg.  Aft4'r 
a  few  insignificant  victories,  the  latter  laid  siege  to  Steenwijk.  Upon  the 
22nd  of  February,  1581,  at  the  expiration  of  the  third  week,  Norris  succeeded 
in  victualtiiig  the  t*)wn,  and  Count  Renneberg  abandoned  the  siege  in  despair. 

The  subsequent  career  of  that  unhappy  nobleman  was  brief.  On  the 
19th  of  July  his  troofis  were  signally  tlefeated  by  Sonoy  and  Norris,  the  fugi- 
tive royalists  retreating  into  Groningen  at  the  very  moment  when  their 
general,  who  had  been  prevented  by  illness  from  commanding  them,  was 

'  The  Apologia  was  drawa  up  hj  VitUen,  a  clergyman  nf  learning  and  talent.  Xo  man, 
however,  at  all  eonrereaut  with  the  writings  and  spocchea  of  the  pnnce.  ran  doubt  that  the 
entire  subbt-uuce  of  the  faiuouH  document  wua  from  Uia  own  hand.  The  whole  vi&s  Hubmitted 
to  him  for  his  final  emendations,  and  it  seems  by  no  means  certain  that  it  derived  anything  from 
the  hand  of  Villiers^  save  the  artiHtic  arrangement  uf  the  parte,  together  with  certain  inllationa 
of  style,  by  which  the  general  effect  is  occasionally  marred.  The  appearance  of  the  Apology 
created  Imth  admiration  and  alarm  among  the  friendti  of  Its  author.  "Now  is  the  Prince  a  dead 
toan,"  cried  Suinte-Aldegonde.  when  he  read  it  in  France.  Blok^  a^^reea  with  Motley^  that 
"the  prince's  part  in  the  apology  is  evident," 


486  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1581  AJk] 

receiving  the  last  sacraments.  Remorse,  shame,  and  disappointment  had 
literally  brought  Renneberg  to  his  grave.  "His  treason/*^  says  Bor,«  a 
contemporaiy,  "was  a  nail  in  his  coffin,"  and  on  his  deathbed  he  bitterly 
bemoaned  his  crime.  "Groningen!  Groningen!  would  that  I  had  never  seen 
thy  walls!"  he  cried  repeatedly  in  his  last  hours.  He  refused  to  see  his 
sister,  whose  insidious  counsels  had  combined  with  his  own  evil  pasnons  to 
make  him  a  traitor;  and  he  died  on  the  23rd  of  July,  1581,  repentant  and 
submissive.* 

Philip  was  in  Portugal,  preparing  for  his  coronation  in  that  new  kingdom 

—  an  event  to  be  nearly  contemporaneous  with  his  deposition  from  the 
Netherland  sovereignty,  so  solemnly  conferred  upon  him  a  quarter  of  a 
century  before  in  Brussels.  He  committed  the  profoimd  error  of  sending 
the  duchess  Margaret  of  Parma  to  the  Netherlands  again.  The  Nether- 
landers  were  veiy  moderately  excited  by  the  arrival  of  their  former  regent, 
but  the  prince  of  Parma  was  furious.  He  was  unflinching  in  his  determination 
to  retain  all  the  ix)wer  or  none.  The  duchess,  as  docile  to  her  son  after  her 
arrival  as  she  had  been  to  the  king  on  imdertaking  the  journey,  and  feeling 
herself  unequal  to  the  task  imposed  upon  her,  implored  Philip's  permission 
to  withdraw,  but  continued  to  reside  there  under  an  asstuned  name  imtil 
the  autumn  of  1583,  when  she  was  at  last  permitted  to  return  to  Italy, 

During  the  summer  of  1581  the  same  spirit  of  persecution  which  had 
inspired  the  Catholics  to  inflict  such  infinite  misery  upon  those  of  the  reformed 
faith  in  the  Netherlands  began  to  manifest  itself  in  overt  acts  against  the 
papists  by  those  who  had  at  last  obtained  poUtical  ascendency  over  them. 
Edicts  were  published  in  Antwerp,  in  Utrecht,  and  in  different  cities  of  Hol- 
land, suspending  the  exercise  of"  the  Roman  worship.  These  statutes  were 
certainly  a  long  way  removed  in  horror  from  those  memorable  placards  which 
sentenced  the  Reformers  by  thousands  to  the  axe,  the  cord,  and  the  stake, 
but  it  was  still  melancholy  to  see  the  persecuted  becoming  persecutors  in  their 
turn. 

A  most  important  change  was  now  to  take  place  in  the  prince's  condition, 
a  most  vital  measure  was  to  be  consummated  by  the  provinces.  The  step, 
which  could  never  be  retraced,  was,  after  long  hesitation,  finally  taken  upon 
the  26th  of  July,  1581,  upon  which  day  the  united  provinces,  assembled  at 
the  Hague,  solemnly  declared  their  independence  of  Philip,  and  renounced 
their  allegiance  for  ever. 

This  act  was  accomplished  with  the  deliberation  due  to  its  gravity.  At 
the  same  time  it  left  the  country  in  a  very  divided  condition.  The  WaDoon 
provinces  had  already  fallen  off  from  the  cause,  notwithstanding  the  entreaties 
of  the  prince.  The  other  Netherlands,  after  long  and  tedious  negotiation 
with  Anjou,  had  at  last  consented  to  his  supremacy,  but  from  this  arrange- 
ment Holland  and  Zealand  held  themselves  aloof.  They  were  willing  to  con- 
tract with  him  and  with  their  sister  provinces  —  over  which  he  was  soon  to 
exercise  authority  —  a  firm  and  perpetual  league,  but  as  to  their  own  chief, 
their  hearts  were  fixed.  The  prince  of  Orange  should  be  their  lord  and  master, 
and  none  other.  It  lay  only  in  his  self-denying  character  that  he  had  not 
been  clothed  with  this  dignity  long  before. 

As  it  was  evident  that  the  provinces,  thus  bent  upon  placing  him  at  their 
head,  could  by  no  possibility  be  induced  to  accept  the  sovereignty  of  Anjou 

—  as,  moreover,  the  act  of  renunciation  of  Philip  could  no  longer  be  deferred, 

[*  Renneberg  was  succeeded  as  commander  of  tbo  royalists^  by  FranceBco  de  Verdugo,  but,  as 
Blok  *  says,  guerrilla  war  prevailed  since  "  both  sides  were  hampered  by  lack  of  money  and 
men."] 


THE    LAST   YEARS   OF   WILLIAM    THE    SILENT  487 

[1581  A.D.] 

the  prince  of  Orange  reluctantly  and  provisionally  accepted  the  supreme 
power  over  Holland  and  Zealand.  This  arrangement  was  finally  accomplished 
upon  the  24th  of  July,  15S1.  and  the  act  of  abjuration  took  place  two  days 
afterwards.  The  offer  of  the  sovereignty  over  the  other  united  provinces 
had  been  accepted  by  Anjou  six  months  before.  Thus  the  Netherlands 
were  divided  into  three  portions  —  the  rpconciled  pro\inces,  tlie  united 
provinces  under  Anjou,  and  the  northern  provinces  under  Orange;  the  last 
division  forming  the  germ,  already  nearly  developed,  of  the  coming  republic. 


WILLIAM  BECOMES  80VEREIGX   OF   HOLLAND   (1581) 

The  sovereignty  thus  pressingly  offen'd,  and  thus  limited  as  to  time  [to 

the  end  of  the  war],  was  finally  accepted  by  William  of  Orange,  according 
to  a  formal  act  dated  at  the  Hague,  5th  of  July,  1581,  but  no  powers  were 
Ci^nferred  by  this  new  instrument  l)oyond  thost^  already  exercised  by  the 
prince.  It  was  as  it  were  a  formal  continuance  of  the  functions  which  he  had 
exercised  since  1576  as  the  king's  stadholder,  acconling  to  his  old  commission 
of  1555,  although  a  vast  difference  existed  in  reality.  The  liiiiitation  as  to 
time  was,  moreover,  soon  after^'arils  Kecrr^Uy,  and  withotit  the  knowledge 
of  Orange,  cancelled  by  the  states.  They  were  determinetl  that  the  prince 
should  be  their  sovereign  —  if  they  could  make  him  so  —  for  the  term  of  his 
life. 

The  offer  ha'^'ing  thus  lieen  made  and  accepted  upon  the  5th  of  July,  oaths 
of  allegiance  and  fidelity  were  exchanged  between  the  prmce  and  the  states 
upon  tlie  24th  of  the  same  month.  Two  days  afterwards,  upon  the  26th  of 
July,  1581,  the  menionililr  ilccLiradon  of  independence  was  issued  by  the 
deputies  of  the  united  provinces,  then  solemnly  assembled  at  the  Hague.  It 
was  called  the  Act  of  Abjuration. 

The  document  by  which  the  provinces  renouncetl  their  allegiance  was  not 
the  most  felicitous  of  their  state  papers.  It  was  too  prolix  and  technical. 
Its  style  had  more  of  the  fomial  phra.seol()gy  of  legal  documents  tlian  befitted 
this  great  api)eal  to  the  whole  world  and  to  all  time.  Nevertheless,  this  is 
but  matter  of  taste.  Th(*  Nclherkuulers  were  so  eminently  a  law-abid'mg 
people,  that,  like  the  American  patriots  of  the  eighteenth  century,  they  on 
most  occasions  preferretl  punctilious  precision  to  florid  declamation.  They 
chose  to  conduct  their  revolt  according  to  law.  At  the  same  time,  while  thus 
decently  wrapping  liers(»lf  in  c()nv<>ntional  garments,  the  spirit  of  Liberty 
revealeil  none  the  If^i^  her  majestic  pn>portions. 

At  the  very  outset  of  the  Abjuration,  these  fathers  of  the  republic  laid 
down  wholesome  truths,  which  at  that  time  st^emed  startling  blasphemies  in 
the  ears  of  Chr]sten<iom.  ''All  mankind  know,"  said  the  preamble,  "(hat  a 
prince  Is  apix>inted  by  God  to  cherish  his  subjects,  even  as  a  shepherd  to 
guard  his  sheep.  When,  therefore,  the  prince  does  not  fultil  his  duty  as 
protector;  when  he  oppresses  his  subjects,  destroys  their  ancient  liberties, 
and  treats  them  as  slaves,  he  is  to  be  considered,  not  a  prince,  but  a  tyrant. 
As  such,  the  estates  of  the  land  may  lawfully  and  reasonably  de^wse  him, 
and  elect  another  in  his  room." 

Having  eimnciated  these  maxims,  the  estates  proceeded  to  apply  them 
to  their  own  case,  and  certainly  never  was  an  ampler  justification  for  renounc- 
ing a  prince  since  princes  were  first  instituted.  The  states  ran  through 
the  history  of  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  patiently  accumulating  a 
load  of  chai^iies  against  the  monarch,  a  tithe  of  which  would  have  furnished 
cause  for  his  dethronement.    Without  passion  or  exaggeration  they  told 


488  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

the  worid  thmr  wronga.  The  picture  was  not  hif^y  coloured.  On  the  eon- 
traiy,  it  was  rather  a  feeble  thtm  a  etrikizur  portrait  of  the  monstrous  irnqvity 
which  had  so  Ions  been  established  over  tnem. 

Thev  calmly  observed,  after  this  redtali  that  they  were  suflSdentlv  justified 
in  forsaJdng  a  sovereign  who  for  more  than  twenty  years  had  forsaken  them. 
Obeying  t&3  law  of  nature  —  dedrous  of  maintaining  the  ri^ts,  chartemy 
and  liberties  of  their  fatherland  —  determined  to  escape  from  slavery  to 
Spaniards  —  and  making  known  their  decision  to  the  world^  they  declared 
t&e  king  of  Spun  depo^  from  his  sovereignty,  and  prodauned  that  they 
should  recognise  thenceforth  neither  his  title  nor  juiisdiction.  Three  days 
afterwards,  on  the  29th  of  July,  the  assembly  adopted  a  fonutila  by  which 
931  persons  were  to  be  reauired  to  signify  then-  abjuration.^ 

Sudi  were  the  forms  oy  which  the  unit^  provinces  threw  off  their  alle- 
giance to  Spain,  and  {;>«>  fado  established  a  republic,  which  was  to  floturidi 
for  two  centuries.  This  result,  however,  was  not  exactly  foreseen  by  the 
congress  which  deposed  Philip.  The  fathers  of  the  commonwealth  (tid  not 
baptise  it  by  the  name  of  "republic."  They  did  not  conten^late  a  change 
in  their  form  of  government.  They  had  neither  an  aristocracy  nor  a  democ- 
racy in  their  thoughts.  Like  the  actors  in  Hob  American  national  drama, 
th£»e  Netherland  patriots  were  struggling  to  sustain,  not  to  overthrow;  un- 
like them,  they  claimed  no  theoretical  fr^om  for  humanity — promukated 
no  doctrine  oi  popular  sovereignty:  they  insisted  merely  on  tne  fulfiunent 
of  actual  contracts,  signed,  sealed,  and  sworn  to  by  many  succes^ve  sover- 
eigns. The  deposition  and  election  could  be  leg^y  justified  only  by*  the 
liferent  ri^t  of  the  people  to  depose  and  to  elect;  yet  the  provinces,  in  their 
declaration  of  independence,  spoke  of  the  divine  nght  of  Jdngs,  even  while 
dethroning,  by  popular  right,  their  own  king ! 

So  also,  in  the  instructions  given  by  the  states  to  their  envoys  charged 
to  justify  the  abjuration  before  the  imperial  diet  held  at  Augsburg,  twelve 
months  later,  the  highest  ground  was  claimed  for  the  popular  right  to  elect 
or  depose  the  sovereign,  while  at  the  same  time  kings  were  spoken  of  as  "ap- 
pointed by  God."  It  is  true  that  they  were  described  in  the  same  clause  as 
" chosen  by  the  people"  —  which  was,  perhaps,  as  exact  a  concurrence  in  the 
maxim  of  Vox  poptdi  vox  Dei,  as  the  boldest  democrat  of  the  day  could 
demand. 

Such,  then,  being  the  spirit  which  prompted  the  provinces  upon  this  great 
occasion,  it  may  be  asked  who  were  the  men  who  sipied  a  document  of  sudi 
importance?  In  whose  name  and  by  what  authonty  did  they  act  against 
the  sovereign?  The  signers  of  the  declaration  of  independence  acted  m  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Netherland  people.  The  states  were  the 
constitutional  representatives  of  that  people.'  The  statesmen  of  that  day, 
discovering,  upon  cold  analysis  of  facts,  that  Philip's  soverei^ty  was  legally 
forfeited,  formally  proclaimed  that  forfeiture.  Then  inquiring  what  had 
become  of  the  sovereignty,  they  found  it  not  in  the  mass  of  the  people,  but 

1  It  ran  as  follows :  "  I  solemnly  swear  that  I  wiU  henceforward  not  respect,  nor  obey,  nor 
recognise  the  kinff  of  Spain  as  my  prince  and  master ;  but  that  I  renounce  the  king  of  Spain, 
and  abjure  the  allegiance  by  which  I  may  have  formerly  been  bound  to  him.  At  the  same  time 
I  swear  fidelity  to  the  United  yetherlands — to  wit,  the  provinces  of  Brabant,  Flanders, 
Gelderland,  Holland,  Zealand,  etc.,  and  also  to  the  national  council  established  by  the  estates 
of  these  provinces ;  and  promise  my  assistance  according  to  the  best  of  my  abilities  against  the 
king  of  Spain  and  his  adherents." 

[*  BloKi  points  out  the  great  importance  in  future  histoiy  of  this  idea  that  "the  oriMn 
of  sovereignty  was  not  vested  In  the  lord  of  tho  land,  but  in  the  states  as  representing  the 
Babjeets.*! 


THE    LAST    YEARS    OF    WILLIAM    THE    SILENT 


480 


[1581  A. p.] 

in  the  reproscntative  body,  which  actually  pcrsonatrd  the  ppople.  The 
states  of  the  different  provinces  —  consisting  of  the  knights,  nobles,  and  bur- 
gesses of  each  —  sent,  accordingly,  their  deputies  to  the  general  assembly 
at  the  Hague,  and  by  this  congress  the  decree  of  abjuration  was  issued. 

The  want  of  personal  ambition  on  the  part  of  William  the  Silent  inflicted 
perhaps  a  serious  damage  upon  his  country.  He  believed  a  single  chief 
requisite  for  the  united  states;  he  might  have  been^  but  always  refused  to 
become  that  chief;  and  yet  he  has  Ixmui  held  up  for  centuries  by  many  writers 
as  a  conspirator  and  a  self-seeking  intriguer.  **It  seems  to  me,"  said  he, 
with  equal  pathos  and  truth,  upon  one  occasion,  "that  I  was  born  in  this 
had  planet  that  all  which  I  do  might  he  misinterpreted."  The  people  wor- 
shippctl  liim,  and  there  was  many  an  occasion  when  his  election  would  have 
been  carried  with  enthusiasm.  Said  John  of  Nassau,  ''  He  refuses  only  on 
this  account  —  that  it  may  not  be  thought  that,  instead  of  religious  freedom 
for  the  country,  he  has  been  seeking  a  kiiig^lom  for  himself  and  his  own  private 
advancement.  Moreover,  he  believes  tliat  tiie  connection  with  France  will 
be  of  more  benefit  to  the  country  and  to  Christianity  than  if  a  pence  should 
he  made  with  Spain,  or  than  if  he  should  himself  accept  the  sovereignty,  a.8 
he  is  desired  to  do." 

The  unfortunate  negotiations  with  Anjou,  to  which  no  man  was  more 
opposed  than  Count  John,  proceeded  therefore.  In  the  meantime,  the  sover- 
eignty over  the  united  provinces  was  provisionally  held  by  the  national 
councilj  and,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  states-general,  by  the  prince. 
The  archduke  Matthias,  whose  functions  were  most  unceremoniously  brought 
to  an  end  by  the  transactions  which  we  liave  he**n  recording,  took  his  leave 
of  the  states,  antl  departed  in  the  month  of  October.  Brought  to  the  country 
a  beardless  boy,  by  the  intrigues  of  a  faction  who  wished  to  use  him  as  a  tool 
against  William  of  Orange,  he  had  quietly  submitted,  on  the  contrary,  to 
serve  as  the  instrument  of  that  great  statesman.  Ilia  pei-s*)nality  during 
his  residence  was  null,  and  ho  had  to  expiate,  by  many  a  petty  mortification, 
by  many  a  bitter  tear,  the  boyish  ambition  which  brought  him  to  the  Nether- 
lands. The  states  voted  him,  on  his  departure,  a  pension  of  fifty  thousand 
giddeiis  annually,  which  was  probably  not  paid  with  exemplary  regularity. 

By  nudsLimnier  the  duke  of  Anjou  made  his  appearance  m  the  western 
part  of  the  Netherk^nds.  The  prince  of  Panna.  had  n^cently  come  from 
Camhray  with  the  intention  of  reducing  that  important  city.  On  the  arrival 
of  Anjou,  however,  at  the  head  of  five  thousand  cavalry —  nearly  all  of  them 
gentlemen  of  hip;h  degree,  serving  as  volunteers  —  and  of  twelve  thousand 
infantry,  Ale.ssandro  raiwMl  the  siege  precipitately,  and  n^tired  towards  Tour- 
nay,  Anjou  victualled  the  city,  strengthened  the  garrison,  and  then,  as  his 
cavalry  had  only  enlisted  for  a  summer's  amusement,  and  could  no  longer 
\h*  held  togetlHT,  he  disbanded  his  forces.  The  bulk  of  the  infantry  ttwtk 
ser\'ic.e  for  the  states  under  the  prince  of  Espinoy,  governor  of  Tournay.  The 
duke  himself,  finding  that,  notwithstanding  the  treaty  of  Plessis-les-Tours 
and  the  present  showy  demonstration  upon  his  part,  the  states  were  not  yet 
prepared  to  render  him  formal  allegiance,  and  being,  moreover,  in  the  heyday 
of  what  was  universally  considered  his  prosperous  courtshif)  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, soon  afterwards  took  his  departure  for  England. 

Parma,  being  thus  relieved  of  his  interference,  soon  afterwards  laid  siege 
to  the  important  city  of  Tournay.  The  prince  of  Espinoy  was  absent  with 
the  army  in  the  north,  but  the  princess  commanded  in  his  absence.  She 
fulfilletl  her  duty  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  house  from  which  she  sprang, 
for  the  blood  of  Count  Horn  was  in  her  veins.    The  princess  appeared  tlaily 


490  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHEBLANDS 

[1581-1088^.11.] 

among  her  troops,  superintending  the  defences,  and  personally  directing 
the  officers. 

The  siege  lasted  two  months.  The  princess  made  an  honourable  capitu- 
lation with  Parma.  She  herself,  with  all  her  garrison,  was  allowed  to  retire 
with  personal  property,  and  with  all  the  honours  of  war,  while  the  sack  of 
the  city  was  conmiuted  for  one  hundred  thousand  crowns,  levied  upon  the 
inhabitants.  The  princess,  on  leaving  the  gates,  was  received  with  such  a 
shout  of  applause  from  the  royal  army  that  she  seemed  less  like  a  defeated 
commander  than  a  conqueror.  Upon  the  30th  November,  Parma  accord- 
ingly entered  the  place  which  he  had  been  besieging  since  the  Ist  of  October. 

THE  SOVEREIGNTY  OP  ANJOU 

The  states  sent  a  special  mission  to  England,  to  arrange  with  the  duke  of 
Anjou  for  his  formal  installation  as  sovereign.  Sainte-^degonde  and  other 
commissioners  were  already  there.  It  was  the  memorable  epoch  in  the 
Anjou  wooing,  when  the  rings  were  exchanged  between  Elizateth  and  the 
duke,  and  when  the  world  thought  that  the  nuptials  were  on  the  point  of 
being  celebrated. 

Nevertheless,  the  marriage  ended  in  smoke.  There  were  plenty  of  tour- 
nays,  pageants,  and  banquets;  a  profusion  of  nuptial  festivities,  in  short, 
where  nothing  was  omitted  but  the  nuptials.  By  the  end  of  January,  1582, 
the  duke  was  no  nearer  the  goal  than  upon  his  arrival  three  months  before. 
Acceding,  therefore,  to  the  wishes  of  the  Netherland  envoys  he  prepared  for 
a  visit  to  their  country,  where  the  ceremony  of  his  jo3rful  entrance  (La  Jayeuse 
Entrie)  as  duke  of  Brabant  and  sovereign  of  the  other  provinces  was  to  take 
place.    No  op)en  rupture  with  Elizabeth  occurred. 

On  the  10th  of  February,  1582,  fifteen  large  vessels  cast  anchor  at  Flush- 
ing. The  duke  of  Anjou,  attended  by  the  earl  of  Leicester,  the  lords  Hunsdon, 
Willoughby,  Sheffield,  Howard,  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  many  other  person- 
ages of  high  rank  and  reputation,  landed  from  this  fleet.  He  was  greeted  on 
his  arrival  by  the  prince  of  Orange.  Francis  Hercules,  son  of  France,  duke 
of  Alenyon  and  Anjou,  was  at  that  time  just  twenty-eight  years  of  age;  yet 
not  even  his  flatterers,  or  his  "  minions,"  of  whom  he  had  as  regular  a  train  as  his 
royal  brother,  could  claim  for  him  the  external  graces  of  youth  or  of  princely 
dignity.  It  was  thought  that  his  revolting  appearance  was  the  principal 
reason  for  the  rupture  of  the  English  marriage,  and  it  was  in  vain  that  his 
supporters  maintained  that  if  he  could  forgive  her  age,  she  might,  in  return, 
excuse  his  ugliness. 

No  more  ignoble  yet  more  dangerous  creature  had  yet  been  loosed  upon 
the  devoted  soil  of  the  Netherlands.  With  a  figure  which  was  insignificant, 
and  a  countenance  which  was  repulsive,  he  had  hoped  to  efiface  the  impression 
made  upon  Elizabeth's  imagination  by  the  handsomest  man  in  Europe. 
With  a  commonplace  capacity,  and  with  a  narrow  political  education,  he 
intended  to  circumvent  the  most  profound  statesman  of  his  age.  And  there, 
upon  the  pier  at  Flushing,  he  stood  between  them  both;  between  the  mag- 
nificent Leicester,  whom  he  had  thought  to  outshine,  and  the  silent  prince  of 
Orange,  whom  he  was  determined  to  outwit. 

The  terms  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Plessis-les-Tours  and  Bordeaux 
were  now  made  public.  The  duke  had  subscribed  to  twenty-seven  articles, 
which  made  as  stringent  and  sensible  a  constitutional  compact  as  could  be 
desired  by  any  Netherland  patriot.  These  articles,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  ancient  charters  which  they  expressly  upheld,  left  to  the  new  sovereign  no 


THE   LAST   YEARS    OF   WILLIAM   THE    SILENT 


401 


[1&82  I.D.] 

vestige  of  arbitrary  power.  He  wa,s  merely  the  hereditary  president  of  a 
representative  republic.  He  was  to  be  duke,  count,  marquis,  or  seignior  of 
the  different  provinces  on  the  same  terms  which  his  preilecessors  had  accepted. 
He  was  to  transmit  the  dignities  to  his  children.  If  there  w^ere  more  than 
one  child,  the  provinces  were  to  select  one  of  the  number  for  their  sovereign. 
He  was  to  maintain  all  the  ancient  privileges,  charters,  statutes,  and  customs, 
and  to  forfeit  his  sovereignty  at  the  first  %iolation.  He  was  to  assemble  the 
states-general  at  least  once  a  year.  He  was  always  to  reside  in  the  Nether- 
lands. He  was  to  permit  none  but  natives  to  hold  office.  His  right  of  ap- 
pointment to  all  important  posts  was  limite*!  to  a  selection  from  three  candi- 
dates, to  be  proposed  by  the  states  of  the  province  concerneil,  at  oach  vacancy. 
He  was  to  maintain  "  the  religion  "  and  the  "  religious  peace  ^'  in  the  same  state 
m  which  they  then  were,  or  a.s  should  afterwards  be  ordained  by  the  states 
of  each  province,  without  making  any  innovation  on  his  own  part.  Holland 
and  Zealand  were  to  remain  as  they  were,  both  in  the  matter  of  religion  and 
otherwise.  His  highness  was  not  to  permit  that  anyone  should  be  examined 
or  molested  in  his  house,  or  otherwise,  in  the  matter  or  under  pretext  of 
religion.  He  was  to  procure  the  a.ssistance  of  the  king  of  France  for  the 
Nctherlanrls.  He  was  to  maintain  a  perfect  and  a  perpetual  league^  offensive 
and  defensive,  between  that  kingdom  and  the  provinces;  without,  however, 
permitting  any  incorpttralion  of  territory.  Ho  was  to  carry  on  the  war 
against  Spain  with  his  own  means  and  those  furnished  by  his  royal  brother, 
in  addition  to  a  yearly  contribution  by  the  estates  of  2,400,000  guldens.  He 
was  to  disniLsa  all  troojis  at  commanil  of  the  states-general.  He  was  to  make 
no  treaty  with  Spain  without  their  consent. 


N 


ATTEMPTS  TO  ASSASSINATE  WILLIAM 

The  first-fruits  of  the  ban  now  began  to  display  themselves.  Sunday, 
ISth  of  March,  15S2,  was  the  birthday  of  the  duke  of  Anjou,  and  a  great 
festival  had  been  arranged,  acconlingly,  for  the  evening,  at  the  palace  of 
St.  Michael,  the  prince  of  Orange  as  well  as  all  the  great  French  lords  being 
of  course  inviteth  On  rising  from  (he  table,  Orange  led  the  way  from  the 
dining-room  to  his  own  apartments.  As  he  stood  upozi  the  threshold  of  the 
antechamber,  a  youth  offered  him  a  i>etition.  He  took  the  paper,  and  as  he 
did  so^  the  stranger  suddenly  drew  a  pistol  and  discharged  it  at  the  head 
of  the  prince.  The  ball  entered  the  neck  under  the  right  ear,  paased  through 
the  roof  of  the  mouth,  and  came  out  under  the  left  jawbone,  cjirrying  with  it 
two  teeth.  The  pistol  had  boen  held  so  near  that  the  tiair  and  heard  of  the 
prmce  were  set  on  fire  by  the  discharge.  He  remaineti  standing,  but  blinrled, 
stunned,  and  for  a  moment  entirely  ignorant  of  wiiat  liad  occurred.  As  he 
afterwards  obst^rved,  he  tliought  perhaps  that  a  part  of  the  house  had  sud- 
denly fallen.  Finding  very  soon  that  his  hair  and  beard  were  burning,  he 
comprehended  what  had  occurred,  and  called  out  quickly,  "Do  not  kill  him  — 
I  forgive  him  my  death!"  and  turning  to  the  French  noblemen  presf^it,  he 
added,  "Alas!  what  a  faithful  servant  does  his  highness  lose  in  met" 

These  were  his  first  worrls,  spoken  when,  as  all  believed,  he  had  been 
mortally  woumled.  The  message  of  mercy  came,  however,  too  late;  for 
two  of  the  gentlemen  present,  liy  an  irresistible  impulsi^,  ha*l  run  the  assassin 
through  with  their  rapiers.  The  halberdiers  rushed  upon  him  immediately 
afterwards,  so  that  he  fell  pierced  in  thirty-two  vital  plac^.  The  prince, 
8upix>rted  by  his  friends,  walked  to  his  chamt>er,  where  he  was  put  to  bed, 
while   the  sui-geons  examined  and  bandaged  the  wound.     It  was  most 


4M  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[158SA.D.] 

dangerous  in  appearance,  but  a  very  strange  circumstance  gave  more  hope  than 
coxild  otherwise  have  been  entertained.  The  flame  from  the  pistol  had  been 
so  close  that  it  had  actually  cauterised  the  woimd  inflicted  by  the  ball.  But 
for  this,  it  was  supposed  that  the  flow  of  blood  from  the  veins  which  had  been 
shot  through  would  have  proved  fatal  before  the  wound  could  be  dressed. 
rRie  prince,  after  the  first  shock,  had  recovered  full  possession  of  his 
senses,  and  believing  himself  to  be  dying,  he  expressed  the  most  imaffected 
sympathy  for  the  condition  in  which  the  duke  of  Anjou  would  be  placed  by 
his  death.  "Alas,  poor  prince!"  he  cried  frequently;  "alas,  what  troubles 
will  now  beset  thee!"  The  surgeons  enjoined  and  implored  his  silence,  as 
speaking  might  cause  the  wound  to  prove  inunediately  fatal.  He  complied, 
but  wrote  incessantly.  As  long  as  nis  heart  could  beat,  it  was  impossible 
for  him  not  to  be  occupied  with  his  coimtry. 

Sainte-Aldegonde,  who  had  meantime  arrived,  now  proceeded,  in  com- 
pany of  the  other  gentlemen,  to  examine  the  articles  and  papers  taken 
from  the  assassin.  The  pistol  with  which  he  had  done  the  deed  was  lying 
upon  the  floor;  a  naked  poniard,  which  he  would  probably  have  used  also, 
had  his  thumb  not  been  blown  off  by  the  discharge  of  the  pistol,  was  found 
in  his  trunk  hose.  In  his  pocket  were  an  Agrncs  Dei,  a  taper  of  green  wax, 
two  bits  of  hareskin,  two  dried  toads  —  which  were  supposed  to  be  sorcerer's 
charms  —  a  crucifix,  a  Jesuit  catechism,  a  prayer-booK,  a  pocket-book  con- 
taining two  Spanish  bills  of  exchange  —  one  for  two  thousand,  and  one  for 
e^ht  nimdred  and  seventy-seven  crowns  —  and  a  set  of  writing  tablets. 
These  last  were  covered  with  vows  and  pious  invocations,  in  reference  to 
the  murderous  affair  which  the  writer  had  in  hand. 

The  poor  fanatical  fool  had  been  taught  by  deeper  villains  than  himself 
that  his  pistol  was  to  rid  the  world  of  a  tjnrant,  and  to  open  his  own  pathway 
to  heaven,  if  his  career  should  be  cut  short  on  earth.  To  prevent  so  imde- 
sirable  a  catastrophe  to  himself,  however,  his  most  natural  conception  had 
been  to  bribe  the  whole  heavenly  host,  from  the  Virgin  Mary  downwards,  for 
he  had  been  taught  that  absolution  for  murder  was  to  be  bought  and  sold 
hke  other  merchandise.  He  had  also  been  persuaded  that,  after  accom- 
plishmg  the  deed,  he  would  become  invisible. 

Sainte-Aldegonde  hastened  to  lay  the  result  of  this  examination  before 
the  duke  of  Anjou.  Information  was  likewise  instantly  conveyed  to  the 
magistrates  at  the  town-house,  and  these  measures  were  successful  in 
restoring  confidence  throughout  the  city  as  to  the  intentions  of  the  new  gov- 
ernment. Anjou  immediately  convened  the  state  council,  issued  a  summons 
for  an  early  meeting  of  the  states-general,  and  published  a  proclamation 
that  all  persons  having  information  to  give  concerning  the  crime  which  had 
just  been  committed,  should  come  instantly  forward,  upon  pain  of  death. 
The  body  of  the  assassin  was  forthwith  exposed  upon  the  public  square,  and 
was  soon  recognised  as  that  of  one  Juan  Jaureguy,  a  servant  in  the  employ 
of  Caspar  de  Anastro,  a  Spanish  merchant  of  Antwerp.  The  letters  and  bills 
of  exchange  had  also,  on  nearer  examination  at  the  town-house,  implicated 
Anastro  in  the  affair.  His  house  was  immediately  searched,  but  the  mer- 
chant had  taken  his  departure,  upon  the  previous  Tuesday,  under  pretext  of 
pressing  affairs  at  Calais.  His  cashier,  Venero,  and  a  Dominican  friar,  named 
Anthony  Zinimermann,  both  inmates  of  his  family,  were,  however,  arrested 
upon  suspicion.    Venero  wrote  a  full  confession. 

It  appeared  that  the  crime  was  purely  a  commercial  speculation  on  the 
part  of  Anastro.  That  merchant,  being  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  had 
entered  with  Philip  into  a  mutual  contract,  which  the  king  had  signed  with 


THE   LAST   YEARS   OF   WILLIAM    THE    SILENT  403 

[158SA.D.1 

hig  hand  and  sealed  with  his  seal,  and  according  to  which  Anastro,  within  a 
certain  period,  was  to  take  the  life  of  Williani  of  Orange,  and  for  so  doing  was 
to  receive  80,000  ducats,  an(i  the  cross  of  Santiago.  To  be  a  knight  com- 
panion of  Spain's  proudest  order  of  chivalrj'  was  the  guerdon,  over  and  above 
the  eighty  thousand  pieces  of  silver,  which  Spain's  monarch  promised  the 
murderer,  if  he  should  succeed.    The  cowardly  and  crafty  principal  escaped. 

The  procfHs  against  Venero  and  Zimrnermann  was  nipidly  carrie<l  througli, 
for  both  had  made  a  full  confession  uf  tlit'ir  share  in  tlie  crime.  The  prince 
had  enjoined  from  his  sick-bed,  however,  that  the  case  should  be  conducted 
with  strict  regard  to  justice,  and,  when  the  execution  could  no  longer  bo  de- 
ferred, he  had  sent  a  written  request,  by  the  hands  of  Sainte-Aldegonde,  that 
they  should  be  put  to  death  in  the  least  painful  manner.  The  request  was 
complied  with,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  criminals,  had  it  not  been 
made,  would  have  expiated  their  offence  by  the  most  lingering  tortures.  Ow- 
ing to  the  intercession  of  the  man  who  was  to  have  Iw-cn  their  victim,  they 
were  strangled,  before  being  quartered,  upon  a  scaffold  erected  in  the  market- 
place, opposite  the  town-house.  This  execution  took  place  on  Wednesday, 
the  2.Sth  of  March,  1582. 

The  prince  for  eighteen  days  lav  in  a  most  precarious  state.  On  the 
5th  of  April  the  cicatrix  by  which  the  flow  of  blood  from  the  neck 
had  been  prcvent^'d,  almost  from  the  first  infliction  of  the  wound,  fell  off. 
The  veins  poured  forth  a  vast  quantity  of  blood;  it  seemed  impossible  to 
clieck  the  luemorrhage,  ami  all  hope  appeared  to  vanish.  The  prince  re- 
signed himself  to  his  fate,  and  bade  his  chiidren  "good-night  forever,"  saying 
calmly,  "it  is  now  all  over  with  me." 

It  was  difficult,  without  suffocating  the  patient,  to  fasten  a  bandage  tightly 
enough  to  staunch  the  wound,  but  Leonardo  Botalli,  of  Asti,  body  jihysician 
of  Anjnu,  wt\^  nevertheless  fortunate  enough  to  devise  a  si(uple  mechanical 
exf)edient,  which  prf*vpd  successful.  By  his  aflvice.  a  succession  of  attend- 
ants, relieving  each  other  day  and  night,  prevented  tne  flow  of  blood  by  keep- 
ing the  orifice  of  the  wound  slightly  but  firmly  compressed  with  the  thumb. 
After  a  period  of  anxious  expectation,  the  wound  agiiin  clos^nl,  and  by  the 
end  of  the  month  the  prince  was  convalescent.  On  the  2nd  of  May  he  went 
to  offer  thanksgiving  in  the  Great  Cathedral,  an[iid  the  joyful  sobs  of  a  vast 
and  most  earnest  throng. 

The  prince  was  saved,  but  unhappily  the  murderer  had  yet  found  an 
illustrious  victim.  The  princess  of  <_)range,  Charlotte  de  Bourbon  —  the 
devoted  wife  who  for  seven  years  had  so  faithfully  shared  his  joys  and  sor- 
rows —  lay  aln-atly  on  Ikt  death-lHHl.  Exhausted  by  anxiety,  long  watch- 
ing, and  the  alternations  of  hope  and  fear  during  the  first  eighteen  days, 
she  had  been  prostrated  by  desjjair  at  the  renewed  haemorrhage.  A  violent 
fever  seized  her,  under  which  she  sank  on  the  5ih  of  May,  thn'e  days  after 
the  solemn  thanksgiving  for  her  husband's  n^covery.  The  prince,  who  loved 
her  tenderly,  was  in  great  danger  of  relapse  upon  the  sad  event,  which,  although 
not  smiden,  had  not  l)een  anticipated.  She  was  a  wonuui  of  nxny  intelligence, 
accomplisliment,  and  gentleness  of  disposition,  whose  only  offence  had  been 
to  break,  by  her  marriage,  the  church  vows  to  which  she  hatl  Ix^en  forced 
in  her  childhood,  but  which  had  been  pronounced  illegal  by  competent  au- 
thority, both  ecclesiastical  and  lay.  For  this,  and  for  the  contrast  which  her 
virtues  affortled  to  the  vices  of  her  predecessor^  she  was  the  mark  of  calumny 
and  insult. 

The  offer  of  the  sovereign  countship  of  Hollanil  was  again  made  to  the 
prince  of  Orange  in  most  urgent  terms.    It  will  be  r**collected  that  he  had 


494  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1380  A.Or] 

accepted  the  sovereignly  on  the  5th  of  July,  1581,  only  for  the  term  of  the 
war.  In  a  letter,  dated  Bruges,  14th  of  August,  1582,  he  accepted  the  liienity 
without  limitation.  Tliis  offer  and  acceptance,  however,  constituted  but 
the  preliminaries,  for  it  was  further  necessary  that  the  letters  of  renversal 
filiould  be  drawn  up,  tliat  they  should  be  formally  dehvered,  and  that  a  new 
constitution  should  be  laid  diown,  and  confirmed  by  mutual  oathj?.  After 
these  steps  had  been  taken,  the  ceremonious  inauguration  or  rendering  of 
homage  was  to  be  celebrated. 

All  these  measures  were  duly  arranged  except  the  last.  The  installation 
of  the  new  count  of  Holland  was  prevented  by  his  death,  and  the  northern 
provinces  remained  a  republic,  not  only  in  fact  but  in  name. 


THE  CONaTrrunON  of  1582 

In  political  matters,  the  basis  of  the  new  constitution  was  the  "Great 

Privilege"  of  the  lady  Mary,  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  country.  That  mem- 
orable monument  in  the  history  of  the  Netherlands  and  of  municipal  progress 
had  been  overthrown  by  Mary's  son,  with  the  forced  acquiescence  of  the  states, 
and  it  was  therefore  stipulated  by  the  new  article  that  even  such  laws  and 
privileges  as  had  fallen  into  disuse  should  be  revived.  It  was  furthermore 
provided  that  the  little  state  should  Ije  a  frt^e.  countship,  and  should  thus 
silently  sever  its  connection  with  the  empire. 

With  regard  to  the  position  of  the  prince,  as  hereditary  chief  of  the  little 
coninKKiwealth,  his  actual  power  was  rather  diminished  than  increaseti  by 
his  new  dignity.  By  the  new  constitution  he  ceased  to  be  the  source  of 
governmental  life,  or  to  derive  his  own  authority  from  above  by  right  di\ine. 
Orange's  sovereignty  was  from  the  states,  as  legal  representatives  of  the 
people,  and  inst-cad  of  exercising  nil  the  powers  not  otherwise  granted  away, 
he  was  content  with  those  especially  conferred  upon  him.  He  could  neither 
declare  war  nor  conclude  peace  without  the  co-operation  of  the  representative 
body.     The  appointing  power  was  scrupulously  lirnit^id. 

With  respect  to  the  great  principle  of  tasuitionj  stricter  bonds  even  were 
provided  than  those  which  alrea<ly  existed.  As  executive  head,  save  in  his 
capacity  as  commander-in-chief  by  land  or  sea,  the  new  sovereign  was,  in 
short,  strictly  limited  by  self-imposed  laws.  It  had  rested  with  him  to  dictate 
or  to  accept  a  constitution.  He  ha<i,  in  his  memorable  letter  of  August. 
1582,  from  Bruges,  laid  downi  generally  the  articles  prepared  at  Plessis  and 
Bordeaux,  for  Anjou  —  together  with  all  applicable  provisions  of  the  joyous 
entry  of  Brabant  —  as  the  outlines  of  the  constitution  for  the  little  com- 
monwealth then  forming  in  the  north.  To  these  provisions  he  was  willing 
t-o  add  any  others  which,  after  ripe  deHlx^ration,  might  be  thought  benefi- 
cial to  the  country.  Tlius  limited  were  his  executive  functions.  As  to  his 
judicial  authority,  it  had  ceased  to  exist.  The  count  of  Holland  was  now  the 
guardian  of  the  laws,  but  the  jutlges  were  to  administer  them. 

As  to  the  count's  legislative  authority,  it  hatl  become  coordinate  with, 
if  not  subordinate  to,  that  of  the  representative  body.  He  was  strictly  pro- 
hibited from  mterfering  with  the  right  of  the  separate  or  the  general  states 
to  assemble  as  often  as  they  should  think  proper;  and  he  was  also  forbidden 
to  summon  them  outside  their  own  territory.  Tliis  was  one  immense  step 
in  the  progress  of  representative  liberty,  and  the  next  was  equally  important. 
It  was  now  formally  stipulated  that  the  slates  were  to  deliberate  upon  all 
measures  which  "concerned  justice  and  polity/*  and  that  no  change  was  to 


THE   LAST   YEARS   OF   WILLIAM   THE    SILENT  405 

[1682  A.I>.] 

be  made  —  that  is  to  say,  no  new  law  was  to  pass  —  without  their  consent 
as  well  as  that  of  the  council.  Thus,  the  principle  was  established  of  two 
legislative  chaml^ers,  with  the  right,  but  not  the  exclusive  right,  of  initiation 
on  the  part  of  government,  ancf  in  the  sixteenth  century  one  would  hardly 
look  for  broader  views  of  civil  liberty  and  representative  govcrmnent.  The 
foundation  of  a  free  commonwealth  was  thus  securely  laid,  whicli,  had  Wtlllain 
lived,  would  have  been  a  representative  monarchy,  but  which  his  death  con- 
verted into  a  federal  republic.  It  was  necessiiry  for  the  sake  of  unity  to  give 
a  connected  oiiiliiie  of  tliese  proceedings  with  rcgnnl  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Orange,  The  formal  inauguration  only  remained,  and  this,  as  will  be  seen, 
was  forever  interrupted. 

During  the  course*  of  the  year  1582,  the  military  operations  on  both  siiles 
had  been  languitl  and  liesultory.  In  consequence,  however,  of  the  treaty 
concluded  between  the  united  states  and  Aiijou,  Parma  had  persuaded  the 
Walloon  provinces  that  it  had  now  become  absolutely  necessary  for  them  to 
[Hermit  the  entrance  of  fresli  Italiim  and  Spanish  troops.  This,  then,  was 
the  end  of  the  famous  provision  against  foreign  soldiery  in  the  Walloon  Treaty 
of  Reconciliation. 

In  the  meantime,  Farnese,  while  awaiting  these  reinforcements,  had  not 
been  idle,  but  had  been  quietly  picking  up  several  important  cities.  Early 
in  the  spring  he  had  laid  siege  to  Oudenarde.  An  attempt  upon  Lochum, 
an  important  city  in  Gelderland,  was  unsuccessful,  the  place  being  relieved 
by  the  duke  of  Anjou's  forces,  tmd  Parnui'.s  troops  furred  {m  abaiukni  the 
siege.  At  Steenwijk,  the  royal  arms  were  more  successful.  With  this  event 
the  active  operations  under  Pumia  closed  for  the  year.  By  the  end  of  the 
autumn,  however,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  numlwring,  under  his  eommfin<l, 
full  sixty  thousand  well-appointed  ami  ilisciplined  troops,  including  the  large 
reinforcements  recently  despatched  from  Spain  and  Italy.  The  monthly 
exj^ense  of  this  anny  —  half  of  which  was  required  for  garrison  duly,  leaving 
only  the  other  moiety  for  field  operations  —  was  estimated  at  six  hundretl 
and  fifty  thousand  florins.  The  forces  under  Anjou  and  the  united  provinces 
were  also  largely  increased,  so  that  the  marrow  of  the  land  was  again  in  fair 
way  of  Ijeing  thoroughly  exhaasted  by  its  defenders  antl  its  foes. 

The  incidents  of  Anjou's  administration,  meantime,  during  the  year  1582, 
had  been  few  and  of  no  great  importance.  After  the  pompous  and  elaborate 
"homage-making"  at  Antwerp,  he  had,  in  the  month  of  July,  lx?en  formally 
accepted,  by  writing,  as  duke  of  GtOderland  and  lord  of  Friesland.  In  the 
same  month  he  had  been  ceremoniously  inaugurate<^l  at  Bruges  as  count  of 
Flanders  —  an  occasion  upon  whicli  the  prince  of  Orange  had  btH?n  present. 

In  the  midst  of  this  event.,  an  attempt  was  matle  upon  the  lives  botli  of 
Orange  and  Anjou.  An  Italian,  named  Basa,  and  a  Spaniard,  called  Salseda, 
were  detected  in  a  scheme  to  administer  poison  to  both  princes,  and  when 
arrested,  confessed  that  they  had  been  hired  by  the  j)rince  of  Parma  to  com- 
pass this  double  assassination.  Basa  destroyed  himself  in  prison.  His  body 
was,  however,  gibbeted,  with  an  inscription  that  he  liad  attempted,  at  the 
instigation  of  Parma,  to  take  the  lives  of  Orange  and  Anjou.  Salseda,  Icvss 
fortunate,  was  S(»nt  to  Paris,  where  he  was  found  guilty,  and  executed  by 
being  torn  to  pieces  by  four  horses.  Satl  to  relate,  Lamoral  Egmont,  younger 
son  and  namesake  of  the  great  general,  was  intimate  with  Salse<ia,  and  inripli- 
cated  in  this  base  design.  His  mother,  on  her  death-lx'd,  had  especially 
recommended  the  youth  to  the  kindly  care  of  Orange.  The  young  noble 
was  imprisoned;  his  guilt  was  far  from  doubtful;  but  the  powerful  inter- 
cessions of  Orange  himself,  combined  with  Egmout's  near  relationship  to 


406  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

[15S3  A.D.] 

the  French  queen,  .saved  his  life,  and  he  was  permitted,  after  a  brief  captivity, 
to  take  his  aeparture  to  France.^ 

ANJOU'S  PLOT  AND  THE    "FRENCH   FURY*'    (1583) 

The  duke  of  Anjou,  intemperate,  inconstant,  and  unprincipled,  saw  that 
his  authority  was  out  the  shadow  of  power,  compared  to  the  deep-fixefl 
practices  of  despotism  which  governed  the  other  nations  of  Eurojie.  Tlic 
French  officers,  who  formed  his  suite  and  possessed  all  his  confidence,  had 
no  difficulty  in  raising  his  discontent  into  treason  against  the  people  with 


THB  STKIBC   at  ANTWKHI*— ScEKE  of  the  lNqi;iHIT10N 


whom  he  had  made  a  solemn  compact.  The  result  of  their  councils  was 
deep-laid  plot  against  Flemish  liberty;  and  its  execution  was  ere  long  at-" 
tempted.  Pie  sent  secret  orders  to  the  governors  of  Dunkirk,  Bruges,  Dender- 
raonde,  and  other  towns,  to  seize  on  and  hold  them  in  his  name;  reserving 
for  liimself  the  infamy  of  the  enterprise  against  Antwerp.  To  prepare  for 
its  execution,  he  caused  his  numerous  army  of  Fiwich  and  Swiss  to  approach 
the  city;  and  they  were  encami>ed  in  the  neighbourliood,  at  a  place  called 
Borgerhout. 

On  the  17tli  of  Janunry,  15S3,  the  duke  dined  somewhat  earlier  tlian  usual, 
under  the  pretext  of  proceeding  afterwards  to  review  his  army  in  their  camp- 
He  set  out  at  noon,  accompanied  by  his  guard  of  two  hundred  horse;  and 
when  he  reached  the  second  drawbridge,  one  of  his  officers  gave  the  jwecon- 
certed  signal  for  an  attack  on  the  Flemish  guard,  by  pretending  that  he  had 
fallen  and  broken  his  leg.  The  duke  called  out  to  his  followers,  "Courage, 
courage!  the  town  is  ours!"  The  guard  at  the  gate  was  all  soon  despatched; 
and  the  French  troops,  which  waited  outride  to  the  number  of  3,000,  rushecl 
quickly  in,  furiously  shouting  the  war-cry,  "Town  taken!  town  taken!  kill? 
kill!"  The  astonished  but  intrepid  citizens,  recovering  from  their  confusion, 
instantly  flew  to  anus.  All  differences  in  rehgion  or  politics  were  forgotten 
in  the  common  danger  to  their  freedom.  Catholics  and  Protestants,  mea 
and  womeDj  rushed  alike  to  the  conflict. 


^"•s^^        THE   LAST   YEARS    OP   WILLIAM   THE    SILENT  m 

[1568  &.D.] 

Tlio  ani^ent  Kpirit  of  Flanders  seemed  to  animate  nil.  Workmen,  armed 
with  the  instruments  of  their  various  trades,  started  from  their  shops  and 
flung  themselves  upon  the  enemy.  A  baker  sprang  from  the  cellar  where  he 
wa«  knejiding  liis  dough,  and  with  liis  oven  shovel  struck  a  French  dragoon 
to  the  ground.  Tliose  who  had  fire-arms,  after  expemhng  their  bulletaj 
took  from  their  pouches  and  pockets  pieces  of  money,  which  they  bent  between 
their  teeth,  and  used  for  charging  their  arquebuses.  The  French  were 
driven  successively  fnini  the  street**  and  ramimrts,  and  the  cannons  planted 
on  the  latter  were  immediatelv  turned  against  the  reinforcements  which 
attempted  to  enter  the  town.  The  P>ench  were  every^vhere  beaten;  the  duke 
of  Anjou  saved  himself  by  flight,  and  reached  Dendernmnile,  after  the  perilous 
necessity  of  passing  through  a  large  tract  of  inundated  country  [the  citizens 
of  Mechlin  having  cut  the  dikes  to  impede  his  march].  His  loss  in  this  base 
enterprise  amounted  to  fifteen  hundred,  while  that  of  the  citizens  did  not 
exceed  eighty  men.  The  nt(emj)ts  siiriuitaneously  made  on  the  other  towns 
succeeded  at  Dunkirk  anil  Deiidermonde;   but  all  the  others  failed. 

The  character  of  the  prince  of  Orange  never  appeared  so  thoroughly 
great  its  at  this  crisis.  With  wisdom  and  mngnaninuty  rarely  equalled  and 
never  surpassed,  he  threw^  himself  and  his  authority  between  the  indignation 
of  the  country  and  the  guilt  of  Anjou;  sa\Tng  the  former  from  excess,  and 
the  latter  from  execration.  The  disgraced  and  discomfited  duke  proffered 
to  the  states  excuses  as  mean  as  they  were  hypocritical*;  and  his  brother, 
the  king  of  France,  sent  a  special  envoy  to  intercede  for  him.  But  it  was  the 
influence  of  William  that  screened  the  culprit  from  public  reprobation  and 
ruin,  and  regained  for  him  the  place  and  power  which  he  nught  easily  have 
secured  for  himself,  Itad  he  not  prized  the  welfare  of  his  country  far  above  all 
objects  of  private  advantiige.n 

The  estates  of  the  Union,  being  in  great  perplexity  as  to  their  proper 
course,  now  applied  formally,  as  they  always  did  in  times  of  danger  and 
doubt,  to  the  prince^  for  a  public  expression  of  his  views.  Somewhat  reluc- 
tantly, he  complied  with  tneir  wishes  in  one  of  the  most  admirable  of  his 
state  pap>ers. 

He  was  far  from  palliating  the  crime,  or  from  denying  that  the  duke's 
rights  under  the  Treaty  of  Bordeaux  had  been  utterly  forfeited.  He  was 
now  asked  what  was  to  be  done.  Of  three  courses,  he  said,  one  must  be 
taken:  they  mast  muke  their  jjeaee  with  the  king^  or  consent  to  a  reconcilia- 
tion w^ith  Anjou,  or  use  all  the  strength  which  God  had  given  them  to  resist, 
single-handed,  the  enemy.  The  French  could  do  the  Netherlands  more  harm 
as  eneniies  than  the  S])aniards. 

Two  powerful  nations  like  France  and  Spain  would  be  too  much  to  have 
on  their  hands  at  once.  How  much  danger,  too,  would  l)e  incurred  by  l>ra\ing 
at  once  the  open  wrath  of  the  French  king  and  the  secret  displeasure  of  the 
English  queen!  She  had  warmly  recommended  the  4iuke  of  Anjou.  She 
had  said  that  honours  to  liim  were  rendered  to  herself,  and  she  was  now 
entirely  opposed  to  their  keeping  tlie  present  quarrel  alive. 

The  result  of  these  representations  by  the  prince  —  of  frequent  letters 
from  Queen  Elizaljeth,  urging  a  reconciliation  —  ami  of  the  professions  made 
by  the  duke  and  the  French  envo3's,  was  a  provisional  arrangement,  signed 
on  the  26th  and  28th  of  March  1583,  The  negotiations,  however,  were 
languid.  Tlie  quarrel  was  healed  on  the  surface,  out  confidence  so  recently 
and  violently  uprooted  was  slow  to  revive.    On  the  28th  of  June,  the  duke 

p  He  aBcribed  the  enterpriso  partly  to  aoddent,  and  partly  to  the  inaabordination  of  his 
troops.  -^  Motley.*] 

iL  w.  —  rou  xni.  Sk 


498  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[158&-1564  A.j)u. 

of  Anjou  left  Dunkirk  for  Paris,  never  to  return  to  the  Netherlands,  but  he 
exchanged  on  his  departure  affectionate  letters  with  the  prince  and  the 
states.  M.  des  Pruneaux  remained  as  his  representative,  and  it  was  under- 
stood that  the  arrangements  for  re-installing  him  as  soon  as  possible  in  the 
sovereignty  which  he  had  so  basely  forfeited,  were  to  be  pushed  forward 
with  earnestness. 

On  the  12th  of  April,  the  prince  of  Orange  was  married,  for  the  fourth 
time,  to  Louise,  widow  of  the  seigneur  de  Tehgny,  and  daughter  of  the  illus- 
trious Coligny. 

In  August,  1583,  the  states  of  the  united  provinces  assembled  at  Midd- 
elburg  formally  offered  the  general  government  —  which  under  the  cir- 
cumstances was  the  general  sovereignty  —  to  the  prince,  warmly  lU'ging  his 
acceptance  of  the  dignity.  Like  all  other  attempts  to  induce  the  acceptance, 
by  the  prince,  of  supreme  authority,  this  effort  proved  ineffectual,  from  the 
obstinate  xmwillingness  of  his  hand  to  receive  the  proffered  sceptre.  But, 
firmly  refusing  to  heed  the  overtures  of  the  imited  states,  and  of  Holland  in 
particular,  he  continued  to  further  the  re-establishment  of  Anjou  —  a  measure 
m  which,  as  he  deliberately  believed,  lay  the  only  chance  of  union  and  inde- 
pendence. 

Parma,  meantime,  had  been  busily  occupied  in  the  course  of  the  siunmer 
in  taking  up  many  of  the  towns  which  the  treason  of  Anjou  had  laid  open 
to  his  attacks.  Eindhoven,  Diest,  Dimkirk,  Nieuport,  and  other  places, 
were  successively  surrendered  to  royalist  generals.  On  the  22nd  of  Septem- 
ber, 1583,  the  city  of  Zutphen,  too,  was  surprised  by  Colonel  Tassis,  on  the 
fall  of  which  most  important  place  the  treason  of  Orange's  brother-in-law, 
Count  van  den  Bergh,  governor  of  Gelderland,  was  revealed.  While  treason 
was  thus  favouring  the  royal  arms  in  the  north,  the  same  powerful  element, 
to  which  so  much  of  the  Netherland  misfortunes  had  always  been  owing, 
was  busy  in  Flanders. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1584  a  formal  resolution  was  passed  by  the  govern- 
ment of  Ghent,  to  open  negotiations  with  Parma.  The  whole  negotiation 
was  abruptly  brought  to  a  close  by  a  new  incident,  the  demagogue  Hembyze 
having  been  discovered  in  a  secret  attempt  to  obtain  possession  of  the  city 
of  Dendermonde,  and  deliver  it  to  Parma.  The  old  acquaintance,  ally  and 
enemy  of  Hembyze  the  lord  of  Ryhove,  being  thoroughly  on  his  guard,  arrested 
his  old  comrade,  who  was  shortly  afterwards  brought  to  trial  and  executed 
at  Ghent.  Meanwhile  the  citizens  of  Ghent,  thus  warned  by  word  and  deed, 
passed  an  earnest  resolution  to  have  no  more  intercourse  with  Parma,  but 
to  abide  faithfully  by  the  union.  Their  example  was  followed  by  the  other 
Flemish  cities,  excepting,  imfortunately,  Bruges,  for  that  important  tox^-n, 
being  entirely  in  the  power  of  Chimay,  was  now  surrendered  by  him  to  the 
royal  government. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  1584,  Anjou  expired  at  Chateau  Thierry,  in  great 
torture,  sweating  blood  from  every  pore,  and  under  circumstances  which,  as 
usual,  suggested  strong  suspicions  of  poison. 

FURTHER  ATTEMPTS  ON  WILLIAM's  LIFE 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  ban  against  the  prince  of  Orange  had  not  been 
hitherto  without  fruits,  for,  although  unsuccessful,  the  efforts  to  take  his 
life,  and  earn  the  promised  guerdon,  had  been  incessant.  The  attempt  of 
Jaureguy,  at  Antwerp,  of  Salseda  and  Basa  at  Bruges,  have  been  related, 
and  in  March,  1583,  moreover,  one  Pietro  Dordogno  was  executed  in  Antwerp 


I 

I 


I 


THE   LAST   YEARS   OF   WILLIAM    THE    SILENT  499 

[15S4  A.D.] 

for  endeavouring  to  assaasinate  the  prince.  Before  his  death,  he  confessed 
tliat  he  hud  come  from  Spain  solely  for  the  purpose.  In  April,  1584,  Hans 
Hanzoon,  a  merchant  of  Flushing,  had  been  executctl  for  attempting  to 
destroy  the  prince  by  means  of  gunpowiler,  concealed  under  his  house  in  that 
city,  utid  under  his  scut  in  the  church.  Within  two  years  there  liad  bi^n 
five  distinct  attempts  to  assassinate  the  prince,  all  of  them  with  the  privity 
of  the  Spanish  government.    A  sixth  was  soon  to  follow. 

In  tlie  sununer  of  1584,  William  of  Orange  was  residhig  at  Delft,  where 
his  wife,  Louise  de  Coligny,  had  given  birth,  in  the  preceding  winter,  to  a  sou, 
afterwards  the  celebrated  stadholder,  Frederick  Henry.  The  child  had  re- 
ceivetl  these  names  from  his  two  go<lfathers,  the  kings  of  Denmark  and  of 
Navarre,  and  his  baptism  had  been  celebrated  with  much  rejoicing  on  the 
12th  of  June,  in  the  place  of  his  birth. 

Francis  Guion,  in  reality  Balthasar  G^'rard,  a  fanatical  Catholic,  before 
reaching  man's  estat-e,  had  formed  the  design  of  murdering  the  prince  of 
Orange,  "who,  so  long  as  he  lived,  seenunl  like  to  remain  a  rclx^I  against  the 
Catholic  king,  and  to  make  every  effort  to  disturb  the  repose  of  the  Uuiiuin 
Catholic  Apostolic  religion."  Parma  had  long  Ikhmi  looking  for  a  goo<l  man  to 
nujrder  Orange,  feeling  —  as  Fhilij),  Granvclla,  jitidall  furnuu-giJviTnorsoF  the 
Netherlands  had  felt  —  that  this  was  the  only  means  of  saving  the  royal 
authority  in  any  ]>art  of  the  provinces.  Many  unsatisfactory  assassins  hail 
present<Hl  themselves  from  time  to  time,  and  Alessandro  had  paid  money  in 
hand  to  various  imiividuals — Italians,  Spaniards,  Lorrainers,  »Scotchnien, 
Englishmen  —  who  ha<l  generally  sjx'ut  the  sums  received  without  att^Mupt- 
ing  the  job.  Others  were  supposetl  to  be  still  engaged  in  the  etiterprise,  and 
at  that  moment  there  were  four  persons  — each  unknown  to  the  others,  and  of 
difTerc^nt  nations  —  in  the  city  of  Delft,  seeking  to  compass  the  ileath  of  Wil- 
liam the  iSilent.  Shag-eared,  militaryj  hirsute  ruffians  —  ex-captains  of  free 
companies  and  such  marauders  —  were  daily  offering  their  services;  there  was 
no  luck  of  them,  and  they  hail  <lone  but  little.  How  should  Parma,  seeing 
this  obscure,  utider-sizeil,  thin-beanled,  run-away  clerk  l3efore  him,  expect 
pith  tind  energy  from  him?  He  thought  him  quite  unlit  for  un  enterprise 
of  moment,  aiu]  declared  as  nujch  to  his  secret  <M>iitK'illors  and  to  the  king. 

A  second  letter  decided  Parma  so  far  that  he  authorised  Assonleville  to 
encourage  the  young  man  in  his  attempt,  and  to  promise  that  the  reward 
should  be  given  to  him  in  c^se  of  success,  and  to  his  heirs  in  the  event  of  his 
death. 

C-ertain  despatches  liaving  been  entrusted  to  Gerard,  he  travelled  post 
haste  to  Delft,  and,  to  his  astonishment,  the  letters  had  hardly  lx*en  delivered 
before  he  wiis  summoned  in  |K^rsoTi  to  tiie  cIiambtTof  the  ijrincc.  Here  was 
an  opportunity  such  as  he  had  never  dared  to  hojx^  for.  Gif'rard,  lunl,  more- 
over, made  no  preparation  for  an  interview  so  entirely  unex|x^cteLl,  had  come 
unanned,  and  luul  fonned  no  plan  for  escape.  He  wiia  obliged  to  forego  his 
prey  when  most  within  his  reach.  G^rani  now  came  to  Delft.  It  was 
Sunday  morning,  and  the  Udls  were  tilling  for  church.  I'pon  leaving  the 
house  he  loitereil  about  the  courtyard,  furtively  exanuniiig  the  premises, 
so  that  a  sergeant  of  ludlx^rdiers  asked  him  why  he  was  waitmg  there.  Bal- 
thasar meekly  replied  that  he  was  desirous  of  attending  divine  worship  in 
the  church  opposite,  but  addetl,  pointing  to  his  shabby  and  travel-stamed 
attire,  that,  without  at  least  a  new  pair  of  shoes  and  stockings,  he  was  unfit 
to  join  the  congregation.  Insignificant  as  ever,  the  small,  pious,  dusty 
stranger  excitetl  no  suspicion  in  the  mind  of  the  gootl-natured  sergeant.  He 
forthwith  spoke  of  the  wants  of  Gerard  to  an  officer,  by  whom  they  were 


500  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[UBMaa] 

communicated  to  Orange  himself,  and  the  prince  instantly  ordered  a  sum  of 
money  to  be  ^ven  him.  Thus  Balthasar  obtained  from  WiUiajn's  charity 
what  Parma's  thrift  had  denied  —  a  fund  for  carrying  out  his  piuposel 

Next  morning,  with  the  money  thus  procured,  he  purchased  a  pair  of 
pistols,  or  small  carabines,  from  a  soldier,  chaffering  long  about  the  price 
because  the  vender  could  not  supply  a  particular  kind  of  chopped  bullets  or 
sliM  which  he  desired.  Before  tne  simset  of  the  following  day  that  soldier 
had  stabbed  himself  to  the  heart,  and  died  despairing,  on  hearing  for  what 
purpose  the  pistols  had  been  bought. 

On  Tuesday,  the  10th  of  July,  1584,  at  about  half-past  twelve,  the  prince, 
with  his  wife  on  his  arm,  and  followed  by  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  his 
family,  went  to  the  dining-room.  At  two  o'clock  the  company  rose  from 
table.  The  prince  led  the  way,  intending  to  pass  to  his  private  apartments 
above.  He  nad  only  reached  the  second  stair,  when  a  man  emereed  from 
the  sunken  arch,  and  standing  within  a  foot  or  two  of  him,  dischai^ged  a 
pistol  full  at  his  heart.  Three  balls  entered  his  body,  one  of  which,  passing 
quite  through  him,  struck  with  violence  against  the  wall  beyond.  The  prince 
exclaimed  in  French,  as  he  felt  the  wound,  "  0  ray  God,  have  mercy  upon  my 
soul!    0  my  God,  have  mercy  upon  this  poor  people!" 

These  were  the  last  words  he  ever  spoke,  save  that  when  his  sister,  Cath- 
erine of  Schwarzburg,  immediately  afterwards  asked  him  if  he  commended 
his  soul  to  Jesus  Christ,  he  faintly  answered,  "Yes."  The  prince  was  then 
placed  on  the  stairs  for  an  instant,  when  he  immediately  began  to  swoon.  He 
was  afterwards  laid  upon  a  couch  in  the  dining-room,  where  in  a  few  minutes 
he  breathed  his  last  in  the  arms  of  his  wife  and  sister. 

The  murderer  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  through  the  side  door,  and 
sped  swiftly  up  the  narrow  lane.  He  nad  almost  reached  the  ramparts,  from 
which  he  intended  to  spring  into  the  moat,  when  he  stumbled  over  a  heap  of 
rubbish.  As  he  rose,  he  was  seized  by  several  pages  and  halberdiers,  who  had 
pursued  him  from  the  house.  He  was  brought  back  to  the  house,  where  he 
unmediately  underwent  a  preliminary  examination  before  the  city  magis- 
trates. He  was  afterwards  subjected  to  excruciating  tortures;  for  the  fury 
against  the  wretch  who  had  destroyed  the  Father  of  the  country  was  uncon- 
trollable, and  William  the  Silent  was  no  longer  alive  to  intercede  —  as  he  had 
often  done  before  —  in  behalf  of  those  who  assailed  his  life. 

After  sustaining  day  after  day  the  most  horrible  tortures,  he  conversed 
with  ease,  and  even  eloquence,  answering  all  questions  addressed  to  him 
with  apparent  sincerity.  His  constancy  in  suffering  so  astounded  his  judges 
that  they  believed  him  supported  by  witchcraft.  "  Ecce  homo .' "  he  exclaimed, 
from  time  to  time,  with  insane  blasphemy,  as  he  raised  his  blood-streaming 
head  from  the  bench. 

The  sentence  pronounced  against  the  assassin  was  execrable  —  a  crime 
against  the  memory  of  the  great  man  whom  it  professed  to  avenge.  It  was 
decreed  that  the  right  hand  of  Gerard  should  be  burned  off  with  a  red-hot 
iron,  that  his  flesh  should  be  torn  from  his  bones  with  pincers  in  six  different 
places,  that  he  should  be  quartered  and  disembowelled  alive,  that  his  heart 
should  be  torn  from  his  bosom  and  flung  in  his  face,  and  that,  finally,  his  head 
should  be  taken  off.  Not  even  his  horrible  crime,  with  its  endless  conse- 
quences, nor  the  natural  frenzy  of  indignation  which  it  had  excited,  could 
justify  this  savage  decree,  to  rebuke  which  the  murdered  hero  might  have 
almost  risen  from  the  sleep  of  death.  The  sentence  was  literally  executed 
on  the  14th  of  July,  the  criminal  supporting  its  horrors  with  the  same  astonish- 
ing fortitude. 


THE    LAST   YEARS    OF   WILLIAM    THE    SILEXT  501 

(1684  A.D.] 

The  reward  promised  by  Philip  to  the  man  who  should  murder  Orange 
was  paid  to  the  heirs  of  Gerard.  Parma  infoniied  his  sovereign  that  the 
"poor  man"  had  been  executed,  but  that  his  father  and  mother  were  still 
living,  to  whom  he  recommended  the  payment  of  that  "merced"  which  "the 
laudable  and  generous  deed  had  so  well  deserved."  This  was  accordingly 
done,  and  the  excellent  parents,  ennobled  and  enriched  by  the  crime  of  their 
son,  received,  instead  of  the  twenty-five  thousand  crowns  promised  in  the 
ban,  the  three  seigniories  of  Lievremont,  Hostal,  and  Dampmartin,  in  the 
Franche-CV)mt^^  and  tr>ok  their  place  at  once  aninng  the  landed  aristocracy. 
Thus  the  bounty  of  the  prince  had  furnished  the  weapon  by  which  his  life 
was  destroyed,  and  his  estates  supplied  the  fund  out  of  which  the  assassin's 
family  received  the  price  of  blood.  At  a  later  day,  when  the  unfortunate 
eldest  son  of  Orange  returned  from  Spain  after  twenty-seven  years'  absence, 
a  changeling  and  a  Spaniard,  the  restoration  of  those  very  estates  was  offered 
to  him  by  Philip  II,  provided  he  would  continue  to  pay  a  fixed  proportion  of 
their  rents  to  the  family  of  his  father's  murderer.  The  education  which 
Philip  William  had  received,  undtT  the  king's  auspices^  had,  however,  not 
entirely  destroyed  all  his  human  feelings,  and  he  rejected  the  proposal  with 
scorn.  The  estates  remained  with  the  G6rard  family,  and  the  patents  of 
nobility  which  they  had  received  were  used  to  justify  their  exemption  from 
certain  taxes,  until  the  imion  of  Franchc-C'omtd  with  France,  when  a  French 
governor  tore  the  documents  in  pieces  and  trampled  them  under  foot. 

William  of  Orange,  at  the  perio<l  of  his  death,  was  aged  fifty-one  years 
and  sixteen  days.  lie  left  twelve  children.  By  his  first  wife,  Anne  of  Eg- 
mont,  he  had  one  son,  Philip,  and  one  daughter,  Mary,  afterwards  marrieil 
to  Count  Hohenlohe.  By  his  second  wife,  Anna  of  Saxony,  he  hafl  one  son, 
the  celebrated  Maurice  of  Nassau,  and  two  daughters,  Anna,  marrietl  after- 
wanis  to  her  cousin,  Count  William  Louis,  and  Emilia,  who  espoused  Emman- 
uel, son  of  the  pretender  of  Portugal.  By  Charlotte  de  Bourbon,  his  third 
wife,  he  had  six  tjaughters;  antl  by  his  fourth,  Louise  de  C/oligiiy,  one  son, 
Frederick  Henry,  afterwards  stadhokier  of  the  republic  in  her  moat  palmy 
days.  The  prince  was  entombed  on  the  3rd  of  August,  at  Delft,  amid  the 
tears  of  a  whole  nation.  Never  was  a  more  extensive,  unaffected,  and  legiti- 
mate sorrow  felt  at  the  death  of  any  human  l^eing. 


MOTLEY  8   E8TIM.VTB  OF  WILLIAM  THE  SILENT 

The  life  and  labours  of  Orange  had  established  the  emancipated  common- 
wealth upon  a  secure  foimdation,  but  his  death  renderetl  the  union  of  all  the 
Netherlands  xnta  one  republic  hopeless.  The  efforts  of  the  malcontent  nobles, 
the  religious  discord,  the  consummate  ability,  both  political  ami  military, 
of  Parma,  all  combined  with  the  lamentable  loss  of  William  the  8ilent,  to 
separate  forever  the  southern  and  Catholic  provinces  from  the  northern  con- 
feileracy.  So  long  as  the  prince  rf-niained  alive,  he  was  the  Father  of  the 
whole  country:  the  Netherlandn  —  sjiving  only  the  two  Walloon  provinces 
—  constituting  a  whole.  Philip  and  Granvella  were  right  in  their  estimate 
of  the  advant^ige  to  be  derived  from  the  prince  s  death;  in  l>elieving  that  an 
assassin's  hand  could  achieve  more  than  all  the  wiles  which  Spanish  or  Italian 
fitatesmanship  could  teach,  or  all  the  armies  which  Spain  or  Italy  could  muster. 

Had  he  lived  twenty  years  longer,  it  is  probable  that  the  seven  provinces 
would  have  been  seventeen;  and  that  the  Spanish  title  woukl  have  been  for- 
ever extinguished  both  in  Nether  Germany  and  Celtic  Gaul.  AUhough 
there  was  to  be  the  length  of  two  human  generations  more  of  warfare  ere 


502  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

Spain  acknowledged  the  new  government,  yet  before  the  termination  of  that 
period  the  united  states  had  become  the  first  naval  power  and  one  of  the  most 
considerable  commonwealths  in  the  world;  while  the  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  the  political  independence  of  the  land,  together  with  the  total 
expulsion  of  the  ancient  foreign  tyranny  from  the  soil,  had  been  achieved  ere 
the  eyes  of  William  were  closed.  The  republic  existed,  in  fact,  from  the 
moment  of  the  abjuration  in  1581. 

The  history  of  the  rise  of  the  Netherland  Republic  has  been  at  the  same 
time  the  biography  of  William  the  Silent.  This,  while  it  gives  unity  to  the 
narrative,  renders  an  elaborate  description  of  his  character  superfluous.  That 
life  was  a  noble  Christian  epic;  inspired  with  one  great  purpose  from  its 
commencement  to  its  close ;  the  stream  flowing  ever  from  one  fountain  with 
expanding  fulness,  but  retaining  all  its  original  purity. 

He  was  more  than  anything  else  a  religious  man.  From  his  trust  in  God, 
he  ever  derived  support  and  consolation  in  the  darkest  hours.  Sincerely 
and  deliberately  himself  a  convert  to  the  Reformed  Church,  he  was  ready  to 
extend  freedom  of  worship  to  Catholics  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  Anabaptists 
on  the  other,  for  no  man  ever  felt  more  keenly  than  he  that  the  reformer 
who  becomes  in  his  turn  a  bigot  is  doubly  odious. 

His  firmness  was  allied  to  his  piety.  His  constancy  in  bearing  the  whole 
weight  of  as  unequal  a  struggle  as  men  have  ever  undertaken,  was  the  theme 
of  admiration  even  to  his  enemies.  The  rock  in  the  ocean,  "  tranquil  amid 
raging  billows,"  was  the  favourite  emblem  by  which  his  friends  expressed 
their  sense  of  his  firmness.  A  prince  of  high  rank  and  with  royal  revenues, 
he  stripped  himself  of  station,  wealth,  almost  at  times  of  the  common  neces- 
saries of  life,  and  became,  in  his  country's  cause,  nearly  a  beggar  as  well  as 
an  outlaw.  Ten  years  after  his  death,  the  account  betweenhis  executors 
and  his  brother  John  amounted  to  1,400,000  florins  due  to  the  count,  secured 
by  various  pledges  of  real  and  personal  property,  and  it  was  finally  settled 
upon  this  basis.  He  was  besides  largely  indebted  to  every  one  of  his  powerful 
relatives,  so  that  the  payment  of  the  encumbrances  upon  his  estate  very 
nearly  justified  the  fears  of  his  children.  While  on  the  one  hand,  therefore, 
he  poured  out  these  enormous  sums  like  water,  and  firmly  refused  a  hearing 
to  the  tempting  offers  of  the  royal  government,  upon  the  other  hand  he  proved 
the  disinterested  nature  of  his  ser\'ices  by  declining,  year  after  year,  the 
sovereignty  over  the  provinces;  and  by  only  accepting,  in  the  last  days  of 
his  life,  when  refusal  had  become  almost  impossible,  the  limited,  constitu- 
tional supremacy  over  that  portion  of  them  which  now  makes  the  realm  of 
his  descendants.  He  lived  and  died,  not  for  himself,  but  for  his  country: 
"God  pity  this  poor  people!"  were  his  dying  words. 

His  intellectual  faculties  were  various  and  of  the  highest  order.  He  had 
the  exact,  practical,  and  combining  qualities  which  make  the  great  commander, 
and  liis  friends  claimed  that,  in  military  genius,  he  was  second  to  no  captain 
in  Euroiw.'  This  was,  no  doubt,  an  exaggeration  of  partial  attachment,  but 
it  is  c(»rtain  that  the  emperor  Charles  ha<i  an  exalted  opinion  of  his  capacity 
for  the  field.  His  fortification  of  Philippeville  and  Charlemont,  in  the  face 
of  the  enemy  —  his  passage  of  the  Maas  in  Alva's  sight  —  his  unfortunate  but 
well-ordered  campaign  against  that  general  —  his  sublime  plan  of  relief,  pro- 
jected and  successfully  directed  at  last  from  his  sick  bed,  for  the  besieged 
city  of  Leyden  —  will  always  remain  monuments  of  his  practical  military 
skill. 

>  ''Belli  artibns  neminem  suo  tempore parem  habuit,"  says  Everard  van  Reyd.I 


THE    LAST    YEAltS    OF    WILLIAM    THE    SILENT 


503 


Of  (ho  soldier's  great  virtues — constancy  in  disaster,  devotion  to  tluly, 
hopefulness  in  defeat  —  no  man  ever  possessed  a  larger  share.  He  arrived, 
through  a  series  of  reverses,  at  a  perfect  victory.  He  planted  a  free  common- 
wealth under  the  very  battery  of  the  Liquisition  in  defmiico  of  tlie  most 
powerful  empire  existing.  He  was,  therefore,  a  conqueror  in  the  loftiest 
sense,  for  he  conquered  lil^erty  and  a  national  existence  for  a  whole  people. 
Tlie  contest  was  long,  htkI  he  fell  in  the  struggle,  but  the  victory  was  to  the 
dead  hero,  not  to  the  living  moiuircli.  It  is  to  \k'.  remembered,  too,  that  he 
always  wrought  with  inferior  instrument.*?.  His  troops  w'ere  usually  mer- 
ceJiaries,  who  were  but  too  apt  to  mutiny  upon  the  eve  of  battle,  while  he 
was  opposed  by  the  most  formidable  veterans  of  Europe,  commanded  suc- 
cessively by  the  first  captains  of  the  age.  That,  with  no  lieutenant  of 
eminent  valour  or  experience,  save  only  his  brother  Louis,  and  with  none 
at  ail  after  that  chieftain's  death,  William  of  Orange  should  succeed  in  baffling 
the  efforts  of  Alva,  Re(}uesens,  Don  John  of  Austria,  and  AleKvSamlro  Farnese 
—  men  whose  names  are  among  the  most  brilliant  in  the  military  annals  of 
the  world  —  is  in  itself  sufficient  evidence  of  his  warlike  abiUty.  At  the 
jKTiod  of  his  death  he  hail  reduced  the  number  of  obedient  provinces  to  two; 
only  Artois  and  Hainault  acknowledging  Philip,  while  the  other  fifteen  were 
in  open  revolt,  the  greater  part  having  solenmly  forsworn  their  sovereign. 

The  supremacy  of  his  political  genius  was  entirely  beyond  question.  He 
was  tlie  first  statesman  of  the  age.  The  quickness  of  his  perception  was  only 
etjualled  by  the  caution  which  enabled  him  to  mature  the  results  of  his  obser- 
vations. His  knowledge  of  human  nature  was  profound.  He  governed  the 
passioas  and  sentiments  of  a  great  nation  ;ls  if  t-hey  had  been  but  the  keys 
and  chords  of  one  \-a,st  instrument;  and  his  hand  rarely  failed  to  evoke  har- 
mony even  out  of  the  wildest  storms.  The  turbulent  city  of  Ghent,  which 
could  obey  no  other  ma.'^ter,  which  even  the  haughty  emperor  could  only 
crush  without  controlling,  \vxus  ever  responsive  to  the  master-hand  of  Orange. 
His  presence  scared  away  Hembyze  and  his  bat-like  crew,  confounded!  the 
schemes  of  John  Kasimir,  frustrated  the  wiles  of  prince  Chimay,  and  while 
he  lived,  Ghent  was  what  it  ought  always  to  have  remained,  the  bulwark, 
as  it  hati  been  the  cradle,  of  popular  liberty.  After  his  death  it  became  its 
tomb. 

His  power  of  dealing  with  his  fellow-men  he  manifested  in  the  various 
ways  in  which  it  has  been  usually  exhibited  by  statesmen.  He  possessed  a 
ready  eloquence  —  sometimes  impassioned,  oftener  argumentative,  always 
rational.  His  influence  over  his  audience  was  unexampled  in  the  annaLs  of 
that  country  or  age;  yet  he  never  com lescended  to  flatter  the  jM^ople.  He 
never  follo-wed  the  nation,  but  always  led  her  in  the  path  of  duty  and  of 
honour,  and  was  much  more  prone  to  rebuke  the  vices  than  to  pander  to  the 
passions  of  his  liearcrs.  He  never  failed  to  administer  ample  ehiLstisenicnt 
to  parsimony,  to  jealousy,  to  iiLsubordination,  to  intolerance,  to  infidelity, 
wherever  it  was  due,  nor  feared  to  confront  the  states  or  the  people  in  their 
mast  angry  hours,  and  to  tell  them  the  truth  to  their  faces.  While,  therefore, 
he  was  ever  ready  to  rebuke,  and  always  too  honest  to  flatter,  he  at  the  same 
time  possessed  the  eloquence  which  could  convince  or  (x^rsuatie.  He  knew 
how  to  reach  both  tlie  mind  and  the  heart  of  his  hearers,  His  orations, 
whether  extemporaneous  or  prepared  —  his  wTitten  messages  to  the  states- 
general,  to  the  provincial  authorities?,  to  the  municipal  bodies  —  his  private 
correspondence  with  men  of  all  ranks,  from  emperors  and  kings  down  to 
secretaries,  and  even  children  —  all  show  an  easy  How  of  language,  a  fulness 
of  thought,  a  power  of  expression  rare  in  that  age,  a  fund  of  historical  allusion, 


1 


504 


THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 


a  considerable  power  of  imfigination,  a  warmth  of  sentiment,  a.  breadth  of' 
view,  a  directness  of  purpose  —  a  range  of  qualities,  in  short,  which  would 
in  themselves  have  stamped  him  its  one  of  the  master-minds  of  hi>i  century, 
had  there  been  no  other  monument  to  his  memory  than  the  remain.s  of  his 
spoken  or  written  eloquence.  The  hulk  of  his  perfonnarie^tt  in  tliis  do[>art- 
ment  was  prodigious.  Not  even  Philip  was  more  industrious  in  the  cabinet. 
Not  even  Granvella  held  a  more  facile  pen.  He  wrote  and  spoke  eaually  well 
in  French,  CJerman,  or  Flemish;  and  he  possessed,  besides,  Spanish,  Italian, 
Latin.  The  weight  of  his  correspondence  alone  would  have  almost  sufhced 
for  the  common  industry  of  a  lifetime,  and  although  many  volumes  of  his 
speeches  and  letters  have  been  published,  there  remain  in  the  various  archives 
of  the  Netherlands  and  Germany  many  documents  from  his  hand  which  will 
probably  never  see  the  light.  The  efforts  made  to  destroy  the  Netherlands 
by  the  most  laborious  and  painstaking  of  tyrants  were  counteracted  by  the 
industry  of  the  most  indefatigable  of  patriots. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  many  characteristics  deserving  of  grave  censure,  but 
his  enemies  have  adopted  a  simpler  process.  They  have  been  able  to  detf«t 
few  flaws  in  his  nature,  and  therefore  have  denounced  it  in  gross.  It  is  not 
that  hifi  character  was  here  and  there  defective,  but  that  the  eternal  jewel 
was  false.  The  patriotism  was  counterfeit;  the  self-abnegation  and  the 
generosity  were  counterfeit.  He  was  governed  only  by  ambition  —  by  a 
desire  of  personal  advancement.  They  never  attempted  to  deny  his  talents, 
his  industry,  his  vast  sacrifices  of  wealth  and  station;  but  they  ridiculed  the 
idea  that  he  could  have  been  inspired  by  any  but  unworthy  motives.*  But  as 
far  as  can  be  judged  by  a  careful  observation  of  undisputed  facts,  and  by  a 


•  "  A  mwi  boni  to  the  greatest  fame."  says  Bentlvoglio,/  "  if,  content  with  hia  fortunea, 
be  had  not  sought  amid  precipices  for  a  still  greater  one,*'  While  paying  liuiua^  tu  the 
extraordinary  jj^eniun  of  the  prince,  to  hia  energy,  oloquenco,  perspicacity  in  all  kinds  of  affain;, 
hia  abnolute  dominion  over  the  miadn  and  hearts  of  men,  and  his  consummate  skill  in  improving 
his  own  position  and  taktnf^  advantagt)  of  the  false  moves  of  his  adversary,  tho  cardinal  pro- 
ceeds to  accuse  him  of  "  ambition,  fraud,  audacity,  and  rapacitr."  The  last  t)ualification  seems 
suffidently  absurd  to  those  who  have  ev»n  superficially  studied  the  life  of  William  the  SUent, 
Of  course,  the  successive  cliangfs  of  reli^on  by  the  princo  are  ascribed  to  motives  of  intort*^ 
—  '*Vidfin  vnriare  di  Relit/iime  secondo  che  varto  d'interessi.  Da  faneiuUo  in  Oermania  fu 
Jjuierano.  Passato  in  Fiandra  moMroMi  CatlotiM.  Al  principio  dtlla  rivolU  n  dichiara 
fautore  delle  nuove  Beitf.  ma  non  profesaore  manifaato  d'alcuna ;  sinche  final meuie  gli  parvt  di 
wguifar  quella  de'  Calinnisti,  come  la  piil  coniraria  di  tutU  (Ula  lieliaionc  CattoUca  sosienuta 
dal  lU  di  Spagiux.*'  The  cardinal  does  not  add  tliat  the  conversion  of  the  princo  to  the  reformed 
rell^on  was  at  the  blackest  hour  of  the  Reformatinn.  Cabrera 'f  Js  cooler  and  cofcpser.  Ac- 
cording to  him  the  princo  was  n  mere  impostor.  The  emperor  even  had  lie^'n  often  cautioned 
as  to  his  favourite's  arrogance,  deceit,  and  Ingratitude,  and  warned  that  the  prince  was  "a  fox 
who  wnuM  eat  up  all  his  insji^sty***  chickens."  V\  hile  acknr>wledjring  tliat  ho  "could  talk  woU 
of  public  affairs,"  and  thni  be  "entertained  the  ainbiLssadorK  and  nr>l)ility  with  splendour  and 
znagnliicence."  the  historian  proclaims  him,  however,  "  faithless  and  mendacious,  a  flatterer 
and  a  cheat.""  Tassis"  accused  the  prince  of  poisoning  Count  Bossu  with  oysters^  and  that 
Btrada''  had  a  long  story  of  his  attending  the  defltb-b(>d  of  that  nobleman  in  order  to  sneer  at 
the  viaticum.  We  have  also  8«*en  the  simple  and  heartfelt  regret  which  the  prince  expressed  in 
his  private  letters  for  Bossu's  dcAth  snd  the  solid  service  which  he  rendnred  to  him  in  life.  Of 
false  accusations  of  this  nature  there  was  no  end.  One  of  the  most  atrocious  has  been  recently 
resnacitated.  A  certain  Christophe  de  Holstein  accused  the  prince  in  1578  of  having  instigated 
him  to  murder  Duke  Eric  of  Brunswick.  The  assassin  undertook  the  job,  but  seems  to  b«Te 
been  deterred  by  a  mysterious  bleeding  at  his  nose  from  proceeding  with  the  hustness.  Afl 
this  respectable  witness,  by  his  own  confession,  had  murdered  his  own  brother,  formoney,  and 
two  merchants  besides,  had  moreover  been  concerned  in  the  killing  or  plundering  of  a  "curate, 
a  monk,  and  two  hermits,'"  and  had  been  all  his  life  a  professional  highwayman  and  assassin, 
it  Beems  hardly  worth  while  to  discuss  bis  statements.  Probably  a  thousand  such  calumnies 
were  circulated  at  different  times  against  the  prince.  Yet  the  testimony  of  this  wretchi'd  male- 
factor is  gravely  reproduced,  at  the  expiration  of  near  three  centuries,  as  if  it  were  admissible 
in  any  healthy  court  of  historical  justice.  Truly  says  the  adage :  "  Calomniez  toujourt,  il  en 
ruiera  queiqu^  ehoM." 


