Part 2 — Chapter III. (These four articles abrogated by the four articles following them, 118-122.) Article 118. The Federal Constitution may at any time be amended. (continued 117)

J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, part 3, chapter 1 (volume 2).

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1568. Stupendous death-sentence of the Inquisition. The whole population condemned.

"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; the Inquisition assisted Philip to place the heads of all his Netherland subjects upon a single neck, for the same fell purpose. Upon the 16th February, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. From this universal doom only a few persons, especially named, were excepted. A proclamation of the King, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the Inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution without regard to age, sex, or condition. This is probably the most concise death-warrant that 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 harmless thunders, like some bulls of the Vatican, but serious and practical measures which it was intended should 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 horrible times upon which they had fallen, the Netherlanders might 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 scaffold, and this was precisely the course adopted by the authorities. … Under this new decree, the executions certainly did not slacken. Men in the highest and the 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 800 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 hands fastened behind him, and so dragged to the gallows. But although wealth was an unpardonable sin, poverty proved rarely a protection. Reasons sufficient could always be found for dooming the starveling laborer as well as the opulent burgher. To avoid the disturbances created in the streets by the frequent harangues or exhortations addressed to the bystanders by the victims on their way to the scaffold, a new gag was invented. The tongue of each prisoner was screwed into an iron ring, and then seared with a hot iron. The swelling and inflammation, which were the immediate result, prevented the tongue from slipping through the ring, and of course effectually precluded all possibility of speech."

J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, part 3, chapter 2 (volume 2).

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1568-1572. The arming of Revolt and beginning of War by the Prince of Orange. Alva's successes, brutalities, and senseless taxation. Quarrels with England and destruction of Flemish trade.

"So unprecedented already was the slaughter that even in the beginning of March 1568, when Alva had been scarcely six months in the country, the Emperor Maximilian, himself a Roman Catholic, addressed a formal remonstrance to the king on the subject, as his dignity entitled him to do, since the Netherlands were a part of the Germanic body. It received an answer which was an insult to the remonstrant from its defiance of truth and common sense, and which cut off all hope from the miserable Flemings. Philip declared that what he had done had been done 'for the repose of the Provinces,' … and almost on the same day he published a new edict, confirming a decree of the Inquisition which condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics, with the exception of a few persons who were named [see above]. … In their utter despair, the Flemings implored the aid of the Prince of Orange, who … had quitted the country. … He was now residing at Dillenbourg, in Nassau, in safety from Philip's threats, and from the formal sentence which, in addition to the general condemnation of the whole people, the Council of Blood had just pronounced against him by name. But he resolved that in such an emergency it did not become him to weigh his own safety against the claims his countrymen had on his exertions. After a few weeks energetically spent in levying troops and raising money to maintain them, he published a document which he entitled his 'Justification,' and which stated his own case and that of the Provinces with a most convincing clearness; and at the end of April he took the field at the head of a small force, composed of French Huguenots, Flemish exiles, … and German mercenaries. … Thus in the spring of 1568 began that terrible war which for 40 years desolated what, in spite of great natural disadvantages, had hitherto been one of the most prosperous countries of Europe. … To dwell on many of its details … would require volumes. … And, indeed, the pitched battles were few. At the outset [May 23, 1568] Count Louis of Nassau, the prince's brother, defeated and slew Count Aremberg, the Spanish governor of the province of Groningen, very nearly on the spot [near the convent of Heiliger-Lee, or the Holy Lion] on which, in the palmy days of Rome, the fierce valor of Arminius had annihilated the legions whose loss was so deeply imprinted on the heart of Augustus; and Alva had avenged the disaster by so complete a rout of Louis at Jemmingen, that more than half of the rebel army was slaughtered on the field, and Louis himself only escaped a capture, which would have delivered him to the scaffold, by swimming the Ems, and escaping with a mere handful of troops, all that were left of his army, into Germany. But after dealing this blow … Alva rarely fought a battle in the open field. {2263} He preferred showing the superiority of his generalship by defying the endeavours of the prince and his brothers to bring him to action, miscalculating, indeed, the eventual consequences of such tactics, and believing that the protraction of the war must bring the rebels to his sovereign's feet by the utter exhaustion of their resources; while the event proved that it was Spain which was exhausted by the contest, that kingdom being in fact so utterly prostrated by continued draining of men and treasure which it involved, that her decay may be dated from the moment when Alva reached the Flemish borders. His career in the Netherlands seemed to show that, warrior though he was, persecution was more to his taste than even victory. Victorious, indeed, he was, so far as never failing to reduce every town which he besieged, and to baffle every design of the prince which he anticipated. … Every triumph which he gained was sullied by a ferocious and deliberate cruelty, of which the history of no other general in the world affords a similar example. … Whenever Alva captured a town, he himself enjoined his troops to show no mercy either to the garrison or to the peaceful inhabitants. Every atrocity which greed of rapine, wantonness of lust, and blood-thirsty love of slaughter could devise was perpetrated by his express direction. … He had difficulties to encounter besides those of his military operations, and such as he was less skilful in meeting. He soon began to be in want of money. A fleet laden with gold and silver was driven by some French privateers into an English harbour, where Elizabeth at once laid her hands on it. If it belonged to her enemies, she had a right, she said, to seize it: if to her friends, to borrow it (she had not quite decided in which light to regard the Spaniards, but the logic was irresistible, and her grasp irremovable), and, to supply the deficiency, Alva had recourse to expedients which injured none so much as himself. To avenge himself on the Queen, he issued a proclamation [March, 1569] forbidding all commercial intercourse between the Netherlands and England; … but his prohibition damaged the Flemings more than the English merchants, and in so doing inflicted loss upon himself. … For he at the same time endeavoured to compel the States to impose, for his use, a heavy tax on every description of property, on every transfer of property, and even on every article of merchandise [the tenth penny, or ten per cent.] as often as it should be sold: the last impost, in the Provinces which were terrified into consenting to it, so entirely annihilating trade that it even roused the disapproval of his own council; and that, finding themselves supported by that body, even those Provinces which had complied, retracted their assent. … After a time [1572] he was forced first to compromise his demands for a far lower sum than that at which he had estimated the produce of his taxes, and at last to renounce even that. He was bitterly disappointed and indignant, and began to be weary of his post."