THE    LAST   YEARS   OF   WILLIAM    THE    SILENT 


50/5 


diligent  collation  of  public  and  private  documonts,  it  would  seem  that  no 
man  —  not  even  Washington  —  has  ever  l>eeri  inspired  by  a  purer  patriotli^m. 
At  any  rate,  the  charge  of  ambition  and  self-seeking  can  only  be  answered 
by  a  reference  to  the  whole  picture.  The  words,  the  deeds  of  the  man  are 
there.  As  much  as  possible,  his  inmost  soul  is  revealed  in  his  confidential 
letters,  and  he  who  looks  in  a  right  spirit  will  hanlly  fail  to  find  what  he 
desires. 

Whether  originally  of  a  timid  temperament  or  not;  he  was  certainly 
possessed  of  perfect  courage  at  last.  In  siege  and  battle  —  in  the  deadly  air 
of  pestilential  cities  —  in  the  long  exhaustion  of  mind  and  body  which  comes 
from  xmduly  protracted  labour  and  anxiety  —  amid  the  countle&s  conspiracies 
of  assassins —  he  was  daily  exposed  to  death  in  every  shape.  Within  two 
years,  five  dilTerent  attempts  against  his  life  had  lieen  discovered.  Rank  and 
fortune  were  offered  to  any  malefactor  who  would  compass  the  murder.  He 
had  already  been  shot  through  the  head,  and  almost  mortally  woundfnl. 
Under  such  circumstances  even  a  brave  man  might  have  seen  a  pitfall  at 
every  step,  a  dagger  in  every  hand,  and  poison  in  every  cup.  On  the  con- 
trary he  was  ever  cheerful,  and  hardly  took  more  precaution  than  usual 
"God  in  his  mercy,"  said  he,  with  unaffected  simplicity,  "will  maintain  my 
innocence  and  my  honour  during  my  life  anfl  in  future  ages.  As  to  my 
fortune  and  my  life,  I  have  dedicated  both,  long  since,  to  his  service.  He 
will  do  therewith  what  pleases  him  for  his  glory  and  my  salvation. '^  Thus 
his  suspicions  were  not  even  excited  by  the  ominous  face  of  Gerard,  when  he 
first  presented  himself  at  the  dining-room  door.  The  prince  laughed  off  his 
wife's  prophetic  apprehension  at  the  sight  of  his  murderer,  and  was  as  cheerful 
as  usual  to  the  last. 

He  passessedj  too^  that  which  to  the  heathen  pliilnsnplier  seemed  the 
greate^st  gowl  —  the  sound  mind  in  the  sound  body.  His  physical  frame  was 
after  death  found  so  perfect  that  a  long  life  might  have  lxK*n  in  store  for  him, 
notwithstanding  a!!  which  he  had  endured.  Tlie  desperate  illness  of  1574, 
the  frightful  gunshot  wound  inflicted  by  Jaureguy  in  1582,  had  left  no  traces. 
The  physicians  pronounced  that  hLs  body  presented  an  aspect  of  perfect 
health.  His  temperament  was  cheerful.  At  table,  the  pleasures  of  which, 
in  moderation,  were  his  only  relaxation,  he  was  uhvays  animated  and  merry, 
and  this  jocosenej^  was  partly  natural,  partly  intentional.  In  the  darkest 
hours  of  his  country's  trial,  he  affected  a  serenity  which  he  was  far  from  feel- 
ing, so  that  his  apparent  gaiety  at  momentous  epochs  was  even  censured  by 
dullards,  who  could  not  comprehend  it«  philosophy,  nor  applaud  the  flippancy 
of  William  the  Silent.* 

He  went  through  life  bearing  the  load  of  a  people's  sorrows  upon  his 
shoulders  with  a  smiling  face.  Tlieir  name  wjus  the  last  word  ui)ori  his  lips, 
save  the  simple  affirmative  with  which  the  soldier  who  had  l>een  battling 
for  the  right  all  his  lifetime  commended  his  soul  in  dying  "to  his  great  cap- 
tain, Christ."  The  peoi)le  were  gratefid  and  affectionate,  for  they  tnmted  the 
character  of  their  **  Father  William,"  and  not  all  the  clouds  which  raliminy 
could  collect  ever  dinmied  to  their  eyes  the  raeliance  of  that  lofty  mind  to 
which  they  were  accustomed,  in  their  darkest  calamities,  to  look  for  light. 
As  long  as  he  lived,  he  was  the  guiding-star  of  a  brave  nation,  and  when  he 
died  the  little  children  cried  in  the  streets.^ 


I  n 


I 


CHAITER  IX 
LEICESTER  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES 

[1584-1598  A.D.] 

William  thk  Silent,  prince  of  Orange,  had  been  murdered  on  the  10th 
of  July,  1584.  It  is  difficult  to  ima^ne  a  more  universal  disaster  than  the 
one  thus  brought  about  by  the  hand  nf  a  single  obscure  fanatic.  For  nearly 
twenty  years  the  character  of  the  prinee  had  been  expanding  steadily  as  the 
difficulties  of  his  situation  increased.  Habit,  necessity,  and  the  natural 
gifts  of  the  man  had  combined  to  invest  him  at  last  with  an  authority  which 
seemed  more  than  human.  There  ^vas  such  general  confidence  in  his  sagacity, 
courage,  and  purity  that  the  nation  had  conte  to  think  with  his  brain  and  to 
act  with  his  hand.  It  was  natural  that,  for  an  instant,  there  should  be  a 
feeling  ns  of  absolut-e  and  helpless  panilysis. 

The  ban  of  the  pojjc  and  the  offered  gold  of  the  king  hat!  aecompliiShed 
a  victorj'  greater  than  any  yet  achieved  by  the  amiies  of  Spain,  brilliant  as 
had  iKi^n  tlieir  triumphs  (m  the  !»lon(l-stained  .s(»il  of  the  Netherlands.  Had 
that  "exceeding  proud,  neat,  and  spruce"  doctor  of  laws,  William  Parry, 
who  had  been  busying  himself  at  about  the  same  time  with  his  memorable 
project  figainst  the  queen  of  England,  proved  as  successful  as  Balthasar 
Gerarri,  the  fate  of  Cliristcntli>m  wnuld  have  IxH-n  still  darker. 

Yet  such  was  the  condition  of  iMirope  at  that  day.  A  small,  dull,  elderly, 
imperfectly  educated,  patient,  plndfling  invalid,  with  while  hair  and  pro- 
truding under-jaw  and  dreary  visiige,  was  sitting  day  after  day,  seldom 
speaking,  never  smiling,  seven  or  eight  hours  out  of  ever)''  twenty-four,  at 
a  writing  table  covered  with  heaps  of  interminuble  despatches,  in  a  cabinet 
far  away  beyond  the  seas  and  mountains,  in  the  very  heart  of  Spain.  A 
clerk  or  two,  noiselessly  opening  and  shutting  the  door,  from  time  to  time, 
fetching  fresh  bundles  of  letters  and  taking  away  others  —  all  ^Titten  and 
composed  by  secretaries  or  high  functionaries  —  and  all  to  be  scrawled  over 
in  the  margin  by  the  diligent  old  man  in  a  big  schoolboy's  hand  and  style  — 

506 


■    ^™  LEICESTER   IN   THE   LOW    COUNTRIES  507 

|15&4  A.D.] 

if  ever  schoolboy,  even  in  the  sixteenth  century,  could  write  so  i!Ipgibly  or 
express  himself  so  awkwardly;  couriers  in  the  courtyard  arriving  from  or 
departing  for  the  uttermost  parts  of  earth  —  Asia,  Africa,  America.  Europe 
—  to  fetch  and  cany  these  interminable  epistles  which  cont^ained  the- irre- 
sponsible commancb  of  this  one  individual,  and  were  freighted  with  the  doom 
and  destiny  of  countless  millions  of  the  world's  inhabitant's  —  such  was  the 
system  of  government  against  which  the  Netherlands  had  proU^sted  and 
revolted.  It  wa,s  a  system  under  which  their  fields  had  Vx^n  made  desolate, 
their  cities  burned  and  piUaged,  their  men  hanged,  burned,  drowned,  or 
hacked  to  pieces;  their  women  subjected  to  every  outrage:  and  to  put  an 
end  to  which  they  had  l>een  devoting  their  treasure  and  their  bloo<l  for  nearly 
the  length  of  one  generation.  It  was  a  system,  too,  which,  among  other  re- 
sult.s,  had  just  brought  about  the  death  of  the  foremost  statesman  of  Euro|x», 
and  had  nearly  effected  simultaneously  the  murder  of  the  most  eminent 
sovereign  in  the  world.  The  industrious  Philip,  safe  and  tranquil  in  the 
depttis  of  the  Escorial,  saying  his  prayers  three  times  a  day  with  exemplary 
regularity,  had  just  sent  three  bullct^s  through  the  body  of  William  the  Silent 
at  his  dining-room  door  in  Delft.  ^^Had  it  onl}'-  been  done  two  years  earlier/' 
observed  the  patient  old  man,  **much  trouble  might  have  been  spared  me; 
but  it  is  liettfT  ]n{r  tlian  lu-vcr/' 

Philip  stootl  cufcofTed^  by  divine  decree,  of  all  America,  the  East  Indies, 
the  whole  Spanish  peninsula,  the  better  portion  of  Italy,  the  seventeen  Nether- 
lands, and  many  other  |X)Ssessions  far  and  near;  and  he  contemplated  annex- 
ing to  this  extensive  property  the  kingdoms  of  France,  of  England,  and  Ire- 
land. The  holy  league,  maintained  by  the  sword  of  Guise,  the  pope's  ban, 
Spanish  ducatv^,  Italian  condottieri,  and  German  mercenaries,  was  to  exter- 
minate heresy  and  (vt^blish  tlu*  8|ianish  flornini(m  in  Fnmce.  Tlie  same 
machinery,  aided  by  the  pistol  or  poniard  of  the  assassin,  was  to  substitute 
for  English  protestantism  and  Enghin<rs  queen  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
and  a  foreign  sovereign.  *'The  holy  league/'  said  Duplessis-Mornayj^  one 
of  the  noblest  cliaracters  of  the  age,  '*has  destined  us  all  to  the  same  sacri- 
fice. The  ambition  of  the  Spaniard,  which  has  overleaped  so  many  lands  and 
seas,  thinks  nothing  inaccessible/' 

The  NetlierliiTids  revolt  had  llierefnre  a-ssumed  world-wide  prnportioiLs. 
Had  it  been  merely  the  rebellion  of  provinces  against  a  sovereign,  the  im- 
portance of  (he  struggle  would  have  been  more  local  and  temporary.  But 
the  jx'riofl  was  one  in  which  the  geographical  landmarks  of  countries  were 
ahnost  removed.  The  dividing-line  ran  through  every  state,  city,  and  almost 
every  family. 

A  vast  respoasibility  rested  upon  the  head  of  a  monarch  placed,  as  Philip 
II  found  hims<^lf,  at  this  great  dividing  point  in  mtHlem  history.  To  judge 
him,  or  any  man  in  such  a  position,  simply  from  his  own  point  of  view,  is 
weak  and  illogical.  History  judges  the  man  according  to  it-s  point  of  view. 
It  condemns  or  applau<ls  the  point  of  view  it.srlf.  The  point  of  view  of  a 
malefactor  is  not  to  excus*^  robiiery  and  nmnh-r.  Nor  is  the  spirit  of  the  age 
to  be  pleaded  in  defence  of  the  evil-tloer  at  a  time  when  mortals  were  divider! 
into  almost  equal  troops.  The  age  of  Philip  II  was  also  the  age  of  William 
of  Orange  and  his  four  brt»thren,  (►f  Sainte-Aldegonde,  of  Olden-Barneveld, 
of  Duplessis-Momay,  La  None,  Coligny,  of  Luther,  Melanchthon,  and  Calvin, 
Walsingham,  Sidney,  Raleigh,  Queen  Elizabeth,  of  Michel  Montaigne,  and 
William  Shakespeare.     It  was  not  an  age  of  blindness,  but  of  glorious  light. 

The  king  perhaps  firmly  believed  that  the  heretics  of  the  Netherlands, 
of  France,  or  of  England  oould  escape  eternal  perdition  only  by  being  extir- 


508  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHEBLANDS 

[IBMAA] 

pated  from  the  earth  by  fire  and  gword,  and  therefore,  peihiqM,  felt  it  his 
duly  to  devote  his  life  to  their  extermination.  But  he  oelieved  stiU  more 
firmly  that  his  own  political  authority,  throughout  his  dominions,  and  lus 
road  to  almost  universal  empire  lay  over  the  bMlies  of  those  heretics.  Three 
centuries  have  passed  since  this  memorable  epoch;  and  the  world  knows  the 
fote  of  the  states  which  accepted  the  dogma  wnich  it  was  Philip's  life-work  to 
enforce,  and  of  those  who  protested  against  the  system.  The  ^>anish  and 
Italian  peninsulas  have  had  a  different  history  from  that  which  records  the 
career  of  France,  Prussia,  the  Dutch  Commonwealth,  tibe  British  Empirei 
the  Transatlantic  Republic. 

Yet  the  contest  between  those  seven  meagre  provinces  upon  the  sand- 
banks of  the  North  Sea,  and  the  great  ^anish  Empire  seemed  at  the  moment 
with  which  we  are  now  occupied  a  sufficiently  desperate  one. 


THE  SITUATION  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  PRINCE  WILLIAM 

The  limit  of  the  Spanish  or  "obedient"  provinces,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  the  United  Provinces  on  the  other,  cannot  be  briefly  and  distinctly  stated. 
The  memorable  treason  —  or,  as  it  was  called,  the  "  Beoonciliation  "  of  tiie 
Walloon  Provinces  in  the  year  1583-84  —  had  placed  the  provinces  of  Hai- 
nault,  Artois,  Douai,  with  the  flourishing  cities  ArraSj  Valenciennes,  Lille, 
Toumay,  ana  others  —  all  Celtic  Flanders,  in  short  —  in  the  grasp  of  Spain. 
Cambray  was  still  held  by  the  French  governor,  Seigneur  de  Balagny,  who 
had  taken  advantage  of  the  duke  of  Anjou's  treachery  to  the  states  to  estab- 
lish himself  in  an  unrecognised  but  practical  petty  sovereignty,  in  defiance 
both  of  France  and  Spain;  while  East  Flanders  and  South  Brabant  still  re- 
mained a  disputed  territory,  and  the  inunediate  field  of  contest  Witfi 
these  limitations,  it  may  be  assumed,  for  general  purposes,  that  the  terri- 
tory of  the  united  states  was  that  of  the  modem  kingdom  of  the  Nether- 
lands, while  the  obedient  provinces  occupied  what  is  now  the  territory  of 
Belgium.  Such,  then,  were  the  combatants  in  the  great  eighty-years'  war 
for  civil  and  religious  liberty;  sixteen  of  which  had  now  passed  away. 

What  now  was  the  political  position  of  the  United  Provinces  at  this  junc- 
ture ?  The  sovereignty  which  had  been  held  by  the  states,  ready  to  be  con- 
ferred respectively  upon  Anjou  and  Orange,  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
states.  There  was  no  opposition  to  this  theory.  No  more  enlarged  view 
of  the  social  compact  had  yet  been  taken.  The  p)eople,  as  such,  claimed  no 
sovereignty.  Had  any  champion  claimed  it  for  them  they  would  hardly 
have  understood  him.  The  nation  dealt  with  facts.  After  abjuring  Philip 
in  1581  —  an  act  which  had  been  accomplished  by  the  states  —  the  same 
states  in  general  assembly  had  exercised  sovereign  power,  and  had  twice 
disposed  o?  that  sovereign  power  by  electing  a  hereditary  niler.  Their  right 
and  their  power  to  do  this  had  been  dl*^uted  by  none,  save  by  the  deposed 
monarch  in  Spain.  Having  the  sovereigntv  to  dispose  of,  it  seemed  logical 
that  the  states  might  keep  it,  if  so  inclined.  They  did  keep  it,  but  only  in 
trust. 

Even  on  the  very  day  of  the  murder,  the  states  of  Holland,  then  sitting  at 
Delft,  passed  a  resolution  "  to  maintain  the  good  cause,  with  God's  help,  to 
the  uttermost,  without  sparing  gold  or  blood."  At  the  same  time,  the  six- 
teen members  —  for  no  greater  number  happened  to  be  present  at  the  session 
—  addressed  letters  to  their  absent  colleagues,  urging  an  immediate  con- 
vocation of  the  states.    Among  these  sixteen  were  Van  Zuylen,  Van  Nyvelt, 


^"  LEICESTEB    IN   THE    LOW    COUNTRIES  509 

[1S64  A.D.] 

the  seigneur  de  Warmont,  the  advocate  of  Holland,  Paul  Buys,  Joost  de 
Menin,  and  Jolin  van  Olden-Barneveld, 

The  next  movement,  after  the  last  solemn  obsequies  had  been  rendered 
to  the  prince^  was  to  provide  for  the  immediate  wants  of  his  family.  For 
the  man  who  had  gone  into  the  revolt  with  almost  royal  revenues  left  his 
estate  so  embarrassed  that  his  carpets,  tapestries,  household  linen  —  nay, 
even  his  silver  spoons,  and  the  very  clothes  of  his  wardrobe  —  wore  disposed 
of  at  auction  for  the  benelitaf  his  creditors.  The  eldest  son,  Philip  William, 
had  been  a  captive  in  Spain  for  seventeen  years.  He  had  already  become 
thoroughly  hispaniolised.  All  of  good  that  he  had  retained  was  a  reverence 
for  his  father's  name  —  a  sentiment  which  he  had  niiuiifested  to  an  extrava- 
gant extent  on  a  memorable  occasion  in  Madrid,  by  throwing  out  of  the 
wiiKlow  and  killing  on  the  spot  a  Spanish  officer  who  had  dared  to  mention 
the  great  prince  with  insult. 

The  next  son  wa,^  Maurice,  then  seventeen  years  of  age,  a  handsome 
youth,  with  dark  blue  eyes,  well-chiselled  features,  and  full  red  lips,  who  had 
already  manifested  a  courage  and  concentration  of  character  beyond  his 
years.  The  son  of  William  the  Silent,  the  grandson  of  Maurice  of  Saxony, 
whom  he  resenibleni  in  visage  anfl  character,  he  was  summoned  by  every 
drop  of  blood  in  his  veins  to  do  life-long  battle  with  the  spirit  of  Spanish 
absolutism,  and  he  was  already  giniing  himself  for  his  life's  work.  He  as- 
sumed at  once  for  his  device  a  fallen  oak,  with  a  young  sapling  springing 
from  its  root.  His  motto,  "Tandem  fit  surculus  arbor"  (the  twig  shall  yet 
become  a  tree),  was  to  be  nobly  justified  by  his  career. 

The  remaining  son,  Frederick  Henry,  then  a  six-months  child,  was  also 
destined  to  high  fortunes,  and  to  win  an  enduring  name  in  his  country's 
history.  For  the  present  he  remained  with  his  mother,  the  noble  Louise 
de  Coligny,  who  had  thus  seen,  at  long  inter\'als,  her  father  and  two  husbands 
fall  victims  to  the  Spanish  policy;  for  it  is  as  certa.in  that  Philip  knew  be- 
forehand, and  testified  his  approbation  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
as  that  he  was  the  murderer  of  Orange. 

The  states  of  Holland  implored  the  widowed  princess  to  remain  in  their 
ti'rritory,  settling  a  liberal  allowance  upon  herself  and  her  child,  anil  she 
fixed  her  residence  at  Leyden. 

Very  soon  afterwards  the  states-general  estabhshed  a  state  council,  as  a 
pro\nsional  executive  board,  for  the  term  of  three  months,  for  the  provinces 
of  Holland,  Zealand,  Utrecht,  Friesland,  and  such  parts  of  FJandei-s  and 
Brabant  as  still  remained  in  the  union.  At  the  head  of  this  botly  was  placed 
young  Maurice,  who  accepted  the  responsible  position,  after  three  days* 
delibenition.  The  salary  of  Maurice  was  fixed  at  30,000  florins  a  year.  The 
ctiuncil  consisted  of  three  members  from  Brabant,  two  from  Flanders,  four 
from  Holland,  three  from  Zealand,  two  from  Utrecht,  one  from  Mechlin,  anil 
three  from  Friesland  —  eighteen  in  all.  Diplomatic  relations,  questions  of 
peace  and  war,  the  treaty-making  |>ower  were  not  entrusted  to  the  council, 
without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  states-general,  which  body  was  to 
be  convoked  twice  a  year  by  the  state  council. 

THE  ACrrVlTY   OF  PARMA 


Thus  the  provinces  in  the  hour  of  danger  and  darkness  were  true  to  them- 
selves, and  were  far  from  giving  way  to  a  despondency  which  under  the 
circumstances  would  not  have  been  unnatural.  For  the  waves  of  bitterness 
were  rolling  far  and  wide  around  them.    A  medal,  struck  in  Holland  at  this 


510  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

period,  represented  a  dismasted  hulk  reeling  through  the  tempest.  The 
motto,  "iTicertum  quo  fata  ferentf^'  (who  knows  whither  fate  is  sweeping 
her  ?)  expressed  most  vividly  the  shipwrecked  condition  of  the  country. 

Alessandro  of  Parma,  the  most  accomplished  general  and  one  of  the  most 
adroit  statesmen  of  the  age,  was  swift  to  take  advantage  of  the  calamity 
which  had  now  befallen  the  rebellious  provinces.  Had  he  been  better  pro- 
vided with  men  and  money,  the  cause  of  the  states  might  have  seemed  hope- 
less. He  addressed  many  letters  to  the  states-general,  to  the  magistracies  <rf 
various  cities,  and  to  individuals,  affecting  to  consider  that  with  the  death  of 
Orange  had  died  all  authority,  as  well  as  all  motive  for  continuing  the  contest 
with  Spain. 

In  Holland  and  Zealand  the  prince's  blandishments  were  of  no  avail. 
He  was,  moreover,  not  strong  in  the  field,  although  he  was  far  superior  to 
the  states  at  this  contingency.  He  had,  besides  his  garrisons,  something 
above  eighteen  thousand  men.  The  provinces  had  hardly  three  thousand 
foot  and  two  thousand  five  hundred  horse,  and  these  were  mostly  lying  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Zutphen.  Alessandro  was  threatening  at  the  same 
time  Ghent,  Dendermonde,  Mechlin,  Brussels,  and  Antwerp.  These  five 
powerful  cities  lie  in  a  narrow  circle,  at  distances  varying  from  six  miles  to 
thirty,  and  are,  as  it  were,  strung  together  upon  the  Schelde,  by  which  river, 
or  its  tributary,  the  Senne,  they  are  all  threaded.  It  would  have  been  im- 
possible for  Parma,  with  one  hundred  thousand  men  at  his  back,  to  undertake 
a  regular  and  simultaneous  siege  of  these  important  places.  His  piupose 
was  to  isolate  them  from  each  other  and  from  the  rest  of  the  country,  by 
obtaining  the  control  of  the  great  river,  and  so  to  reduce  them  by  famine. 
The  scheme  was  a  masterly  one,  but  even  the  consummate  ability  of  Famese 
would  have  proved  inadequate  to  the  undertaking,  had  not  the  preliminary 
assassination  of  Orange  made  the  task  comparatively  easy. 

Upon  the  17th  of  August  Dendermonde  surrendered,  and  no  lives  were 
taken  save  those  of  two  preachers,  one  of  whom  was  hanged,  while  the 
other  was  drowned.  Upon  the  7th  of  September  Vilvorde  capitulated,  by 
which  event  the  water-communication  between  Brussels  and  Antwerp  was 
cut  off. 

The  noble  city  of  Ghent  —  then  as  large  as  Paris,  thoroughly  surrounded 
with  moats,  and  fortified  —  was  ignominiously  surrendered  September  17th. 
The  fail  of  Brussels  was  deferred  till  March,  and  that  of  Mechlin  to  the  19th 
July,  1585;  but  the  surrender  of  Ghent  foreshadowed  the  fate  of  Flanders 
and  Brabant.  Ostend  and  Sluys,  however,  were  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
patriots,  and  with  them  the  control  of  the  whole  Flemish  coast.  The  com- 
mand of  the  sea  was  destined  to  remain  for  centuries  with  the  new  republic. 

The  prince  of  Parma,  thus  encouraged  by  the  great  success  of  his  intrigues, 
was  determined  to  achieve  still  greater  triumphs  with  his  arms,  and  steadily 
proceeded  with  his  large  design  of  closing  the  Schelde  and  bringing  about 
the  fall  of  Antwerp.  That  siege  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  military  opera- 
tions of  the  age  and  one  of  the  most  memorable  in  its  results.*' 

But  these  domestic  victories  of  the  prince  of  Parma  were  barren  in  any 
of  those  results  which  humanity  would  love  to  see  in  the  train  of  conquest. 
The  reconciled  provinces  presented  the  most  deplorable  spectacle.  The 
chief  towns  were  almost  depopulated.  The  inhabitants  had  in  a  great  measure 
fallen  victims  to  war,  pestilence,  and  famine.  Little  inducement  existed  to 
replace  by  marriage  the  ravages  caused  by  death,  for  few  men  wished  to 
propagate  a  race  which  divine  wrath  seemed  to  have  marked  for  persecution. 
The  thousands  of  villages  which  had  covered  the  face  of  the  country  were 


^  LEICESTER   IN   THE   LOW   COUNTRIES  fill 

[1SB4  A.D.I 

absolutely  abandonee!  to  the  wolves,  which  had  so  rapidly  increased  that  they 
attacked  not  merely  cattle  anti  chiklren,  but  grown-up  persons.  The  dogs, 
driven  abnxul  by  hunger,  had  l>econie  as  ferocious  ^Ls  other  beasts  of  prey, 
and  joined  iii  large  pacKs  to  hunt  down  brutes  and  men.  Neither  fields,  nor 
woods,  nor  roads  were  now  to  be  distinguished  by  any  visible  limits.  All 
was  an  entangled  mass  of  trees,  weeds,  and  gra&s.  The  prices  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  were  so  liigh  that  [wople  of  rank,  after  selling  everything  to  buy 
bread,  were  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  open  beggary  in  the  streets  of  the 
great  towns.*^ 

ANTWER?   BESIEGED    (1584) 

The  fall  of  Ghent  had  enabled  Panna  to  resume  his  attack  on  Antwerp. 
The  Antwerpera  having  inunflateil  the  whnle  country  from  Hulst  to  Beveren, 
he  erected  strong  f(»rts  alcjng  the  Kowenstjn  iHke,  to  prevent  the  pa,s.vage  of 
vessels  to  Lillo  and  Antwerp  from  Zealand. 

Parma,  finding  that  tlio  Zeahind  vessels  continued,  notwithstanding  his 
fortiiicalioiis  along  tht»  dike,  to  \n\ss  up  the  Srhelde  to  Antwerp,  resolved  upon 
the  stuixmdous  and  a|)parently  impracticable  undertaking  of  throwing  u 
bridge  across  the  broad,  d(^p,  and  rapid  part  of  that  river  between  Antwerp 
ami  f'all(K>.  Its  execution  wa.s  entrusted  to  Sebustiaa  Haroccio,  an  lUilian 
engineer  of  eminent  ability,  wfio  huilt  a  fort  at  each  en<l  of  the  inten<ied  work, 
which  he  named  the  St.  l^hilip  and  the  iSt.  Mary.  By  means  of  this  "stoc- 
cade/'  as  it  was  called,  the  river  was  narrowed^  1,250  "feet  lieltig  left  l^tween 
the  two  blockhouses  at  the  ends.  This  space  Baroccio  lil]e<i  with  boats, 
placed  at  a  distance  of  about  twenty  feet  from  eac!i  other,  and  fastened  by 
two  anchors  against  the  flood  and  ebb  tide;  these  boat.s,  linked  together 
by  four  strong  caV)ieSf  were  cfwineeted  with  each  o(her  by  means  of  rtiasts, 
over  which  were  laid  planks;  thirty  men  were  stationed  in  eacli  boat,  with  a 
cannon  fore  and  aft.  Besides  this  *lefence,  Parma  stationed  all  the  men-of- 
war  he  couki  collect  both  ab<^ve  and  below  the  bridge. 

The  besieg***!  had  relied  on  the  irtipossiliility  of  his  aehie\iiig  an  enterprise 
of  such  difficulty,  carried  on  rluring  the  winter  montLs,  when,  if  it  escaped 
being  broken  in  pieces  by  the  masses  of  floating  ice  in  the  river,  it  could 
easily  Ik*  <lestroyed  by  the  Holland  and  Zealand  vessels,  which  in  tlie  long 
dark  nights  might  approach  it  unperceived.  lioth  these  expectations  turned 
out  delusive.  Tlie  winter  prove<l  remarkably  miltl,  so  that  there  was  not 
sufficient  ice  in  the  river  to  do  the  slightest  (hiinage  to  the  works;  and  the 
assistanee  from  Holland  and  Zealanil,  which  the  Antwerpers  besought  with 
reiterated  entreaties,  did  not  arrive. 

Prince  Maurice,  however,  and  the  council  of  Zealand,  issued  re|)eated 
ortiers  to  William  of  Treslong,  admiral  of  Zealand,  to  sail  into  the  Schelde» 
with  which  he  refuseil  compliance,  alleging  that  his  fleet  was  not  sufficiently 
strong  to  risk  the  attempt.  Treslong,  who  was  strongly  suspected  of  a  secret 
understanding  with  the  enemy,  was  afterwards  deprived  of  his  office  and 
thrown  into  prison,  Justin  of  Niussau,  natural  son  of  the  prince  of  Orange, 
being  created  admiral  in  hLs  stead;  but  the  irrevocable  opportunity  had 
passed  away,  and  Parma  was  left  unmolested  during  the  long  period  of  seven 
months  to  complete  a  work  of  which  the  ultimate  fall  of  Antwerp  was  the 
inevitable  conse(|uence. 

The  embarrassed  condition  of  their  affairs  determined  the  Netherlanders, 
notwithstanding  the  severe  lesson  afforded  them  by  past  experience,  to  put 
themselves  once  more  under  the  proteetion  of  a  foreign  prince.  The  fate 
duke  of  Brabant  had  declared  by  will  his  brother,  Henry  III  of  France,  heir 


il«  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

to  all  hi3  rights  over  tho  Netherlands,  and  in  an  assembly  held  at  Delft  the 
states  of  Bnil)ant,  Flanders,  and  Mechlin  strongly  advocated  the  full  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  king  of  France  as  sovereign.  In  Holland  and  Zealand  the 
proposition  gave  rise  {o  vehement  and  lengthened  debates. 

A  strong  parly  exiHted  in  favour  of  seeking  the  protection  of  England  in 
preference  to  that  of  France,*  The  sovereign  of  England,  it  was  said,  sought 
no  further  dominion  over  the  Netherlands  than  the  possession  of  a  sufficient 


TQK  SiBaB   OF   AjfTWEUP  (mOU    AH   OU)    PlUNTJ,  SOUWINQ   TBK  IlTUHDATION   OW  TIIK   COUKTUY 


number  of  towns  to  insure  the  indemnification  of  her  expenses;  she  was  of 
the  same  religion  aa  the  Netherjanders,  and  her  power,  tliough  inferior  to  that 
of  France,  was  chiefSy  maritime,  and  therefore  more  available  for  tlicir  defenc-e. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  urged  that  the  government  of  the  English  in  Ireland, 
and  wherever  they  had  dominion,  was  harsh  and  insolent;  that  the  succession 
to  the  crown  was  uncertain,  and  would  most  probably  fall  to  the  queen  of 
Scotland,  a  Catholic,  and  a  devoted  friend  of  bpain;  that  France  liad  more 
power  and  opportunity  to  defend  th^m  from  their  enemies,  owing  to  the 
situation  of  the  two  countries,  and  the  facility  wherewith  she  might  impede 
the  passage  of  troops  and  supplies  from  Spain ;  the  succession  to  the  throne, 
alsOj  would  devolve  on  the  king  of  Navarre,  himself  a  Protestant,  and  of  a 
family  which  had  always  shown  itself  friendly  towards  the  reformed  religion. 
Upon  these  grounds,  the  states  of  Zealand  and  the  council  of  stat-e  of  Holland 
recommended  the  treaty  with  France,  which  was  opposed  principally  by  the 

['  Amon^tbe  most  ardent  of  the  English  party  was  the  famous  Paul  Bays,  the  adrocate 
of  Holland.  ^Vhen  his  efforts  failed  he  was  forced  to  resign.  After  a  year's  Interim  the  otflco 
was  ^Ten  in  March,  1580,  to  the  still  more  famoaa  pe&aionary  of  Itotterdam,  Jan  van  Olden- 
BftmeTohi] 


LEICESTER   IN  THE  LOW   COUNTRIES  fiis 

[1585  A.D.] 

councils  of  the  towns.  At  length  the  entreaties  of  Brabant,  Flanders,  and 
Meclilin  prevailed  with  the  states  of  Holland  t^)  cive  a  reluctant  consent. 

It  did  not  appear  that  the  king  would  long  hesitate  to  accept  conditions 
of  so  highly  fiattering  a  nature,  in  the  framing  of  which,  indeed,  we  recognise 
nothing  of  the  usual  spirit  of  freedom  and  jealous  watchfulness  of  the  Dutch 
people.  But  the  feeble  and  irresolute  king,  instead  of  grasping  at  once  the 
powerful  weapon  which  the  possession  of  the  Netherlands  would  have  placed 
m  his  hands  both  against  Spain  and  the  disaffected  of  his  own  kingdom,  re- 
fused for  the  present  the  oner  of  the  deputies,  alleging  tliat  the  disturbances 
excited  in  his  kingdom  by  the  king  of  Spain  prevented  his  affording  the  Nether- 
landers  any  assistance. 

The  city  of  Brussels  had  long  been  grievously  straitened  for  want  of  pro- 
visions, in  consequence  of  the  obstruction  of  the  Schelde  by  the  bridge  of 
boats.  Brussels  surrendered,  therefore,  on  conditions  sufficiently  favourable, 
except  that  the  privileges  of  the  towTi  were  to  be  retrenched  according  to  the 
pleasure  of  the  king  Nearly  at  the  same  time  the  Catholics  in  the  city  of 
Nimeguen  found  themselves  in  sufficient  number  and  strength  to  drive  out 
the  garrison  of  the  states  and  place  the  town  under  the  government  of  the 
prince  of  Parma.  The  like  hapfmned  with  respect  to  Doesborgh.  Ostend 
was  also  attempted  by  La  Motte,  governor  of  Gravelines,  who,  with  a  de- 
tachment of  soldiers,  surprised  and  took  possession  of  the  part  called  the  Old 
Town,  which  was  but  weakly  fortified.  But  Ostend  was  not  destined  to 
sink  thas  ingloriously  under  tlie  power  of  the  enemy;  an  honourable  place 
was  yet  re8er\'ed  for  her  on  the  page  of  history  as  a  martyr  to  the  c^use  of 
liberty.  The  citizens,  joining  their  arms  with  those  of  the  garrison,  attacked 
La  Motte  before  the  remainder  of  his  troops  arrived,  or  he  had  time  to 
strengthen  himself  in  his  position,  and  drove  him  back  with  a  loss  of  two  hun- 
ted men  and  forty  officers.^ 

The  details  of  the  miliUiry  or  political  operations  by  which  the  reduction 
of  most  of  these  places  was  effected  possess  but  little  interest.  The  siege 
of  Antwerp,  however,  was  one  of  the  most  striking  events  of  the  age. 
All  the  science  then  at  command  was  applied  both  by  the  prince  and  by 
his  burgher  antagonists  to  the  advancement  of  their  ends  —  hydrostatics, 
hydraulics,  engineering,  navigation,  gunnery,  pyrotechnics,  mining,  geometry, 
were  summoned  as  broatily,  vigorously,  and  intelligently  to  the  destruction 
or  preserx'ation  of  a  trembling  city  as  they  have  ever  been,  in  more  commercial 
days,  to  advance  a  financial  or  manufacturing  purpose.  Land  converted 
into  water  and  water  into  land,  castles  built  upon  the  breast  of  rapid  streams, 
rivers  turned  from  their  beds  and  taught  new  courses,  the  distant  ocean 
driven  across  ancient  bulwarks,  mines  dug  below  the  sea,  ami  canals  made  to 
percolate  obscene  morasses  —  which  the  red  hand  of  war,  by  the  very  act, 
converted  into  blooming  gardens  —  a  mighty  stream  bridged  and  mastered 
in  the  very  teeth  of  winter,  floating  icebergs,  ocean-tides,  and  an  alert  and 
desperate  foe,  ever  ready  with  fleets  and  armies  and  batteries  —  such  were 
the  materials  of  which  the  great  spectacJe  was  composed:  a  spectacle  which 
enchained  the  attention  of  Europe  for  seven  montlis,  and  on  the  result  of 
whic-h,  it  was  thought,  depended  the  fate  of  all  the  Netherlands  and,  perhaps, 
of  all  Christendom.*' 

Seeking  too  late  to  repair  the  fatal  error  committed  in  allowing  Parma 
to  complet-e  his  bridge,  the  count  of  Holienlohe  and  Justin  of  Nassau,  admiral 
of  Zealand,  with  a  considerable  force  of  Holland  and  Zealand  vessels,  captured 
the  fort  of  Liefheashoek.  Numerous  plans  were  devised  for  the  purpose 
of  breaking  down  the  bridge,  and  among  the  rest  GiambcUi,  an  engmeer  of 
H.  nr. — TOL.  xux.  Sl 


614  THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[1806  AA] 

Mantua  (the  same  who  was  in  the  service  of  Queen  Elizabeth  at  the  defeat 
of  the  armada),  imdertook  to  blow  it  up  by  means  of  two  fire-ehips,  laden 
each  with  six  or  seven  thousand  poun(b  of  powder.  One  of  these,  taking 
fire  before  it  had  approached  sufficiently  near  the  works,  proved  useless; 
but  the  other,  named  the  Hope,  of  about  eighty  tons'  burden,  exploded  witii 
fatal  and  terrific  effect. 

The  Spanish  soldiers,  thinking  that  the  intention  waa  to  set  fire  to  the 
bridge,  crowded  upon  it  for  the  purpose  of  extinguishing  the  flames,  when  the 
vessel  blew  up,  and  above  eight  hundred  were  mingl^  in  one  horrible  and 
promiscuous  slaughter.  Parma  himself,  who  had  quitted  the  bridge  only  a 
few  moments  before,  was  struck  down  stunned,  but  quickly  recovered  his 
senses  and  with  them  his  accustomed  intrepidity.  The  shock  waa  so  violent 
that  it  was  felt  at  the  distance  of  nine  miles;  the  waters  of  the  Schelde,  driven 
from  their  bed,  inundated  the  surrounding  country,  and  entirely  filled  the 
fort  of  St.  Mary,  at  the  Flanders  end  of  the  bridge. 

But  it  seemed  destined  that  all  the  efforts  made  for  the  delivery  of  Antwerp 
should  be  untimely  or  incomplete.  The  crew  of  the  boat  which  Hohenlohe 
sent  to  reconnoitre  were  afraid  to  approach  sufficiently  near  to  ascertain 
the  amount  of  damage  done ;  and,  in  consequence,  both  the  Antwerpers  and 
a  fleet  of  Holland  and  Zealand  vessels,  stationed  at  Lillo,  were  left  in  ignorance 
of  the  rupture  of  the  bridge  till  Parnoa  had  time  to  repair  it,  which  he  effected 
with  his  customary  celenty  in  two  or  three  days. 

Among  other  measures  of  defence  adopted  by  the  citizens  of  Antwerp, 
they  had  constructed  an  enormous  vessel,  or  rather  floating  castle,  being 
regularly  fortified,  at  an  expense  of  1,000,000  florins,  with  which  they  hoped 
to  break  through  the  bridge;  and  so  sanguine  were  they  of  the  effect  it  was 
to  produce,  that,  with  a  presumption  but  ill  justified  by  the  event,  they  named 
it  the  End  of  the  War  (Fin  de  la  Guerre),  But  its  vast  bulk  rendered  it  wholly 
immanageable,  and  having  stranded  in  the  mud  near  Oordam,  all  efforts  to  set 
it  afloat  again  proved  unavailing.  Meanwhile,  the  scarcity  of  corn  within 
the  walls  of  Antwerp  became  extreme,  although  the  government  successfully 
endeavoured  to  conceal  it  for  some  time  from  the  people,  by  keeping  the  price 
of  bread  down  to  its  usual  standard.  As,  however,  the  discovery  of  the  fact 
could  not  much  longer  be  delayed,  and  no  hope  of  assistance  appeared  either 
by  sea  or  land,  since  Parma  had  possessed  himself  of  all  the  surrounding 
forts,  they  deemed  it  advisable  to  propose  terms  of  surrender. 

The  negotiations  were  opened  by  Sainte-Aldegonde,  one  of  the  strongest 
advocates  for  a  pacification.  Reasons  of  policy  combined  with  the  natural 
generosity  of  Parma's  disposition  to  induce  him  to  grant  the  most  favourable 
terms.  The  affair,  therefore,  was  not  long  pending;  the  inhabitants  received 
a  general  pardon  and  oblivion  of  offences;  those  of  the  reformed  religion  were 
allowed  to  remain  two  years  in  the  city,  and  within  that  time  to  dispose  of 
their  property  as  they  pleased;  a  ransom  of  400,000  guilders  was  to  be  paid; 
and  the  ill-omened  citadel  was  to  be  restored,  but  with  a  promise  that  it 
should  be  destroyed  as  soon  as  Holland  and  Zealand  returned  to  the  obedience 
of  the  king.  Notwithstanding  the  permission  granted  them  to  remain, 
however,  the  Reformers  did  not  wait  for  the  triumphal  entry  of  Parma  into 
Antwerp.  Three  days  after  the  surrender  they  held  their  last  melancholy 
service,  and  within  a  short  time  the  whole  body,  among  whom  the  most 
intelligent,  wealthy,  and  industrious  burghers  were  numbered,  retired  into 
exile,  the  greater  portion  to  Holland  and  Zealand. 

The  consecjuence  of  the  surrender  of  Antwerp  was  to  deprive  the  states 
of  the  services  of  one  of  the  earliest,  the  most  active,  and  the  most  devoted 


I 


LEICESTER    IX    THE    LOW    COUNTRIES  515 

^585  A.D.J 

defenders  of  Netherlnnd  lil>erty.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to  believe  that 
Sainte-Aldegonde,  a  niim  of  the  very  highest  virtues  and  attainments,  could 
for  a  nioment  cont^'niplute  betraying  that  cause  for  which  he  hat!  iiiadc  such 
vast  sacrifices.*  He  presented  an 
able  defence  of  his  conduct  to  the 
states,  and  his  cause  was  strenu- 
ously pleaded  by  the  renowiied 
De  la  Noue;  but,  severe  in  pun- 
ishing the  slightest  app^mranee  of 
treachery,  the  states  excluded  him 
from  any  share  in  public  affairs 
until  several  years  after,  when  he 
was  employed  by  Prince  Maurice 
in  an  embassy  to  France. 

Tlie  loss  of  Sainte-Aldegonde 
was  in  some,  though  a  small  de- 
gree repaired  by  the  acquisition  of 
Martin  Schenk,  an  able  and  ex- 
perienced captain,  who,  having 
formerly  deserted  to  the  royalist 
side,  now,  finding  that  lie  was 
treated  by  Panna  with  less  con- 
sideration than  he  imagined  due 
to  him,  returned  to  his  allegiance 
under  the  states,  and  delivered  his 
fortress  of  BIyenbeek  into  the 
hands  of  the  count  of  Mors.  Tlie 
states  now  tiespatched  a  solemn  embassy  to  England,  for  the  piu^pose  of  solicit- 
ing the  queen  to  become  sovereign  of  the  United  Provinces.* 

motley's  portiuit  of  oi.den-barneveld 

There  was  at  this  moment  one  Netherlander,  the  chief  of  the  present 
mission  to  England,  already  the  foremost  statesman  of  his  country,  whose 
name  will  not  soon  bo  efl'aeed  from  the  record  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries.  That  man  was  Jan  van  Olden-Harneveld.^  He  was  now  in  his 
thirty-eighth  year,  having  Im'i'Ii  born  at  Aniersfoort  on  the  llth  of  SeptemlMT, 
1547.  He  bore  an  imposing  name,  for  the  Okien-Barn('veId.H  of  Gel<ierlan(i 
were  a  race  of  unquestionable  and  antique  nobility.  His  enemies^  however, 
questioned  his  right  to  the  descent  which  In*  rhiimed. 

He  hail  been  a  profound  and  inilefatigable  student  from  his  earliest  youth. 

[i  It  is  certain,  whatever  his  motives,  that  liis  attitude  htui  cmiii»lrtely  changed.  For  It 
WAS  not  Antwerp  alone  that  be  had  reconciled,  or  was  endeavouring'  to  reconcile,  with  the  king 
of  Spain,  but  lluUaiid  and  ZeaUuid  as  well,  and  all  the  other  independent  province!*.  The  an- 
cient cliampion  of  the  [latriot  amir,  the  earlieHt  signer  of  the  C'om promise,  the  boAoin  friend  of 
William  the  Silent,  the  author  of  tlie  "  Wilhelraiis"  national  song,  now  avowed  his  conviction. 
In  a  published  defence  of  his  conduct  a^tnst  the  calumnious  attackM  upon  it,  that  it  was  "  im- 
posAlble,  with  a  clear  conscience,  for  subjects,  under  any  circuinstAnce.s.  to  lake  up  annsa^nst 
Philip,  their  king."  Ceitaiulv  if  he  had  always  entertained  that  opinion  be  must  ba.ve  suf- 
fered many  pangs  of  remorse  during  his  twenty  years  of  active  and  illuitrious  r**helIion.  He 
now  made  himself  secretly  active  in  promoting  the  schemes  of  Parum  and  In  ctfUntenictiDg 
the  negotiation  with  England,  lie  Mattered  himself,  with  an  infatuation  which  it  is  dilHcnlt 
to  eomprrliend,  that  It  would  be  possible  to  obtain  religious  liberty  for  the  revolting  provinces, 
although  he  had  consented  to  its  sacrifice  in  Antwerp.  —  Motlky.'] 

['In  his  biography  of  ibis  man.  Motley  tf  adopts  Barneveld,  the  English  and  French  form 
of  the  muue,  while  coofetising  that  "  Oldenbamevelt  "  waa  wore  correct.] 


Albsbanoro  Faiuimb,  Primoi  or  Parua 
<tUA-160S) 


516  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

He  had  read  law  at  Leyden,  in  France,  at  Heidelberg.    Here,  in  the  head- 
Quarters  of  German  Cdvinism,  his  youthful  mind  had  long  pondered  the 
dread  themes  of  foreknowledge,  judgment  abeolute,  free  will,  and  predesti- 
nation.   Perplexed  in  the  extreme,  the  youthful  Jan  bethought  himself  of 
an  inscription  over  the  gateway  of  his  famous  but  questionable  great-grand- 
father's house  at  Amer^x)rt  —  "  Nil  scire  tiUissima  fides  "  [To  know  nothing 
is  the  safest  creed].    He  resolved  thenceforth  to  adopt  a  system  of  ^norance 
upon  matters  beyond  the  flaming  walls  of  the  world;  to  do  the  wonc  before 
him  manfully  and  faithfully  while  he  walked  the  earth,  and  to  trust  that  a 
benevolent  Creator  would  devote  neither  him  nor  any  other  man  to  eternal 
hell-fire.    For  this  most  offensive  doctrine  he  was  howled  at  by  the  strictly 
pious,  while  he  earned  still  deeper  opprobrium  by  daring  to  advocate  rell^ous 
toleration.    In  face  of  the  endless  horrors  inflicted  by  the  Spanish  Inquisition 
upon  his  native  lajid,  he  had  the  hardihood  —  although  a  determined  Prot- 
estant himself  —  to  claim  for  Roman  Catholics  the  nght  to  exercise  their 
religion  in  the  free  states  on  equal  terms  with  those  of  the  reformed  faith. 
At  a  later  period  the  most  zealous  Calvinists  called  him  pope  John, 

After  completing  his  very  thorough  legal  studies,  he  had  practised  as  an 
advocate  in  Holland  and  Zeialand.  An  early  defender  of  civil  and  religious 
freedom,  he  had  been  brought  into  contact  with  William  the  Silent,  who 
recognised  his  ability.  He  nad  borne  a  snap-hance  on  his  shoulder  as  a 
volunteer  in  the  memorable  attempt  to  relieve  Haarlem,  and  was  one  of  the 
few  survivors  of  that  bloody  night.  He  had  stood  outside  the  waUs  of  Leyden 
in  company  of  the  prince  of  Orange  when  that  magnificent  destruction  of  the 
dikes  had  taken  place  by  which  the  city  had  been  saved  from  the  fate  im- 
pending over  it.  At  a  still  more  recent  period  he  landed  from  the  gunboats 
upon  the  Kowenstyn,  on  the  fatal  26th  of  May.  These  military  adventures 
were,  however,  but  brief  and  accidental  episodes  in  his  career,  which  was  that 
of  a  statesman  and  diplomatist.  As  pensionary  of  Rotterdam,  he  was  con- 
stantly a  member  of  the  general  assembly  and  had  already  begun  to  guide 
the  policy  of  the  new  commonwealth.*  His  experience  was  considerable, 
and  he  was  now  in  the  high  noon  of  his  vigour  and  his  usefulness. 

THE   EMBASSY  TO  ELIZABETH    (1585) 

The  commissioners  arrived  at  Greenwich  Stairs,  and  were  at  once  ushered 
into  the  palace.  Certainly,  if  the  provinces  needed  a  king,  they  might  have 
wandered  the  whole  earth  over,  and,  had  it  been  possible,  searched  through 
the  whole  range  of  history,  before  finding  a  monarch  with  a  more  kin^y 
spirit  than  the  great  queen  to  whom  they  had  at  last  had  recourse.  But  the 
queen,  besides  other  objections  to  the  course  proposed  by  the  provinces, 
thought  that  she  could  do  a  better  thing  in  the  way  of  mortgages.  In  this, 
perhaps,  there  was  something  of  the  penny-wise  policy  which  sprang  from 
one  great  defect  in  her  character.  At  any  rate  much  mischief  was  done  by 
the  mercantile  spirit  which  dictated  the  hard  chaffering  on  both  sides  the 
Channel  at  this  important  juncture;  for,  during  this  tedious  flint-paring, 
Antwerp,  which  might  have  been  saved,  was  falling  into  the  hands  of  FhiUp. 
It  should  never  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  queen  had  no  standing  army, 
and  but  a  small  revenue.  The  men  to  be  sent  from  England  to  the  Nether- 
land  wars  were  first  to  be  levied  wherever  it  was  possible  to  find  them.c 

['  Elsewhere  Motley*''  says  :  "There  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  William  the  Silent  was  the 
founder  of  the  independence  of  the  United  Provinces,  Barneveld  was  the  founder  of  the  com- 
monwealth itself.     .     .    .     And  the  states-general  were  virtuaUy  Jan  van  B&meveld."] 


I 


LEICESTER   IN    THE   LOW    COUNTRIES 
[ins  A.V.] 

Though  the  quppn  declined  accepting  the  sovereignty  for  the  present,  she 
consented  to  appoint  a  governor-general  of  the  United  Provinces  iii  her 
name;  she  promised  also  to  send  at  her  own  cost  an  army  of  five  thousand 
foot  and  one  thousand  horse  into  the  Netherlands.  As  a  security  for  the 
repayment  of  her  expenses,  the  states  were  to  admit  English  garrisons  into 
Flushing,  Rinuiiekens,  and  Briel,  and  into  two  fortresses  in  the  province  of 
Holland,  until  the  debt  were  liquidated,  the  governors  of  the  garrtsons  being 
bound  not  to  interfere  with. the  political  or  civil  government  of  these  towns, 
which  was  to  be  afiministered  according  to  their  own  laws,  by  the  customary 
magistrates  and  officers,  nor  to  levy  any  contribution  on  the  inhabitants;  two 
Englishmen  were  to  have  a  sitting  in  the  council  of  state,  to  which  also  the 
governors  of  the  al>ove-mentioneil  garrisons  were  to  be  admitted,  to  conifer 
on  any  subject  relating  to  the  queen's  interests,  but  without  the  liberty  of 
voting.  A  council  of  war,  to  which  the  c^ueen  might  appoint  such  persons 
as  the  governor  recommended,  wa^s,  in  conjunction  with  the  council  of  state, 
to  remedy  the  abuses  in  the  !e\'y  of  the  taxes,  to  abrogate  all  useless  offices, 
and  to  apply  the  public  funds  as  they  thought  expedient.  Thus,  it  will  be 
seen  that  Elizabeth  secured  to  herself  a  pretty  large  share  of  influence  in  the 
provinces,  and  placed  herself  in  such  a  j>oHition  with  n'gard  to  thern  thnt  she 
might  easily  assume  the  supreme  power  whenever  she  found  it  convenient. 

Within  little  more  than  a  month  aft^r  the  conclusion  of  the  trt*aty,  Sir 
John  NorrLs  arrived  with  the  English  forces  in  Utrecht.  The  command  of 
the  garrisons  at  Flushing  and  Rammekena  was  given  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
Sir  Thomas  Cecil  being  made  governor  of  Briel  and  the  fortresses  in  Holland. 
The  office  of  governor-general  was  conferred  on  Robert  Dudley,  carl  of 
Leicester,  a  man  every  way  unfitted  for  the  dlHcliarge  of  so  delicate  and  im- 
portant a  trust.  Vainglorious,  ambitious,  inconsta,nt,  and  insincere,  the 
mediocrity  of  his  talents  was  thrown  into  still  deeper  shade  by  the  brilliant 
luminaries  which  at  this  period  surrounded  the  throne  of  Elizal:)eth;  and 
while  hiH  reputation  as  a  public  character  was  contemptible^  in  private  life 
it  was  stained  by  the  darkest  suspicions. 

The  knowledge  probably  which  Bameveld  had  obtained  of  his  character 
during  his  mission  to  England  iiicluccil  him  to  urge  the  states  of  Holland,  on 
his  return,  to  confirm  the  authoritv  of  Prince  Maurice  as  stadholder  of  that 
province  and  Zealand,  which  they  did,  November  1st,  1585,  before  the  coming 
of  Leicester;  the  prince  being  bound,  however,  by  his  instructions  to  respect 
the  authority  of  the  governor-general.* 


THE   ENGLISH   UNDER   LEICESTER  IN  HOLLAND 

The  earl  had  raised  a  choice  body  of  lancers  to  accompany  him  to  the 
Netherlands,  but  the  expense  of  the  levy  had  come  mainly  upon  his  own 
purse.  The  queen  had  advanced  five  thousand  pounds,  which  was  much 
less  than  tlie  requisite  amount.  She  violently  accused  him  of  cheating  her, 
reclaimed  money  which  he  ha<i  wrung  from  her  on  good  security,  and  when 
he  repaid  the  sum  objected  to  gi%'e  him  a  discharge.  As  for  receiving  any- 
thing by  way  of  salary,  that  was  quite  out  of  the  question.  At  that  moment 
he  would  have  been  only  too  happy  to  be  reimbursed  for  what  he  was  already 
out  of  pocket.  Whether  Elizabeth  loved  Leicester  as  a  brother  or  better  than 
a  brother  may  be  a  historical  question,  but  it  is  no  question  at  all  that  she 
loved  money  better  than  she  did  Leicester.  Unhappy  the  man,  whether 
foe  or  favourite,  who  had  pecuniary  transactions  with  her  highness. 


518  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

riaa6A.iLi 

Davison  had  been  meantime  doing  his  best  to  prepare  the  way  in  the 
Netherlands  for  the  reception  of  the  English  admmistration.  Winat  man 
could  do,  without  money  and  without  authority^  he  had  done.  As  mi^t 
naturally  be  expected,  the  lamentable  condition  of  the  English  soldiers, 
unpaid  and  starving  —  acconling  to  the  report  of  the  queen's  envoy  himself 
—  exercised  anything  but  a  salutary  influence  upon  the  minds  of  the  Nether- 
landers  and  perpetually  fed  the  hopes  of  the  Spanish  partisans  that  a  com- 
position with  Philip  and  Parma  would  yet  take  place.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  states  had  been  far  more  liberal  in  raising  funds  than  the  queen  had 
shown  herself  to  be,  and  were  somewhat  indignant  at  being  perpetually 
taunted  with  parsimony  by  her  agents. 

At  last,  however,  the  die  had  been  cast.  The  queen,  although  rejecting 
the  proposed  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands,  had  espoascd  their  cau£«y  by 
solemn  treaty  of  alliance,  and  thereby  had  thrown  down  the  gauntlet  to 
Spain.  She  deemed  it  necessary,  therefore,  out  of  respect  for  the  opinions 
of  mankind,  to  issue  a  manifesto  of  her  motives  to  the  world.  The  document 
was  published  simultaneously  in  Dutch,  French,  E]nglish,  and  Italian. 

Subsequently  to  the  publication  of  the  queen's  memorial,  and  before  the 
departure  of  the  earl  of  Leicester,  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  having  received  his  ap- 
pointment, together  with  the  rank  of  general  of  cavalry,  arrived  in  the  isle 
of  Walchcren,  as  governor  of  Flushing,  at  the  head  of  a  portion  of  the 
English  contingent.  It  is  impossible  not  to  contemplate  with  affection  so 
radiant  a  figure,  shining  through  the  cold  mists  of  that  Zealand  winter,  and 
that  distant  and  disastrous  epoch.  There  is  hardly  a  character  in  history 
upon  which  the  imagination  can  dwell  with  more  unalloyed  delight.  Not  in 
romantic  fiction  was  there  ever  created  a  more  attractive  incarnation  of 
martial  valour,  poetic  genius,  and  purity  of  heart. 

At  last  the  carl  of  I^icester  came,  embarking  at  Harwich,  with  a  fleet  of 
fifty  ships,  and  attended  by  "the  flower  and  chief  gallants  of  England." 
Now  began  a  triumphal  progress  through  the  land,  with  a  series  of  niighty 
banquets  and  festivities,  in  which  no  man  could  play  a  better  part  than 
licicester.  Not  Matthias,  nor  Anjou,  nor  King  Philip,  nor  the  emperor 
Charles,  in  their  triumphal  progresses,  had  been  received  with  more  spon- 
taneous or  more  magnificent  demonstrations.  Beside  himself  with  rapture, 
Leicester  almost  assumed  the  god.  In  Delft  he  is  said  so  far  to  have  for- 
gotten hiuLself  as  to  declare  that  his  family  had  —  in  person  of  Lady  Jane 
Grey,  his  father,  and  brother  —  been  unjustly  deprived  of  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land; an  indiscretion  which  caused  a  shudder  in  all  who  heard  him. 

Spain  moved  slowly.  Philip  the  Prudent  was  not  sudden  or  rash,  but 
his  whole  life  had  proved  and  was  to  prove  him  inflexible  in  his  purposes, 
and  patient  in  his  attempts  to  carry  them  into  effect.  Before  the  fall  of 
Antwerp  he  had  matured  his  scheme  for  the  invasion  of  England,  in  most 
of  its  details  —  a  necessary  part  of  which  was  of  course  the  reduction  of 
Holland  and  Zealand. 

What  now  was  the  disposition  and  what  the  means  of  the  provinces  to 
do  their  part  in  the  contest?  If  the  twain,  as  Holland  wished,  had  become 
of  one  flesh,  would  England  have  been  the  loser  ?  Was  it  quite  sure  that 
Elizabeth  —  had  she  even  accepted  the  less  compromising  title  which  she 
refused  —  would  not  have  been  quite  as  much  the  protected  as  the  "pro- 
tectress"? 

It  is  very  certain  that  the  English,  on  their  arrival  in  the  provinces,  were 
singularly  impressed  by  the  opulent  and  stately  appearance  of  the  country 
and    its    inhabitants.      Notwithstanding  the  tremendous  war  which  thie 


LKiCESTER   IN    THE    LOW    COUNTRIES  ftie 

[1586  A.D.] 

Ilollandors  had  been  waging  against  Spain  for  twenty  years,  their  com- 
merce had  continued  to  thrive,  and  their  resources  to  increase. 

But  the  rank  and  file  of  the  EngMsh  army  needed  strengthening.  The 
soldiers  recjuired  shoes  and  stockings,  bread  and  meat,  and  for  these  articles 
there  were  not  the  necessary  funds. 

The  EnglLsli  soldiers  became  mere  barefoot  starving  beggars  in  the  streets, 
as  had  never  been  tlie  case  in  the  woret  of  times,  when  the  states  were  their 
paymasters.^ 

The  states-general,  being  assembled  at  the  Hague,  did  not  limit  their 
welcome  to  mere  empty  compliments.  They  passed  a  resolution,  January 
10th,  1586,  confeiring  on  Leicester,  in  addition  to  the  queens  commission, 
the  absolute  government 
of  the  Netherlands,  as  it 
had  hci'n  exorcised  in  the 
n^ign  of  Charles  V;  and 
joined  to  this  office  those 
of  captain  and  admiral- 
gonenil  of  the  United 
Provinces.  By  this  step 
the  st-iit<*s  had  gone  too 
far  to  recede,  or  the  nmn- 
ner  in  which  their  offer 
was  received  by  Leicester 
might  have  opened  their 
eyes  to  the  real  nature  of 
their  rash  an<l  misplaced 
confidence.  On  the  propo- 
sition to  join  the  council 
of  state  with  him  in  the 
administration,  he  refused 
to  accept  an  authority  so 
greatly  circumscribed,  and 
the  states  were  obliged  to 
concede  that,  besides  the 
two  Englishmen  who  had 
a  vote  in  the  council,  he 

himself  might  appoint  a  member  for  eac:h  ])rovince  out  of  a  double  number 
nominated  by  them.  On  this  condition,  he  consented  to  assume  the  govern- 
ment, in  which  he  no  sooner  found  himself  established  than  ho  began  to  aim 
at  that  uncontrolled  power  for  which  he  ha<l  so  early  and  so  undisguisediy 
shown  his  desire. 

If  the  states-general  designed,  by  conferring  the  government  on  Leicester, 
to  conciliate  the  favour  of  the  {[ueen,  or  to  involve  her  as  a  principal  in  their 
quarrel,  they  found  themselves  widely  mistaken;  since  Elizabeth  felt  the 
most  violent  anger  at  their  proceedings.  She  immediately  sent  her  am- 
bassador. Sir  Thomas  Hencage,  to  the  Hague,  to  complain,  as  of  an  extreme 
insult  and  contempt  offered  to  her,  that  her  vassal  should  be  allowed  to  assume 
the  sovereignty  after  she  herself  had  refused  it.  At  the  same  time,  she  laid 
her  commands  upon  Leicester  to  exercise  no  more  authority  than  his  com- 
mission from  her  warranted.  The  states  justified  themselves  with  an  ap- 
pearance of  great  humility,  at  the  same  time  contriving  to  give  their  new 
governor  pretty  intelligible  notice  of  the  precarious  tenure  by  which  he  held 
Bis  dignity. 


Ohoots  Kkhk  or  Haahlem.  which  SrrriuiKD  from  tm 

SPAniHB    SiBOB 


5S0  THE  HISTOEY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

The  hauriity  tone  assumed  by  Elisabeth  towards  the  states  was  no  whit 
lowered  in  the  mouth  of  her  vassal.  Leicester  issued  an  edict  forbidding 
tiie  transport  of  provisions  or  ammunition  to  any  enemy's  or  neutral  oountiy, 
and  commanding  that  all  mercantile  intercourse  by  bills  of  exchange  or  other- 
wise should  cease  between  the  United  Provinces  and  Spain,  loanoe,  and 
the  nations  of  the  Baltic.  The  states  of  Holland  and  Zealand  had,  in  the 
last  year,  issued  an  edict  of  the  like  import  as  regarded  that  part  of  the  Nether- 
lands in  possession  of  their  enemies,  which,  as  it  was  sufTering  under  severe 
scarcity,  and  not  easily  supplied  by  other  nations,  waa  the  surest  way  of 
inflicting  damage  upon  them.  But  with  respect  to  Spain  and  Portugal, 
the  case  was  far  different;  since,  as  th^  could  be  plentifully  supplied  by 
England,  ScoUand,  Denmark,  and  the  Hanse  towns,  the  measure  had  no 
otiier  effect  than  to  deprive  Holland  of  an  advantageous  trade,  and  throw 
it  into  the  hands  of  those  nations.  The  strong  representations  of  the  states 
of  Holland  to  this  effect  were  passed  over  unheeded  by  Leicester. 

Besides  the  losses  which  the  commerce  of  Holland  suffered  in  consequence 
of  this  edict,  incalculable  damage  was  at  this  time  inflicted  upon  it  by  the 
unceasing  piracies  of  the  English.  The  navigation  of  the  Channel  was  ren- 
dered so  imsafe  to  the  Dutch  that  their  ships,  trading  to  the  west,  were  obliged 
to  perform  the  tedious  and  dangerous  circuit  round  the  north  of  Scotland? 

Another  cause  of  dissatisfaction  between  the  states-general  and  Leicester 
was  the  institution  by  the  latter  of  a  council  of  finance,  of  which  he  appointed 
the  coimt  of  Mors  and  Sir  Henry  Killigrew  presidents,  and  James  Ringault 
the  treasurer.  The  creation  of  this  body  was  vehemently  opposed  by  the 
coimcil  of  state,  not  only  as  contrary  to  the  instructions  they  were  sworn 
to  observe,  and  by  which  they  were  bound  to  provide  for  the  administration 
of  the  finances,  but  as  throwing  the  public  moneys,  entirely  into  the  hajids 
of  foreigners,  Specially  of  Ringault,  whose  unfitness  for  the  office  conferred 
on  him  was  notorious.  Leicester,  nevertheless,  declaring  that  he  was  in  no 
wise  bound  by  the  opinions  of  the  council,  persisted  in  his  design,  and  visited 
the  advocate  of  Utrecht,  Paul  Buys,  who  had  declared  his  opinion  of  Ringault 
in  somewhat  bold  terms,  with  the  effects  of  his  high  displeasure.  Bu)^  re- 
mained in  prison  till  the  next  year,  when  he  was  released  by  the  states-^neral. 

While  the  earl  of  Leicester  was  thus  embarrassing  the  domestic  affairs  of 
the  United  Provinces,  the  prince  of  Parma  was  pushing  the  war,  with  his 
usual  prosperity,  close  to  their  boundaries.  Sir  John  Norris  and  Hohenlohe 
having  captured  the  fort  of  Batenburg,  Parma  advanced  in  person  to  the 
walls  of  Grave,  which  he  cannonaded  incessantly.  The  defenders  sud- 
denljr  lost  courage,  and,  by  their  clamours  and  entreaties,  prevailed  upon 
the  sieur  de  Hemert,  the  governor,  to  surrender  the  same  day.  The  earl  of 
Leicester  was  on  his  march  to  relieve  Grave,  when  he  was  met  by  Hemert, 
with  the  news  of  its  capitulation.  In  a  furious  passion  of  anger,  he  retraced 
his  steps  to  Utrecht,  taking  Hemert  with  him,  whom  he  caused  to  be  tried 
for  hign  treason  before  a  council  of  war,  and  executed.  The  death  of  this 
officer  alienated  the  minds  of  many  of  the  nobles  in  the  provinces. 

The  sincerity  of  the  professions  made  by  Leicester,  on  this  occasion,  of 
his  anxiety  to  m^ntain  fidelity  and  military  discipline,  was  strongly  suspected 
by  those  who  saw  him  bestow  his  highest  favour  and  countenance  on  two 
ot  his  own  countrymen,  of  whom  one,  Rowland  York,  was  a  devoted  adherent 
of  Hembyze,  in  Ghent,  and  had  afterwards  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  de- 

'  Ambassadors  being  sent  Into  England  in  1560  to  remonstrate  with  the  queen  on  this  sub- 
ject, it  was  alleged,  according  to  Bor/  that  the  losses  sustained  by  the  Holland  and  Zealand  me^ 
chants  amoonted,  within  three  yearsi  to  8,000,000  guilders. 


LEICESTER   IN   THE   LOW   COUNTRIES 


5«1 


[1686  A.D] 

livering  up  Brussels  to  the  royaliste;  and  the  other,  Captain  Welsh,  had  borne 
the  principal  share  in  the  sale  and  surrender  of  Alost. 

Venloo  and  Neus8  (or  Nuys)  next  fell  before  the  victorious  arms  of  Parma. 
During  the  siege  of  Neuss,  Leicester  commanded  Sir  Philip  Sidney  to  under- 
take an  invasion  of  Flanders.  Under  his  brilliant  auspices,  the  young  Prince 
Mnuricc  commenced  his  glorious  military  career,  and  wetted  his  maiden 
sword  in  the  capture  of  the  small  town  of  Axel. 

At  length,  in  the  month  of  August,  Leicester  took  the  field  in  person  at 
the  head  of  an  army  of  8,000  infantry  *  and  3,000  cavalry ;  but,  not  sufficiently 
strong  to  encounter  Parma,  whose  forces  numbered  12,000  of  the  former  and 
3,500  of  the  latter,  he  sat  dovm  before  Doesborgh,  while  his  adversary  was 
engaged  at  the  siege  of  Rhynberg.  In  this  his  first  military  undertaking 
he  was  hai)pily  .successful,  as  Doe.sl)orgh  surrendered  without  waiting  for  an 
assault.  Thence  he  marched  to  l^esiege  Zutphen.  Parma,  well  aware  that 
this  important  town  was  but  slenderly  pro\'ided,  sent  forward  three  hundred 
wagons  laden  with  com,  under  a  convoy.  They  had  arrived  at  the  \'illage  of 
Wanisfeld,  about  half  a  mile  from  Zutphen,  when  a  body  of  musketeers  and 
cavalry  sallied  out,  headed  by  Sir  Philip  Sidney  and  several  of  the  EngH.sh 
volunteers.  The  English  troops  commenced  the  attack  with  extraordinary 
vigour,  and  forced  their  adversaries  to  retreat;  during  the  engagement, 
however,  \>rdugo,  having  been  warned  of  the  approach  of  the  convoy,  ad- 
vance<l  at  the  head  of  a  small  body  of  troops  and  brought  the  supplies  safely 
into  the  town.* 

DEATH  OF  SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY 

This  battle,  in  which  the  English  showed  such  bravery,  yet  also  such 
useless  rashness,  has  been  the  subject  of  much  controversy,  the  number  of 
English  present  being  set  as  high  afi  3,400,  though  Motley  ^  accepts  Leicester's 
official  report  that  there  were  550  English  engaged  and  Parma's  statement 
that  the  Spanish  numbered  3,100.  As  often  happens  in  war  reports,  the 
accounts  of  rival  generals  are  mast  discrepant  concerning  each  other's  losses, 
I^icester  stating  that  33  English  w^ere  killed  or  wounded^  and  250  to  350 
Spaniards,  while  Parma  sets  the  Spanish  loss  at  9  killed  and  29  wounrled. 
and  the  English  at  200  killed.  The  truth  of  this  matter  is  probably  lliat 
about  33  P>iglishmen  were  lost  and  about  38  Spaniards.  But  the  Spaniards 
accomplished  their  purposes  and  victualled  the  town. 

The  tnie  fame  of  the  skirmish  rises  from  the  fact  that  it  put  an  end  tn 
the  beautiful  career  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.  Seeing  that  old  Sir  William  Pelhnni 
fought  in  light  armour,  he  threw  off  his  own  cuishes,  or  thigh-guards,  and 
rode  every^'here  in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  Finally,  having  nad  one  horse 
killed  under  him,  he  mounted  another  and  charged  through  the  Spanish 
ranks:  a  musket-ball  shattered  his  unprot«ct/ed  thigh;  luui  his  hors*?,  too 
restive  to  control,  carried  him  a  mile  and  a  half  back  to  his  ovn\  entrenchments. 
It  was  here  that  the  famoa*?  incident  probably  occurred  which  hallows  his 
fame:  for  his  attendants  brought  him  a  bjttle  of  water  to  quench  his  burning 
thirst;  but,  seeing  a  dying  English  soldier  cast  his  eyej?  longingly  at  the  flask, 
Sidney  handed  it  to  him  instantly,  saying,  "Thy  necessity  is  even  greater 
than  mine." 

Anecdotes  of  humanity  in  time  of  battle  are  always  cherished  by  the 
populace  and  suspected  by  the  critical  historian,  and  this  incident  has  not 

1  Among  them  waft  a  reg^iment  of  ],400IriAh,  whom  Strada'  deftcribra  a^^  "a  rade  and  wild 
nee.  naked  from  the  hips  upward  ;  they  walked  on  high  stilta,  by  moans  of  which  they  were 
able  to  cross  rivers,  and  were  fonnidabie  for  their  skiU  in  the  use  of  the  bow.** 


588  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1587  A  J>.] 

e8cai)ed  incredulity.  The  story  seems  to  have  appeared  first  in  a  biography 
by  Sidney's  friend.  Lord  Brooke.  7  Motley  «  says  that  he  had  "  Beardaed  in 
vain  for  its  confirmation  through  many  contemporary  letters  and  chronicles," 
yet  he  concludes  that  "there  is  no  reason  for  rejecting  its  authenticity." 
The  incident  is  comparable  for  its  exquisite  beauty  with  a  selfnsacrificing  act 
of  Alexander  the  Great  during  the  desert-march  of  his  troops. 

Of  the  battle  itself,  Froude  «  says,  "  No  dispositions  could  apparently  have 
been  worse  than  those  which  Leicester  made."  He  now  gave  up  hope  of 
conquering  Zutphen  except  by  siege  and  retired  to  winter  quarters.  His 
campaign  had  been,  says  Froude,  "like  a  blaze  of  straw,"  He  adds:  "It 
was  well  for  England,  it  was  well  for  the  queen,  that  those  who  were  entrusted 
with  the  interests  and  honour  of  their  country  were  not  all  such  as  Leicester, 
and  were  not  all  within  reach  of  her  own  paralysing  hand."  Fortunately  the 
time  of  his  stay  in  the  Netherlands  was  short.* 

THE  FAILURE   OF  LEICESTER   (1587) 

Leicester's  conduct  was  now  become  quite  intolerable  to  the  states.  His 
incapacity  and  presumption  were  every  day  more  evident  and  more  revolting. 
He  retired  to  the  town  of  Utrecht;  and  pushed  his  injurious  conduct  to  such 
an  extent  that  he  became  an  object  of  utter  hatred  to  the  provinces.  Con- 
ferences took  place  at  the  Hague  between  Leicester  and  the  states,  in  which 
Bameveld  overwhelmed  his  contemptible  shuffling  by  the  force  of  irresistible 
eloquence  and  well-deserved  reproaches;  and  after  new  acts  of  treachery 
this  unworthy  favourite  at  last  set  out  for  England,  to  lay  an  account  of  his 
government  at  the  feet  of  the  queen/ 

The  growing  hatred  against  England  may  be  excused,  from  the  various 
instances  of  treachery  displayed,  not  only  by  the  commander-in-chief  but 
by  several  of  his  inferiors  in  command.  A  strong  fort,  near  Zutphen,  under 
the  government  of  Rowland  York,  the  town  of  Deventer  under  that  of  William 
Stanley,  and  subsequently  Gelderland  under  a  Scotchman  named  Fallot, 
were  delivered  up  to  the  Spaniards  by  these  men;  and  about  the  same  time 
the  English  cavalry  committed  some  excesses  in  Gelderland  and  Holland, 
which  added  to  the  prevalent  prejudice  against  the  nation  in  general.  This 
enmity  was  no  longer  to  be  concealed.  The  partisans  of  Leicester  were  one 
by  one,  under  plausible  pretexts,  removed  fronj  the  council  of  state;  and 
Elizabeth  having  required  from  Holland  the  exportation  into  England  of  a 
large  quantity  of  rye,  it  was  firmly  but  respectfully  refused,  as  inconsistent 
with  the  wants  of  the  provinces. 

Frince  Maurice,  relieved  of  the  caprice  and  jealousy  of  Leicester,  now 
united  in  himself  the  whole  power  of  command,  and  commenced  that  brilliant 
course  of  conduct  which  consolidated  the  independence  of  his  country  and 
elevated  him  to  the  first  rank  of  military  glory.  His  early  efforts  were  turned 
to  the  suppression  of  the  partiality  which  in  some  places  existed  for  English 
domination.*^ 

The  miserable  condition  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and  the  difficulty 
of  finding  supplies  for  his  troops,  caused  the  duke  of  Parma  to  delay  taking 
the  field  until  late  in  the  summer;  when,  making  a  feint  attack  upon  Ostend, 
he  afterwards  commenced  a  vigorous  siege  of  Sluys.       This  hastened  the 

[*  After  be  left,  a  secret  document  was  found  in  which  he  instructed  the  English  governors 
to  pay  no  heed  to  the  commands  of  the  states,  to  rele-ase  no  prisoners,  and  accept  no  order  of 
removal.  This  discoverv  emphasized  the  general  distrust  of  the  English,  and  led  the  states  to 
declare  Maurice  "prince"  and  to  require  an  oath  of  aUegiance  to  him.] 


LEICESTER   IN    THE    LOW    COUNTRIES 


523 


[1587  A.n  ) 

return  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester  to  the  Netherlands,  who  arrivefl  in  Ostend  with 
seven  thousand  foot  aiiii  five  hundred  horse;  the  queen  havinjs;  placed  in  his 
hands  the  whole  of  the  £1S,(KX)  appointed  for  the  jKiynient  of  the  soldiers. 

Leicester  made  an  attempt  to  master  the  fort  of  Blankenburg,  in  the 
neighbourIioo<i  of  the  enemy's  c^mp;  but  on  intelligence  that  Panna  was 
approaching  to  give  him  battle,  he  ha>'tily  retreated  to  Ostend.  As  there 
were,  therefore,  no  hopes  of  relief  from  the  English,  and  all  the  artillery  in 
the  town  was  destroyed,  except  four  pieces,  the  governor,  Arnold  de  Groene- 
veldt,  proposed  a  capitulation,  wliich  Parma  granted,  on  highly  honourable 
conditions.  The  loss  of  Sluys  exasperated  the  dissensions  between  Leicester 
and  the  states  into  unilisguised  and  irreconcilable  hostility.  He  spared  no 
jxiins  to  throw  on  them  the  blame  of  this  miscarriage,  accusing  them  (not, 
indtH'd,  wholly  witlumt  ^rountL*)  of  neglecting  to  provide  either  sufficient 
tro<)ps,  fimtls,  or  ammunition. 

The  states,  on  the  other  hand,  possessed  a  powerful  weapon  against 
Leicester  in  an  intercepted  letter  to  his  secretary  Junius,  desiring  him  to  use 
his  influence  with  the  well-<li.spnsed  in  the  provinces  to  bestow  on  him  an 
authority  free  from  the  continual  opposition  and  countermining  of  the  states, 
who  ought  to  be  content  with  the  share  of  power  they  hail  enjoyed  under 
Charles  V  and  his  son,  so  that  he  might  be  sovereign  in  reality,  and  not  in 
app'arunee  only. 

But  it  was  not  with  the  .states  alone  that  J^icester  was  at  variance;  the 
English  ambiutsador  ISuckhurst,  Sir  John  Norris,  Prince  Maurice^  and  the 
count  of  Hohenlohe  alike  shared  his  resentment.  Leicester  even  entertained 
the  design  of  .seizing  tlie  fierson  of  the  prince,  together  with  Jan  Olden-Barne- 
veld,  and  conveying  them  to  England:  of  which  the  latter  having  received 
information,  they  retired  precipitately  from  the  Hague  to  Delft. 

AVhile  thus  at  is^sue  with  all  the  authorities  of  the  state,  Leicester  had 
still  a  powerful  party  among  the  clergj',  whom  he  affected  to  treat  on  all 
occa^sions  with  the  most  profouuil  eonsideratitm  and  respect.  Guided  and 
fostered  by  the  preachers,  the  time  of  |x>pular  opinion  had,  during  the  first 
part  of  Ijcicester's  government,  set  strongly  in  his  favour  against  the  states. 
But  the  surrender  of  Deventer  and  the  fort  of  Zutphca  had  given  the  first 
shock  to  his  pnpuhirity,  which  rajiidly  (k^cliiieil  after  the  fall  of  Sluys;  and 
the  conduct  he  n<»w  thought  fit  to  pursue  was  such  as  might  well  have  anni- 
hilated the  little  that  remained. 

Eight  of  the  nobles  of  Utrecht  having  ventured  to  present  a  jwtition  for 
the  restoration  of  their  former  customs  and  privileges,  thev  were  seized  all 
on  one  day,  and  confined  in  the  public  pri.son;  an  act  which,  though  disa- 
vowed by  Leicester,  excited  such  an  uproar  against  him  in  the  city,  that  he 
was  fain  to  retire  to  North  Holland,  where  he  possessed  a  devoted  parti.*van 
in  Theodore  Sonoy,  to  whom  he  had  given  a  commission  as  governor  of  that 
district,  independent  of  the  stadholder,  Prince  Maurice.  This  event  was 
followed  by  a  far  more  dangerous  disturbance  at  Leyden,  where  a  number  of 
refugees  from  Flanders  and  Brabant  farmed  a  conspiracy  to  deliver  the  town 
into  the  hands  of  Leicester,  which  was  only  prevented  by  a  timely  and  for- 
tuitous discovery.  The  states,  at  the  same  time,  as  well  those  of  Holland 
as  the  states-general,  evinced  their  doubts  of  their  personal  safety  by  trans- 
ferring their  a-ssemblies  from  the  Ha^e  to  the  fortified  town  of  Haiirlem. 

Greatly  alarmed  at  these  unequivocal  demonstrations  of  hostile  feeling, 
and  feeling  too  surely  that  his  authority  was  irretrievably  gone,  Leicester 
retired  to  Flushing,  where  he  shortly  after  received  a  summons  to  return 
to  England,  through  Lord  Herbert,  whom  the  queen  had  appointed  her 


524  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

ambassador  to  the  United  Provinces.  Havinij  taken  leave  of  the  8stat«a  inE 
letter,  couched  in  ternia  considerably  more  mild  and  moderate  than  any  nf 
his  previous  communications,  he  set  sail  from  Zealand.  Shortly  after  his 
arrival  in  England,  an  accusation  of  majadniinistration  in  his  govemmem 
in  the  Netherlands  was  brought  against  him  by  Lord  Buckhurst,  from  the 
effects  of  which  the  queen  permitted  him  to  screen  himself  under  the  plea  of 
her  private  instructions;  she  even  detained  Buckhurst  a  prisoner  in  his  own 
house  for  several  months;  but  obliged  Leicester,  nevertheless,  to  execute  a 
formal  act  of  resignation  early  in  the  following  year,  which  finally  terminated 
his  misguided  and  unfortunate  government. 

But  the  Act  of  Resignation  remained  some  time  impublished;    and  the 
soldiers,  of  whom  a  great  portion  were  English,  took  occasion  from  thenoe  to 

refuse  obedience  to  the  council  and 
Prince  Maurice;  being,  as  they  de- 
clared, still  bound  by  their  oath  to 
the  late  governor.  The  garrisons  of 
Medembhk,  Hoom,  Naarden,  Wor- 
kum,  Heusden,  and  other  places,  en- 
couraged by  secret  emissaries  from 
Leicester,  were  in  a  state  of  revolt 
from  this  ostensible  reason.  Prince 
Maurice  wrote  to  the  privy  council 
in  England,  making  heavy  complaints 
of  the  conduct  of  their  countrymen 
and  partisans  in  the  provinces:  in 
consec^uence  of  which,  Willoughby 
and  Sir  Thomas  Killigrt^w,  receive<i 
orders  from  the  queen  to  disavow  in 
her  name  all  acts  of  sedition  against 
the  council  or  the  prince,  pretended 
to  be  done  for  her  service.  The 
effects  of  this  measure,  together  with 
the  publication  of  the  Act  of  Resig- 
nation by  Leicester,  were  beneficial 
in  the  extreme. 

The  time,  indeed,  was  now  come 
when  all  trivial  dissensions,  all  petty 
lealousies,  should  be  hushed.  The  gigantic  armada^  which  was  tf»  crush  P^ng- 
land  at  a  blow,  was  now  ready.  Henceforth,  she  must  fight  hand  in  hand 
with  Holland.*' 

THE  SPANISH  ARMADA   (1588) 

Irritated  and  mortified  by  the  assistance  which  Elizabeth  had  given  to 
the  revolted  provinces,  Philip  resolved  to  employ  his  whole  power  in  attempt-- 
ing  the  conquest  of  England  itself;  hoping  afterwards  to  effect  with  ease 
the  subjugation  of  the  Netherlands.  He  caused  to  be  built,  in  almost  every 
port  of  Spain  and  Portugalj  galleons,  carricks,  and  other  ships  of  war  of  the 
largest  dimensions;  and  at  the  same  time  gave  orders  to  the  duke  of  Parma 
to  assemble  in  the  harbours  of  Flanders  as  many  veasels  as  he  could  collect 
together.  This  prodigious  force  obtained,  in  Spain,  the  ostentatious  title  of 
the  Invincible  Armada. 

The  details  of  the  progress  and  the  failure  of  this  celebrated  attempt 
are  so  thoroughly  the  province  of  English  history,  that  they  would  be  in 


Macrjcb,  PnivcB  or  Otumon 

(IM7-1826> 


LEICESTER   IN   THE   LOW   COUNTRIES 


M5 


[1S8BA.D.1 

this  place  puporfluous.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  glory  of  the 
proua  result  wiis  amply  shared  by  the  new  republic,  whose  existence  depended 
on  it.  While  Howard  and  Drake  held  the  British  fleet  in  readiness  to  oppose 
the  Spanish  armada,  that  of  Holland,  consisting  of  but  twenty-five  ships, 
under  the  command  of  Justin  of  Nassau,  prepared  to  take  a  part  in  the  con- 
flict. This  gallant  though  illegitimate  scion  of  the  illustrious  house  whose 
name  he  upheld  on  many  occlusions,  proved  himself  on  the  nn\sf^nt  worthy 
of  such  a  father  as  WiJIiam  and  such  a  brother  as  Maurice,  While  tlie  duke 
of  Medina  Sidonia,  ascending  the  channel  as  far  as  Dunkirk,  there  expected 
the  junction  of  the  duke  of  Pamm  with  his  important  reinforcement,  Justin 
of  Nassau,  by  a  constant  activity  and  a  display  of  intrepid  talent,  contrived 
to  block  up  the  whole  expected  force  in  the  ports  of  Flanders  from  Lillo  to 
Dunkirk.  The  duke  of  Parma  found  it  impossible  to  force  a  passage  on 
any  one  point;  and  was  doomed  to  the  mortification  of  knowing  that  the 
attempt  was  frustrated,  and  the  whole  force  of  Spain  frittered  away,  discom- 
fited, and  disgraced,  from  the  want  of  a  co-operation  which  he  could  not, 
however,  repnmch  himself  for  having  withheld.  The  issue  of  the  memorable 
expedition  which  coat  Spain  years  of  preparation,  thouRanda  of  n^en,  and 
millions  of  treasure,  was  received  in  the  country  which  sent  it  forth  with 
consternation  and  rage.  Philip  alone  possessed  or  affected  an  apathy  which 
he  covered  with  a  veil  of  inock  devotion/^ 

The  grief  and  disappointment  of  Panna  at  the  destruction  of  this  power- 
ful armada  were  intense.  In  accordance  with  the  advice  of  otiiers,  rather 
than  his  own  judgment,  he  determined  to  employ  his  large  and  hitherto 
useless  army  in  the  siege  of  Bergen-op-Zoom.  It  was  the  last  town  in  Bra- 
bant left  to  the  states  except  Gertruydenberg.  The  preservation  of  Bergen 
was  chiefly  owing  to  the  extraordinary  courage  and  dexterity  of  two  Eng- 
lishmen, GrinLst^^)n,  a  lieulenant  of  the  garrison,  and  one  Redhea^,!,  a  sutler. 
They  had  l>een  offered  large  bribes,  by  two  Spanish  prisoners,  to  deliver 
the  Nortli  Fort  into  the  hands  of  Parma.  By  the  orders  of  Lord  Willoughby, 
to  whom  they  discovered  the  affair,  they  pretended  to  give  a  ready  consent 
to  the  proposal,  and  secretly  left  the  camp,  provided  with  letters  from  the 
two  Spaniards  to  the  duke  of  Parma.  Parma  obliged  thera  to  take  an  oath 
on  the  sacrament  that  they  were  acting  in  gofxl  faith:  still,  however,  doubt- 
ing somewliat  ftf  their  fidelity,  he  orden-d  their  hands  t^i  lie  tied  behind  them, 
and  placed  a  Spanish  soldier  as  guard  over  each,  with  a  naked  poniard, 
ready  to  plunge  intxi  their  breasts  on  the  slightest  suspicion  of  treachery; 
thus  secured,  he  ventured  to  entrust  them  with  the  conduct  of  the  expedition. 
The  assailants,  marching  at  low  water  over  the  drowned  land  Ijetwecn  their 
camp  and  the  fort,  found  the  gate  open,  as  they  expected.  About  fifty 
entered,  when  Willoughby  let  down  the  portcullis,  and  excluded  the  remainder. 
Those  within  were  inunediatdy  slain  or  captured;  the  two  who  guanied  the 
English  prisoners,  forgetting,  in  their  confusion  and  terror,  the  orders  they 
had  received  from  Parma,  allowed  them  to  escape  unhurt.  The  troops  on 
the  outside  l>eing  assailed  on  their  retreat  by  an  ambush  on  the  dike,  a  great 
number  were  slain,  and  several  officers  of  distinction  made  prisoners.  Grim- 
ston  and  Redhead  received  a  present  of  1,000  florins  each  from  the  queen, 
and  an  armuity  of  600  florins. 

Parma,  therefore,  broke  up  the  siege,  his  troops  abandoning  the  entrench- 
ments in  some  disorder,  and  leaving  a  great  portion  of  their  arms,  material, 
and  baggage  behind  them.  The  count  of  Mansfeld  captured  the  small  town 
of  Wachtendonck,  in  Gelderland,  at  the  siege  of  which  the  bomb-shell  was 
first  used,  having  been  invented  shortly  before  by  an  artisan  of  Venloo. 


526  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[ISOO-ISOl  A.B.] 

Gertruydenberg  was  delivered,  by  its  English  governor,  Sir  John  Wing- 
field,  to  Panna  on  the  pajmient  of  the  arrears  due  to  the  troops,  and  a  gratuity 
of  five  months'  pay  in  addition.  Provoked  beyond  endurance  at  this  mingled 
insolence  and  treachery,  the  states  issued  a  decree,  condemning  the  whole 
of  the  garrison  to  death  as  traitors.  Several  who  were  arrested  m  the  prov- 
inces were  executed  without  form  of  law.* 

Martin  Schenk  who  had  lately,  for  the  last  time,  gone  over  to  the  side  of  the 
states,  had  caused  a  fort  to  be  built  in  the  isle  of  Betewe  —  that  possessed 
of  old  by  the  Batavians  —  which  was  called  by  his  name,  and  was  considered 
the  key  to  the  passage  of  the  Rhine.  From  this  stronghold  he  constantly 
harassed  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  and  had  as  his  latest  exploit  surpriasd 
and  taken  the  strong  town  of  Bonn  (1590).  The  indefatigable  Schenk  resolved 
to  make  an  attempt  on  the  important  town  of  Nimeguen.  His  enterprise 
seemed  almost  crowned  with  success,  when  the  inhabitents,  recovering  from 
their  fright,  precipitated  themselves  from  the  town;  forced  the  assailanta 
to  retreat  to  their  boats;  and,  carrying  the  combat  into  those  overchai^ged 
and  fragile  vessels,  upset  several,  and  among  others  that  which  contained 
Schenk  himself,  who,  covered  with  wounds,  and  fighting  to  the  last  gasp, 
was  drowned  with  the  greater  part  of  his  followers.  His  body,  when  recovered, 
was  treated  with  the  utmost  indignity,  a^iartered,  and  hung  in  portions  over 
the  different  ^tes  of  the  city. 

The  followmg  year  (1591)  was  distinguished  by  another  daring  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  Hollanders,  but  followed  by  a  different  result.  A  captam 
named  Haranguer  concerted  with  one  Adrian  Vandenberg  a  plan  for  the  sur- 
prise of  Breda,  on  the  possession  of  which  prince  Maurice  had  set  a  great  value. 
The  associates  contrived  to  conceal  in  a  boat,  laden  with  ixxd  (which  formed 
the  principal  fuel  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  the  coimtry),  and  of  which 
Vandenberg  was  master,  eighty  determined  soldiers,  and  succeeded  in  arriving 
close  to  the  city  without  any  suspicion  being  excited.  One  of  the  soldiers, 
named  Mathew  Helt,  being  suddenly  affected  with  a  violent  cough,  implored 
his  comrades  to  put  him  to  death,  to  avoid  the  risk  of  a  discovery.  But  a 
corporal  of  the  city  guard  having  inspected  the  cargo  with  unsuspecting 
carelessness,  the  immolation  of  the  brave  soldier  became  unnecessary,  and 
the  boat  was  dragged  into  the  basin  by  the  assistance  of  some  of  the  very 
garrison  who  were  so  soon  to  fall  victims  to  the  stratagem.  At  midnight 
the  concealed  soldiers  quitted  their  hiding  places,  leaped  on  shore,  killed 
the  sentinels,  and  easily  became  masters  of  the  citadel.  Prince  Maurice, 
following  close  with  his  army,  soon  forced  the  town  to  submit. 

The  duke  of  Parma  had  snatched  a  short  interval  for  the  purpose  of  recruit- 
ing his  health  at  the  waters  of  Spa.  While  at  that  place  he  received  urgent 
orders  from  Philip  to  abandon  for  a  while  all  his  proceedings  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  to  hasten  into  France  with  his  whole  disposable  force,  to  assist 
the  army  of  the  League.  The  duke  of  Parma  received  his  uncle's  orders 
with  great  repugnance.  He  nevertheless  obeyed;  and  leaving  count  Mans- 
feld  at  the  head  of  the  government,  he  conducted  his  troops  against  the  royal 
opponent. 

But  while  this  expedition  added  greatly  to  the  renown  of  the  general, 
it  considerably  injured  the  cause  of  Spain  in  the  Low  Countries.  Prince 
Maurice,  taking  prompt  advantage  of  the  absence  of  his  great  rival,  had 
made  himself  master  of  several  fortresses;  and  some  Spanish  regiments 
having  mutinied  against  the  commanders  left  behind  by  the  duke  of  Parma, 
others,  encouraged  by  the  impunity  they  enjoyed,  were  ready  on  the  slightest 
pretext  to  follow  their  example.    Maurice  did  not  lose  a  single  opportunity 


LEICESTER   IN   THE    LOW    COUXTRIES  6«7 

PWl  A.D.] 

of  profiting  by  circumstances  so  favourable;  and  even  after  the  return  of 
Alessanilro  he  seized  on  Nimeguen,  despite  all  the  efforts  of  tlxe  Spanish 
army.*' 

THE  MILITARY  GENIUB  OF   MAURICE 

With  the  reduction  of  Nimeguen,  which  involved  the  submission  of  nearly 
the  whole  of  Gelderland,  in  1591^  Prince  Maurice  terminated  his  brilliant  and 
successful  ciimpaign ;  having,  in  the  space  of  five  months,  mastered  Zutplien 
Deventer,  Hulst,  and  Nimeguen,  besides  Delfzijl  and  other  smaller  fort,s.  The 
lateness  of  the  season,  ana  the  continued  rains,  toother  with  the  sickness 
of  Barnevel(i,  upon  whose  able  and  active  co-operation  he  cliiefiy  depended, 
indueeil  him  to  arrest  his  progress  for  the  prestnit,  and  witlulraw  his  army 
into  winter  quarters.  On  his  return  to  Holland,  he  was  greeted  with  un- 
bounded joy  and  affection  by  all  ranks  of  men.  Under  his  auspices  had 
dawned  the  first  bright  hopes  —  the  first  finn  expectation  of  ultimate  success 
to  the  cAuse  of  fmedoin.  The  military  undtTtJikings  of  his  father  had  been 
peculiarly  and  unifonnly  unfortimate;  the  small  advantages  gained  by 
Leicester  had  been  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  discontents  and  cabals 
which  hmi  grown  rife  under  his  govcminent:  hitherto  the  provinces  had  hud 
to  struggle  for  their  actual  existence  in  miserable  dependence  on  the  aid  of 
foreign  princes;  now  they  were  able  to  treat  on  equal  terms  with  those  powers 
which  had  before  disdained  to  receive  them  as  subjects,  and  to  render  effective 
assistance  to  their  ally  the  king  of  P>ance.  Their  own  b4nuuiaries  were  not 
only  secured,  but  extended;  and  the  enemy  was  haraased  on  every'  side  by 
an  anny  whose  small  numerical  force  was  more  than  compensated  by  the 
celerity  of  its  movements,  its  adn/irahle  spirit,  and  tlie  perfect  knowledge 
which  every  one  of  its  meml>ers  pt^ssessed  of  his  respect  iA*e  duties. 

The  people  hehelil  the  hitherto  invincible  duke  of  Panna^  indisputably 
the  first  captain  of  his  age,  n^treat,  or  rather  fly  before  their  young  general. 

Prince  Maurice,  indeed,  though  the  ostensible,  was  not  the  sole  nor  per- 
haps even  the  principal  creator  of  the  vast  change  that  had  been  worked 
in  the  condition  of  the  provinces.  A  powerful  though  unsec^n  hand  had  now 
grasped  the  pivot  on  which  public  affairs  turned.  Jan  Olden- Barne veld, 
from  the  time  of  his  appointment  to  the  office  of  advocate  of  Holland,  had 
])egun  to  acquire  that  influence  which  ultimately  became  almost  unbounded; 
he  it  was  whose  eloquence  prevailed  with  the  states  to  consent  at  once  to  all 
the  beneficial  measures  which  his  f<'rtile  genius  suggested;  and  who-m^  coui- 
prehensive  intellect  combined  those  plans  which  liis  unceasing  diligence, 
Hi  supplying  the  army  with  material,  anununition,  and  provisions  enabled 
Prince  Maurice  to  execute/ 

Nevertheless  Prince  Maurice  must  be  recognised  as  one  of  the  great  military 
geniuses  of  all  time.  He  was  the  true  creator  of  the  Dutch  army,  and  recog- 
nised that  a  small  body  of  highly  trained  palriot^s  was  far.suiJerior  to  the  rabbles 
of  mercenary  troops  on  which  the  fate  of  Holland  had  been  hanging  s<i  long. 
In  his  tactics  he  had  the  aid  of  his  cousin  Louis  William,  stadholder  of  Fries- 
land,  who  revived  the  okl  flreek  and  Roman  manreuvres  in  the  evolutions 
of  small  bodies  of  men  trained  to  the  utmost  agility.  These  small  units  of 
high  mobility,  in  place  of  the  cumbersome  masses  in  vogue,  excited  the  ridicule 
of  the  old  school:  and  the  suppression  of  the  system  of  ** blind  names,"  by 
which  a  colonel  often  drew  pay  for  a  thousand  men  while  actually  nTniiting 
only  a  hundred,  excited  still  greati*r  hostility.  The  private-  soldiers  were 
similarly  outrag<Hl  by  IxMUg  compelled  to  dig  trenches  and  build  fortifications 
—  a  supposedly  nieniai  task  for  which  peasants  had  been  previously  hired. 


«C8  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  ^ 

But  victory  is  the  soldier's  consolation  for  every  ill,  and  Maiirice  soon  had 
an  army  which  was  a  model  for  all  Europe  in  its  organisation  and  aiinainis- 
tration,  as  in  its  proficiency  in  field  manoeuvre  and  siege  work. 

The  modernity  of  his  ideas  is  also  seen  in  the  fact  that  he  took  away  from 
his  cavalry  the  spear  and  gave  them  the  carbine,  thus  making  them  mounted 
infantr>-,  an  ideal  recently  revived. 

In  any  history  of  the  art  of  war,  the  name  of  Maurice  must  appear  as  an 
important  contributor  to  progress.''  j 

I  THE   DEATH  OF  PARMA:     HIS   SUCX^ESSOR   (1592)  ■ 

The  duke  of  Parma,  daily  breaking  down  under  the  progress  of  disease, 
and  agitated  by  reverses,  rej>airetl  again  to  Spa,  in  1592,  taking  at  once  eveiy 
possible  means  for  the  recruitment  of  his  anny  and  the  recovery  of  his  health, 
on  which  its  discipline  and  the  chances  of  success  now  so  e\idently  depended. 
But  all  his  plans  were  again  frustrated  by  a  renewal  of  Philip's  peremptory 
orders  to  march  once  more  into  France,  to  uphold  the  failing  cause  of  the 
League  against  the  intrepidity  and  talent  of  Henry  IV. 

On  hLs  return  to  the  Netherlands  (1592),  the  duke  found  himself  again 
under  the  necessity  of  repairing  to  Spa,  in  search  of  some  relief  from  the  suf- 
fering which  was  considerably  increased  by  the  effects  of  a  wound  received  in 
this  last  campaign.  In  spite  of  his  shattered  constitution,  he  maintained  to 
the  latest  moment  the  most  active  endeavours  for  the  reorganisation  of  his 
army;  and  he  was  preparing  for  a  new  expedition  into  France,  when  he  was 
sur])rised  by  death  on  the  3r(l  of  December,  1592,  at  the  abbey  of  St.  Vaast, 
near  Arras,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven  years. 

Alessandro  of  Parma  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and,  it 
may  be  atided,  one  of  the  greatest  characters  of  his  day.  Most  historians 
have  upheld  him  even  higher  perhaps  than  he  should  be  placed  on  the  scale; 
asserting  that  he  can  be  reproached  with  very  few  of  the  vices  of  the  age  in 
w^hieh  he  lived.  Others  consider  this  jutlgment  too  favourable,  and  accuse 
him  of  participation  in  all  the  crimes  of  Pliilip,  whom  he  served  so  zealously. 
But  even  allowing  that  Alessandro's  fine  qualities  were  sullied  by  his  com- 
plicity in  these  odious  measures,  we  must  still  in  justice  admit  that  they 
were  too  much  in  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  particularly  of  the  school  in 
which  he  was  trained;  and  while  we  lament  that  his  political  or  private  faults 
place  him  on  so  low  a  level,  we  must  rank  him  as  one  of  the  very  first  masters 
m  the  art  of  war  in  his  own  or  any  other  age. 

He  had  chosen  the  count  of  Mansfeld  for  his  successor,  and  the  nomination 
was  approved  by  the  king.  He  entered  on  his  government  under  most  dis- 
heartening circumstances.  The  rapid  conquests  of  Prince  Maurice  in  Bra- 
bant and  Flanders  were  scarcely  \e&s  mortifying  than  the  total  disorganisation 
into  which  those  two  provinces  had  fallen.  They  were  ravaged  by  bands  of 
robbers  called  Picaroons,  whose  audacity  reached  such  a  height  that  thev 
opposed  in  large  bodies  the  forces  sent  for  their  suppression  by  the  govern- 
ment. Tliey  on  one  occasion  killed  the  provost  of  Flanders,  and  burned  his 
lieutenant  in  a  hollow  tree;  and  on  another  they  mutilated  a  whole  troop 
of  the  national  militia,  and  their  commander,  with  circumstances  of  most 
revolting  cruelty. 

The  authority  of  governor-general,  though  not  the  title,  was  now  fully 
shared  by  the  count  of  Fuentes,  who  was  sent  to  Brussels  by  the  king  of 
Spain;  and  the  ill  effects  of  this  double  viceroyalty  were  soon  seen  in  the 
brilliant  progress  of  Prince  Maurice  and  the  continual  reverses  sustained  by 


LEICESTER   IN   THE   LOW   COUNTRIES  520 

[1503^1506  k.-D.] 

the  royalist  armies.  The  king,  still  bent  on  projects  of  bigotry,  sacrificed 
without  scruple  men  and  treasure  for  the  overthrow  of  Henry  IV  and  the 
success  of  the  League.  The  affaii-s  of  the  Netherlands  seemed  now  a  seconilary 
object;  and  he  drew  largely  on  his  forces  in  that  country  for  reinforcements 
to  the  ranks  of  his  tottering  allies.  A  final  blow  was,  however,  struck  against 
the  hopes  of  intolerance  in  France,  and  to  the  existence  of  the  League,  by 
the  conversion  of  Henry  IV  to  the  Catholic  religion;  he  deeming  theological 
disputes,  which  put  the  happiness  of  a  whole  kingdom  in  jeopardy,  as  quite 
subordinate  to  the  public  good. 

Such  was  the  prosperity  of  the  United  Provinces  that  they  had  been 
enabled  to  send  a  large  supply,  both  of  money  and  men,  to  the  aid  of  Henry, 
their  constant  and  generous  ally.  And  notwittistanding  this,  their  armies 
and  fleets,  so  far  from  suffering  diminution,  were  augmented  day  by  day. 
Philip,  resolved  to  summon  up  all  his  energy  for  the  revival  of  the  war  against 
the  republic,  now  appointed  the  archduke  Ernest,  brother  of  the  emperor 
Rudolf,  to  the  post  which  the  disunion  of  Maasfeld  and  Fuentes  rendered  as 
embarrassing  as  it  had  become  inglorious.  This  prince,  of  a  gentle  and 
conciliatory  character,  was  received  at  Brussels  with  great  magnificence  ant[ 
general  joy;  his  presence  reviving  the  deep-felt  hopes  of  peace  entertaineil 
by  the  suffering  people.  Such  were  also  the  cordial  wishes  of  the  prince*; 
but  more  than  one  design,  formed  at  this  period  against  the  life  of  Prince 
Maurice,  frustrated  every  expectiition  of  the  kind. 

A  priest  of  the  province  of  Namur,  name<l  Michael  Renichon,  disguised 
as  a  soldier,  was  the  new  instnmient  meant  to  strike  another  blow  at  the 
greatness  of  the  house  of  Nassau,  in  the  person  of  its  gallant  representative, 
Prince  Maurice;  ns  also  in  that  of  his  brother,  Frederick  Heur>',  then  ten 
years  of  age.  On  the  confession  of  the  intended  assassin,  he  was  employed 
by  Count  Barlayniont  to  murder  the  two  princes.  Renichon  happily  mis- 
managed the  affair,  and  Ijctrayed  iiis  int^^^ntion.  He  was  arrestful  at  Bretla, 
conducted  to  the  Hague,  and  there  tried  and  executed  on  the  3rd  of  June, 
1594. 

In  this  same  year  a  soldier  named  Peter  Dufour  embarked  in  a  like  atrocious 
plot.     He,  t^o,  was  seized  and  executed  l:K>fore  he  could  carry  it  into  effect.. 

Prince  Maurice,  in  the  meantime,  with  his  usual  activity,  passed  the  Maas 
and  tlie  Rhine,  and  invested  and  quickly  took  the  town  of  Groningen  (July 
24th,  1594),'  by  which  he  consummateii  the  establishment  of  the  republic, 
and  secured  its  rank  among  the  principal  fwwere  of  Europe. 

The  archduke  Ernest,  finding  all  his  efforts  for  peace  frustrated,  and  all 
hop's  of  gaining  liis  ol>jpct  by  hostility  to  Ik*,  vain,  became  a  prey  to  disaji- 
pomtment  and  regret,  and  ilied,  from  the  effects  of  a  slow  fever,  on  the  21st 
of  February,  1595;  leaving  to  the  count  of  Fuentes  the  honours  and  anxieties 
of  the  government,  subject  to  the  ratification  of  the  king.  This  nobleman 
began  the  exercise  of  his  temporary  functions  by  an  irruption  into  France, 
at  the  head  of  a  small  army;  war  having  been  declarer!  against  Spain  by 
Henry  IV,  who,  on  his  sitle,  had  despatched  the  admiral  De  Villars  to  attack 

['  He  convened  the  states-general  of  the  layal  prorinces  \n  1596,  and  sent  a  propos&l  of 
peace  to  the  Hague  on  the  hoKls  of  the  pacification  of  Ghent.  Blok  ■"  quotes  the  protests  of  the 
loyal  provinces  ugaiust  t)ie  ruinous  Hipanish  policy  ;  they  protested  that  little  remained  to  them 
*'  except  one  greAt  heart-break  and  despair  "  (jftitiou  niig  trh  grand  crertr^ur  et  dSjvAjMir).  ] 

[•  Of  this  SQCcess  by  Maurice,  Motley*'  brvb  :  '*  Again  the  commander-in  chief  enlightened 
the  world  by  an  exhibition  of  a  more  artistic  and  hamfuie  stvle  of  warfare  than  previously  to  bis 
appearance  on  the  military  utago  had  been  known."  In  Slay.  15fW.  the  states  were  actually 
admitted  aa  eonals  in  a  tripartite  alliance  apunst  Spain,  (jiieen  KMzabeth  bitterly  upposed  Huch 
reco^ition  of  a  popular  government,  but  was  compelled  to  take  the  step,  and  the  treaty  was 
signed  at  the  Hague,  October  31at.  1596.] 
B.  w. — VOL.  zni.  xu 


530  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHEBLANDS 

Philip's  possessions  in  Hainault  and  Artois.  This  gallant  officer  lost  a  battle 
and  nis  life  in  the  contest;  and  Fuentes,  encour^ed  by  the  victory,  Uxk 
some  frontier  towns. 

Some  trifling  affairs  took  place  in  Brabant;  but  the  arrival  of  the  archduke 
Albert,  whom  the  king  had  appointed  to  succeed  his  brother  Ernest  in  the 
office  of  governor-general,  deprived  Fuentes  of  any  further  opportunity  of 
signalising  his  talents  for  supreme  command.  Albert  arrived  at  Brusseis  on 
the  11th  of  February,  1596,  accompanied  by  Philip  William,  the  prince  of 
Orange,  who,  when  coimt  of  Buren,  had  been  carried  off  from  the  university 
of  Louvain,  twenty-ei^ht  years  previously,  and  held  captive  in  Spain  during 
the  whole  of  that  period. 

THE  ARCHDUKE  ALBERT 

The  archduke  Albert,  fifth  son  of  the  emperor  Maximilian  II,  and  broths 
of  Rudolf,  stood  high  in  the  opinion  of  Philip  his  uncle,  and  merited  his 
reputation  for  talents,  bravery,  and  prudence.  He  had  been  early  made 
archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  afterwards  cardinal;  but  his  profession  was  not 
that  of  these  nominal  dignities.  He  was  a  warrior  and  politician  of  consid- 
erable capacity;  and  had  for  some  years  faithfully  served  the  king,  as  viceroy 
of  Portugal.  But  Philip  meant  hun  for  the  more  independent  situation  of 
sovereign  of  the  Netherlands,  and  at  the  same  time  destined  him  to  be  the 
husband  of  his  daughter  Isabella.  He  now  sent  him,  in  the  capacity  of 
governor-general,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  important  change. 

He  opened  his  first  campaign  early;  and,  by  a  dispmy  of  clever 
manceuvnng,  which  threatened  an  attempt  to  force  the  French  to  raise  the 
siege  of  La  F6re,  in  the  heart  of  Picardy,  he  concealed  his  real  design  —  the 
capture  of  Calais;  and  he  succeeded  in  its  completion  almost  before  it  was 
suspected.  By  prudently  avoiding  a  battle,  to  which  he  was  constantly 
provoked  by  Henry  IV  who  commanded  the  French  army  in  person,  he 
established  his  character  for  military  talent  of  no  ordinary  degree. 

He  at  the  same  time  made  overtures  of  reconciliation  to  the  United 
Provinces,  and  hoped  that  the  return  of  the  prince  of  Orange  would  be  a 
means  of  effecting  so  desirable  a  purpose.  But  the  Dutch  were  not  to  be 
deceived  by  the  apparent  sincerity  of  Spanish  negotiation.  They  even 
doubted  the  sentiments  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  whose  attachments  and 
principles  had  been  formed  in  so  hated  a  school ;  and  nothing  passed  between 
them  and  him  but  mutual  civilities.  They  clearly  evinced  their  disapproba- 
tion of  his  intended  visit  to  Holland;  and  he  consequently  fixed  his  residence 
in  Brussels,  passing  his  life  in  an  inglorious  neutrality. 

A  naval  expedition  formed  in  this  year  by  the  English  and  Dutch  against 
Cadiz,  commanded  by  the  earl  of  Essex,*  was  crowned  with  brilliant  success, 
and  somewhat  consoled  the  provinces  for  the  contemporary  exploits  of  the 
archduke.  But  the  following  year  opened  with  an  affair  which  at  once 
proved  his  unceasing  activity  and  added  largely  to  the  reputation  of  his 
rival.  Prince  Maurice.  The  former  had  detached  the  count  of  Varax,  with 
about  six  thousand  men,  for  the  purpose  of  invading  the  province  of  Holland : 
but  Maurice,  with  equal  energy  and  superior  talent,  followed  his  movements; 
came  up  with  him  near  Tumhout,  on  the  24th  of  January,  1597,  and  after  a 

[i  The  Butch  admiral  was  Duivenvoorde,  lord  of  Wannond,  and  the  combined  fleet,  de- 
Htroyed  a  Spanish  squadron  in  Cadiz,  July,  1596,  returning  home  with  booty.  Previously,  in 
1695,  some  five  hundred  Netherlandish  ships,  nearly  half  the  entire  merchant  marine,  were 
released  from  Spanish  and  Portuguese  harbors  where  they  had  been  detained.  Their  release 
was  partly  for  conciliation  and  partly  because  uf  Spain's  need  for  the  supplies  they  brought.] 


LEICESTER   11^   TKE   LOW    COUNTRIES  OT 

fl597-1698  A.D.] 

Blmrp  actioDj  of  which  the  Diilxrh  cavalry  hare  the  whole  brunt,  Varax  was 
killed,  and  his  troops  defeat<?d  with  considerable  loss/ 

This  was  in  its  consequences  a  mast  disastrous  afifair  to  the  archduke. 
His  army  was  disorganised,  and  his  finances  exhausted;  while  the  confidence 
of  the  states  in  their  troops  and  their  general  was  considerably  raised.  During 
this  year  Prince  Maurice  took  a  number  of  t-ov^ms  in  rapid  succession;  and 
the  states,  according  to  their  custom,  caused  various  medals,  in  gokl,  silver, 
and  copper,  to  be  struck,  to  commemorate  the  victories  which  had  signalised 
their  arms. 

Philip  II,  feeling  himself  approaching  the  termination  of  his  long  and 
agitating  career,  now  wholly  occupied  himself  in  negotiations  for  peace  with 
France.  Henry  IV  desired  it  as  anxicnisly.  The  pope,  Clement  VIII,  en- 
couraged by  his  exhortations  this  mutual  iaelination.  The  king  of  Poland 
sent  ambassadors  to  the  Hague  and  to  London,  to  induce  the  states  and 
Queen  Elizabelli  to  l)ecome  parties  in  a  general  pacification.  These  over- 
tures led  to  no  conclusion;  but  the  conferences  tetween  France  and  Spain 
went  on  with  apparent  conliality  and  great  promptitude,  and  a  {x*ace  was 
concluded  between  these  powers  at  Vervins,  on  the  2iid  of  May,  1598. 

The  states  had  used  all  their  influence  to  keej^  Elizabeth  from  making 
peace  with  Spain,  and  abandoning  her  alliance  with  them.  Ilieir  delay  in 
paying  their  debt  to  her  had,  however,  occasioned  frequent  outburst-s  of 
temper  ami  even  of  threats  of  war,  hut  terms  were  finally  patched  up."  It 
was  agree^l  that  she  should  henceforth  be  releasevl  from  the  obligation  to 
afford  any  further  subsidies  to  the  provinces,  who  engaged  to  assist  her  with 
forty  sliips  in  any  naval  exjjcditioti  iAw  niiglit  uudertake  against  Spain,  and 
with  five  thousanil  foot  and  five  hundred  horse,  or  an  equivalent  in  money, 
in  case  the  king  of  Spain  should  invade  any  part  of  her  dominions;  the  debt 
which  she  herself  had  estimated  at  two  millions  Wiis  fixed  at  £800,000,  to 
!)«»  paid  by  instalments  of  £80,(K)0  a  year  until  the  half  were  liuuidated;  the 
mofie  of  discharging  the  remainder  to  be  arranged  at  the  end  of  the  war, 
when,  if  any  of  the  first  moiety  was  still  unpaid,  the  annual  sum  should  be 
reduced  to  £20,000.  The  states  aLso  boimd  themselves  to  pay  the  garrisons 
of  Briel  and  Flushing  to  the  rmniU'r  of  1,150  men.  They  were  permitted 
to  retain  the  English  troops  already  in  the  Netherlands  at  their  own  expense, 
and  the  queen  was  to  continue  to  name  one  English  member  in  the  council 
of  state.* ' 


THE  PROVINCES  CEDED  TO   ALBERT  AND  ISABELLA   (1598) 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  treaty  of  Ver\'ins,  another  important 
act  was  made  known  to  the  worM,  by  which  Philip  ceded  to  Albert  and 
Isabella,  on  their  being  fonnally  aiiianced  —  a  ceremony  which  now  took 
place  —  the  sovereignty  of  Burgundy  and  the  Netherlantls.    Tliis  act  bears 

'  This  ftctinii  may  be  taken  ait  u  fair  tiample  of  the  ditflctilty  witli  which  any  estimate  can 
be  fnnn«l  of  the  relative  losses  nn  nuch  oceaRions.  The  Datoh  hiHtnrian8  ftlAte  the  lo8s  of  the 
royalists,  in  killed,  at  upwards  of  2.000.  Meteren,"  a  gcx)d  authority,  says  the  pe&santu  buried 
2,250  ;  while  Bentivoprlio,"  an  Italian  writer  in  the  interest  of  Spain,  makes  the  number  exactly 
half  that  amount,  timtiua'  aaya  that  the  loss  of  the  Dat«h  was  four  men  killed.  Bcntivogllo 
states  it  at  100.  But,  at  either  computation,  it  In  dvar  that  the  afTuir  was  a  brilliant  one  on  the 
part  of  Prince  Maurice.  [Motley*'  navs  of  it  :  "  The  nation  waa  elwtrified,  transformed  in  an 
instant.  Who  now  should  liencefortli  have  to  say  that  onn  St>aniHh  fif^hting  man  was  equal 
to  five  or  ten  HnllandfrsY  Ht^rv  in  the  ojwn  field  a  Spanish  army,  after  in  vain  refusing  a  com- 
bat and  ondearouring  to  escape,  had  literally  bitten  lltie  dust  before  a  fourth  of  lis  own  number. 
And  thii*  effect  was  a  permanent  one."] 

['  Blok"  well  calls  these  "pretty  stiff  terms,*' the  only  caose  for  satisfaction  being  the 
acceptance  of  only  one  Englishman  on  the  DouncU  of  state.] 


592  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHERLA2n}S 

date  the  6th  of  May,  1598,  and  was  proclaimed  with  all  the  solemnity  due  to 
so  important  a  transaction.  It  contained  thirteen  articles;  and  was  based 
on  the  misfortimes  which  the  absence  of  the  sovereign  had  hitherto  caused 
to  the  Low  Countries.  The  Catholic  religion  was  dedared  that  of  the  state, 
in  its  full  int^rity.  The  provinces  were  guaranteed  against  dismemberment. 
The  archdukes,  by  which  title  the  joint  sovereigns  were  designated  without 
any  distinction  of  sex,  were  secured  in  the  possession,  with  right  of  succession 
to  their  children;  and  a  provision  was  added,  that  in  default  of  posterity  their 
possessions  should  revert  to  the  Spanish  crown.  The  infanta  Isabella  soon 
sent  her  procuration  to  the  archduke,  her  aflBanced  husband,  gi^ng  him  full 
power  and  authority  to  take  possession  of  the  ceded  dominions  in  ner  name 
as  in  his  own;  and  Albert  was  inaugurated  with  great  pomp  at  Brussels,  on 
the  22nd  of  August. 

Having  put  eveiything  in  order  for  the  regulation  of  the  government 
during  his  absence,  he  set  out  for  Spain,  for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing 
his  spousals,  and  bringing  back  his  bnde  to  the  chief  seat  of  their  joint  power. 
But  before  his  departure  he  wrote  to  the  various  states  of  the  repubhc,  and 
to  Prince  Maurice  himself,  strongly  recommending  submission  and  recon- 
ciliation. These  letters  received  no  answer;  a  new  plot  against  the  life  of 
Prince  Maiuice,  by  a  wretched  individual  named  Peter  Pann,  having  aroused 
the  indignation  of  the  country,  and  determined  it  to  treat  with  suspicion  and 
contempt  every  insidious  proposition  from  the  tyranny  it  defied. 

THE  DEATH  OP  PHILIP  n  (1598) 

Albert  placed  his  uncle,  the  cardinal  Andrew  of  Austria,  at  the  head  of 
the  temporary  government,  and  set  out  on  his  joumej^.  He  had  not  made 
much  progress  when  he  received  accounts  of  the  demise  of  Philip  II,  who 
died,  after  long  suffering,  and  with  great  resignation,  on  the  13th  of  September, 
1598,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two.  Albert  was  several  months  on  his  journey 
through  Germany;  and  the  ceremonials  of  his  union  with  the  infanta  did 
not  take  place  till  the  18th  of  April,  1599,  when  it  was  finally  solemni^d  in 
the  city  of  Valencia  in  Spain. 

This  transaction,  by  which  the  Netherlands  were  positively  erected  into 
a  separate  sovereimty,  seems  naturally  to  make  the  limits  of  another  epoch 
in  their  history.  It  completely  decided  the  division  between  the  nortnem 
and  southern  provinces,  which,  although  it  had  virtually  taken  place  long 
previous  to  this  period,  could  scarcely  be  considered  as  formally  consmn- 
mated  until  now.<^ 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  SWAY  OF  OLDEN-BARNEVELD 

[1608-1600  A.D.] 


The  first  act  of  the  young  sovereign  of  Spain,  Philip  III,  was  one  of  more 
bitt(*r  hostility  against  the  pro^^nce8  than  his  father  had  ever  exercised; 
since  he  not  only  arrested  all  their  ships  in  his  ports  (which  had  been  often 
done  heretofore)  but  made  the  whole  of  the  crews  prisoners;  caused  such  as 
were  suspected  of  having  taken  part  in  the  expeditions  of  the  English  t«  he 
put  to  the  torture,  and  forced  the  remainder  to  work  as  galley-slaves.  Coin- 
cident with  this  proceeding  was  an  edict  issued  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands, 
PYbruary,  151^,  forbidding  the  inhabitants  to  traffic  in  any  manner  with 
Holland  and  2^aland,or  their  adherents,  till  they  had  returned  to  ol>edience 
under  their  lawful  prince.  But  these  measures,  like  most  others  devised  by 
Spain  against  her  former  subjects,  recoiled  upon  herself,  and  tended  ultimately 
to  the  advantage  of  those  whom  they  were  designed  to  injure.  The  states, 
on  their  part,  issued  a  decree,  proliibiting  the  ships,  not  only  of  their  own 
subjects  but  those  of  foreipi  powers,  from  carrying  provisions  or  other  wares 
to  Spain;  ail  goods  belonging  to  that  country,  wherever  found,  were  declared 
lawful  prizes;  permits  or  safe-conducts  to  the  enemy  were  forbidden;  and 
indemnity  for  all  injuries  done  by  them,  and  for  the  extortion  of  exorbitant 
ransoms,  was  to  be  levied  on  the  hostile  territories  of  Flanders  and  Brabant, 

They  followed  up  this  measure  by  the  immediate  equipment  of  seventy- 
three  vessels  of  war,  containing  eight  thousand  men,  for  the  purpose  of  either 
making  a  descent  on  Spain,  or  mtercepting  the  India  fleets.  Setting  sail 
from  tne  Maas,  under  the  command  of  Peter  van  der  Does,  the  armament 
reached  in  safety  the  harbour  of  Corunna,  where  they  found  the  Spanish 
fleet  anchored  under  cover  of  the  artillery'  on  the  shore.  Unable  to  draw 
out  the  enemy  to  a  combat,  and  not  venturing  to  attack  them  thus  protected, 
Van  der  Does  changed  his  puipoee,  and,  directing  hia  course  to  the  Canary 


534  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1909  AA] 

Islands,  effected  a  landing  on  the  largest  of  them,  called  the  Gran  Canaria, 
which  he  occupied  and  plundered  with  but  trilling  loss.  Gomra  next  shared 
the  same  fate. 

Sailing  along  the  coast  of  Afnca.  he  arrived  at  St.  Thomas,  an  island  in 
the  gulf  of  Guinea,  where  they  found  a  numerous  colony  of  Portuguese  estab- 
lished. The  principal  town  surrendered  at  the  first  summons.  But  the 
burning  summer  heats  combined  with  imprudent  indulgence  to  produce  a 
pestilential  sickness  of  the  most  terrific  description;  which,  in  a  short  time, 
carried  off  great  numbers,  and  among  the  rest  the  admiral  himself  and  his 
nephew,  G^rge  van  der  Does,  son  of  the  heroic  defender  of  Leyden.  The 
admiral  was  buried  in  the  island,  and  the  sailors,  to  secure  his  remains  from 
insult,  heaped  the  ruins  of  the  whole  town  of  Pavoasa  upon  his  grave.  After 
the  death  of  their  conunander,  the  ships  immediately  set  out  on  their  return 
homewards;  above  one  thousand  perished  on  the  voyage  in  the  space  of 
fifteen  days:  and  on  their  arrival  in  Holland,  at  the  end  of  the  winter,  not 
more  than  two  captains  were  left  alive.  Such  was  the  enii  of  the  fleet,  which 
had  cost  vast  sums  in  preparation,  and  from  which  the  most  important  results 
had  been  expected.  But  however  unprosperous  the  expedition,  it  had  pro- 
duced the  effect  of  exciting  great  alarm  in  Spain,  as  appearing  a  prelude  to 
others  of  the  same  nature,  and  had  put  the  king  to  considerable  charges  in 
providing  convoys  for  his  fleets  from  the  Indies. 

It  was  September,  1599,  before  the  new  sovereigns  arrived  in  their  domin- 
ions, which  they  found  the  scene  of  universal  discontent.  The  soldiery  were 
on  the  brink  of  a  general  insurrection  for  want  of  pay,  for  which  the  treasury 
was  too  much  exhausted  to  provide  funds;  and  the  people,  oppressed  and 
impoverished,  were  offended  alike  with  the  footing  of  lavish  expenditure 
on  which  the  court  was  placed,  and  the  Spanish  manners,  dress,  and  cus- 
toms which  they  remarked  in  its  members.  The  "archdukes"  having 
inmiediately  on  their  coming  summoned  the  states  of  the  provinces,  pre- 
paratory to  their  inauguration,  the  latter  required  as  a  preliminary  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  new  sovereigns  the  removal  of  the  foreign  troops 
in  garrison  in  the  Netherlands;  that  the  public  offices  should  be  filled  only 
by  natives;  and  the  conclusion  of  a  definitive  peace  with  the  United  Provinces. 
To  these  requisitions  Isabella  haughtily  replied  that  she  had  received  the 
Netherlands  from  her  father,  as  a  free  gift  without  any  conditions  whatsoever; 
and  the  states,  bowed  down  by  poverty  and  sorrow,  did  not  venture  to  per- 
severe in  this  last  struggle  for  a  remnant  of  their  former  freedom. 

Prince  Maurice,  anxious  to  take  advantage  of  the  widely-spread  insturec- 
tion  which  prevailed  among  the  archduke's  troops,  more  especially  those  in 
the  forts  of  Cr^vecoeur  and  St.  Andrew,  laid  siege  to  the  former,  which  he 
mastered  with  little  difficulty.  The  garrison  of  St.  Andrew  accepted  the 
offer  of  a  payment  of  125,000  guilders  which  he  made  them,  and  delivered 
the  fort  into  his  hands.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  troops  entered  into  the 
service  of  the  states,  and  being  formed  into  a  separate  regiment  (to  which 
the  soldiers  gave  the  name  of  the  "New Gucux"  from  the  ragged  appearance 
they  made  on  coming  out  of  the  fort)  were  placed  under  the  conmiand  of 
the  young  prince  Frederick  Henry. 

From  nence  Prince  Maurice  was  desirous  of  pursuing  his  success  along 
the  course  of  the  Maas;  but  at  the  vivid  instances  of  the  Zealanders,  who 
were  greatly  vexed  and  incommoded  by  the  near  neighbourhood  of  the  enemy, 
he,  in  concert  with  the  states-general  determined  upon  the  invasion  of 
Flanders.  The  rendezvous  of  the  troops  was,  accordingly,  appointed  at 
Rammekens,  in  Walcheren,  where  nearly  one  thousand  boats  were  collected, 


TUE    SWAY   OF   OLDEN-BARNEVELD 


sss 


[1600  A.D.] 

on  Iward  of  which  were  embarked  twelve  thousand  infantry,  with  three 
thousand  cavalry,  four  field-pieces,  and  thirty  smaller  pieces  of  artillery. 
ITnving  waited  in  vain  for  stnue  days  for  a  fair  wind  to  carry  them  to  Ost^nd, 
they  sailed  up  the  Ma^xs,  and  landed  at  the  S:i.s  de  Gand;  the  fort  of  Philippine, 
by  which  it  is  defende<l,  having  been  first  capture<l  by  C'<nnit  Ernest  of  Nassau. 
From  thence,  the  prince  began  his  march  overland  towards  Nieuport. 
Maurice  sat  down  l>efon»  the  town,  hoping  to  effect  its  reduction  ere  the 
enemy  could  collect  sufficient  forces  for  its  relief.  But  the  archduke  repairing 
in  person  with  the  infanta  to  Diest,  of  which  his  mutinous  troops  held  posses- 
f^ion.  the  latter  employed  her  entn^aties,  ]>ersuasions,  and  promises  with  such 
effect  that  slie  i)n?vai]ed  with  them  again  to  join  her  husband's  standard, 
though  under  the  banner  of  their  own  *'eletto-  With  these,  and  the  troops 
aln^ady  in  Brabant  and  Flanders,  Allxrt.  found  hims<,4f  at  the  head  of  ten 
thousiand  infantry  and  fifteen  hundi-ed  hors(!.  Marching  from  Bruges,  he 
first  attacked  Oldenburg^  a  fort  connnan<iing  the  pa.*^sage  between  that  town 
and  Nieuport,  and  lately  captured  by  Prince  Maurice,  which  surrendered 
without  resistance.  Th*!  1«jss  *>f  this  f(irt  was  followed  by  that  of  Snaaskerke, 
of  wiiich  the  garrison  was  massacred  in  cold  blood  after  the  eurrenderj  and 
of  Breden,  which  was  abandoned. 


THE   B.\rrLK  OK  XIEUPORT  (1600) 

Maurice  sent  forward  Count  Ernest  of  Nassau,  with  the  Scottish  regiment, 
under  C\)limel  Edmonds,  and  a  regiment  of  Zealanders,  making  Uigether 
al.M)ut  nineteen  hundred  men,  with  four  troops  of  !iorse,  to  occupy  a  bridge 
at  Lefiingham  on  the  road  to  Ostend,  over  which  the  hostile  army  must  pass. 
Though  he  iLse<l  all  possible  expedition,  Ernest  fiumd  on  his  arrival  the  enemy 
ah^ady  in  possession  of  the  post,  who,  remarking  the  smallness  of  his  force, 
immediately  advanced  to  the  attack.  His  cavalry,  seized  with  a  sudden 
panic,  rapidly  gave  way,  and  eonnnunicating  their  terror  to  the  infantry, 
the  rout  soon  became  universal;  the  Zealanders  fled  towards  Ostend,  but 
the  Scotti.sh  .soldiers,  heedlessly  directing  their  coiu-se  over  the  sand-hills 
towards  the  sea,  were  pursued  and  cut  in  pitxres  by  the  victors.  Nine  hundred 
were  slain,  and  all  their  standards  taki*n;  hut  none  were  made  prisiHiers, 
since  the  archduke,  who  deemed  himself  certain  of  the  destruction  of  Maurice's 
army,  had,  it  is  said,  given  orders  that  no  lives  .should  be  spared  except  those 
of  the  prince  himself  and  his  brother,  Frederick  Henry,  whom  he  had  detcr- 
minetl  to  send  prisoners,  bound  hand  and  foot,  into  Spain. 

Tlie  time  occupieti  by  this  calamitous  encounter  enabled  Maurice  to  trans- 
ixirt  his  whole  army  across  the  harbour  of  Nieupf)rt,  which  is  fordablc  at  low 
water,  U)  the  right  bank  of  the  Yperlee,  where  he  drt^w  up  on  th<^  saruls  and 
adjacent  downs  to  await  the  coming  of  the  hostile  forces.  The  van  of  his 
army  was  occupied  by  two  thousand  six  hundred  English  infantry  and 
eighteen  hundred  Frieslanders,  commanded  by  .Sir  Francis  Vere,  and  his 
brother  Horatio;  on  the  left  of  which,  tx)wards  the  sea,  were  placed  Vere's 
ten  troops  of  cavalry,  and  six  pieces  of  artillery;  the  remaimler  of  the  cavalry 
under  Louis  of  Nas.s;iu  being  stationed  so  as  to  be  ready  to  give  assistance 
where  it  was  rerquired.  The  main  anny,  composed  of  French,  Swiss,  an<l 
Prince  Frederick  Henry's  regiment  of  New  Gueux,  was  commanded  by 
Count  George  de  Solmes;  while  the  Hollanders  and  Utrechters,  forming 
the  reserve,  were  under  the  special  direction  of  .Maurice  himself,  and  led  by 
Sir  Oliver  Temple.  With  the  hostile  town  of  Nieuixtrt  in  the  rear,  the  river 
and  enemy's  forts  on  the  right,  and  the  sea  on  the  left;  the  only  mode  of  retreat 


536  THE  HISTOBY  OP  THE  NETHEBLANDS 

in  case  of  a  defeat  was  on  board  the  ships,  which  must  inevitably  be  attended 
with  extreme  confusion  and  danger-  and  it  wss  not  improbable  that  during 
the  engagement  tiie  vessels  might  themselves  be  attacked  by  the  garrison  m 
Nieuport. 

Maurice,  therefore,  determined  upon  the  bold  and  wise  measure  of  cutting 
off  all  hopes  of  safety  but  in  victory,  bv  commanding  the  vessels  to  set  sau 
for  Ostend,  as  soon  as  the  tide  should  serve.^  Before  their  departure,  he 
earnestly  exhorted  the  young  prince  Frederick  Henry  to  retire  on  board, 
that  both  midit  not  perish  at  one  blow;  but  his  entreaties  were  without 
effect  on  the  heroic  boy,  who  expressed  his  resolute  determination  to  share 
equally  with  his  brother  the  dangers  and  glory  of  the  day.  At  this  jimcture, 
a  straggler  from  the  enemy's  camp,  who  allowed  himself  to  be  taken,  gave 
intelligence  of  the  defeat  and  flight  of  CJount  Ernest's  detachment,  which  the 
prince  was  careful  to  conceal  from  the  troops,  causing  a  report  to  be  spread 
that  they  had  entered  Ostend  in  safety. 

After  the  repulse  of  Count  Ernest,  the  archduke  continued  his  march 
along  the  sands.'  The  returning  tide  having  narrowed  the  space  between 
the  sea  and  the  downs,  or  sand  hills,  a  portion  of  the  cavalry  were  obliged  to 
proceed  along  a  road  in  the  latter,  considerably  harassed  by  two  field-pieces, 
which  Maurice  had  stationed  so  as  to  command  it.  The  number  of  troops 
which  the  prince  had  left  in  the  forts,  with  the  loss  of  Count  Ernest's  detadi- 
ment,  had  reduced  his  army  to  an  equality  with  that  of  his  opponent.  In 
other  respcts  also,  their  strength  was  nicely  balanced ;  the  situation  depriving 
the  allied  troops  of  the  advantage  to  be  reaped  from  their  superior  dexterity, 
and  from  the  quick  and  a^le  movements  of  their  battalions,  in  which  they 
greatly  siupassed  the  Spaniards.  On  both  sides  were  disciplined  and  exper- 
ienced troops,  full  of  courage  and  ardour,  these  hoping  to  achieve  by  an  ea^y 
victory,  won  under  the  eyes  of  their  sovereign,  the  termination  of  a  thirty 
years'  war;  those  fighting  for  their  freedom,  their  religion,  the  sanctity  of 
their  homes,  and  even  for  life  itself. 

The  shock  of  battle  was  commenced  by  the  English,  under  Vere,  who  was 
attacked  by  the  van  of  the  enemy's  horse,  followed  by  the  musketeers :  here 
were  concentrated  the  strength  and  fury  of  the  contest;  Vere  had  told  Prince 
Maurice  that,  living  or  dead,  he  would  this  day  deserve  his  thanks;  and  he 
well  redeemed  his  pledge.  Every  foot  of  the  slippery  and  uncertain  ground 
was  alternately  lost  and  won,  with  an  intensity  of  toil  of  which  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  form  an  idea.  Vere  himself  was  twice  wounded,  and  had  his 
horse  killed  under  him;  he,  nevertheless,  remained  at  his  post  till  his  brother 
Horatio  came  up  to  take  the  command. 

The  artillery  played  incessantly  on  both  sides;  but  after  two  or  three 
murderous  discharges,  the  enemy's  cannon  sank  deep  into  the  sand,  which 
rendered  their  subsequent  fire  of  little  effect;  the  Dutch  had  prudently  raised 
theirs  on  floors  formed  of  planks  and  hurdles,  a  circumstance  which  contri- 
buted, in  no  small  degree,  to  the  result  of  the  battle.  The  combat  had  lasted 
four  hours,  each  side  pouring  in  fresh  troops,  until  the  whole  of  both  armies, 
except  a  reserve  of  about  three  hundred  cavalry  on  the  side  of  the  Dutch, 
were  engaged  in  a  sharp  and  desperate  struggle.  Maurice  and  his  brother 
presented  themselves  in  every  part  of  the  field,  rousing  the  fainting  and 

[»  No  more  heroic  decision  was  ever  taken  by  fighting  man.  — Moti^t.6] 

I  This  is  one  of  the  many  instances  to  prove  the  error  of  passing;  judgment  on  the  condact 

of  a  general  according  to  the  event ;  had  the  archduke  not  attacked  the  enemy  on  this  occasion. 

there  la  little  doubt  that  he  would  have  been  accused  of  having  wantonly  thrown  away  an 

opportunity  of  effecting  the  entire  destruction  of  the  states'  army. 


THE    SWAY   OF   OLDEN-BARNEVELD 


0S7 


[1600  A.D.] 

cheering  the  strong:  the  efforts  of  the  archduke  were  no  less  strenuous; 
but  the  soldiers  of  both,  who  had  tasted  but  little  food  or  refreshment  during 
the  day,  were  now  grown  feeble  and  wearied. 

At  length  the  English,  from  utter  exhaustion,  began  slowly  to  retreat 
towards  the  cannon  in  the  rear,  when  the  archduke,  hoping  to  achieve  the 
victory  by  one  bold  stroke,  ordered  a  general  pursuit:  at  this  moment,  Prince 
Maurice,  who  had  been  on  the  watch  to  seize  some  such  opportiuiity,  made  an 
unexpected  and  rapid  charge  with  his  reserve  of  cavalry  —  a  movement  which 
caused  some  confusion  among  the  enemy.  Perceiving  this,  the  trodos  raised 
a  sudden  shout  of  victory,  and  rushed  on  to  the  attack  with  renewed  ardour. 
The  archduke,  eager  to  seize  a  chance  that  remained  of  restoring  the  fortune 
of  the  day,  rode  with  his  helmet  off,  before  the  niutinefrrs  of  Diest,  and  vehe- 
mently exhorted  them  to  renew  tlie  fight.  While  thus  engaged,  he  received 
a  severe  wound  in  the  face  from  the  pike  of  a  German  soldier,  which  forced 
him  to  leave  the  field.  His  departure  was  the  signal  for  a  general  flight. 
The  soldiers,  scattered  in  every  direction,  made  their  escape,  favoured  by  the 
approaching  darkness.  About  three  tliousand  were  killed  in  the  battle  and 
pursuit,  of  whom  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  officers,  and  the  whole  of  their 
artillery  and  standards  taken;  t!ie  admiral  of  Aragon  and  many  other  noble- 
men were  made  prisoners:  the  archduke  himself  narrowly  escaped  capture, 
but  the  superb  white  charger,  on  which  he  had  made  his  joyeuse  enfrie^  and 
several  pages  and  officers  of  his  household,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Prince  Mau- 
rice, who  immediately  restored  the  latter  without  ransom. 

Tears  gushed  from  the  eyes  of  Maurice,  when  he  beheld  the  victory  c;ertain: 
he  felt  that  his  country  was  saved;  and,  dismounting  for  a  moment,  he  knelt 
down  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  offered  up  a  short  but  heartfelt,  thanksgiving 
to  the  Almighty:  "What  are  we,  0  Lord/'  he  exclaimed,  "that  thou  hafit 
enlarged  us  with  thy  bounty!    Glory  be  to  thy  name  forever." 

The  wearied  condition  tvf  the  troops,  and  the  number  of  wounded,  together 
with  the  darkness  of  the  night  and  the  danger  from  the  hostile  forts  in  the 
vicinity,  deterred  Maurice  fr^mi  pursuing  the  fugitives  to  any  distance.  Neither 
was  the  victory  purctiased  without  bloodshed  on  the  side  of  the  conqueror; 
ten  hundred  remained  dead  on  the  field,  of  whom  six  hundred  were  English, 
besides  those  who  had  perished  in  the  defeat  of  the  morning.  The  prince 
continued  the  whole  night  in  a  tent  pitched  upon  the  spot,  and  entertained 
at  supper  his  illustrious  captive,  the  adrniml  Men<loza,  to  whom  he  obser\'ed, 
in  a  tone  of  good-humoured  raillery,  that  he  was  more  fortunate  than  all  his 
army,  since,  having  for  four  years  desired  to  visit  Holland,  he  had  now  an  oi>- 
portunity  of  doing  so.  The  admiral  was  sent,  a  few  days  after,  to  Woerden, 
and  subsequently  exchanged,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  captives,  and  the 
governors  of  the  Canary  and  St.  Thomas's  islands,  for  all  the  prisoners  of  war, 
mhabitants  or  allies  of  the  Ignited  Provinces,  within  the  dominions  of  the 
king  of  Spain  and  the  archduke,  including  those  whom  the  king  had  seized 
in  the  Dutch  ships  and  forced  to  work  as  galley-slaves.  The  standards,  more 
than  one  hundred  in  number,  were  deposited  in  the  great  saloon  of  the  pro- 
vincial court  at  the  Hague. 

The  situation  of  the  states-general  who  had  followed  the  army  to  Ostend, 
to  be  ready  with  their  assistance  and  advice,  and  to  pro\nde  necessaries  for 
the  campaign,  had  been  anxious  in  the  extreme:  their  own  safety  and  that 
of  the  republic  was  now,  they  felt,  placed  upon  the  cast  of  a  single  die.  But 
they  neglected  to  send  six  hundred  cavalry,  in  garrison  there,  to  secure  the 
bridge  of  Leffingham;  which,  if  they  had  'done,  they  would  inevitably  have 
made  themselves  master  of  the  person  of  the  archduke. 


538  THE   HISTORY   OP  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[taoi-UMA.*.] 

The  results  of  this  famous  battle  were,  except  in  regard  to  the  moral  efTects 
it  produced  on  the  feelings  of  the  belligerents,  chiefly  negative:  a  defeat  would 
probably  have  involved  the  subjugation  if  not  the  utter  destruction  of  the 
republic,  in  the  loss  of  her  only  army,  ana  all  her  most  eminent  men;  but  the 
consequences  of  the  \nctory  were  in  surprising  disproportion  to  its  magnitude. 
The  states  at  tliis  juncture  committed  a  ^ve  fault,  by  insisting  that  Prince 
Mauiice  should  pursue  the  design  upon  Nieuport,  instead  of  at  once  attacking 
the  surrounding  forts,  which  would  have  pven  them  the  command  of  the 
open  country  in  Flanders,  and  which  they,  m  consequence,  left  the  archduke 
leisure  to  strengthen.    The  prince,  in  obedience  to  their  dictates,  though  con- 
trary to  his  own  judgment,  recommenced  the  siege,  but  Albert,  having  rapidly 
reassembled  his  scattered  troops,  enabled  La  Barlotte  to  throw  a  succour  of 
twenty-five  hundred  men  into  the  town,  which  circumstance,  coupled  with 
the  incessant  heavy  rains,  induced  Maurice  to  retire  within  a  few  days;  when, 
hopeless  of  being  able  to  undertake  any  further  enterprise  of  importance, 
he  sent  his  cav^ry  to  Brabant,  and  embarking  his  infantry  for  Zealand, 
returned  himself  to  Holland.*^ 

Early  in  the  spring  Prince  Maurice  opened  the  campaign  at  the  head  of 
sixteen  thousand  men,  chiefly  composed  of  English  and  French.  The  town 
of  Rheinberg  soon  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  pnnce.  His  next  attempt  was 
against  Bois^e-Duc,  but  he  was  forced  to  raise  the  mege,  and  turn  his  attention 
in  another  direction. 

THE  SIEGE  OP  OSTBND   (1601-1604) 

The  archduke  Albert  had  now  resolved  to  invest  Ostend,*  a  place  of  great 
importance  to  the  United  Provinces,  but  little  worth  to  either  party  in  com- 
parison with  the  dreadful  waste  of  treasure  and  human  life  which  was  the 
consequence  of  its  memorable  siege.  Sir  Francis  Vere  conmianded  in  the 
place  at  the  period  of  its  final  investment;  but  governors,  garrisons,  and 
besieging  forces  were  renewed  and  replaced  with  a  rapidity  which  gives  one 
of  the  most  frightful  instances  of  the  ravages  of  war.  The  siege  of  Ostend 
lasted  upwards  of  three  years.  It  became  a  school  for  the  young  nobility 
of  all  Eurof)e,  who  repaired  to  either  one  or  the  other  party  to  learn  the 
principles  and  the  practise  of  attack  and  defence.  Everything  that  the  art 
of  strategy  could  devise  was  resorted  to  on  either  side.  The  slaughter  in 
the  various  assaults,  sorties,  and  bombardments  was  enormous.  Squadrons 
at  sea  gave  a  double  interest  to  the  land  operations;  and  the  celebrated 
brothers  Federigo  and  Ambrogio  Spinola  founded  their  reputation  on  these 
opposing  elements.  Federigo  was  killed  in  one  of  the  naval  combats  with 
the  Dutch  galleys,  and  the  fame  of  reducing  Ostend  was  reserved  for  Am- 
brogio. This  afterwards  celebrated  general  had  undertaken  the  conmfiand 
at  the  earnest  entreaties  of  the  archduke  and  the  king  of  Spain,  and  by  the 
firmness  and  vigour  of  his  measures  he  revived  the  courage  of  the  worn-out 
assailants  of  the  place.  Redoubled  attacks  and  multiplied  mines  at  length 
reduced  the  town  to  a  mere  mass  of  ruin,  and  scarcely  left  its  still  undaimted 
garrison  sufficient  footing  on  which  to  prolong  their  desperate  defence. 

Ostend  at  length  surrendered,  on  the  22n(l  of  September,  1604,  and  the 
victors  marched  in  over  its  crumbled  walls  and  shattered  batteries.  Scarcely 
a  vestige  of  the  place  remained  beyond  those  terrible  evidences  of  destruction. 
Its  ditches,  filled  up  with  the  rubbish  of  ramparts,  bastions,  and  redoubts, 
left  no  distinct  line  of  separation  between  the  operations  of  its  attack  and  its 
[^  Haestens  <*  called  it,  from  tlie  length  of  its  siege,  "  the  modern  Troy."] 


THE    SWAY    OF   OLDEN-BARNEVELD  530 

[1601-1604  A.D.] 

defence.  It  resembled  rather  a  va.st  .sepulchre  i  han  a  ruined  town,  a  mountain 
of  earth  and  rubbish,  without  a  single  house  in  which  the  wretched  remnant 
of  the  inhabitants?  coul(i  liide  their  heads  —  a  monumeJit  of  desolation  on 
which  victory  might  have  sat  and  wept.? 

Ostend  had  surrendered,  after  a  siege  of  three  years  and  two  montlis,  the 
garrison  being  permitted  to  march  out  with  all  Uie  honours  of  war.  On  thv'r 
arrival  in  the  camp  near  Sluys,  they  received,  before  the  whole  army»  the 
thanks  of  the  prince  and  states  for  the  eminent  services  they  had  rendered 


Street  Scene,  Low  Life,  jlitkh  BRODWEa 
<160».1637) 


their  country.  The  defence  had  cost  the  states  the  sum  of  4,000,000  guilders, 
and  the  loss  of  50,(XK}  men  —  an  expenditure  which,  fiowever  eniiriiious,  was 
yet  far  surpassed  by  that  of  the  besiegers.  Inmiediately  after  the  surrender, 
the  archdulces  came  to  vi.«it  the  city,  antl  found  that  they  had  lavLsherl  blood, 
time,  and  treasure,  to  gain  a  heap  of  ruins.^  They  sutjse(inerit!y  nffiTcd  vahi- 
able  privilegcH  to  any  persons  who  woukl  fix  their  residence  In  Ostend;  but 
years  elapsed  before  the  people  could  endure  the  .sight  of  a  spot  defilei  I  wit  h  the 
blood  and  whitening  bones  of  their  countrymen.  The  greater  portion  of  the 
citizens  settled  permanently  at  Sluys,^ 

During  the  progress  of  this  memorable  siege  Queen  Elizal^eth  of  England 
had  died.     Witn  respect  to  the  United  Provinces  she  was  a  harsh  protectress 

[*  r^Kin  that  miserable  siindhiink  morr  than  a  titinHrrd  thotiAand  men  had  laid  dovrn  their 
lives,  Tlie  numbeni  of  those  who  were  killed  or  whadietlnf  disease  Id  both  anuit^a  during  this 
memorable  itieg^e  have  been  placed  aa  high  a»  uae  hundred  and  forty  thousand  by  Oalluccl.* 
Metereu  /  .says  that  on  th(*  body  of  a  Spanish  offit^er,  who  foil  in  one  of  the  innumerable  aesBulte, 
way  found  a  list  of  all  the  officers  and  privates  killed  in  the  Catholic  army  up  to  that  dat« 
(which  he  does  not  give),  and  the  amount  wa^  TS.ld'l  —  Motlst.^J 


MO  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHEHLANDS 

[iaM-lfl06AJ».) 

and  a  capricious  aUy.  She  in  turns  advised  them  to  remun  faithful  to  the  old 
impurities  of  religion  and  to  their  intolerable  king;  refused  to  incorporaie 
them  with  her  own  states;  and  then  used  her  best  efforts  for  subjecting  them 
to  her  sway.  She  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  the  uncertainty  to  which  she 
reduced  them,  by  constant  demands  for  payment  of  her  loans  and  threats  of 
making  peace  with  Spain.  Thus  the  states-general  were  not  much  affected  by 
the  news  of  her  death ;  and  so  rejoiced  were  they  at  the  accession  of  James  I  to 
the  throne  of  England,  that  all  the  bells  of  Holland  rang  out  merry  peals;  bon- 
fires were  set  bkzing  all  over  the  country;*  a  letter  of  congratulation  was 
despatched  to  the  new  monarch;  and  it  was  speedily  followed  by  a  solemn 
embassy,  composed  of  Prince  Frederick  Henry,  the  grand  pensionary 
Bameveld  and  others  of  the  first  dignitaries  of  the  republic.  These  ambassa^ 
dors  were  grievously  disappointed  at  the  reception  mven  to  them  by  James, 
who  treated  them  as  little  better  than  rebels  to  their  lawful  king. 

The  states-general  considered  themselves  amply  recompensed  for  the  loss 
of  Ostend,  by  the  taking  of  Slu^,  Rheinbeig,  and  Graves,  all  of  which  had  in 
the  interval  surrendered  to  Pnnce  Maurice;  but  they  were  seriously  alarmed 
on  finding  themselves  abandoned  by  King  James,  who  concluded  a  separate 
peace  with  Philip  III  of  Spain  in  the  month  of  August  of  this  year. 

Tlie  two  monarchs  stipulated  in  the  treaty  that  "neither  was  to  rave 
support  of  any  kind  to  the  revolted  subjects  of  the  other."  It  is  nevertheless 
true  that  James  did  not  withdraw  his  troops  from  the  service  of  the  states; 
but  he  authorised  the  Spaniards  to  levy  soldiers  in  England.  The  United 
Provinces  were  at  once  afflicted  and  indignant  at  this  equivocal  conduct. 
Their  first  impulse  was  to  deprive  the  English  of  the  liberty  of  navigating  the 
Schelde.  They  even  arrested  the  progress  of  several  of  their  merchant  snips. 
But  soon  after,  gratified  at  finding  that  James  received  their  deputy  with  the 
title  of  ambassador,  they  resolved  to  dissimulate  their  resentment. 

THE  CAMPAIGNS  OF  1605-1606 

In  1605,  Prince  Maurice  and  Spinola  took  the  field  with  their  respective 
armies;  and  a  rapid  series  of  operations  placing  them  in  direct  contact  dis- 
played their  talents  in  the  most  striking  points  of  view.  The  first  steps  on 
the  part  of  the  prince  were  a  new  invasion  of  Flanders  and  an  attempt  on 
Antwerp,  which  he  hoped  to  carry  before  the  Spanish  army  could  arrive  to 
its  succour.  But  the  promptitude  and  sagacity  of  Spinola  defeated  this  plan, 
which  Maurice  was  obliged  to  abandon  after  some  loss;  while  the  royalist 
general  resolved  to  signalise  himself  by  some  important  movement;  and,  ere 
his  design  was  suspected,  he  had  penetrated  into  the  province  of  Overyssel, 
and  thus  retorted  his  rivaFs  favourite  measure  of  carrying  the  war  into  the 
enemy's  country. 

Several  towns  were  rapidly  reduced ;  but  Maurice  flew  towards  the  threat- 
ened provinces,  and  by  his  active  measures  forced  Spinola  to  fall  back  on 
the  Rhine  and  take  up  a  position  near  Ruhrort,  where  he  was  impetuously 
attacked  by  the  Dutch  army.  But  the  cavalry  having  followed  up  too  slowly 
the  orders  of  Maurice,  his  hopes  of  surprising  the  royalists  were  frustrated; 
and  the  Spanish  forces,  gaining  time  by  this  hesitation,  soon  changed  the 
fortune  of  the  day.  The  Dutch  cavalry  shamefully  took  to  flight,  despite  the 
gallant  endeavours  of  both  Maurice  and  his  brother  Frederick  Heniy;  and 
at  this  juncture  a  large  reinforcement  of  Spaniards  arrived  und.er   the 

[*  According  to  certain  authorities  this  ostentations  celebration  was  conceived  in  some 
anxiety,  purely  as  a  measure  to  conciliate  James  I  of  whom  thej  well  felt  uncertain.] 


THE   SWAY   OF    OLDEN-BABNEVELD 

(1006  A.J>,] 

command  of  Velasco.  Maurice  now  brought  forward  some  companies  of 
English  and  French  infantry  under  Horatio  Vere  and  D*Omerville,  also  a  dis- 
tinguished officer. 

The  battle  was  again  fiercely  renewed;  and  the  Spaniards  now  gave  way, 
and  hail  been  completely  defeatetl,  had  not  iSpinola  put  in  i)ractice  an  old 
and  generally  successful  stratagem.  He  caused  almost  all  the  drums  of  his 
aniiy  to  beat  in  one  direction,  so  as  to  give  the  impression  that  a  still  larger 
reinforcement  was  approaching.  Maurice,  apprehensive  that  the  former 
panic  might  find  a  parallel  in  a  fresh  one,  prudently  ordered  a  retreat,  which 
ne  was  able  to  effect  in  good  order,  in  preference  to  risking  the  total  disor- 
ganisation of  his  troops.  The  loss  on  each  side  was  nearly  the  same;  but  the 
glory  of  this  hard-fought  day  remained  on  the  side  of  t^pinola,  who  proved 
himself  a  worthy  successor  of  the  great  duke  of  Parma,  and  an  antagonist 
with  whom  Maurice  might  contend  without  ilishonour. 

Tlie  naval  transact  ions  of  this  year  reMtortnl  the  balance  which  8pinola\s 
successes  had  begun  to  turn  in  favour  of  the  royalist  cause.  A  squadron  of 
ships,  commanded  by  Hautain  [or  William  de  Zoete],  admiral  of  Zealand 
attacked  a  suj>erior  force  of  Spanish  vessels  close  to  Dover,  and  defeated  theni 
with  a  considerable  loss.  But  the  victory  was  sullied  by  an  act  of  grr»at 
barbarity.  All  the  soldiers  found  on  board  the  capturetl  ships  were  tied  two 
and  two  and  mercilessly  flung  into  the  sea.'  Some  contrived  to  extricate 
themsi^lves,  and  gained  the  shore  by  swimming;  others  were  picked  up  by 
the  English  boats,  whose  crews  witnessed  tlie  scene  and  hastened  to  their 
relief. 

The  Dutch  vessels  piursuing  those  of  Spainj  which  fled  into  Dover  harbour, 
were  fired  on  by  the  cannon  of  the  castle  and  forced  to  give  up  the  chase. 
Tlie  Englisli  loudly  complained  that  the  Dutch  had  on  this  occasion  violated 
their  territory;^  and  this  transaction  laid  the  foundation  of  the  quarrel 
which  subsequently  broke  out  between  England  and  tlie  republic,  and  which 
the  jealousies  of  rival  merchants  in  either  state  unceasingly  fomented.  In 
tliis  year  also  the  Dutcli  succeeded  in  capturing  the  chief  of  the  Dunkirk 
privateers,  which  had  so  long  annoyed  their  trade;  anil  they  cruelly  oniered 
sixty  of  the  prisoners  to  be  put  to  death.  But  the  people,  more  humane  than 
the  authorities,  rescueil  them  from  the  executioners  and  set  them  free. 

But  these  domestic  instances  of  success  and  inhumanity  were  trifling,  in 
comfjarison  with  the  splentlid  train  of  distant  events,  accompanied  by  a 
course  of  wholesale  benevolence  that  redeemeti  the  traits  of  potty  guilt.  The 
maritime  enterprises  of  Holland,  forced  by  the  imprudent  r>olicy  of  Spain  to 
seek  a  wider  career  than  in  the  narrow  seas  of  Eurof>e,  were  tlay  by  day 
extentled  in  the  Indies.  To  ruin  if  possible  their  increasing  trade^  Philip  III 
sent  out  the  admiral  Hurtado,  with  a  fleet  of  eight  galleons  and  thirty-two 
galleys.  The  Dutch  squadron  of  five  vessels,  commanded  by  WVilfert  Her- 
numszoon,  attacked  them  off  the  coast  of  Malabar,  and  his  temerity  was 
crowned  with  great  success.  He  took  two  of  their  vessels,  and  completely 
drove  the  remainder  from  the  Indian  seas.    He  then  concluded  a  treaty 

['  TliiB  barbarous  castom,  calkrd  id  tbe  provtnccfl  voetnpofi^n  (fectwasliing),  w&s  comiUntly 
enforced  by  tbe  authority  of  tbe  HtateH  and  adiuiralty,  a^inttt  the  pirates  of  Dunkirk.  At 
lengtli  the  sailors  refused  to  go  to  sea  unless  it  were  aboliRbed,  when  it  was  allowed  to  fall  Into 
difiuso,— Davib».«1 
♦ti, 


[■  The  En^list 


Duadred.     Tbe  kintr  after 


duriDf^  tbe  combat,  siding  with  their  newly-reconciled   foes,  pointed  the 

ajnluHt  their  ancient  allies,  of  whom  they  killed  more  than  odb 

aru8  justified  this  act,  by  complaining  that  tbe  neutrality  of  the 


fire  of  tbe  cannon  at  Dover  ajnlnst  their  ancient  allies,  of  whom  they  killed  more  than  odb 

le  afterwards  ,  .  \  . 

English  shores  had  been  violated  by  the  too  near  approach  of  the  Dutch  ;  an  insulting  pretext, 
the  harder  to  be  borne  by  tbe  latter,  aa  tbe  plrat«ji  of  Dunkirk  were  allowed  to  puniue  Uie  Hol- 
land and  Zealand  merchant-ships  into  every  port  of  England.  —  Davibs.'] 


5«  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHEBLANDS 

[1006  A.  D.] 

with  the  natives  of  the  isle  of  Banda,  by  which  he  promised  to  support  them 
against  the  Spaniards  and  Porti^ese,  on  condition  that  they  were  to  give 
hia  fellow  coxmtrymen  the  exclusive  privilege  of  purchasing  the  spices  of  the 
island.  This  treaty  wajs  the  foundation  of  the  influence  wnich  the  Dutch  so 
soon  succeeded  in  forming  in  the  Ea^t  Indies;  and  they  establidied  it  by  a 
candid,  mild,  and  tolerant  conduct,  strongly  contrasted  with  the  pride  and 
bigotry  which  had  signalised  every  act  of  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards. 

The  states-general  now  resolved  to  confine  their  military  operations  to  a 
war  merely  defensive.*  Spinola  had,  by  his  conduct  during  the  late  cam- 
paign, completely  revived  the  spirits  of  the  Spanish  troops,  and  excited  at 
least  the  caution  of  the  Dutch.  He  now  threatened  the  United  Provinces 
with  invasion;  and  he  exerted  his  utmost  efforts  to  raise  the  supplies  neces- 
sary for  the  execution  of  his  plan.  He  not  only  exhausted  the  resources  of 
the  king  of  Spain  and  the  archduke,  but  obtained  money  on  his  private 
account  from  all  those  usurers  who  were  tempted  by  his  confident  anticipa- 
tions of  conquest.  He  soon  equipped  two  armies  of  about  twelve  thousand 
men  each.  At  the  head  of  one  of  those  he  took  the  field;  the  other,  com- 
manded by  the  count  of  Buquoy,  was  destined  to  join  him  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Utrecht;  and  he  was  then  resolved  to  push  forward  with  the  whole 
united  force  into  the  very  heart  of  the  republic. 

Prince  Maurice  in  the  meantime  concentrated  his  army,  amounting  to 
twelve  thousand  men,  and  prepared  to  make  head  against  his  formidable 
opponents.  By  a  succession  of  the  most  prudent  manoeuvres  he  contrived 
to  keep  Spinola  in  check,  disconcerted  all  his  projects,  and  forced  him  to  con- 
tent himself  with  the  capture  of  two  or  three  towns  —  a  comparatively  insig- 
nificant conquest.  Desiring  to  wipe  away  the  disgrace  of  this  discomfiture, 
and  to  risk  everything  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  grand  design,  Spinola 
used  every  method  to  provoke  the  prince  to  a  battle,  even  thou^  a  serious 
mutiny  among  his  troops,  and  the  impossibility  of  forming  a  junction  with 
Buquoy,  had  reduced  his  force  below  that  of  Maurice;  but  the  latter,  to  the 
surprise  of  all  who  expected  a  decisive  blow,  retreated  from  before  the  Italian 
general  —  abandoning  the  town  of  Groenlo,  which  immediately  fell  into 
Spinola's  power,  and  gave  rise  to  manifold  conjectures  and  infinite  discon- 
tent at  conduct  so  little  in  unison  with  his  wonted  enterprise  and  skill.*  Even 
Henry  IV  acknowledged  it  did  not  answer  the  expectation  he  had  formed 
from  Maurice's  splendid  talents  for  war.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  prince, 
much  as  he  valued  victory,  dreaded  peace  more;  and  that  he  was  resolved 
to  avoid  a  decisive  blow,  which,  in  putting  an  end  to  the  contest,  would  at 
the  same  time  have  decreased  the  individual  influence  in  the  state,  which 
his  ambition  now  urged  him  to  augment  by  every  possible  means. 

The  Dutch  naval  expeditions  o?  1606  were  not  more  brilliant  than  those 
on  land.    Admiral  Hautain,  with  twenty  ships,  was  surprised  off  Cape  St. 

['  As  Blok  ^  points  out,  Holland  had  carried  so  much  more  than  her  share  of  expense,  that 
the  burden  was  growing  intolerable.  The  debt  alone  was  26,000,000  florins,  and  in  August, 
1606,  a  secret  commission  with  GMen-Barneveld  at  the  head  declared  that  further  war  was 
growing  impossible.  Olden- Bame veld  even  felt  inclined  to  oiTer  the  sovereignty  to  a  foreign 
monarch.] 

[>  The  campaign  was  closed.  And  thus  the  great  war,  which  had  run  its  stormy  course 
for  nearly  forty  years,  dribbled  out  of  existence,  sinlcing  away  that  rainy  November  in  the  dis- 
mal fens  of  Zutphen.  The  long  struggle  for  independence  had  come,  almost  unperceived,  to 
an  end.  Peace  had  not  arrived,  but  the  work  of  the  armies  was  over  for  many  a  long  year. 
Freedom  and  independence  were  secured.  A  deed  or  two,  never  to  be  forgotten  by  Netherland 
hearts,  was  yet  to  be  done  on  the  ocean,  before  the  long  and  intricate  negotiations  for  peace 
should  begin,  and  the  weary  people  permit  themselves  to  rejoice ;  but  the  prize  was  already 
won.  —  MOTLBT.fr] 


SWAY   0F~0riDEN-BARNEVELl3  54S 

[1606-1607  A.D.] 

Vincent  by  the  Spanish  fleet.  The  formidable  apjieiirance  of  their  galleons 
inspired  on  this  occasion  a  perfect  panic  among  the  Dutch  sailors.  They 
hoisted  their  sails  and  fled,  with  the  exception  of  one  ship,  conunanded  by 
Vice-Admiral  Klaazoon,  who.se  de.s|x*rate  conduct  saved  the  national  honour. 
Having  held  out  until  his  vessel  was  quite  uniTnanageable,  ami  almost  his 
whole  crew  killed  or  wounded,  he  prevailed  on  the  rest  to  agree  to  the  resolu- 
tion he  had  formed ^  knelt  dow^n  on  the  deck,  and  putting  up  a  brief  prayer 
for  pardon  for  their  act,  thrust  a  light  into  tlie  powder  magazine,  and  was 
instantly  blown  up  with  his  companions.  Only  two  men  were  snatched  from 
the  sea  by  the  Spaniards;  and  even  these,  dreadfully  burned  and  mangled, 
(lietl  in  the  utterance  of  curses  on  the  enemy. 


HEEM8KERK  AT  GIBHALTAH   (1G07) 

This  disastrous  occurrence  was  soon,  however,  forgotten  in  the  rejoicing 
for  a  brilliant  victory  gained  in  1607  by  Heemskerk,  so  celebrated  for  his 
voyage  to  Nova  Zembia,  and  by  his  conduct  in  the  East.  He  set  sail  from 
the  ports  of  Holland  in  the  month  of  March,  tleterminei-l  to  signalise  himself 
by  some  great  exploit^  now  necessary  to  redeem  the  4iisgrar'e  which  liad 
begun  to  sully  the  reputation  of  the  Dutch  navy.  He  soon  got  intelligence 
that  the  Spanish  fleet  lay  at  anchor  in  the  bay  of  Gibraltar,  and  he  speedily 
prepmred  to  offer  them  iMittle.  Before  the  combat  l^egaii  he  lield  a  council 
of  war,  and  adtlressed  the  officers  in  an  energetic  speech,  in  which  he  displayed 
the  imiJerative  call  on  their  valour  to  conquer  or  die  in  the  approaching  con- 
fiiet.  H<'  led  on  to  the  action  in  his  own  shij);  ami,  to  the  aslonishnu^nt  of 
both  fleets,  he  bore  riglit  dow7i  agaiiist  the  enormous  galleon  in  which  the 
fliig  of  the  Spanish  admiral-in-chief  was  hoiste<l.  Avila  could  scarcely  believe 
the  evidence  of  his  eyes  at  this  audacity:  he  at  first  burst  into  laughter  at 
the  notion;  but  as  Heemskerk  approached  he  cut  his  cables,  and  attempted 
to  esCvapo  under  the  shelter  of  the  town.  The  heroie  Dutchman  pursued  him 
through  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  fleet,  and  soon  ff>rce<l  him  to  action.  At 
the  second  broatb^ide  Heemskerk  hafl  his  left  leg  carried  off  by  a  cannon  ball, 
and  he  almost  instantly  died.  VerlKX'f,  the  captain  of  the  ship,  concealetl 
the  ailmiralV  death;  anil  the  whole  fleet  continued  the  action  with  a  valour 
worthy  of  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  commenced.  The  victory  was  soon 
decided:  four  of  the  Spanish  galleons  were  sunk  or  burned,  the  remainder 
fled;  and  the  citizens  of  Cadiz  trembled  with  the  apprehension  of  sack  and 
pillage.  But  the  death  of  Heemskerk^  when  made  known  to  the  surviving 
victors,  seemed  completely  to  |>andyse  them :  they  attempted  nothing  further; 
but  sailing  back  to  Holland  with  the  Ixwdy  of  their  lamented  chief,  thus  paid 
a  greater  tribute  to  his  imjjurtance  than  was  to  be  found  in  the  mausoleum 
erected  to  his  memory  in  the  city  of  Amsterdam. 

The  news  of  this  battle,  reaching  Brussels  before  it  was  known  in  Holland, 
contributed  not  a  little  to  quicken  the  anxiety  of  the  archdukes  for  peac«. 
The  king  of  Spain,  worn  out  by  the  war  which  drained  his  treasury,  had  for 
some  time  ardently  desired  it.  The  Portuguese  made  loud  complaints  of 
the  ruin  that  threat^'ued  their  trade  and  their  E^tst  Imlian  colonies.  Tlie 
Spanish  ministers  were  fatigued  with  the  apparently  interminable  contest 
which  baftleil  all  their  calculations.  Spinola,  even  in  the  midst  of  his  brilliant 
career,  found  lumself  so  overwhelmed  with  debts,  and  so  oppressed  by  the 
reproaches  of  the  numerous  creditors  w*ho  were  mined  by  his  default  of  pay- 
ment, that  he  joined  in  the  general  demand  for  rejKj.se.  In  the  niontli  of 
May,  1607,  proposals  were  made  by  the  archdukes,  in  compliance  with  the 


5U 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 


general  desire;  and  their  two  plenipotentiaries,  Van  Wittenhorst  and  Gevaerts, 
repaired  to  the  Hague. 

Public  opinion  in  the  united  states  was  divided  on  this  important  qiiestion. 
An  instinctive  hatreil  against  the  Spaniards,  an^l  long  habits  of  warfare, 
influenced  the  great  mass  of  the  people  to  consider  any  overture  for  peace 
as  some  wily  artifice  aimed  at  their  religion  and  liberty.  War  seemed  to  oj»en 
inexlmustible  Sfjurces  of  wealtli ;  while  peace  seemed  to  threaten  the  extinction 
of  the  courage  which  was  now  as  much  a  habit  as  war  appeared  to  be  a  want. 
This  reasoning  was  particularly  convincing  to  Prince  Maurice,  whose  fame, 
with  a  large  portion  of  his  authority  antl  revenues,  depended  on  the  contin- 
uance of  hostilities:  it  was  also  strongly  relished  and  supported  in  Zealand 
generally,  and  in  the  chief  towns  which  dreaded  the  rivalry  of  Antwerp/ 
But  those  who  bore  the  burden  of  the  war  saw  the  subject  under  a  different 
iisjx^ct:  they  feared  that  the  present  state  of  things  would  lead  to  their  con- 
quest by  the  enemy,  or  to  the  ruin  of  their  liberty  by  the  growing  power  of 
Maurice.  They  hoj^ed  that  peace  would  consolidate  the  repubUc  and  cause 
the  reduction  of  the  tieht,  which  now  amounted  to  26,000,000  florins.  At 
the  head  of  the  party  who  so  reasoned  was  Barneveld;  and  his  name  is  & 
guarantee  with  posterity  for  the  wisdom  of  the  opinion. 

To  allow  the  violent  opposition  to  subside,  and  to  prevent  any  explosion 
of  i)arty  feuds,  the  prudent  Barneveld  sugeested  a  mere  suspension  of  arms, 
during  which  the  permanent  interests  of  Doth  states  might  be  calmly  di»- 
cussed:  he  even  undertook  to  obtain  Maurice's  consent  to  the  armistice. 
The  prince  listened  to  his  arguments,  and  was  afijwirently  convinced  by  them. 
He,  at  any  rate,  sanctioned  the  proposal;  but  he  afterwards  complained 
that  Barneveld  had  deceived  him,  in  representing  the  negotiation  as  a  feint 
for  the  pur|3ose  of  persuading  the  kings  of  France  and  Engliuid  to  give  greater 
aid  to  the  re])ublie.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  Maurice  reckoned  on  the 
improbability  of  Spain's  consenting  to  the  terms  of  the  proposed  treaty;  and, 
on  that  ciiance,  withdrew  an  opposition  which  could  scarcely  be  ascribed  to 
any  but  motives  of  personal  ambition.  It  is,  however,  certain  that  his  dis- 
content at  this  transaction,  either  with  himself  or  Barneveld,  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  that  bitter  enmity  which  proved  fatal  to  the  life  of  the  latter,  and 
covered  his  own  name,  otherwise  glorious,  with  undying  reproach. 

The  United  Provinces  positively  refused  to  admit  even  the  commence- 
ment of  a  negotiation  without  the  absolute  recognition  of  their  independence 
by  the  archdukes,  A  m*w  ambassador  was  accordingly  chosen  on  the  part  of 
these  sovereigns.  He  was  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  named  John 
Neyen,  a  native  of  Antwerp.  The  suspicions  of  the  states-general  seenj  fidly 
justified  by  the  dubious  tone  of  the  various  communications,  which  avoided 
the  dinrct  admission  of  the  required  preliminary  as  to  the  independence  of  the 
United  Province.s.  It  was  at  length  concluded  in  explicit  terms;  and  a  sus- 
l^nsion  of  arms  for  eight  months  was  the  immediate  consequence. 

But  the  negotiation  for  peace  was  on  the  point  of  being  completely  broken, 
in  consequence  of  the  conduct  of  Neyen,  who  justified  every  doubt  of  his 

p  BlokA  Las  BUted  various  renftons  for  the  wur-party's  action:  "In  lime  of  ww,  the 
Hupremacy  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  the  soul  of  the  union,  had  heau  endured.  In  time  of  peace. 
jealousy  would  bo  excited  by  this  dominance,  and  the  lack  of  a  Htronff  central  (foverninent  would 
become  more  jjatent.  Moreover,  the  CaJvinist  mlnoritr  now  in  power  would  have  to  yield, 
more  or  less,  to  the  majority  composod  of  nominal  C'atuoUcs,  of  libertines,  and  of  indifFereDi 
people.  The  hoube  of  Orange,  wDoae  reputation  Maurice  had  sufltalned  durlug  active  bostlU- 
tieit,  mifcht  tind  Its  iDfluecce  w^en.  Maurice  could  not  stand  in  hiH  father's  shadow  as  6tat««- 
man,  and  wholly  lacked  capacity  to  revise  the  articles  of  union.  Thus  there  wb«  much  KTound 
for  reluctance  to  make  peace.  More<iver,  the  war  had  become  a  source  of  commercial  pros- 
perity, which  coold  not  be  checked  without  affecting  the  exlateoca  of  many  thousands."] 


THE    SWAY    OF    OLDEN-BARNEVELD  545 

[1607-1608  A,o.] 

sincerity  by  an  attempt  to  corrupt  Aarssens  the  greffier  of  the  states-general, 
or  at  lea^t  to  influence  Iiis  conduct  in  the  progre&s  of  tlie  treaty.  Neyen  pre- 
sented him,  in  the  name  of  the  archdukes,  and  as  a  token  of  his  esteem,  with 
a  diamond  of  great  value  antl  a  Ixind  for  50,000  crowns.  Aarssens  ncrcepted 
these  presents  witli  the  approbation  of  Prince  Maurice,  to  whom  he  had  con- 
fided the  circumstance,  and  who  was  no  tloubt  delighted  at  what  promised 


As  iNTKiuoR  — After  Gerard  Douw 
(16I»-1076) 


a  rupture  of  the  negotiations.  Verreyken,  a  counsellor  of  state,  who  assisted 
Neyen  in  his  diplomatic  labours,  was  formally  stnnmoned  before  the  assembled 
states-general,  and  there  Barneveld  handed  to  him  the  tliamond  anil  the 
bond;  and  at  the  same  time  read  him  a  lecture  of  true  republican  severity  on 
the  subject.  Verreyken  was  overwhelmed  by  the  violent  attack:  he  denied 
the  authority  of  Neyen  for  the  measure  he  had  t^ken. 

In  the  month  of  January,  160S,  the  various  ambassadors  were  assembled 
at  the  Hague.  Spinola  was  the  chief  of  the  plenipotentiaries  appointed  by 
the  king  of  Spain;  and  Jeannin,  president  of  the  parliament  of  Dijon,  a 
man  of  rare  endowments,  represented  France.    Prince  Maurice,  accompanied 

B.  W.  — VOU    XllL  Us 


546  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[M08A.D.) 

by  his  brother  Frederick  Henry,  the  various  counts  of  Nassau  his  cousins, 
and  a  numerous  escort,  advanced  some  distance  to  meet  Spinola,  conveyed 
him  to  the  Hague  in  his  own  carriage,  and  lavished  on  him  all  the  attentions 
reciprocally  due  between  two  such  renowned  captains  during  the  suspension 
of  tneir  rivalry.  The  president  Richardot  was,  with  Neyen  and  Verreyken, 
ambassador  from  the  archdukes;  but  Bameveld  and  Jeannin  appear  to  have 
played  the  chief  parts  in  the  important  transaction  which  now  filled  all 
Europe  with  anxiety.  Every  state  was  more  or  less  concerned  in  the  result; 
and  the  three  great  monarchies  of  England,  France,  and  Spain  had  all  a  vital 
interest  at  stake.  The  conferences  were  therefore  frequent;  and  the  debates 
assumed  a  great  variety  of  aspects,  which  long  kept  the  civilised  world  in 
suspense. 

The  main  points  for  discussion,  and  on  which  depended  the  decision  for 
peace  or  war,  were  those  which  concerned  religion;  and  the  demand,  on  the 
part  of  Spain,  that  the  United  Provinces  should  renounce  all  claims  to  the 
navigation  of  the  Indian  seas.  Philip  rec[uired  for  the  Catholics  of  the  United 
Provmces  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion ;  this  was  opposed  by  the  states- 
general:  and  the  archduke  Albert,  seeing  the  impossibility  of  carrying  that 
point,  despatched  his  confessor  Fra  Inigo  de  Brizuela  to  Spain. 

The  conferences  at  the  Hague  were  not  interrupted  on  this  question ;  but 
they  went  on  slowly,  months  being  consumed  in  discussions  on  articles  of 
trifling  importance.  They  were  resumed  in  the  month  of  August  with  greater 
vigour.  It  was  announced  that  the  king  of  Spain  abandoned  the  question 
respecting  religion;  but  that  it  was  in  the  certainty  that  his  moderation 
would  be  recompensed  by  ample  concessions  on  that  of  the  Indian  trade,  on 
which  he  was  inexorable.  This  article  became  the  rock  on  which  the  whole 
negotiation  eventually  split.  The  court  of  Spain  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
states-general  on  the  other,  inflexibly  maintamed  their  opposing  claims.  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  ambassadors  turned  and  twisted  the  subject  with  all  the 
subtleties  of  diplomacy.  Every  possible  expedient  was  used  to  shake  the 
determination  of  the  Dutch.  But  the  influence  of  the  East  India  Company, 
the  islands  of  Zealand,  and  the  city  of  Amsterdam  prevailed  over  all.  Reports 
of  the  avowal  on  the  part  of  the  king  of  Spain  that  he  would  never  renounce 
his  title  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  Provinces,  unless  they  abandoned 
the  Indian  navigation  and  granted  the  free  exercise  of  religion,  threw  the 
whole  diplomatic  corps  into  confusion;  and,  on  the  25th  of  August,  the  states- 
general  announced  to  the  marquis  of  Spinola  and  the  other  ambassadors  that 
the  congress  was  dissolved,  and  that  all  hopes  of  peace  were  abandoned. 

Nothing  seemed  now  likely  to  prevent  the  iuiinediate  renewal  of  hostilities, 
when  the  ambassadors  of  France  and  England  proposed  the  mediation  of  their 
respective  masters  for  the  conclusion  of  a  truce  for  several  years.  The  king 
of  Spain  and  the  archdukes  were  well  satisfied  to  obtain  even  this  temporary 
cessation  of  the  war;  but  Prince  Maurice  and  a  portion  of  the  provinces 
strenuously  opposed  the  proposition.  The  French  and  English  ambassadors, 
however,  in  concert  with  Barnevekl,  who  steadily  maintained  his  influence, 
laboured  incessantly  to  overcome  those  difliculties;  and  finally  succeeded  in 
overpowering  all  opposition  to  the  truce.  A  new  congress  was  agreed  on,  to 
assemble  at  Antwerp  for  the  consideration  of  the  conditions;  and  the  states- 
general  agreed  to  remove  from  the  Hague  to  Bergen-op-Zoom,  to  be  more 
within  reach  and  ready  to  co-operate  in  the  negotiation. 

But,  before  matters  aasumed  this  favourable  turn,  discussions  and  dis- 
putes had  intervened  on  several  occasions  to  render  fruitless  every  effort  of 
those  who  so  incessantly  laboured  for  the  great  causes  of  humanity  and  the 


"^  THE    SWAY    OF    OLDEN-BARNEVELD  547 

[1506-1600  A.D.] 

general  good.  On  one  occasion  Bameveld,  disgusted  with  the  opposition  of 
Prince  Maurice  and  his  partisans,  had  actually  resigned  his  employments; 
but  brought  back  by  the  solicitations  of  the  states-general ,  and  reconciled  to 
Maurice  by  the  intervention  of  Jeannin,  the  negotiations  for  the  truce  were 
resumed;  and,  under  the  auspices  of  the  ambassadors,  they  were  happily 
terminated.  After  two  years'  delay,  this  long-wished-for  truce  was  concluded 
and  signed  on  the  9tli  of  April,  1609,  to  continue  for  the  space  of  twelve  years. 

THE  TWELVE   YEARS'   TRUCE 

Tills  Celebrated  treiity  cnnf^xineil  thirty-two  articles;  and  its  fulfilment 
on  either  side  was  guaranteed  by  tlie  kings  of  France  and  England.  Not- 
withstanding the  time  taken  up  m  previous  {liscussions,  the  treaty  is  one  of 
the  most  vague  and  uns(M'ciric  stnie  pajx'rs  that  exist.  The  archdukes,  in 
their  own  names  and  in  that  of  the  king  of  Spain^  declared  the  United  Prov- 
inces to  be  free  and  independent  states,  on  which  they  renounced  all  claim 
whatever.  By  the  third  article  each  party  was  to  hold  respectively  the 
places  which  they  possessed  at  the  commencement  of  the  armistice.  The 
fourth  and  fifth  articles  grant  to  the  republic,  but  in  a  phraseology  obscure 
and  even  doubtful,  the  right  of  navigation  ami  fi-ee  trade  to  the  Indies.  The 
eighth  contains  all  that  regards  the  exercise  of  religion;  and  the  remaining 
clauses  are  wholly  relative  to  points  of  intemal  trade,  custom-house  regula- 
tions, and  matters  of  private  interest.  Ephemeral  and  temporary  as  this 
peace  apt>eared,  it  wtis  received  with  almovst  universal  demonstrations  of  joy 
by  the  population  of  the  Netherlands  in  their  two  grand  divisions. 

The  ten  southern  provinces,  now  confirmed  under  the  sovereignty  of  the 
house  of  Atistria,  and  from  this  jxriod  generall}'  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
lielglLim,  immediately  began,  like  the  northern  division  of  the  country,  to 
labour  fur  the  great  object  of  repairing  the  dreadful  sufferings  causetl  by  their 
long  and  cruel  war.  Their  success  was  considerable.  Albert  and  Isabella, 
their  sovereigns,  joinetl  to  considerable  probity  of  character  and  talents  for 
government  a  fund  of  humanity  which  led  them  to  unceashig  acts  of  benev- 
olence. The  whole  of  their  dominions  quickly  began  to  recover  from  the 
ravages  of  war.  Agriculture  and  the  minor  operati^ons  of  trade  resume*.!  all 
their  wontod  activity.  But  the  nuunifactures  of  Flanders  were  no  more; 
and  the  grander  exercise  of  commerce  seemed  finally  removed  to  Amsterdam 
and  the  other  chief  towns  of  HoiJand.ff 


DUTCH  COMMERCE  AND  EXPLORATION 

The  year  ir)95  is  signalised  in  the  annals  of  Dutch  commerce  as  being 
that  of  the  conmiencement  of  the  trade  between  the  United  Provinces  and 
the  East  Imlies.  The  arrest  of  their  ships  by  the  king  of  Spain,  in  15S6, 
had  induced  the  merchants  to  undertake  more  distant  voyages:  since  which 
time,  the  scarcity  that  had  prevailed  for  some  yeara  in  Italy  had  afforded 
them  a  rich  harvest  of  traffic  in  carrying  corn  thither  from  the  countries  of 
the  Baltic.  The  restoration  of  plenty  in  that  quarter  caused  these  specula- 
tions, in  great  measure,  to  cease,  which  obliged  the  mariners  of  Holland  and 
Zealand  to  seek  out  some  new  market  for  their  industry;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  their  emulation  was  roused  by  the  fame  of  the  voyages  and  discoveries 
of  the  English  and  Portuguese. 

One  Cornelis  Houtman,  of  Gouda,  having  si)ent  some  years  in  Lisbon, 
returned  to  Amsterdam,  with  such  tempting  accounta  of  the  profits  to  be 


S4S  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

gained  by  a  trade  with  the  spice  islands  of  India,  that  he  induced  nine  mer- 
chants of  that  city  to  form  themselves  into  a  company  for  the  establishment 
of  a  commerce  with  the  nations  of  the  East.  They  equipped,  entirely  at 
their  own  cost,  foiu*  vessels,  equaUy  fitted  for  war  and  the  transport  of  mer- 
chandise. Setting  sail  from  the  Texel  on  the  2nd  of  April,  it  was  June  of 
the  next  year  before  they  reached  the  island  of  Java.  Here  they  had  to 
encoimter  the  hostility  of  a  company  of  Portuguese  merchanta,  settled  at 
Bantam,  the  capital.  Three  ships  returned  in  1597,  after  a  voyage  of  more 
than  two  years,  to  Amsterdam,  where  their  arrival,  laden  with  pepper,  nut- 
megs, and  mace,  was  the  signal  for  a  general  jubilee,  though  but  90  out  of 
250  of  their  crews  were  left  ahve. 

Arctic  Exploration 

This  enterprise  had  oeen  preceded  by  an  expedition  undertaken  in  the 
last  year,  towards  the  north  pole,  with  a  view  of  discovering  a  shorter  and 
safer  passage  to  China  than  that  roimd  the  cape  of  Good  Hope.  For  this 
purpose  two  Vlie-boats  (so  called  from  being  built  expressly  for  the  difficult 
navigation  of  the  Vlie)  were  fitted  out,  one  m  Holland  and  the  other  in  Zea- 
land, the  admbalty  of  these  provinces  providing  half  the  expense,  with 
instructions  to  attempt  the  passage  into  the  sea  of  Tatary,  through  the 
straits  of  Weygat  between  Nova  Zembla  and  Russia.  At  the  same  time, 
some  merchants  of  Amsterdam,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  celebrated  geographer 
and  divine,  Petrus  Plancius,  prepared  another  vessel,  with  the  view  of  dis- 
covering if  it  were  possible  to  eifect  a  passage  into  the  same  sea  to  the  north 
of  Nova  Zembla.  The  three  vessels  parted  company  at  the  island  of  TCilHin 
(69^  40'),  when  the  two  former,  shaping  their  course  north-northeast,  dis- 
covered Staten  Island;  and  passing  the  Weygat,  to  which  they  gave  the 
name  of  the  straits  of  Nassau,  succeeded,  though  frequently  in  danger  of 
being  enclosed  by  the  ice  or  dashed  in  pieces  by  the  floating  bergs,  in  effecting 
their  passage  into  the  sea  of  Tatary,  along  which  they  sailed  as  far  as  the 
mouth  of  the  Obi. 

The  Amsterdam  vessel  reached  Lombsbay  (lat.  74°  20'),  but  was  pre- 
vented from  advancing  further  by  the  continual  mists  and  the  quantity  of 
ice,  as  well  as  the  unwillingness  of  the  crew  to  continue  the  voyage.  On 
the  report  brought  by  the  two  former  vessels,  the  states-general  were  mduced 
to  fit  out  seven  ships  in  this  year  for  the  same  expedition,  but  they  added 
nothing  to  the  previous  discoveries,  their  navigation  being  impeded  by  the 
ice.  Determined,  however,  if  possible,  to  effect  their  purpose,  the  merchants 
of  Amsterdam  once  more  equipped  two  vessels  —  the  one  commanded  by 
Jan  Comeliszoon  Rijp,  the  other  by  Jakob  van  Heemskerk,  both  resolute, 
able,  and  enterprising  captains,  with  one  Willem  Barentz,  famed  for  his 
skill  as  a  pilot.  Setting  sail  in  company  on  the  10th  of  May,  they  separated 
on  the  coast  of  Norway,  when  the  ship  of  Rijp,  steering  towards  the  north- 
west discovered  the  island  of  Spitzbergen,  to  which  they  gave  this  name 
from  the  pointed  appearance  of  its  mountains.* 

They  had  reached  the  75th  degree  of  north  latitude,  when  their  vessel 
became  firmly  locked  in  the  ice  at  no  great  distance  from  the  shore.  Hope- 
less of  moving,  they  had  no  other  resource  left  than  to  make  the  best  prepara- 
tions they  might  for  a  residence  there  during  the  whole  winter.  Happily 
they  were  well  supplied  with  clothing,  wine,  and  food,  except  meat;  and  hav- 

■  From  the  Dutch  words  "  spitz,"  pointed,  and  *'  berg,"  moantaio. 


THE    SWAY   OF   OLDEN-BARNEVELD  ^ 

[i5ge-i5oe  a.d.] 

ing  found  a  quantity  of  drift-wood  in  a  fresh-water  stream,  at  about  three 
mues  distance,  which  singularly  enough  reniainefl  unfrozen,  they  soon  com- 
pleted a  spacious  and  tolerably  commodious  liut;  from  the  same  source, 
also,  they  obtained  ample  provision  of  firewood.  Here  they  ran  imminent 
risk  of  destruction  from  the  multitude  of  bears  which,  attracted  probably 
by  the  smell,  prowled  day  and  nipht  around  their  new  habitation;  some  of 
these  they  killed,  and  found  their  fat  highly  serviceable  in  keeping  their 
lamps  burning  during  the  season  of  darkness,  which  lasted  from  the  4th  of 
November  to  the  24th  of  Jiumary. 

They  remained  here  ten  months,  and  the  middle  of  June,  1590,  arrived 
without  any  appearance  of  proba- 
bility of  th<Mr  l>eing  able  to  float 
the  vessel;  and  fearing  lest,  if  they 
delayed  longer,  the  ice  might  again 
accumulate  and  prevent  their  re- 
turn, they  set  out  in  two  open 
boats  on  their  voyage  homeward. 
After  a  series  of  incredible  hard- 
ships and  perils,  from  the  effect  of 
which  their  pilot,  Willem  Barentz, 
diefi,  they  arrive<l  at^  Waardhuys, 
on  the  coast  of  Norway,  where 
they  met  with  their  consort,  which 
they  supposed  to  have  perished 
long  ago.  Rijp,  the  conunander, 
having  taken  tliem  on  hoard  his 
vessel,  set  sail  for  Amsterdam, 
where  they  were  received  as  men 
risen  from  the  dead,  the  failure  in 
the  object  of  their  expedition  being 
wholly  forgotten  in  atlmiration 
at  the  surpassing  courage  and 
patience  with  which  they  had 
endured  their  sufferings.* 

A  quarrel  between  the  queen 
of  England  and  the  Hanse  towns, 

which  had  existed  for  some  years,  became  so  violent  in  1598  that  the  em- 
peror banished  from  the  empire  the  company  of  English  merchant  adventurers 
resident  in  the  town  of  Stadc.  Intelligence  of  the  circumstance  no  sooner 
reached  the  United  Provinces,  than  all  the  principal  towns  sent  to  offer  the 
merchants  extensive  privileges,  in  the  hofx*  of  inducing  them  to  settle  there. 
After  some  consideration,  they  chose  the  town  of  Middelburg  in  Zealand, 
whither  they  drew  an  immense  trade  in  cloths,  serges,  and  baize;  the  queen 

*  In  the  relation  of  this  TOT&g«.  we  mept  with  an  inBtanofl  nf  the  extraordinary  elanticitT  of 
spirit,  and  uf  the  predilection  for  their  national  customs,  peculiar  to  thi»  people.  The  6th  of 
January,  the  eve  of  the  day  of  the  Three  Kin)>^.  Is  one  of  those  periodical  Bea»ons  consecrated 
by  the  Dutch  to  idleness  and  frolic.  The  sufferings  of  the  ship's  crew  from  cold  wer«  intense; 
they  had  not  seen  the  sun  for  two  months,  and  many  more  must  he  passed  before  they  could  be 
released  from  their  ice-girt  prison  ;  bat.  philosophically  observing  that  because  they  expected 
so  many  sad  days  was  no  reason  they  should  not  have  one  merry  one,  thev  chose  the  chief 
boatswain  as  their  kine  (a  potentate  of  like  authority  and  functions  with  the  Lord  of  Misrule  in 
our  Christmas  revels);  drank  to  the  he&lth  of  the  new  sovereign  of  Nova  Zcmbla  in  bumpers  of 
wine,  which  they  had  spared  for  the  occa&ion  :  tossed  the  pancake  (de  rigutur  on  such  occa* 
dona)  with  the  prescribed  ceremonies,  and  made  the  dreary  realms  of  the  uiow>kiiig  re-echo 
for  the  first  time  to  the  sounds  of  human  mirth  and  Jollity. 


Jakob  van  Hcemskhbk 

Or>«7-l6(I7) 


I 

a 


550  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE  ^NETHERLANDS 

[UQ8-l<0t  A.».] 

commanding  tliat  all  the  wools  exported  from  England  should  be  consigned 
to  them.  About  the  same  time,  the  city  of  Amsterdam  was  enriched  by 
the  settlement  of  an  immense  number  of  wealthy  Jews^  who  had  Sed  from 
Portu^l  to  avoid  the  renewed  persecutions  exercisied  agamst  them  on  account 
of  their  religion. 

A  new  source  of  foreign  commerce,  also,  was  at  this  period  opened  to  the 
provinces  by  a  treaty  with  the  grand  signior  of  Constantinople,  from  whom 
they  obtained  entire  liberty  of  traffic  to  SjTia,  Greece,  Egypt,  and  Turkey, 
for  all  their  vessels  sailing  under  the  protection  of  the  king  of  France.  The 
expedition  to  the  East  Indies  undertaken  by  the  merchants  of  Amsterdam, 
in  1595,  though  attended  with  some  disasters,  had  roused  the  emulation  of 
the  other  towns  of  Holland  and  Zealand.  Eighty  ships  of  considerable  sixe 
sailed  this  summer  to  the  East  and  West  Indies,  to  Brazil,  and  to  the  coast 
of  Guinea,  whence  they  brought  large  quantities  of  ivory  and  gold-dust. 
Nor  did  these  novel  and  exciting  enterprises  divert  them  from  their  long-estab- 
lished and  profitable  trade  with  the  coimtries  of  the  north ;  640  vessels  from 
the  Baltic  arrived  early  in  the  next  year  in  the  port  of  Amsterdam,  bearing 
one  hundred  thousand  tons  of  merchandise,  (timber,  com,  hemp,  tar,  etc.), 
of  which  each  ton  paid  a  duty  of  twenty  guilders. 

The  DtUch  East  India  Company 

In  the  year  1602  is  dated  the  erection  of  the  famed  Dutch  East  India 
Company,  a  source  of  immense  wealth  to  Holland,  and  of  continual  heart- 
b\u*nmgs  and  jealousies  between  herself  and  other  nations.  The  groundwork 
of  this  company  had  been  formed  by  a  few  merchants  of  Amsterdam  in  1595; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  losses  and  disasters  subsequently  occasioned  by 
the  combined  hostility  of  the  natives  and  Portuguese,  the  trade  had  become 
yearly  more  profitable,  and  the  public  appetite  for  it  had  constantly  and 
rapidly  increased.  The  commanders  of  the  Dutch  vessels  had  been  able  to 
obviate  in  some  measure  the  effects  of  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Spaniards 
and  Portuguese  on  the  minds  of  the  people  of  India,  and  had  made  alliances 
with  the  islanders  of  Banda,  the  kin^  of  Ternate,  and  of  Kandy  in  the  island 
of  Ceylon,  and  the  sovereign  of  Achm. 

Under  these  favourable  circumstances,  companies  were  established  in 
several  towns  both  of  Holland  and  Zealand;  but  they  perceived,  ere  long, 
that  they  imconsciously  inflicted  extensive  damage  on  each  other.  For  this 
reason,  the  states  determined  upon  consolidating  all  the  companies  into  one 
general  East  India  Company,  which  for  a  term  of  twenty-one  years  should 
have  the  exclusive  privilege  of  navigating  east  of  the  cape  of  Good  Hope, 
and  west  of  the  straits  of  Magellan.  The  capital  amoimted  to  6,600,000 
guilders ;  the  company  was  empowered  to  make  alliances  with  the  sovereigns 
of  India  in  the  name  of  the  states  or  chief  magistrate  of  the  provinces,  to 
build  forts,  and  appoint  governors  taking  the  oath  to  the  states.  The  com- 
pany commenced  operations  by  the  equipment  of  a  fleet  of  fourteen  armed 
vessels,  of  which  Wybrand  van  War\vyk  was  appointed  admiral.  Wybrand 
remained  nearly  five  years  abroad,  and  in  the  year  1606  discovered  the  island 
to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Mauritius. 

The  commencement  of  Uie  career  of  the  new  East  India  Company  was 
one  of  almost  uninterrupted  prosperity.  In  1603  another  fleet  of  thirteen 
ships,  under  the  command  of  Stephen  van  der  Hagen,  sailing  to  the  coast 
of  Malabar,  made  with  the  king  of  Calicut  an  advantageous  treaty  of  com- 
merce and  alliance  against  the  Portuguese;  and  early  in  this  year  arrived 


THE    SWAY    OF   OLDEN-BARNEVELD  551 

[idoa-iAOSA.D.] 

before  Amboyna,  the  citudel  of  which  the  Portupiesc  were  force*!  t^o  surrender. 
It  was  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  hitter  and  sjwage  hatred  which  suhsistefl 
between  the  Dutch  and  Spaniards  that  the  fonner  on  this,  as  on  most  otfirr 
occasions,  when  they  captured  an  enemy's  ship,  put  the  whole  of  the 
Spaniards  to  death,  while  the  Portu- 
guese they  brought  safely  to  land,  and 
often  released  them  without  a  ransom. 

During  the  negotiations  for  the 
truce  the  greater  numlxT  of  deputies 
in  the  states  were  determined  at  al! 
hazanls  to  insist  upon  the  continuation 
of  a  commerce  which  had  now  become 
actually  necessary  to  Iheir  weJl-lKMng; 
which  employed  190  ships,  and  above 
eight  thousjind  men;  and  of  which  the 
anmial  n*turns  were  estirii:ded  at  43,- 
OOIMKH)  guilders.  The  trade  with 
SpaiUf  w^iich  was  offercil  in  the  stead, 
was  tjf  f;ir  inferior  value.  It  wati  in 
vain  that  they  had  fought  during  forty 
years  for  their  lilxTty,  and  against 
the  fhike  of  Alva's  tenth,  as  destruc- 
tive of  eommerce,  if  they  were  now  to 
endin*e  the  slavery  of  !>eing  excluded 
from  (he  greater  portion  of  the  world. 

The  provinces  were  the  less  dis- 
posed t(i  make  the  immense* sjicritiee  re- 
quired of  them  bySpain,  in  consequence 
of  the  tidings  which  reached  them  in 
16()S,  of  thesuccessesobtained  by  their 
countrymen,  and  the  rich  prizes  they 
had  captured  in  the  Indian  seas.  A 
fleet  of  thirteen  vessels,  which  had  been 
equipped  for  India  in  1005,  under  the 
admiral  Matelief,  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  company,  sailing  to  the  fieriiii- 
sula  of  Malay,  made  nlliann-s  with  the 
four  kings  then  reigning  in  Johore, 
whose  ancestors  had  been  deprive^l  of 
Malacca  by  tlie  Portuguese,  and,  in  concert  with  them,  in  1608,  undertook 
the  siege  of  that  city.  He  had  lain  In^fort*  it  four  motilhs,  when  D(m  Alonzo 
do  Ca-stro,  viceroy  of  India,  came  to  it,s  relief  with  a  fleet  of  fourteen  galleons 
and  twenty  smaller  vessels,  on  board  of  which  were  3,7(X)  men.  The  number 
of  the  Dutch  amounted  to  no  more  than  1,2(X).  At  the  a[>proach  of  the  enemy, 
Matelief  broke  up  the  siege,  and  re-embarked  liis  artillery;  when,  advancing 
to  meet  the  Spanish  fleet,  a  sharp  contest  ensued,  in  which  each  side  lost 
three  vessels;  but  the  Dutch  had  no  more  than  eight  men  kille<i,  while  a 
consi<lerable  number  jierished  on  the  side  of  the  Spaniards.  A  secon*!  engage- 
ment, fought  not  long  after,  was  far  more  decisive;  two  ships  of  Castro's 
fleet  were  captured,  a  third  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  remainder  so  entirely 
disabled  that,  retreating  into  the  roads  of  Malacca,  they  were  burned  by 
the  Spaniards  themselves. 

The  advant^ages  of  this  victory  were  counterbalanced  by  the  loss  of  Tidor, 


^^^^^  Pffsfir^^ 


OCD    HOCHBS   or   GUBNT 


n 


552 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHEBLANDS 


where,  the  citadel  having  been  destroyed,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of 
the  king,  the  Portuguese  regained  possession  of  the  island  without  difficulty. 

The  publication  of  the  truce  had  been  received  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands 
with  unboimded  acclamations;  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  Provinces, 
in  whose  naturally  pacific  disposition  the  long  war,  and  the  successes  attendant 
on  it,  had  worked  a  vast  change,  manifested  a  joy  less  lively  and  universaL 
The  feelings  with  which  it  was  regarded  by  foreign  nations  were  those  of 
xmbotmded  astonishment  and  admiration.^ 

Motley  has  thus  summed  up  the  war:  "A  commonwealth  of  sand-banks, 
lagoons,  and  meadows,  less  than  fourteen  thousand  square  miles  in  extent, 
had  done  battle  for  nearly  half  a  century  with  the  greatest  of  existing  powers, 
a  realm  whose  territory  was  nearly  a  third  of  the  globe,  and  which  claimed 
imiversal  monarchy.  And  this  had  been  done  with  an  army  avera^ng  forty- 
six  thousand  men,  half  of  them  foreigners  hired  by  the  job,  and  by  a  sea- 
faring population,  volunteenng  into  ship  of  every  class  and  denomination, 
from  a  fly-boat  to  a  galleot  of  war.  And  when  the  republic  had  won  its 
independence,  after  this  almost  eternal  warfare,  it  owed  four  or  five  millions 
of  dollars,  and  had  sometimes  an  annual  revenue  of  nearly  that  amount,"  * 

In  his  biography  of  Olden-Bameveld,  Motley  has  thus  summed  up  the 
truce: 

"The  convention  was  signed  in  the  spring  of  1609.  The  ten  ensuing 
years  in  Europe  were  comparatively  tranquil,  but  they  were  scarcely  to  be 
numbered  among  the  full  and  fruitful  sheaves  of  a  pacific  epoch.  It  was  a 
pause,  a  breathing  spell  during  which  the  sulphurous  clouds  which  had  made 
the  atmosphere  of  Christendom  poisonous  for  nearly  half  a  century  had  sullenly 
rolled  away,  whilst  at  every  point  of  the  horizon  they  were  seen  massing 
themselves  anew  in  portentous  and  ever-accumulating  strength.  To  us  of 
a  remote  posterity  the  momentary  division  of  epochs  seems  hardly  discernible. 
So  rapidly  did  that  fight  of  demons  which  we  call  the  Thirty  Years'  War  tread 
on  the  heels  of  the  forty  years'  struggle  for  Dutch  Independence  which  had 
just  been  suspended,  that  we  are  accustomed  to  think  and  speak  of  the  Eighty 
Years'  War  as  one  pure,  perfect,  sanguinary  whole."/ 


CHAPTER   XI 
PRINCE  MAURICE  IN  POWER 

[1609-162;>  A.O.] 


With  the  exception  of  a  bloodless  mimicry  of  war,  in  a  dL<spute  over  the 
succession  to  the  ilurhy  of  Jiilioh,  or  Jiiliers,  fh(*  Ihiited  Provinces  presented 
for  the  space  of  twelve  years  a  long-eontinnerl  picture  of  peace,  as  t!ie  term 
is  generally  received:  but  a  peace  so  disfigurpd  by  intestine  troublos.  and 
so  stained  by  actions  of  despotic  cnieUy,  that  the  |»erio<l  which  shouKI  have 
been  that  of  its  greatest  happiness  becomes  but  an  example  of  its  worst 
disgrace. 

The  assassination  of  Henry  IV,  in  the  year  160D,  whilst  robbing  France 
of  one  of  its  l)est  monarchs,  deprived  the  United  Provinces  of  their  truest 
and  most  powerful  friend. 

But  the  death  of  this  powerful  suj^porter  of  their  efforts  for  freoflom, 
and  the  chief  guarantee  for  its  continuance,  waw  a  trifling  calamity  to  the 
United  Pro\'inces,  in  comparison  with  the  rapid  fall  from  the  true  jxjint  of 
glory  so  painfully  exhibited  in  the  conduct  of  their  own  domestic  champion. 
It  had  been  well  for  Prince  Maurice  of  Na^wau  had  the  last  shot  tired  by  the 
defeated  Spaniards  hi  the  battle  of  Nicupdrt  Hlnick  luin  tlead  in  the  moment 
of  his  greatest  victory,  and  on  the  summit  of  his  fame.  From  that  celebrated 
day  he  liad  performed  no  deed  of  war  that  could  raise  hin  reputation  a*  a 
soldier,  and  ali  his  acts  as  stadholder  were  calculated  to  sink  him  below  the 
level  of  civil  virtue'  and  just  government. 

Opposed  to  Maurice  in  almost  every  one  of  his  act.s  was  Bameveld,  one 
of  the  truest  patriots  of  any  time  or  country;  and,  with  the  exception  of 
William  the  great  prince  of  OrangCj  the  most  eminent  citizen  to  whom  the 
affairs  of  the  Netherlands  have  given  celebrity.     Long  after  the  completion 

f*  .Tp&nnin  bad  propoRod  tr>  the  statps  tbe  ampin  provbiinnB  made  for  the  prinro  and  his 
e  familv  on  the  occasion  nf  the  treaty.  Philip,  prince  of  OranKt^,  besides  his  nhare  of 
his  paternRl  estates,  received  1,000,000  guilders  ;  an  annuity  of  26.tKin  ciiilders  was  con f erred 
on  Prince  Manrieo,  who  was  likewltfo  lo  r<^tain  hla  present  office?,  at  a  sfuary  of  80.000  jtrullders 
a  year,  with  W.OOO  more  aw  an  indemnification  fnr  the  loss  he  sustained  by  the  cessation  uf  tbe 
war;  and  proportional  pensions  were  settled  on  Prinrw  Henry,  Count  VViiliam  nf  Na.*wan.  stori- 
bolder  of  Friesland.  the  princess  dowager,  and  even  upon  Justin  of  Nassau,  the  illegitimate 
son  of  the  late  prince  of  Orange.  Of  tbe  selfish  rapacity  of  Maurice,  the  prominent  vice  of  bis 
character,  the  English  ambassador,  Sir  Ralph  Winwood*  gives  the  following  testimony  :  **No 
one  thing  hath  been  of  greater  trouble  to  as  than  the  craving  humour  of  Count  Maurice,  who, 
not  satisfied  with  the  large  treatments  granted  by  the  states,  demanded  satisfaction  for  certain 
pretensions,  grounded  upon  grants  to  bis  father  from  tbe  states  of  Brabant  and  Flanders,  at 
such  time  as  they  were  under  the  government  of  the  duke  of  Anjou  ;  which  demand  he  pressed 
so  hard  that  be  gave  a  charge  to  Count  William  not  to  sign  the  treaty  anlcss  In  this  p&rtictUar 
he  ehoold  receive  oontexitmeot. "  «] 


5M  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 

of  the  tnice,  every  minor  jxiinl  in  the  domestic  afTiLlrs  of  the  republir  Rprmet) 
merged  in  the  conflict  between  the  stadhoUler  iiiid  the  pensionary.  Wllhdul 
attempting  to  specify  these,  we  may  say,  geni*r;dly,  Uiat  ahnoat  every  ouc 
redounded  to  the  disgrace  of  the  prince  and  the  honour  of  the  patriot. 


THE  ARMINIAN  CONTHOVERSY 


But  the  main  question  of  agitation  was  the  fierce  dispute  which  soon 
broke  out  between  two  professors  of  theology  of  the  university  of  Leyilen. 
Francis  Gornanis  and  Jakobus  Arminius  [Jacob  van  Harrncn^ienJ.  Wc  ^lo 
not  regret  on  this  occasion  that  our  confined  limits  spare  us  the  ta^  of  re- 
cording in  detail  controversies  on  points  of  speculative  doctrine.     The  whole 

strength  of  the  intellects  which  had 
long  lH»en  engageil  in  the  conflict  for 
national  and  religious  Iil»erly  wits  now 
directed  to  metaphysical  theology,  and 
wasted  upon  interminable  disputes 
about  pretlestination  and  grace.  Bame- 
veld  enrolled  himself  among  the 
partisans  of  Arminius;  Maurice^  eventu- 
ally lM*caine  a  Gomarist.  It  was,  how- 
ever, scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that  a 
r oun t  ry  so  recen tly  delivere< I  from 
.slavery  both  in  church  and  state  should 
run  into  wild  excesses  of  intolerance. 
Persecutions  of  various  kinds  were  in- 
dulged in  against  papists,  anabaptists, 
Socininns,  and  nil  tlie  shades  oi  doc- 
trine into  which  Christianity  had  split. 
Every  minister  who,  in  the  milder  sjnrit 
of  IjulhtTHntsiii,  strove  to  mmierate  (he 
rage  of  Calvin istic  entliusiasm,  was 
ojjenly  denounced  by  its  partisans;  and 
one,  named  Ga^spard  Koolhaas,  wsa 
ariually  exfonununicrtted  by  a  synod. 
Arminius  had  been  appointeii  professor  at  Leyden  in  16();?,  for  the  mild- 
ness of  his  doctrines,  which  were  joined  to  most  affable  manners,  a  happy 
temper,  and  a  purity  of  conduct  which  no  calumny  could  successfully  traduce. 
Ilis  collciigue  Goniarus,  a  native  of  Bruges,  learned,  violent,  and  rigid  in 
sectarian  points,  soon  became  jealous  of  the  more  popular  professor's  influ- 
ence. A  furious  attack  on  the  latter  was  answered  by  recrimination;  and 
the  whole  battery  of  tfieologieal  authorities  was  reciprocally  discharged  by 
one  or  other  of  tiie  disputants. 

The  states  of  Holland  interfered  between  them:  thc}^  were  summoned  to 
appear  before  tlie  council  of  state;  and  grave  politicians  listened  for  hours 
to  the  dispute.  Arminius  obtained  the  advantage,  by  the  apparent  reason- 
ableness of  his  creed,  and  the  gentleness  and  mooeration  of  his  conduct.  He 
was  meek,  while  Gomarus  was  furious;  and  many  of  the  listeners  declared 
that  tliey  would  rather  die  with  the  charity  of  the  former  than  in  the  faith 
of  the  latter.  A  second  hearing  was  allowed  them  before  the  states  of  Hol- 
land (August  2()th,  1609).  Again  Arminius  took  the  lead;  and  the  contro- 
versy went  on  unceasingly,  till  this  amiable  man,  worn  out  by  his  exertions 


FKAAUIH  OOHAHITB 

(1583-1641) 


PRINCE    MAURICE    IN    TOWER  555 

[lAOO-ietA  A.D.] 

and  the  presentiment  of  the  onl  which  these  disputes  were  engendering  for 
his  country,  expiretl  Octolx^r  19th,  1609,  in  his  forty-ninth  year,  piously  p)er- 
sisting  in  his  opiniumj. 

The  Gomarists  now  loudly  railed  for  a  national  synod,  to  regiilate  the 
points  of  faith.  The  Arniinians  remonstrated  on  various  grounds,  and  thus 
acquired  the  name  of  '' Remonstrantfl,"  by  which  they  were  soon  generally 
distingiiished.  The  most  deplorable  contests  ensued.  Serious  riots  occurred 
in  several  of  the  ti)wns  of  Holland;  and  James  I  of  Englantl  could  not  resist 
the  temptation  of  entering  the  polemical  lists,  as  a  champion  of  orthodoxy 
and  a  decided  Gomarist.  Plis  hostility  wius  chiefly  <lin>cte<!  against  Vorstius, 
the  successor  and  disciple  of  Arminms.  He  pretty  strongly  recommended 
the  states-general  to  have  him  buniod  for  heresy.  His  inveterate  intolerance 
knew  no  bounds;  ami  it  completeil  the  intdanrlmly  picture  of  absurdity 
which  the  whole  afTair  presents  to  reasonable  mlnrls. 

In  this  dispute,  which  occupied  and  agitated  all,  it  was  impossible  that 
Bameveld  should  not  choose  the  congenial  temperance  and  toleration  of 
Arminius.  Maurice,  with  probably  no  distinct  conviction,  or  much  interest 
in  the  abstract  differences  on  either  side,  joined  the  Gomarists.  His  motives 
were  purely  temporal;  for  the  party  he  esfwiLsed  was  now  decidedly  as  much 
political  as  religious.  King  James  rewardeil  him  by  conferring  on  him  the 
riljand  of  tlie  onk'r  of  the  Garter  vacant  by  the  death  of  Henry  IV  of  France. 
The  ceremony  of  investiture  was  perfonned  with  great  pomp  by  the  English 
ambassador  at  the  Hague;  and  James  and  Maurice  entered  from  that  time 
into  a  close  and  uninterrupted  correspondence. 


BARNEVELD  OUTWITS   KING   JAMKft 


During  the  long  continuance  of  the  theological  disputes,  the  ITnit-ed 
Provinces  had  never! helcss  made  rapid  strides  tinvards  commercial  greatness; 
and  the  year  1616  witnessed  the  completion  of  an  affair  which  was  considered 
the  consolidation  of  their  indepenilencc.  This  important  matter  was  the 
recovery  of  the  towns  of  Briel  and  Flushing,  and  the  fort  of  Rammekins, 
which  had  b<^en  placed  In  the  hands  of  the  English  as  security  for  the  loan 
grant<*d  to  the  republic  by  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  whole  merit  of  the  trans- 
action was  due  to  the  perseverance  and  address  of  Bameveld  acting  on  the 
weakness  and  the  embarrassnienls  of  King  Jame-s.  Religious  contention 
did  not  so  fully  occupy  Bameveld  but  that  he  kept  a  constant  eye  on  political 
concerns.  He  was  well  informed  on  all  that  passed  in  the  English  court:  he 
knew  the  wants  of  James,  and  was  aware  of  his  efforts  to  bring  about  the 
marriage  of  his  son  with  the  infanta  of  Spain.  The  danger  of  such  an  alliance 
was  evident  to  the  penetrating  Barneveld,  who  saw  in  perspective  tlic  proba- 
bility of  the  wily  Sfianiard  s  obtaining  from  the  English  monarch  poss^^ssion 
of  the  strong  places  in  question.  He  therefore  resolved  on  obtaining  their 
recovery;  and  his  great  care  was  to  pet  them  back  with  a  considerable  al>ate- 
ment  of  the  enomious  debt  for  which  they  stood  pledged,  and  which  now 
amounted  to  8,000,000  florins.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  the  states  should 
pay  in  full  of  the  demand  2,728,000  florins  (abtjut  £250,(XXJ),  l>eingaljout  onc»- 
third  of  the  debt.  Prince  Maurice  repaired  to  the  cautionary  towns  in  the 
month  of  June,  1616,  and  received  them  at  the  hantis  of  the  English  gov- 
ernors, the  garrisons  at  the  same  time  entering  into  the  service  of  the 
republic. 

The  accomplishment  of  thb  measure  afforded  the  highest  satisfaction  to 


HM  THE   HISTOEY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

the  United  Provinces.  It  caused  infinite  discontent  in  England;  and  James, 
with  the  common  injustice  of  men  who  make  a  bad  bargain  (even  thou^  its 
conditions  be  of  their  own  seeking,  and  suited  to  their  own  convenience) 
turned  his  own  self-dissatisfaction  into  bitter  hatred  against  him  whose  watch- 
ful integrity  had  successfully  laboiu^  for  his  country's  good.  Bameveld's 
leaning  towards  France  and  the  Arminians  filled  the  measure  of  James'  im- 
worthy  enmity.  Its  effects  were  soon  apparent,  on  the  arrival  at  the  Hague 
of  Carleton,  who  succeeded  Winwood  as  James'  ambassador.  The  haughty 
pretensions  of  this  diplomatist,  whose  attention  seemed  turned  to  theological 
disputes  rather  than  politics,  gave  great  disgust;  and  he  contributed  not  a 
little  to  the  persecution  which  led  to  the  tragical  end  of  Bameveld's  life. 
Frans  van  Aarssens,  son  to  him  who  proved  himself  so  incorruptible 
when  attempted  to  be  bribed  by  Neyen,  was  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  faction 
who  now  laboured  for  the  downfall  of  the  pensionary.  He  was  a  man  of 
infinite  dissimulation;  versed  in  all  the  intn^es  of  courts;  and  so  deep  in 
all  their  tortuous  tactics,  that  cardinal  Richelieu,  well  qualified  to  prize  that 
species  of  talent,  declared  that  he  knew  only  three  great  political  geniuses, 
of  whom  Francis  Aarssens  was  one. 

The  honorary  empire  of  the  seas  seems  at  this  time  to  have  been  success- 
fully claimed  by  the  United  Provinces:  they  paid  back  with  interest  the 
haughty  conduct  with  which  they  had  been  long  treated  by  the  English; 
and  they  refused  to  pay  the  fishery  duties  to  which  the  inhabitants  of  Great 
Britain  were  subject.  The  Dutch  sailors  had  even  the  temerity,  under  pre- 
text of  pursuing  pirates,  to  violate  the  British  territory :  they  set  fire  to  the 
town  of  Crooklmven,  in  Ireland,  and  massacred  several  of  the  inhabitants. 
King  James,  immersed  in  theological  studies,  appears  to  have  passed  lightly 
over  this  outrage.  But  he  took  fire  at  the  news  that  the  states  had  prohibited 
the  importation  of  cloth  dyed  and  dressed  in  England.  It  required  the  best 
exertion  of  Barneveld's  talents  to  pacify  him. 

The  influence  of  Prince  Maurice  had  gained  complete  success  for  the 
Calvinist  party,  in  its  various  titles  of  Gomarists,  non-remonstrants,  etc. 
The  audacity  and  violence  of  these  ferocious  sectarians  knew  no  bounds. 
Outrages,  too  many  to  enumerate,  became  common  through  the  country; 
and  Arminianism  was  on  all  sides  assailed  and  persecuted.  Bameveld  fre- 
quently appealed  to  Maurice  without  effect;  and  all  the  efforts  of  the  former 
to  obtain  justice  by  means  of  the  civil  authorities  were  paralysed  by  the 
inaction  in  which  the  prince  retained  the  military  force.  Schism  upon  schism 
was  the  consequence,  and  the  whole  country  was  reduced  to  that  state  of 
anarchy  so  favourable  to  the  designs  of  an  ambitious  soldier  already  in  the 
enjoyment  of  almost  absolute  power. 

All  efforts  were  subservient  to  the  one  grand  object  of  utterly  destroying, 
by  a  public  proscription,  the  whole  of  the  patriot  party,  now  identified  with 
^^minianism.  A  national  synod  was  loudly  clamoured  for  by  the  Gomarists 
in  spite  of  opposition  on  constitutional  grounds.  Uitenbogaard,  the  en- 
lightened pastor  and  friend  of  Maurice,  who  on  all  occasions  laboured  for  the 
general  good,  now  moderated,  as  much  as  possible,  the  violence  of  either 
party;  but  he  could  not  persuade  Bameveld  to  render  himself,  by  com- 
pliance, a  tacit  accomplice  in  a  measure  that  he  conceived  fraught  with 
violence  to  the  public  privileges.  He  had  an  inflexible  enemy  in  Carleton 
the  English  ambassador.  His  interference  carried  the  question;  and  it  was 
at  his  suggestion  that  Dordrecht,  or  Dort,  was  chosen  for  the  assembling  of 
the  synooT  Du  Maurier,  the  French  ambassador,  acted  on  all  occasions  as 
a  mediator.  / 


PRINCE   MAURICE    IN    POWER 


M7 


MAITRICE    versus    BARNEVELD.    OR    AUTOCRACTi*    VCTSUS    ARISTOCRACY 


To  recount  fully  the  feud  between  Holland's  most  eminent  politician 
and  her  most  eminent  soldier  would  require  a  further  explieation  of  fine 
religious  and  political  distinctions  than  Is  possible  In  this  work.  It  is  desirable 
however,  to  contradict  the  impression  given  by  many  historians,  tliat  Maurice 
was  altogether  a  self-seeking  tyrant  and  Bameveld  altogether  a  self-effacing 
patriot.  It  must  Ix*  remembered  always  that  Maurice  refustsi  the  crown  as 
positively  as  did  George  Washington,  and  that  Bameveld  was  not  only  a  man  of 
a  grasping  and  domineering  nature,  but  also  a  representative  of  the  aristocracy, 
not  of  the  populace.  The  populace  was  as  little  represcnt^tl  in  the  republic 
of  Holland  as  in  the  early  republic  of  Switzerlancl.  The  internal  contests 
in  both  came  about  from  the  nuitual  jealousies  of  states  and  cantons. 

Holland,  having  borne  more  tlmn  lialf  of  the  financial  and  other  burdens 
of  the  si*ven  provincivs,  liml  cfusily  maintained  control  in  tlnu^  of  war;  but 
with  peace  came  a  desire  for  equality  among  the  other  states,  and  a  corre- 
spondmg  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  Holland  to  relinquish  pre-eminence. 
The  ensuing  contest  lias  b(^en  well  likened  to  the  4iuarn'l  Ix'tween  the  doctrines 
of  states'  rights  and  of  centralisation  in  the  Umted  Stat-es  of  Anterica,  with 
this  modification  —  that  in  the  Netherlands  centralisation  meant  the  states- 
general  under  the  dominance  of  the  states  of  Holland.  As  Motley  *^  says  in 
his  biograpliy,  "The  states-general  were  virtually  John  of  Barneveld."  And 
Bameveld,  being  the  ativocate  of  Holland,  felt  a  deeper  concern  for  Holland 
than  for  the  entire  seven  provinces,  as  later  many  a  confederate  leader  felt 
a  heavier  duty  to  his  own  state  tlian  to  the  United  States. 

Involved  in  the  tangle  was  Barneveld's  strong  feeling  that  the  safety  of 
tlie  provinces  lay  in  the  friendship  of  France,  then  closely  allied  with  Spain. 
He  had  already  carried  through  his  Spanish  truce  in  spite  of  much  opposition; 
and  this  collusion  with  the  Cathohc  Spanish  sovereignty^  at  a  thne  of  great 
religious  bitterness,  led  many  to  believe  that  Barneveld  was  inclining  to 
revert  to  Spanish  tlomination  antl  was  even  in  Spanish  pay  —  a  cruelly  unjust 
accusation,  yet  one  that  was  honestly  believed  and  openly  averred.  Further- 
more, he  stood  for  the  eccentric  anil  unpopular  creed  of  n^ligious  tolerance; 
he  wore  an  agnostic  motto,  "To  know  nothing  is  the  safest  creed,"  and  he 
leane<i  towards  the  Arminifui  minority. 

Prince  Maurice,  for  his  part,  felt  that  he  had  many  a  just  grievance. 
During  the  war  he  had  been  coust^itly  hampered  by  tlie  states-general,  who 
disgusted  him  with  their  inexpert  advice  and  comjielkd  hira  to  mancBU- 
vres  that  often  risked  his  whole  campaign.  The  truce  with  Spain,  at  a 
time  when  he  felt  himself  cai)able  of  imposing  a  far  more  a4ivantageous 
treaty,  had  provoked  his  vain  opposition.  The  end  of  war  had  removed  him 
from  the  field  of  glory  and  the  focus  of  European  achniration.  Now,  Maurice 
was  the  direct  descendant  of  an  emperor.  His  father  had  been  called  the 
"father  of  his  country."  He  had  be<^n  repeatedly  offered  the  crown.  Yet 
the  son,  Maurice,  had  won  brilliant  \ictories  where  William  the  Silent  had 
been  able  only  to  manipulate  defeat  after  defeat.  If  William  of  Orange  had 
deserved  the  crown,  Maurice  of  Orange  deserved  it.  He  would  not  have 
taken  it,  he  saitl;  and  when  the  opportunity  came,  and  his  friends  recom- 
mended this  step,  he  forbore.  Lat^r,  it  was  indeed  his  bitterest  charge 
against  Bameveld  that  the  advocate  had  accused  him  of  seeking  the  crown. 
But,  none  the  less,  he  felt  that  he  deserved  a  foremost  place  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  and  it  irritated  him  to  ^d  himself  constant^  over- 


558 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 


reached  by  Bameveld.  His  acts  became  more  and  more  dictatorial;  but, 
for  the  matter  of  that,  Bameveld  was  similarly  dictatorial,  and  if  Maurice 
made  use  of  the  troops  he  had  led  to  such  prestige,  Bameveld  enrolled  other 
troops,  the  Waardgelders,  against  them. 

If  Maurice  sought  to  increase  his  own  power,  similarly  Bameveld  soizght 
both  to  crush  the  other  states  imder  the  sway  of  Holland  and  to  insist  upon 
the  non-interference  of  the  other  states  in  the  affairs  of  Holland.  Maurice 
came  gradually  to  represent  the  anti-Holland  party  and  the  anti-Bameveld 
faction.  He  began  to  gain  away  Bameveld's  majority  in  the  states-general, 
leaving  him  only  the  Holland  delegation,  and  not  all  of  that. 

The  intense  religious  disputes  brought  this  duel  between  two  ambitious 

politicians  to  that  fanatic  length 
whither  religious  disputes  usually 
tend.  The  states-general,  under  Bar- 
neveld's  strong  control,  had  at  first 
sought  to  allay  the  fever  of  the  CSlo- 
marists  or  Calvin  ists,  but  had  only 
infuriated  them  by  this  "interfer- 
ence" of  the  state  in  the  solemn 
doctrines  of  the  chiu-ch.  Bameveld 
thus  became  an  object  of  hatred  to 
the  other  states  of  the  union  and  to 
the  majority  of  religious  enthusiasts. 
But  Maurice  gradually  inclined  to  the 
Calvinist  side,  and  foimd  himself 
heading  the  mass  of  the  public  in  the 
resistance  to  Bameveld.  Maurice  was 
distinctly  the  leader  of  the  populace. 
These  statements  are  not  meant 
as  palliation  of  the  cruel  excesses  to 
which  Maurice  afterward  drifted,  but 
only  as  an  offset  to  the  imjudicial 
tendency  to  make  an  ideal  martyr 
of  the  splendid  but  domineering 
Bameveld,  and  a  complete  villain 
of  the  illustrious  warrior.  Bameveld  was  undoubtedly  the  larger-minded, 
the  wiser,  and  nobler  of  the  two  men,  and,  above  all,  he  stood  for  religious 
toleration.  He  was,  as  Motley  <^  said,  "  the  prime  minister  of  Protestantism." 
But  he  also  was  human,  and  the  pity  for  his  fate  should  not  lead  to  a  mis- 
judgment  of  his  historical  meaning. 

As  Blok«  admits,  "Rarely  has  any  state  government  been  so  complicated 
as  was  that  of  the  young  commonwealth  in  its  early  years  of  acknowledged 
independence."  The  union  was  rather  adhesive  than  cohesive,  its  elements 
being  unlike  in  almost  every  way:  Holland  and  Zealand  were  countships; 
Gelderland  was  a  duchy;  Sticht  was  a  bishopric;  Utrecht  was  more  nearly 
democratic.  Then  there  were  the  ancient  privileges  to  which  individual 
cities  clung,  as  dearer  than  life. 

A  strong  central  power  was  lacking.*    There  was  a  council  of  state,  but 


Philippe  Ditplessis-Mohnay 
(1549-1B23) 


[1  Was  tbe  supreme  power  of  the  union,  created  at  Utrecht  in  1579,  vested  in  the  states- 
general?  They  were  beginning  theoretically  to  claim  it,  but  Barneveld  denied  the  existence  of 
any  such  power  either  in  law  or  fact.  It  was  a  league  of  sovereignties,  he  maintained  ;  a  con- 
federacy of  seven  independent  states,  united  for  certain  purposes  by  a  treaty  made  some  thirty 
years  before.     Nothing  could  be  more  imbecile,  judging  by  the  light  of  subsequent  events  and 


PRINCE   MAURICE    IN    POWER 


S5Q 


I 

I 

I 

i 


statos-^ncral  di.simtcd  its  rij^lit  to  authority,  and  limitof!  its  prerogatives 
more  anil  more.  The  state.s-genoral  was  a  collogt*  of  (i(»puties  fnjni  tlie  seven 
provinces,  which  called  themselves  "sovereign  powers."  The  number  of 
representatives  from  each  province  was  not  regulated  by  any  uniform  law, 
nor  was  their  term  of  offic-e.  The  deputies  had  assumed  almast  no  responsi- 
bilities; they  wished  to  be  instructei.1  from  liome  on  every  point.  The  laws 
they  made  must  \ye  proclaimed  by  the  separate  provincial  stat<^'S,  each  in  its 
own  province;   and  disagreement  between  these  two  groups  was  constant. 

The  office  of  governor  or  stadholder  was  really  an  anuchronisni,  Maurice 
having  been  elected  solely  as  a  counterweight  to  the  grasping  Leicester. 
Now  he  was  stadholder  in  five  of  the  provinces,  and  his  cousin  William  Louis 
of  Nassau  in  the  other  two.     Owing 
to   the   fact    that   the   stadholder 
Maurice  happened  to  have  Ijecome 
also  the  prince  of  Orange,  his  pow- 
era  were  enlarged  into  nearly  royal 
tlignities;  he  was  furthermore  finan- 
cially independent,  and  he  hail  the 
sup|)()rt  of  the  givnt  iiwlss  of  [w*ople, 
who,  though  they  cheerfully  ignored 
any  rights  to  suffrage,  were  yet  of 
inevitably  great  weight  in  carrying 
any  policy  to  success. 

Tlie  shapelessnoss  and  disunity 
of  the  government  were  recognistnl, 
but  no  remedy  coulil  be  agreed 
upon.  A  union  uniler  a  countsship 
had  been  suggested,  but  Maurice 
said  lie  woulil  rather  throw  himself 
from  the  tower  at  the  Hague  than 
accept  so  limited  a  sovereignty  as 
had  oeen  offered  to  his  father;  and 
the  majority  was  not  inclined  to 
relinciuish  the  liniitntions.  The  city 
of  Utrecht^  however,  was  prey  to 
various  disturbances  in  1(»H)  and  so 

strongly  inclined  to  uplift  Maurice  to  the  sovereignty  that  a  civil  war 
threatened;  but  the  states-general  under  Barneveld'a  leadership  managed 
to  repress  the  movement. 

Next  the  Arminian  and  Gonmrist  religious  war  broke  out;  and  Rarneveld, 
fearhig  a  renewal  of  the  church  disturbances  of  Leicester's  time,  felt  that 
only  vigorous  action  by  the  states-general  cfaild  avert  serious  trouble.  He 
declared  it  to  Ix*  Ix^tter  to  be  ruled  by  a  lord  than  by  a  mob,  though  he  etjually 
abhorred  hierarchy,  monarchy,  and  demixTacy.  He  vnnKl  little  about  creeils, 
but  he  cared  much  about  peace.    The  states  forbade  the  Gomarist  or  counter- 

tfae  experience  of  centuries,  than  »ucb  an  organisation.  Yet  it  waHdUHcult  to  hIiow  xuiy  charter. 
pnwedent,  or  prescription  for  tlifi  sovereignly  of  tin*  stateA-general.     NecewHary  as  hucIi  an  liiror 


Jakoblth  Ahminids 
(l&mi-imiv) 


P>ration  was  for  the  very  exisieoc*  of  tbe  union,  no  coDstitutional  union  bad  evar  l>een  enacted, 
ractically  tbe  province  of  Holland,   representinff  m< 
and  intellect  of  tlic  whole  confederation,  uad 


'ractically  tbe  province  of  Holland,  representinff  more  than  half  tbe  population,  wealth, 
vtrengtb,  and  intellect  of  the  whole  confederation,  uad  achieved  an  irregular  »upreuiacy  in  the 
states-general.  But  its  undeniable  Kuperiority  was  now  cauiiin^arank  ^^rowtb  of  envy,  hatred, 
and  jealousy  throughout  tlie  country,  and  the  great  Adv«Hr&ti;  of  Holland,  who  wan  idt>ntified 
with  the  province,  mid  bad  bo  lung  wielded  its  power,  was  beginning  to  reap  tbe  full  harveut  of 
that  malice,  —  Mi>tlky.*'J 


560  THE  HISTOBY   OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

[16U-lSt8l.DL] 

remonstrant  i^od,  repressed  the  violence  of  preachers,  and  sought  to  gain 
control  over  church  administration  by  reviving  an  ordinance  of  1591. 

This  provoked  such  fierce  opposition  that  Bameveld,  Grotius,  and  others 
felt  that  military  repression  of  the  mob's  intolerance  for  the  Amninians  would 
be  needed.  But  where  was  it  to  be  found?  Not  among  the  militia,  because 
the  populace  was  generally  in  favour  of  the  counter-remonstrants.  Not  in 
the  army,  for  Prince  Maurice  had  been  gradually  driven  to  take  a  counter- 
remonstrant  stand,  though  at  first  he  had  decbned  to  meddle  in  theology 
and  declared  that  he  "  knew  nothing  of  predestination  whether  it  were  green 
or  blue.  He  only  knew  that  his  flute  and  Bameveld's  were  not  likely  to 
make  music  together." 

Frans  van  Aarssens  and  others  called  loudly  on  Maurice  to  protect  the 
church  from  Arminian  heresy  and  from  Barneveld.  It  was  the  latter  word 
that  decided  him,  for  he  seems  honestly  to  have  believed  that  Bameveld 
was  intriguing  with  France,  Spain,  and  the  archdukes,  and  was  in  their  pay. 
When,  then,  Bameveld,  on  February  23rd,  1616,  asked  him  to  help  the  stated- 
general  to  discipline  the  churchmen,  he  refused  and  demanded  that  a  synod 
be  called. 

The  turmoil  grew  more  furious,  and  Barneveld  seems  to  have  tried  to 
persuade  the  states  of  Holland  even  to  offer  Maurice  the  countship  for  his 
support;  this  step  they  refused.  Yet  something  must  be  done,  he  felt,  to 
maintain  their  authority.  In  despair  he  proposed  that  force  should  be  em- 
ployed and  that  four  thousand  mercenaries,  or  Waardgelders,  be  recruited 
by  the  magistrates  of  the  towns  for  independent  action.  This  meant  to 
bring  matters  to  a  crisis  and  Maurice  to  open  opposition.  It  was  a  desperate 
step  and  against  a  large  majority  with  which  Maurice  allied  himself  more  and 
more  definitely.  Bameveld  found  the  states  of  Holland  more  and  more  timid 
of  solving  the  question  of  church  gpvemment  as  definitely  as  he  wished. 
The  city  of  Amsterdam  was  openly  opposed  to  him.  The  states-general 
showed  a  majority  against  him. 

The  counter-remonstrants  seized  a  church,  August  5th,  1617.  In  rebuke 
of  this,  Barneveld  managed  to  put  through  the  states  of  Holland  the  so-called 
Sharp  Resolution  {Scherpe  Resolutie)  declaring  the  supremacy  of  the  states 
in  church  matters,  refusing  to  call  any  synod  to  debate  matters  in  the  province 
of  the  states,  empowering  the  levy  of  Waardgelders  to  quell  disturbance, 
and  calling  on  all  officials  and  all  officers  and  soldiers  to  take  an  immediate 
oath  of  ol^dience  to  the  states  on  pain  of  dismissal.  Several  towns  accord- 
ingly enlisted  bodies  of  Waardgelders,  and  administered  the  oath  of  obe- 
dience. 

This  brought  Maurice  to  the  forefront  of  the  opposition.  He  carried 
through  the  states-general  a  motion  forbidding  the  states  of  Holland  to  demand 
the  oath ;  they  then  withdrew  the  clause  concerning  the  oath,  but  the  levy  of 
troops  went  on.  Now,  Holland  found  herself  without  allies  except  Utrecht, 
and  not  agreed  within  her  own  bounds.  The  storm  of  pamphlets  and  orations 
against  Barneveld  left  no  part  of  his  career,  origin,  or  family  unscathed,  and 
finally  drove  him  to  publish  an  eloquent  review  of  his  life,  a  RemonstrarUie, 
appealing  to  Maurice  to  recognise  his  fidelity  to  the  nation. 

But,  m  spite  of  Bameveld,  the  states-general  declared  that  the  national 
synod  of  churchmen  should  be  called  to  solve  the  problems  which  Bameveld 
believed  to  belong  to  state  jurisdiction  and  to  take  measures  for  deciding 
what  and  what  only  could  be  believed  and  preached  in  the  Netherlands. 
July  9th,  1619,  the  states-general  demanded  the  disbandment  of  the  Waard- 
gelders of  Utrecht.    They  now  sent  the  prince  and  others  with  troops  to  cany 


PRINCE   MAUBICE    IN    POWER  561 

[1618  A.D.] 

out  the  order.  Holland  sent  emissaries,  Hugo  Grotius  among  them,  to  per- 
suade Utrecht  to  resist.  Maurice  prevaile<l,  the  Utrecht  niercenarie.s  were 
disbanded,  and  disarmed ;  the  municipal  officers  took  flight,  and  were  replaced 
by  counter-remonstrants  chosen  for  life.  Briel  liad  been  similarly  reduced. 
Holland  was  to  be  disarmed  next;  but  ei^ht  cities  declared  that  they 
would  retain  their  Wuardgeldcrs  in  spite  of  Maurice  and  as  a  protection  against 
him.  Bameveld  and  others  begged  the  prince  not  to  use  force.  He  refused 
to  grant  the  request.  The  mercenaries  were  ordered  to  disband.  In  spite 
of  their  early  bravado,  they  dispersed,  and  the  threatened  opi>0Hitiati  did 
not  materialise,  for  Barneveld  refused  to  put  himself  at  its  head  and  begin  a 
civil  war.    He  was  warned  then  to  take  flight.    This  counsel  also  he  refused."* 


THE   ARREST  OF   BARNEVELD 


I 

I 


On  August  18th,  1618,  Barneveld  proceeded  to  the  assembly  of  the  states 
of  Hallan(l.  A  messenger  informed  him  that  the  prince  desired  to  speak 
with  him.  He  accordingly  went  into  the  chamber  where  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  hold  tlieir  coiuerences^  and  was  immediately  arrested  by  Nythof, 
lieutenant  of  the  prince's  bodyguard,  in  the  name  of  the  states-general. 
The  same  pretence  was  used  towards  Grotius  and  Hoogerbeets,  who  were  in 
like  manner  seized  and  conducted  to  separate  apartment^s,  each  in  ignorance 
of  what  had  happened  to  the  others.  To  thase  was  afterwards  added  Leden- 
berg,  secretary  of  the  states  of  Utrecht.^  Uit^nbogaard  fortunately  effected 
his  escape  to  Antwerp,  where  he  continued  during  the  remainder  of  the 
truce. 

Although  the  arrest  had  l)een  made  in  the  name  of  the  states^neral,  it 
had  never  been  proposed  in  that  assembly,  but  was  resolvwl  on  by  those 
members  only  who  had  accompanied  Maurice  to  Utrecht,  and  executed  by 
order  of  the  prince  himself.  Bameveld,  moreover,  wan  under  the  esj^ecial 
protection  of  the  states  of  Holland;  and  the  two  others  as  pensionaries  of 
Rotterdam  anti  Leyden  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  those  towns,  or  the 
court  of  Holland  only;  nor  could  they  be  legally  arrested  at  all,  unless  /ia- 
grante  delicto,  without  a  previous  complaint  made  to  the  municipal  govern- 
ments. 

Violent  and  arbitrary  as  the  arrest  was,  however,  the  states-general 
signified  their  approval  of  it.  The  states  of  Holland  unliCtsitatingly  ex- 
pressed their  surprise  that  a  matter  of  such  importance  should  have  been 
resolved  on  and  executed  without  their  consent,  or  even  knowledge,  and 
demantled  in  strong  terms  satisfaction  for  the  injury  they  had  sustamed  by 
a  proceeding  so  derogatory  to  the  privileges  and  liberty  of  the  province. 

The  remonstrance  of  the  majority,  accordingly,  had  but  little  weight  with 
the  prince,  who  roplie<l  that  what  had  been  done  was  by  the  command  of 
the  states-general,  with  whom  the  province  of  Holland  must  arrange  the 
matter  of  tneir  jurisdiction.  Similar  applications  from  Rotterdam  and  Ley- 
den met  with  a  like  reception.  The  sons-in-law  of  Bameveld,  the  lords  of 
Van  der  Myle,  and  Vocnhuizen,  with  his  son,  the  lord  of  Groeneveld,  having 
besought  the  prince  that  their  father,  in  consideration  of  his  age  and  infirmity, 
might  be  allowed  his  own  house  as  a  prison,  he  tlirew  this  likewise  upon  the 

'  It  w&fl  sappoaed  bjr  many  persona  that  the  ambawtador  Carleton  was  a  party  to  this 
transacUon,  from  the  circuuiHtance  of  bis  having  arrived  at  the  Hague  the  evening  before  from 
England,  and  having  continued  till  a  late  hour  of  the  night  in  convenution  with  the  prince  ot 
Orange. 

H.  w.  —  YOU  xm.  So 


5(»  THE   HISTOBY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

states-general,  saying  that  it  was  their  business  alone.     He  added  that  their 
father  should  suffer  no  more  harm  than  himself.* 

Maurice  now  repaired  at  the  head  of  hie  body-guard  of  three  hundred 
troope,  first  to  Schoonhoven,  where  he  discharged  the  magistrates  from  their 
oaths,  and  deposed  all  those  members  of  the  great  council  who  had  recom- 
mended  toleration  in  religious  matters,  filling  their  places  with  the  most 
violent  of  the  counter-remonstrants.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  effect  a  similar 
change  in  Briel,  Delft,  and  other  places,  which,  the  garrisons  being  favourable 

to  him,  offered  not  the 
slightest  resistance.  The 
governments  of  Haarlem, 
Leyden,  and  Rotterdam 
soon  after  shared  a  like  fate 
with  the  rest,  and  Amster- 
dam itself,  whicli,  though 
conspicuous  on  the  side  of 
the  counter-remonstrants, 
had  only  been  so  in  conse- 
quence of  a  small  majority 
in  the  council,  underwent  a 
similar  change. 

On  intelligence  of  the 
arrest  of  Bameveld,  Louis 
XIII  of  France  com- 
manded Boissize,  his  am- 
bassador extraoniinarj'  to 
the  states-general,  in  con- 
junction with  Du  Maimer, 
to  use  his  utmost  efforts 
towards  preventing  them, 
if  possible,  from  proceeding 
to  extremities  against  the 
prisoners,  and  to  offer  his 
mediation  in  appeasing  the 
present  discontents.  The 
states-general  made  answer 
that  the  country  was  in  no 
such  danger  as  had  been 
falsely  represented  to  \he 
king;  that  the  prince  of 
Orange  had,  by  mild  measures,  and  without  tumult  or  bloodshwl,  remedied 
the  (fisorders  that  had  arisen  in  the  civil  constitution,  and  that  those  which 
infected  the  church  would  be  appeased  by  the  synod  which  was  shortly  to  be 
held  at  Dordrecht. 


JAH  TAir  OU>m-BARHKT>LD 

( 1 549-1691 > 


THE  SYNOD  OF  DOHT  (OR  DORDRECHT) 

This  measure  had  since  the  consent  of  Holland  encountered  no  further 
difficulty.     As  a  preliminar>',  it  was  necessary  that  provincial  s}Tiods  should 

*  It  !a  evideat  from  the  letters  of  tliis  period  thftt  oonRiderable  peraaasioD,  and  even  impor* 
tnnity,  wu  neoessary  to  engace  Mauric«  to  adopt  the  uncontttitutional  measures  be  was  hurried 
into ;  the  ministers  of  the  church,  and  the  English  ambassador,  Carleton,  made  themjulvw 
pwtiooUrlj  actiTfl. 


I 

I 


I 

I 


PRINCE   MAURICE   IN   POWER 

[1B18  A.V.1 

be  held,  for  the  purpose  of  appointing  delegates  to  the  assembly,  which  was 
fixed  for  the  8th  of  November.  To  secure  the  majority  in  these  synods  was 
a  measure  of  vital  importance  to  the  counter-remonstrants,  and  they  ac- 
cordingly employed  every  means  they  could  devise  to  this  end.  The  foreign 
churches  that  had  been  invited  to  commission  delegates  to  the  synod  all 
complied  with  the  retjuest,  except  the  Reformed  church  of  France,  whose 
delegates  were  forbidden  by  the  king  to  repair  thither.  At  the  head  of 
those  appointed  by  King  James  was  George  Carleton,  bishop  of  Llandaff. 

On  the  13th  of  November,  this  renownctl  assembly  held  its  first  meeting 
at  Dordrecht,  in  the  house  called  the  "Doel,"  a  building  and  yard  set  apart 
in  the  Dutch  towns  for  the  military  exercises  of  the  schuttery.  The  number 
of  ecclesiastical  delegates  from  the  provinces  amounted  to  thirty-eight  min- 
isters, twenty  elders,  and  five  professors  of  theology;  to  these  were  added 
eighteen  "f>olitical  commissioners,"  or  deputies  from  the  states-general.  The 
whole  number  of  delegates  sent  by  the  different  foreipi  churches  was  twenty- 
eight,  so  that  the  native  members,  being  in  consuierable  majority,  were 
enabled  to  outvote  them  whenever  it  might  be  found  expedient. 

The  remonstrants,  on  the  opening  oT  the  synod,  demanded  that  they 
might  send  deputies  under  a  safe  conduct,  to  be  present  a-s  parties,  who  should 
be  permitted  to  defend  their  opinions  in  any  manner  they  thought  best. 
The  political  commissioners,  however,  determined  that  they  could  not  recog- 
nise any  other  body  in  the  Netherland  church  than  that  which  was  repre- 
sented by  the  synod,  antl  that  the  remonstrants  were  to  be  heartl  in  no  other 
way  thaii  in  answer  to  a  citation  issued  to  those  among  them  whom  the 
assembly  itself  should  choose.  The  syno<l  accordingly  issued  citations  to 
thirteen  ministers  of  that  party. 

During  the  time  that  mtervened  before  the  cited  parties  could  appear, 
the  question  was  discussed  of  a  new  and  accurate  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  the  Dutch  language;  work  l>egun  in  pursuance  of  an  onler  of  the  states 
in  1594,  by  Philip  vmi  Miirnix,  lord  of  Sainte-Aldeg<m(le,  who  tlied  before  it 
was  finished.  Six  theologians  of  eminent  learning  were  now  appointed  to 
this  task,  who  applied  themselves  to  its  execution  wuth  sedulous  care  and 
diligence,  and  their  version  has  accordingly  been  held  in  high  esteem  by 
posterity.  Finally,  the  expulsion  of  the  remonstrants,  in  which  act  not  a 
third  of  the  synal  participated,  was  approved  of  by  a  decree  of  the  states- 
general. 

The  canons,  consisting  of  the  refutation  and  condenmation  of  the  opinions 
of  the  remonstrants  on  the  ^ve  articles,  and  an  exposition  of  the  doctrines 
held  to  be  orthodox  by  the  synod,  laid  down  that  "Gwl  has  pre-ordaine<l,  by 
an  eternal  and  immutable  decree,  Wore  the  creation  of  the  world,  upon 
whom  he  will  bestow  the  free  gift  of  his  grace;  that  the  atonement  of  Christ, 
though  sufficient  for  all  the  world,  is  efficacious  only  for  the  elect;  that  con- 
version is  not  effected  by  any  effort  of  man,  but  by  the  free  grace  of  God 
given  to  those  only  whom  he  has  chosen  from  all  eternity;  and  that  it  is 
impossible  for  the  elect  to  fall  away  from  this  grace." 

The  canons  having  been  read  and  approved  of,  the  137th  and  138th 
sessions  were  occupied  in  passing  judgment  on  the  jxTsons  of  the  remon- 
strants who  had  been  cited.  They  were  pronounced  innovators,  and  dis- 
turbers of  the  church  and  nation;  obstinate  and  rebellious;  leaders  of  faction, 
teachers  of  false  doctrine,  and  workers  of  schism;  and  deprived  of  their 
offices,  both  ecclesiastical  and  academical,  till  such  time  as  they  had  satisfied 
the  churches  with  evident  signs  of  repentance;  which  sentence  was  subse- 
quently confirmed  by  a  decree  of  the  states-general.    Sentence  of  condemna- 


564  THE  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NETHEBLANDS 

tion  was  passed  upon  Vorstius  and  his  doctrine:  the  fonner  being  declared 
unfit  to  serve  the  office  of  preacher  and  minister  in  the  Beformed  church; 
the  latter,  impious,  blasphemous,  and. such  as  should  be  rooted  out  mth 
abhorrence.  He  was  banished  from  the  United  Provinces  on  pain  of  death. 
Thus  terminated  this  celebrated  synod  with  the  180th  session,  after  hain^ 
been  assembled  more  than  seven  months,  at  a  cost  to  the  state  of  1,000,000 
guilders  [or  £100,0001;  and  which,  by  some,  has  been  looked  up  to  with 
reverence  as  an  assembly  of  learned  and  pious  divines,  whose  decrees  were 
inferior  in  purity  and  excellence  of  doctrine  only  to  Scripture  itself;  while 
by  others  it  has  been  regarded  as  a  meeting  of  bigoted  polemics,  whose  pro- 
ceedings aimed  rather  at  the  discomfiture  and  mortification  of  their  antag- 
onists than  the  discovery  and  promulgation  of  truth.  Without  subscribing 
to  either  of  these  opinions,  we  may  observe  that,  exhibiting  little  of  the 
Christian  spirit  of  forbearance,  the  synod  proposed  no  one  single  measure  of 
tolei:ation  or  of  conciliation,  nor  devised  any  other  mode  of  putting  an  end 
to  the  divisions  of  the  church,  than  the  entire  oppression  of  the  weaker  party; 
and  that,  instead  of  tending  to  unite  the  different  sects  upon  the  conunon 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  it  promulgated  opinions  of  such  an  extreme 
tendency  as  to  cause  a  still  wider  alienation  between  the  Lutherans  and 
Calvinists;  an  alienation  of  which  the  consequences  were,  perhaps,  more 
severely  felt  in  the  course  of  after  events  than  is  commonly  supposed.^ 

THE  TRIAL  OF  BARNEVELD 

The  resolute  spirit  displayed  by  the  remonstrants  at  the  synod  contributed, 
with  some  disturbances  which  occurred  at  Alkmaar  and  doom,  to  exercise 
a  sinister  influence  on  the  destiny  of  the  prisoners  of  state,  the  career  of  one 
of  whom  was  now  drawing  fast  to  a  close.  From  the  period  of  their  arrest 
they  had,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  law  of  Holland,  whereby  persons 
accused  of  a  capital  crime  are  to  be  tried  within  six  weeks  of  their  arrest, 
been  detained  three  months  without  examination,  in  order  that  the  change 
of  the  deputies  of  Holland,  both  in  the  states  of  that  province  and  the  states- 
general,  might  ensure  an  appointment  of  judges  by  the  latter  entirely  adverse 
to  them.  During  this  time  Bameveld,  now  past  seventy  years  of  age,  had 
been  closely  confined  in  the  room  which  had  served  as  a  prison  for  the  Spanish 
commander  Mendoza,  after  the  battle  of  Nieuport;  and,  besides  being  sub^ 
jected  to  every  petty  indignity  that  malice  could  invent,  was  debarred  the 
sight  of  his  wife  and  children,  and  deprived  of  the  use  of  pen,  ink,  and  paper, 
as  were  also  the  other  two  captives. 

On  the  assembly  of  the  newly-organised  states  of  Holland,  they  allowed 
the  states-general  and  prince  of  Orange  to  usurp,  without  opposition,  that 

[*  Gratt&n/thua  vigorously  sums  it  up:  "TheolojEry  was  mystified;  religion  disgraced; 
Chri8tianity  outraged.  And  after  six  months'  display  of  ferocity  and  fraud,  the  solemn  mockery 
was  closed  by  the  declaration  of  its  president  that  its  miraculous  labours  had  made  hell  tremble. 
Proscriptions,  banishments,  and  death  wero  the  natural  consequences  of  this  synod.  The 
divisions  which  it  had  professed  to  extinguiHh  wero  rendered  a  thousand  times  more  violeat 
than  before.  Its  decrees  did  incalculable  ill  to  the  cause  they  were  meant  to  promote.  The 
Anglican  church  was  the  first  to  reject  the  canons  of  Dort  with  horror  and  contmnpt.  The 
Protestants  of  France  and  Germany,  and  even  Geneva,  the  nurse  and  guardian  of  Calvinism, 
were  shocked  and  disgusted,  and  unanimously  softened  down  the  rigour  of  their  respective 
creeds.  But  the  moral  effects  of  this  memorable  conclave  were  too  remote  to  prevent  the  sacri- 
fice which  almost  immediately  followed  the  celebration  of  its  rites.  A  trial  by  twenty-four 
prejudiced  enemies,  by  courtesy  called  judges,  which  in  its  progress  and  its  result  throws  judi- 
cial dignity  into  scorn,  ended  in  the  condemnation  of  i^rneveld  and  his  fellow  patriots  for 
treason  against  the  liberties  they  had  vainly  laboured  to  save."] 


• 


PBINCE   MAURICE   I^   POWER  565 

authority  over  the  prisoners  which  belonged  to  themselves  alone;  and  these, 
with  equally  little  scruple,  superseded  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice  by  the 
institution  of  a  commission  of  mquirj',  of  which,  besides  the  attorneys-general 
of  Utrecht  and  Gelderland,  Pieter  van  Leeuwen  and  Lawrence  Sylla,  most 
of  the  members  had  been  deputies  to  Utrecht  on  the  occasion  of  the  dis- 
banding of  the  Waardgeldors,  and  the  whole  had  rendered  themselves  con- 
spicuous by  their  implacable  hostility  to  Barneveld  in  particular.  These 
persons  exercised  their  functions  with  an  injustice  and  severity  unequalled 
even  in  the  trials  of  the  counts  of  Egmont  and  Horn,  under  the  govenunent 
of  Alva.  Barneveld  was  subjectecl  to  twenty-three  examinations,  during 
which  he  was  neither  allowed  to  take  down  the  questions  in  writing,  to  make 
memoranda  of  his  answers,  nor  to  refer  to  notes;  the  interrogatories  were  not 
confined  to  any  definite  period,  but  cxtendwl  over  his  whole  public  liie,  no 
effort  being  spared  to  involve  liim  in  those  coalradictions  which,  from  decay 
of  memory,  or  confusion  of  dates,  mi^ht  easily  occur.  Ledenberg,  secretary 
of  the  states  of  Utrecht,  was  so  terrified  by  the  menaces  of  torture  wliich 
they  used,  that,  dreading  lest  he  might  Ik*  forcx'd  by  such  means  to  make 
any  a<.lmission  detrimental  to  his  friends,  he  committed  suicide  in  prison. 

As  the  commission  was  not  invested  with  judicial  powers,  the  states- 
general,  aft4:?r  the  conclusion  of  the  examinations,  apjKjintcd  twenty-four 
judges,  half  the  number  only  being  Hollanders,  an  appoiutnient  illegal  alike 
m  its  origin  and  constitution.  By  this  court  Barneveld  was,  after  forty- 
eight  interrogatories,  found  guilty,  and  condemned  to  death  upon  the  fallow- 
ing accusations  aiTioiig  others:  that  he  had  disturbed  tlie  peace  of  religion, 
and  maintained  the  exorbitant  and  pernicious  maxim  that  the  sovereignty 
belonge(J  t-o  each  province  over  its  o^\•n  ecclesiastical  matters;  that  he  had 
dictated  the  protest  of  HoI[an<l,  Utrecht,  and  Overyssel  against  the  acts  of  the 
states-general;  that  he  hud  o|ipiis(?d  the  application  nf  any  remedies  to  the 
disorders  in  the  Church  and  State;  that  he  ha<l  encouraged  disunion  and  dis- 
orders in  the  pro\inces,  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  a  faction,  and  had 
held  separate  assemblies  of  deputies  from  eigtit  of  the  towTis  of  Holland 
devote  to  his  intei*ests;  that  in  these  assemblies  the  "severe  edict''  was  re- 
solved on,  whereby  the  authority  of  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice  was  sus- 
pended; that  he  was  one  of  the  principal  promoters  of  the  levy  of  the  Waard- 
gelders;  that  he  had  degrade<l  the  character  of  the  prince  of  Orange  by  his 
calumnies,  accusing  him  of  aiming  at  the  sovereignty  of  the  provinces:  that 
he  had  attempted  to  seduce  the  regular  troops  from  their  allegiance  to  the 
states-general;  that  he  had  received  divers  large  sums  of  money  from  foreign 
princes,  without  giving  d\ie  information  thereof;  and  that  lie  had  squandered 
the  finances  of  the  coimtry,  aiifl  createil  general  distrust  among  the  inhabitants 
and  allies  of  the  provinces. 

With  rpsix*ct  to  some  of  these  charges,  such  a.s  placing  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  faction,  introducing  his  friends  into  public  offices  and  the  like,  it  will  be 
observed  that  similar  imputations  may  be  made  at  any  time  against  any 
distinguished  member  of  a  party  in  a  free  state,  and  certainly  could  never 
form  the  groimd  of  a  criminal  accusation.  The  "exorbitant  and  pernicious 
maxim,"  that  each  province  retained  its  sovereignty  with  regard  to  religious 
matters,  was  a  principle  acted  upon  from  the  commencement  of  the  revolt 
of  Hollanil,  without  which  the  Pacification  of  Ghent,  in  1676,  between  the 
Reformed  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  and  the  Catholic  ones  of  Bra- 
bant and  Flanders,  never  could  have  been  effected,  and  which  was  expressly 
laid  down  in  the  exfK)sition  of  the  thirteenth  article  of  the  Union  of  Utrecht. 

The  ouly  capital  charge,  that  of  entertaining  a  correspondence  with  Spain, 


566  .    THE  HISTOEY  OF  THE  NETHEBLAl^S 

[1619  A.II.] 

which  before  his  trial  had  been  so  long  and  so  vehemently  insisted  on  by  his 
enemies,  was  entirely  abandoned.  This  accusation  the  court  of  inquiry  bad 
taken  the  utmostpains  to  prove,  even  goin^  so  far  as  to  use  alternate  threats 
and  promises  to  Grotius  in  order  to  force  hmi  to  say  something  in  confirma- 
tion of  it,  but  had  wholly  failed.  The  statea-^neral,  aware  of  tJbeqoubt  that  the 
entire  innocence  of  the  prisoner  on  the  principal  chaxge  would  tend  to  throw  on 
his  guilt  with  respect  to  the  whole  —  which,  moreover,  had  he  been  guilty  and 
responsible  for  all  the  acts  contained  therein,  would,  neither  separately  nor 
toother,  have  constituted  treason — issued  a  manifesto  to  the  several  prov- 
inces, declaring  that  many  other  crimes  were  laid  to  his  charge,  which  could 
not  be  proved  without  stricter  examination,  such  as  the  great  a^  of  the  pris- 
oner rendered  inadvisable;  by  which  was  understood  the  application  of  the 
tortin^.  It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  imagine  why  the  same  consideration  for  his 
age  which  prevented  the  judges  from  adopting  measures  to  prove  his  crime, 
should  not  nave  prevailed  to  deter  them  from  condemning  him  wiUiout  proof. 

THE  EXECUTION  OF  BARNEVELD   (1619) 

On  the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  12th  of  May,  Pieter  van  Leeuwen  and 
Lawrence  Sylla,  two  of  the  judges,  entered  the  prison  of  B^eveld,  for  the 
purpose  of  summoning  him  the  next  morning  to  receive  sentence  of  death. 
"Sentence  of  death,"  exclaimed  the  aged  patriot;  "sentence  of  death!  I 
did  not  expect  that."  He  then  asked  permission  to  write  a  farewell  letter 
to  his  wife.  While  Leeuwen  was  gone  to  make  his  request  known  to  the 
states,  he  said  to  the  attorney-general  of  Gelderland,  "Sylla,  Sylla,  could 
your  father  but  see  that  you  have  allowed  yourself  to  be  employed  in  this 
business!"  —  the  only  expression  of  anger  or  impatience  which  the  heroic 
old  man  permitted  to  escape  him  during  the  whole  of  this  trying  period. 

The  materials  being  brought  him,  he  began  to  write  with  the  utmost  com- 
posure, when  Sylla  observed  to  him  to  be  careful  what  he  said,  lest  it  might 
prevent  the  delivery  of  the  letter.  "What,  Sylla,"  he  answered,  half  smiling, 
"are  you  come  to  dictate  to  me  what  I  shall  write  in  my  last  hour?"  He 
then  sent  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  to  ask  his  forgiveness  if  he  had  ofifended 
him,  and  to  entreat  him  to  be  gracious  to  his  children. 

Maurice,  whether  from  an  excess  of  dissimulation,  or  that  he  in  fact 
repented  of  having  pushed  matters  so  far,  received  the  minister  with  tears; 
he  professed  that  he  had  always  loved  the  advocate,  but  that  two  things 
had  vexed  him :  first,  that  he  had  accused  him  of  aiming  at  the  sovereignty, 
and  next,  that  he  had  exposed  him  to  danger  at  Utrecht ;  adding  that,  never- 
theless, he  freely  forgave  him,  and  would  protect  his  children  so  long  as  they 
deserved  it.  As  the  messenger  left  the  room  the  prince,  calling  him  back, 
asked  him  if  the  prisoner  had  made  no  mention  of  pardon.  "No,"  he  an- 
swered, "he  spoke  not  a  word  of  it."  Bameveld  constantly  refused  to 
acknowledge  himself  in  the  slightest  degree  guilty  of  any  of  the  accusations 
brought  against  him,  except  in  so  far  as  that,  sometimes,  provoked  at  the 
insults  and  libels  directed  against  the  states  of  Holland,  his  masters,  he  had 
expressed  himself  with  too  much  haste  and  acrimony:  "I  governed,"  said 
he,  "when  I  was  in  authority,  according  to  the  maxims  of  that  time;  and 
now  I  am  condemned  to  die  according  to  the  maxims  of  this." 

Before  he  left  his  prison,  Bameveld  wrote  his  last  letter  to  his  family, 
recommending  his  servant,  John  Franken,  who  had  attended  him  through- 
out with  affectionate  fidelity,  to  their  care.  He  was  shortly  after  led  into 
a  lower  room  of  the  court-house  to  hear  his  sentence.     During  the  reading 


PRINCE    MAURICE    IN"   POWER  S67 

n<»OA.i>.] 

he  turned  round  (quickly  several  times,  and  rose  from  his  scat,  as  if  about 
to  speak.  When  it  was  concluded,  he  observed  that  there  were  many  things 
in  it  which  were  not  in  the  examinations;  and  added,  "I  thought  the  states- 
genera!  would  have  been  satisfied  with  my  blowl,  and  would  have  allowed 
my  wife  and  children  to  keep  what  is  their  own."  '*  Your  sentence  is  read," 
replied  Leonard  Vooght,  one  of  the  judges,  **away, 
away."  Leaning  on  his  staff,  and  with  his  servant  on 
the  other  siile  to  support  his  steps,  grown  feeble  with 
age,  Bameveld  walked  composedly  to  the  place  of  exe- 
cution, prepared  before  the  great  saloon  of  the  court- 
house. With  how  ileep  feeling  must  he  have  uttered 
the  exclamation  as  he  ascended  the  scaffold,  "  0 
God!  what  then  is  man?" 

Kneeling  down  on  the  bare  boards,  he  was  sup- 
ported by  his  servant,  while  the  minister,  John 
Lamotius,  delivered  a  prayer.  When  prepared 
for  the  block,  he  turned  to  the  spectators  and  said, 
with  a  loud  and  fimi  voice,  "  My  friends,  believe 
not  that  I  am  a  traitor.  I  have  lived  a  good 
patriot,  and  such  I  die."  He  then,  with  his  own 
nands,  drew  his  cap  over  his  eyes,  and  bid- 
dii^g  the  executioner  "be  quick,"  bowed 
his  venerable  head  to  the  stroke.*  The 
populace,  from  various  feelings,  some  in- 
spired by  hatred,  some  by  affection,  clipped 
their  handkerchiefs  in  his  blood,  or  carried 
away  morsels  of  the  blood-stained  wood 
and  sand:  a  few  were  even  found  to  sell 
these  as  relics.  The  Ixxly  and  head 
were  laid  in  a  coffin  and  buried  de- 
cently, but  with  little  ceremony,  at 
the  court  church  of  the  Hague.  The 
states  of  HoHanii  renflered  to  his 
memory  that  justice  which  he  had 
been  denied  while  living,  by  the 
words  in  which  they  recorded  his 
death.  After  stating  the  time  and 
manner  of  it,  and  his  long  perio<:l  of 
service  to  his  country,  the  resolution 
concludes,  "  a  man  of  great  activity, 
diligence,  memory,  and  conduct;  yea,  remarkable  in  every  respect.  Let  him 
that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall;  and  may  Gou  be  merciful  to 
his  soul." 


A  DirrcH  OosTDKB  or  the  SKvutTKurra 
Cmimnir 


RELiaiOUS  PERSECUTIONS 

The  scaffold  upon  which  the  advocate  had  been  beheaded  was  left  stand- 
ing for  fifteen  days  after  his  death,  with  the  view,  as  the  two  remaining  prison- 

[■  The  sword  flickered  in  the  son  and  the  head  of  the  jrreatest  NetherUnd  statesman,  who 
hftd  **  carried  Holland  in  the  heart,"  nulled  down  in  the  sand.  The  last  word  about  the  troubles 
of  the  Trace  muBt  be  that  both  |mrti«»  were  culpable  in  their  actions,  but  that  the  dominant 
party  committed  the  f^reater  sin  by  the  judicial  murder  of  their  ffreat  opponent — a  judicial  mur< 
der,  as  Macaulaj,*  Motley,**  and  Fruin-'  rightly  termed  the  atrocious  execatioa  of  May  13lh, 
1019.  Olden-Bameveld  was  not  condemned  accordine  to  the  demands  of  justice,  but  accordioe 
to  those  of  policy  conflicting  with  principles  which  he  himself  had  earnestly  espoused.  —  Blok.*] 


568  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

era,  Grotius  and  Hcx^rbeets,  supposed,  of  compellm^g  their  wives  and  friends 
by  fear  into  an  acknowledgment  of  their  guilt,  by  soliciting  their  pardon.  Hie 
¥nfe  of  Grotius,  especially,  was  stronglv  ur^ed  to  this  course,  and  promises 
were  held  out  to  her  of  a  favourable  hearing  on  the  part  of  the  prince  of 
Orai^.  But  she  refused  to  cast  this  dishonour  on  her  husband,  with  an  almost 
terrific  resolution:  "I  will  not  do  it,"  she  said;  "if  he  have  deserved  it,  let 
them  strike  off  his  head."  The  more  to  alarm  the  prisoners,  sentence  was 
executed  on  the  dead  body  of  Ledenberg,  which  was  hanged  in  the  coffin 
to  a  gallows.  The  accusations  against  Grotius  and  Hoogerbeets  were  nearly 
similar  to  those  against  Bameveld.  Upon  these  they  were  foimd  guilty; 
but  the  Prince  of  Orange,  dreading  probably,  if  he  sacrificed  Grotius  to  lus 
vengeance,  that  the  execrations  of  Europe  —  through  the  greater  part  of 
which  the  immortal  works  and  fame  of  his  wondenui  genius  had  already 
spread  —  would  fall  upon  him,  forbore  to  shed  their  blood.  They  were  con- 
demned to  perpetual  imprisonment  in  the  castle  of  Louvestein. 

The  conduct  of  the  dominant  party,  from  the  conclusion  of  the  synod, 
strongly  evinced  how  much  that  assembly  had  tended  to  exasperate  rather 
than  allay  the  spirit  of  persecution ;  and  that,  had  not  the  feeling  of  the  times 
been  abhorrent  of  bloodshed,  this  spirit  would  have  displayed  itself  in  as 
relentless  a  manner  as  it  had  ever  done  amongst  the  Catholics.  Were  it 
not  indeed  for  the  change  of  names,  we  might  imagine  ourselves  to  have 
turned  some  pages  back,  and  to  be  reading  again  the  penal  edicts  of  the 
emperor  Charles  and  Philip  III.  All  assemblies  of  the  remonstrants  were 
stnctly  prohibited;  and  everyone  who  attended  them  was  condemned  to  pay 
a  fine  of  twenty-five  guUders.  This  proving  ineffectual,  a  second  edict  was 
promulgated,  offering  a  reward  of  500  guilders  to  whoever  should  arrest  a 
remonstrant  minister,  and  300  for  a  student  in  theology.  This  system  of 
severity  was  adopted  against  the  remonstrants  alone,  smce  the  Lutherans 
and  Anabaptists  were  permitted  to  enjoy  their  respective  places  of  worship 
in  public,  and  on  equal  terms  with  the  Calvinists;  and  the  Catholics  and  Jews 
had  the  liberty  of  holding  their  private  assemblies. 

The  ministors  who  had  appeared  before  the  synod,  and  had  been  deprived 
of  their  functions  by  that  assembly,  were  afterwards  offered  a  competent 
maintenance  by  the  states-general  if  they  would  bind  themselves  to  abstain 
entirely  from  preaching;  a  condition  with  which  all  except  one,  Henry  Leo, 
steadily  and  repeatedly  refused  compliance.  Sentence  of  banishment  was, 
in  consequence,  pronounced  against  them  after  they  had,  in  violation  of  the 
safe-conduct  they  had  received,  been  many  months  under  arrest,  and  immedi- 
ately carried  into  effect.  Without  being  allowed  time  to  arrange  their  affairs, 
or  to  take  leave  of  their  families,  they  were  conveyed  in  carriages,  provided 
for  them  by  the  states-general,  from  the  Hague  to  Waalwijk,  amid  the  bene- 
dictions and  tears  of  a  multitude  of  persons  who  had  assembled  to  bid  them 
farewell;  a  mournful  spectacle  for  those  patriots  who  had  contributed  to 
shed  a  deluge  of  blood  for  a  liberty  of  conscience  which,  if  it  were  not  a  right 
inherent  in  man,  themselves  had  formerly  been  far  less  entitled  to  claim  than 
the  sufferers  now  before  them.  The  profesvsors  at  the  University  of  Leyden, 
not  only  of  theology  but  of  other  sciences,  wore  displaced,  and  their  offices 
filled  with  counter-remonstrants,  and  all  the  pupils  who  refused  to  subscribe 
to  the  canons  were  expelled. 

Notwithstanding  fines,  imprisonment,  and  banishment,  however,  the 
remonstrants  persisted  in  holding  their  assemblies.  The  scenes  of  1565  were 
acted  over  again.  In  some  of  the  towns,  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  at  the 
command  of  the  magistrates,  rushed  in  among  the  defenceless  multitude 


PRINCB   MAURICE    IN   POWER 

while  engaged  in  their  devotions,  and  bloodshed  and  massacre  were  the 
consequence.  Again  the  people  were  forced  to  take  refuge  in  the  woods 
and  fields,  to  worship  God  according  to  their  conscience.  Many  voluntarily 
quitted  their  countr>',  and  retired  to  Antwerp;  and  thus,  by  a  singular  revolu- 
tion in  human  affairs,  the  dominions  of  the  archdukes,  formerly  the  strong- 
hold of  religious  persecutions^  now  l)ecame  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted 
refugees  of  a  nation  whose  very  existence  was  founded  on  religious  liberty.*^  * 


THE  ESCAPE   OF  GnOTHTS 

Thus  Arminianism,  deprived  of  its  chiefs,  was  for  the  time  completely 
stifled-  Tfie  remonstrants,  thrown  into  utter  despair,  looked  to  emigration 
as  their  la^t  resource.  Gustavus  Adolphus  king  of  Sweden  and  Frederick 
duke  of  Holstein  offered  them  shelter  and  protection  in  their  respective 
states.  Several  availed  themselves  of  these  offers;  but  the  states-general, 
alarmed  at  the  progress  of  self-expatriation,  moderated  their  rigour,  and  thus 
checked  the  desolating  eviL^  Several  of  the  imprisoned  Arminians  had  the 
good  fortune  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  their  gaolers;  but  the  escape  of  Grotius 
is  the  most  remarkable  of  all,  both  from  his  own  celebrity  as  one  of  the  first 
writers  of  his  age  in  the  most  varied  walks  of  literature,  and  from  its  peculiar 
circumstances. 

Grotius  was  freely  allowed  during  his  close  imprisonment  all  the  relaxa- 
tions of  study.  His  friends  supplied  him  with  quantities  of  hooks,  which 
were  usually  brought  into  the  fortress  in  a  trunk  something  less  than  four  feet 
long,  which  the  governor  regularly  and  carefully  examined  diu-jng  the  first 
year.  Rut  custom  brought  relaxation  in  (lie  strictness  of  the  priscin  rules; 
and  the  wife  of  the  illustrious  prisoner,  his  faithful  and  constant  visitor, 
proposed  the  plan  of  his  escape,  to  which  he  gave  a  ready  and,  all  hazards 
considered,  a  courageous  assent.  Shut  up  in  tliis  trunk  for  two  hours,  and 
with  all  the  risk  of  suflfoeation,  and  of  injury  from  the  rude  handling  of  the 
soldiers  who  carried  it  out  of  the  fort,  Grotius  was  brought  clear  off  by  the 
very  agents  of  his  persecutors,  and  safely  delivered  to  the  care  of  his  devoted 
and  discreet  female  servant,  who  knew  the  secret  and  kept  it  well.  Slie 
attended  the  important  consignment  in  the  barge  to  the  town  of  Gorkum; 
ami  after  various  risks  of  discovery,  providentially  escaped,  Grotius  at  length 
found  himself  safe  beyond  the  limit.s  of  his  native  land.  His  wife,  whose 
torturing  suspense  may  be  imagined  the  while,  concealed  the  stratagem  as 
long  as  it  was  possible  to  impose  on  the  gaoler  with  the  fiction  of  her  husband's 

*  Tt  was  not,  however,  in  the  spirit  of  (llaintercsted  charily  that  tliey  were  protected  by  the 
arrhdukft'H  pnvftmmfnt,  but  in  theho|)«  of  their  beinfr  made  useful  to  ratine  some  embarraas- 
ineni  to  the  United  Pnivincoa.  Neither  bribes  nor  promieea  were  spared  tct  induce  tbom  to 
espouse  measures  bnstile  to  tlieir  country,  but  in  vain.  To  such  propoRals  their  leader,  Titen- 
iKigaard,  replied,  according  to  Brandt, o  with  true  Dutch  franknos«.  **  Let  not  the  king  of  Spain 
trust  to  any  revolt  exfitwl  in  our  fatherland  by  (he  remonstrants;  it  will  never  happ>eii." 
England  wan  now  Rhut  nut  from  the  fugitiveH,  who  had  formed  the  most  exaf^^erated  idea  of 
the  persecuting  spirit  of  the  government  of  that  country.  The  remonstrant  prcarhers  were  not 
unfrequently  in  dread  of  being  seized  and  sent  thither,  where  they  conceived  that  the  stake  and 
the  tar-barrel  awaitetl  them. 

[*  Thouch  the  Htory  of  the  Puritans  belongs  chiefly  to  the  history  of  England  and  her 
American  coYoniea,  it  may  he  well  to  remember  that  the  perwemted  memlier.s  of  the  Scrnohy 
church  fled  to  lieyiien  in  1609.  ilie  year  of  the  Tnice.  Their  pa-stor.  John  Robinson,  agreed 
fully  with  the  (iomarista  and  was  a  fierce  opponent  of  Armininn  arpnments.  The  Puritans 
thus  escaped  persecution,  and  attracted  little  or  no  attention  in  Holland  ;  Motley,''  indeed, 
searched  the  archives  at  the  Hague  in  vain  for  even  a  mention  of  them.  Eventually,  they 
decided  to  emigrate  to  America.  The  states-general  declined  to  offer  them  protection  in  New 
Amsterdam,  and  they  obtained  permission  from  the  Virginia  Company  o(  England.  They  sailed 
in  the  Mayflower,  and  reached  America  In  1620.'*] 


570  THE   HISTOBY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

illness  and  confinement  to  his  bed.  The  government,  infuriated  at  the 
result  of  the  affair,  at  first  proposed  to  hold  this  interestmg  prisoner  in  place 
of  the  prey  they  had  lost,  and  to  proceed  criminally  agiunst  her.  But  after 
a  fortnight's  confinement  she  was  restored  to  liberty,  and  the  country  saved 
from  the  disgrace  of  so  imgenerous  and  cowardly  a  proceeding.  Grotius 
repaired  to  Paris,  where  he  was  received  in  the  most  flattering  manner,  and 
distinguished  by  a  pension  of  1,000  crowns  allowed  by  the  kmg.  He  soon 
published  his  vindication  —  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  imanswerable 
productions  of  its  kind,  in  which  those  times  of  imjust  accusations  and  illegal 
punishments  were  so  fertile. 

END  OF  THE  TBUCE   (1620) 

The  expiration  of  the  twelve  years'  truce  was  now  at  hand ;  and  the  United 
Provinces,  after  that  long  period  of  intestine  trouble  and  dispace,  had  once 
more  to  reconmfience  a  more  congenial  struggle  against  foreign  enemies;  for 
a  renewal  of  the  war  with  Spain  might  be  lairly  considered  a  return  to  the 
regimen  best  suited  to  the  constitution  of  the  people.  The  republic  saw, 
however,  with  considerable  anxiety,  the  approach  of  this  new  contest.  It 
was  fuUy  sensible  of  its  own  wealoiess.  Enle  had  reduced  its  population; 
patriotism  had  subsided;  foreign  friends  were  dead;  the  troops  were  unused 
to  warfare;  the  hatred  against  Spanish  cruelty  had  lost  its  excitement;  the 
finances  were  in  confusion;  Prince  Maurice  had  no  longer  the  activity  of 
youth;  and  the  still  more  vigorous  impulse  of  fightmg  for  his  country's 
liberty  was  changed  to  the  dishonouring  task  of  upholding  his  own  tyranny. 

The  archdukes,  encouraged  by  these  considerations,  h^  hopes  of  bringing 
back  the  United  Provinces  to  their  domination.  They  accordingly  sent  an 
embassy  to  Holland  with  proposals  to  that  effect.  It  was  received  with 
indignation;  and  according  to  Wagenaar^  the  ambassador  Pecqmus  was 
obliged  to  be  escorted  back  to  the  frontiers  by  soldiers,  to  protect  nim  from 
the  insults  of  the  people.  Military  operations  were,  however,  for  a  while 
refrained  from  on  either  side,  in  consequence  of  the  deaths  of  Philip  III  of 
Spain  and  the  archduke  Albert.  Philip  IV  succeeded  his  father  at  the  age 
of  sixteen;  and  the  archduchess  Isabella  found  herself  alone  at  the  head  of 
the  government  in  the  Belgian  provinces.  She  held  the  reins  of  power  with 
a  firm  and  steady  hand. 

In  the  celebrated  Thirty  Years'  War*  which  had  commenced  between 
the  Protestants  and  Catholics  of  Germany,  in  1618,  the  former  had  met  with 
considerable  assistance  from  the  United  Provinces.  Bameveld,  who  foresaw 
the  embarrassments  which  the  country  would  have  to  contend  with  on  the 
expu^tion  of  that  truce,  had  strongly  opposed  its  meddling  in  the  quarrel: 
but  his  ruin  and  death  left  no  restraint  on  the  policy  which  prompted  the 
republic  to  aid  the  Protestant  cause.  Fifty  thousand  florins  a  month  to  the 
revolted  Protestants,  and  a  like  sum  to  the  princes  of  the  union,  were  for 
some  time  advanced.  Frederick,  the  elector  palatine,  nephew  of  the  prince, 
was  chosen  by  the  Bohemians  for  their  king:  but  the  new  monarch,  aided 
only  by  the  United  Provinces,  and  that  feebly,  was  utterly  defeated  at  the 
battle  of  Prague,  and  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  Holland. 

Spinola  was  resolved  to  commence  the  war  agamst  the  republic  by  some 
important  exploit.  He  therefore  laid  siege  to  Bergen-op-Zoom,  a  place  of 
great  consequence,  commanding  the  navigation  of  the  Maas  and  the  coasts 

['  The  caases  and  detuls  of  this  conflict  will  be  found  in  the  volumea  devoted  to  Spain* 
France.  Germanj,  and  Austria.] 


PRINCE    MAURICE    IN   POWER  571 

[1630-1623  A.D.] 

of  all  the  islands  of  Zealand.  But  Maurice  repaired  to  the  scene  of  threatened 
danger,  and  succeeded,  after  a  series  of  desperate  efforts  on  both  sides,  in  rais- 
ing the  siege,  forcing  Spinola  to  abandon  his  attempt  with  a  loss  of  upwards 
of  12,000  men.  Frederick  Henry  in  the  meantime  had  made  an  incursion 
into  Brabant  with  a  body  of  light  troops;  and  ravaging  the  country  up  to 
the  very  gat<?s  of  Mechlin,  Louvain,  and  Brussels,  levfe*!  c<}ntribution8  to 
the  amount  of  600.000  florins.  The  states  completed  this  series  of  good 
fortune  by  obtaining  the  possession  of  West  Friesland,  by  means  of  Count 
Mansfeki,  whom  they  had  despatched  thither  at  the  head  of  his  formidable 
army,  and  who  had,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  Count  Tilly,  successfully 
performed  his  mission. 


THE  PLOT  OF  BARNEVELD's  SONS    (1623) 

Prince  Maurice  had  enjoyed  without  restraint  the  fruits  of  his  ambitious 
daring.  His  power  was  uncontrolled  and  unoppose(i.  In  the  midst,  how- 
ever, of  the  apparent  calm,  a  deep  conspiracy  was  forme^l  acainst  the  life  of 
the  prince.  The  motives,  the  conduct,  and  the  termination  of  this  plot 
excite  feelings  of  many  opposite  kinds.  Commiseration  is  mingled  with 
blame,  when  we  mark  the  sons  of  Barneveld^  urge<I  on  by  the  excess  of  filial 
affection,  to  avenge  their  venerable  father's  fate.  Willem  of  Stoutenburg 
and  Reinier  of  Groeneveld  were  the  names  of  these  two  sons  of  the  late  pen- 
sionary. The  latter,  of  a  more  impetuous  character  than  his  brother,  was 
the  principal  in  the  plot.  Instead  of  any  effort-s  to  soften  down  the  hatred 
of  this  unfortunate  family^  these  brothers  had  been  removed  from  their 
employments/  their  proj>erty  was  confiscated,  and  despair  soon  urged  them 
to  desperation. 

In  such  a  time  of  general  discontent  it  was  easy  to  find  accomplices. 
Seven  or  eight  determined  men  readily  joined  in  the  plot:  of  these,  two  were 
Catholics,  the  rest  Arminians;  the  chief  of  whom  was  Henricus  Slatius,  a 
preacher  of  considerable  eloquence,  talent,  and  energy.  The  death  of  the 
prince  of  Orange  was  not  the  only  object  intended.  During  the  confusion 
subsequent  to  the  hoped-for  success  of  that  first  blow,  the  chief  conspirators 
intended  to  excite  simultaneous  revolts  at  I^eyden,  Gouda,  and  Rotterdam, 
in  which  town  the  Arminians  were  most  numerous.  A  general  revolution 
throughout  Holland  wiis  firmly  reckoned  on  as  the  infallible  result;  and 
success  was  enthusiastically  looked  for  to  their  country's  freedom  and  their 
indi\'idiial  fame. 

But  the  plot,  however  cautiously  laid  and  resolutely  persevered  in,  was 
doomed  to  the  fate  of  many  another,  and  the  horror  of  a  second  murder 
averted  from  the  illustrious  family  to  whom  was  still  destined  the  glory  of 
consolidating  the  country  it  had  formed.  Four  sailors  had  lai<l  the  whole  of 
the  project  before  the  prince,  and  measures  were  instantly  taken  to  arrest 

p  The  promise  Maurice  made  to  Bamereld,  in  bin  lost  momenU,  to  protect  bin  children,  he 
had  Tlolated  in  ewrf  ponitihlA  manner.  Thpir  e^tatefl  liad  lieen  ronfifurated,  notwithFttandinff  an 
ordinance  of  the  HtatoH-^eneral,  issaed  in  1598,  decreein^^  that  no  noble  should  forfeit  more 
than  eifhtjr  f^iklertt,  except  for  treason,  in  addition  to  the  penalty  of  death  ;  to  evade  which, 
the  Jadgefl  had  been  reaAKemble^l  a  year  after  the  delivery  of  the  nentence.  when  their  oom- 
mlaaion  had  been  for  some  time  expired,  to  declare  that  their  nieaniniic  ^'&»  to  condemn  the 
priaonera  as  guilty  of  high  treason,  of  which  not  a  word  had  iM^nn  mentioned  in  the  Hcnteuce. 
The  eldeet  aon  of  the  advocate,  Reinier,  lord  of  Groeneveld,  had  l>een  deprived,  for  no  cause 
whatever,  except  the  personal  animosity  of  the  prince,  of  the  oHIce  of  depaty  grand  master  of 
the  rivers  and  fore«tH.  which  Maurice  hat!  tmnie  years  l>efore  beHtowed  on  bim  ;  and  William 
Bameveld,  lord  of  Stoutenbnrg,  tbe  younger  son,  was  in  like  manner  stripped  of  the  govern- 
ment of  Bergen-op-Zoom.«] 


en  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHEBLANDS 

the  various  accomplices.  Groeneveld,  Slatius,  and  others  were  inter- 
cepted in  their  attempts  at  escape.  Stoutenburg,  the  most  culpable  of  all. 
was  the  most  fortimate.  By  the  aid  of  a  fcuthfm  servant,  he  accomplished 
his  escape  through  various  perils,  and  finally  reached  Brussels,  where  the 
archduchess  Isabella  took  him  under  her  special  protection.  He  for  several 
vears  made  efforts  to  be  allowed  to  return  to  Holland;  but  finrling  them 
hopeless,  even  after  the  death  of  Maurice,  he  embraced  the  Catholic  religion, 
and  obtained  the  command  of  a  troop  of  Spanish  cavalrv,  at  the  head  of 
which  he  made  incursions  into  his  native  country,  carrving  before  him  a  black 
fla^  with  the  effigy  of  a  death's  head,  to  announce  the  moiunful  vengeance 
which  he  came  to  execute. 

Fifteen  persons  were  executed  for  the  conspiracy.  K  ever  mercy  was 
becoming  to  a  man,  it  would  have  been  pre-eminently  so  to  Maurice  on  this 
occasion;  but  he  was  inflexible  as  adamant.  The  mother,  the  wife,  and  the 
son  of  Groeneveld  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  imploring  pardon.  Prayers, 
tears,  and  sobs  were  alike  ineffectual.  It  is  even  said  that  Maurice  asked  the 
wretched  mother  why  she  begged  mercy  for  her  son,  having  refused  to  do  as 
much  for  her  husband?  To  which  she  is  reported  to  have  made  the  sublime 
answer —  "Because  my  son  is  guilty,  and  my  husband  was  not," 


THE  LAST  ACTS  OF  MAURICE 

These  bloody  executions  caused  a  deep  sentiment  of  gloom.  The  con- 
spiracy excited  more  pity  for  the  victims  than  horror  for  the  intended  crime. 
Maurice,  from  herns  the  idol  of  his  countrjonen,  was  now  become  an  object 
of  their  fear  and  dislike.  When  he  moved  from  town  to  town,  the  people  no 
longer  hailed  him  with  acclamations;  and  even  the  common  tokens  of  out- 
ward respect  were  at  times  withheld.  The  Spaniards,  taking  advantage  of 
the  internal  weakness  consequent  on  this  state  of  public  feeling  in  the  states, 
made  repeated  incursions  into  the  provinces,  which  were  now  imited  but  in 
title,  not  in  spirit.  Spinola  was  once  more  in  the  field,  and  had  invested  the 
important  town  of  Breda,  which  was  the  patrimonial  inheritance  of  the 
princes  of  Orange. 

Maurice  was  oppressed  with  anxiety  and  regret.  He  could  effect  nothing 
against  his  rival;  and  he  saw  his  own  laurels  withering  from  his  care-worn 
brow.  The  only  hope  left  of  obtaining  the  so  much  wanted  supplies  of  money 
was  in  the  completion  of  a  new  treaty  with  France  and  England.  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  desirous  of  setting  bounds  to  the  ambition  and  the  successes  of  the 
house  of  Austria,  readily  came  into  the  views  of  the  states;  and  an  obligation 
for  a  loan  of  1,200,000  livres  during  the  year  1624,  and  1,000,000  more  for 
each  of  the  two  succeeding  years,  was  granted  by  the  king  of  France,  on  con- 
dition that  the  republic  made  no  new  truce  with  Spain  without  his  mediation. 

An  alliance  nearly  similar  was  at  the  same  time  concluded  with  England. 
Perpetual  quarrels  on  commercial  qucvstions  loosened  the  ties  which  bound 
the  states  to  their  ancient  allies.*    King  James  agreed  to  furnish  six  thousand 

[i  In  1628  occurred  the  Amlmynn  Massacre,  lonp  a  Bul)ject  of  bitterness  in  English  memory. 
Amboyna,  one  of  the  Molucca  Islands,  liad  been  taken  from  the  Portuguese  by  the  Dutch  in 
1607.  The  Englisli  entered  it,  but  were  exp(dled.  In  1619  they  secured  by  treaty  a  trading 
privilege.  In  1623  the  Dutch  claimed  that  the  English  were  conspiring  with  the  natives  to 
seize  the  island,  and  having  wrung  a  r()nfession  by  torture — a  confession  denied  on  the  gaJlows 
— they  put  10  Englishmen  and  10  Javanese  to  death.  Three  Englishmen,  Iwing  pardoned^ 
carrifni  home  the  story  of  the  tortures  inflicted  on  their  wmntrymen.  The  whole  nation  was 
horrified  and  deraandcfl  revenge.  In  1664  Holland  agreed  to  pay  the  heirs  of  the  victims 
£300,000  as  comi)ensation.     Amboyna  was  captured  by  the  British  in  1796  and  in  1810^  but 


I 


PBINCE   MAUHICE   IN   POWER  578 

[1635  A.D.] 

men,  iiml  supply  the  funila  for  their  pay,  with  a  provision  for  repayment  by 
the  states  at  the  conclusion  of  a  peace  witli  Spain.  Prince  Maurice  had  no 
opportunity  of  reaping  the  expected  advantages  from  these  treaties. 

Chagrined  at  his  ill  success,  Maurice  discovered  too  late  that,  in  grasping 
at  the  sole  authority  by  the  destruction  of  his  illustrious  rival,  he  had,  in  fact, 
annihilated  the  source  of  his  own  prosperity.  With  the  advocate,  the  stay 
and  support  of  his  fortunes  was  gone;  the  head  which  had  planned  his  most 
brilliant  achievements,  the  hand  that  hail  always  l>een  able  to  place  money 
and  troops  at  his  ilispasai  the  instant  he  requireil  them,  he  himself  had  laid  in 
the  dust;  in  (he  bitterness  of  his  heart,  he  was  heard  to  exclaim  that  God  had 
abandtmpci  him.  His  present  coatljutor,  Adrian  Duyk,  who  had  succeeded 
Barneveki,  under  the  title  of  pensionary  (that  of  advocate  being  ever  after 
<irf>pped  by  tacit  consent)  was  immeasurably  inferior  to  him  in  talents, 
diligence,  and  rcj^urces. 

The  disappointments  and  vexations  Maurice  suffered  were  supposed  to 
have  contributed  greatly  to  increase  the  disease  (obstruction  of  the  liver) 
under  which  he  had  for  some  time  laboured,  and  which  now  began  to  manifest 
alarming  8>Tnptoms,  Finding  his  strength  rapidly  declining,  he  summoned 
from  the  camp  at  Sprang  his  brother  Frederick  Henry,  between  whom  and 
himself  there  had  long  existed  a  coldness,  arising  from  the  favour  which  the 
fonner  had  ojx»nly  testified,  and  the  still  greater  d(^rec  which  he  was  sus- 
pected of  secretly  entertaining  t^jwards  the  remonstrants.  He  now  induced 
nim  to  gratify  his  last  wish  by  consenting  to  a  union  with  Amelie,  princess 
of  Solmes.  Three  weeks  after  the  marriage,  April  23rd,  1625,  the  prince  of 
Orange  died,  aged  fifty-seven  years  and  five  months,  having  filled  the  office  of 
stallholder  for  nearly  forty  years.  As  he  never  marrietl,  he  left  Prince  Frederick 
Henry  heir  to  all  his  posf^essions,  with  the  exception  of  legacies  to  his  sister, 
the  princess  of  Portugal,  his  mistress,  Anne  van  Mechelen,  and  her  two  sons. 

The  character  of  Maurice  has  lx*en  often  produced  in  lx»ld  artd  marked 
features,  in  the  transactions  in  which  he  bore  so  conspicuous  a  share.  In 
military  talent  he  equalled  the  most  celebrateii  captains  of  any  age  or  nation. 
Whether  in  the  attack  and  defence  of  cities,  in  the  enforcement  of  discipline 
or  the  conduct  of  an  army  in  rapi<i  and  difficult  marches,  his  reputation  is  yet 
unsurpassed;  nor  wa.s  he  less  distinguished  by  his  profound  knowledge  of 
nmthematics,  and  his  skill  in  the  inventi*>n  of  military  engiiu^s  and  contrivances 
for  passing  rivers  and  marshes.  The  Fabius  of  his  country,  he,  vnih  a  hand- 
ful of  sokliers,  not  only  defended  her  frontiers  agaiast  numerous  armies  of 
veteran  troops,  commanded  by  (next  to  himself)  the  ablest  generals  in  Europe, 
but  carried  the  war  \\nth  success  into  the  enemy's  territory. 

In  his  political  capacity  he  appears  to  far  less  advantage.  His  ambition, 
unlike  the  pure  and  noble  passion  which  swayed  his  father,  was  wholly  sel- 
fish, devoted  to  his  individual  advancement,  and  directed  quite  as  much  to 
the  emoluments  as  to  the  dignity  of  his  offices. 

The  escutcheon  of  Maunce  is  bright  with  the  record  of  many  a  deed  of 
glory.  But  there  is  one  dark  deep  stain  on  which  the  eye  of  pf>9terity,  un- 
necfling  the  surrounding  radiance,  is  constantly  fixed:  it  is  the  blood  of 
Bameveld. 


PROSPERITY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

The  truce,  which,  as  the  foundation  of  the  dissensions  between  the  heads 
of  the  government,  was  productive  of  so  many  evils  to  the  provinces,  opened 

in  both  c&M«  restored  by  aub»equ«nt  tre«tiefl.     It  should  be  remembered  th&t  torture  was  stiU 
QMd  in  the  courts  of  both  Engluid  and  Holland,  though  the  methods  differed.] 


574  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

on  the  other  hand  a  new  field  for  the  rapid  advancement  of  commeroe  and 
navigation.  The  year  preceding  it  (1608)  was  signalised  by  the  invention 
of  the  telescope,  by  one  Zachary  Jansen,  an  optician  of  Middelburg. 

In  the  year  1609  was  established  the  celebrated  bank  of  Arasteirdam, 
which  for  a  long  series  of  years  afforded  such  immense  facihties  to  conuneroe^ 
and  maintained  its  credit  so  high  that  a  large  portion  of  the  wealUi  of  Europe 
was  by  d^;rees  drawn  into  its  coffers. 

Alliances  of  commerce  and  amity  with  Denmark,  Sweden,  Russia,  and 
the  Hanse  towns  secured  to  the  Dutch  an  easy  and  profitable  trade  in  the 
northern  seas;  and  their  frequent  voyages  thither  gave  occasion  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  company  at  Amsterdam  (1614),  for  carrying  on  the  whale- 
fishery  from  the  coast  of  Nova  Zembla  to  Davis  Strait,  Spitzbergen,  and  the 
surrounding  islands.  The  fishery,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the 
English,  who  sometimes  attacked  and  rified  the  vessels  on  their  retinn,  was 
for  several  years  a  source  of  considerable  revenue  to  the  proprietors.  The 
charter,  granted  at  first  but  for  three  years,  was  renewed  for  foiu*  more  in 
1617;  and  the  company,  uniting  in  1622  with  another  formed  in  S^ealand, 
obtained  a  fresh  charter  for  twelve  years,  which  was  renewed  in  1633.  After 
its  expiration  in  1645,  the  whales  having  become  scarce,  and  the  profits  of 
the  fi^en^  no  longer  sufficing  for  the  support  of  a  company,  it  dissolved  itself, 
and  the  fishery  again  became  free. 

Shortly  after  the  erection  of  this  company,  the  states,  in  order  to  encourage 
their  subjects  to  undertake  distant  voyages,  granted  to  the  discoverer  of  a 
new  territory  the  privilege  of  making  four  voyages  before  anyone  else  was 
permitted  to  trade  thither,  provided  lie  gave  information  of  such  discovery 
to  the  government  within  fourteen  days  of  his  return.  The  first  who  entitled 
himself  to  the  benefit  of  this  regulation  was  the  famous  Jacob  le  Maire,  a 
merchant  of  Amsterdam,  who,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1616,  sailed  through 
the  straits  to  which  he  gave  his  name,  and  completed  his  voyage  roimd  the 
world,  having  discovered  on  his  route  the  islands  of  Staten,  Prince's  Island, 
and  Bameveld,  of  which  he  took  possession  in  the  name  of  the  states.  Cape 
Horn,  which  received  its  name  from  a  native  of  Hoom  (Willem  Schouten  the 
pilot),  was  discovered  at  the  same  time. 

In  the  year  1609  Henry  Hudson,  an  English  pilot  in  the  employ  of  the 
East  India  Company  of  Holland,  being  sent  with  a  single  vUe-boat  and  twenty 
men  to  find  a  northwest  passage  te  China,  discovered  the  river  and  bay  which 
received  his  name.  Instead,  however,  of  returning  to  Holland,  he  went  to 
England,  which  he  was  not  permitted  to  leave.  The  Duteh  afterwards  planted 
a  colony  on  that  tract  of  country  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  New  Hol- 
land, and  about  1624  built  the  town  of  New  Amsterdam. 

The  character  of  the  Dutch  people,  at  once  energetic  and  patient,  enter- 
prising and  steady,  renders  them  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  formation  of 
flourishing  and  successful  colonies.  In  planting  them  it  is  to  be  remarked 
that  they  never  sought  an  extension  of  empire,  but  merely  an  acquisition  of 
trade  and  commerce ;  and  consequently  they  were  always  either  commercial 
or  agricultural,  never  military.  They  attempted  conquest  only  when  forced 
by  the  pressure  of  exterior  circumstances  —  such,  for  instance,  as  the  hostihties 
of  the  Portuguese  in  the  East  Indies. 

To  this  general  rule  the  formation  of  the  West  India  Company  formed  a 
singular  exception.  The  project  had  been  agitated  before  the  commence- 
ment of  the  truce,  but  steadily  opposed  by  Bameveld,  after  whose  death  the 
states  gave  permission  for  the  establishment  of  a  company,  which  was  not 
however  effected  till  1621,  when  a  charter  was  granted  for  the  term  of  twenty- 


PRINCE    MAURICE    IN    POWER 


5?5 


four  years,  on  conditions  nearly  similar  to  that  of  the  East  India  Company, 
with  the  sole  privilege  of  trade  from  the  tropic  of  Cancer  to  the  Cape  of  Go<xi 
Hope  in  Africa,  and  in  America  from  the  south  boundary  of  Nel^^oundland 
and  the  Anian  or  Bering  Straits,  to  those  of  Magellan  and  Le  Maire.  As 
Spain  claimed  the  sovereignty  of  a  vast  portion  of  this  tract  in  America,  and 
was  in  actual  possession  of  the  places  where  the  company  purposed  forming 
their  settlements^  conquest  must  be  a  necessary  preliminary;  and  the  colo- 
nists, maintaining  a  hostile  possession,  must  be  constantly  prepared  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  if  not  engaged  in  actual  warfare.  Accordingly,  at  the 
very  outset,  the  company  were  obliged  to  incur  the  cost  of  equippmg  a  large 
fleet  of  men-of-war,  mstead  of  makmg  an  essay  at  first  with  a  few  vessels  as 
the  projectors  of  the  East  India  trade  had  done.*^ 


CHAPTER   XII 


CONCLUSION  OF  THE  EIGHTY  \^ARS'  WAR 


[1535-1648  A.D.] 


Frederick  Henry  succeeded  to  almost  all  his  brother's  titles  and  em- 
ploynients,  and  found  his  new  dignities  clogged  with  an  accumulation  of 
difficulties  sufficient  to  appal  the  most  determined  spirit.  Everjihing  seemed 
to  justify  alarm  and  despondency.  If  the  affairs  of  the  republic  in  India 
wore  an  aspect  of  prosperity,  those  in  Europe  presented  a  picture  of  past 
disaster  and  approaching  peril.  Disunion  and  cfiscontent,  an  ahnost  insup- 
portable weight  of  taxation,  and  the  <liHputes  of  which  it  was  the  fruitful 
source,  formed  the  subjects  of  internal  iU,  Abroad  were  to  be  seen  navigation 
harassed  and  trammelled  by  the  pirates  of  Dunkirk,  and  the  almost  defence- 
less frontiers  of  the  republic  exposed  to  the  irruptions  of  the  enemy.  The 
king  of  Denmark,  who  endeavoured  to  make  head  against  the  imperialist  and 
Spanish  forces,  was  beaten  by  Tilly,  and  made  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of 
his  own  states.  England  did  nothing  towards  the  common  cause  of  Pro- 
testantism, in  consequence  of  the  weakness  of  the  monarch;  and  civil  dis- 
sensions for  a  while  disabled  France  from  resuming  the  system  of  Henry  IV 
for  humbling  the  house  of  Austria. 

Frederick  Henry  was  at  this  period  in  his  forty-second  yenr.  His  military 
reputation  was  well  established;  he  soon  provetl  his  political  talents.  He 
commenced  his  career  by  a  total  change  in  the  tone  of  government  on  the 
subject  of  sectarian  differences.  He  exercised  several  acts  of  clemency  in 
favour  of  the  im])risDned  and  exiled  Arminians,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
upheld  the  dominant  religion.  By  these  measures  he  conciliated  all  parties; 
an<J  by  degrees  the  fierce  spirit  of  intolerance  became  subdued.  The  foreign 
relations  of  the  United  Provinces  now  presented  the  anomalous  policy  of  a 
fleet  furnished  by  the  French  king,  manned  by  rigid  Calvinists,  and  com- 
manded by  a  grandson  of  Admiral  Coligny,  for  the  purpose  of  combating  the 
remainder  of  the  French  Huguenots,  whom  they  considered  as  brothers  in 
religion,  though  pjlitic^l  foes:  and  during  the  joint  expedition  which  was 
undertaken  bv  ine  allied  French  and  Dutch  troops  against  Rochelle,  the 
stronghold  of  Protestantism,  the  preachers  of  Holland  put  up  prayers  for  the 

076 


^ 


CONCLUSION    OF   THE    EIGHTY   TEARS'  WAR  577 

protection  of  those  whom  their  army  was  marching  to  destroy.  The  states- 
general,  ashamed  of  this  unpopular  iinion,  recalled  their  fleet,  after  some 
severe  fighting  with  that  of  the  Huguenots.  Cardinal  Richelieu  and  the  king 
of  France  were  for  a  time  furious  in  their  displeasure;  but  interests  of  state 
overpowered  individual  resentments,  and  no  rupture  took  place. 

Charles  I  had  now  succeeded  his  father  on  the  English  throne.  He  re- 
newed the  treaty  with  the  republic,  who  furnished  him  with  twenty  ships  to 
assist  his  own  formidable  fleet  in  his  war  against  Spain.  Frederick  Henry 
had,  soon  after  his  succession  to  the  chief  command,  commenced  an  active 
course  of  martial  operations,  and  was  successful  in  almost  all  his  enterprises.* 

Maurice  had,  before  his  death,  made  the  most  strenuous  exertions  to 
collect  troops  for  the  relief  of 
Breda.  Nevertheless,  every  effort 
on  the  part  of  Prince  Frederick 
Henry  to  raise  the  siege  or  to  in- 
troduce supplies  into  the  town 
proved  futile;  and  being  reduced 
to  extreme  scarcity  of  provisions, 
the  governor,  Justin  of  Nassau, 
capitulated  to  Spinola  on  favour- 
able conditions  in  1625.  But  the 
strength  of  Spain,  so  imposing  in 
outward  appearance,  so  exhaustetl 
in  reality,  was  now  put  forth  only 
in  isolated  and  convulsive  efforts, 
followed  by  lo  ng  in  tervals  of 
prostrate  inanition.  The  conquest 
of  Breda  reduced  the  spirit  and 
resources  of  the  SpanLsh  army,  as 
the  siege  of  Bergen-op-Zooin  had 
done,  to  so  low  an  ebb  that  it 
was  forced  to  act  entirely  on  the 
defensive;  and  the  summer  of  the 
next  year  passed  without  any 
event  worthy  of  remark.    Taking 

advantage  of  the  continued  inactivitv  of  the  enemv,  the  prince  of  Orange 
commenced  the  siege  of  Groenlo  with  one  hundred  companies  of  infantry, 
fifty-five  of  cavalry,  and  ninety  pieces  of  artillery.  The  capture  of  this 
strong  town,  within  the  space  of  a  month,  and  in  sight  of  a  hostile  army 
which  made  strenuous  attempts  to  relieve  it,  added  greatly  to  the  reputation 
of  Frederick  Henry,  more  especially  as  his  brother  had  in  the  year  1606 
failed  in  a  .similar  enterprise,  under  far  more  favourable  circumstances. 

But  it  was  on  se^i  that  the  Dutch  constantly  gained  such  advantages  as 
brought  at  once  ruin  and  dishonour  on  their  enemies.  The  West  India 
Company,  having  equipped  a  fleet  of  twenty-four  vessels,  placed  them  under 
the  command  of  one  Pieter  Pietersen  Heijn,  or  "Piet  Heijn"  of  Delfshaven 
—  a  man  who,  by  his  courage  and  ability,  had  raised  himself  from  a  low 
station  to  the  rank  of  admiral,  and  had  signalised  himself,  as  well  by  the 
share  he  had  taken  in  the  conquest  of  San  Salvador  as  by  the  destruction  of 
twenty-six  Spanish  vessels  in  the  last  year.  He  now  (1628)  received  orders 
to  sail  towartls  America,  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  the  Spanbh  fleet, 
commonly  called  the  *' silver  fleet,"  on  its  return  from  thence  laden  with 
specie.    On  his  arrival  off  the  island  of  Havana,  he  received  intelligence  that 

H.  W.  —  VUU  Xlll.  X  P 


PlKTER   PlBTKRISH  HBTJN,  LlKITTENANT-AUiaBAL 

or  HoLL>AND  <ift7i»-iai!V) 


578  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[ia»-i6n  A.SI] 
the  fleet  was  close  at  hand  and  could  not  escape  him;  and,  in  effect,  early  on 
the  following  morning,  he  fell  in  with  ten  ships,  which  he  captixred  in  a  few 
hours.  About  mid-clay  eight  or  nine  more  ^lleons  were  perceived  at  three 
leagues'  distance,  of  which  the  Dutch  immediately  went  in  chase  under  press 
of  sail. 

Heijn  brought  the  whole  of  his  booty,  except  two  of  the  captured  vessels, 
safely  into  the  ports  of  Holland.  It  was  estmiated  at  12,000,000  florins,  a 
portion  of  it  being  138,600  lbs-weight  of  pure  silver.  On  his  return  the  office 
of  lieutenant-admiral,  vacant  by  the  death  of  William  of  Nassau,  who  was 
killed  before  Groenlo,  was  in  a  manner  forced  upon  him,  in  spite  of  his  modest 
refusal  of  a  dignity  unbefitting,  he  said,  his  mean  birth  and  unpolished  man- 
ners. To  acquit  himself  honourably  of  his  charge,  he  resolved  to  imdertake 
the  extirpation  of  the  pirates  of  Dunkirk. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  1629,  he  espied  three  privateers,  to  which  he  gave 
chase,  and  coming  up  with  his  single  ship,  which  had  left  the  others  far 
behind^  he  placed  himself  between  two  of  the  enemy's  vessels,  and  fired  a 
broadside  into  both  at  the  same  time.  The  third  discharge  of  the  privateer's 
guns  stretched  him  dead  upon  the  deck;  but  his  crew,  becoming  furious  at 
the  spectacle,  attacked  with  such  vigour  that  they  soon  captured  both  vessels^ 
putting  every  man  on  board  to  death,  in  obedience  to  the  barbarous  custom 
enjoinSl  by  the  states.  The  body  of  Heijn  was  interred  near  that  of  William, 
pnnce  of  Orange,  at  Delft,  and  a  monument  of  white  marble  erected  to  his 
memory.*^  * 

The  year  1629  brought  three  formidable  armies  at  once  to  the  frontiers 
of  the  republic,  and  caused  a  general  dismay  all  through  the  United  Provinces: 
but  the  immense  treasures  taken  from  the  Spaniards  enabled  them  to  make 
preparations  suitable  to  the  danger;  and  Frederick  Henry,  support«l  by 
his  cousin  William  of  Nassau,  his  natural  brother  Justin,  and  other  brave 
and  experienced  officers,  defeated  every  eifort  of  the  enemy.  He  took  many 
towns  in  rapid  succession;  and  finally  forced  the  Spaniards  to  abandon  all 
notion  of  invading  the  territories  of  the  republic.  Deprived  of  the  powerful 
talents  of  Spinola,  who  was  called  to  command  the  Spanish  troops  m  Italy, 
the  armies  of  the  archduchess,  under  the  count  of  Berg,  were  not  able  to 
cope  with  the  genius  of  the  prince  of  Orange.  The  consequence  was  the 
renewal  of  negotiations  for  a  second  truce.  But  these  were  received  on  the 
part  of  the  republic  with  a  burst  of  opposition.  All  parties  seemed  decided 
on  that  point;  and  every  interest,  however  opposed  on  minor  questions, 
combined  to  give  a  positive  negative  on  this. 

The  ^atitucle  of  the  country  for  the  services  of  Frederick  Henry  induced 
the  provinces  of  which  he  was  stadholder  to  grant  the  reversion  in  this  title 
to  his  son,  a  child  three  years  old;  and  this  dignity  had  every  chance  of 
becoming  as  absolute  as  it  was  now  pronounced  almost  hereditary,  by  the 
means  of  an  anny  of  120,000  men  devoted  to  their  chief.  However,  few 
military  occurrences  took  place,  the  sea  being  still  chosen  as  the  element  best 
suited  to  the  present  enterprises  of  the  republic.  In  the  widely-distant  settle- 
ments of  Brazil  and  Batavia  the  Dutch  were  equally  successful ;  and  the  East 
and  West  India  companies  acquired  eminent  power  and  increasing  solidity. 

The  year  1631  was  signalised  by  an  expedition  into  Flanders  consisting 

'  According  to  Ceriaier,<^  the  states  Laving  upon  the  occasion  of  his  death  sent  a  message  of 
condolence  to  his  mother,  an  honest  peasant  who,  notwithstanding  the  elevation  of  her  son, 
had  been  content  to  remain  in  her  original  station,  she  replied  :  "  Ay,  I  thought  what  would 
be  the  end  of  him.  He  was  always  a  vagabond ;  but  I  did  my  best  to  correct  him.  He  has  got 
uo  more  than  he  deserved." 


CONCLTTSro^r  OP   THE   EIGHTY   TEAES'   WAK  570 

[1081-1635  A.D.) 

of  18,000  men,  intended  against  Dunkirk,  but  hastily  abandoned,  in  spite 
of  every  probability  of  success,  by  the  conmiissioners  of  the  states-general, 
who  accompanied  the  army  and  thwarted  all  the  ardour  and  \igour  of  the 
prince  of  Orange.  But  another  p^at  naval  victory  in  the  narrow  seas  of 
Zealand  recompensed  the  disappomtments  of  this  inglorious  aiTair. 


n 


ALLIANCE  WTTH   FRANCE:     BELGLVN   EFFORTS   FOR  FREEDOM    (1633) 

The  splendid  victories  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  against  the  imperial  arms 
in  Germany  changed  the  whole  face  of  European  affairs.  Protestantism 
began  once  more  to  raise  its  head;  and  the  important  conquests  by  FredericJt 
Henrj'  of  almost  all  the  strong  places  on  the  Maas,  including  Maastricht,  the 
strongest  of  all,  gave  the  United  Provinces  their  ample  share  in  the  glories 
of  the  war.  The  death  of  the  archduche>^  Isabella,  which  took  place  at 
Brussels  in  the  year  1633,  added  considerably  to  the  difficulties  of  Spam  in 
the  Belgian  provinces. 

The  defection  of  the  count  of  Berg,  the  chief  general  of  their  annies, 
who  was  actuated  by  resentment  on  the  appointment  of  the  marquis  of  Sainte- 
Croix  over  his  head,  threw  everything  into  confusion,  in  exposing  a  wide- 
spread confedemcy  among  the  nobility  of  these  provinces  to  erect  them- 
selves into  an  independent  republic,  strengthened  by  a  perpetual  alliance 
with  the  United  Provinces  against  the  power  of  Spain.  But  the  plot  failed, 
chiefly,  it  is  said,  by  the  imprudence  of  the  king  of  England,  wlio  let  the  secret 
slip,  from  some  motives  vaguely  hintetl  at,  but  never  sufficiently  explained. 
Aft^r  the  death  of  Isabella,  the  prince  of  Brabangon  was  arresteth  Tlie 
prince  of  Epinoi  and  the  duke  of  Bumonville  made  their  escape;  and  the 
duke  of  Aerschot,  who  was  arn\stpd  in  Spain,  was  sfion  lil»erate<l,  in  consider- 
ation of  some  discoveries  into  the  nature  of  the  plot.  An  armistice,  pub- 
lished in  1634,  threw  this  whole  affair  into  complete  oblivion. 

The  king  of  Spain  appointed  his  brother  Ferdinand,  a  cardinal  and  arch- 
bishof)  of  Toledo,  to  the  dignity  of  governor-general  of  the  Netherlands.  He 
repaired  to  Germany  at  the  head  of  seventeen  thousand  men,  and  Ijore  his 
share  in  the  victory  of  Nordlingen;  after  which  he  hastened  to  the  Nether- 
lands, and  made  his  entry  into  Bnis-sels  in  16^34.  Riefieheu  had  liitherto 
only  combated  the  house  fif  Aastria  in  these  countries  by  negotiation  and 
intrigue;  but  he  now  entered  warmly  into  the  projxjsals  made  by  Hollaiul, 
for  a  treaty  offensive  and  defensive  between  Louis  XIII  and  the  republic. 
By  a  treaty  soon  after  concluded  (February  Sth,  1G35),  the  king  of  France 
engaged  to  invmle  the  Belgian  provinces  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand 
men.  in  concert  with  a  Dutch  force  of  equal  mmibcr.  It  was  agreed  that, 
if  Belgium  would  consent  U^  break  from  the  Spanish  yoke,  it  was  to  be  erected 
into  a  free  state;  if,  on  the  contrary',  it  would  not  co-oi>erate  for  its  own  free- 
dom, France  and  Holland  w^re  to  dismember  and  to  divide  it  equally. 

The  plan  of  these  combined  measures  was  soon  acted  on.  Tlie  French 
army  took  the  field  under  the  commantl  of  the  marshals  De  Chatillon  and 
De  Br^z^;  and  defeated  the  Spaniards  in  a  bloody  battle,  near  Avein,  in  the 
province  of  Luxemburg,  on  the  20th  of  Mny.  1635,  with  the  loss  of  four  thou- 
sand men.  The  victors  soon  made  a  junction  with  the  prince  of  Orange; 
and  the  towns  of  Tirlemont,  St.  Trond,  and  some  others,  were  quickly  reducetl. 
The  former  of  these  places  was  taken  by  assault,  and  pillaged  with  circum- 
stances of  cruelty  that  recall  the  horrors  of  the  early  transactions  of  the  war. 
The  prince  of  Orange  w^as  forced  to  punish  severely  the  authors  of  the^ 
ofifences.    The  consequences  of  this  event  were  highly  injurious  to  the  allies. 


580  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

(16I6-18S8  A.n.) 

A  spirit  of  fierce  resistance  was  excited  throughout  the  invaded  provinces. 
Louvain  set  the  first  example.  The  citizens  and  students  took  arms  for  its 
defence;  and  the  combined  forces  of  France  and  Holland  were  repulsed, 
and  forced  by  want  of  supplies  to  abandon  the  siege  and  rapidly  retreat. 
The  prince-cardinal,  as  Ferdmand  was  called,  took  advantage  of  tms  reverse 
to  press  the  retiring  French;  recovered  several  towns;  and  gained  all  the 
advantages  as  well  as  glory  of  the  campaign.  The  remains  of  the  French 
army,  reduced  by  continual  combats,  and  still  more  by  sickness,  finally 
embarked  at  Rotterdam  to  return  to  France  in  the  ensuing  spring,  a  End 
contrast  to  its  brilliant  appearance  at  the  commencement  of  the  campaign. 

The  military  events  for  several  ensuing  years  present  nothing  of  sufficient 
interest  to  induce  us  to  record  them  in  detail.  A  perpetual  succession  of 
sieges  and  skirmishes  afford  a  monotonous  picture  of  isolated  courage  and 
skill;  but  we  see  none  of  those  great  conflicts  which  bring  out  the  genius 
of  opposing  generals,  and  show  war  in  its  grand  results,  as  the  decisive  means 
of  enslaving  or  emancipating  mankind.  The  prince-cardinal,  one  of  the 
many  who  on  this  bloody  theatre  displayed  consummate  military  talents, 
incessantly  employed  himself  in  incursions  into  the  bordering  provinces  of 
France,  ravaged  Picardy,  and  filled  Paris  with  fear  and  tremblmg.  He,  how- 
ever, reaped  no  new  laurels  when  he  came  into  contact  with  Frederick  Henry, 
who  on  almost  every  occasion,  particularly  that  of  the  siege  of  Breda  in  1637, 
carried  his  object  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  The  triumphs  of  war  were  bal- 
anced; but  Spain  and  the  Belgian  provinces,  so  long  upheld  by  the  talent  of 
the  governor-general,  were  gradually  become  eMausted.  The  revolution 
in  Portugal  and  the  succession  of  the  duke  of  Braganza,  under  the  title  of 
John  IV,  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors,  struck  a  fatal  blow  to  the  power  of 
Spain.  A  strict  alliance  was  concluded  between  the  new  monarch  of  France 
and  Holland;  and  hostilities  against  the  common  enemy  were  on  all  sides 
vigorously  continued.^ 

It  was  in  this  year  that  the  singular  mania,  "  tulipo-mania"  as  it  was 
afterwards  termed,  the  offspring  of  wealth  and  luxury,  became  prevalent 
among  the  Dutch,  especially  in  the  province  of  Holland.  The  price  of  tulips 
suddenly  rose  to  an  incredible  height,  the  most  esteemed  varying  from  2,600 
guilders  to  150  for  a  single  root.  Large  fortunes  were  acquired  by  specula- 
tions on  this  article,  which,  in  Amsterdam  alone,  involved,  it  is  said,  no  less 
a  sum  than  10,000,000  guilders.  Persons  of  all  ranks,  sexes,  and  ages  neg- 
lected their  ordinary  avocations  to  amuse  themselves  with  this  novel  species 
of  gambling;  but  as  those  who  purchased  were  often  of  slender  means  and 
imable  to  fulfil  their  engagements,  the  speculation  became  so  unsafe  that 
men  lost  their  confidence  in  it,  and  in  course  of  time  it  died  away  of  itself. 
The  Hollanders,  though  still  retaining  their  passion  for  tulips,  have  since 
been  able  to  restrain  it  within  more  reasonable  bounds.  However  we  may 
condemn  this  idle  traffic,  and  however  well  deserved  the  ridicule  it  has 
incurred,  it  is  still  gratifying  to  reflect  in  what  a  state  of  ease  and  prosperity, 
how  free  from  care  and  light-hearted  a  people  must  be,  who  could  find  oppor- 
tunity and  inclination  to  devote  their  attention  to  such  agreeable  trifles.*^ 

The  successes  of  the  republic  at  sea  and  in  their  distant  enterprises  were 
continual,  and  in  some  instances  brilliant.  Brazil  was  gradually  falling 
into  the  power  of  the  West  India  Company.  The  East  India  possessions 
were  secure.    The  great  victory  of  Tromp,'  known  by  the  name  of  the  battle 

[»  lie  had  been  made  vice-admiral  in  place  of  Van  Dorp  wlio  had  in  1637  not  only  allowed 
a  Si)aniMh  fleet  carrying  four  million  florins,  to  escape  him,  but  haa  allowed  the  Dunkirk 
pirates  to  capture  certain  Dutch  ships.] 


CONCLUSION   OF   THE   EIGHTY   YEARS'   WAR  581 

[ifl3ft-iMa  A,T).] 

of  the  Downs,  from  being  fought  off  the  coast  of  England,  on  the  21st  of 
October,  1639,  raised  the  naval  reputation  of  Holland  as  high  as  it  could 
well  be  carrietl.  Fifty  ships  taken,  burned,  and  sunk  were  the  proofs  of 
their  admiral's  triumph;  and  the  hlpanish  nav'y  never  recovered  the  loss. 
The  victory  was  celebrated  throughout  Europe,  and  Tromp  was  the  hero 
of  the  <Iay.  Tlie  king  of  England  was,  however,  highly  indignant  at  the 
hardihood  with  which  the  Dutch  admiral  broke  through  the  etiquette  of 
territorial  respect,  and  destroyed  his  country's  bitter  foes  under  the  very 
sanction  of  English  neutrality.  But  the  subjects  of  Charles  I  <Ud  not  par- 
take their  monarch's  feelings.  They  had  no  sympathy  with  arbitrary  and 
tyrannic  government;  and  their  joy  at  the  misfortune  of  their  old  enemies 
the  Spanianls  gave  a  fair  warning  of  the  spirit  which  afterwanls  proved  so 
fatal  to  the  infatuated  king,  who  on  this  occasion  would  have  protected 
and  aided  them. 

MAHKIAGE   OF    WILLLUI    AND   MARY 

In  an  unsuccessful  enterprise  in  Flanders,  in  1640,  Count  Henry  Kasimir 
of  Nassau  was  mortally  wounded,  adding  another  to  the  list  of  those  of  that 
illustrious  family  whtxse  lives  were  lost  in  the  service  of  their  country.  His 
brother,  Count  William  Frederick,  succeeded  him  in  his  office  of  sta<lhoider 
of  Friesland;  but  the  same  dignity  in  the  provinces  of  Groningea  and  Drent 
devolved  on  the  prince  of  Orange.  The  latter  had  conceived  the  desire  of  a 
royal  alliance  for  his  son  William.  Charles  I  readily  assented  to  the  proposal 
of  the  states-general  that  this  young  prince  should  receive  the  hand  of  his 
daughter  Mary.  Embassies  were  exchanged;  the  concUtions  of  the  con- 
tract agreed  on.  The  marriage  ttxik  place  at  Whitehall,  May  Ist,  1641; 
Tromp,  with  an  escort  of  twenty  ships,  conducted  the  princess,  then  twelve 
years  old,  to  the  country  of  her  future  husband.  The  republic  did  not  view 
with  an  eye  quite  favourable  this  advancing  aggrandisement  of  the  house 
of  Orange,  Frederick  Henry  had  shortly  before  been  dignified  by  the  king 
of  France,  at  the  suggestion  of  Richelieu,  with  the  title  of  highness,"  instead 
of  the  inferior  one  of  "excellency";  and  the  states-general,  jealous  of  this 
distinction  granted  to  their  chief  magistrate,  atlopted  for  themselves  the 
sounding  appellation  of  "hi^h  and  mighty  lords."  The  prince  of  Orange, 
whatever  might  have  been  his  private  views  of  ambition,  liad,  however,  tlie 
prudence  to  silence  all  euspici<>n,  by  the  mild  and  moderate,  use  which  he 
made  of  the  power  which  he  might  perhaps  have  wished  to  increase  but  never 
attempted  to  abuse. 

On  the  9th  of  Novemlier,  1641,  the  prince-cardinal  Ferdinand  died  at 
Brussels  in  his  thirty-third  year;  Don  Francisco  de  Mello,  a  nobleman  of 
highly  reputed  talents,  was  the  next  who  obtained  this  onerous  situation. 
He  commenced  his  governorship  by  a  succession  of  military  o(.>crations,  and 
after  taking  some  towns,  and  defeating  the  marshal  De  Guiche  in  the  battle 
of  Honnecourt  tarnished  all  his  fame  by  the  great  faults  which  he  committed 
in  the  famous  battle  of  Rocroi.  The  duke  d'Enghien,  then  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  and  subsequently  so  eelebraU^d  as  the  great  Com!*!?,  completely  defeated 
De  Mello,  and  nearly  annihilated  the  Spanish  anil  Walloon  infantry.  The 
military  operations  of  the  Dutch  army  were  this  year  remarkable  only  by 
the  gallant  conduct  of  Prince  William,  son  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  who, 
not  ^et  seventeen  years  of  age,  defeated  near  Hulst,  in  1642,  under  the  eyes 
of  his  father,  a  Spanish  tletachment  in  a  very  warm  skirmish. 

Considerable  changes  were  now  insensibly  operating  in  the  policy  of 


688  THE   HISTOBY   OF  THE   NETHEHLANDS 

[1IM»-100AA] 

Eiirope.  Cardinal  Richelieu  had  finished  his  dazzling  but  tempestuous 
career  of  government,  in  which  the  hand  of  death  arrested  him  on  the  4th 
of  December,  1642.  Louis  XIII  soon  followed  to  the  grave  him  who  was 
rather  his  master  than  his  minister.  Anne  of  Austria  was  declared  regent 
during  the  minority  of  her  son,  Louis  XIV,  then  only  five  years  of  age:  and 
Cardinal  Mazarin  succeeded  to  the  station  from  which  death  alone  had  power 
to  remove  his  predecessor. 

The  civil  wars  in  England  now  broke  out,  and  their  terrible  results  seemed 
to  promise  to  the  republic  the  undisturbed  sovereignty  of  the  seas.  The 
prince  of  Orange  received  with  great  distinction  the  mother-in-law  of  his 
son,  when  she  came  to  Holland  imder  pretext  of  conducting  her  dau^t^: 
but  her  principal  purpose  was  to  obtain,  by  the  sale  of  the  crown  jewels  and 
the  assistance  of  Frederick  Henry,  funds  for  the  supply  of  her  unfortunate 
husband's  cause.  The  prince  and  several  private  mdividuals  contributed 
largely  in  money;  and  several  experienced  officers  passed  over  to  serve  in 
the  royalist  army  of  England.  The  provincial  states  of  Holland,  however, 
sympathising  wholly  with  the  parliament,  remonstrated  with  the  stadholder; 
and  the  Dutch  colonists  encouraged  the  hostile  efforts  of  their  brethren, 
the  Puritans  of  Scotland,  by  all  the  absurd  exhortations  of  fanatic  zeal.  The 
province  of  Holland,  and  some  others,  leaned  towards  the  parliament;  the 
prince  of  Orange  favoiu^  the  king;  and  the  statea^neral  endeavoured 
to  maintain  a  neutrality. 

The  struggle  was  still  furiously  maintained  in  Germany.  Everything 
tended  to  make  peace  necessary  to  some  of  the  contending  powers^  as  it  was 
at  length  desirable  for  all.  Among  other  strong  motives  to  that  line  of  con- 
duct, the  finances  of  Holland  were  in  a  state  perfectly  deplorable.  Every 
year  brought  the  necessity  of  a  new  loan ;  and  the  public  debt  of  the  provinces 
now  amounted  to  150,000,000  florins,  bearing  interest  at  dj  per  cent.  Con- 
siderable alarm  was  excited  at  the  progress  of  the  French  army  in  the  Belgian 
provinces;  and  escape  from  the  tyranny  of  Spain  seemed  only  to  lead  to  the 
danger  of  submission  to  a  nation  too  powerful  and  too  close  at  hand  not  to 
be  dangerous,  either  as  a  foe  or  an  ally.  These  fears  were  increased  by  the 
knowledge  that  Cardinal  Mazarin  projected  a  marriage  between  Louis  XIV 
and  the  infanta  of  Spain,  with  the  Belgian  provinces,  or  Spanish  Nether- 
lands as  they  were  now  called,  for  her  marriage  portion.  This  project  was 
confided  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  under  the  seal  of  secrecy,  and  he  was  offered 
the  marquisate  of  Antwerp  as  the  price  of  his  influence  towards  effecting 
the  plan.  The  prince  revealed  the  whole  to  the  states-general.  Great  fer- 
mentation was  excited:  the  stadholder  himself  was  blamed,  and  suspected 
of  complicity  with  the  designs  of  the  cardinal.  Frederick  Henry  was  deeply 
hurt  at  this  want  of  confidence,  and  the  injurious  publications  which  openly 
assailed  his  honour  in  a  point  where  he  felt  himself  entitled  to  praise  instead 
of  suspicion. 

DEATH  OF  FREDERICK   HENRY;   ACCESSION   OF  WILLIAM  H 

The  French  laboured  to  remove  the  impression  which  this  affair  excited 
in  the  republic:  but  the  states-general  felt  themselves  justified  by  the  intri- 
guing policy  of  Mazarin  in  entering  into  a  secret  negotiation  with  the  king  of 
Spain,  who  offered  very  favourable  conditions.  The  negotiations  were  con- 
siderably advanced  by  the  marked  disposition  evinced  by  the  prince  of  Orange 
to  hasten  the  establishment  of  peace.  Yet,  at  this  very  period,  and  while 
anxiously  wishing  this  great  object,  he  could  not  resist  the  desire  for  another 


CONCLUSION   OF   THE   EIGHTY   YEAKS'    WAB  683 

(1M7-164S^D.] 

campaign;  one  more  exploit,  to  signalise  the  epoch  at  which  he  finally  placed 
his  sword  in  the  scabbard.  Frederick  Henry  was  essentially  a  soldier,  with 
all  the  spirit  of  his  race;  and  this  evidence  of  the  ruling  passion,  while  he 
touched  the  verge  of  the  grave,  is  one  of  the  most  striking  points  of  his  char- 
acter. He  accordingly  took  the  field ;  but,  with  a  constitution  broken  by  a 
lingering  disease,  he  was  little  fitted  to  accomplish  any  feat  worthy  of  his 
splendid  reputation.  He  failed  in  an  attempt  on  Venlo,  and  another  on 
Antwerp,  and  retired  to  the  Hague,  where  for  some  months  he  rapidly 
declined. 

On  the  14th  of  March,  1647,  he  expired,  in  his  sixtv-thlrd  year;  leaving 
behind  him  a  character  of  unblemished  integrity,  prudence,  toleration,  and 
valour.    He  was  not  of  that  iin[)etuous  stamp  which  leads  men  to  heroic 
deeds,  and  brings  danger  to  the  states 
whose  liberty  is  compromised  by  their 
ambition.     He  was  a  striking  contrast  ^-fS^^ 

to  his  brother  Maurice,  and  more  re- 
sembled his  father  in  many  of  those 
calmer  qualities  of  the  mind,  which 
make  men  more  beloved  without  lessen- 
ing their  claims  to  admiration.  Fred- 
enck  Henry  had  the  honour  of  com- 
pleting the  glorious  task  which  William 
began  and  Maurice  followed  up.  He 
saw  the  oppression  they  had  combated 
now  humbled  and  overthrown;  and  he 
forms  the  third  in  a  sequence  of  family 
renown,  the  most  surprising  and  the 
least  chequered  afforded  by  the  annals 
of  Europe.^ 

William  II  succeeded  his  father  in 
his  dignities  ;  and  his  ardent  spirit 
longed  to  rival  him  in  war.  He  turned 
his  endeavours  to  thwart  all  the  efforts 
for  peace.  But  the  interests  of  the 
nation  and  the  dying  wishes  of  Fred- 
erick Henry  were  of  too  ptjwerful  influence  with  the  states  to  be  overcome 
by  the  martial  yearnings  of  an  inexperienced  youth. 


■^t- 


sr-^' 


<?:^"^ 


Fruisbick  Hbshy,  pRiMca  or  Oraxok 


TREATIES  OF  MUXSTER  AND   WESTPHALIA 

The  negotiations  were  pressed  forward:  and,  despite  the  complaints, 
the  murmurs,  and  the  intrigues  of  France,  the  treaty  of  MiJnster  was  finally 
signed  by  the  respective  ambassadors  of  the  United  Provinces  and  Spain,  on 
the  30th  of  January,  1648.    This  celebrated  treaty  contains  seventy-nine 

['  His  veneration  for  liia  father,  whom  he  resembled  in  many  points  of  his  character, 
amounted  almost  to  idolatrr,  a  »eDtinient  which  be  evinced  by  his  adoption  of  the  motto 
Hiiriaque,  palriqtte,  signifying  tliat  hia  Itfo  was  devoted  to  his  country,  and  to  vengeance  for 
the  marder  of  his  father.  Without  brilliancy  of  genius,  or  extraordinary  power  of  mind,  his 
clear  good  sense  and  sound  judgment  combined  with  hia  moderation  and  integrity  to  render 
him  one  of  the  best  and  most  esteemed  stadholders  the  provinces  ever  possessed.  By  virtue 
of  the  Act  of  Ueversion,  passed  in  1631,  his  offices  devolved  immediately  on  his  son  William  ; 
but  the  states  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  dosiring  to  convince  the  young  prince  that  the  stad- 
koldershlp  was  their  free  gift,  am)  not  u  ri^^bt  he  was  entitled  to  claim,  allowed  the  delay  of  a 
year  to  intervene  before  they  contirmcd  him  in  tho  office.  —  Daties,''] 


im  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHKKLANDS 

articles.  Three  points  were  of  main  and  vital  importance  to  the  rrpublic: 
the  first  acknowledges  an  ample  and  entire  recognition  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  states-general,  and  a  renunciation  forever  of  ail  cl^ras  on  the  part  of 
Spain;  the  second  confinns  the  rights  of  trade  and  navigation  in  the  Cart 
and  West  Indies,  with  the  possession  of  the  various  countries  and  stations 
then  actually  occupied  by  the  contracting  powers;  the  third  guuranteee  a 
like  possession  of  all  the  provinces  and  towns  of  the  Netherlands,  hs  they 
then  stood  in  their  respective  occupation  —  a  clause  hi^y  favourable  to 


The  Charlatan  :  SKTxrrrEENTH  Cektcrt  Strbbt  Scuib 
(Pntm  A  pointing  b;  Pranz  tod  MWrla) 

the  republic,  which  had  conquered  several  considerable  places  in  Brabant 
and  Flanders. 

The  ratifications  of  the  treaty  were  exchanged  at  Miinster  with  great 
solemnity  on  the  15th  of  May  following  the  signature;  the  peace  was  pub- 
lished in  that  town  and  in  Cfenabriick  on  the  I9th,  and  in  all  the  different 
states  of  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  United  Provinces  as  soon  as  the  joyous 
intelligence  could  reach  such  various  and  widely  separated  destinations. 
Thus,  after  eighty  years  of  unparalleled  warfare,  only  interrupted  by  the 
truce  of  16()9,  during  which  hoHtilities  had  not  ceased  in  the  Indies,  the  new 
republic  rose  from  the  horrors  of  civil  war  and  foreign  tyranny  to  its  unoon- 


CONCLUSION    OF   THE   EIGHTY    YEAES'   WAR 


585 


[1648  A.D.] 

tested  rank  as  a  free  and  independent  state  among  the  most  powerful  nations 
of  Europe.  No  country  had  ever  done  more  for  glory;  and  the  result  of  its 
efforts  was  the  irrevocable  guarantee  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  the  great 
aim  and  end  of  civilisation. 

The  internal  tranquillity  of  the  republic  was  secured  from  all  future  alarm 
by  the  ccjncIuKion  of  the  general  Pence  of  Westphalia,  definitely  signed  the 
24th  of  October,  1648.  This  treaty  was  long  considered  not  only  as  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  empire,  but  as  the  basis  of  the  political  system  of 
Euro[je.  As  numbers  of  conflicting  interests  were  reconciletl,  Germanic 
hberty  secured,  and  a  just  equilibrmm  established  between  the  Catholics 
and  Protestants,  France  and  Sweden  obtained  great  advantages;  and  the 
various  princes  of  the  empire  saw  their  possessions  regulated  and  secured, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  powers  of  the  emperor  were  strictly  defined  * 


I 


DAVIE8  REVIEW  OF  THE  WAR  AND  THE  DUTCH  CHARACTER 

Thus  ended  this  long  and  remarkable  war,  having  continued  for  a  period 
of  sixty-eight  years,  exclusive  of  the  twelve  years  truce  —  a  war  which, 
unexampled  in  the  history  of  nations,  had  brought  commerce,  w^ealth,  civili- 
sation, learning,  and  the  arts  in  its  train;  and  which  well  deserved  iUs  high 
exemption  from  the  common  lot  of  humanity,  because  of  the  nobleness,  the 
purity,  and  the  elevation  of  the  motives  from  whence  it  originated;  a  war 
which  had  its  foundation  in  justice,  and  its  termination  in  glory."  Often, 
in  the  annaLs  of  other  nations,  examples  of  bold  and  successful  struggles  for 
liberty  against  the  oppressor  and  invader  have  roused  the  sympathy  and 
inspired  tne  pen  of  the  historian:  Athens  has  had  her  Marathon,  Sparta  her 
Thermopylae^  Switzerland  her  Morgarten,  and  Spain  her  Saragossii;  but  it 
was  left  for  Holland  alone  to  present  the  spectacle  of  the  continuance  of  such 
a  struggle,  against  power,  wealth,  discipline,  numbers  —  in  defiance,  it 
seemed,  of  fate  itself  for  a  long  scries  of  years:  with  resolution  unwavering, 
with  courage  undaunted,  with  patience  unwearie«l;  rejectinj^,  proudly  and 
repeatedly,  the  solicitations  for  f)eace  proffered  by  their  rmghty  foe,  and 
yielding  to  them  at  last  only  when  she  had,  as  it  were,  the  destiny  of  that 
foe  m  her  hands. 

The  results  of  this  war,  as  wonderful  as  were  its  commencement  and 
progress,  are  to  be  attributed  chiefly  to  the  moral  qualities  of  the  Dutch; 
to  their  maritime  power;  to  the  constitution  of  their  government  anterior  to 
the  revolt ;  their  geographical  position;  and  the  rapid  increase  of  their  popu- 
lation by  the  influx  of  foreigners  of  all  nations.  Among  the  moral  qualities 
which  distinguished  the  Dutch  of  this  period,  the  most  renmrkable  was 
honesty  —  a  homely  virtue,  but  none  the  less  real,  none  the  less  efficacious 
in  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed.  Of  the  advantage  it  proved 
to  them  in  their  pecuniary  relations  with  other  states,  their  history  affords 

p  Grotius,"  indeed,  addaccfl  as  the  solo  motive  of  tbo  war  the  reluctance  of  tLe  Dutch  to 
pay  the  lonth  demanded  by  Alva,  bnt  in  this  instance  be  does  his  countrymen  a  cniel  injustice. 
It  was  not  the  mere  payment  of  the  tax,  but  the  mode  of  it8  levy  (without  consent  of  the 
states),  and  the  fear  of  itH  perpetuity,  which  drove  the  HullanderH  to  revolt,  as  after  event* 
mo<tt  fully  provwi  ;  and  he  hiinnelf  raaken  tli©  observation,  a  few  pages  lower  down,  "  Omnia 
dabant,  ne  dteimam  dareni  "  ["they  ^ve  all,  rather  than  give  a  tentli "] ;  it  was  because  tbey 
knew  that  their  forefathers  had  been  accnstomed  to  arrest  the  arbitrary  meaRures  of  their 
sovereigrns  chiefly  by  withholding  the  sapplies ;  bec&UBo  they  knew  that,  if  deprived  of  this 
power,  their  only  means  of  redresa,  except  by  arms,  was  ffone,  and  those  privileges  which  they 
might  expect  to  recover  when  the  government  l)ecame  needy  or  impoverished  would  then  be  lost 
forever ;  because  they  must  then  afford  tbeir  tyrant  a  constant  supply  of  strength  to  oppress 
them  ;  in  the  words  of  their  hi^iorian,  Bor,/  "everyone  feare<l  an  Hernal  slavery. "] 


086  THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS 

sufficient  evidence.  At  the  time  when  their  affairs  were  most  desperate, 
none  ever  doubted  their  national  credit;  the  parsimonious  queen  of  England, 
the  cautious  William  of  Orange,  the  mistrustful  Gennan  piinces,  never 
hesitated  for  a  moment  to  advance  them  loans,  or  to  trust  to  their  honour 
for  the  payment  of  the  troops  which  served  under  their  standards.  Carried 
into  theu*  commercial  transactions,  this  probity  won  them  the  confidence  of 
the  merchants  of  foreign  coimtries,  and  caused  them  to  become  in  course  of 
time  the  providers  and  cashiers  of  nearly  the  whole  civilised  world.  Per- 
vading their  political  counsels,  it  produced  a  spirit  of  mutual  confidence 
which  boimd  together  all  ranks  of  men  in  an  indissoluble  tie.  The  govern- 
ment, acting  in  perfect  good  faith  itself,  never  suspected  the  fidelity  of  the 
people,  nor  descended  to  the  mean  arts  of  rousing  their  passions  b^  fictions 
or  misrepresentations;  they  never  deceived  them  as  to  their  relations  with 
foreign  powers,  as  to  the  exact  condition  of  their  strength  and  resources,  or 
as  to  the  true  nature  of  the  contest  in  which  they  were  engaged;  and  the 
people  on  their  part  awarded  to  the  government  entu^  reliance  and  obedience. 
Thus  a  state,  formed  of  the  most  heterogeneous  parts,  was  imited  by  the 
strong  bond  of  mutual  fidelity  into  a  firm  and  compact  whole,  which  defied 
alike  the  assaults  of  force  from  without  and  the  imdermining  of  intrigue 
from  within. 

From  the  effects  of  this  virtue  of  mtegrity  sprang  another,  which  charac- 
terised the  Dutch  no  less  strongly  —  that  of  firmness.  Never  led  astray  by 
false  rumours  or  false  opinions,  they  contemplated  calmly  and  clearly  the 
object  they  had  in  view  —  security  of  person  and  property,  and  freedom  of 
religion  —  and  employed  with  undeviating  steadiness  of  purpose  the  means 
they  conceived  calculated  to  attain  it;  they  desired  no  more,  they  would  be 
satisfied  with  no  less;  the  most  flattering  promises,  the  most  advantageous 
offers  of  peace,  which  did  not  realise  that  object  to  the  full  extent,  never 
caused  them  to  waver  for  a  moment;  they  were  exempt  from  that  reckless 
spirit  of  innovation,  that  prurient  desire  of  change,  usually  remarkable  in 
the  actors  in  great  revolutions.  The  goal  which  they  had  determined  to 
reach,  therefore,  did  not  change  its  position  from  day  to  day,  as  whim,  ambi- 
tion, or  circumstances  dictated;  in  their  deepest  reverses,  at  their  highest 
elevation  of  prosperity,  it  was  still  the  same ;  they  pursued  their  path  towards 
it  with  slow  and  measured  steps;  and  when  at  last  they  attained  it,  they 
suffered  no  disappointment,  they  experienced  no  reaction;  they  did  not,  as 
it  too  often  happens,  in  the  bitterness  of  a  deceived  hope,  rush  back  to  a 
condition  worse  than  that  they  had  left;  but  were  content  to  find  what  they 
had  sought  —  freedom  and  security;  and  riches,  glory,  and  honour  were 
added  to  them. 

Not  the  least  among  the  moral  causes  which  led  to  the  national  aggrandise- 
ment of  the  Dutch  may  be  found  in  the  singular  absence  of  selfishness  and 
personal  vanity  observable  in  all  ranks  of  men.  In  the  great  events  which 
occurred  during  the  revolt  and  subsequent  war,  and  which  might  easily  be 
supposed  to  call  forth  stirring  and  ambitious  spirits,  each  man  performed  his 
part  quietly  and  unostentatiously,  without  aiming  to  draw  on  himself  public 
attention,  or  to  place  himself  in  a  prominent  light.  In  other  cases  it  often 
appears  as  if  the  revolution  were  made  for  the  man;  in  this,  the  man  was 
made  for  the  revolution :  his  individuality  was  lost,  if  we  may  so  express  it, 
in  his  nationality;  the  Dutchman  was  less  a  man  than  a  Dutchman,  less  a 
Dutchman  than  a  Hollander  or  Zealander;  himself  and  his  country  were 
identified  —  her  glory  was  his  glory,  her  wealth  his  wealth,  her  greatness  his 
greatness.    This  sentiment  it  was  which  rendered  the  Dutch  so  universally 


YEARS'   WAR 


I 


incorruptible  that  neither  during  the  war  nor  the  truce,  though  offers  and 
promise-B  were  never  spared  by  Spain,  do  we  find  a  single  instance  of  a  traitor 
of  that  nation  bought  with  gold. 

The  reputation  of  their  military  officers  was  little  displayed,  since  the 
fitadholders,  as  captaina-eeneral,  being  constantly  in  the  field,  the  credit  of 
all  the  successes  obtained  redounded  to  them;  but  very  rarely  do  we  find 
their  movementa  embarrassed,  or  their  plans  disordered,  by  want  of  capacity 
or  promptitude  in  their  inferiors:    and  the  results  of  their  operations  bear 


Dutch  Lani>i«capc 
(From  the  paloUns  by  BujadMl,  1630) 

testimony  that  they  must  have  been  as  ably  carried  out  as  skilfully  combined. 
Their  naval  commanders,  as  their  sphere  of  action  wjis  more  extensive  and 
independent,  so  their  genius  and  abdity  shone  out  with  a  more  marked  and 
brilliant  lustre;  Heemskerk,  Warmont,  Heijn,  Matelief,  Coen,  and  Spil- 
bergen  are  names  of  which  any  people  may  justly  be  proud.  Nor  was  it 
only  in  profound  and  practical  knowlerlge  of  matters  relating  to  their  pro- 
fession that  these  great  captains  excelled;  the  admirable  treaties  made  with 
the  native  sovereigns  of  India,  and  the  advantageous  ternis  they  obtained 
for  their  merchants  and  factors  in  foreign  countries,  prov€»d  them  no  less 
skilled  in  the  mysteries  of  political  science,  and  the  tielicate  and  intricate 
subject  of  the  commercial  interests  of  their  nation.  The  merchants  also  of 
Holland  were  as  remarkable  for  enterprise  and  judgment  as  for  integrity 
in  the  management  of  their  commerce;  nor  less  so  for  the  dexterity  with 
which  they  secured  a  footing  in  foreign  countries,  and  the  confidence  and 
prudence  with  which,  often  in  spite  of  very  adverse  circumstances,  they 
contrived  to  retain  it. 

But  though  probity,  firmness,  courage,  patriotism,  and  wisdom  might 
have  given  the  Dutch  strength  to  prolong  the  contest,  and  to  obtain  at  the 
end  favourable  terms  of  peace,  these  qualities  might  yet  scarcely  have  sufficed 
to  render  them  independent  and  powerful,  had  they  not  been  favoured  by 


588  THE   HISTOHY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

some  considerable  incidental  advantages.  Among  such  may  be  reckoned, 
as  one  of  the  principal,  the  excellence  of  their  navy.  We  have  shown  that, 
at  the  reign  of  Philip  III  (II  of  Spain)  the  fleets  of  the  Netherlands  were  able 
to  cope  with,  if  they  did  not  surpass,  those  of  any  of  the  great  powers  <rf 
Europe.  These  fleets  consisted  for  the  most  part  of  armed  merchant  ships, 
and  of  vessels  of  war  belonging,  not  to  the  central  government  but  to  the 
municipal  governments  of  uie  towns  by  which  they  were  eauipped.  The 
breaking  out  of  hostilities,  therefore,  found  the  Dutch  prepared  with  a  mari- 
time force  sufficient  to  keep  the  seas  against  the  enemy.  The  ships  merely, 
which  were  banished  from  the  ports  of  England  in  1572,  were  twenty-four 
in  number,  at  that  time  a  considerable  armament;  and,  in  the  next  year, 
the  fleet  of  the  towns  of  North  Holland  was  sufficiently  powerful  to  obUun 
a  signal  victory  over  that  of  Alva,  which  gave  them  the  possession  of  the 
Zuyder  Zee. 

From  the  very  early  period  of  the  war,  indeed,  when  they  were  to  all 
appearance  a  mere  feeble  band  of  insurgents,  they  were  rarely  worsted  by 
the  enemy  in  any  naval  encounter;  and  the  mastery  of  the  seas  which  they 
thus  retamed  enabled  them  at  all  times  to  supply  themselves  with  ammuni- 
tion, com,  and  other  provisions,  and  to  transport  in  safety  the  subsidies 
in  money  and  troops  afforded  them  by  England ;  to  prevent  the  conveyance 
of  the  armies  from  Spain  by  water,  forcing  them  to  imdergo  the  tedious  and 
difficult  journey  overland  at  an  immense  waste  of  men  and  money;  and 
to  hinder  the  passage  of  supplies  and  oblige  the  enemy  to  have  recourse  to 
themselves,  drawing  by  this  means  the  greater  portion  of  the  stuns  applied 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  troops  into  their  own  hands.  While  thus  benefiting 
by  the  streams  that  flowed  from  the  treasury  of  their  enemy,  they  were  often 
able  to  drain  it  at  its  very  source,  by  the  capture  of  the  vessels  laden  with 
the  specie  on  which  her  sole  dependence  was  placed;  while  the  provinces 
themselves,  trading  in  comparative  security,  collected  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  the  wealth  which  enabled  them  to  sustain  burdens  apparently  so  dis- 
proportioned  to  their  strength. 

The  municipal  system  of  government,  which  for  so  many  centuries  pre- 
vailed in  the  United  Provinces,  has  been  remarked  upon  as  tending  to  dis- 
union, since,  attaching  its  subjects  principally  to  their  own  town  or  province, 
it  caused  them  sometimes  to  overlook,  in  their  anxiety  for  its  interest,  the 
interest  of  the  whole.  But  in  circumstances  where  all  were  bound  together 
by  one  strong  tie,  where  the  same  powerful  impulse  directed  the  movements 
of  all  in  unison,  it  went  far  towards  rendering  them  invincible.  The  oppressor 
found  that  he  had  the  Hydra  to  subdue,  and  that  each  head  was  imbued 
with  the  strength  of  the  whole  body.  Every  city  was,  as  it  were,  a  fresh 
nation  to  conquer. 

As  another  cause  of  the  rapid  increase  of  Holland  has  justly  been  adduced, 
the  influx  of  multitudes  of  refugees  of  different  nations  who  sought  shelter 
within  her  boundaries.  Fugitives  from  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  from  Spain 
itself,  Protestants  driven  from  Germany  by  the  miseries  of  the  Tliirty  Years' 
War,  Jews  from  Portugal,  and  Huguenots  from  France,  found  here  welcome, 
safety,  and  employment.  Nor  was  it  more  in  the  numbers  than  in  the  sort 
of  population  she  thus  gained,  that  Holland  found  her  advantage.  The 
fugitives  were  not  criminals  escaped  from  justice,  speculators  lured  by  the 
hope  of  plunder,  nor  idlers  coming  thither  to  enjoy  the  luxuries  which  their 
own  country  did  not  afford;  they  were  generally  men  persecuted  on  account  of 
their  love  of  civil  liberty,  or  their  devotion  to  their  religious  tenets;  had  they 
been  content  to  sacrifice  the  one  or  the  other  to  their  present  ease  and  interest 


CONCLUSION   OF   THE    EIGHTY    YEARS'   WAlf 


580 


they  hat!  remaiiipfl  unmolesUnl  where  they  were;  it  was  by  their  activit)', 
integrity,  and  resi)hition  that  they  rendered  themselves  obnoxious  to  the 
t3rraniiical  and  bigoted  governments  which  drove  them  from  their  native 
land;  and  these  virtues  they  carried  with  them  to  their  adopted  country, 
peopling  it  not  with  vagabonds  or  indolent  voluptuaries,  but  with  brave, 
mtelUgent,  and  useful  citizens.  Thus,  not  only  was  the  waste  in  the  popula- 
tion of  the  provinces  consequent  on  the  war  rapidly  supplied,  but  by  means 
of  the  industry  and  skill  of  the  new^-comers  their  manufactures  were  carried 
to  so  high  a  pitch  of  perfection  that,  in  a  short  time,  they  were  able  to  surpass 
and  imtlersell  the  traders  of  every  other  nation.'' 

Thorold  Rogers  thus  enthusiastically  characterises  the  victory  of  the 
Dutch  over  the  Spanish: 

"I  hold  it  that  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands  and  the  success  of  Holland 
is  the  beginning  of  modern  pohtical  science  and  of  modern  civilisation.  It 
utterly  repuiliatetl  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and  the  divine  authority  of  an 
Italian  priest,  the  two  most  inveterate  enemies  which  human  progress  has 
had  to  do  battle  with.  At  present,  the  king  in  civilised  communities  is  the 
servant  of  the  state,  whose  presence  and  influence  is  believed  to  be  useful. 
The  priest  can  only  enjoy  an  authority  which  is  voluntarily  conceded  to 
him,  but  has  no  authority  over  those  who  decline  to  recognise  him.  These 
two  principles  of  civil  government  the  Dutch  were  the  first  to  affirm.  The 
debt  which  rational  and  just  government  owes  to  the  seven  provinces  is  incal- 
culable. To  the  true  lover  of  liberty,  Holland  is  the  Holy  Land  of  modern 
Europe,  and  should  be  held  sacred."? 


^        W 


m 


o^ 


9     ©    i~ 


CHAPTER  XIII 


SCIENCE,  LITERATURE,  AND  ART  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS 

Never,  if  we  except  the  ancient  Greeks,  has  a  people  restricted  to  so 
small  a  territory  accomplished  such  great  things  in  a  century  and  a  half,  or 
given  the  world  such  illustrious  examples  as  the  Dutch.  From  the  oldest 
time-s  tlie  struggle  with  the  sea  had  strengthened  the  character  of  the  peoples 
from  the  delta  of  the  Rhine  to  beyond  Friesland.  But  now,  calling  on  the 
eti^rnal  rights  of  man,  they  had  declared  themselves  free.  As  wise  as  they 
were  brave  and  enduring,  thev  took  advantage  of  everv  circumstance  in 
European  politics  which  could  be  turned  to  their  profit.  'The  new  common- 
wealth which  they  founded  suggested  new  ideas  to  the  statesmen  and  philof^ 
ophera  of  Europe.  They  became  the  creators  of  a  colonial  system  which 
we  cannot,  however,  place  on  a  par  with  that  of  the  Hellenes,  for  it  was 
founded  solely  on  egoism. 

The  Dutch  ilid  not,  like  the  Greeks  from  Cyrene,  Massilia,  and  munerous 
other  seaport  towns,  spread  a  beautiful  and  lofty  civilisation  from  the  sea 
inland.  And  yet  the  extended  sea  authority  called  all  forces  into  the  field, 
even  tlie  scientific;  geography,  cartography,  astronomy  reached  a  height 
undreamed  of.  The  cities  grew  so  rapidly  that  the  Russian  ambassadors 
who  appeared  in  Holland  in  1615  described  the  country  even  then  as  one 
conthiuous  city.  The  little  land  could  not  shine  by  natural  production: 
the  natives,  to  be  sure,  boast  that  certain  branches,  as  horticulture  and  the 
production  of  art  works,  brought  large  sums  into  the  country;  but  it  was 
chiefly  through  its  industries  and  through  its  colonial  organisation  that 
Holland,  even  after  England  had  begun  to  be  a  formidable  rival,  remained 
a  model  Ptate  until  well  into  the  eighteenth  century.  Even  the  high  taxes 
were  held  to  be  only  a  sign  of  prosperity.  The  popular  spirit  foimd  expression 
not  only  in  festivals  but  also  more  worthily  in  state  buildings  ana  public 
institutions.  In  Holland,  the  democratic  idea,  which  had  already  beeo 
proclaimed  in  single  imperial  cities  and  in  the  Hanse  towns^  was  kept  alive 
at  just  the  time  that  the  latter  declined;  Holland  became  in  the  north  tlie 
home  of  the  modern  system  of  institution  for  the  common  good.  The  council 
house  at  Amsterdam  (used  as  a  palace  by  Louis  Bonaparte  in  1808)  war 


SCIENCE,   LITERATUBE,   AND   ART   IN    THE    NETHERLANDS  50i 


called  the  eighth  wonder  of  the  world ;  institutions  for  the  insane  and  prisons 
arose,  in  which  care  was  taken  for  the  improvement  of  the  inmates. 

Especially  creditable,  and  also  advantageous  for  the  states-general,  was 
tlieir  attitude  towards  intellectual  culture  and  the  sciences.  Like  every  art, 
so  also  learning  and  ideas  of  liberty  in  their  origins  were  closely  associated 
with  religion.  Discussions  concerning  subtle  doctrines  of  faith  took  place 
in  Holland  at  the  family  table  and  in  the  taverns.  A  translation  of  the 
Bible  was  undertaken  by  Philip  van  Marnix,  lord  of  Sainte-Aldegonde;  but 
not  until  1637,  at  the  instigation  of  the  synod  of  Dort  (Dordrecht),  did  the 
so-called  state  Bible  gain  official  rec- 
ognition. 

In  the  year  in  which  the  Peace 
of  Westphalia  was  concluded  (1648) 
Holland  received  its  fifth  imiversity, 
Harderwijk;  the  other  four  were  Ley- 
den,  Franeker,  Utrecht,  and  Gron- 
ingen.  In  addition  the  AtheruBum  illuS" 
ir6y  founded  at  Amsterdam  in  1632,  had 
almost  the  rank  of  a  university.  Ley- 
den  always  held  the  first  place,  as 
well  in  mathematics,  jurisprudence, 
and  medicine  as  especially  in  philology. 
Holland  became  the  chief  seat  of  poly- 
history  —  a  new  kind  of  learning  which 
may  be  regarded  as  the  successor  of 
Italian  humanism. 

The  scholars  of  Leyden  and  of  other 
places  did  indeed  start  out  in  their 
mvestigation  of  classic  authors  from 
textual  correction  and  from  a  linguistic 
standpoint,  but  they  sought,  above 
all,  the  realities;  they  tried  to  explain 
the  real  nature  of  the  so-called  antiquities  and  heaped  up  an  enormous  amount 
of  erudition  for  that  purpose. 

SPINOZA 

Holland  in  its  great  century  attained  the  highest  reputation  among 
posterity  for  the  freedom  and  protection  it  afforded  to  thought.  It  was 
here  that  Descartes  *  and  Locke  developed  their  systems.  In  no  other 
country  of  Europe  could  the  great  thinker  Banich  (Benedict)  Spinoza  have 
ishown  to  an  after  woHil  the  spectacle  of  an  independent  scholar  who,  boimd 
by  no  religious  obligations,  lived  for  truth  alone. 

Spinoza,  bom  at  Amsterdam  in  1632,  was  descended  from  an  immigrant 
Portuguese  Jew.  He  received  a  rabbinical  education  and  studieil  ancient 
langujiges  with  a  Dutch  physician,  Van  den  Ende.  But  his  abandonment 
of  tneir  idea  of  God  could  not  long  remain  hidden  to  the  Jews;  the  formula 
of  the  Jewish  ban  (cherem)  was  pronounced  against  him,  and  he  even  received 
a  knife  wound  in  front  of  the  synagogue.  After  that  time  he  kept  wholly 
aloof  from  the  Jewish  community,  wnthout  formally  assuming  any  Chris- 
tian tie.     He  was,  however,  in   close   connection  with  the  Arminians  and 

[i  The  celebrated  French  pliHoBrtpher  spent  the  last  twcntT  years  of  his  life,  from  1629- 
1649,  in  HollantI,  and  did  aH  hiu  ini(K)rtiint  work  there.  John  Locke  8r>ent  the  yearH  16S8-10S9 
In  ▼oluDtary  exile  iu  Holland  and  there  wrote  his  "  Essay  concerning  Human  Understanding."] 


OERARDU0  JOHANKSS  VossnJB    {1677-10401 

(Ttuj  tTpical  Dutch  polyhlttor,  kniiwn  kIbo  u  **lb«  per- 
fect grvmnu-Un  "> 


THE    HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 


5ff 


occasionally  urRpfl  others  to  attend  their  preaching  services.  He  earned  til 
living  by  grinding  lenses,  and  refu^ied  a  call  to  Heidelberg  to  a\-oid  gmof 
offence  to  any  man.  One  of  his  most  important  works,  the  Ethics  was  da 
published  until  after  his  death. 

The  wonderful  calm  of  his  style  of  writing,  where  everything  is  prciv^ 
mathematically,  has  from  the  first  not  failed  to  make  a  deep  impreaaut 
upon  simple  readers.     Since  Spinoza  recognises  only  one  Being,  a  singit 
unlimited,  self -existing  substance,  in  which  all  individual  exii^tence  with  i 
opposites  is  included;  since  this  substance  takes  the  place  of  God  with  hi: 
there  is  lacking  in  his  conception  of  divinity  the  personality  which  see 
indLspensable  to  most  people  and  the  likeness  to  man  which  is  indispensati: 
to  mythology.    Since,  moreover,  this  universal  existence  moves  in  tmie  and 
space  acconling  to  immutable  laws,  there  is  no  place  for  the  freedom  of  wiL 

Spinoza's  conception  of  good  and  e^il  lik^ 
wise  did  not  fit  into  any  current  moral 
system.  If  we  further  take  into  consider- 
ation that  in  his  states,  doctrine  the  con- 
nection of  right  and  might  could  easily  be 
misinteipreted  into  an  abolition  of  aD 
moral  obligation,  we  see  that  there  were 
elements  enough  to  make  his  whole  philoso- 
phy appear  objectionable  for  long  years  to 
come.  Thus  the  stigma  of  atheism  remained 
attached  to  him,  whereas  in  reality  tbe 
last  axioms  of  his  philosophy  teach  that  Ihf 
highest  cognition  is  the  knowledge  of  God; 
from  this  springs  the  highest  intellectual 
bliss,  the  inward  repose  which  comes  from 
reflectmg  upon  the  necessity  of  all  thinp; 
the  release  from  the  fruitless  struggle  with 
the  finality  of  our  being.  The  highest  spa- 
itual  virtue  acconling  to  hini  is  lov^e  toGod: 
who  really  loves  God  does  not  expect  God 
to  love  him  in  return;  his  reward  conasU 
in  the  ble5se<incss  of  that  higher  cognition. 
Among  the  foreigners  who  from  Holland  attacked  antiquated  doctriMB 
and  aroused  a  spirit  of  lioubt  and  criticism,  Pierre  Bayle  was  unquestionaWy 
the  one  who  exercised  the  most  direct  and  active  influence,  especially  through 
the  tireless  energy  by  means  of  which  he  was  able  to  create  new  forms  d 
expression.  In  Bayle  the  spirit  of  investigation  and  contradiction  was  ever 
active.  In  the  seventeenth  century  he  was  known  pre-eminently  as  the 
doubter,  somewhat  like  Hume  in  the  eighteenth. 

In  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  which  remained  monarchistic  and  Catholic, 
intellectual  activity  retreated  wholly  into  the  background  during  the  pev^n* 
teenth  century.  The  rhetorical  chambers  had  already  been  suppresse<1  under 
PhOip  II;  the  sciences  also  could  not  flourish  under  the  absolute  dominion 
and  the  clerical  servitude.  Philip's  daughter  Isabella  and  her  husbaod 
Duke  Albert  ha<l  patronised  literature  to  a  certain  extent  and  had  attended 
lectures  by  the  celebrated  philolo^ian  Lipsius.  During  the  newly  beginning 
seventeenth  century  there  is  no  literary  activity  of  a  national  cliaracter  to 
he  recorded,  in  the  country  now  called  Belgium;  only  a  few  Jesuits  like 
Haschins  distinguished  themselves  as  Latin  poets.*  In  Holland,  however, 
there  had  been  a  splendid  efflorescence. 


Babuoh  Spihoza  (lttSS-lflT7) 


I 


SCIEXCE,    LITER ATUEE,    AND    AET    IN    THE    NETHERLANDS   59S 


GOLDEX  AGE   OF  DUTCH   LITERATURE 

Tlie  first  -wTiter  who  used  the  Dutch  tongue  with  grace  and  precision  of 
style  was  a  woman  and  a  professed  opponent  of  Lutheranism  and  reformed 
tlioupht.  Modem  Dutch  literature  practiwilly  begins  with  Anna  BijnH. 
Against  the  crowd  of  rhetoricians  antl  psalm-makers  of  the  early  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  she  stands  out  in  relief  as  the  one  poet  of  real  genias.  The 
language,  oscillating  before  her  time  between  French  and  German,  formless, 
corrupt,  and  invertebrate,  took  shape  and  comeliness,  which  none  of  the  male 
pedants  could  give  it,  from  the  impassioned  hands  of  a  woman,  Anna  Bijns, 
who  is  believeclto  have  been  bom  at  Antwcrj^  in  1494,  was  a  schoolmistress  at 
that  city  in  lier  middle  life  and  In  old  age  she  still  ^'instrueted  youth  in  the 
Catholic  religion."  She  was  named  "  the  Sappho  of  Brabant"  and  the  "prin- 
cess of  all  rhetoricians/'  She  bent  the  powerful  weapon  of  her  verse  against 
the  faith  and  character  of  Luther.  In  Dirk  Volckersten  C^oornhert  (1522- 
1590)  Holland  for  the  first  time  produced  a  writer  at  once  eager  to  compose  in 
his  native  tongue  and  to  employ  the  weapons  of  humanism. 

Towards  the  enti  of  the  period  of  transition,  Anisterdani  became  the  centre 
of  all  literary  enterprise  in  Holland.  In  1585  two  of  the  most  important 
chambers  of  rhetoric  in  Flanders,  the  "  White  LaVender"  and  the  "  Fig-Tree/' 
took  flight  from  the  south,  and  settled  themselves  in  Amsterdam  by  the  side  of 
the  "Kglantine."  The  last-named  in.stitution  had  already  obs<»rved  the  new 
tendency  of  the  age,  and  was  prepared  to  encourage  intellectual  reform  of 
every  kind,  and  its  influence  spread  through  Holland  and  Zealand.  In  Flan- 
ders, meanwhile,  cra^^hed  under  the  yoke  of  Parma,  literature  and  native 
thought  abs<:>Iutely  expired. 

In  the  chamber  of  the  Eglantine  at  Amsterdam  two  men  took  a  very 
prominent  place,  more  by  their  intelligence  and  modern  spirit  than  by  their 
original  genius.  Heiidrick  Laurenssf-n  Spiegliel  (1549-1012)  was  a  humanist 
of  a  tj-pH^  more  advanced  and  less  polemical  than  Coornhert. 

Roemer  Pieters,sen  Visscher  (1*545-1620)  proceeded  a  step  further  thai 
Spieghel  in  the  cultivation  of  polite  letters.  He  was  deeply  tinged  with  a 
spirit  of  classical  learning  that  w^ls  much  more  genuine  and  nearer  to  the  true 
antique  than  any  that  had  previously  been  known  in  Holland.  His  own  dii?- 
ciples  called  him  the  Dutch  Martial,  but  he  was  at  best  little  more  than  an 
aniateur  in  jx>etry,  although  an  amateur  wliose  function  it  was  to  perceive 
and  encourage  the  genius  of  professional  writers. 

The  Vissdier  Family 

Roomer  Visscher  stands  at  the  threshold  of  the  new  Renaissance  literature, 
himself  practising  the  faded  arts  of  the  rhet^^ricians,  but  pointing  by  his  couns<4 
and  his  conversation  to  the  naturalism  of  the  great  period.  It  was  in  the 
salon  at  Amsterdam  which  tlie  beautiful  daughters  of  Roemer  Visscher  fomieil 
around  their  father  and  themselves  that  the  new  school  began  to  take  fomi. 
The  republic  of  the  United  Provinces,  with  Amsterdam  at  its  head,  hatl  sud- 
denly risen  to  the  first  rank  among  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  it  was  under 
the  influence  of  so  much  new  emotion  and  brilliant  ambition  that  the  country 
no  less  suddenly  assertc*:!  itself  in  a  great  schoijl  of  painting  anil  pm^try.  The 
intellect  of  tlie  whole  of  the  Low  Coimtries  was  concentrated  in  Holland  and 
Zealand,  while  the  six  great  universities,  Leyden,  Gronuigen,  Utrecht,  Amster- 
dam, Harderwijk,  and  Franeker,  were  enriched  by  a  flock  of  learned  exiles  from 
Flanders  and  Brabant.    It  had  occurred,  however,  to  Roemer  Visscher  only 

B.  w. — VOL.  xni.  3q 


594  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

that  the  path  of  literary  honour  lay,  not  along  the  utilitarian  road  cut  out  by 
Maerlant  and  Boendale,  but  in  the  study  of  beauty  and  antiquity.  In  this  be 
was  curiously  aided  by  the  school  of  ripe  and  enthusiastic  scholars  who  b^an 
to  flourish  at  Leyden,  such  as  Drusius,  Vossius,  and  Hugo  Grotius,  who  them- 
selves wrote  little  in  Dutch,  but  who  chastened  the  style  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion by  insisting  on  a  pure  and  liberal  latinity.  Out  of  that  generation  arose 
the  greatest  names  in  the  literature  of  Holland  —  Vondel,  Hooft,  Cats,  Huy- 
gens  —  in  whose  hands  the  language,  so  long  left  barbarous  and  neglect«l, 
took  at  once  its  highest  finish  and  melody.  By  the  side  of  this  seiious  and 
aesthetic  growth  there  is  to  be  noticed  a  quickening  of  the  broad  and  farcical 
humour  which  had  been  characteristic  of  the  Dutch  nation  from  its  com- 
mencement. 

Of  the  famous  daughters  of  Roemer,  two  cultivated  literature  with  marked 
success:  Anna  (1584-1651)  was  the  author  of  a  descriptive  and  didactic  poem, 
De  Roemster  van  den  Aemstel  (the  Glory  of  the  Aemstel),  and  of  various  mis- 
cellaneous writings;  Tesselschade  (1594-1649)  wrote  some  lyrics  which  still 
place  her  at  the  head  of  the  female  poets  of  Holland,  and  she  translated  the 
great  poem  of  Tasso.  They  were  women  of  universal  accomplishment,  grace- 
ful manners,  and  singular  beauty;  and  their  company  attracted  to  the  house 
of  Roemer  Visscher  all  the  most  gifted  youths  of  the  time,  several  of  whom 
were  suitors,  but  in  vain,  for  the  hand  of  Anna  or  of  Tesselschade. 


Hooft  and  Vondel 

Of  this  Amsterdam  school,  the  first  to  emerge  into  public  notice  was  Keter 
('ornelissen  Hooft  (1581-1647),  In  his  poetry,  especially  in  the  lyrical  and 
pastoral  verse  of  his  youth,  he  is  full  of  Italian  reminiscences  both  of  style  and 
matter;  in  his  noble  prose  work  he  has  set  himself  to  be  a  disciple  of  Tacitus. 
Mr.  Motley  ^  has  spoken  of  Hooft  as  one  of  the  greatest  historians,  not  merely 
of  Holland  but  of  Europe.  His  influence  in  purifying  the  language  of  his 
country  and  in  enlarging  its  sphere  of  experience  can  hardly  be  overrated. 

Very  different  from  the  long  and  prosperous  career  of  Hooft  was  the  brief, 
painful  life  of  the  greatest  comic  dramatist  that  Holland  has  produced,  Ger- 
brand  Adriaanssen  Brederoo  (1585-1618),  the  son  of  an  Amsterdam  shoe- 
maker. 

The  greatest  of  all  Dutch  writers,  Joost  van  der  Vondel,  was  bom  at 
Cologne  on  the  17th  of  November,  1587.  In  1612  he  brought  out  his  firat 
work,  Hei  Pascha,  a  tragedy  or  tragicomedy  on  the  exodus  of  the  chUdren  of 
Israel,  written,  like  all  his  succeeding  dramas,  on  the  recognised  Dutch  plan, 
in  alexandrines,  in  five  acts,  and  with  choral  interludes  between  the  acts. 
There  is  comparatively  little  promise  in  Het  Pascha.  In  1625  he  published 
what  seemed  an  innocent  study  from  the  antique,  his  tragedy  of  PalamedeSj  or 
Murdered  Innocence.  All  Amsterdam  discovered,  with  smothered  delight, 
that  under  the  name  of  the  hero  was  thinly  concealed  the  figure  of  Bameveld, 
whose  execution  in  1618  had  been  a  triumph  of  the  hated  Calvinists.  Thus, 
at  the  age  of  forty-one,  the  obscure  Vondel  became  in  a  week  the  most  famous 
writer  in  Holland. 

A  purely  fortuitous  circumstance  led  to  the  next  great  triumph  in  Vondel's 
slowly  developing  career.  The  Dutch  Academy,  foimded  in  1617,  almost 
wholly  as  a  dramatic  guild,  had  become  so  inadequately  provided  with  stage 
accommodation  that  in  1638,  having  coalesced  with  the  two  chambers  of  the 
"  Eglantine"  and  the  "  White  Lavender,"  it  ventured  on  the  erection  of  a  large 


SCIEXCE,   LITERATURE,   AXD   xVKT   IN    THE    NETHERLANDS   595 


I 


public  theatre,  the  first  in  Amstenlam,  A'ondel,  as  the  greatest  poet  of  the 
day.  was  invitetl  to  wTite  a  piece  for  the  first  night;  on  the  3rd  of  January, 
163K,  the  theatre  was  oi>ened  with  the  performance  of  a  new  tragedy  out  of 
early  Dutch  history,  the  famous  Gyshreijht  van  AemsteL  The  next  ten  years 
were  rich  in  dramlitic  work  from  Vondel's  hand.  In  1654,  having  alnrady 
attained  an  age  at  whicli  pcjetical  proiluction  is  usually  discontinued  by  the 
moHt  energetic  of  |x>et«,  he  brought  out  the  most  exalted  and  sublime  of  all  his 
■works,  the  trage<ly  of  Lucifer.*  Very  late  in  life,  through  no  fault  of  his  own, 
financial  ruin  fell  on  the  aged  pt>et,  and  from  1658  to  1668  —  that  is,  from  his 
seventieth  to  his  eightieth  year — this  venerable  and  illustrious  person,  the 
main  literar}'  glory  of  Hol]an<l  through  her  whole  history,  was  forceti  to  earn 
his  bread  as  a  common  clerk  in  a  bank,  miserably  paid,  and  accused  of  wasting 
his  masters'  time  by  the  writing  of  verses. 

Vondel  is  the  typical  example  of  Dutch  intelligence  and  imagination  at 
their  highest  development.  Not  merely  is  he  to  Holland  all  that  Camoens  is 
to  Portugal  and  Mickiewicz  to  Poland,  but  he  stajids  on  a  level  with  these  men 
in  the  positive  value  of  his  wTitings. 

Cais  and  Huygens 

While  the  genius  of  Holland  clustered  around  the  circle  of  Amsterdam,  » 
school  of  scarcely  less  brilliance  arose  in  Middelburg,  the  capital  of  Zealand, 
The  ruling  spirit  of  this  school  was  the  famous  Jakob  Cats  (1577-1660).  In 
this  voluminous  writer,  to  whom  modern  eritirisni  almost  denies  the  name  of 
poet,  the  genuine  Dutch  habit  of  thought,  the  utilitarian  and  didactic  spirit 
which  we  have  already  observed  in  Houwaert  and  in  Boendale,  reached  its 
zenith  of  fluency  and  popularity. 

A  (Miet  of  dignilieii  iin;iginati(m  and  versatile  form  was  Sir  Constantijn 
Huygens  (1596-1687)  the  diplomatist.  Though  born  and  educated  at  the 
Hague,  he  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  great  school  of  Amsterdam,  and  became 
the  intimate  friend  an<l  companion  of  Vondel,  Hooft,  and  the  daughters  of 
Roemer  Visscher.  His  famous  poem  in  praise  of  the  Hague,  Batava  Tempe, 
appeare<l  in  1621,  and  was,  from  a  technical  point  of  view  the  most  accom- 
plished and  elegant  poem  till  that  time  produced  in  Holland.  Huygens 
represents  the  (lirection  in  which  it  would  have  been  deKiral>le  that  Dutch 
literature,  now  completely  founded  by  Hooft  and  Vondel,  should  forthwith 
proceed,  while  Cats  represents  the  tame  and  mundane  spirit  which  was  actually 
adopteti  by  the  natitJii.  Huygens  had  little  of  the  swtK'tness  of  Hooft  or  of  the 
sublimity  of  Vondfl,  but  his  genius  wa^  eminently  bright  and  vivacious,  and 
he  was  a  consummate  artist  in  metrical  form.  The  Dutch  language  has  never 
proved  so  light  and  supple  in  any  hands  as  in  his,  and  he  attempted  no  class 
of  writing,  whether  in  prose  or  verse,  that  he  did  not  adorn  by  his  delicate 
taste  and  sound  judgment. 

Three  Dutchmen  of  the  seventeenth  century  distinguished  themselves  very 
prominently  in  the  movement  of  learning  and  philosophic  thought,  but  the 
illustrious  names  uf  lingo  Grotius  (1583-1645)  and  of  Baruch  Spinoza  (1632- 
1677)  can  scarcely  be  said  to  belong  to  Dutch  literature,  since  they  wrote  in 
Latin.  Balthazar  Bekker  (1634-1698),  on  the  contrary,  was  a  disciple  of 
Descartes,  who  deserves  to  be  remembered  as  the  greatest  philosophical  writer 
who  has  used  the  Dutch  language.*' 

p  Thia  gT^ht  work  bean  no  much  similarity  to  a  greater  work,  Milton's  Paradiae  Lost,  that 
]t  ifl  frequently  stated  ihkt  Miltoo  mast  have  been  aoqaainted  with  it.  Miltoa'e  po«ni  was 
be^n  ID  1655,  and  finished  in  1667.] 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLA>'DS 


Hugo  Groiiits 

In  the  annals  of  precocious  genius  there  Ls  no  greater  prodig>*  on  record 
than  Hugo  Grotius  [m  Dutch,  lluig  de  Oroot],  who  was  able  to  make  &>0(j 
Latin  verses  at  nine,  was  ripe  for  the  university  at  twelve,  and  at  fifteen 
edited  the  encyclopaeilic  work  of  Martiauus  Capelhi.  At  Leyden  he  was 
much  noticed  by  J.  J.  Scaliger,  whose  habit  it  waa  to  engage  liis  younjr  frii-n.ls 
in  the  editing  of  sonae  classical  text,  less  for  the  sake  of  the  book  so  t  i 

than  as  a  valuabit  .  :„.u- 
(ion  for  themselves.  Al 
fifteen  G  rot  i  us  accoiu- 
|)anied  Count  .Fustin  of 
Nassau  and  the  grand 
perL=iionary  (lldeii  -  Bume- 
veld  on  their  special  em- 
bassy to  the  court  of 
France.  After  a  >Tar 
profitably  spent  in  thai 
country  in  acquiring  the 
language  and  making  ac- 
quaintance with  the  lead- 
ing men,  Grotias  returned 
home.  He  took  the  degree 
of  iloctorof  law  at  Levden. 
and  entered  on  practice  as 
an  advocate. 

Grotius  vied  with  the 
latinists  of  his  day  in  the 
composition  of  Latin 
verses.  Some  Unes  on  the 
siege  of  Ostend  were 
Kreatly  admired,  and 
spread  liis  fame  beyond 
the  circle  of  the  lejimetl. 
He  \\Tote  liiree  dramas  in 
Latin :  Chri^tus  Paticns; 
iSophomphaneaSt  on  the 
story  of  Joseph  and  his 
brethren ;  and  Adamui 
Exxd,  a  production  which 
is  still  remembered  as  having  given  hints  to  Milton.  In  lfK)3  the  Unit^ 
Provinces,  desiring  to  transmit  to  posterity  some  account  of  their  struggle! 
with  iSpain,  determined  to  appoint  a  historiographer.  Several  candidates 
appeared^  Dorninicus  Bandius  among  them.  But  the  choice  of  the  states 
fell  upon  Grotius,  though  only  twenty  years  of  age,  and  not  having  offered 
himself  for  the  post. 

His  next  preferment  was  that  of  advocate-general  of  the  fisc  for  the  prov- 
inces of  Holhind  and  Zealand.  He  hud  already  piussed  from  occui)ation  with 
the  classics  t-o  stutlies  more  immediately  connected  with  his  profession.  In 
the  winter  of  1604  he  comjwsed  a  treatise  entitletl  De  jure  pradfv.  This 
treatise  he  did  not  publish,  and  the  MS.  of  it  remaineil  unknown  to  all  the 
biographers  of  Grotius  till  1868,  when  it  was  brought  to  liglat,  and  printxni 
at  Uie  Hague  under  the  auspices  of  Professor  Fruin.    It  discovers  to  us  that 


HtTOd  Gnonts  (irt8a-ia4A) 


SCIENCE,    LITERATURE,    AND   ART   IX    THE   NETHERLANDS  597 

the  principles  and  the  plan  of  the  celebrated  De  jure  belli,  which  was  not  com- 

Cosed  till  1625,  more  than  twenty  years  after,  had  already  been  conceived 
y  a  youth  of  twenty-one. 

A  short  treatise  which  was  printed  in  1609,  Grotius  says  without  his 
permission,  under  the  title  of  Mnre  Liherum,  is  nothing  more  than  a  chapter 
(the  twelfth)  of  the  De  jure,  pradcc.  It  was  necessary  to  Grotius's  defence 
of  Ht^mskerk  that  he  should  show  that  the  Portuguese  pretence  that  F^astem 
waters  were  their  private  projx'rty  was  tintcnable.  Grotius  maintains  that 
the  ocean  is  free  to  all,  and  cannot  be  appropriated  by  any  one  nation.  Many 
years  afterwards  the  jealousies  between  England  antl  Holland  gave  impor- 
tance to  the  novel  doctrine  broached  in  the  tract  by  Grotius,  a  doctrine  which 
Selden  set  himself  to  refute  in  his  Mare  clansum  (1632). 

In  June,  1619,  Grotius,  as  we  have  seen,  was  immured  in  the  fortress  of 
Loevestein,  near  Gorkum.  He  had  now  before  him,  at  thirty-six,  no  prospect 
but  that  of  a  lifelong  captivity.  He  did  not  abandon  himself  to  despair, 
but  sought  refuge  in  returning  to  the  classical  pursuits  of  his  youth. 

The  address  anil  ingenuity  of  Maiiame  Grotius  at  length  devised  a  mode 
of  escape.  His  first  place  of  refuge  was  Antwerp,  from  which  he  proceeded 
to  Paris,  where  he  arrivetl  in  April,  1621.  In  October  he  was  joinei!  by  his 
wife.  There  he  wius  prr^sfiitcd  to  the  king,  Louis  XIII,  and  a  pension  of 
3^000  livres  conferred  upon  him.  Frwich  pensions  were  easily  granted,  all 
the  more  so  as  they  were  never  paid. 

In  .March,  1625,  the  printing  of  the  De  jure  belli,  which  had  taken  four 
months,  was  completed.  But  though  his  book  brought  him  no  profit  it 
brought  him  reputation,  .so  widely  spread  and  of  such  long  entluranee  as  no 
other  legal  treatise  has  ever  enjoyed. 

As  in  iniuiy  otlier  points  Grotius  inevitably  recalls  to  us  Erasmus,  so  he 
does  in  his  attitude  towards  the  great  schism.  Grotius  was  indeed  a  man  of 
profouml  religious  sentiment^  which  Erasmus  was  not;  but  he  had  an  indiffer- 
ence to  dogma  equal  to  that  of  Erasnms,  although  his  disregard  sprang  from 
another  source.  Erasmus  f{*lt  the  contempt  of  a  man  of  letters  for  the  bar- 
barous dissonance  of  the  monkish  wrangle.  Grotius  was  animated  by  an 
ardent  desire  for  peace  and  concord.  He  thought  that  a  basis  for  reconcilia- 
tion of  Protestant  ami  Catholic  might  \yc  found  in  a  common  piety,  combined 
with  reticence  upon  discrepancies  of  doctrinal  statement.  His  De  veritate 
religiofiis  C/mstiancp  (1627),  a  presentment  of  the  eviilences,  is  so  written 
as  to  fonn  a  code  of  common  Christianity,  irrcs[_>cclive  of  .sect.  The  little 
treatise  diffused  itself  rapidly  over  Christendom,  gaining  rather  than  loamg 
popularity  in  the  eighteenth  century.  It  became  the  classical  manual  of 
apologetics  in  Protestant  colleges,  and  was  translated  for  missionary  purposes 
into  Anibic  (by  Pocoek,  1660),  Persian,  Chine.se,  etc. 

Grotius  was  a  great  jurist,  and  his  De  jure  belli  et  pads  (Paris,  1625), 
though  not  by  any  means  the  first  attempt  in  modem  times  to  ascertain  the 
principles  of  jurispnidence,  went  far  more  fundamentally  into  the  discussion 
than  anyone  had  done  before  him.  It  is  in  the  larger  questions  to  which 
he  opened  the  way  that  the  merit  of  Grotius  consists.  His  was  the  first 
attempt  to  obtain  a  principle  of  right,  and  a  basis  for  society  and  govern- 
ment, outside  the  church  or  the  Hible.  Tlie  distinction  l)etween  religion 
on  the  one  hand  and  law  and  morality  on  the  other  is  not  indeed  clearly  con- 
ceived by  Grotius,  but  he  wTestles  with  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  easy 
for  those  who  followed  him  to  seize  it:  The  law  of  nature  is  unalterable; 
God  himself  cannot  alter  it  any  more  than  he  can  alter  a  mathematical  axiom. 
This  law  has  its  source  in  the  nature  of  man  as  a  social  being;  it  would  be 


S9B 


THE    HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS 


valid  even  were  there  no  God,  or  if  God  ilid  not  interfere  in  the  government 
of  the  world. 

These  positions,  though  Grotius'  religious  temper  did  not  allow  him  to 
rely  unreservedly  upon  them,  yet,  even  ui  the  oartial  application  they  find 
in  his  book,  entitle  him  to  the  honour  of  being  held  the  founder  of  the  luoiipm 

science  of  the  law  of 
nature  and  ziAtionj. 
Tlie  De  jure  exerted 
little  influence  on  the 
practice  of  belligerents, 
yet  its  publication  wns 
an  epoch  in  the  science. 
Mackintosh '  alhrmt^i 
that  his  work  is  ''per- 
haps the  most  complete 
that  the  worhi  ha^;  yet 
owed,  at  so  early  a 
stage  in  the  progress  of 
any  science,  to  the  ge- 
nius and  learning  of 
one  man."* 

From  1600  to  1650 
was  tlie  blossoming 
time  in  Dutch  litera- 
ture. During  this  pe- 
rio<i  the  names  of 
greatest  genius  were 
first  made  known  to 
the  public,  aii<^l  the 
vigour  and  grace  of  lit- 
erary  expression 
reached  their  highest 
development.  It  hap- 
peneti,  however,  that 
three  men  of  particu- 
larly commanding  tal- 
ent survived  to  an  ex- 
treme old  age,  and  under  the  shadow  of  Vondel,  Cats,  and  Huygens  there, 
sprang  up  a  new  generation  which  sustained  the  great  tradition  until  about] 
1680,  when  the  final  decline  set  inA 


PBTBR   PAn.  RrBBKS 

(1577-1640) 


TAINE  ON   FLEMISH   AKT 


There  are  moments  in  the  history  of  a  nation  when  it  resembles  Christ' 
transported  by  Satan  to  the  mountain  top;  it  becomes  necessary  for  it  to 
choose  between  the  higher  ideal  and  the  lower.  In  the  C4ise  of  the  Nether- 
lantls  the  tempter  was  Philip  II  with  his  army;  put  to  the  same  teM,  the  people 
of  the  North  and  the  people  of  the  South  differed  decidedly,  following  the  slight 
differences  of  make-up  and  character.  The  choice  once  made,  these  differences 
increased,  exaggerated  by  the  result  of  the  situation  they  had  pnuiuced. 
The  two  peoples  were  two  almost  similar  varieties  of  the  Siime  pj>ecies:  they 
became  two  distuict  species.    There  always  exist  moral  as  well  as  physical 


SCIENCE,   LITERATURE,   AND    ART   IX   THE    NETHERLANDS  599 

types;  their  origin  is  the  same,  but  as  they  develop  they  vary  and  this  varia- 
tion is  the  birth  of  their  separate  existence. 

After  the  separation,  when  the  fiouthern  provinees  Ix»came  Belgium, 
the  predominating  idea  was  a  need  of  peace  and  well-being,  a  disposition 
to  accept  existence  comfortably  and  mirthfully  —  in  a  wora,  the  spirit  of 
Teniers,  the  state  of  mind  that  can  laugh  and  sing,  smoke  a  gowl  pipe,  quaff 
a  good  beer  in  a  bare  tavern,  a  dilapidated  cottage,  or  on  a  wooden  bench. 
In  fact,  it  was  now  possible  to  sleep  in  beds,  to  amass  provision,  to  enjoy 
work,  travel,  converse,  live  without  fear;  one  had  a  house,  a  countrj':  the 
future  opened  up.  All  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  took  on  interest;  the  pc^ople 
felt  the  resurrection  and  seemed  to  live  for  the  first  tune.  It  is  under  such 
conditions  that  the  art^  and  literature  are  bom.  The  great  shock  undergone 
had  broken  the  imifonn  glazing  that  tradition  and  castom  had  spread  over 
everything.  Man  now  occupied  the  centre  of  things;  the  essential  traits  of 
his  nature,  transformed  and  renewed,  were  grasped;  the  mind  was  as  Adam's 
at  his  awakening.  Later  was  to  come  the  refining  and  weakening;  at  this 
moment  the  conception  of  things  wan  large  and  simple.  Man  wjis  competent 
because  he  was  bom  in  a  period  of  disintegration  and  raised  in  the  midst  of 
naked  tragedy;  like  Victor  Hugo  and  George  Sand,  Rubens  as  a  child  was 
In  exile,  ne-ar  his  imprisoned  father,  and  heard  on  all  sides  the  din  of  temjjests 
and  rum. 

After  the  generation  of  activity  which  had  suffered  and  created  came 
the  poetic  generation  which  expressed  itself  in  literature  and  the  art.s.  It 
explainefl  and  amplified  the  desires  and  energies  of  the  world  founded  by 
its  fathers.  This  was  the  cause  of  Flemish  art  glorifying  in  heroic  types 
the  sensual  instincts,  the  coarse  enjoyments,  the  rude  energy  of  the  surround- 
ing souls,  and  the  finding  in  the  tavern  of  Teniers  the  heaven  of  Rubens. 


Peter  Paul  Rxibens 

Among  the  painters  was  one  who  stood  out  from  all  the  others.  This 
was  Peter  Paul  Rubens.^ 

Rubens  was  not  an  isolated  genius,  antl  the  resemblance  of  the  works  of 
the  painters  of  his  perioil  to  his,  shows  that  the  tree  of  which  he  was  thn  most 
splendid  shoot  was  the  product  of  his  nation  and  his  epoch.  Before  him 
came  his  ma-ster  Adam  van  Noorl  and  the  master  of  Jordaens;  around  him 
his  contemporaries  eilucated  in  other  studios,  and  whose  creative  faculties 
were  as  great  ivs  his  —  Jordaens,  Grayer,  Gerard  Zeghers,  Rombouts,  Abra- 
ham Janssens,  Van  Roose;  after  him  his  pupils  —  Van  Thuklen,  Diepenbf^ck, 
Van  den  Hoecke,  Cornelius  Schut,  Boyermans,  Vandyke  greatest  of  them 
all;  and  Jakob  van  Oost  of  Bruges;  the  great  animal  and  still-life  painters 
Snyders,  Jan  Fyt,  the  Jesuit  Seghers:  the  same  sap  gave  sustenance  to  all 
these  branches,  the  large  and  small  alike. 

In  Belgium  as  in  Italy  the  religion  consisted  in  rites:  Rubens  went  to 
mass  in  the  mornings  and  gave  a  picture  to  obtain  indulgences;  after  which 

[*  His  father,  a  le^  scholar  and  lay  assessor  of  AntWRrn,  had  fled  \o  Cologne,  and  it  is 
meraUjT  supposed  that  Uubens  was  horn  there,  or,  as  has  been  latterly  stated,  at  Siegen.  In  his 
tenth  jearhla  mother  brought  him  to  Antwerp.  In  16(H)  he  went  to  halj.  received  from  the 
dnke  of  Mantua  the  title  of  court  equerrj,  and  was  sent  by  him  to  Madrid.  After  1608  Ant- 
verp  became  his  home  ;  Duke  Albert  «ppointed  him  to  be  court  painter.  Yet  at  one  time  he 
Accepted  commibsioHR  in  Paris  for  a  considerable  period,  and  then  sold  hi*4  art  collection  to  the 
duke  of  Buckingham  for  100,000  widens.  In  1620  h«  took  part  in  the  peace  negotiations 
between  Bpain  and  England,  for  which  Charles  I  gave  him  a  golden  chain  with  his  picture. 
Babens  Uved  the  life  of  a  great  lonl,  and  had  many  pointings  executed  after  his  akotchoa  by 
nameroos  papiia.    He  died  at  Antwerp  in  1640.  <*] 


600 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 


he  would  return  to  the  poetic  feeling  of  his  daily  existence,  and  paint  in  the 
same  style  a  Magdalene  overflowing  with  repentance  or  a  corpulent  mren. 
Aside  from  this  his  art  is  truly  Flemish;  it  is  harmonious,  spontaneous, 
original,  in  this  being  distinct  from  the  preceding  period,  which  was  but  & 
discordant  imitation.  From  Greece  to  Florence,  from  Florence  to  Venice, 
from  Venice  to  Antwerp,  one  can  follow  aJl  the  steps  of  passage.  The  con- 
ception of  man  and  life  lost  in  nobleness  and  gained  in  breadth. 

Rubens  is  to  Titian  what  Titian  is  to  Raphael  and  what  Raphael  is  to 
Phidias.  Never  has  the  artistic  sympathy  grasped  nature  with  so  frank 
and  general  an  embrace.  The  ancient  landmarks,  already  so  often  pudied 
back,  seemed  to  be  entirely  destroyed  in  order  to  open  an  infinite  course. 
The  historic  laws  were  disregarded;  he  put  together  allegorical  and  realistic 

figures,  cmlinals  and  a  nude  Mercury. 
So  with  the  moral  laws :  he  intro- 
duced into  the  ideal,  m3rthological,  and 
evangelistic  heaven  brutal  or  malignant 
figures  —  a  Magdalene  who  is  a  nurse,  a 
Ceres  who  whispers  a  joke  into  her  neigh- 
bour's ear.  He  did  not  fear  shockmg 
the  physical  sensibilities;  he  went  to  the 
limit  of  the  horrible,  throi^h  all  the  tor- 
tures of  suffering  flesh  and  all  the  thrill 
of  agonised  screams.  He  did  not  shrink 
from  shocking  the  moral  sense;  he  rep- 
resents Minerva  as  a  shrew  who  lashes 
herself  into  a  fury,  Judith  as  a  butcher 
accustomed  to  blood,  Paris  as  a  scoffer 
and  an  amateur  epicure.  To  describe 
the  impression  given  by  his  Susannas, 
Magdalenes,  his  Saint  Sebastians,  his 
graces,  his  sirens,  his  great  kirmesses  of 
(iivinity  and  humanity,  ideal  or  realistic, 
Christian  or  pagan,  would  require  the 
words  of  a  Rabelais. 
With  him  all  the  animal  instincts  enter  upon  the  scene.  He  fails  in 
nothing  except  the  very  pure  and  idealistic;  he  has  under  the  control  of 
his  brush  all  human  nature  save  the  highest  plane.  This  is  the  reason  that 
his  creations  are  the  most  numerous  ever  seen  and  that  they  include  all 
types:  Italian  cardinals,  Roman  emperors,  contemporary  nobles,  bourgeois, 
peasants,  cowherds,  with  the  innumerable  variations  that  the  play  of  nature 
creates  in  these  types;  and  more  than  fifteen  hundred  pictures  have  failed 
to  exhaust  his  creative  faculties. 

For  the  same  reason,  in  representing  the  human  body,  he  more  than 
anyone  has  understood  it;  in  this  he  surpasses  the  Venetians  as  they  sur- 
passed the  Florentines;  he  feels  even  more  than  they  that  the  flesh  is  a 
substance  that  is  constantly  renewing  itself.  This  is  why  no  one  has  sur- 
passed him  in  rendering  contrasts,  or  in  showing  so  visibly  the  destruction 
and  the  blooming  of  life:  sometimes  it  is  death  —  heavy,  flabby,  without 
blood  or  substance,  pale,  bluish,  drawn  with  suffering,  a  clot  of  blood  at  the 
mouth,  the  eyes  glazed,  feet  and  hands  corpse-like,  swollen,  and  deformed; 
at  other  times  the  freshness  of  the  living  flesh  tints,  the  young  athlete,  bloom- 
ing and  radiant,  the  easy  flexibility  of  his  torso  acting  in  a  youthful  body 
well  nourished,  the  cheeks  smooth  and  rosy;  the  placid  frankness  of  a  maiden 


Adam  Van  Xoort  (1557-1641) 
(Kubecs'  firet  maetcr) 


SCIENCE,   LITERATUBE,   AND   ART    IN    THE   NETHERLANDS   GOl 


• 


in  whom  no  harmful  thought  has  ever  quickened  the  pulse  or  dulled  the  eye; 

the  groups  of  chubby  chcrubinis  and  trifling  cupids,  the  delicacy,  the  pucker, 

the  ilelicious  under  rose-glow  of  the  child-skin  like  the  wet  petal  of  a  rose 

impregnated  by  the  light  of  dawn.    No  one  has  g^ven  to  figures  such  an 

impulse,  gestures  80  impetuous,  motion  so  furious  and  with  so  much  abandon, 

so  great  and  general  a  movement  of  muscles 

swollen    and    twisted   in    one  great  effort. 

His  characters  are  speaking,  even  their  re- 

jDcse  is  on  the  etige  of  action ;  one  feels  what 

they  wish  to  do  and  that  which  they  will  ilo; 

the  present  with  them  is  inipregnat«:l  with 

the  past  and  full  of  the  future.     In  his  work 

most  subtle  and  fine  distinctions  of  feeling 

are  found. 

In  this  respect  Rubens  is  a  treasure  for 
the  novelist  and  psychologist ;  no  one  has 
gone  further  in  the  knowle<lge  of  the  living 
organisation  of  the  human  animal.  There 
is  but  one  Rubens  in  Handers.  Great  as 
were  the  others  they  lack  some  of  his  genius. 
Grayer  has  neither  his  audacity  nor  his  ex- 
cess; he  painted,  with  the  delicate  results  of 
fresh  soft  colouring,  a  quiet  happy  beauty. 
Jordaens  has  not  his  royal  grandeur  or  liis 
fund  of  heroic  poetry;  he  painted  with  the 
wine  colouring  of  the  thick-set  giant,  the 
packed  crcjwds,  the  plebeian  roisterers.  Van- 
dyke even  had  not  his  love  of  strength  and 
life  for  itself.ff 


Fromentin^s  Estimate  of  Vandyke 

With  his  many  works,  his  immor- 
tal portraits,  his  soul  capable  of  the 
finest  sensations,  his  individual  style, 
his  liistinguishcil  i>crsonality,  his 
taste,  his  standard  and  charm  in  all 
he  touche<l,  one  asks  what  Vandyke  * 
would  have   been  without  Rubens, 

How  would  he  have  seen  nature, 
how  conceived  painting?  What  pal- 
ette wouhi  he  have  created  —  what 
model  woukl  he  have  rhosen?     What 


Rcbe.nV  HuL'HE  in  AWTWKRF 


laws  of  colour  would  he  have  laid  down  —  what  jx>etry  have  accepted?  Would 
he  have  leaned  to  the  Italian  schools?  If  the  revolution  maile  by  Rubens 
had  been  later,  or  had  never  been,  what  would  have  happened  to  the  followers 
for  whom  he  preparetl  the  way  —  all  his  gifted  scholars,  and  particularly 
Vandyke  the  most  gifted  of  all?    Take  away  from  them  the  influence,  direct 

['  Bom  At  Antwerp  in  1599,  educated  at  the  school  fonnded  by  Rubens  In  Belgium.  Van- 
dyke went  himpelf  lo  drink  from  the  fertile  and  tivinf?  source  open  bv  the  Italian  masters  in 
the  sixteenth  centurv.  lie  took  this  voyage  in  1620,  and  returned  in  1626.  Daring  this  period 
he  visited  all  the  great  art  centres  of  Italy  and  studied  seriously.  While  studying  all  the  great 
masters,  it  was  Titian  whom  he  chose  an  a  model.  In  1683  he  was  knighted  by  Charlcfl  I,  and 
lived  in  England  as  court  pamter  till  his  death  in  1641  at  Ixindon.*] 


«tt 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 


or  indirect,  of  Rubens,  and  iniagino  what  is  left  to  thow?  luminous  satellite?. 
There  is  always  more  sentiment,  and  profound  sentiment,  in  the  refined 
Vandyke  than  in  Rubens.  Yet  is  this  certain,  or  is  it  an  affair  of  differences 
of  temj^erament?  Between  these?  two  souls,  so  unequal  in  other  things  ixlfo, 
there  was  a  fem'mine  influence,  first  of  all  a  difference  of  aex.  Vanilyke  nuule 
slender  the  statues  that  Rubens  made  hea\'y;  he  put  less  muscle,  Gone,  and 
blood.  He  was  more  quiet,  never  brutal;  his  conceptions  were  not  so  viilgar; 
he  laughed  less,  felt  compafision  (jften,  but  did  not  know  the  grcAt  sob  of 
the  more  passionate  temperament.    He  often  corrected  the  uneveiine.'5«  of 

his  master ;  he  was  ea^ 
in  his  work  because  with 
him  his  talent  was  wonder- 
fully natural;  he  Is  free, 
active,  but  never  loses  him- 
self. 

He  wafi  twenty-four 
years  younger  than  Ru- 
bens: he  Ix^jongs  not  at 
all  to  the  sixteenth  century 
but  entirely  to  the  genera- 
tion of  the  seventeent 
This  one  feels  physical!; 
and  morally,  in  the  u 
and  in  the  pminter.  in  his 
own  well-cut  features  an-J 
in  his  choice  of  beautiful 
faces;  and  most  of  all  is 
this  felt  in  his  portraits. 
In  this  regjird  he  is  won- 
derfully in  touch  with  the 
world,  his  world  and  the 
world  of  tlie  period .  Never 
liaving  created  one  set  type 
which  would  blind  him  to 
the  truth,  he  was  exact, 
correct,  aTid  siiw  the  right 
likeness.  Perhaps  he  put 
into  all  his  portraits  some- 
thing of  his  own  graceful 
personality  —  an  air  more 
noble,  a  finer  bearing,  more 
beautiful  hands ;  in  any 
case  he  knew  better  than 
his  master  the  prop)er  adjustment,  the  things  of  his  world,  and  had  taste  in 
the  painting  of  silks,  satins,  ribbons,  plumes,  and  swords. 

ills  wert;  not  chevaliers  but  cavaliers.  The  men  of  war  had  forsaken  their 
armours  and  helmets;  these  were  courtiers  in  unbuttoned  doublets,  floating 
bees,  silk  shoes,  knee-breeches,  all  the  fashions  and  customs  whicli  were 
familiar  to  him  and  which  he  better  than  anyone  else  knew  how  to  reproduce  in 
the  perfection  of  their  worldliness.  With  his  manner,  in  his  line,  by  the 
unique  conformity  of  hLs  nature  with  his  times  he  occupied  a  high  place  in 
the  world  of  art.  His  Charles  I,  in  its  perfect  understanding  of  the  model 
and  subject,  the  easiness  of  style  and  its  nobility,  the  Iwauty  of  the  whoteJ 


*ra-_^H 


RCBKHS  AKI>    HlH  Wire      APTEK   Hl8   OWK   pAINnVO,    SBOW- 
IHO    EAHLT    SETKSTBXNTa    CSSTUBT  AHlSTOOaATIO  C0&- 

TUMK 


SCIENCE,   LITERATURE,   AND   ART    IN    THE    NETHERLANDS   603 

work,  the  drawing  of  the  face,  the  colouring,  the  wonderful  technique,  bears 
comparison  with  the  higheat  achievements. 

He  created  in  his  country  an  original  style,  and  consequently  he  is  a  factor 
in  the  new  school  of  art.  He  also  had  a  foreign  following:  Reynolds,  Law- 
rence, Gainsborough,  in  fact  almost  all  the  genre  painters  who  were  faithful 
to  English  traditions  and  the  strongest  landscape  painters,  are  the  result  of 
Vandyke,  and  in<lirectly  of  Rubens  through  Vandyke,  Posterity,  always 
jiLst  in  its  decisions,  has  given  to  Vandyke  a  place  of  his  own,  between  the 
greatest  and  the  next  rank.  After  his  death,  as  during  his  life,  he  seems  to 
have  stood  near  the  throne  and  to  have  held  well  his  position  there.* 

David  Teniers 

David  Teniers  the  Younger,  the  son  of  an  able  painter  of  the  same  name, 
was  bom  at  Antwerp  in  1610.  He  is  especially  noteworthy  because  in  his 
choice  of  subjects  lie  took  the  road  which  leil  the  Dutch  to  their  peculiar 
greatness.  It  is  significant  that  Louis  XIV  would  not  hear  of  him;  but 
Duke  Leopold  William  made  him  inspector  of  his  picture  gallery,  which  was 
afterwartls  taken  to  Vienna. 

Teniers  even  became  rich  so  that  at  his  castle  of  the  Three  Towers  (Dry 
Toren)  at  Lerck,  not  far  from  Brussels,  he  gathereti  the  scholars  and  artists 
of  Belgium  about  him  like  a  prtrio'Iy  Mtecenas,  He  diet!  at  Brussels  in  1685. 
He  liked  to  paint  contented  peopk'  in  modest  circumstances,  peasant  dances, 
card  players,  bowlers,  and  fairs;  hLs  figures,  even  those  of  youths  and  maidens, 
he  reproduces  without  any  idealisation  as  the  national  style  demanded.  He 
has  fantastic  representations  of  an  alchemist  in  a  room  crowded  full  of 
peculiar  apparatus;  also  St.  Anthony  tempted  with  visions  by  the  devil. 


I 


DUTCH   ART 

In  Holland,  however,  there  was  developed  a  new  school  of  art,  which 
cut  itself  loose  from  all  symbolic  restrictions  and  apparently  even  from  all 
idealism;  but  which  in  compensation  obtained  new  and  unsuspected  charm 
and  deep  sentiment  out  nf  human  life  and  external  nature.  It  should  be 
remembered,  on  the  one  liand,  that  a  certain  sense  of  droll  humour  always 
existed  in  the  Netherlands  and  that  it  was  there  that  the  fable  nf  R<*ynard 
was  developed  in  which  the  human  traits  of  animals  are  shown  in  their  life. 
On  the  other  hand  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  in  the  seventeenth  century 
philosophers  and  naturalists  attempted  to  investigat-e  objects  as  they  actually 
exist  without  any  preconceived  opinions  ami  that  at  the  same  time  the  English 
drama  represented  the  impulses  of  humanity  with  living,  objective,  reality 
and  without  regard  for  time,  manner,  or  position.  Human  existence  develops 
its  innermost  pulsel>eats  anri  the  external  world  its  most  intimate  traits,  m 
an  envirt)nment  which  in  antiquity  and  in  the  early  Middle  Ages  was  seldom 
handled  poetically  and  even  less  often  artistically.'' 


Taine^s  estimate  of  Rembrandt 

One  of  the  greatest  merits  of  the  Dutch  school  is  its  colouring.  This 
was  the  result  nf  the  natural  training  of  the  eye.  This  country,  a  great 
alluvial  tract  of  land,  like  that  of  the  Po,  with  its  rivers,  canals,  and  humid 
atmosphere,  reHembled  Venice.  Here,  as  in  Venice,  nature  made  colourists 
of  men.     In  Italy  a  tone  remains  the  same;    in  the  Netherlands  it  varies 


604 


THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 


incessantly  with  the  variationa  of  the  light  and  ambient  mists.  At  tii 
full  light  strikes  an  object:  it  is  not  usual,  and  the  green  stretch  of  country, 
the  red  roofs,  the  varnished  fa<;'ades,  the  satiny  flesh  or  flush  stanri  out  with 
extraordinary  distinctness.  At  other  times  the  light  is  dull;  this  is  the  U£iial 
condition  in  Holland,  and  objects  scarcely  show,  almost  losing  themselves 
in  the  shadows.  The  eye  becoming  accustomwl  to  this  obscure  light,  the 
painter  instead  of  using  his  whole  scale  of  colours  employs  but  the  beginning 
of  that  scale;  all  his  picture  is  in  shade  save  one  point.  He  gives  us  a  con- 
tinuous low-keye*l  concert  broken  sometimes  by  a  brilliant  burst  of  sound. 
In  this  way  he  discovers  xinknown  harmonies,  all  those  of  obscure  light,  all 

those  of  the  soul,  harmo- 
nies infinite  and  penetrat- 
ing; with  a  daub  of  dirty 
yellow,  of  wine  dregs,  of 
mixed  grey,  of  vague 
blacks,  in  the  midst  of 
which  is  placed  a  dash  of 
life,  he  stirs  the  farthest 
depths  of  our  souls.  This 
is  the  last  great  creation  in 
the  art  of  painting;  it  is 
in  this  style  that  to-day 
/      ^^^^5^^KiijBl^^-x^  ^^^   painter  speaks   most 

Z^-  ^^i^i^^^HwT^  ^^\  effectively  to  the  modem 

<^^^^  ^^llttiiV ': >.tv    xNv  soul,  and    such   was    the 

colour  that  the  light  of 
Holland  furnished  to  the 
genius  of  Rembrandt. 

Among  all  the  Dutch 
painters  Rembrandt  Van 
Rijn  (1607-1G69)  through 
his  wonderfully  trained  e^e 
and  an  extraordinary  al- 
most savage  genius,  went 
ahead  of  his  nation  and 
centun',  and  grasped  the 
common  instincts  which 
unite  the  Germanic  races  and  lead  to  modem  ideas.  This  man,  collector, 
recluse,  drawn  along  by  the  development  of  a  mighty  power,  lived  as  Bakac 
did,  a  magician  and  a  visionary,  in  a  world  of  his  own  to  the  door  of  which 
he  alone  held  the  key.  Superior  to  all  other  painters  in  the  fineness  and 
natural  acuteness  of  his  impressions,  he  understood  and  followed  in  all  its 
consequences  the  great  truth  that  for  the  eye  all  the  essence  of  a  visible  object 
is  in  a  spot,  that  the  simplest  colour  is  infinitely  complex,  that  all  visual 
sensation  is  the  outcome  of  its  own  elements  and  the  outside  surroundings, 
that  every  seen  object  is  but  a  spot  modified  by  other  spots,  and  that  there- 
fore the  prmcipal  element  of  a  picture  is  the  coloured  vibrating  atmosphere 
in  which  the  figures  are  plunged  as  fish  in  a  sea.  He  rendered  tliis  atmosphere 
palpable,  filled  with  mysterious  life ;  he  has  put  into  it  the  light  of  his  country, 
that  light  dull  and  yellowish  like  that  of  a  lamp  in  the  depths  of  a  cave;  he 
felt  its  pitiful  struggle  with  the  shadow,  the  weakness  of  the  rays  that  died 
away  into  the  depths,  the  trembling  of  the  reflections  that  clung  to  the  shining 
walls  and  all  the  vague  population  of  the  half-shadows,  which,  invisible  to 


RZMBRAIfDT  VXN  RUlf   (1607-1069) 
(Portrait  drawn  by  blmselO 


SCIEXCE,   LITERATURE,   AND   ART   IN   THE    NETHERLANDS  605 

the  ordinary  observer,  seem  in  his  pictures  and  etchings  like  a  submarine 
world  viewed  across  an  abyss  of  waters.  From  out  of  this  obscurity,  the 
full  li^ht  for  his  eyes  was  a  dazzling  shower;  he  felt  it  as  a  flash  of  lightning, 
a  magic  illumination,  or  a  bundle  of  arrows.  Thus  he  found  in  the  inanimate 
world  the  most  complete  and  expressive  drama,  all  the  contrasts,  all  tlie  con- 
flicts, all  that  is  most  oppressive  and  most  lugubrious  in  the  night,  that  which 
is  most  elusive  and  most  melancholy  in  ambiguous  shadows,  that  which  is 
most  violent  and  irresistible  in  the  breaking  forth  of  day.  This  done,  he 
had  but  to  pose  in  the  midst  of  the  natural  drama,  his  human  drama;  a 
theatre  so  constructed  gave  birth  to  its  own  characters. 

ITie  Greeks  and  Italians  knew  man  and  life  in  their  most  correct  and 
highest  paths,  the  healthy  flower  that  blossoms  in  the  light;  Rembrandt  saw 
far  back  to  the  source,  all  that  goes  dovra  and  moulds  m  the  shadows;  the 
obscure  paupers,  the  Jews  of  Amsterdam,  the  deformed  and  stunt^ni,  the 
begrimed  suffering  fKjpulace  of  a  large  city  and  a  bad  climate,  the  crooked, 
the  bald  head  of  the  old  decrepit  artisan,  faces  with  the  paleness  of  ill-health, 
all  the  mass  of  humanity  alive  with  evil  passions  and  hideous  miseries  which 
mxiltiply  in  our  civilisation  like  worms  in  a  rotten  tree. 

Once  started  on  this  road  he  was  able  to  understand  the  religion  of  sorrow, 
the  true  Christianity,  to  interpret  the  Bible  as  a  Lollard  would  have  done, 
to  find  again  the  eternal  Christ.  He  himself  as  a  result  was  capable  of  feeling 
pity;  in  contrast  with  his  conser\''ative  and  arLstocratic  contemporaries,  he 
was  of  the  people;  at  hast  he  is  the  most  human  of  them  all:  his  sympathies, 
more  broad,  embrace  nature  in  its  entirety;  no  xigliness  was  repugnant  to 
him  and  no  appearance  of  joy  or  nobility  hid  from  him  the  reality  that  lay 
beneath.  Thus,  untrammeled  and  guideil  by  his  fine  sensibility,  his  inter- 
pretation of  humanity  not  only  includes  the  general  framework  and  the 
abstract  tj'pe  which  suffices  for  classical  art,  but  also  the  peculiarities  and 
depth  of  the  individual,  the  nifinite  complexity  and  indefinable  traitis  of  the 
moral  character,  all  this  moving  picture  which  concentrates  in  a  human  face 
in  a  single  moment  the  life  history  of  a  soul,  anil  which  has  been  seen  clearly 
by  only  one  other  man  —  Shakespeare.  In  this  he  is  the  most  original  of 
the  modem  artists  and  has  forged  one  end  of  a  chain  the  other  end  of  which 
was  made  by  the  Greeks;  all  the  other  great  masters  lie  Ijetween,  and  when 
to-<lay  our  over-excit<>d  sentiment,  our  insatiable  curiosity  in  the  pursuit 
of  fine  distinctions,  our  pitiless  search  after  the  truth,  our  divination  of 
the  remote  characteristics  and  under-currents  of  human  nature  seek  for 
precursors  and  masters,  it  is  in  Rembrandt  and  Shakespeare  that  Balzac  and 
Delacroix  would  find  them^ 


Fromentin's  Estimate  of  Frans  Hals 

It  is  at  Haarlem  that  one  best  sees  Frans  Hals  (1584-160C).  Here  as  else- 
where in  the  French  galleries  and  other  Dutch  galleries,  the  idea  one  receives 
of  this  brilliant  master  is  that  he  is  unequal  although  seductive,  amiable, 
spiritual,  neither  true  nor  equitable.  The  nuin  hises  what  the  artist  gains. 
He  astonishes,  amuses.  With  his  quickness,  his  wonderful  good  nature,  his 
tricks  of  technique,  he  separates  himself  by  his  joking  of  mind  and  hand  from 
the  severe  atmosphere  of  the  painters  of  his  time.  Sometimes  he  astounds; 
he  gives  the  impression  that  he  is  wise  as  well  as  highly  gifted,  and  that  his 
irresistible  humour  is  but  the  liappy  grace  of  great  genius;  then  almost  imme- 
diately he  compromises  himself,  discredits  himself  and  discourages  one. 
To-day  the  name  of  Hals  reappears  in  our  modern  school  at  the  moment  when 


606  THE   HISTORY   OP   THE   NETHERLANDS 

the  love  of  realism  enters  with  great  noise  and  not  less  excess.  His  method 
has  served  as  precedent  to  certain  theories  in  virtue  of  which  the  most  vulgar 
realism  is  wrongly  taken  for  the  truth.  To  invoke  in  support  of  this  the  works 
which  he  flatly  contradicted  in  his  best  moods  is  a  mistake  and  but  injures  him. 
In  the  large  hall  of  Haarlem  which  contains  many  of  his  works,  Frans  Hals 
has  eight  large  canvases.  These  pictures  cover  the  whole  period  of  his  work. 
The  first  (1616)  was  painted  at  tne  age  of  thirty-two,  the  last,  in  1664,  two 
years  before  his  death,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty.  In  these  works  one  sees 
his  debut,  his  ^owth,  and  his  searching  for  the  way.  He  arrived  at  his  zenith 
late,  toward  middle  age,  even  a  little  later;  his  strongest  work  and  develop- 
ment was  in  his  old  age,* 

Public  Paintings 

The  most  interesting  pictures  are  those  which,  in  expressive  groups,  repre- 
sent the  public  life  of  the  Netherlands  as  it  flourished  imder  the  iiiSuence 
of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  Holland  has  had  no  poet  to  immortalise  its 
growth,  like  ^schylus  in  the  Persians  or  Shakespeare  in  his  historical  dramas; 
on  the  other  hand  the  native  civic  life,  elevated  by  culture,  appears  before  us 
strong  and  cheerful.  Pictures  were  banished  from  the  Reformed  chiuxsh,  and 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  from  now  on  public  taste  was  largely  influenced  by 
the  needs  of  private  ownership.  Nevertheless  the  halls  of  the  coimcil  houses, 
of  the  guilds,  also  of  the  universities  provided  exhibition  room,  although  for 
commemorative  pictures  of  monimiental  importance.  After  the  independence 
of  the  United  Provinces  had  been  recognised  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  the 
festivities  which  greeted  this  event  at  home  were  preserved  in  animated  paints 
ings,  some  of  which  are  groups  of  portraits.  Among  these  is  the  Banquet  at 
Amsterdam  (in  the  museimi  of  that  place)  by  Bartholomeus  van  der  Heist,  a 
work  of  the  first  rank ;  the  strong,  cheerful  faces  around  the  richly  spread  table, 
in  the  midst  the  captain  with  the  city  banner,  show  at  once  that  the  scene  is 
taken  from  a  flourishing  state  life.  By  the  same  painter  is  the  Distribution  of 
Prizes  by  the  Amsterdam  Rifle  Corps  (now  in  the  Louvre).  Rembrandt  himself 
represents  the  departure  of  the  sharpshooters  from  Amsterdam  under  the 
leadership  of  Captain  Korn,  in  that  splendid  colour  picture  which  is  often 
incorrectly  called  the  Night  Watch, 

In  the  Hospital  for  Lepers,  Amsterdam  had  a  group  picture  by  Ferdinand 
Bol  of  Dordrecht,  one  of  Rembrandt^s  best  pupils,  which  portrays  the  five 
directors  of  the  hospital  as  they  are  receiving  a  poor  peasant  boy.  We  should 
also  mention  Rembrandt's  Anatomy,  celebrated  for  its  wonderful  colouring, 
which  shows  Professor  Tulp  as  he  explains  a  dead  body  to  his  pupils. 

Terhurg  and  Other  Painters  of  the  Dutch  School 

Since  in  such  pictures  portraits  are  grouped  in  one  scene  or  action,  they 
take  the  form  of  representations  of  actual  life,  of  so  called  genre  pictures.  We 
use  the  word  without  here  investigating  its  origin.  Even  many  a  picture 
from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  is  turned  into  a  family  or  street  scene  in  the 
Dutch  treatment.  When  Teniers  paints  the  liberation  of  Peter,  our  gaze 
lingers  in  the  foreground  where  the  guards  who  should  be  watching  the  apostle 
are  playing  at  dice  while  he  escapes.  In  the  same  way  in  the  old  German  or 
Dutch  passion-plays  we  find  scenes  introduced  where  a  peddler  is  offering  his 
salves  for  sale  and  Mary  Magdalene  is  bargaining  with  him. 

It  is  of  great  importance,  however,  that  the  Dutch  painting  applies  itself  to 
the  reproduction  of  actual  life  with  as  much  skill  as  affection,  that  it  makes  a 


SCIENCE,   LITERATURE,   AND   ART   IX    THE   NETHERLANDS   607 

scene  of  most  intimate  family  associations  into  a  work  of  art  and  increases  its 
value  by  the  perfection  of  the  style.  One  paints  persons  of  the  lower  classes 
in  quiet  situations,  represents  a  drinker,  a  sol<iier  smoking,  a  cook  at  her  work, 
witn  all  the  contentment  of  tmalTocted  existence;  another  prefers  animated 
scenes,  disputes,  even  brawls  in  a  tavern.  But  the  life  of  the  higher  classes  in 
its  more  dignified  attitude  likewise  finds  perfect  expression,  whereby  the  high- 
est art  is  manifested  in  silken  garments,  draperies,  ornaments,  just  as  in  the 
earthen  pitchers  or  the  dully  lighted-up  wooden  benches  of  the  former  class. 


Terburg,  Van  Oslade,  and  Steen 

Here  we  must  mention  Terburg,  who  shows  us  scenes  from  the  higher 
classes  of  society  painted  with  great  delicacy  and  spirit ;  his  pictures  and  others 
like  them  have  not  unjustly  oeen 
called  novelistic.  Adrian  van  Os- 
tAtie,  who  likes  to  paint  comfort^ 
able  scenes  in  p>easant  homes  with 
admirable  use  of  hearth  and  chim- 
ney-fire effects,  was  bom  at  Liibeck; 
like  various  other  Germans  who 
were  either  educated  in  Holland  or 
else  assimilat^l  the  Dutch  style  by 
long  residence  in  the  country,  he 
is  reckoned  among  the  painters  of 
the  Netherlands,  as  is  also  Balt- 
hasar  Denner  of  Hamburg,  who  was 
so  opposed  to  a  smooth  and  elegant 
style  of  representation  that  he  of  a 
preference  painted  old  men  ami 
women  anri  most  carefully  sup- 
plied their  faces  with  all  the  natural 
wrinkles,  hairs,  and  warts.  Caspar 
Netscher  from  Heidelberg  is  distin- 
guished for  his  society  pictures  and  is  iinexcelled  b  the  reproduction  of  costly 
stuffs  (died  1684). 

A  rail  Hollander,  however,  was  Jan  Steen  of  Delft,  who  was  himself  an 
innkeeper  for  a  time  and  reproduces  jovial  scenes  from  tavern  life  as  well  as 
cozy  family  pictures,  with  a  masterful  gift  of  observation  and  splendid  execu- 
tion; no  pamter  excels  him  hi  the  complete  unaffectedness  with  which  his 
characters  seem  to  act  in  the  situation  he  portrays.  Steen  died  in  1679  in 
bitter  p<iverty,  I^ss  realistic  in  his  choice  of  quiet  scenes  is  Gerard  Dow 
[Douw],  who  is  extremely  exact  and  painstaking  in  his  treatment.  Close  to 
him  in  the  minute  execution  of  detail  stand  his  pupils  Frans  van  Mieris  and 
Gabriel  Metzu  of  Leyden. 


KRAxt  WAX  Mraim  (168S-109O) 


Landscape,  SOU  LdfCj  and  Animal  Painten 

Landscape  painting  first  began  with  the  putting  of  objects  like  woods, 
hills,  towers,  and  bridges  into  the  background  of  religious  pictures  instea<i  of 
painting  them  on  a  gold  ground.  These  beginnings  hardly  give  an  inkling  of 
the  deep  importance  which  this  branch  of  art,  as  it  was  developed  in  the 
Netherlands,  was  to  have  in  the  future.  Landscape  painting  clothes  the 
objects  of  external  nature  with  character  and  tone;  in  forest  and  meadow,  on 


008  THE  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

the  strand  of  the  sea,  by  the  clear  light  of  day,  by  twilight  and  moonlight,  it 
coaxes  from  nature  those  motives  which  appeal  to  human  sentiment. 

The  greatest  Dutch  master  in  this  field  is  Jakob  Huysdael  of  Holland, 
whose  composition  is  especially  happy  in  the  treatment  of  woods  and  water 
and  in  such  subjects  as  impress  by  a  feeling  of  solitude.  During  the  last 
decades  it  has  become  customaiy  to  put  Meyndert  Hobbema,  who  was  formerly 
little  known,  on  a  level  with  hun.  In  this  field,  as  also  in  that  of  the  genre 
painting,  each  painter  chooses  his  own  narrow  sphere.  Only  through  the 
most  extreme  care  and  technical  finish  could  they  attain  that  perfection  of  art 
which  makes  so-called  cabinet  pieces  of  their  works,  which  in  our  day  are  the 
joy  of  art  lovers.  New  schools  arise  in  marine  and  in  animal  pictures.  The 
monumental  demand,  consideration  of  church  and  council-house,  retreat  into 
the  back  groimd;  the  artists  work  solely  for  private  ownership;  their  works 
are  reviewed  and  compared. 

Only  thus  could  the  branch  of  still-life  painting  come  into  existence,  which 
shows  lifeless  objects,  table  appointments  and  goblets,  dead  game,  flowers,  and 
fruit;  it  is  effective  through  its  pleasing  corabmation  of  colour  and  acquires  a 
special  life  of  its  own  by  affording  a  glimpse  into  a  wealthy  or  luxurious  exist- 
ence. Whereas  in  the  older  periods  of  art,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Michelangelo, 
and  Albrecht  Diirer  had  achieved  great  things  in  several  fields  at  once  and  bad 
besides  comprehended  in  spirit  the  knowledge  and  researches  of  their  times, 
we  now  see  single  masters  restrict  themselves  to  an  extremely  narrow  sphere 
in  order  there  to  claim  complete  mastery.  The  number  of  good  pamters 
brought  forth  by  Holland  in  the  seventeenth  century  is  almost  incalculable. 
But  one  (Schalcken)  paints  only  small  groups  lighted  by  candle-light;  another 
only  the  interior  of  churches;  Pieter  Wouverman,  the  imsurpassed  horse 
painter,  does  indeed  also  paint  himting  scenes,  fairs,  and  the  meeting  of  cava- 
liers and  is  likewise  great  in  landscape.  In  the  pictures  of  Paul  Potter,  who 
lived  to  be  only  twenty-nine  years  old,  the  faithfulness  to  life  of  his  stalled  ani- 
mals, cows,  and  sheep  astonishes  us. 

Johann  Heinrich  Roos,  who  was  born  in  the  Palatinate  and  died  at  Frank- 
fort, likewise  devoted  his  attention  to  animals;  Frans  Snyders  of  Antwerp 
acquired  a  reputation  for  his  hunting  scenes.  Art  drew  nature  and  human 
life  in  its  most  varied  scenes  within  its  realm.  It  was  long  before  it  b^an  to 
be  felt  that  a  one-sided  cultivation  of  perfection  leads  to  tedium  .^ 

DECLINE  OF  DUTCH  ART 

Such  a  period  of  bloom  is  necessarily  but  temporary,  for  the  sap  which  pro- 
duced it  is  expended  in  the  production.  Towards  1667,  after  the  naval  defeats 
of  the  English,  slight  indications  showed  the  alteration  in  the  customs  and 
feeling  which  had  given  rise  to  the  national  art.  The  well-being  was  too  great. 
The  India  companies  paid  a  dividend  of  45  per  cent.  The  heroes  became 
bourgeois.  They  desired  enjoyment,  and  the  houses  of  the  great,  which  the 
Venetian  ambassadors  in  the  commencement  of  the  century  found  so  simple 
and  bare,  became  luxurious;  in  the  homes  of  the  prominent  bourgeois,  tapes- 
tries, priceless  pictures,  and  vessels  of  gold  and  silver  were  to  be  foimd.  The 
rich  interiors  of  Terburg  and  Metzu  show  us  new  elegance,  robes  of  pale  silks, 
velvet  jackets,  jewels,  pearls,  hangings  embossed  with  gold,  high  mantels  of 
marble.    The  old  activity  relaxed. 

When  Louis  XIV  in  1672  invaded  the  country  he  foxmd  no  resistance. 
With  this  declining  of  national  energy  declined  the  arts;  taste  altered.  In 
1669,  Rembrandt  died  in  poverty,  forgotten  by  almost  all;  the  new  element  of 


SCIENCE,   LITERATURE,   AND   ART   IN   THE    NETHERLANDS   609 


luxury  took  its  models  from  foreigners  in  France  and  Italy.  Already,  during 
the  flourishing  period,  many  painters  had  gone  to  Rome  to  paint  figures  ana 
landscapes;  Jan  Both,  Berehem,  Karel  Dujardm,  twenty  others,  Wouvennan 
himself,  formed  side  by  side  with  the  national  school  a  semi-ItaUan  school; 
but  this  school  was  natural  and  spontaneous;  among  the  mountains,  the  ruins, 
the  fabrics,  and  the  rags,  from  beyond  the  mountains,  the  mistiness  of  the  air, 
the  well-being  of  the  figures,  the  softness  of  the  reds,  the  gaiety  and  humour  of 
the  paintor  had  marked  the  tenacity  of  instinct  of  the  Hollander.  Now  on  the 
contrary  these  national  characteristics  begin  to  disappear  before  the  invasion 
of  fashion.  On  the  Kaisergracht  and  on  the  Heeregracht  spnmg  up  great 
hotels  in  the  Louis  XIV  style.  Gerard  de  Lairesse,  a  Flemish  painter,  founder 
of  the  Academy,  commenced  to  decorate  them  with  his  learned  allegories  and 
his  mythological  hybrids. 

True,  the  national  art  did  not  disappear  immediately;  it  survived  by  a 
series  of  chefs  d'ceuvre  until  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century;  at  the 
same  time  the  national  sentiment,  awakened  by  its  numillation  and  danger, 
provoked  a  popular  revolution,  heroic  sacrifices,  the  inundation  of  the  country, 
and  all  the  successes  which  followed.  During  the  war  of  tlie  Succession  m 
Spain,  Holland,  when  the  stadholder  had  become  king  of  England,  was  sacri- 
ficed to  the  allies;  after  the  treaty  of  1713  she  lost  her  supremacy  on  the  sea, 
fell  to  the  second  class,  and  then  still  lower;  soon  Frederick  the  Great  was  to 
say  of  her  that  she  was  towed  by  the  English  as  a  fisiiing  boat  is  towed  by  a 
liner.  France  trampled  upon  her  during  the  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession; 
later  England  imposed  on  her  the  right  of  visitation  and  took  away  from  her 
the  Coromandel  coast.  Finally  Prussia  overwhelmed  her  republican  party 
and  established  the  stadhoUlerate.  Following  the  fate  of  the  weak,  she  was 
roughly  treated  by  the  strong,  and  after  17S9  conquered  and  reconquered. 
The  result  was  fatal;  she  resigned  herself  to  her  fate  and  was  content  to 
become  a  good  commercial  and  banking  country.  Herein  is  the  cause  of  the 
disappearance  of  creative  art  with  the  disappearance  of  practical  energy. 

Ten  years  after  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  all  the  great 
painters  are  dead.  For  a  century  the  decadence  in  art  had  shown  itself  by  a 
poorer  style,  a  restrained  imagination,  and  the  minute  finish  found  in  the  works 
of  Frans  van  Mieris,  Schalckon,  and  others.  One  of  the  last,  Adrian  van  der 
Werf,  by  his  painting  cold  and  polished,  by  his  creamy  reds,  by  his  weak 
retiun  to  the  Italian  style,  showed  that  the  Dutch  had  forgotten  their  native 
taste  and  their  proper  genius.  His  successors  resemble  the  man  who  would 
speak  but  has  nothing  to  say;  the  pupils  of  the  masters  or  of  illustrious  fath- 
ers, Pieter  van  der  Werf,  Hendri  van  Limboech,  Philip  van  Dyck,  Mieris  the 
son,  Mieris  the  grand-son,  Nicholas  Verkolie,  Constantin  Netscher,  but  repeat 
automatically  the  phrases  they  have  heard.  Talent  surv^ived  only  in  the  genre 
painting  of  Jacob  dc  Witt,  llache!  Ruysch,  and  Van  Huysum,  which  required 
but  slight  creation,  and  endured  but  a  few  years,  like  a  tenacious  briar  clinging 
to  the  dry  earth  where  all  the  great  trees  have  died.  It  in  turn  died  and  the 
soil  rested  barren  —  last  proof  of  the  bond  which  links  individual  originality 
to  social  life  and  proportions,  the  creative  faculties  of  the  artist  to  the  active 
energy  of  the  nation.  / 


H.  w.— VOL.  xin.  ea 


CHAPTER   XIV 


THE   DE   WITTS   AND   THE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAND 

[1648-1672  iuD.) 

The  completion  of  the  Peace  of  Miinster  opens  a  new  scene  in  the  history 
of  the  republic.  Its  poUtical  system  experienced  considerable  changes.  Its 
ancient  enemies  became  its  most  ardent  friends,  and  its  old  allies  loosened 
the  bonds  of  long  continued  amity.  The  other  states  of  Europe,  displeased 
at  its  imperious  conduct  or  jealous  of  its  success,  began  to  wish  its  humiliation; 
but  it  was  httle  thought  that  the  consummation  was  to  be  effected  at  the 
hands  of  England.  While  Holland  prepared  to  profit  by  the  peace  so  bril- 
liantly gained,  England,  torn  by  civil  war,  was  hurried  on  in  crime  and  misery 
to  the  final  act  which  has  left  an  indelible  stain  on  her  annals.  Cromwell  and 
the  parliament  had  completely  subjugated  the  kingdom.  The  tmfortunate 
king,  delivered  up  bj^  the  Scotch,  was  condemned  to  an  ignominious  death. 

The  United  Provinces  had  preserved  a  strict  neutrality  while  the  contest 
was  imdecided.  The  prince  of  Orange  warmly  strove  to  obtain  a  declaration 
in  favour  of  his  father-in-law  Charles  I.  The  prince  of  Wales  and  the  duke 
of  York,  his  sons,  who  had  taken  refuge  at  the  Hague,  earnestly  joined  in  the 
entreaty;  but  all  that  could  be  obtamed  from  the  states-general  was  their 
consent  to  an  embassy.  Pauw  and  Joachimi,  the  one  sixty-four  years  of 
age,  the  other  eighty-eight,  the  most  able  men  of  the  republic,  undertook  the 
task  of  mediation.  They  were  scarcely  listened  to  by  the  parliament,  and 
the  bloody  sacrifice  took  place. 

The  details  of  this  event  and  its  immediate  consequences  belong  to  English 
history ;  and  we  must  hurry  over  the  brief,  turbid,  and  inglorious  stadholderate 
of  William  II,  to  arrive  at  the  more  interesting  contest  between  the  republic 
and  the  rival  commonwealth. 

610 


THE  DE  WITTS  AXD  THE  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND 

[1648-1650  A.D.] 


811 


THE   AMBITIONS  OF  WILUAM   n 


William  II  was  now  in  his  twenty-fourth  year.  He  had  early  evinced 
that  heroic  disposition  which  was  common  to  his  race.  He  imiitcd  for  miH- 
tary  glory.  All  his  pleasures  were  those  usual  to  ardent  and  high-spirited 
men,  although  his  delicate  constitution  seemed  to  forbid  the  indulgence  of 
hunting,  tennis,  and  the  other  violent  exercises  in  which  he  delighted.  He 
was  highly  accomplished;  sixike  five  dilTerent  iangujigt'H  with  elegance  and 
fluency;  and  had  made  consii^lerable  proffress  in  mathematics  and  other 
abstract  sciences.  His  ambition  knew  no  bounds.  Had  he  reigned  over  a 
monarchy  as  absolute  king,  he  would  most  probably  have  gone  down  to 
posterity  a  conqueror  and  a  hero.  But,  unfitted  to  direct  a  republic  as  its 
first  citizen,  he  has  left  but  the  name  of  a  rash  and  unconstitutional  magis- 
trate. From  the  moment  of  his  accession  to  power  he  was  made  sensible 
of  the  jealousy  and  suspicion  with  which  his  otTice  and  his  cliaracter  were 
observe<i  by  the  provincial  slates  of  Holland. 

The  province  of  Holland,  arrogating  to  itself  the  greatest  share  in  the 
reforms  of  the  army,  luid  the  financial  arrangement.s  called  for  by  the  transi- 
tion from  war  to  peace,  wiissoon  in  fierce  opposition  U>  the  states-general, 
which  supported  the  prince  in  his  early  views.  Cornells  Blkker,  one  of  the 
burgoniast4:rs  f>f  Amsterdam,  was  the  leading  pers(>n  in  the  state.s  of  Holland; 
and  a  circumstance  soon  occurred  which  put  him  and  the  stadhoKler  in 
collision,  and  quickly  ilecided  the  great  question  at  issue. 

The  tuhniral  Coruelis  de  Witt  arrived  from  Brazil  *  with  the  remains  of 
his  fleet,  and  without  the  consent  of  the  council  of  regency  established  there 
by  the  states-general.  He  was  arrested  in  1650  by  order  of  the  prince  of 
Orange,  in  his  capacity  of  high  admiral.  The  admiralty  of  Amsterdam  was 
at  the  same  tune  orderetl  by  tlie  stales-general  to  imprison  six  of  the  captains 
of  this  fleet.  The  states  of  Holland  maintained  that  tins  was  a  violation 
of  their  provincial  rights,  and  an  illegal  assumption  of  power  on  the  part  of 
the  states-general;  and  the  magistrates  of  Amsterdam  forced  the  prison 
doors  and  set  the  captains  at  liberty. 

William,  backed  by  the  authority  of  the  states-general,  now  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  deputation  from  that  body,  and  niade  a  rapid  tour  of  visita- 
tion to  the  difTerent  chief  towns  of  the  republic,  to  sound  the  depths  of  public 
opinion  on  the  matters  in  dispute.  The  deputation  met  with  varied  success; 
but  the  result  proved  to  the  irritated  prince  that  no  measures  of  compromise 
were  to  be  expected,  an<l  that  force  alone  was  to  arbitrate  the  question. 
The  army  was  to  a  man  devoU:"*!  to  him.  The  stat(»s-general  gave  him  their 
entire  and  somewhat  servile  support.  He  therefore  on  his  own  authority 
arrested  the  six  deputies  of  Holland,  in  the  same  way  that  his  uncle  Maurice 
had  seized  on  Barneveld,  Grotius,  and  the  others;  and  they  were  immediately 
conveyed  to  the  cjustle  of  Louvestein. 

In  adopting  this  bold  and  unauthorised  measure,  he  decitled  on  an  imme- 

['  In  1645  the  West  India  Company  had  begiin  rapidly  In  lose  the  carejuests  they  had  been 
acqtiirinf^  in  Smith  America  <lurin^  the  la^t  fifteen  yearH.  The  cotnitany  had,  in  the  laat  year, 
recalled  Couot  Maurice  of  Nassau,  in  order  to  Hpare  the  expenseK  attendant  on  a  governor  of 
hi§  rank  and  dignity,  and  the  same  ill-judged  pandmonr  whirh  thus  left  the  colony  de«titut« 
of  anv  chief  of  ordinary  military  nkill  had  kept  the  establishment  of  troo|)s  in  a  condition 
wholly  inefficient  fur  its  jirotectUm.  IniiDediat«Iy  on  the  departure  of  Maurice,  fhe  VoTtugubae 
broke  out  into  open  revolt,  raptured  neveral  forts,  amongst  which  were  f^urinain  and  St.  Vin- 
cent, and  had  it  not  been  for  a  timely  buccout  sent  by  the  Company  in  the  next  year,  the  Dutch 
must  have  been  forced  to  abandon  all  their  poaseaaioDa  in  tktath  America.  Cornelia  d«  Witt 
was  a  captain  In  the  service  of  the  company.^] 


sin  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS     . 

[U50a.1>.] 

diate  attempt  to  gain  possession  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  the  centi^  point 
of  opposition  to  nis  violent  designs.  William  Frederick  coimt  of  Nassau^ 
stadnolder  of  Friesland,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  detachment  of  troops, 
marched  secretly  and  by  night  to  surprise  the  town;  but  the  darkness  and 
a  violent  thunder  storm  having  causecf  the  greater  number  to  lose  their  way, 
the  coxmt  found  himself  at  dawn  at  the  city  gates  with  a  very  insufficient 
force;  and  had  the  farther  mortification  to  see  the  walls  well  maimed,  the 
cannon  pointed,  the  drawbridges  raised,  and  everything  in  a  state  of  defence. 
The  courier  from  Hamburg,  who  had  passed  through  the  scattered  bands  of 
soldiers  during  the  ni^t,  had  given  the  alarm.  The  first  notion  was,  that  a 
roving  bajid  of  Swedish  or  Lorraine  troops,  attracted  by  the  opulence  of 
Amsterdam,  had  resolved  on  an  attempt  to  seize  and  pillage  it.  The  magis- 
trates could  scarcely  credit  the  evidence  of  day,  which  showed  them  the  count 
of  Nassau  and  his  force  on  their  hostile  mission.  A  short  conference  with 
the  deputies  from  the  citizens  convinced  him  that  a  speedy  retreat  waa  the 
only  measure  of  safety  for  himself  and  his  force,  as  the  sluices  of  the  dykes 
were  in  part  opened,  and  a  threat  of  submerging  the  intended  assailants  only 
required  a  moment  more  to  be  enforced. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  disappointment  and  irritation  of  the  prince  of 
Orange  consequent  on  this  transaction.  He  at  first  threatened,  then  nego- 
tiated, and  finally  patched  up  the  matter  in  a  manner  the  least  mortifying 
to  his  wounded  pride.  Bikker  nobly  offered  himself  for  a  peace-offering,  and 
volimtarily  resigned  his  employments  in  the  city  he  had  saved ;  and  De  Witt 
and  his  officers  were  released.  William  was  in  some  measure  consoled  for 
his  disgrace  by  the  condolence  of  the  army,  the  thanks  of  the  province  of 
Zealand,  and  a  new  treaty  with  France,  strengthened  by  promises  of  future 
support  from  Cardinal  Mazarin;  but,  before  he  could  profit  by  these  encour- 
agmg  symptoms,  domestic  and  foreign,  a  premature  death  cut  short  all  his 
projects  of  ambition.  Over-violent  exercises  in  a  shooting  party  in  Gelderland 
brought  on  a  fever,  which  soon  terminated  in  an  attacK  of  small-pox.  On 
the  first  appearance  of  his  illness  he  was  removed  to  the  Hague ;  and  he  died 
there  on  the  6th  of  November,  1650,  aged  twenty-four  years  and  six  months. 

The  death  of  this  prince  left  the  state  without  a  stadholder,  and  the  army 
without  a  chief.  The  whole  of  Europe  shared  more  or  less  in  the  joy  or  the 
regret  it  caused.  The  republican  party,  both  in  Holland  and  in  England, 
rejoiced  in  a  circumstance  which  threw  back  the  sovereign  power  into  the 
hands  of  the  nation ;  *  the  partisans  of  the  house  of  Orange  deeply  lamented 
the  event.  But  the  birth  of  a  son,  of  which  the  widowed  princess  of  Orange 
was  delivered  within  a  week  of  her  husband's  death,  revived  the  hopes  of 
those  who  mourned  his  loss,  and  offered  her  the  only  consolation  which 
could  assuage  her  grief. 

This  child  was,  however,  the  innocent  cause  of  a  breach  between  his 
mother  and  grandmother,  the  dowager  princess,  who  had  never  been  cordially 
attached  to  each  other.  Each  claimed  the  guardianship  of  the  young  prince ; 
and  the  dispute  was  at  length  decided  by  the  states,  who  adjudged 
the  important  office  to  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  two  princesses 
jointly.    The  states  of  Holland  soon  exercised  their  influence  on  the  other 

['  On  tlie  meeting  of  the  deputies  from  the  provinces,  or.  as  it  was  termed,  the  Great 
Assembly,  the  proceedings  were  opened  January  18th,  1651,  by  the  pensionary  of  Holland, 
Jacob  Catz,  who,  in  a  long  oration,  recommended  to  the  assembly  the  consideration  of  the 
maintenance  of  the  Union,  as  framed  in  1579  ;  of  religion,  as  established  by  the  decrees  of  the 
synod  of  Dort  (Dordrecht) ;  and  of  the  militia,  in  conformity  with  the  resolutions  passed  at  the 
time  of  the  peace. -^  The  Union,  notwithstanding  the  complaints  lately  made  of  the  violation 
of  it  by  the  states  of  Holland,  was  adjudged  to  exist  in  its  integrity  and  pristine  vigoar.^] 


THE   DE   WITTS   AND   THE   WAR   WITH    EXGLAND  Cis 

flMO-lftSOA.i).] 

provinces.  Many  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  stadholder  were  now  assumed 
by  the  people;  and,  with  the  exception  of  Zealand,  which  made  an  ineffectual 
attempt  to  name  the  infant  prince  to  the  dignity  of  his  ancestors  under  the 
title  of  William  III,  a  perfect  unanimity  seemed  to  have  reconciled  all  opposing 
interests.  The  various  towns  secured  the  privileges  of  appointing  their  own 
magifitnites,  and  the  direction  of  the  army  and  navy  devolved  to  the  states- 
general.^ 

FOKFiIGN    RELATIONS 

At  the  termination  of  the  negotiations  at  Miinster,  the  United  Provinces 
found  themselves  on  a  footing  of  cordial  amity  with  scarcely  any  nation  of 
Euroj«,  except  Spain,  their  ancient  enemy,  and  Dennmrk,  whom  they  had 
forced  to  conclude  a  disadvantageous  treaty  with  Sweden  a  few  years  before. 
Sweden,  closelj'  allied  with  France,  shared  in  some  degree  the  resentment 
of  that  nation  against  the  8tat<*-s-genera!,  on  account  of  tiieir  separate  treaty 
^\*ith  Spain;  and  was  further  alienated  by  the  support  they  had  given  to  the 
claims  of  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  to  the  restoration  of  Pomerania. 

The  truce  with  Portxigal,  so  hastily  concluded  in  1641,  had  never  since 
been  obser\'e<l,  either  in  the  East  or  West  Indies;  and  the  revolt  of  Pemam- 
buco  was  strongly  suspected  to  have  lx*en  fomented,  if  not  occ^isioned,  by 
the  secret  machinations  of  that  court.  Hostilities  continued  in  Brazil,  until 
terminated  in  the  manner  we  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  notice. 


LOSSES   OK   THK    WAR   WITH    ENGHXD 

The  feeling  with  which  the  intelligence  of  the  execution  of  Charlas  I  was 
received  by  all  ranks  of  men  in  the  United  Provinces  was  one  of  unmingleil 
detestation.  The  states-general  and  states  of  Hollanrl  immediately  w^aited 
upon  the  prince  of  Wales,  attired  in  deep  mouniing,  to  condole  with  him 
for  his  loss:  they  saluted  him  with  the  title  of  majesty  as  king  of  Scotland; 
but  Holland  and  Zealand,  whom  the  interests  of  their  commerce  obliged  to 
keep  stnne  iipf>eaninee  (if  terms  with  (he  new  republic,  obtained  that  the  title 
<»f  king  of  Great  Britain  should  be  omitted,  and  no  mention  miule  of  con- 
gratulations upon  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  But,  however 
modified  this  proceeding,  it  failed  not  to  give  the  deepest  offence  to  the 
parliament,  more  particularly  as  not  one  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  with 
the  exception  of  Christina,  queen  of  Sweden,  ventured  to  pay  the  fugitive 
monarch  a  similar  compliment.  The  ministers  of  (he  churches  at  the  Hague, 
also,  a  cla.ss  of  men  hitherto  tlie  most  unfriendly  to  the  royalists  of  England, 
presented  an  address  of  condolence  to  Charles,  in  which  they  compared  the 
execution  of  the  deceased  king  to  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen.  But  for 
this  they  were  sharply  reprehended  by  the  states  of  Holland,  as  assuming 
an  interference  in  political  affairs  unbecoming  their  cliaracter  and  calling. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  ambassador  of  the  parliament,  Strickland,  had 
been  constantly  refused  a  public  audience  by  the  states-general;  and  the 
melancholy  fate  of  Isaac  Dorislaus,  who  was  now  sent  over  to  propose  a 
league  of  amity  between  the  two  republics,  affonled  new  matter  of  bitterness 
and  hatred.  This  man,  the  son  of  a  minister  of  Enkhuizen,  had  been  made 
professor  of  history  in  the  university  of  Cambridge;  but  afterwards  espousing 
warmly  the  side  of  the  parliament,  was  nominated  one  of  the  counsel  for 
conducting  the  prosecution  of  the  king. 

These  circumstances  rendered  him  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  royalist 
party,  of  whom  great  numbers  had  taken  refuge  at  the  Hague,  and  he  was 


•14  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[18S0  A.DJ 

accordingly  marked  out  as  the  first  victim  upon  whom  vengeance  was  to  be 
exercised.  The  evening  after  his  arrival,  as  he  was  sitting  with  some  other 
persons  in  the  room  of  an  inn  at  the  Hague,  four  men  entered  in  masks,  ieav- 
mg  several  others  stationed  outside  to  keep  watch.  They  first  mortally 
wounded  a  gentleman  of  Gelderland,  whom  they  mistook  for  Dorislaus. 
The  latter  endeavoured  to  make  use  of  the  opportunity  to  escape;  but, 
unable  in  his  agitation  to  open  the  door,  he  was  seized  upon  and  murdered 
with  several  wounds.  The  assassins,  who  proved  to  be  followers  of  the  earl 
of  Montrose,  then  dispersed  unmolested;  and  were  subsequently  enabled, 
by  the  aid  of  their  nimierous  friends,  to  quit  the  Hague  in  safety. 

The  court  of  Holland  immediately  took  Strickland  xmder  their  special 
protection,  and  offered  a  reward  of  1,000  guilders  for  the  discovery  of  the 
criminals;  but  the  parliament  of  England  persisted  in  believing,  or  affecting 
to  believe,  that  they  were  allowed  to  escape  by  connivance;  and  made  violent 
complaints  of  the  outra^  committed  against  them  in  the  person  of  their 
ambassador,  to  Joachimi,  resident  of  the  states  in  London.  Not  long  after, 
Strickland  quitted  the  provinces  without  having  succeeded  in  prociuing  an 
audience  of  the  states-general;  and  Joachimi,  to  whom  they  refused  to  send 
letters  of  credence  to  the  new  government  of  England,  was  conmianded  to 
leave  that  country.  Thus  matters  appeared  ripe  for  an  inmiediate  rupture; 
the  only  friendly  relations  between  the  commonwealths  being  maintained 
by  the  states  of  Holland,  who  sent  a  commissioner  to  London  with  instruc- 
tions to  award  to  the  republican  government  such  style  and  title  as  mi^t 
be  found  most  pleasing,  and  to  watch  over  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
proAdnce. 

The  death  of  William  II  had  inspired  the  parliament  with  the  hope  that, 
through  the  influence  of  Holland  with  the  other  provinces  which  had  now  no 
counterpoise,  they  might  be  brought  to  consent  to  an  alliance  of  close  and 
exclusive  amity  with  England.  Oliver  St.  John  and  Walter  Strickland  were 
accordingly  sent  with  this  view  as  ambassadors  to  the  Hague,  where  —  so 
much  were  afi'airs  changed  —  they  immediately  obtained  a  public  audience 
of  the  great  assembly  which  was  then  sitting,  and  commissioners  were 
appointed  to  treat  with  them  concerning  the  terms  of  the  proposed  alliance. 
Never,  perhaps,  were  negotiations  opened  between  two  powers  to  both  of 
whom  the  maintenance  of  peace  with  the  other  was  an  object  of  more  vital 
importance. 

A  war  with  England  was  to  the  United  Provmces  ever  an  event  to  be 
deprecated  and  dreaded.  It  must  necessarily  be  maritime;  and,  even  if 
attended  with  the  most  signal  success,  as  ruinous  to  themselves  as  to  her. 
In  debasing  the  power  of  England,  they  cast  down  the  bulwark  of  their  own 
religion  and  liberties  against  their  natural  enemies,  the  Catholic  and  absolute 
sovereigns  of  Europe;  in  destroying  her  commerce,  they  annihilated  the 
most  ready  and  advantageous  market  for  their  own  wares;  while  the  expense 
of  protecting  their  vessels  must  in  any  case  swallow  up  the  profits  of  their 
merchants,  and  occasion  a  certain  and  immense  decay  of  trade.  In  the  event 
of  adverse  fortune,  which,  considering  the  relative  strength  of  their  antagonist, 
would  appear  almost  inevitable,  the  very  existence  of  the  provinces  was 
endangered. 

Neither  was  it  from  motives  of  national  interest  alone  that  the  Duteh 
might  be  supposed  to  view  a  war  with  England  with  the  deepest  aversion. 
They  could  not  but  reflect  in  how  large  a  measure  she  had  contributed  to 
their  own  happiness  and  glory;  that  all  their  proudest  recollections  were 
associated  with  her;  that  nearly  a  century  had  now  elapsed  since  the  Dutch- 


THE  DE  WITTS  AND  THE  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND 


615 


f  I(ViO  i.D.] 

man  bad  appeared  on  the  field  of  battle  without  the  Enj^hshman  by  his  side, 
or  a  drop  of  his  blood  been  shed  but  the  bravest  antl  noblest  of  Erjgland  had 
l)een  mingled  with  it;  that  the  bones  of  their  fathers  had  lain  whitening 
together  on  the  ramparts  of  Haarlem  and  on  the  strand  of  Nieuport,  Long 
and  intimate  intercourse  had,  indeed,  so  mixed  together  the  population  of 
the  two  countries,  that  a  war  between  them  was  scarcely  less  than  fratricitlal. 

Neither  was  it  less  incumbent  upon  the  present  government  of  England 
to  keep  peace  with  the  provinces,  the  only  foreign  power  from  whence  any 
vigorous  attempt 
to  restore  the  ex- 
ileil  royal  family 
was  to  be  appre- 
hended. The  na- 
tion, exhausted  by 
the  civil  war  she 
had  now  waged  for 
so  many  years, 
filled  with  discon- 
tents, and  weary 
of  the  extortions 
of  the  parliament, 
was  ill-prepared  to 
sustain  the  vast 
charges  which  a 
war  with  so  pow- 
erful a  maritime 
nation  as  the 
Dutch  must  neces- 
sarily bring  in  its 
train.  In  thisst^ite 
of  affairs,  and  witli 
no  objects  of  dis- 
pute existing  be- 
tween the  two  na- 
tions but  such  as 
might  have  been 
readily  arranged, 
it  might  be  sup- 
posed that  an  alli- 
ance wouUl  prove  a  matter  of  speedy  and  easy  accomplishment.  Yet  was 
this  desirable  object  frustrated  by  unforeseen,  and,  as  it  would  apjx^ar,  wholly 
inadequate  causes. 

Among  other  \Tsionary  schemes  in  which  the  parliament  of  England 
indulged  was  that  of  fonning  a  coalition  between  the  two  republics  under 
one  sovereign,  and  a  council,  sitting  in  England,  wherein  the  stat-es  were  to 
be  represented  by  a  certain  number  of  members.  To  this  end  the  negotiations 
of  the  ambassadors  were  to  be  directed;  but  fearful  that  if  too  abruptly 
broached,  the  pro|X)8al  would  be  at  once  rejected  by  the  states  as  absurd 
and  infeasible,  they  were  instructed  to  keep  it  carefully  in  the  background, 
and  to  pave  the  way  for  its  introduction  by  the  offer  of  a  close  and  intimate 
alliance  between  the  two  republics.  But  even  this  was  proposed  upon  terms 
with  which  it  was  utterly  impossible  for  the  states  to  comply,  had  they  been 
ever  so  well  inclined.    The  parliament  demanded  that  the  states  should  expel 


OrrioBR  or  thb  Skvba'I'kbktu  Cbntubt,  apivb  pA.nfTn«a  or  Tkrbvbo 


ei6  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1660-1051  A.O.] 

those  who  were  declared  rebels  in  England  from  the  United  Provinces,  or 
any  territory  belonging  to  the  prince  or  princess  of  Orange,  and  that  they 
should  not  permit  the  prince  or  princess  to  aid  or  succour  such  rebels  in  any 
manner,  on  pain  of  forfeiture  for  life  of  the  estates  on  which  they  had  bx^n 
harboured.  As  the  English  fugitives  were  protected  and  warmly  favoured 
by  the  Orange  party,  any  attempt  to  dislodge  them  from  the  boundaries  of 
the  provinces  would  be  resisted  by  the  whole  power  of  that  party.  The  states 
therefore,  unanimously  resolved  that  they  would  not  interfere  in  any  manner 
in  the  quarrel  between  the  English  parliament  and  Charles  II  of  Scotland. 
The  negotiations  thus  made  no  progress,  and  were  soon  terminated  by  the 
hasty  recall  of  the  ambassadors,  in  consequence  of  the  treatment  they  had 
experienced  at  the  Hague. 

The  Orange  party  in  the  United  Provinces,  strongly  attached  to  the  royal 
cause  in  England,  were  even  desirous  of  involving  their  coimtry  in  a  war  to 
accomplish  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  The  English  ambassadors,  immedi- 
ately on  their  arrival  at  the  Hague,  were  surroimded,  and  greeted  with  the 
cry  of  "regicides"  and  "executioners,"  by  a  rabble  of  the  lowest  class,  to 
whom,  it  is  said,  a  page  of  the  princess  royal  had  distributed  money;  and 
during  the  whole  period  of  their  stay,  neither  themselves  nor  any  of  their 
household  could  appear  in  the  streets  without  being  loaded  with  reproaches 
and  contumely,  and  even  incurring  danger  of  personal  violence  from  the 
populace,  encouraged  and  assisted  dv  the  English  royalists  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  Orange  party.  Prince  Edward,  son  of  the  titular  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
who  had  taken  a  prominent  share  in  these  outrages,  was  summoned  to  app>ear 
before  the  court  of  Holland,  and  one  of  his  servants  was  scourged  and  another 
banished.  But  all  the  efforts  of  the  authorities  to  arrest  the  petulance  of 
the  mob  proved  futile ;  and  a  military  guard  was  at  length  placed  over  the 
house  where  the  ambassadors  resided. 


THE  ACT  OF  NAVIGATION    (1651) 

The  insults  they  had  received  sank  deep  into  the  minds  of  the  ambassadors, 
more  especially  St.  John.  On  his  return  to  England,  he  delayed  not  to 
exhibit  his  feelings  of  vengeance  by  carrying  through  the  parliament  the 
celebrated  Act  of  Navigation,  the  object  of  which  was  the  ruin  of  the  Dutch 
commerce.  By  this  act  it  was  decreed  that  no  productions  of  Asia,  Africa, 
or  America  should  be  brought  to  England,  except  in  vessels  belonging  to 
that  nation,  and  of  which  the  greater  portion  of  the  crews  were  English; 
and  that  no  productions  of  Europe  were  to  be  imported  into  England  except 
in  ships  belonging  to  the  country  of  which  such  productions  were  the  growth 
or  manufacture.  As  the  United  Provinces  had  little  of  their  own  produce  to 
export,  but  maintained  an  immense  carrying  trade  to  England,  as  well  from 
the  other  nations  of  Europe  as  the  more  distant  quarters  of  the  glot>e,  the 
drift  of  this  measure  could  scarcely  be  mistaken,  even  had  it  not  been  rendered 
evident  by  an  article  declaring  that  the  prohibition  did  not  extend  to  bullion 
or  silk  wares  brought  from  Italy;  while  salted  fish,  whales,  and  whale  oil, 
commodities  of  special  traffic  with  the  Dutch,  were  expressly  forbidden  to 
be  exported  or  imported  except  in  English  bottoms.  This  step  was  foUowed 
by  letters  of  reprisal  issued  to  such  persons  as  conceived  themselves  aggrieved 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  Provinces;  and  by  the  equipment  of  two 
men-of-war,  which  inflicted  immense  injury  on  the  Holland  and  Zealand 
merchant  ships. 


THE  DE  WITTS  AND  THE  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND 


617 


[1653  A.S.] 


FIRST  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENT    (1652) 


Regarding  these  proceedings  as  equivalent  to  a  declaration  of  hostiKty, 
the  states-general,  while  they  dispatched  an  embassy  to  London  to  complain 
to  the  parliament  on  the  subject,  and  to  propose  the  renewal  of  a  treaty, 
framed,  as  far  as  present  circurast^inces  pernaitted,  upon  the  model  of  that 
of  1496,  resolved  on  the  immediate  equipment  of  one  humlred  and  fifty  ships 
of  war  to  protect  their  navigation  and  fishery.  Tlie  command  of  the  fleet 
was  intrusted  to  Marten  Harpertzoon  Tromp,  with  instructions  to  cruise  in 
the  Channel,  but  to  avoid  as  much  as  possible  the  coasts  of  England;  the 
ouestion  of  striking  the  flag  to  the  vessels  of  that  nation  being  left  to  his 
oiscretion, 

Tromp,  receiving  intelligence  that  seven  rich  merchantmen  from  Turkey 
were  closely  pressed  by  some  English  privateers,  sailed  t<^iwards  the  coast 
of  Dover,  with  forty-two  vessels,  where  he  encountered  the  English  a^^lmiral, 
Blake,  at  the  head  of  a  squadron  fifteen  in  number.  He  was  preparing  for 
lowering  his  sails  to  the  English  flag,  when  Blake  fired  two  shots  into  his 
ship.  A  third,  Tromp  answered  with  a  shot  that  went  through  the  Englit^h 
admiral's  flag.  Blake  instantly  sent  a  broadside  into  the  Dutch  ship,  which 
Tromp  was  not  slow  in  returnmg.  The  Englisli  being  reinforced  with  eight 
vessels  from  the  Downs,  both  fleets  then  engaged  in  a  fierce  contest,  which, 
after  four  hours'  duration,  was  terminated  by  the  approach  of  night,  with 
the  loss  of  two  ships  on  the  side  of  the  Dutch. 

Such  is  the  account  given  by  Tmmp,  in  a  letter  to  the  states-general;  but 
Blake  asserted  that  Tromp,  b<Mng  warned  by  three  shots  to  strike  to  the  Eng- 
lish flag,  fired  a  broa<iside  mstead  of  obeying.  Which  of  the  two  was  to  blame, 
is  impossible  to  decide. 

Immediately  on  information  of  this  engagement,  the  states,  desirous  of 
pro\nng  that  they  were  not  wilfully  the  aggressors,  commissioned  Adrian 
rauw,  lately  chosen  pensionary  of  Holland  on  the  resignation  of  Jacob  Catz, 
to  represent  to  the  parliament  that  if  Tromp  had  committed  the  first  act  of 
hostilitj^,  it  was  entirely  in  consequence  of  a  mipunderstandingj  since  no 
instructions  of  that  nature  had  been  given  him;  and  to  endeavour  to  terminate 
the  affair  by  an  amicable  arrangement.  To  this  the  parliament  showed  itself 
by  no  means  inclineil;  they  demanded  a  reimburspment  of  their  expenses,  or 
satisfaction,  as  they  termed  it,  and  security  for  the  preservation  of  peace  in 
future,  by  which  was  meant  an  immediate  compliance  with  their  proposal  of 
coalition  between  the  two  republics;  conditions  which  were  of  course  inad- 
missible for  a  moment.  The  stales-general,  therefore,  ordered  Tromp  to 
engage  with  the  English  ships  on  every  opportunity,  and  the  war  now  com- 
menced in  good  earnest. 


WAR  OPENLY  DECLARED 

Blake  having  attacked  the  Dutch  herring  boats,  destroyed  several,  and 
scAttereil  the  remainder,  Tromp  directed  his  course  in  search  of  the  English 
fleet;  but,  being  overtaken  by  a  violent  storm,  he  was  forced  to  seek  refuge, 
with  his  ships  much  disabled,  in  the  ports  of  Holland.  This  misfortune,  though 
wholly  beyond  his  control,  brought  Tromp  into  temporary  disfavour  with  the 
common  people;  and  many  members  of  the  government  suspecting  that,  to 
serve  the  purposes  of  the  house  of  Orange,  of  which  he  was  a  zealous  partisan, 
he  had  wilfully  given  rise  to  the  dispute  concerning  the  flag,  in  order  to  involve 


618  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1653-1653  A.D.] 

Lis  country  in  a  war,  he  was  superseded  by  Michel  de  Rujrter.  The  new 
admiral,  at  the  head  of  thirty  light  vessels  and  eight  fire-ships,  fell  in  with  Sir 
George  Ayscue,  near  Plymouth.  After  a  sharp  and  well-fought  engagement, 
Ayscue  was  forced  to  retire  into  the  harbour,  whither  the  Dutch  snips  were 
prevented  by  a  contrary  wind  from  following  him.  De  Ruyter  having  soon 
after  joined  another  squadron,  under  the  vice-admiral,  Comelis  de  Witt,  they 
were  attacked  while  cruising  on  the  Flemish  coast  by  Blake  and  Ayscue,  In 
this  encounter,  twenty  of  the  Dutch  ships  kept  out  of  gunshot;  and  De  Ruyter, 
finding  himself  considerably  weaker  than  his  opponent,  retired  to  the  haven 
of  Gor^. 

The  imrivalled  skill  and  experience  of  Tromp,  in  maritime  affairs,  prompted 
the  states  once  more  to  reinstate  him  in  his  post  as  head  of  the  fleet,  De  Ruyter 
taking  the  command  of  a  squadron  under  him.  The  coasts  of  Dover  and 
Folkestone  were  the  next  scene  of  combat,  when  two  English  ships  were  cap- 
tured; Blake,  being  himself  wounded,  and  many  of  his  ships  disabled,  was 
obliged  to  retire  to  the  Thames,  leaving  the  sea  clear  for  the  passage  of  a  large 
number  of  merchant  ships  into  the  ports  of  the  United  Provinces. 

Both  the  belligerents  took  advantage  of  the  cessation  of  hostilities  during 
the  winter  montte  to  improve  the  condition  of  their  naval  armaments.  The 
states  proposed  to  add  another  hundred  and  fifty  vessels  to  the  fleet  of  that 
Qumber  they  already  possessed;  but  the  public  finances  not  admitting  of  so 
heavy  an  expense,  they  were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  repairing  and 
refitting  the  old  ones.  Seventy  only  remained  tmder  the  immediate  command 
of  Tromp,  the  rest  being  employed  in  various  quarters  as  convoys.  With 
these  he  received  orders  to  blockade  the  Thames;  out  while  previously  escort- 
ing two  hundred  merchant  ships  on  their  return  home,  he  was  intercepted  by 
Blake  off  Portland  Point,  Feb.  28, 1653.  The  two  fleets  were  equal  in  number, 
but  vastly  disproportioned  in  strength,  from  the  inferior  size  and  equipment 
of  the  Dutch  vessels,  of  which  a  great  number  were  merely  armed  merchant 
ships,  hired  by  the  states  in  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

Blake  commenced  the  attack  by  a  distant  fire  into  the  ship  of  the  Dutch 
admiral,  which  Tromp  left  unanswered  till  he  had  come  within  musket-shot  of 
the  enemy,  when  he  gave  him  a  broadside,  and  rapidly  veering  round  sent  in 
another  from  the  opposite  side  of  his  vessel.  The  lightness  of  his  ship  enabling 
him  to  sail  round  his  antagonist,  he  discharged  a  third  fire  into  her  opposite 
side,  which  was  followed  by  a  loud  cry,  as  though  several  in  the  English  ship 
were  wounded.  Blake,  then  retreating,  kept  up  only  a  skirmishing  fight.  De 
Ruyter  at  first  engaged  with  the  Prosperity,  of  fifty-four  guns,  his  own  vessel 
being  no  more  than  twenty-eight.  Suffering  considerably  from  the  enemy's 
cannon,  he  ran  close  up  for  the  purpose  of  boarding,  and  on  the  second  assault 
captured  the  English  vessel.  But,  being  afterwards  surrounded  by  twenty 
others,  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  it;  and  with  difficulty  extricated  himself 
from  his  perilous  situation  by  the  aid  of  the  vice-admiral,  Evertsen.  He 
afterwards,  with  two  of  his  captains,  engaged  seven  large  vessels  of  the  English. 
Many  others  performed  prodigies  of  valour;  but,  as  evening  approached, 
Tromp  descried  about  six-and -twenty  of  his  ships  taking  advantage  of  the 
wind  to  escape. 

Darkness  at  length  separated  the  combatants.  Two  vessels  were  sunk  on 
the  side  of  the  English,  and  as  many  on  that  of  the  Dutch;  one  of  the  latter 
was  captured  and  burned,  another  blew  up,  and  that  of  De  Ruyter  was  greatly 
damaged.  During  the  night  the  Dutch  retired  towards  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
whither  they  were  pursued  by  the  English,  who  renewed  the  attack  the  next 
morning.    The  latter  now  fired,  chiefly  from  a  distance,  at  the  masts  and 


I 


THE    DE    WITTS    AND    THE    WAR    WITH    ENGLAND 


61» 


rigging  of  their  opponents,  with  the  vinw,  uftrr  luivlng  disabled  the  vessels  of 
war,  to  take  possession  of  tlie  merchantmen,  winch  Tronip  was  endeavouring  to 
protect  by  ranging  the  fleet  in  a  semicircle  arovmd  them.  The  contest  was 
again  prolonged,  with  unflinching  covjnige  on  both  sides,  until  evening,  when 
the  (leet8  separated  without  any  decisive  ailvantage;  but  the  Dutch  had 
expemled  nearly  all  their  ammunition,  and  De  Ruyter's  ship  was  so  disabled 
that  she  was  obliged  to  be  taken  in  tow.  Nevertheless,  Tronip  commanded 
his  captains  to  show  a  good  face  to  tlie  enemy,  and  prepan^l  to  renew  the 
engagement^  which  commenced  at  ten  in  the  forenoon  of  the  following  day. 
At  the  first  attack  Tromp  approached  close  to  the  ship  of  the  vice-admiral, 
wliich  he  cannonaded  so  briskly  as  to  force  him  t^  rt»tire.  De  Ruyter,  though 
Btill  in  tow,  was  found  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy  until  his  ship  was  so  damaged 
as  to  become  utterly  helpless.  But  again  a  portion  of  tlie  Dutch  captains 
failed  in  their  duty  by  retreating  from 
the  fight;  some  did  so  in  consequence 
of  having  no  more  ammunition,  others 
had  no  excuse  but  their  cowardice. 

Mere  exhaustion  at   length   com- 
lled  bi:>th  parties  to  a  cessation  of 

tilities;  yet,    after  sunset,    Blake 

e  as  if  he  was  about  to  renew  the 
attack.  Tromp  took  in  his  sails  to 
await  his  approach,  when  the  English 
adrolral,  cluinging  his  purpose,  sailed 
towards  the  shores  of  England,  ami  the 
Dutch  continued  their  course  home- 
wards without  pursuit.  The  Dutch 
had  nine  vessels  missing,  the  Enghsli 
only  five  or  six;  but  the  loss  in  killed 
among  the  latter  far  surpassed  that  of 
their  antagonists,  amounting  to  two 
thousand,  while  no  more  than  six  hun- 
dred perished  on  the  side  of  the  Dutcli. 
The  fonner  claimed  the  victory;   but 

the  latter  reckoned  it  as  an  advantiige,  more  than  equivalent  to  a  triumph, 
that  tliey  had  beeu  able  to  preserve  all  their  merchant  vessels  —  except  twenty- 
four,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  states-general  testified 
the  highest  siilisf action  at  tfie  conduct  of  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter,  and  the  other 
commanders  who  had  offered  such  determined  reststajice  to  a  fleet  so  vastly 
more  powerful  than  their  ol^'n/ 

About  the  same  time  the  Dutch  commander,  Jan  van  Galen,  obtained  a 
signal  victory  over  some  English  vessels  under  Appleton,  near  tlie  port  of  Leg- 
horn. The  English  had  three  ships  captured,  and  as  many  destroyed;  but 
their  loss  was  counterbalanced  on  the  side  of  their  enemies  by  the  death  of  Van 
Galen. 

After  the  event  of  the  last  battle  the  states  were  active  in  repairing  their 
fleet  and  putting  it  in  a  condition  again  to  take  the  sea.  The  conunand  was 
given  to  Tromp,  which  he  accepted,  but  with  extreme  reluctance. 

The  English  fleet,  now  connnanded  by  George  Monk  (the  restorer   of 

t'  After  the  victoiy  Tromp  is  said  to  have  placed  a  broom  at  Uis  mastliead  to  intimate  that 
lie  would  sweep  thfl  channel  free  of  Eng-lish  ships.  Although  this  incident  has  been  pro. 
nuunced  mythical  bv  some  receut  historiaos.  it  is  accepted  l>y  such  authorities  as  Ure«a,'< 
Bright,*  Uardioer/etc.] 


Martin  Uarpbrtzooit  Tbomp  (1597-16S3) 


680  THE   HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  I 

fUBu.    I 

royalty  to  his  country')  and  Richanl  Dcane,  consisted   of  nirt'  11 

In  cruising  about  the  shores  of  Zealand  and  Flanders,  they  at  I-    ,  ml 

with  the  Dutch  vessels  under  Tronip,  at  the  harbour  of  Nieup>ort.    The  latw  I 
were  ninety-eight  in  number,  with  six  fire  ship?,  but  incomparably  inferior  a  I 
size  to  the  enemy.     In  spite  of  this  overwhelming  disadvantage  the  conls  I 
was  terrific;  and,  though  several  ships  were  disabled  on  both  sides,  aniitk  I 
admiral,  Deane,  was  slam,  it  continued  until  nine  at  night,  and  was  renew! 
the  next  day  before  Dunkirk.    Tlie  English  had  now  the  advantage  of  tb 
wind,  and  the  Dutch  were  thus  precluded  from  adopting  the  only  moded 
attack,  tlmt  of  dossing  and  boarding,  which  could  place  them  on  anything Eb 
an  eoual  footing  with  their  antagonists.     Some  disorder  also  occurred  in  ih? 
Dutch  fleet,  by  the  ships  running  foul  of  each  other,  and  seven  fell  into  tip 
enemy's  Imnds.     At  the  close  of  the  day,  Tn)nip  found  so  great  a  number (li  | 
his  ships  damaged,  and  all  so  deficient  in  anmiunition,  that  he  was  forced ui 
retire  behind  the  sandbank  of  the  Wieliiigen,  on  the  coast  of  Zealand. 

This,  the  first  deciiied  defent  whicli  the  Dutch  navy  had  sustained,  call*^ 
forth  grievous  complaints?  from  Tromp  and  the  principal  commanders  to  tir 
states-general.  They  urged  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  canyeo 
the  war  without  a  powerful  reinforcement  of  good  and  weU  equipp)e<.l  vearis; 
since  there  were  in  the  English  fleet  more  tlian  fifty,  of  which  the  smallcHtni 
larger  than  the  Dutch  atlmiral,  and  thirty  of  their  own  were  totally  unfit  f<f 
battle.  The  vice-admiral  De  Witt,  in  his  address  to  the  states,  bhinih 
exclaimed :  "  I  am  here  Ijefore  ri»y  rniusters:  but  why  dissemble?  Tlie  Engli?fl 
are  in  fact  our  masters,  and  we  are  debarred  from  the  navigation  of  the  seas  tiB 
we  have  better  ships";  and  De  Ruyter  declared  that  he  would  go  to  sea  no 
more  unless  some  remedy  were  provided  for  the  present  state  of  thii^ 
Though  time  did  not  admit  of  the  completion  of  new  vesseds,  the  states,  cod- 
vincea  of  the  justice  of  the  remonstrances  made  by  their  officers,  laboured  « 
earnestly  to  satisfy  them,  that  within  six  weeks  Trorap  was  despatched,  witfc 
nearly  ninety  sail.'^ 

DEATH   OF  THOMP    (1653) 

The  English  had  crossed  to  Texel  with  a  large  fleet,  and  it  was  difficult 
for  the  two  Dutch  squadrons  to  meet.  Tromp  set  sail  the  6th  of  Aueoit 
with  ninety  vessels  intending  to  attack  the  English  fleet,  cross  it,  and  join 
De  Witt,  return  with  him  to  the  enemy,  and  force  them  to  quit  the  coast  d 
Holland.  On  the  morning  of  the  8th  he  discovered  the  English;  and  with- 
drew in  order  to  draw  the  English  after  him  anrl  away  from  Texel,  where 
De  Witt  would  be  able  to  join  him.  Several  of  Dc  Witt's  vessels  with  lea 
sail  than  his  o^n  were  engaged  by  the  English;  Tromp  went  to  their  asset- 
ancc,  and  the  combat  commenced  at  four  in  the  evening.  The  fight  continiwl 
until  an  hour  after  sunset  without  any  advantage  being  gained  by  the  Engliflk. 
although  their  fleet  far  out-numlK^red  the  Dutch,  there  being  about  125  ail. 
Tromp's  venture  succeeded  and  De  Witt  escaped  from  Texel  during  the  fight, 
joining  him  the  next  day,  so  increasing  his  fleet  by  twenty-seven  sail!  Tromp. 
now  reinforced,  advanced  on  the  English. 

The  10th  of  August  at  seven  in  the  morning  the  oppjosing  fleets  met  axui 
the  combat  commenced.  Tromp  commanded  the  right  wing,  De  Ruj'ter  the 
left,  Vice-Admiral  Evertsen  the  centre,  and  De  Witt  the  rear.  The  Dutdi 
piissed  at  first  across  tlie  enemy.  Tmnip  was  already  in  the  middle  of  the 
English  fleet;  wishing  to  give  an  order  to  the  gunners  he  started  to  le«vp 
the  deck,  but  was  struck  in  the  breast  with  a  musket-ball.  Crying  out: 
"It  is  over  with  mc;   but  for  you,  take  courage,"  he  expired.     The  captain 


THE   DE    WITTS   AND   THE   WAR   WITH    ENGLAND  eef 

[1653  k,n.] 

of  the  vessel  signaled  the  other  captains  to  come  unci  hold  council.  They 
were  overcome  with  grief  on  seeing  their  commander  stretched  on  the  deck. 
It  is  said  that  De  Ruyter,  pausing  to  contemplate  his  body,  said:  "Ah! 
would  that  God  had  taken  me  in  his  place;  he  was  more  useful  to  the  country 
than  I/' 

Ordertt  were  immediately  given  to  leave  the  admirals  pennant  on  his 
vessel  in  order  that  the  enemy  and  the  rest  of  the  Dutch  fleet  might  be 
kept  in  ignorance  of  the  misfortune.  \^ice-admiral  Evertsen  took  command 
and  the  men  returned  to  their  jjosts.  The  desire  to  avenge  the  death  of 
their  general  incited  the  Dutch  to  prodigies  of  valour.  De  Ruyter,  who 
commanded  the  Agneau,  threw  himself  into  the  most  perilous  places,  and  by 
the  tiTrific  ftre  which  he  kept  up  force<.l  fiis  way:  this  course,  however,  brought 
upon  him  all  the  enemy's  attacks;  and,  losing  the  greater  part  of  his  men 
and  failing  of  ammunition,  he  was  forced  to  go  toward  the  Maas.  At  four 
oVlnck  the  two  fleets  were  so  weary  and  in  such  bad  condition  that  they 
separated  .ff 

Each  side  claimed  the  honour  of  a  victory;  both  shared  the  disasters  of 
a  defeat.  The  English  lost  eight  veasels  and  eleven  hundred  men  in  killed 
and  wounded;  the  Dutch  nine  or  ten  vessels,  about  an  equal  nunil)er  of 
slain,  with  seven  hundred  prisoners.  Neither  fleet  kept  the  sea  —  the  Dutch 
retiring  into  the  Texel,  and  the  English  towards  the  Thames.  The  former 
consideretl  it  as  a  decisive  advantage  to  have  freefl  their  coasts  from  the 
presence  of  the  enemy's  ships^  but  this  was  more  t.lian  counterbalance<l  by 
the  inestimable  loss  they  sustained  in  the  death  of  their  commander  Tromp. 
The  states  evinced  their  gratitude  to  his  memory  by  the  care  they  took  of 
his  widow  and  posterity,  and  the  erection  of  a  magnificent  monument  to 
him  in  the  church  at  Delft. 

Determined  to  show  tliat  they  had  regained  possession  of  the  sea,  the 
states  despatched  the  fleet  uniler  De  Witt  id  convoy  the  merchant  vessels 
from  the  north,  which  arrived,  to  the  number  of  four  hundred,  safely  in 
port.    No  further  engagement  occurred  during  this  season. 

Both  the  Ijelligerents  had  now  become  heartily  woary  of  a  war  engaged 
in  for  no  valid  reason,  between  parties  who  hail  no  cause  of  quarn»l  exec»pt 
such  as  their  mutual  pride  and  obstinacy  afforded.  Among  the  Dutch  the 
causes  of  anxiety  for  the  terniination  of  hostilities  were  increas«Hl  in  tenfold 
proportion.  The  whole  of  the  eighty  years'  maritime  war  with  Spain  had 
neither  exhausted  their  treasury  nor  inflicted  so  much  injury  on  their  com- 
merce as  the  events  of  the  last  two  years.  The  province  of  Holland  alone 
paid  from  six  to  seven  millions  annually  as  int4>rest  for  lier  debt,  and  while 
the  taxes  began  to  press  severely  on  al!  ranks  fif  the  (jefyple,  their  usual  sources 
of  gain  were  nearly  closed:  the  Greenland  fishery  was  stopped;  the  herring 
fishery,  the  "gold  mine  of  Holland,"  imsafe,  and  almost  worthless,  the  English 
having  capture*l  an  immense  number  of  the  Ixjats;  and  the  decay  of  trade 
was  so  great  that  in  Amsterdam  alone  three  thousand  houses  were  lying 
vacant. 

To  these  causes  were  added  others  pveculiar  to  the  province  of  Hollanil. 
The  states  of  this  province,  whom  the  proceedings  of  the  late  stallholder  had 
rendered  strongly  averse  to  the  Orange  family,  had  applie<l  all  their  efforts 
to  nrevent  the  young  prince  William  from  Being  appctinted  to  that  office, 
ancl  that  of  captain  and  admiral-general.  Tliese  had  liitherto  been  successful; 
but  the  increased  influence  which  his  party  gained  by  the  continuance  of  the 
war  might  soon  enable  them  to  carry  that  measure  in  spite  of  al!  opposition. 
The  name  of  the  prince  of  Orange  had  heretofore  been  used  in  raising  recruits 


682  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[166^16SSa.d.] 

for  the  army  and  navy;  and  the  people  readily  flew  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  unwonted  disasters  of  the  late  maritime  encounters  were  to  be  attributed 
to  the  want  of  the  customary  head  of  affairs.  The  states  of  Zealand  had 
already  foimd  themselves  obliged,  in  compliance  with  the  clamours  of  the 
populace,  to  propose  a  resolution  that  the  young  prince  should  be  invested 
with  the  offices  enjoyed  by  his  father,  and  Count  William  of  Nassau  appointed 
his  lieutenant;  and  it  might  be  feared  that  the  discontents  arising  from  the 
present  state  of  things  would  incline  Gelderland,  Utrecht,  and  Overyssel, 
and  even  some  towns  of  Holland  itself,  to  the  same  measure  for  which  Fries- 
land  and  Groningen  were  strenuous  advocates. 


JAN  DE  wnr 

At  the  head  of  the  party  favourable  to  peace,  and  opposed  to  the  prince 
of  Orange,  or  the  "Louvestein  faction,"  as  it  was  termed,  was  Jan  De  Witt, 
chosen  in  the  early  part  of  this  year  pensionary  of  Holland,  on  the  death  of 
Adrian  Pauw.  He  was  the  son  of  Jacob  De  Witt,  pensionary  of  Dordrecht, 
one  of  the  six  deputies  who  had  been  thrown  into  prison  by  the  late  stad- 
holder;  an  injury  which  had  implanted  in  the  mind  of  the  young  man  feelings 
of  resentment  deep,  bitter,  and  implacable.*  De  Witt  obtained  the  usual 
act  of  indemnity,  whereby  reparation  was  promised  him  for  all  the  inju- 
ries he  might  sustain  in  the  execution  of  his  office,  and  that  he  should  be 
boimd  to  give  an  account  of  his  actions  to  none  but  the  states  of  Holland. 
He  was  at  this  time  not  quite  eight  and  twenty;  yet  had  merited  and 
obtained  so  high  an  esteem  for  his  talents  and  prudence,  that  he  was  often 
called  the  Wi^om  of  Holland.  The  enmity  existing  between  him  and 
the  family  of  Orange  rendered  him,  however,  always  unpopular  with  the 
multitude. 

The  states  of  Holland,  informed  by  a  spy  whom  they  kept  in  England  of 
the  favourable  dispositions  of  that  government,  had,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year,  secretly  dispatched  a  letter  expressive  of  their  desire  that  the  parliament 
would  unite  with  them  in  terminating  a  war  ruinous  to  both  nations  and  to 
the  Reformed  religion  which  they  mutually  professed.  The  parliament 
returned  an  answer  both  to  the  states  of  Holland  and  the  states-general, 
signifying  their  willingness  to  put  an  end  to  the  present  state  of  affairs.  But 
notwithstanding  that  secrecy  was  in  the  highest  degree  requisite,  at  the 
beginning  at  least  of  the  negotiations,  they  caused  the  letter  of  the  states  of 
Holland  to  be  printed  and  published,  with  the  title  of  The  Humble  Petition 
of  the  States  of  Holland  to  the  Parliament  of  England  for  Peace. 

This  display  of  insolence  had  well-nigh  frustrated  all  attempts  at  accom- 
modation. The  states-general  testified  extreme  chagrin  at  the  opening  of  a 
separate  negotiation  on  the  part  of  Holland;  Groningen  and  Gelderland 
strongly  urged  that  it  should  be  pursued  no  further;  and,  together  with 
Zealand,  proposed  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  enter  into  a  strict 
alliance  with  France  against  England.  At  the  persuasion  of  the  states  of 
Holland,  however,  the  states-general  ultimately  consented  to  send  ambas- 
sadors to  London;  the  lords  Beverning  and  Nieuport  from  Holland,  Van  de 
Perre  from  Zealand,  and  Peter  Jongestal  from  Friesland;  the  two  former 
adherents  of  the  Louvestein  party,  the  latter  partisans  of  the  house  of 
Orange.*' 

'  These  sentiments  were  sedulously  inculcated  and  nourislied  by  his  father,  whose  morning 
salutation  to  him  is  said  to  bare  often  been  "Remember  the  prison  of  Louvestein." 


THE    DE    WITTS    AND    THE    WAR   WITH    ENGLAND  623 

[16&4-1656  A.D.J 

PEACE  WITH   ENGLAND    (1654) 

The  want  of  peace  was  felt  throughout  the  whole  country.  Cromwell 
was  not  averse  to  grant  it;  but  he  insi-sted  on  conditions  every  way  disad- 
vantageous and  humiliating.  He  had  revived  his  chimerical  scheme  of  a 
total  conjunction  of  government,  privileges,  and  interests  between  the  two 
republics.  This  was  nmily  rejected  by  Jan  De  Witt  and  by  the  states  under 
his  influence.  But  the  Dutch  consenlx^ci  to  a  defensive  league;  to  punish  the 
survivors  of  those  concerned  in  the  massacre  of  Amboyna;  to  pay  £9,000  of 
indemnity  for  vessels  seized  in  the  Sound,  £5,000  for  the  affair  of  Amboyna, 
and  £85,000  to  the  English  East  India  Company;  to  cede  to  them  the  island 
of  Polerone  in  the  East;  to  yieM  the  honour  of  the  national  flag  t-o  the  Eng- 
lish; and,  finally,  that  neither  the  young  prince  of  Orange  nor  any  of  his 
family  should  ever  be  invested  with  the  dignity  of  stadholder.  These  two 
latter  conditions  were  certainly  degrajiling  to  Holland;  and  the  comlitions 
of  the  treaty  proved  that  an  absunl  point  of  honour  was  the  only  real  cause 
for  the  short  but  bloody  and  ruinous  war  which  plunged  the  provinces  into 
overwhelming  dilRculties, 

WAR  WITH   SWEDEN 

The  supporters  of  the  house  of  Orange,  and  every  impartial  friend  of  the 
national  honour,  were  imlignant  at  the  Act  of  Exclusion.  Slunnurs  and  revolts 
broke  out  in  several  towns:  and  all  was  once  more  tumult,  agitation,  and 
doubt.  No  event  of  considnrable  importance  marks  particularly  this  epoch 
of  domestic  trouble.  A  new  war  was  at  last  pronounced  inevitable,  and  was 
the  means  of  appeasing  the  distractions  of  the  people^  and  reconciling  by 
degrees  contending  parties.  Denmark,  the  ancient  ally  of  the  repiiblic, 
was  threatened  with  destruction  by  Charles  Gustavus^king  of  Sweden,  who 
held  Copenhagen  in  blockade.  The  interests  of  Holland  were  in  imminent 
peril  should  the  Swedes  gain  the  j)assage  of  the  Sound.  This  double  motive 
influenceil  De  Witt;  anrl  he  jHTsuaded  the  .stat<*s-general  to  send  Ailiniral 
Opdam  with  a  considerable  fleet  to  the  Baltic  f  1(>58).  This  intrepid  successor 
of  the  immortal  Tronip  soon  came  to  blows  with  a  rival  worthy  to  meet  him. 
Wrangel  the  Swedish  admiral,  with  a  superior  force,  defended  the  passiige 
of  the  Sound;  and  the  two  castles  of  Cronenberg  and  Elsenberg  supported 
his  fleet  with  their  tremendous  fire.  But  Opdam  resolutely  advanced: 
though  suffering  extreme  anguish  from  an  attack  of  gout,  he  had  himself 
carried  on  deck,  where  he  gave  his  orders  with  the  most  admirable  coolness 
and  precision,  in  the  midst  of  danger  and  carnage.  The  rival  monarchs 
witnessed  the  battle;  the  king  of  Sweden  from  the  ciistle  of  (^onenberg,  and 
the  king  of  Dernnark  from  the  summit  of  the  highest  tower  in  his  besic'ged 
capital.  A  brilliant  victory  crow^ned  the  efforts  of  the  Dutcl)  admiral,  dearly 
bought  by  the  death  of  his  second  in  conunand  the  brave  Cornelis  De  Witt, 
and  Peter  Florizon  another  atlmirai  of  note.  Relief  was  poiired  into  C^open- 
hagen.     Opdam  was  replaced  in  the  conunand,  too  arduous  for  his  infirm- 

[^  Tbe  abiwirbing  erents  of  tliiii  Eng^litili  war.  and  i\w  previous  oommotioDs  id  the  provincefi, 
liad  prpventetl  tbe  states  from  affording  to  tbe  Went  India  Company  tbat  aid  of  -which  they  bad 
loop  Htood  in  ibe  most  pressinir  noed.  After  the  revolt  of  the  Portuguese,  in  1W5,  it  liad  *> 
rapidly  lost  its  posses*. it>ns  in  lirazil,  that  at  the  time  of  tbe  peace  of  MQnster  they  were 
reduced  to  thr«e  fort«.  In  1654,  ibei  fort  of  the  Recif  waa  taken,  thai  of  Rio  Grande  burned, 
and,  by  the  surrender  of  the  third  to  the  Portuguese,  they  became  sole  and  uudiHputed  mafitera 
ot  Brazil.*] 


624  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[lQSO-1666  ▲.]>.] 

ities,  by  the  still  celebrated  De  Ruyter,  who  was  greatly  distinguished  by  his 
valour  in  several  successive  affairs:  and  after  some  months  more  of  useless 
obstinacy,  the  king  of  Sweden,  seeing  his  army  perish  in  the  island  of  Funen, 
by  a  combined  attack  of  those  of  Holland  and  Denmark,  consented  to  a 
peace  highly  favourable  to  the  latter  power. 

These  transactions  placed  the  United  Provinces  on  a  still  higher  pinnacle 
of  glory  than  they  had  ever  reached.  Intestine  disputes  were  suddenly 
calmed.  The  Algerines  and  other  pirates  were  swept  from  the  seas  by  a 
succession  of  small  but  vigorous  expeditions.  The  mediation  of  the  states 
re-established  peace  in  several  of  the  petty  states  of  Germany.  England 
and  France  were  both  held  in  check,  il  not  preserved  in  fnendship,  by 
the  dread  of  their  recovered  power.  Trade  and  finance  were  reorganised. 
Everything  seemed  to  promise  a  long-continued  peace  and  growing  great- 
ness, much  of  which  was  owing  to  the  talents  and  persevering  enei^  of  De 
Witt;  and,  to  complete  the  good  work  of  European  tranquillity,  the  French 
and  Spanish  monarchs  concluded  in  1659  the  treaty  known  by  the  name  of 
the  Peace  of  the  Pjrrenees. 

Cromwell  had  now  closed  his  career,  and  Charles  II  was  restored  to  the 
throne  from  which  he  had  so  long  been  excluded.  The  complimentary  enter- 
tainments rendered  to  the  restored  king  in  Holland  were  on  the  proudest 
scale  of  expense.  He  left  the  coimtry  which  had  given  him  refuge  in  mis- 
fortune, and  done  him  honoiu*  in  his  prosperity,  with  profuse  expressions  of 
regard  and  gratitude.  Scarcely  was  he  established  in  his  recovered  kingdom, 
when  a  still  greater  testimony  of  deference  to  his  wishes  was  paid,  by  the  states- 
general  formally  annulling  the  Act  of  Exclusion  against  the  house  of  Orange. 
A  variety  of  motives,  however,  acting  on  the  easy  and  plastic  mind  of  the 
monarch,  soon  effaced  whatever  of  gratitude  he  had  at  first  conceived.  He 
readily  entered  into  the  views  of  the  English  nation,  which  was  irritated  by 
the  great  commercial  superiority  of  Holland,  and  a  jealousy  excited  by  its 
close  connection  with  France  at  this  period. 

ENGLAND  DECLARES  WAR 

It  was  not  till  the  22nd  of  February,  1665,  that  war  was  formally  declared 
against  the  Dutch;  but  many  previous  acts  of  hostility  had  taken  place  in 
expeditions  against  their  settlements  on  the  coast  of  Africa  and  in  America, 
which  were  retaliated  by  De  Ruyter  with  vigour  and  success  in  1664.  The 
Dutch  used  every  possible  means  of  avoiding  the  last  extremities.  De  Witt 
employed  all  the  powers  of  his  great  capacity  to  avert  the  evil  of  war;  but 
nothing  could  finally  prevent  it*  and  the  sea  was  once  more  to  witness  the 
conflict  between  those  who  claimed  its  sovereignty. 

A  great  battle  was  fought  on  the  31st  of  June.  The  duke  of  York,  after- 
wards James  II,  commanded  the  British  fleet,  and  had  under  him  the  earl 
of  Sandwich  and  Prince  Rupert.  The  Dutch  were  led  on  by  Opdam;  and 
the  victory  was  decided  in  favour  of  the  English  by  the  accidental  blowing 
up  of  that  admiral's  ship,  with  himself  and  his  whole  crew.  The  loss  of  the 
Dutch  was  altogether  nineteen  ships.  De  Witt,  the  pensionary,  then  took 
in  person  the  command  of  the  fleet,  which  was  soon  equipped;  and  he  gave 
a  high  proof  of  the  adaptation  of  genius  to  a  pursuit  previously  unknown,  by 
the  rapid  knowledge  and  the  practical  improvements  he  introduced  into  some 
of  the  most  intricate  branches  of  naval  tactics. 

[»  Without  declaration  of  war  the  English  seized  130  Dutch  merchantmen  in  their  ports. 
The  formal  declaration  did  not  follow  for  some  months,  March  4,  1665.] 


THE  DE  WITTS  AND  THE  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND 


a^ 


[1666-166GA.D.J 

Immense  efforts  were  now  made  by  England,  but  with  a  very  questionabte 
policy,  to  induce  Louis  XIV  to  join  in  the  war.  Charles  offered  to  allow  of 
his  acquiring  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  provided  he  would  leave 
him  without  interruption  to  destroy  the  Dutch  navy  (and,  consequently^ 
their  commerce),  in  the  by  no  means  certain  expectation  that  its  advantages 
would  all  fall  to  the  share  of  England.  But  the  king  of  France  resolved  to 
support  the  republic.  The  king  of  Denmark,  to<^),  fonued  an  alliance  with 
them,  after  a  series  of  the  most  strange  tergiversations,  Spain,  reduced  to 
feebleness,  and  menacetl  with  invasion  by  France,  showed  no  alacrity  to 
meet  with  Charles'  overtures  for  an  offensive  treaty.  Galen,  bishop  of  Miinster, 
a  restless  prelate,  was  the  only  ally  he  could  acquire.  This  bishop,  at  the  head 
of  a  tunmltuous  force  of 
twenty    thousand    men, 

Cenetratoil  into  Friesland ; 
ut  six  thousand  French 
were  despatched  by  Louis 
to  the  assistance  of  the 
republic,  and  this  impo- 
tent invasion  was  easily 
repelled. 

The  republic,  encour- 
aged by  all  these  favour- 
able circumstances,  re- 
solved to  put  forward  its 
utmost  enei^es.  Inter- 
nal discords  were  once 
more  appeased:  the  har- 
bours were  crowded  with 
merchant  ships  ;  the 
young  prince  of  Orange 
had  put  himself  under 
the  tuition  of  the  states 
of  Holland  and  of  De 
Witt,  who  faithfully  exe- 
cuted his  trust;  and  De 

Ruyter  was  ready  to  lead  on  the  fleet.  The  English,  in  spite  of  the  dreadful 
calamity  of  the  great  fire  of  London,  the  plague  which  desolated  the  city,  and 
a  declaration  of  war  on  tlie  part  of  France,  prepare*.!  boldly  for  the  shock.* 


A  Ship  or  Dk  Rdytku's  Day 


RICHER  8  ACCOUNT  OF  THE   GRE.'i.T   FOUR  DAYS 
(JUNE    IITH-HTH,    1666) 


BATTLE 


While  Holland  was  preparing  for  war  with  England,  England  on  her  side 
was  arming  against  Hollanil;  eighty-one  ves.sels  stood  ready  in  the  Thames 
under  the  command  of  Prince  Rupert  arul  General  Monk,  duke  of  Albemarle. 

De  Ruyter  left  Texcl  the  8th  of  June,  1666,  directing  his  course  toward 
the  coast  of  England,  hoping  to  find  the  English  fleet  there  and  give  them 
battle.  Arriving  at  the  entrance  of  the  straits  of  Dover,  he  gave  a  signal 
for  all  the  captains  to  come  aboard  and  adiiressed  them  in  the  following 
language:  "Tne  moment  of  combat  is  at  hand.  We  have  to  deal  with  an 
enemy  full  of  pride,  and  presumptuous,  who  seeks  our  destruction;  the  .salva- 
vation  of  Holland,  the  safety  and  honour  of  our  women,  our  children,  our 
families,  depend  this  day  on  our  prudence  and  valour.    Let  us  efface  the 

B.  W.  —  VOX*.  XUt.  XS 


626  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1666  A.i>.] 

dishonour  which  we  suffered  in  the  defeat  of  the  past  year.  We  shall  meet 
with  a  vigorous  defence;  the  English  are  good  saOors  and  ^ood  soldiers, 
but  it  is  for  us  to  conquer  or  to  die.  On  our  side  we  have  justice  and  may 
hope  for  divine  protection.  Should  there  be  any  too  cowardly  to  follow 
my  example  they  will  find  a  shameful  death  in  avoiding  a  glorious  one." 
With  one  voice  the  captains  declared  themselves  ready  to  sacrifice  themselves 
for  the  honoiu"  of  their  country,  and  then  returned  to  their  ships. 

The  Dutch  fleet  continued  on  its  way,  and  cast  anchor  the  1 1th  of  June 
in  the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  Towards  two  in  the  morning  the  advance 
guard  made  known  by  a  signal  that  the  enemy  had  been  sighted;  towards 
eleven  the  English  fleet  was  seen  advancing  in  order  of  battle.  De  Ruyter 
had  sought  battle;  now  was  the  moment  to  which  he  had  aspired.  With 
that  cocMness  which  always  marks  the  great  man,  he  gave  his  orders.  The 
officers  and  soldiers,  filled  with  admiration  for  their  commander,  resolved 
to  conquer  or  perish ;  but  already  their  confidence  in  him  gave  them  the  pre- 
monition of  victory.  The  English  fleet  continued  to  advance.  Vice-Admiral 
Tromp,  who  was  in  the  advance  guard,  began  fighting  an  hour  after  mid-day. 
De  Ruyter  from  his  side  attacked  the  enemy  with  that  fierceness  which  was 
his  custom;  his  example  was  followed  by  all  the  captains.  The  English, 
having  the  wind  on  one  side,  were  unable  to  use  some  of  their  guns.  The 
Dutch,  on  the  contrary,  made  good  use  of  their  batteries  and  crushed  the 
enemy.  The  fight  was  sustained  with  equal  valour  and  obstinacy  on  all 
sides.  Four  hours  after  noon  an  English  vessel  of  fifty  cannon  was  sunk 
by  a  broadside  from  De  Ruyter.  The  two  enemies  fought  in  this  position 
until  five  o'clock,  when,  the  English  changing  their  position  to  avoid  the 
reefs  of  Flanders,  the  squadrons  of  Lieutenant-Admirals  Evertsen  and  De 
Vries  taking  advantage  of  the  movement  attacked  them  with  such  impetu- 
osity that  they  succeeded  in  separating  them  and  capturing  three  vessels. 

Meanwhile  Monk  fought  with  a  courage  bordering  on  despair.  At  six 
o^clock  the  two  armies  were  still  fighting  and  it  was  only  the  coming  on  of 
night  that  finally  separated  the  combatants.  All  parties  busied  themselves  in 
repairing  the  damage  sustained  and  preparing  to  resume  the  fight.  At  dawn 
the  next  day  De  Ruyter  signalled  his  lieutenant-admirals  and  captains  to 
come  aboard  in  order  to  impress  on  them  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  with  the 
same  valour  the  fight  that  was  about  to  recommence.  Simnse  revealed  the 
English  fleet  a  league  to  windward.  The  two  fleets  attacked  each  other  with 
equal  intrepidity.  De  Ruyter  on  approaching  the  English  drew  toward  the 
south  in  order  to  stand  upon  the  same  tack  with  them.  The  two  fleets  passed 
one  before  the  other  under  heavy  fire;  numbers  of  vessels  were  disabled.  A 
calm  now  rendered  them  inactive;  but  at  ten  o'clock,  a  fresh  wind  coming  up, 
the  fight  continued. 

At  noon  the  Dutch  were  so  close  that  De  Ruyter  gave  the  signal  to  board. 
This  brought  on  them  a  terrible  fusillade  of  the  English.  De  Ruyter,  fearing 
that  some  of  his  vessels  were  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  decided  at  once  to  suc- 
cour them  and  penetrate  the  enemy^s  fleet  with  his  squadron;  his  courage 
brought  him  through,  and  there  he  found  Tromp  who,  with  five  vessels,  had 
imprudently  penetrated  to  the  middle  of  the  English  fleet  and  who  would  have 
been  inevitably  overwhelmed  had  not  De  Ruyter  come  to  his  assistance.  The 
five  vessels  were  completely  disabled,  most  of  the  sailors  and  soldiers,  together 
with  several  officers,  killed,  and  nearly  all  the  others  wounded.  De  Ruyter 
drove  off  the  English,  brought  back  the  five  vessels  except  one,  which  had  been 
burned;  the  other  four  being  useless,  he  had  them  towed  back  to  Texel. 

The  Dutch  fleet  now  gathered  round  their  general  and,  stimulated  by  his 


THE   DE   WITTS    AND   THE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAND  627 

(1666  A.D.] 

courage^  attackeci  the  enemy  with  so  much  impetuosity  that  six  of  their  ves- 
sels were  sunk  and  one  burned.  In  this  terrible  encounter  all  thf^  attacks  of 
the  enemy  were  directed  against  De  Ruyter;  his  maintopmast  was  broken, 
and  fell  on  the  vessel  with  its  flag  and  pennant.  The  latter  he  sent  to  Van 
Nes  with  orders  to  raise  it  with  his  flag  and  take  command  until  De  Ruyter's 
vessel  wa.s  repaired.  De  Ruyter  dropped  back  and  ^''an  Nes  executed  his 
manceuvres  with  such  prudence  and  valour  that  the  English  gave  up  the  fight. 
The  Dutch  pursueii  the  English  fleet  with  all  possible  speed:  tlie  latter  used  all 
their  experience  in  their  endeavour  to  reach  the  Thames,  even  burning  their 


TBE  ARCBERS'   PrIZR,  8ROWrira   SBVBlCTECrTH  Centtry  Cobtcmxb 
<Aftcr  K  paioUDK  bj  Bartiioloraew  Vac  der  Heist,  lOlUltHO) 


poor  sailing  vessels  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  seize<l  by  the  Dutch.  The 
Frince  Royal,  carr>'ing  ninety-two  cannon,  commanded  by  the  English  vice- 
admiral  George  Ayscue,  ran  aground  on  a  reef  called  Galloper  near  the  Thames; 
the  admiral  used  all  the  accustomed  signals  calling  for  aitl,  but  in  vain:  the 
English  w^ere  too  terrified  to  stop.  In  an  instant  he  was  surrounded  by  the 
Dutch;  recognising  the  impossibility  of  clefence,  he  took  dowm  his  colours. 
De  Ruyter,  who  in  the  meantime  had  ropaire*!  his  vessel  as  far  as  possible, 
now  rejoined  his  fleet.  Fearing  that  the  Prince  Royal  would  but  prove  a 
burden,  he  set  fire  to  it  and  sent  Ayscue  to  the  Hague. 

Hardly  was  this  expedition  achieved  when  the  Dutch  saw  twenty-five 
English  vessels  advancing  from  the  southwest.  They  were  conmianded  by 
Prince  Rupert,  who  had  detached  his  sfjuadron  in  onler  to  collect  several 
vessels  at  Portsmouth  and  Plymouth,  and  then  go  to  the  west  to  await  and 
fight  the  French  who,  it  ha<l  been  rumored,  were  coming  to  join  the  Dutch. 
Not  having  met  them  he  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  English  fleet.  As  soon  as 
the  Dutch  saw  him  they  made  an  attack;   he  evaded  them  and  joined  the 


iS28  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1600  A.D.] 

remnant  of  the  English  forces  on  the  evening  of  the  13th  of  June.  Monk  gave 
him  an  account  of  what  had  passed  during  the  two  preceding  days.  They 
decided  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  fight  the  next  day,  and  the  prince,  having 
the  freshest  vessels,  should  lead.  The  English  fleet  found  itself  in  possession 
of  sixty-one  vessels  of  war;  the  Dutch  had  sixty-four,  but  they  had  passed 
through  a  conflict  of  two  days  and  all  the  crews  were  fatigued.  Their  other 
vessefi  had  returned  to  Holland  with  the  captured  ships  to  be  repaired.  De 
Ruyter,  seeing  that  the  English  were  ready  to  reconmience  hostilities,  pre- 
pared to  meet  the  attack.  His  courage  would  not  allow  him  to  avoid  danger. 
He  relied  on  his  example  exciting  the  officers  and  soldiers  to  their  best  efforts. 

The  fight  commenced  on  the  14th  at  eight  in  the  morning.  The  Dutch 
ships  penetrated  the  English  fleet  in  three  different  directions  and  dispersed 
some  of  their  vessels.  De  Ruyter,  drawing  back,  ran  to  the  south;  the  Eng- 
lish stood  in  for  the  Dutch.  This  manoeuvre  lasted  till  three;  the  confusion 
was  terrible  and  the  victory  remained  balanced  during  the  whole  day.  A 
Dutch  vice-admiral  named  Liefde,  in  comnumd  of  a  vessel  of  sixty  pieces, 
found  himself  at  the  mercy  of  the  vice-admiral  of  the  squadron  of  Prince 
Rupert,  who  commanded  a  vessel  of  eighty  pieces.  De  Ruyter,  whom  noth- 
ing escaped,  seeing  his  danger,  dispersed  the  enemy's  vessels  and  drew  the 
attack  upon  himself.  Still  the  comoat  raged  on  all  sides.  De  Ruyter,  look- 
ing like  a  lion  who  had  been  made  furious  by  the  carnage,  now  made  the  signal 
to  board.  Simultaneously  the  heroes,  Tromp,  Meppel,  Bankert,  De  Vries, 
Van  Nes,  Liefde,  Evertsen,  etc.,  attacked  the  English,  pressing  them  so  closely 
that  disorder  was  created  and  they  were  forced  to  retreat.  This  was  at  seven 
in  the  evening,  after  a  fight  of  eleven  hoiuB.  The  Dutch  pursued  them,  but  a 
heavy  fog  forced  De  Ruyter  to  give  the  signal  to  raOy  and  retreat.  His  pru- 
dence would  not  allow  him  to  risk  exposing  his  vessels  to  collision  or  the 
danger  of  the  reefs.    He  conducted  his  fleet  to  Wielingen. 

These  three  encounters  have  been  related  in  all  languages,  and  all  coun- 
tries accord  praise  to  De  Ruyter.  All  eulogize  his  prudence,  his  ability,  and 
his  valour.  He  so  disposed  his  force  and  so  chose  his  position  that  the  English 
tried  in  vain  to  penetrate  his  fleet  or  put  it  in  disorder.  His  eye  was  every- 
where; no  movement  of  either  side  escaped  him,  and  his  signals  to  change 
position  or  board  were  always  given  at  the  right  moment.  He  never  missed 
an  opportunity  to  pierce  his  enemy's  fleet,  double  on  it,  or  separate  their 
vessels  and  sink  them.  If,  through  an  excess  of  courage,  some  of  his  captains 
went  too  far  and  became  the  victims  of  the  enemy's  fire,  he  would  rescue  them 
with  heroic  intrepidity ;  he  was  the  soul  of  his  army  and  worked  the  way  to 
victory.  The  English  directed  several  fire-brands  against  him  in  the  hope 
that  if  they  destroyed  their  admiral,  the  Dutch  might  easily  be  conquered. 

This  victory  was  dearly  bought  by  the  Dutch.*  Many  of  theu*  bravest 
officers  and  captains  were  lost  and  about  eight  hundred  soldiers  and  sailors. 
The  number  of  wounded  amounted  to  1,150.  The  English  suffered  even 
greater  loss;  according  to  the  accounts  they  had  6,000  men  killed,  among 
which  number  were  Vice-Admiral  Berkeley  and  a  large  number  of  captains. 
The  Dutch  had  3,000  prisoners  in  their  ports.  The  English  lost  23  vessels 
of  war,  of  which  17  were  burned  or  sunk.  The  other  six  were  taken  as  prizes 
by  the  Dutch.ff 

[*  This  engagement,  whether  we  consider  the  skill  displayed  on  both  sides,  the  valonr  and 
obstinacy  of  the  combatants,  or  the  astonishing  physical  powers  which  enabled  them  to  endure 
such  prolonged  and  excessive  fatigue,  has  never  yet  found  a  parallel  in  history.  The  English 
historians,  following  the  old  style,  date  the  events  of  this  war  ten  days  earlier  than  the  Dutch, 
who  adopted  the  new.o] 


THE   DE   WITTS    AXD   THE    WAR   WITH   EXGLAXD 


629 


[1666  A.D.] 


THE  ENGLISH  WIN  A  VICTORY 


W/irr 


In  less  than  three  weeks  De  Ruyter,  with  the  view  of  taking  the  enemy, 
who  were  not  yet  ready  for  sea,  by  surprise,  again  set  sail  towardis  the  English 
coast.  De  Witt  had  been  inspired  by  one  Samuel  Raven,  an  P^nglish  refugee^ 
with  the  idea  that  if  a  landing  were  made  in  England,  the  number  of  malcon- 
tents was  so  great  that  the  entire  overthrow  of  the  present  government  would 
be  easily  accomplished;  antl,  in  conse<|uence,  tlie  purport  of  his  orders  to  De 
Ruyter  was  in  conformity  with  these  views.  But  the  admiral  very  soon 
found  that  the  project  appeared  far  more  easy  of  execution  at  the  Hague  than 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames.  A  fleet  of  fifty  vessels  stationed  at  Queen- 
borough  rendered  it  impossible  for  the 
Dutch  to  advance,  except  at  imminent 
risk  of  destruction,  as  well  from  the 
enemy's  fire-sliips  as  the  ilangers  i»f  a 
navigation  with  which,  a.s  the  English 
had  removed  the  buoys  and  beacons, 
their  pilots  were  unacquainted. 

After  cruising  for  more  than  a 
month  about  the  coast,  De  Ruyter  was 
met  August  4th,  between  the  North 
Foreland  and  Ostend,  by  the  English 
fleet  of  ninety  sail  under  the  com- 
mand of  Albemarle,  his  own  being 
eighty-eight  in  number.  The  van  of 
the  Dutch,  under  Evertsen,  first  en- 
gaged with  the  white  squadron  of  the 
English,  commanded  by  Sir  Thomas 
Allen,  when,  in  a  short  but  brisk  ciin- 
nonade,  Evertsen,  whose  father,  son, 
and  four  brothers  had  perished  in  the 
service  of  their  country,  was  killed, 
with  Hiddes  de  Vries  and  Admiral 
Bankert.  The  death  of  these  officers 
spread  such   confusion    and    dismay 

through  the  whole  squadron  that  it  fell  into  disorder,  and  began  to  retreat 
under  press  of  sail.  De  Ruyter  meanwhile  had  followed  the  van;  but  a 
calm  (as  it  was  alleged)  preventing  some  of  his  ships  from  coming  up,  him- 
self, with  a  part  only  of  his  squadron,  had  to  sustain  the  vigorous  attack  of 
Albemarle.  Tronip,  remaining  nlHiut  two  miles  in  the  rear,  was  engaged  with 
Sir  Jeremy  Smith,  when,  after  a  sharp  fire,  the  latter  retreated;  but,  as  it  waa 
supposed,  only  with  the  view  of  separating  Tromp  still  farther  from  the  middle 
squiuiron.  Tliough  strict  orders  had  b'en  issued  to  the  whole  of  the  fleet  to 
keep  as  close  as  possible  to  the  Admirals  flag,  Tromp  continued  the  pursuit, 
leaving  De  Ruyter  with  a  few  ve.«!sels  to  contend  against  the  whole  powder  of 
the  enemy,  whom,  however,  he  kept  at  bay  with  incredible  prowess  imtil 
night. 

At  the  dawn  of  day,  August  5th,  he  found  himself  with  no  more  than 
seven  ships  remaining,  which  the  English,  in  the  firm  expectation  of  captur- 
ing, surrounded,  twenty-two  in  number,  in  the  fonn  of  a  crescent,  an<l  o|x»ned 
upon  them  a  terrific  fire.  Albemarle,  determined,  if  possible,  to  grace  his 
triumph  with  the  capture  or  death  of  his  gallant  foe,  pursued  him  with  unre- 


MlCHAKL  ADRIAANBKOOH  DB  RuTTKB 
(1607-1670) 


630  THE   HISTORY   OP  THE   NETHERLANDS 

fl66&-16e7  A.D.] 

mitting  ardour. ,  He  first  sent  a  fire-ship  against  his  vessel,  which  De  Ruyter 
avoided  with  aiimirable  skill;  when  several  English  ships  fired  upon  him 
together  a  tremendous  broadside  which  threatened  to  shiver  his  vessel  to 
atoms.  Then,  for  a  moment,  this  great  man  lost  the  equanimity  which  was 
never,  before  or  after,  seen  to  desert  him ;  and  in  the  bitterness  of  his  anguish 
exclaimed,  "  Oh,  my  God !  how  wretched  am  I,  that  among  so  many  thous^d 
balls  not  one  will  bring  me  death." 

But  a  proposal  from  his  son-in-law,  De  "Witt,  that  they  should  rush  in 
among  the  enemy  and  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as  possible,  recalled  him  to 
himself.  He  felt  how  much  his  country  yet  requir^  of  him;  and  resuming 
his  habitual  composure,  he  sustained  the  fight  with  immoved  steadiness 
during  the  whole  of  his  retreat  to  Walcheren,  a  retreat  more  glorious  to  him, 
as  it  was  considered  by  his  contemporaries,  than  the  most  brilliant  victory. 
The  loss  was  but  trifling  either  on  the  side  of  the  conquerors  or  the  vanquished; 
many  of  the  Dutch  captains  having  retreated  in  the  early  part  of  the  action. 
Of  all  those  who  thus  misconducted  themselves,  one  only  was  punished ;  the 
rest,  protected  by  the  magistrates  of  the  towns,  their  friends  and  relatives, 
were  not  even  deprived  of  their  command.  The  most  pernicious  results  felt 
from  this  defeat  were  in  the  open  hostility  into  which  it  exasperated  the 
animosity  between  the  two  great  adnurals,  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter,  each  of 
whom  bitterly  reproached  the  other  as  the  cause  of  the  calamity;  in  the 
divisions  it  occasioned  in  the  fleet,  nearly  every  individual  siding  with  the 
one  or  the  other;  and  the  consequent  loss  of  the  services  of  the  former  to  his 
coimtry.  The  circumstance  of  Tromp's  having,  on  the  morning  of  the  battle, 
held  a  long  interview  with  the  lord  of  Sommelsdyk,  a  zealous  adherent  of 
the  Orange  and  English  party,  excited  a  suspicion  in  the  states  of  Holland 
that  the  motives  of  his  conduct  lay  deeper  tnan  a  personal  enmity  towards 
the  admiral,  and  they  therefore  prevailed  with  the  states-general  to  deprive 
him  of  his  commission;  a  proceeding,  however,  unjust  in  the  highest  degree 
towards  Tromp,  if,  as  his  partisans  asserted,  he  was  carried  away  in  the 
pursuit  of  the  English  by  the  ardour  of  combat;  a  supposition  far  more 
conformable  to  his  character  than  that  he  should  have  acted  from  any  impulse 
of  treachery. 

The  states,  probably,  were  the  more  liable  to  be  impressed  with  suspicions 
of  this  nature,  in  consequence  of  the  discovery,  about  this  time,  of  a  plot 
formed  by  one  Du  Buat,  together  with  two  magistrates  of  Rotterdam,  Kievit 
and  Van  der  Horst,  the  former  a  member  of  the  council  of  state,  for  obtain- 
ing a  peace  with  England,  as  the  readiest  means  of  procuring  the  elevation 
of  the  prince  of  Orange  to  the  office  of  captain-general.c 

THE   PEACE   OF  BREDA 

The  king  of  France  hastened  forward  in  this  crisis  to  the  assistance  of  the 
republic;  and  De  Witt,  by  a  deep  stroke  of  policy,  amused  the  English  with 
negotiation  while  a  powerful  fleet  was  fitted  out.  It  suddenly  appeared  in 
the  Thames  *  under  the  command  of  De  Ruyter,  and  all  England  was  thrown 
into  consternation.  The  Dutch  took  Sheerness,  and  burned  many  ships  of 
war;  almost  insulting  the  capital  itself  in  their  predatory  incursion.  Had 
the  French  power  joined  that  of  the  provinces  at  this  time,  and  invaded 
p]ngland,  the  most  fatal  results  to  that  kingdom  might  have  taken  place. 
But  the  alarm  soon  subsided  with  the  disappearance  of  the  hostile  fleet; 

['  De  Ruyter  sailed  as  far  up  the  Thames  as  Qravesend.  and  threw  lK>ndon  into  great 
terror.] 


THE  DE  WITTS  AND  THE  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND 


631 


p6fl7-16T3i..D.l 

and  the  signing  of  the  Peace  of  Brecb;  on  the  10th  of  July,  1667,  extricated 
Charles  from  his  present  difficulties.  The  island  of  Polcrone  was  restored 
to  the  Duteh,  tuul  the  point  of  maritime  suijeriority  wa.s,  on  this  occasion, 
undoubtetlly  theirs. 

While  Holland  was  preparing  to  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  national  repose, 
the  death  of  Philip  I\  of  Spain  and  the  startling  ambition  of  Louis  XIV 
brought  war  once  more  to  their  very  doors,  and  soon  even  forced  it  across 
the  threshokl  of  the  republic.  The  king  of  France,  setting  at  nought  his 
solemn  renunciation  at  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  of  all  claims  to  any  part 
of  the  Spanish  territories  in  right  of  his  wife,  who  was  daughter  of  the  late 
king,  found  excellent  reasons  {for  his  own  satisfaction)  to  invade  a  material 
portion  of  that  declining  monarchy.  Well  prepared  by  the  financial  and 
military  foresiglit  of  CollM^rt  for  his  great  design,  he  suddenly  poure<i  a  power- 
ful army,  under  Turenne,  into  Brabant  anri  Flanders;  quickly  over-ran  and 
to<}k  possession  of  these  provinces;  and,  in  the  space  of  three  weeks,  added 
Franche-Cornt^  to  his  conque-st*i.  Eur()|)e  was  in  universal  alarm  at  these 
unexpected  measures;  and  no  state  felt  more  terror  tiian  the  republic  of 
the  United  Provinces.  The  interest  of  all  countries  seemed  now  to  require 
a  coalition  against  the  power  which  had  abandoned  the  house  of  Austria  only 
to  settle  on  France.  The  first  measure  to  this  effect  was  the  signing  of  the 
triple  league  between  Holland,  Sweden,  and  England,  at  the  Hague,  on  the 
13th  of  January,  166S.  But  this  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  futile  con- 
federations on  record.  Clutrles  fell  in  with  the  designs  of  hiw  pernicious,  and 
on  this  occasion  purchased,  cabinet,  called  the  Cabal;  and  he  entered  into 
a  secret  treaty  with  France,  in  the  very  teeth  of  his  other  engagements. 
Sweden  was  dissuatlcii  from  the  league  by  the  arguments  of  the  French 
ministers;  and  Holland  in  a  short  time  foimd  itself  involved  in  a  double  war 
with  its  late  allies. 

A  base  and  piratical  attack  on  the  Dutch  Smyrna  fleet,  by  a  large  force 
under  Sir  Rol)ert  Holmes,  on  the  L3th  of  March,  1672,  was  the  first  overt 
act  of  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  English  government.  The  attempt  com- 
pletely failed,  through  the  prudence  and  valour  of  the  Dutch  admirals;  and 
Charles  reaped  only  the  double  shante  of  perfidy  and  defeat.  He  instantly 
issueil  a  declaration  of  war  against  the  republic,  on  reasoning  too  palpably 
false  to  require  refutation,  and  too  frivolous  to  merit  record  to  the  exclusion 
of  more  important  matter  from  our  narrow  limit^.^ 

Notwithstaiuling  the  secrecy  attending  Louis  XIV's  negotiations,  De 
Witt  had  been  uneasy;  always  favourable  toward  the  alliance  with  France, 
he  had  sought  to  calm  the  latter's  irritation  against  Holland  growing  out  of 
her  belief  that  Holland  was  the  instigator  of  the  Triple  Alliance.  Jan  De  Witt 
had  defended  his  country  with  haughty  modesty:  '*I  am  not  sure,"  he  said, 
"whether  the  encounters  that  latt^^rly  have  brought  the  important  affairs 
of  Europe  to  be  transacted  in  Holland  are  to  be  regarded  as  a  benefit  or  a 
misfortune.  But  in  regard  to  the  partiality  toward  Spain  of  which  we  are 
suspected,  it  shouUl  be  said  that  never  can  we  forget  our  aversion  for  that 
nation;  an  aversion  sucked  in  with  our  mother's  milk  —  souvenir  of  a  hatred 
nourished  by  so  much  bloodshed,  so  many  protracted  stniggles.  For  my 
part,  no  power  could  turn  my  inclinations  toward  Spain." 

Hatred  against  Spain  was  not,  however,  so  general  in  Holland  as  De  Witt 
pretended;  and  the  internal  dissensions,  carefully  fostered  by  France,  were 
gradually  undermining  the  aristocratic  and  republican  authority,  to  build 
up  the  influence  of  the  partisans  of  the  house  of  Nassau.  Patriotically 
far-seeing  and  sagacious,  Jan  De  Witt  had  long  cherished  a  presentiment  of 


63«  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

the  defeat  of  his  cause;  and  it  was  with  great  care  that  he  hatl  brought  up  the 
heir  of  the  stadhoMers,  William  of  Nassau,  the  natural  leader  of  his  adver— 
saries.  It  was  this  yoimg  prince  whom  tlie  policy  of  Louis  XIV  ofiposed 
to  De  Witt  in  the  councils  of  the  United  Pmvinceii,  thus  strengthening  in 
advance  the  indomitable  enemy  who  was  to  triumph  over  his  glory  and 
conquer  him  by  defeats. 

It  was  decided  to  send  an  envoy  to  Spain  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating 
a  defensive  alliance.  Spain  at  first  regarded  the  overtures  of  Holland  with 
a  cold  and  doubtful  eye.    The  dread  of  French  invasion,  however,  decided 

them.  The  defensive  alliance 
between  Spain  and  Holland  was 
accomplished,  and  all  effort  on 
the  part  of  France  had  been 
powerless  to  break  it. 

Jan  De  Witt  kept  up  hie  nego- 
tiations; the  treaty  of  Charles  II, 
with  France  remained  a  close 
secret,  and  the  Dutch  believed 
they  could  count  on  the  good 
wiD  of  England.  Charles  II, 
profiting  by  the  necessity  of  the 
states  to  serve  the  cause  of  his 
nephew,  the  prince  of  Orange,  had 
demanded  his  apiK)intment  to  the 
captain-generalship,  held  hitherto 
by  his  ancestors.  The  prince  had 
already  been  recognised  as  first 
noble  of  Zealand,  and  he  load 
obtained  entree  to  the  council. 
Jan  De  Witt  turned  against  him 
the  votes  of  the  state  o?  Holland, 
still  preponderant  in  the  republic. 
**The  grand  pensionary/' 
writes  De  Pomponne,*  "haa 
nearly  smothered  the  nmrmurs 
and  the  complaints  raised  against 
him.  He  prefers  any  peril  to  the 
re-establishment  of  the  prince  of 
Orange — his  re-establishment  on  the  reconmiendation  of  the  king  of  Eng- 
land. He  believed  the  republic  would  suffer  a  double  yoke  under  the  control 
of  a  leader  who,  as  captain-general,  would  aspire  to  the  acquisition  of  all  the 
powers  of  his  fathers,  and  this  by  aid  of  an  ally  under  suspicion." 

The  grand  pensionary  was  not  deceived;  in  the  spring  of  1672  all  Louis 
XlV's  negotiations  were  concluded;  his  army  was  ready:  at  last  he  was 
about  to  crush  the  little  state  that  so  long  had  stood  between  him  and  the 
fulfilment  of  his  projects.* 


Jak  Db  Witt 
1085-1071) 


WAR  WITH  LOtnS  XTV   (1672) 


Louis  soon  advanced  with  his  army,  and  the  contingents  of  Mianster  and 
Cologne,  his  allies  amounting  altogether  to  nearly  170,(KK»  men,  comnvuided 
tw  Cona6,  Turenne,  Luxemburg,  and  others  of  thegreate.st  generals  of  France. 
Never  was  any  country  less  prepared  than  were  the  United  Pro\'ino<^  to 


THE   DE   WITTS   AND   THE   WAR   WITH   ENGLAXD  OSS 

[1673  k.n.] 

resist  this  formidable  aggression.  Their  army  was  as  miught;  their  long 
cessation  of  military  operations  by  land  having  totally  demoralised  that  once 
invincible  branch  of  their  forces.  No  general  existed  who  knew  any  thing 
of  the  practice  of  war.  Their  very  stores  of  ammunition  had  been  delivered 
over,  in  the  way  of  traffic,  to  the  enemy  who  now  prepared  to  overwhelm 
them.  De  Witt  was  severely,  and  not  quite  imjastly  blamed  for  having 
suffered  the  country  to  be  thus  taken  by  surprise,  utterly  defenceless,  and 
apparently  without  resource.  Envy  of  his  uncommon  merit  aggravattxi 
the  just  cxjmplaints  against  his  error.  But,  above  all  things,  the  popular 
affection  to  the  young  prince  threatened,  in  some  great  convulsion,  the  over- 
throw of  the  pensionary,  who  was  considered!  eminently  hostile  to  the  illus- 
trious house  of  Orange.o 

Tlie  prince  of  Orange  possessed  neither  forces  nor  authority  equal  to 
those  of  nis  opponent.  De  Ruyter  was  hard  put  to  it  for  ammunition  in  the 
struggle  already  entered  upon  against  the  French  and  English  fleets.  But 
it  was  not  by  sea  or  through  his  lieutenants  that  Louis  projDosed  to  con(|uer; 
he  arrived  in  person  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  to  march  straight  at  the  heart 
of  Holland.  Jan  De  Witt  proposed  to  evacuate  the  Ha^e  and  carry  the 
seat  of  goveniment  to  Amsterdam;  the  prince  of  Orange  abaniloned  Utrecht, 
which  waa  immediately  occupiefl  by  the  French. 

A  deputation  was  sent,  June  22nd,  to  the  king's  headquarters  to  sue  for 
peace.  The  siime  tlay,  Jan  De  Witt  was  stablM^d  in  the  Hague  by  an  assassin, 
while  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  almost  resolved  to  surrender  and  ready  to  send 
her  delegates  to  the  French  king,  turned  suddenly  about  and  took  up  the 
rAle  of  resistance.  All  the  sluice-gates  were  opened  and  the  dikes  broken: 
Amsterdam  floated  on  the  bosom  of  the  tide. 

Louis'  ambition  would  not  allow  of  his  accepting  the  propositions  of  the 
deputies  sent  him  by  the  states-general;  he  desired  altogether  to  exterminate 
the  Dutch:  he  exacted  in  addition  the  cession  of  south  (leidcrland,  the  island 
of  Bommel,  twenty-four  million  francs,  the  re-establishment  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  and  an  annual  envoy  charged  with  thanks  to  the  king  for  having 
for  the  second  time  brought  peace  to  the  Low  Countries.  This  was  going 
too  far;  while  the  deputies  poni]ere<l,  death  at  their  hearts^  the  Dutch  nation 
arose. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  party  of  the  house  of  Orange  had  not 
ceased  to  gain  ground.  Jan  De  Witt  had  been  accused  of  being  the  author  of  all 
the  country's  misfortunes.  The  people  noisily  demanded  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  stadholdership,  lately  abolished  by  the  presumptuously  named 
Perpetual  Edict.  Dordrecht,  the  home  of  the  De  Witts,  had  given  the  signal  for 
insurrection.  Comelis  De  Witt,  confined  to  his  house  by  illness,  had  been  pre- 
vailed upon  by  his  family  to  sign  the  municipal  act  which  would  destroy  his 
brother's  work.  The  contagion  spread  from  city  to  city,  from  province  to 
province;  on  July  4th,  the  states-general  named  William  of  Orange  stad- 
nolder,  captain-general,  and  admiral  of  the  union:  the  national  instinct  had 
fixed  upon  the  saviour  of  the  country  and  eagerly  tendered  him  the  reins 
of  state. 

William  of  Orange  was  barely  twenty-two  years  old  when  revolutionary 
fortune  set  him  all  at  once  at  the  head  of  an  enemy-ridden^  devastated,  nearly 
overwhelmed  country;  but  liis  mind  and  soul  were  equal  to  the  difficult  task 
set  before  him.  He  haughtily  rejected  all  proix>sitions  brought  in  the  name 
of  the  king  by  Pietf^r  De  Groot.  All  Holland  followed  the  example  of  Amster- 
dam: the  diice^  were  broken;  the  troops  of  the  electors  of  Brandenburg  and 
of  Saxony  advanced  to  the  aid  of  the  LInited  Provinces,  and  the  emperor 


<m  THE   HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1672a.ii.] 

signed  with  these  two  priaces  a  defensive  alliance  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  treaties  of  Westphalia,  the  Pyrenees,  and  Aix-la-<^'hapelle.  Louis,  recalled, 
to  France  by  his  interests  and  his  pleasures,  left  the  command  of  his  amiy^ 
to  Turenne  and  departed. 


GUIZOT  S   ACCOUNT  OF  THE    KATE   OF  THK   BROTHERS  DE   WITT 

Like  his  country  melancholy  and  defeated,  Jan  De  Witt  resigned  his 
office  as  pensionary  counsellor  to  Holland.  He  was  immediately  replaced 
by  Gaspard  Fagel,  jiassionately  devoted  to  the  prince  of  Orange.    Cornells 

De  Witt,  so  lately  united  with  his 
brother  in  the  public  confidence, 
was  now  dragged  to  the  Hague 
like  a  criminal,  upon  the  accusa- 
tion by  a  wretched  barber  of 
having  conspired  for  the  assas-- 
siiiation  of  the  prince  of  Orange,- 
In  vain  did  the  magistrates  of 
Dordrecht  claim  their  right  of 
jurisdiction  over  their  citizen: 
Comelis  De  Witt  was  put  to  the 
torture  to  extract  a  confession. 
"They  cannot  make  me  confess 
what  I  have  never  even  dreamed  i 
of,"  he  answered,  while  the  pul- 
leys were  dislocating  his  joints. 
His  judges,  confounded,  heard 
h'lm  repeat  the  ode  of  Horace: 

Justum  et  terutcem  propomli  virum. 

At  the  end  of  three  hours  they 
carrie<i  him,  broken  but  uncon- 
quenxl,  back  to  his  dungeon.  The 
court  condenmed  him  to  banish- 
ment. 

His  accuser  Tichelaer  wiis  not 
yet  satisfied.  Soon,  at  his  insti- 
gation, crowds  gathered  around  the  prison,  cursing  the  judges  for  their  clem- 
ency. "They  are  the  real  traitors,"  cried  Tichelaer:  "but  let  us  first  be 
avenged  upon  those  already  within  our  grasp."  Jan  had  been  lured  to  the 
prison  by  a  message  purportmg  to  come  from  his  brother.  In  vain  his  daughter 
miplored  him  to  ignore  it. 

"What  do  you  here?"  cried  Comelis,  upon  seeing  his  brother.  "Did 
you  not  send  for  me?"  "Certainly  uol!"  "Tlien  we  are  lost,"  said  Jan 
De  Witt  calmly. 

The  tumult  outside  increased.  So  far  a  body  of  cavalry  had  succeeded 
in  maintaining  order.  All  at  once  a  rumour  was  afloat  that  the  peasants  of 
the  surrounding  country  were  on  their  way  to  the  Hague  to  pillage  it:  the 
estates  onJered  the  count  de  Tilly  to  march  against  them.  The  brave  soldier 
demanded  a  written  order:  "I  obey,"  he  said;  "but  the  brothers  are  doome*!/' 
Scarcely  liad  the  troops  departed  when  the  doors  of  the  prison  were  forced. 
The  ruward,  torture-spent,  was  stretched  upon  his  cot,  his  brother  seal 


^> 


"^^•JS:^ 


Ball  or  tbb  Kkiohta,   itbar  thb  Obatb-plaob  or 
DE  Wim 


THE    DE    WITTS    AXD    THE    WAR    WITH    ENGLAND  655 

[1673  A.D.] 

beside  him  reading  uloud  from  the  Bible.  The  crowd  preeipitatcd  itself  into 
the  room  crying,  'Traitors,  prepare  to  die!"  Both  were  dragged  out.  They 
embraced.  Comelis,  struck  from  behind,  fell  to  the  \x)iiom  of  the  stairs. 
His  brother,  running  into  the  street  to  defend  hini,  received  a  blow  in  the 
face  from  a  pick.  The  ruward  was  already  dead.  The  assassins  flung  them- 
selves upf)n  Jan,  who,  losing  nothing  of  his  calm  and  courage,  raised  his 
hands  to  heaven  and  opened  his  mouth  to  pray,  w*hen  a  last  blow  felled  him. 
"The  Perpetual  E<lict  is  down!"  shrieked  the  assassins,  heaping  insultj^  and 
maledictions  upon  the  two  corpses.  It  was  not  till  nightfall,  and  after  infinite 
trouble  in  recognising  the  dlsftgureil  countenances  of  his  sons,  that  the  unhappy 
Jacob  Do  Witt  was  able  to  carry  away  the  bodies. 

William  of  Orange  arrived  the  next  day  at  tlie  Hague,  too  late  for  his 
own  glory  and  for  the  punishment  of  the  ohfscure  assassins,  whom  he  allowed 
to  escape.     The  constructors  of  the  plot  obtained  ajjpointnients  and  rewards. 

During  twenty  years  Jan  De  Witt  had  stood  for  the  noblest  expression 
of  the  traditional  policy  of  hia  country.  Long  faithful  to  the  French  alliance, 
he  attempted  to  arrest  Louis  XIV  in  his  dangtTous  successess.  C<:>nsciou8 
of  the  perils  to  come,  he  overhxiked  those  at  hand.  He  believed  too  much 
and  for  too  long  in  the  influence  of  negotiations  and  the  possibility  of  regaining 
the  friendship  of  France.  That  wliich  he  had  ho|>ed  for  his  country'  escaped 
liim  within  and  without :  Holland  was  crushed  by  France,  and  the  aristocratic 
republic  was  defeated  by  the  democratic  monarchy.  Between  the  two  he 
was  unable  to  divine  that  constitutional  monarchy,  freely  chosen,  which 
should  gain  for  his  country  the  independence,  the  prosperity,  and  the  order 
for  which  he  ha<l  laboured. 

As  feiirless  and  far-seeing  a  politician  as  Coligny,  like  him  twice  struck 
by  the  assassin,  Jan  De  Witt  retains  his  place  in  historj'  as  the  unique  model 
of  a  great  re[>ublic^m  leader,  honest  and  capable,  proud  and  modest,  up  to 
the  time  when  other  "uniteil  provinces,"  struggling  like  Holland  for  their 
liberty,  furnished  him  a  rival  to  the  purity  of  his  glory  in  the  person  of  their 
governor,  General  George  Washington. 

In  its  brut-al  ingratitude  the  instinct  of  the  Dutch  people  clearly  divined 
the  situation :  Jan  De  Witt  would  have  been  anhiliilated  in  the  struggle  against 
France;  William  of  Orange,  prince,  i>olitician,  and  soldier,  was  aole  to  save 
thft  aecks  of  Europe  and  of  his  own  country  from  the  yoke  of  Louis  XIV.» 


CHAPTER   XV 

WILLIAM   III   AND   THE   WAR  WITH   FRANCE 

[1672-1723  A. a] 

The  massacre  of  the  De  Witts  completely  destroyed  the  party  of  which 
they  were  the  heaci.  All  men  now  united  under  the  only  leaxler  left  i-o  the 
comitry.  William  showed  himself  well  worthy  of  the  trust,  and  of  his  heroic 
blood.  He  turned  his  whole  force  against  the  enemy.  He  sought  nothing 
for  himself  but  the  glory  of  saving  his  country;  and  taking  his  ancestors  for 
motlels,  in  the  best  pointxS  of  their  respective  characters,  he  combine<l  prudence 
with  energy,  and  finnness  with  mocleration.  His  spirit  inspired  all  ranks  of 
men.  The  conditions  of  peace  demanded  by  the  partner  kings  were  rejected 
with  scorn.  The  whole  nation  was  moved  by  one  concentrated  principle  of 
heroism;  and  it  was  even  resolved  to  put  the  ancient  notion  of  the  first 
William  into  practice,  and  abandon  the  country  to  the  waves,  sooner  than 
Bubmit  to  the  |xilitical  annihilation  with  which  it  was  threatened.  The 
capability  of  the  vessels  in  their  harbours  was  calculated;  and  they  were 
foimd  sufficient  to  transport  two  hundred  thousand  families  to  the  Indian 
settlements.  We  must  hasten  from  this  sublinie  picture  of  national  desper- 
ation. The  glorious  hero  who  stands  in  its  foreground  was  inaccessible  to 
every  overture  of  corruption.  Buckingham,  the  English  ambassador,  offered 
him,  on  the  part  of  England  and  France,  the  independent  sovereignty  of 
Holland,  if  he  would  abandon  the  other  provinces  to  their  grasp;  and,  urpjing 
his  consent,  asked  him  if  he  ilid  not  see  that  the  republic  was  rumetl?  *^  There 
is  one  means/'  replied  the  prince  of  Orange,  *' which  will  save  me  from  the 
sight  of  my  country's  ruin.     I  will  die  in  the  last  ditch." 

Action  soon  proved  the  reality  of  the  prince's  profession.  He  took  the 
field,  having  first  punished  with  death  some  of  the  cowanlly  commanders 
of  the  frontier  towns.  He  besieged  and  took  Naarden,  an  important  place; 
and,  by  a  masterly  movement,  formed  a  junction  with  Montecuculi,  whom 


r 


WILLIAM    in   AND   THE    WAB    WITH   FRANCE  637 

(i<n3-ie75A.o.] 

the  emperor  Leopold  h&d  at  lengtli  sent  to  his  assistance  with  20,000  men. 
Gronmgen  repulsed  the  bishop  of  Miinster,  the  aUy  of  France,  with  a  loss  of 
12,000  men.  The  king  of  Spain  (such  are  the  strange  fluctuations  of  political 
friendship  anti  enmity)  sent  the  count  of  Monterey,  governor  of  the  Belgian 
pro\'inces,  with  10,000  men  to  support  the  Dutch  army.  The  elector  of 
Brandenburg  also  lent  them  aitl. 

The  whole  face  of  affairs  was  changed;  and  Louis  was  obliged  to  abandon 
his  conquests  with  more  rapidity  than  he  had  made  them. 


ENGLAND  WITHDRAWS   FROM   THE   WAR 


I 


Two  desperate  battles  at  sea,  on  the  2Sth  of  May  and  the  4th  of  June/ 
in  which  De  Ruyter  and  Prince  Rupert  again  distinguished  themselves,  only 
proved  the  valour  of  the  combatants,  leaving  victory  still  doubtful. 

England  was  with  one  common  feeling  aslmmed  of  the  odious  war  in 
which  the  king  and  his  unworthy  ministers  had  engaged  the  nation.  Charles 
was  forced  to  make  peace  on  the  conditions  proposed  by  the  Dutch,  The 
honour  of  the  flag  was  yielded  to  the  English;  a  regulation  of  trade  was 
agreed  t-o;  all  possessions  were  restored  to  the  same  condition  as  before  the 
war;  and  the  states-general  agreed  to  pay  the  king  800,000  patacoons,  or 
nearly  £300,000. 

With  these  encouraging  results  from  the  prmce  of  Orange's  influence  and 
example,  Holland  persevered  in  the  contest  with  France.     He,  in  the  first 

Elace,  made  head,  during  a  winter  campaign  in  Holland,  against  Marshal 
lUxemhurg,  who  hud  succeeded  Turenne  in  the  Low  Countrie.s,  the  latter 
being  obliged  to  march  against  the  imperialbts  in  Westphalia.  He  next 
advanced  to  oppose  the  great  C'Ond<^%  who  occupietl  Brabant  with  an  army 
of  forty-five  thousand  men.  After  much  manoeuvring,  in  which  the  prince 
of  Orange  displayed  consummate  talent,  he  on  one  only  occasion  exposed  a 
part  of  his  army  to  a  disadvantageous  contest.  Conde  seized  on  the  error; 
and  of  his  own  accord  gave  the  battle  to  which  his  young  opponent  could  not 
succeed  in  forcing  him.  The  battle  of  SenefTe  is  remarkable  not  merely  for 
the  fury  with  which  it  was  fought,  or  for  its  leaving  victory  undecided,  but 
as  being  the  last  combat  of  one  commander  and  the  first  of  the  other.  "The 
prince  of  Orange/*  said  the  veteran  Cond6  (who  had  that  day  exposed  his 
person  more  than  on  any  previous  occasion),  "has  acted  in  everything  like 
an  old  captain,  except  venturing  his  life  too  like  a  young  soldier." 

The  campaign  of  1675  offered  no  remarkable  event,  the  prince  of  Orange 
with  great  prudence  avoiding  the  risk  of  a  battled 

THE   LAST  BATTLE  OF  DE  RUYTER 

On  sea,  the  power  of  the  Dutch  nation  had,  from  the  time  of  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  prince  of  Orange  as  admiral-general,  gradually  declined.  \Vhether 
that  the  conduct  of  the  French,  during  the  late  war,  had  inspiretl  him  with 
a  contempt  for  the  naval  prowess  of  that  nation,  or  from  some  less  excusable 

[*  As  usual,  there  is  a  difTerenc«  of  tea  days  iu  tbv  dat«s  »«t  for  tbene  l>atUet^,  the  Dutcli 
dating  them  Jnnn  7th  and  Junt*  14th.  Da  Huyt4*r  had  trie<d  In  rain  t^  )))r>(!k  the  mouth  of  the 
Thames  by  sinking  tos»oU.  The  English  finally  camn  out  wUh  a  Auperior  forco,  and  the  first 
«nooant«r  was  off  Schoeueveldt.  In  the  second  the  English  retired,  but  the  Dutch,  fearing  a 
ruse,  did  not  pursue.  In  a  third  encounter,  in  the  Toxel,  August  llth  [or  2lst1.  the  English 
were  repulst.'d  in  an  elTort  to  capture  the  East  India  fieet.  The  English  captured  the  island  of 
Tobago  and  took  four  merchantmeo,  but  the  Dutch  fleet,  under  Erertaen,  captured  New  York 
and  took  or  sank  alxty-five  of  the  Newfoundland  ships.] 


9SS 


THE   HISTORY   OP  THE   NETHERLANDS 


[1676  A.  JO.] 

motive,  William  sent  De  Ruyter  to  the  Mediterranean  with  an  insijfficient 
and  miserably-equipped  fleet  of  eighteen  ships,  to  nrnke  head  against  an 
enemy  whose  force  consisted  of  above  thirty  sail;  while  the  aid  of 
the  Spaniards,  who  had  already  sustained  a  severe  defeat,  was  utterly  ineffi- 
cient. In  vain  did  De  Ruyter  remonstrate  against  the  rashness  of  thus 
wantonly  exposing  the  flag  of  the  states  to  insult;  the  only  answer  he  received 
was  an  imputation  that  he  began  to  grow  timid  in  his  old  age;  in  vain,  too, 
did  his  friends  endeavour  to  persuade  this  noble-minded  patriot  to  refuse 

peremptoriljr  to  put  to 
sea  with  so  inadequate  a 
force.  It  was  his  duty, 
he  said,  to  obey  the  com- 
mands of  the  states;  and 
having  taken  a  last  fare- 
well of  his  family  and 
friends,  to  whom  he  ex- 
pressed his  conviction 
that  he  should  never  re- 
turn, he  embarked  at 
Hellevoetsluis,  and  with 
the  first  fair  wind  set  sail 
for  his  destination. 

He  encountered  the 
French  fleet  under  the 
admiral  Duquesne,  be- 
tween the  islands  of 
Stromboli  and  Salina,  but 
without  any  decisive  re- 
sult. Having  effected  a 
junction  with  ten  Spanish 
vessels,  he  came  to  a  sec- 
ond engagement  on  the 
coast  of  Sicily,  with  Du- 
quesne, who  had  likewise 
received  a  reinforcement 
of  twelve  men-of-war  and 
four  frigates.  Almost  at 
the  commencement  of  the 
battle,  De  Ruyter  was 
struck  by  a  cannon  ball, 
which  carried  off  the  fore  part  of  his  left  foot  and  broke  two  bones  of  the  right 
leg.  He  continued,  however,  to  give  his  orders  with  undiminished  activity, 
and  concealed  the  disaster  so  effectually  that  neither  friend  nor  enemy  had 
the  slightest  suspicion  of  the  truth.  Both  parties  ascribed  to  themselves 
the  victory;  the  relations  on  each  side  differing  so  widely  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  conceive  they  allude  to  the  same  event.  The  most  signal  defeat, 
however,  would  have  been  a  far  less  grievous  calamity  to  the  Dutch  than  that 
which  they  had  to  sustain  in  the  loss  of  their  great  admiral,  whose  wounds 
proved  fatal  a  few  days  after  (April  29th,  1676). 

De  Ruyter  is  one  of  those  characters  whose  faultless  excellence  would, 
were  we  obliged  to  rely  solely  on  the  evidence  of  the  biographer  and 
panegyrist,  almost  create  a  doubt  of  its  reality,  as  if  beyond  the  scope  of 
numan  nature  to  attain.    But  in  his  case,  the  highest  eulogiums  are  con- 


A  Patient  and  Doctor  —  Seventeenth  Century  Interior 
(After  the  painting  hj  Jan  8teeQ,162&.1679} 


WILLIAM   III   AND   THE   WAR   WITH   FRANCE 


639 


[1676  A.D.] 

firmed  to  the  full  by  the  concurring  testimony  of  political  opjxjnentfl,  and  by 
the  dry  and  impartial  records  of  history.  As  a  commantler,  valour  was  his 
least  (|ualilication:  his  genius,  judgment,  and  fore>tight  were  equal  to  every 
emergency.  In  situations  where  temerity  was  wisdom,  none  could  be  more 
reckless  and  daring;  when  prudence  dictated  caution,  none  could  incur  more 
bravely  the  imputation  of  timidity. 

During  the  troubled  times  of  the  republic,  when  he  often  received  orders 
80  equivocal  or  contradictory  that  whatever  course  he  pursued  could  scarcely 
escape  censure,  he  never  failed  to  adopt  such  as  both  partisans  and  opponents 
agreed  in  pronouncing  wisest  and  best.  The  strict  discipline  he  maintained 
in  the  navT  was  softener!  by  his  perfect  equanimity  of  temper,  his  strict 
regard  to  jastice,  his  humanity  and  affability.  The  purest  of  republics,  in 
the  puH'st  age  of  its  existence,  could  never  boast  of  a  citizen  of  more  incor- 
ruptible integrity,  disinterestedness,  or  genuine  simplicity  of  manners.  The 
honours  and  titles  of  nobility  heaped  upon  him  by  nearly  every  prince  of 
Europe,  the  consciousness  that  he  was  the  object  of  the  respect  and  admiration 
of  the  whole  civilised  world,  never  in  the  slightest  degree  overcame  his  innate 
modesty.  He  gratefully  refuse<i  the  numerous  invitations  he  received  to 
visit  foreign  courts,  and  retained  unchanged  through  life  the  frugal  estab- 
lishment and  (juiot  dejxirtinent  t)f  a  burgher  of  the  mitldling  cliiss.  He  felt 
not  the  slightest  siiame  at  the  obscurity  of  his  origin/  but  was,  on  the  con- 
trary, accustomed  frequently  to  mention  it  in  the  presence  of  the  most  exalted 
personages,  and  to  holil  up  his  own  example  to  the  sailors  as  an  incentive  to 
honourable  exertion. 

The  deficiency  of  his  early  education  was  compensated  by  the  quickness 
of  his  apprehension,  the  clearness  of  his  ideas,  and  the  capacity  and  retentive- 
ness  of  Ilia  memory.  The  latter  faculty  he  possessed  in  such  an  extraordinary 
degree  that  he  was  able  to  recall  exactly  every  circumstance,  even  the  most 
minute,  that  had  occurred  from  the  time  of  his  first  going  to  sea,  and  the  chris- 
tian and  surname  of  every  man  who  had  sailed  with  him.  From  conversa- 
tion, he  rapidly  acquired  the  Spanish,  Portuguese,  English,  am!  French  lan- 
guages, so  as  to  speak  them  with  elegance  and  fluency.  In  private  life,  the 
virtues  of  a  husband,  father,  friend,  and  citizen  shone  out  with  a  lustre  softer, 
but  not  less  brilliant,  than  that  wliich  adorneti  his  pu!)]ic  carwr. 

Death,  which  he  had  so  often  looked  upon  with  calmness,  came  to  him 
stripped  of  its  terrors,  and  terminated,  without  a  pang  or  a  struggle,  his  exalted 
and  blameless  ciireer  of  nearly  seventy  years.  His  body  was  embalmed,  and, 
on  the  return  of  the  fleet,  carried  to  Amsterdam  to  be  interred,  amidst  the 
tears  of  his  countrymen. 

The  suspicion  which  had  insinuated  itself  among  the  people,  that  this 
excellent  an<l  est*^med  servant  of  Uw  republic,  a  staunch  and  faithful  adhe- 
rent of  the  De  Witt  party,  had  been  siicrificeil  to  the  jealousy  of  the  stadholder, 
contributed  to  diminish  still  further  the  unlx>unded  popularity  he  had  at  first 
enjoyed,  and  which  the  discovery  of  his  ambitious  views  ufwn  the  sovereignty 
of  the  provinces,  and  the  constant  failure  of  his  military  enterprises,  had 
already  considerably  xmdermined.*= 

This  year  fI676)  was  doubly  occupied  in  a  negotiation  for  peace  and  an 
active  prosecution  of  the  war.  Ix>uis,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  took  several 
towns  in  Belgium ;  William  was  unsuccessful  in  an  attempt  on  Mae- 
Btricht.  About  the  beginning  of  winter,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  several 
belligerents  assembled  at  Nimcguen,  where  a  congress  for  peace  wjis  held.   The 

*  Id  earlj  youth  he  worked  in  a  rope<jrard,  at  the  vrnge%  of  a  pennj  a  day,  and  was  first 
sent  to  aea  as  a  cabin-boy. 


6M  THE   HISTOBY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1075-1678  AJ>.] 

Hollanders,  loaded  with  debts  and  taxes,  and  seeing  the  weakness  and  slow- 
ness of  their  allies  the  Spaniards  and  Genuans,  prognosticated  nothing  but 
misfortunes.  Their  commerce  languished;  while  that  of  England,  now  neu- 
tral amidst  all  these  quarrels,  flourished  extremely.  The  pnnce  of  Orange, 
however,  ambitious  of  glory,  urged  another  campaign;  and  it  commenced 
accordingly. 

In  the  middle  of  February,  1677,  Louis  carried  Valenciennes  by  storm,  and 
laid  siege  to  St.  Omer  and  Cambray.  "William,  though  full  of  activity,  cour- 
age, and  skill,  was  nevertheless  almost  always  unsaccessfol  in  the  field,  and 
never  more  so  than  in  this  campaign.  Several  towns  fell  almost  in  his 
sight.* 

WILLIAM   MARRIES  THE  PRINCESS  MARY  OF  ENGLAND   (1677) 

William  now  resolved  upon  making  one  strenuous  effort,  either  to  engage 
the  king  of  England  as  principal  in  the  confederacy,  or  induce  him  to  take  a 
more  active  part  as  mediator.  He  had  before  discovered  to  the  English 
ambassador,  Sir  William  Temple,  an  inclination  to  form  a  matrimonial  allmnce 
with  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  the  duke  of  York;  and,  taking  the  opportunity 
of  that  minister's  temporary  return  to  the  court  of  London,ne  now  obtained, 
through  his  mediation,  permission  from  the  kingto  pay  him  a  visit  for  the 

gurpose  of  forwarding  his  suit  to  the  princess.  He  was  kindly  received  both 
y  the  king  and  the  duke  of  York;  but  Charles,  who  was  to  the  full  as  anxious  to 
gratify  France  by  a  peace  as  the  prince  to  prolong  the  war,  desired  that  this 
matter  should  first  be  taken  into  consideration.  But  the  proposal  met  with  a 
direct  negative  from  William;  as  he  feared  lest  the  allies,  who  had  already 
taken  some  alarm  on  the  subject  of  his  visit,  should  accuse  him  of  having 
sacrificed  their  interests  to  his  own  ambition  for  this  alliance;  and  though 
captivated  with  the  charms  of  the  Lady  Mary,  he  expressed,  with  strong 
symptoms  of  disappointment  and  vexation,  his  determination  of  immediately 
taking  his  departure,  imless  the  business  of  the  marriage  were  first  concluded ; 
observing  that  it  was  for  the  king  to  choose  whether  tney  were  henceforth  to 
live  as  the  greatest  friends  or  the  greatest  enemies.  The  solicitations  of  Tem- 
ple and  the  lord-treasurer  Danby  at  length  induced  Charles  to  yield  this  point, 
and  within  a  few  days  the  marriage  was  celebrated,  to  the  great  and  universal 
joy  of  the  nation.^ 

THE  PEACE  OF  NIMEGUEN  AND  THE  AUGSBURG  LEAGUE 

Charles  was  at  this  moment  the  arbiter  of  the  peace  of  Europe;  and  though 
several  fluctuations  took  place  in  his  policy  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  as  the 
urgent  wishes  of  the  parliament  and  the  large  presents  of  Louis  differently 
actuated  him,  still  the  wiser  and  more  just  course  prevailed,  and  he  finally 
decided  the  balance  by  vigorously  declaring  his  resolution  for  peace;  and  the 
treaty  was  consequently  signed  at  Nimeguen,  on  the  10th  of  August,  1678. 
The  prince  of  Orange,  from  private  motives  of  spleen  or  a  more  unjustifiable 
desire  for  fighting,  took  the  extraordinary  measure  of  attacking  the  French 
troops  under  Luxemburg,  near  Mons,  on  the  very  day  after  the  signing  of  this 
treaty.  He  must  have  known  it,  even  though  it  were  not  officially  notified  to 
him,  and  he  certainly  had  to  answer  for  all  the  blood  so  wantonly  spilt  in  the 
sharp  though  undecisive  action  which  ensued.  Spain,  abandoned  to  her  fate, 
was  obliged  to  make  the  best  terms  she  could;  and  on  the  17th  of  September 
she  also  concluded  a  treaty  with  France,  on  conditions  entirely  favourable  to 
the  latter  power. 


WILLIAM    III    AND   THE   WAB   WITH    FRANCE 


641 


[167S-1685A.D.] 

A  few  years  passed  over  after  this  period,  without  the  occurrence  of  any 
transaction  sufficiently  important  to  require  a  mention  here.  Charles  of  Eng- 
land was  sufficiently  occupied  by  disputes  with  parliament,  and  the  discovery, 
fabrication,  and  punishment  of  plots,  real  or  pretended.  Louis  XIV,  by  a 
stretch  of  audacious  pride  hitherto  unknown,  arrogated  to  himself  the  supreme 
power  of  regulating  the  rest  of  Europe,  as  if  all  the  other  princes  were  his  vas- 
sals. He  established  courts,  or  chaml)ers  of  reunion  as  they  were  called,  in 
Metz  and  Brisac. 
which  cited 
princes,  issued  de- 
crees, and  author- 
ised spoliation,  in 
the  most  unjust 
and  arbitrary  man- 
ner. Louis  chose 
to  award  to  him- 
self Luxembui^, 
Chiny.  and  a  con- 
siderable portion 
of  Brabant  and 
Flanders.  He 
marched  a  consid- 
erable army  into 
Belgium,  which  the 
Spanish  governors 
were  unable  to  op- 
pose. 

The  prince  of 
Orange,  who  la- 
bouretl  incessantly 
to  excite  a  confed- 
eracy among  the 
other  powers  of 
Eurojx^  against  the 
unwarrantable  ag- 
gressions  of 
France,  was  unable 
to  arouse  his  coun- 
trymen to  actual 
war;  and  was 
forced,  instead!  of 

gaining  the  glory  he  longed  for,  to  consent  to  a  truce  for  twenty  years, 
which  the  states-general,  now  wholly  pacific  and  not  a  little  cowardly,  were 
too  happy  to  obtain  from  France.     The  emperor  and  the  king  of  Spain 

fladly  entered  into  a  like  treaty.  The  fact  was  that  the  peace  of  Nimeguen 
ad  disjointed  the  great  confederacy  which  William  had  so  successfully 
brought  about;  and  the  various  powers  were  laid  utterly  prostrate  at  the  feet 
of  the  imperious  Louis,  who  for  a  while  held  the  destinies  of  Europe  in  his 
hands. 

Charles  II  died  most  unexpectedly  in  the  year  1685.  His  successor,  James 
II,  seemed,  during  a  reign  of  not  four  years'  continuance,  to  rush  wilfully  head- 
long to  ruin.  During  this  period,  the  prince  of  Orange  liad  maintained  a  most 
circumspect  and  unexceptionable  line  of  conduct:  steering  clear  of  all  inter- 

H.  W. —  VOL.  nil.  SV 


A  DirrcB  School  (164S) 
(After  Um  palntlDg  by  Adrlun  ru  Ostade.  1S10-168B) 


642  THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[168S-1688  ▲.!>.] 

ference  with  English  aflFairs;  giving  offence  to  none  of  the  political  factions; 
and  observing  in  every  instance  the  duty  and  regard  which  he  owed  to  his 
father-in-law.  During  Monmouth's  invasion  he  had  despatched  to  James' 
assistance  six  regiments  of  British  troops  which  were  in  the  Dutch  service, 
and  he  offered  to  take  the  command  of  the  king's  forces  against  the  rebels. 

It  was  from  the  application  of  James  himself  that  William  took  any  part  in 
English  affairs;  for  he  was  more  widely  and  much  more  congenially  employed 
in  the  establishment  of  a  fresh  league  against  France.  Louis  had  aroused  a 
new  feeling  throughout  Protestant  Europe,  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes.  The  refugees,  whom  he  had  driven  from  their  native  country, 
inspired  in  those  in  which  they  settled  hatred  of  his  persecution  as  well  as 
alarm  at  his  power.  Holland  now  entered  into  all  the  views  of  the  prince  of 
Orange.  By  his  immense  influence  he  succeeded  in  forming  the  great  confed- 
eracy called  the  League  of  Augsburg,  to  which  the  emperor,  Spain,  and  almost 
evenr  European  power  but  England,  became  parties. 

James  cave  the  prince  reason  to  believe  that  he  too  would  join  in  this  great 
project,  if  William  would  in  return  concur  in  his  views  of  domestic  tyranny; 
but  William  wisely  refused.  James,  much  disappointed,  e:qpressednis  dis- 
pleasing against  the  prince,  and  against  the  Dutch  generally^  by  various 
vexatious  acts. 

WILLIAM  BECOMES  KINO  OF  ENGLAND   (1689) 

William  resolved  to  maintain  a  high  attitude;  and  many  applications  were 
made  to  him  by  the  most  considerable  persons  in  England  for  relief  against 
James'  violent  measures,  which  there  was  but  one  method  of  ma.king  effectual. 
That  method  was  force.  But  so  long  as  the  princess  of  Orange  was  certain  of 
succeeding  to  the  crown  on  her  father's  death,  William  hesitated  to  join  in  an 
attempt  that  might  possibly  have  failed  and  lost  her  her  inheritance.  But 
the  birth  of  a  son,  which,  in  giving  James  a  male  heir,  destroyed  all  hope  of 
redress  for  the  kingdom,  decided  the  wavering,  and  rendered  the  determined 
desperate.  The  prince  chose  the  time  for  his  enterprise  with  the  sagacity, 
arranged  its  plan  with  the  prudence,  and  put  it  into  execution  with  the  vigour, 
which  were  habitual  qualities  of  his  mind. 

Louis  XIV,  menaced  by  the  League  of  Augsburg,  had  resolved  to  strike  the 
first  blow  against  the  allies.  He  invaded  Germany;  so  that  the  Dutch  prepa- 
rations seemed  in  the  first  instance  intended  as  measures  of  defence  against 
the  progress  of  the  French.  But  Louis'  envoy  at  the  Hague  could  not  be 
long  deceived.  He  gave  notice  to  his  master,  who  in  his  turn  warned  James. 
But  that  infatuated  monarch  not  only  doubted  the  intelligence,  but  refused 
the  French  king^s  offers  of  assistance  and  co-operation.  On  the  21st  of  Octo- 
ber the  prince  of  Orange,  with  an  army  of  fourteen  thousand  men,  and  a  fleet 
of  five  hundred  vessels  of  all  kinds,  set  sail  from  Hellevoetsluis;  and  after 
some  delays  from  bad  weather  he  safely  landed  his  army  in  Torbay,  on  the  5th 
of  November,  1688.  The  desertion  of  James'  best  friends;  his  own  consterna- 
tion, flight,  seizure,  and  second  escape;  and  the  solemn  act  by  which  he  was 
deposed  —  were  the  rapid  occurrences  of  a  few  weeks;  and  thus  the  grandest 
revolution  that  England  had  ever  seen  was  happily  consummated.  Without 
entering  here  on  legislative  reasonings  or  party  sophisms,  it  is  enough  to  record 
the  act  itself;  and  to  say,  in  reference  to  our  more  immediate  subject,  that 
without  the  assistance  of  Holland  and  her  glorious  chief  England  might  have 
still  remained  enslaved,  or  have  had  to  purchase  liberty  by  oceans  of  blood. 
By  the  bill  of  settlement  the  crown  was  conveyed  jointly  to  the  prince  and 


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WILLIAM   III    AND   THE    WAR   WITH   FRANCE  843 

[T080-ieoa  A.D.1 

princess  of  Orange,  the  sole  administration  of  government  to  remain  in  the 
prince ;  and  the  new  sovereigns  were  i^rocluimed  on  the  23rd  of  February,  1689. 
The  convention,  which  had  arranged  this  important  point,  annexed  to  the 
settlement  a  declaration  of  rights,  l)y  which  the  powers  of  royal  prerogative 
and  the  extent  of  i>(>piiliir  [)rivilege  were  defined  and  gviamnteed.'* 

The  satisfaction  which  the  Dutch  experienced  at  having  given  a  sovereign 
to  so  great  and  renowTied  a  nation,  an  event  calculated  to  add  strength  to 
the  cause  of  the  reformed  religion,  and  permanently  secure  to  themselves 
the  English  alliance,  gave  place  m  a  g;reat  degree  to  the  not  groundless  appre- 
liension  that  the  king  would  be  tempted  to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  the  weaker 
state,  where  his  autnority  was  undisputed,  to  those  of  the  larger  and  more 
poweri"ul.     Many,  who  consi^Iered  the  office  of  hereditary  stadholder  incom- 

Catible  with  that  of  King  of  England,  expected  that  he  would  resign  the  former; 
ut  this  anticipation  was  disappointed  in  the  receipt  of  his  first  message  to 
the  States,  informing  them  of  his  elevation  to  the  throne,  and  proft*ssing  that 
this  circumstance  would  in  no  wise  lessen  his  care  and  affection  for  them,  but 
enable  him  on  the  contrary  to  exercise  the  office  he  held  in  the  United  Prov- 
inces for  their  greater  service  and  advantage.  But,  notwithstamling  these 
fair  promises,  It  soon  became  evident  how  little  they  ha<i  to  hopc^  for  either 
from  him  or  the  English  nation,  in  return  for  the  liberal  and  generous  assist- 
ance afforded  them  in  the  late  emergency .« 

WAR  WITH   FRANCE 

William  now  presented  the  singular  instance  of  a  monarchy  and  a  republic 
being  at  the  same  time  governed  by  the  same  individual.  But  whether  as 
a  king  or  a  citizen,  William  was  actuated  by  one  powerful  principle,  to  which 
every  act  of  private  administration  was  made  subservient.  Inveterate 
opposition  to  the  power  of  Louis  XIV'  was  this  all-absorbing  motive. 

A  sentiment  so  mighty  left  William  but  little  time  f(»r  inferior  points  of 
government,  and  everythuig  but  that  seems  to  have  irritated  and  ilisgusted 
him.  He  was  soon  Jigain  on  the  Continent,  the  chief  theatre  of  his  efforts. 
He  put  himself  in  front  of  the  confederacy  which  resultetl  from  the  congress 
<»f  I'trecht  in  1690.  He  took  the  conmuuid  of  the  jdlied  army;  anil  till  the 
hour  of  his  death  he  never  ceased  his  indefatigable  course  of  hostility,  whether 
in  the  camp  or  the  cabinet,  at  the  head  of  the  allieii  armies,  or  as  the  guiding 
spirit  of  the  councils  which  gave  them  force  and  motion. 

Several  campaigns  were  expende<l  and  bloody  combats  fought,  ahnost 
all  to  the  disadvantiige  of  William,  whose  genius  for  war  was  never  seconded 
by  that  good  fortune  which  so  often  decid*^  the  fate  of  battles  in  defiance  of 
all  the  calculations  of  talent.  Hut  no  reverse  had  power  to  shake  the  con- 
stancy and  courage  of  William.  He  always  appeare4l  as  formidable  after 
defeat  as  he  was  before  action.  His  conquerors  gained  little  but  the  honour 
of  the  day.  Fleurus,  Steenkerke,  Neerwinden  were  successively  the  scenes 
of  his  evil  fortune,  and  the  sources  of  his  fame.  His  retreats  were  master 
strokes  of  vigilant  activity  and  profound  combinations.  Many  eminent 
sieges  took  f)lace  diunng  this  war.  Among  other  towns,  Mons  and  Namur 
were  taken  by  the  French,  and  Hny  by  the  aUies;  and  the  army  of  Marshal 
Villeroi  bombarded  Brussels  during  three  days,  in  August,  1695,  with  such 
fur>'  that  the  town-house,  fourteen  churches,  and  four  thousand  houses  were 
reduced  to  ashes.  The  year  following  this  event  saw  another  undeciiuve 
campai^.t 

Wilham  engaged  Tromp  to  return  to  the  navy  and  resume  his  position 


644  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1«01-170Oa.i>.] 

as  vice-admiral  and  appointed  him  in  1691  to  the  command  of  the  English 
and  Dutch  navy.  Both  countries  hoped  much  on  seeing  once  more  installed 
at  the  head  of  the  naval  force  a  man  so  coiu'a^eous  and  able  as  Tromp. 

Europe  awaited,  expectant  of  great  achievements  on  the  sea,  the  cam- 
paign of  1691.  The  French  forces  were  commanded  by  the  count  de  Totir- 
ville,  who  had  given  in  numerous  engagements  striking  proof  of  his  ability. 
The  arming  and  equipment  of  the  fleet  was  carried  on  assiduously,  when 
the  death  of  Tromp  occurred.  A  mortal  malady  had  ended  his  life  on  the 
29th  of  May,  1691. 

The  news  of  his  death  spread  rapidly  through  Holland  and  carried  con- 
sternation everjrwhere.  The  great  need  that  the  nation  had  of  him  made 
his  loss  felt  to  the  full  extent.  Cornells  Tromp  is  placed  justly  among  the 
naval  heroes  of  Holland.  He  gave  new  glory  to  the  name  already  made 
illustrious  by  his  father.  His  coiu^e  was  an  incentive  to  his  coimtrymen, 
who  endeavoured  to  imitate  it.  It  was  always  he  who  attacked  the  enemy. 
Many  times  did  he  throw  himself  in  the  middle  of  an  English  fleet,  dispersing 
all  who  crossed  his  course;  attacking  always  the  vessel  which  seemed  most 
able  to  resist  him.** 

During  the  continuance  of  this  war,  the  naval  transactions  present  no 
grand  results.  Jean  Bart,  a  celebrated  adventurer  of  Dunkirk,  occupies  the 
leading  place  in  those  affairs,  in  which  he  carried  on  a  desultory  but  active 
warfare  against  the  Dutch  and  English  fleets,  and  generally  with  great  success. 

PEACE  OF  RYSWICK 

All  the  nations  which  had  taken  part  in  so  many  wars  were  now  becoming 
exhausted  by  the  contest,  but  none  so  much  so  as  France.  England,  though 
with  much  resolution  voting  new  supplies,  and  in  every  way  upholding  William 
in  his  plans  for  the  continuance  of  war,  was  rejoiced  when  Liouis  accepted 
the  mediation  of  Charles  XI, king  of  Sweden,  and  agreed  to  concessions  which 
made  peace  feasible.  Everythmg  was  finally  arranged  to  meet  the  general 
views  of  the  parties,  and  negotiations  were  opened  at  Ryswick.  On  the  20th 
of  September,  1697,  the  articles  of  the  treaty  were  subscribed  by  the  Dutch, 
English,  Spanish,  and  French  ambassadors.  The  treaty  consisted  of  seven- 
teen articles.  The  French  king  declared  he  would  not  disturb  or  disquiet 
the  king  of  Great  Britain,  whose  title  he  now  for  the  first  time  acknowledged. 
Between  France  and  Holland  were  declared  a  general  armistice,  perpetual 
amity,  a  mutual  restitution  of  towns,  a  reciprocal  renunciation  of  all  pre- 
tensions upon  each  other,  and  a  treaty  of  commerce  which  was  immediately 
put  into  execution.  Thus,  after  this  long,  expensive,  and  sanguinary  war, 
things  were  established  just  on  the  footing  they  had  been  by  the  peace  of 
Nimeguen.  The  peace  became  general,  but  unfortunately  for  Europe  it 
was  of  very  short  duration. 

France,  as  if  looking  forward  to  the  speedy  renewal  of  hostilities,  still 
kept  her  armies  undisbanded.  Let  the  foresight  of  her  politicians  have  been 
what  it  might,  this  negative  proof  of  it  was  justified  by  events.  The  king 
of  Spain,  a  weak  prince,  without  any  direct  heir  for  his  possessions,  considered 
himself  authorised  to  dispose  of  their  succession  by  will.  The  leading  powers 
of  Europe  thought  otherwise,  and  took  this  right  upon  themselves.  Charles 
died  on  the  1st  of  November,  1700,  and  thus  put  the  important  (question  to 
the  test.  By  a  solemn  testament  he  declared  Philip  duke  of  Anjou,  second 
son  of  the  dauphin,  and  grandson  of  Louis  XIV,  his  successor  to  the  whole 
of  the  Spanish  monarchy.    Louis  immediately  renounced  his  adherence  to 


WILLIAM  III   AND  THE   WAR   WITH   FRANCE 

[1701  A.D.1 

the  treaties  of  partition,  executed  at  the  Hague  and  in  London  in  1698  and 
1700,  and  to  which  he  had  been  a  contracting  jmrty;  and  prepared  to  main- 
tain the  act  by  which  the  last  of  the  descendants  of  Charles  V  bequeathed 
the  possessions  of  Spain  and  the  Indies  to  the  family  which  had  so  long  been 
the  inveterate  enemy  and  rival  of  his  own. 

The  emperor  LeofK)ld,  on  his  part,  prepared  to  defend  his  claims;  and 
thus  commencerl  the  new  war  between  him  and  France,  which  took  its  name 
from  the  succession  which  formed  the  object  of  dispute.  Hostilities  were 
commenceti  in  Italy,  wliere  Prince  Eugene,  the  conqueror  of  the  Turks,  com- 
manded for  Leopold,  and  every  day  made  for  himself  a  still  more  brilliant 
reputation.  Louis  sent  his  grandson  to  Spain  to  take  possession  of  the  inheri- 
tiince  for  which  so  hard  a  fight  was  yet  U)  b<»  maintained. 

Louis  prepared  to  act  vigorously.  Among  other  measures,  he  caused  part 
of  the  Dutch  army  that  was  quartered  in  Luxemburg  and  Brabant  to  be 
suddenly  made  prisoners  of  war,  because  they  wouUl  not  own  Philip  V  as 
king  of  Spain.  The  states-general  were  dreadfully  alarmed,  immediately 
made  the  required  acknowledgment,  and  in  consequence  hati  their  soldiers 
released.  They  quickly  reinforced  their  garrisons,  purchased  supplies, 
solicited  foreign  ai<l,  and  prepared  for  the  worst  that  might  happen.  They 
wrote  tx^  King  William,  professing  the  most  inviolable  attachment  to  England; 
and  he  met  their  application  by  wann  assurances  of  support,  and  an  immediate 
reinforcement  of  three  regiments. 

DEATH   OF  WILLIAM  III 

William  followed  up  these  measures  by  the  formation  of  the  celebrated 
treaty  called  the  Grand  Alliance,  by  which  England,  the  states,  and  the 
emperor  covenanted  fur  the  support  of  the  pretensions  of  the  latter  to  the 
Spanish  monarchy.  William  was  preparing,  in  spite  of  his  declining  health, 
to  take  his  usual  lead  in  the  military  operations  now  decided  on,  anti  almost 
all  Europe  was  again  looking  forward  to  his  guidance,  when  he  die<i  on  the 
8th  of  March,  1701  leaving  his  great  plans  to  receive  their  execution  from 
still  more  able  adepts  in  the  art  of  war.* 

DAVIES'    ESTIMATE  OF  WILLIAM    III 

William  haxl  to  sustain  a  life  of  anxiety  and  fatigue,  under  the  disadvantage 
of  a  feeble  constitution  of  body;  betrayed  by  his  slight  and  attenuated  frame, 
though  in  no  degree  in  his  countenance,  which  was  clear^  animated,  and 
sparkling. 

In  a  military  point  of  view,  he  presents  the  singular  phenomenon  of  a 
commander  indebted  for  a  high  reputation  solely  to  reverses  and  dcfeata, 
his  jXH'uliar  constitution  of  mind  lieing  indeed  such  as  to  insure  for  him  both 
the  reverses  and  the  reputation.  Deficient  in  inventive  faculty,  slow  of 
comprehension,  hesitating  and  unready,  without  a  sufficient  degree  of  con- 
fidence in  his  own  opinions,  and  U)o  proud  to  endure  contradiction  or  adopi 
the  suggestions  of  others,  he  was  unable  immediately  to  perceive  the  skilful 
combinations  of  the  great  generals  opposed  to  him  or  to  cope  with  their  rapid 
and  masterly  movements;  and  often  allowed  the  opportunity  for  action  to 
escape,  or  formed  his  plans  in  ignorance  of  some  point  which,  if  seised,  would 
have  occasioned  them  to  be  wholly  different. 

In  the  field  of  battle,  on  the  other  hand,  the  discovery  of  errors  previously 
committed  caused  in  him  neither  vacillation  nor  apprehension.     Roused 


646 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 


to  animation,  full  of  unwonted  fire  and  energy,  he  was  present  everywhere, 
and  exposed  himself  with  indifference  to  the  most  imminent  dangers.  In 
the  hour  of  defeat,  which  too  surely  arrived,  his  real  greatness  displayed 
itself;  it  was  then  that  his  dauntless  spirit  and  unshaken  finnness  of  soul 
enabled  him  to  take  advantage  of  all  the  resources  that  were  yet  available; 
to  give  his  orders  with  the  same  composing  and  precision  as  if  advancing 
to  certain  victory;  and  to  convert  the  most  disastrous  rout  into  a  safe  and 
orderly  retreat. 

Considered  as  a  politician,  his  capacity  for  government  appeared  in  a 
venr  different  light  in  his  native  country,  where  he  was  surrounded  by  able 
and  zealous  ministers,  and  in  England,  where  he  was  left  to  depend  more 
upon  his  own  resources.    In  Holland  he  had  merely  to  express  his  opinions, 

however  crude,  and  a  Fagel,  a 
Beveming,  a  Dykeveldt,  and  a 
Heinsius  —  unquestionably  the 
first  statesmen  and  politicians  in 
Europe  —  were  ready  to  modify, 
to  improve,  and  to  render  them 
suitable  to  the  taste  of  the  nation; 
in  England,  where  he  had  few  or 
none  on  whom  he  could  depend 
for  information  and  assistance, 
and  where  the  slightest  influence 
gained  over  him  by  one  party  ex- 
cited the  jealousy  and  animosity 
of  the  other,  he  betrays  an  ex- 
treme deficiency  in  penetration, 
dexterity,  and  temf)er ;  and  we  can 
scarcely  recognise,  in  the  peevish 
monarch,  threatening  constantly 
to  abandon  his  kingdom,  and  with 
it  the  noble  cause  he  had  espoused, 
the  steady  patriot  who  delivered 
his  country  from  the  miseries  of 
foreign  conquest  and  domestic  se- 
dition. Placed  by  circumstances 
in  the  position  of  a  restorer  and  defender  of  liberty,  never  was  absolute  mon- 
arch more  fond  of  arbitrary  power,  or  more  impatient  of  even  the  most 
legitimate  control. 

In  Holland,  where,  at  the  time  of  his  accession  to  the  stadholderate,  the 
precarious  condition  of  affairs  rendered  it  necessary  that  unusual  authority 
should  be  placed  in  his  hands,  we  have  seen  him  take  advantage  of  it  to 
introduce  his  dependents  into  every  office  of  government  without  regard  to 
their  ability  to  fill  them,  and  to  trample  under  foot  the  ancient  customs  and 
privileges,  interwoven  in  the  welfare,  almost  in  the  very  existence  of  his 
country.  It  may,  indeed,  be  truly  affirmed  that,  had  he  left  a  son,  or  suc- 
ceeded in  settling  the  inheritance  on  his  relative  John  William  Friso,  the 
liberties  of  Holland  were  gone  forever.  In  England,  his  anxiety  to  obtain  a 
larger  share  of  authority  than  the  nation  was  willing  to  grant  led  him  to 
appear  ungrateful  to  those  who  had  set  him  on  the  throne,  and  to  inflict 
incalculable  injury  on  his  affairs  by  entrusting  them  to  ministers  of  the  tory 
party,  whose  maxims  of  government,  as  more  favourable  to  royal  preroga- 
tive, were  more  acceptable  to  him  than  those  of  the  whigs;  but  whom   he 


William  III  (1650-1701) 


WILLIAM    IIT    AND    THE    WAR    WITH    FEANCE 


647 


never  could  succeed  in  reconciling  to  his  person,  or  engage  to  serve  him  with 
fidelity. 

But  though  his  self-will  ami  arbitrary  temper  might  have  inclined  hini 
to  he  a  despot,  not  even  these  dispositions  could  ever  have  induced  him  to 
became  a  tyrant.  Too  magnanimous  at  once,  and  too  indolent,  to  commit 
act.^  of  injustice  or  oppression,  he  would  have  obtained  absolute  pijwer  only 
with  a  view  to  Its  upright  and  beneficial  us<\  His  lofty  and  noble  ambition, 
exempt  from  the  slightest  alloy  of  vanity,  rapacity,  or  cupidity,  was  tlirected 
to  none  but  the  most  praiseworthy  ends;  to  the  glory  ant!  happiness  of  the 
countries  he  governed,  to  the  preservation  of  the  liberties  and  Imlance  of 
Europe,  and  to  the  abasement  of  the  overgrown  power  of  France. 

In  steadiness  of  purpose  he  was  unshaken;  in  scrupulous  honour  and 
integrity  he  was  unsurpassed  by  any  prince  of  the  world;  and  forms,  in  this 
respect,  a  striking  contrast,  as  well  to  the  habitual  insincerity  of  his  prede- 
cessor Cliarles  II  as  to  the  duplicity  and  faithlessness  of  his  contemporary 
of  PVance;  of  him  it  might  be  truly  affim^ed,  as  it  was  erroneously  oljserved 
of  his  father-in-luw,  that  his  -word  was  never  broken.  So  high  was  the  esteem 
in  wliich  he  wiis  universally  held  on  this  account,  that  the  Spanish  minister, 
De  Lyra,  was  accustomed  to  say  his  master  trusted  more  to  the  honour  and 
constancy  of  the  prince  of  Orange  tlum  to  any  treaties.  A  deep  and  fervent 
spirit  of  piety  was  in  hun  united,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  with  sentiments  of 
unbounded  religious  toleration. 

Yet  with  many  and  great  virtues,  while  he  secured  the  esteem  he  failed 
to  gain  the  affections  of  mankiniL  Raiserl  to  the  sovereign  {)ower  over  two 
great  nations,  by  the  mere  force  of  popular  opinion,  and  hailed  by  both  as 
their  preserver  and  defender,  he  dieti  disliketl  and  unlaniented  by  the  one 
an<l  rather  resi)ected  than  beloveil  by  the  other;  a  circumstance  attributable 
chiefly  to  his  cold  and  reserved  manners  and  melancholy  temperament, 
being  hut  rarely  excited  to  cheerfulness,  and  then  only  among  a  few  of  hia 
most  intimate  friends. 

But  if  he  took  no  pains  to  acquire  the  love  of  men,  he  was  equally  little 
affected  by  their  malice  and  enmity.  The  numerous  attempts  to  assassinate 
him,  persisted  in  during  the  whole  course  of  his  reign,  never  excited  in  him 
the  slightest  emotion  of  anger,  revenge,  or  fear;  firm  in  the  holief  of  prwlesti- 
nation  instilled  in  his  youth  by  his  Calvinistic  teachers,  and  which  he  carried 
into  every,  even  the  smallest,  circumstance  of  his  life,  and  fully  persuaded 
that  not  all  the  power  and  arts  of  enemies  could  hiisten  his  destiny  one  single 
moment,  he  was  literally  "not  afraid  of  what  man  could  do  unto  him."  But 
though  neither  vindictive  nor  cruel,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  he  hesitated 
to  sacrifice  the  principles  of  Immanity  and  justice  when  they  stood  in  the 
way  of  the  advancement  of  his  int<*restfl  or  the  gratification  of  his  ambi- 
tion. The  murder  of  the  De  Witts  and  the  massacre  of  Glencoe  have  east 
upon  his  memory  a  stain  which  his  panegyrists  have  in  vain  laboured  to 
efface. 

In  both  the  instances  in  question,  the  impunity  that  William  secured  to 
the  perpetrators  of  the  crime,  and  the  friend.ship  and  countenance  with 
which  he  afterwards  treated  them,  offered  ahnost  incontrovertible  evidence 
of  his  guilty  participation;  and  in  the  minds  of  posterity,  unhappily,  the 
remembrance  of  the  <lefender  of  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  of  Europe  is 
in.«?eparably  interwoven  with  that  of  the  abettor  of  the  murder  of  the  illustrious 
De  Witt*  and  of  the  slaughter  of  the  confiding  Highlanders  of  Glencoe. 

But,  however  exceptionable  in  some  ixiints  the  public  character  of  William, 
in  his  domestic  relations  it  shines  out  with  a  clear  and  undimmed  lustre.    His 


648  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1701-17D4  A.i>.] 

purity  of  morals  and  ^eral  propriety  of  conduct  contributed  much  to  infuse 
a  new  tone  and  spirit  into  the  society  of  England. 

The  consternation  which  prevailed  in  the  United  Provinces  on  the  death 
of  William  was  excessive,  since,  from  the  known  prejudices  of  Queen  Anne, 
his  successor,  against  the  whigs,  nothing  less  was  expected  than  that  an 
immediate  and  entire  change  ol  measures  in  the  English  court  and  the  disso- 
lution of  the  Grand  Alliance  would  leave  them  exposed  to  the  whole  vengeance 
of  France.  These  fears  were  speedily  relieved  by  the  declaration  of  the  views 
of  the  queen,  who,  within  a  week  after  her  accession,  dispatched  the  earl  of 
Marlborough  to  assure  the  states  of  her  determination  to  preserve  all  the 
alliances  formed  by  the  late  king  for  the  maintenance  of  the  liberties  of 
Europe,  and  the  reduction  of  the  power  of  France  within  just  limits;  and  to 
r^ard  the  interests  of  her  own  kingdom  and  the  states  as  inseparable.  The 
states  of  Holland,  on  their  side,  passed  a  resolution  that,  notwithstanding 
the  lamented  death  of  the  king  of  England,  they  were  determined  to  remain 
firm  to  their  allies,  and  prosecute  the  war  with  their  whole  strength  and 
vigour;  and,  appearing  in  full  number  in  the  states-general,  induct  them 
to  adopt  a  similar  resolution.  The  treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
states  was  accordingly  renewed,  and  the  plan  of  the  campaign  projected  by 
WiUiam  III  was  concluded  with  the  earl  of  Marlborough,  who  had  been 
appointed  general-in-chief  of  the  English  forces  before  the  death  of  that 
monarch. 

It  was  m  the  early  part  of  the  war  that  those  dissensions  sprang  up  between 
the  duke  of  Marlborough  and  the  states'  deputies  in  the  camp,  which  have 
called  forth  the  bitterest  invectives  against  the  Dutch  from  the  English 
writers,  more  especially  his  biographer,  archdeacon  Coxe.«  Marlborough  was, 
for  many  reasons,  anxious  to  make  the  Netherlands  the  principal  scene  of 
hostilities;  while  the  states  hoped,  by  acting  chiefly  on  tlie  defensive,  and 
confining  themselves  to  hindering  the  advance  of  the  French  troops,  and  to 
effecting  the  reduction  of  the  towns  which  served  best  to  protect  the  United 
Provinces  against  invasion,  to  impel  the  king  of  France  to  turn  the  strength 
of  his  arms  to  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain,  and  thus  relieve  provinces  so  near 
their  own  boundaries,  in  some  measure,  from  the  miseries  of  war.<J 

THE   STADHOLDERATE  ABOLISHED    (1704) 

William  was  the  last  of  that  illustrious  line  which  for  a  century  and  a  half 
had  filled  Europe  with  admiration.  He  never  had  a  child;  and  being  himself 
an  only  one,  his  title  as  prince  of  Orange  passed  into  another  branch  of  the 
family.  He  left  his  cousin,  Prince  John  William  Friso  of  Nassau,  the  stad- 
holder  of  Friesland,  his  sole  and  universal  heir,  and  appointed  the  states- 
general  his  executors.^ 

While  the  preparations  for  the  ensuing  campaign  were  in  progress, 
animated  debates  arose  in  the  states-general  on  the  subject  of  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  commander  of  the  troops.  The  states  of  Friesland  and  Groningen 
insisted  that  their  young  stadholder,  John  William  Friso,  should  be  created 
general  of  the  infantry;  a  demand  strenuously  opposed  by  the  remaining 
provinces.  The  states  of  Zealand,  accordingly,  objected  that,  in  the  present 
condition  of  affairs,  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  general,  not  nominal  only, 
such  as  the  tender  age  of  the  prince  would  render  him,  but  of  matiu^  years 
and  experience;  and  that  his  advancement  would  be  only  the  first  step  to 
the  renewal  of  that  form  of  government  which  neither  themselves  nor  the 
other  states  would  willingly  see  restored.    A  compromise  was  at  length 


WILLIAM    III    AND   THE    WAR   WITH    FRANCE  049 

fl7DJ-170i  A.©.] 

effected,  according  to  which  John  William  Friso  was  appointed  general  of 
the  infantry,  but  was  not  to  exercise*  the  duties  nor  enjoy  the  emoluments 
of  the  office  til!  he  had  completed  his  twentieth  year. 

The  states  were  probably  rendered  the  more  reluctant  to  adopt  any 
measure  which  might  tend  to  advance  Prince  John  William  Friso  to  the 
st-atlholdership,  from  the  circumstance  of  the  will,  by  which  William  III  had 
appoiated  him  his  sole  heir,  being  ilisputed  by  the  king  of  Prussia,  grandson 
by  the  mother's  side  of  the  stadholder  Fretlerick  Henry,  who  had  beciueathed 
the  inheritance  to  the  heirs  of  his  daughter,  in  default  of  the  issue  of  his  son. 
In  order,  therefore,  to  prevent  the  indulgence  of  any  hopes  which  the  Orange 
party  might  conceive  from  this  favour  shown  to  the  prince,  the  states  of 
Holland  were  the  first  to  propose  in  the  states-general  that  those  of  the  indi- 
vidual provinces  should  take  an  oath,  each  deputy  sepamtely,  to  preserve  the 
union  of  the  provinces  without  a  stadholder,  and  to  maintain  steadily  all  the 
alliances  in  which  they  were  at  present  engaged. 

On  this  occasion  the  states  of  Holland,  instead  of  sending  their  deputies 
as  usual,  appeared  in  |X'nson,  and  in  full  number,  in  the  states-general,  a 
mode  to  which  they  constantly  afterwards  adhered,  antl  which  procured  for 
them  a  weight  ami  influence  in  the  federal  government  superior  even  to  that 
foniierly  enjoyed  b}'  the  stadholders.  The  seriate.s  and  councils  of  the  towns 
resumed  the  right  of  nominating  their  own  members,  a  change  which  in 
Holland  was  effected  without  disturbance;  but  in  Utrecht,  Gelderland,  and 
0ver>'ssel,  where  "the  regulations" — the  temis,  that  is,  on  which  these 
provinces  had  been  received  back  into  the  union  after  their  oonfjupst  by  the 
king  of  France  —  were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  give  the  late  stadholder  oppor- 
tunities for  the  exercise  of  exorbitant  power,  the  struggles  between  the  party 
whom  he  had  se<iulously  excluded  from  public  offices,  and  those  whom  long 
possession  had  rendered  doubly  anxious  to  retain  them,  were  frequent  and 
severe. 

Ultimately,  however,  the  changes  in  the  municipal  bodies  were  almost 
universally  favourable  to  the  existing  government,  ami  the  constitution  of 
the  five  provinces  settlefi  itself  on  pretty  nearly  the  same  basis  as  after  the 
death  of  William  11  in  1650.  The  principal  and  most  difficult  duty  of  the 
stadholder,  that  of  persuading  the  provinces  to  agree  to  the  subsidies  demanded 
by  the  council  of  state,  was  now  fulfilled  by  the  states  of  Holland  through 
the  meiiium  of  their  pensionary,  whose  office  thus  acquired  new  dignity  and 
importance,  while  his  influence  became  more  extensive  in  the  states-general.' 
The  delil»erations  which,  since  the  death  of  the  stadholder,  had  been  tardy 
and  vacillating,  now  gradually  assumetl  a  character  of  greater  firmness  and 
vigour;  and  never,  perhaps,  were  the  measures  of  the  government  more 
distinguished  by  wisdom,  energy,  and  justice,  than  during  the  latter  years 
of  the  war.c 

THE  TRrUMVIIL^TE   AGAIX.ST  FRANCE 


The  joy  in  France  at  William's  death  was  proportionate  to  the  grief  it 
created  m  Holland;  and  the  arrogant  confidence  of  Ix>uis  seemed  to  know 
no  bounds.  "I  will  punish  these  audacious  merchants,"  said  he,  with  an 
air  of  disdain,  when  he  read  the  manifesto  of  Holland;  not  foreseeing  that 
those  he  affected  to  despise  so  much  would,  ere  long,  command  in  a  great 

'The  inflaence  of  the  states  of  HolUnd  in  the  stateft-genenl  was  obtained  chiefly  by  a 
custom  they  had  of  advancing  money  to  the  poorer  pmvinces,  when  unable  to  pay  their  quotas 
to  the  fj^nvrality  ;  and,  in  the  same  way,  Amsterdam  was  accusrtomed  to  exercise  a  preponder- 
ance over  the  smaller  towns  lo  the  states  of  Holland. 


650  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[lTl)»-170Bl..D.] 

measure  the  destinies  of  his  crown.  Many  of  the  northern  princes  were  with- 
held, by  various  motives,  from  entering  into  the  contest  with  France,  and 
its  whole  brunt  devolved  on  the  original  members  of  the  grand  alliance. 
The  generals  who  carried  it  on  were  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene.  Hie 
former,  at  its  commencement  an  earl,  and  subsequently  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  duke,  was  declared  generalissimo  of  the  Dutch  and  English  forces.  He 
was  a  man  of  most  powerful  genius,  both  as  warrior  and  politician.  A  pupil 
of  the  great  Turenne,  his  exploits  left  those  of  his  master  in  the  shade.  No 
commander  ever  possessed  in  a  greater  degree  the  faculty  of  forming  vast 
designs,  and  of  carrying  them  into  effect  with  consunmiate  skill;  no  one  dis- 
played more  coolness  and  coiu-age  in  action,  saw  with  a  keener  eye  the  errors 
of  the  enemy,  or  knew  better  how  to  profit  by  success.  He  never  laid  siege 
to  a  town  that  he  did  not  take,  and  never  fought  a  battle  that  he  did  not  gain. 

Prince  Eugene  joined  to  the  highest  order  of  personal  bravery  a  profoimd 
judgment  for  the  grand  movements  of  war,  and  a  capacity  for  the  most  minute 
of  the  minor  details  on  which  their  successful  issue  so  often  depends.  United 
in  the  same  cause,  these  two  great  generals  pursued  their  coxu-se  without  the 
least  misunderstanding.  At  the  close  of  each  of  those  successive  campaigns, 
in  which  they  reaped  such  a  full  harvest  of  renown,  they  retired  together  to 
the  Hague,  to  arrange,  in  the  profoundest  secrecy,  the  plans  for  the  next 
years'  operations,  with  one  other  person,  who  formed  the  great  point  of  union 
between  them,  and  completed  a  triumvirate  without  a  parallel  in  the  history 
of  political  affairs.  This  third  was  Heinsius,  one  of  those  great  men  produced 
by  the  republic  whose  names  are  tantamount  to  the  most  detailed  eulogium 
for  talent  and  patriotism.  Every  enterprise  projected  by  the  confederates 
was  deliberately  examined,  rejected,  or  approved  by  these  three  associates, 
whose  strict  union  of  purpose,  disowning  all  petty  rivalry,  formed  the  centre 
of  counsels  and  the  source  of  circumstances  nnally  so  fatal  to  France. 

The  war  began  in  1702  in  Italy,  and  Marlborough  opened  his  first  cam- 
paign in  Brabant  also  in  that  year.  For  several  succeeding  years  the  con- 
federates pursued  a  career  of  brilliant  success,  the  details  of  which  do  not 
properly  belong  to  this  portion  of  our  history.  Blenheim,  Ramillies,  Ouden- 
arde,  and  Malplaquet,  are  names  that  speak  for  themselves,  and  tell  their 
own  tale  of  glory.  The  utter  humiliation  of  France  was  the  result  of  events  in 
which  England  was  joined  in  the  strictest  union  with  Holland,  and  the  impet- 
uous valour  of  the  successor  to  the  title  of  prince  of  Orange  was,  on  many 
occasions,  particularly  at  Malplaquet,  supported  by  the  devotion  and  gallantry 
of  the  Dutch  contingent  in  the  allied  armies.  The  naval  affairs  of  Holland 
offered  nothing  very  remarkable.  The  states  had  always  a  fleet  ready  to  sup- 
port the  English  in  their  enterprises;  but  no  eminent  admiral  arose  to  rival 
the  renown  of  Rooke,  Byng,  Benbow,  and  others  of  their  allies.  The  first 
of  those  admirals  took  Gibraltar,  which  has  ever  since  remained  in  the  posses- 
sion of  England.*  The  great  earl  of  Peterborough  carried  on  the  war  with 
splendid  success  in  Portugal  and  Spain,  supported  occasionally  by  the  English 
fleet  under  Sir  Cloudesley  Shovel,  and  that  of  Holland  under  admirals  Alle- 
monde  and  Wapenaer. 

During  the  progress  of  the  war,  the  haughty  and  long-time  imperial  Louis 
was  reduced  to  a  state  of  humiliation  that  excited  a  compassion  so  profound 

'  The  queen  of  England  at  first  appeared  inclined  to  acknowledge  a  joint -possession  with 
the  states  of  this  conquest,  achieved  by  their  united  arms  ;  but  she  afterwards  changed  her 
purpose,  and  the  English  finally  assumed  the  sole  occupation  of  Gibraltar,  without  any  indem- 
nification to  the  states,  who,  reluctant  to  alienate  so  valuable  an  ally  by  insisting  on  the  share 
so  justly  due  to  them,  quietly  acquiesced  in  the  usurpation." 


WILLIAM   III   AND   THE    WAR   WITH   FBAXCE  651' 

[1700-1  na  A.D.] 

as  to  prevent  its  own  open  expression.  In  the  year  1709  he  solicited  peace 
on  terms  of  most  abject  submission.  The  states-general,  under  the  influence 
of  the  duke  of  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene.rejected  all  his  supplications, 
retorting  unsparingly  the  insolent  harshness  with  which  he  had  formerly 
received  similar  proposals  from  them.  In  the  following  year  Louis  renewed 
his  attempt*s  to  obtain  some  tolerable  conditions;  offering  to  renounce  his 
gi-andson,  and  to  comply  with  all  the  former  demands  of  the  confetlerates. 
Even  these  overtures  were  rejected;  Holland  antl  Hiiglnnd  appearing  satisfied 
with  nothing  short  of,  what  was  after  all  impracticable,  the  total  destruction 
of  the  great  power  which  Louis  had  so  long  proved  to  be  incompatible  with 
their  welfare.* 

TROCBLE  WITH  EXGLAXD 


Yet  events  had  long  been  preparing  in  England  which  were  to  change 
entirely  the  face  of  affairs  on  the  Continent,  and  deprive  the  states,  and  even 
Great  Britain  herself,  in  some  measure,  of  the  fruits  of  their  numerous  and 
dearly-bought  victories.  The  dismissal  of  the  whig  ministers  in  171Q,  fol- 
lowed in  1711  by  the  disnnssid  of  Marllwjrough.  was  a  measure  regarded  with 
as  much  dismay  by  the  allies  (of  whom  the  emperor  and  states  ventured  to 
petition  the  queen*  in  earnest  terms  against  it),  as  with  secret  triumph  and 
exultation  by  France.  Louis,  indee<l,  had  everything  to  ho|)e  from  the  new 
administration,  composed  entirely  of  tones,  whom  all  the  glory  of  their 
country's  anns  failed  to  reconcile  to  the  war,  and  who  constantly  viewed  both 
the  Dutch  nation  itself  and  the  alliance  of  the  states  with  jealousy  and  aversion. 

The  t|ueen  of  England  having  sent  circulars  to  the  allie<l  sovereigns, 
inviting  them  to  the  congress  at  t'trecht,  ambassadors  from  nearly  all  the 
courts  of  Europ<*  appeared  in  that  city  early  in  the  year  1712.  The  instruc- 
tions given  to  those  of  England,  as  regard**d  the  United  Provinces,  seemeti 
rather  as  though  directeil  against  enemies  than  in  favour  of  allies  whose 
interests  she  was  b<mnd  to  maintain  equally  with  her  own, 

llie  Dutch  felt  still  more  painfully  the  effects  of  the  altered  sentiments 
of  England  in  the  course  of  the  campaign.  Secret  orders  were  sent  to  Marl- 
borough's successor,  the  duke  of  Ormonde,  to  take  no  part  in  any  siege  or 
battle.  Thus  enfeebled  by  the  desertion  of  the  English^  a  detachment  of 
the  allied  army  sustained  a  severe  dofeflt  at  Denain.  The  truce  between 
France  and  England  was  renewed  an»l  B<iliiigbroke  was  sent  to  France  with 
instructions  to  conclude  a  separate  peace. 

These  events  —  more  especially  the  seizure  of  Ghent  by  the  English, 
which  enabled  them  to  stop  the  supplies  to  thf*  allied  camp  —  were  attended 
with  the  effect  which  the  ministers  anticipated,  of  reducing  the  allies  to  sub- 
mission to  such  terms  as  England  and  France  might  impo.s?.  The  negotiations 
at  Utrecht  were  resume*!  on  the  basis  profwsed  by  the  queen  in  her  speech 
to  her  parliament  at  the  opening  of  the  session.  Herein  she  had  declarcil 
that  the  barrier  pro\ided  for  the  states  should  be  the  same  as  that  of  the 
treaty  of  1709,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  places  at  most  —  a  point 
which  gave  rise  to  many  and  animated  contests. 

At  length  the  queen  "having  obt^ineil  from  France  the  addition  of  Tournay 
to  the  barrier  towns,  the  states  were  fain  to  receive  peace  upon  sucli  other 
conditions  as  werc  offered  them.  They  signed  a  new  treaty  with  England, 
annulling  that  of  1709,  and  i}roviduig  that  the  emperor  Charles  should  be 
sovereign  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  which,  neither  in  the  whole  nor  in 
part,  should  ever  be  possessed  b)'  France. 


652  THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS 

[1713-1716  A.D.) 
THE  TREATY  OF  UTRECHT  (1713)  AND  THE  BARRIER  TREATY  (1715) 

Difficulties  being  thus  smoothed,  the  declaration  made  by  the  English 
plenipotentiaries  of  their  determination  to  sign  on  a  certain  day,  whether 
with  or  without  the  allies,  hastened  the  decision  of  the  latter,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  emperor.  Portugal,  Russia,  and,  last  of  all,  the  states,  followed 
the  example  of  England.  By  the  treaty  concluded  between  France  and  the 
states,  it  was  agreed  that  the  king  of  France  should  surrender  to  them  the 
Spanish  Netherlands,  on  behalf  of  the  house  of  Austria,  the  elector  of  Bavaria 
being  reinstated  in  all  the  territories  he  possessed  before  the  war.  The  towns 
of  Menin,  Toumay,  Namur,  Ypres,  with  Wameton,  Poperinghe,  Comines 
and  Wervicq,  Fumes,  Dixmude,  and  the  fort  of  Knokke,  were  to  be  ceded 
to  the  states,  as  a  barrier,  to  be  held  in  such  a  manner  as  they  should  after- 
wards agree  upon  with  the  emperor.  France  and  the  states  mutually  boimd 
themselves  to  do  no  act  which  should  tend  to  unite  the  crowns  of  Spain  and 
France  on  one  head. 

The  publication  of  the  peace  was  received  by  the  people  in  the  United 
Provinces  with  coldness,  and  even  aversion;  they  declared  that  the  illumina- 
tions and  bonfires,  with  which  the  states  ordered  the  event  to  be  celebrated, 
ought  to  be  called,  not  ^ewa;  dejoicy  but  f&uad^artificej  and  inveighed  bitterly 
against  the  English  mmistry,  whom  the  corrupt  influence  of  France  alone, 
according  to  the  vulgar  opinion,  had  prompted  to  conclude  a  war  the  most 
glorious  and  successful  ever  waged  in  Europe  by  a  degrading  and  injurious 
peace. 

The  effects  of  the  favourable  dispositions  of  the  court  of  England,  and  the 
altered  sentiments  of  France  towards  the  states,  were  soon  perceptible  in  the 
negotiations  with  the  emperor  concerning  the  regulation  of  tne  barrier,  which, 
since  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  had  given  rise  to  long  and  angry  contestations. 
The  emf)eror  had  hitherto  refused  their  demand  of  the  demolition  of  Fort 
Philip  and  the  cession  of  Dendermonde ;  but,  now  that  he  foimd  they  had  the 
support  of  England  and  France,  he  yielded  so  far  as  to  consent  that  the  states 
should  keep  a  joint  garrison  with  himself  in  that  town;  he  abandoned  his  claim 
to  Venio  and  Stevenswaard,  on  which  he  had  before  insisted,  and  by  the  Treaty 
of  the  Barrier,  November  15th,  1715,  permitted  the  boundary  on  the  side 
of  Flanders  to  be  fixed  in  a  manner  highly  satisfactory  to  the  states,  who 
sought  security  rather  than  extent  of  dominion.  By  the  possession  of  Namur 
they  commanded  the  passage  of  the  Sambre  and  Maas ;  Tournay  ensured  the 
navigation  of  the  Schelde;  Menin  and  Warneton  protected  the  Lys;  while 
Ypres  and  the  fort  of  Knokke  kept  open  the  commimication  with  Furnes, 
Nieuport,  and  Dunkirk.  Events  proved  the  barrier,  so  earnestly  insisted  on, 
to  have  been  wholly  insufficient  as  a  means  of  defence  to  the  United  Pro- 
vinces, and  scarcely  worth  the  labour  and  cost  of  its  maintenance. 

Henceforward,  with  the  exception  of  a  triple  alliance  concluded  with 
France  and  England  in  the  next  year,  the  states  during  a  considerable  period 
interested  themselves  slightly,  or  not  at  all  in  the  numerous  treaties  which  the 
different  powers  of  Europe,  as  if  seized  with  the  mania  of  diplomacy,  were  con- 
tinually negotiating  —  often,  it  would  seem,  without  any  special  cause  or 
definite  purpose.  Neither  did  they  take  any  share  in  the  wars  between  Spain 
and  France,  or  between  Spain  and  Great  Britain  —  effects  of  the  restless  ambi- 
tion of  the  Spanish  minister,  Cardinal  Alberoni  —  further  than  to  furnish  such 
subsidies  to  the  new  English  king,  George  I,  as  were  expressly  stipulated  by 
treaty. 


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