C. D. Yonge, Three Centuries of Modern History, chapter 5.

ALSO IN: J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, part 3, chapters 2-7 (volume 2).

D. Campbell, The Puritan in Holland, England, and America, chapter 3 (volume 1).

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1572. The Beggars of the Sea and their capture of Brill. Rapid Revolution in Holland and Zealand, but wholly in the name of the King and his Stadtholder, William of Orange. The Provisional Government organized.

In the spring of 1572, Alva having re-established friendly relations with Queen Elizabeth, all the cruisers of the rebellious Netherlanders—"Beggars of the Sea" as they had styled themselves—were suddenly expelled from English ports, where they had previously found shelter and procured supplies. The consequence was unexpected to those who brought it about, and proved most favorable to the patriotic cause. Desperately driven by their need of some harbor of refuge, the fleet of these adventurers made an attack upon the important seaport of Brill, took it with little fighting and held it stubbornly. Excited by this success, the patriotic burghers of Flushing, on the isle of Walcheren, soon afterwards rose and expelled the Spanish garrison from their town. "The example thus set by Brill and Flushing was rapidly followed. The first half of the year 1572 was distinguished by a series of triumphs rendered still more remarkable by the reverses which followed at its close. … Enkhuizen, the key to the Zuyder Zee, 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 revolution effected here was purely the work of the people—of the mariners and burghers of the city. Moreover, the magistracy was set aside and the government of Alva repudiated without shedding one drop of blood, without a single wrong to person or property. By the same spontaneous movement, nearly all the important cities of Holland and Zealand raised the standard of him in whom they recognized their deliverer. The revolution was accomplished under nearly similar circumstances everywhere. With one fierce bound of enthusiasm the nation shook, off its chain. Oudewater, Dort, Harlem, Leyden, Gorcum, Loewenstein, Gouda, Medenblik, Horn, Alkmaar, Edam, Monnikendam, Purmerende, as well as Flushing, Veer, and Enkhuizen, all ranged themselves under the government of Orange as lawful stadholder for the King. 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 recognized his authority. Out of the chaos which a long and preternatural tyranny had produced, the first struggling elements of a new and a better world began to appear. … Not all the conquests thus rapidly achieved in the cause of liberty were destined to endure, nor were any to be retained without a struggle. The little northern cluster of republics, which had now restored its honor to the ancient Batavian name, was destined, however, for a long and vigorous life. From that bleak isthmus the light of freedom was to stream through many years upon struggling humanity in Europe, a guiding pharos across a stormy sea; and Harlem, Leyden, Alkmaar—names hallowed by deeds of heroism such as have not often illustrated human annals, still breathe as trumpet-tongued and perpetual a defiance to despotism as Marathon, Thermopylae, or Salamis. {2264} 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 King of Spain, and to the Prince of Orange as his stadholder; to promise resistance to the Duke of Alva, the tenth penny, and the Inquisition; 'to support 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 June at Enkhuizen. He was provided by the Prince with a commission, appointing him Lieutenant-Governor of North Holland or Waterland. Thus, to combat the authority of Alva, was set up the authority of the King. The stadholderate over Holland and Zealand, to which the Prince had been appointed in 1559, he now reassumed. Upon this fiction reposed the whole provisional polity of the revolted Netherlands. … The people at first claimed not an iota more of freedom than was secured by Philip's coronation oath. There was no pretence that Philip was not sovereign, but there was a pretence and a determination to worship God according to conscience, and to reclaim the ancient political 'liberties' of the land. So long as Alva reigned, the Blood Council, the Inquisition, and martial law, were the only codes or courts, and every charter slept. To recover this practical liberty and these historical rights, and to shake from their shoulders a most sanguinary government, was the purpose of William and of the people. No revolutionary standard was displayed. The written instructions given by the Prince to his lieutenant Sonoy were to 'see that the Word of God was preached, without, however, suffering any hindrance to the Roman Church in the exercise of its religion.' … The Prince was still in Germany, engaged in raising troops and providing funds."

J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, part 3, chapters 6-7 (volume 2).

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1572-1573. Capture of Mons by Louis of Nassau and its recovery by the Spaniards. Spanish massacres at Mechlin, Zutphen and Naarden. The siege and capture of Haarlem.

"While William of Orange was in Germany, raising money and troops, he still directed the affairs of the Netherlands. His prospects were again brightened by the capture, by his gallant brother Louis of Nassau, of the important city of Mons. … This last startling blow forced Alva to immediate action. He at once sent his son, Don Frederic, to lay siege to Mons. Soon after, the Duke of Medina Cœli, Alva's successor as governor of the Netherlands [to whom, however, Alva did not surrender his authority], arrived safely with his fleet, but another Spanish squadron fell with its rich treasures into the hands of the rebels. Alva was now so pressed for money that he agreed to abolish the useless tenth-penny tax, if the states-general of the Netherlands would grant him a million dollars a year. He had summoned the states of Holland to meet at the Hague on the 15th of July, but they met at Dort to renounce his authority, at the summons of William of Orange, who had raised an army in Germany, but was without means to secure the necessary three months' payment in advance. While still owning allegiance to the king, the states recognized Orange as stadtholder, empowered him to drive out the Spanish troops, and to maintain religious freedom. … Treating the Emperor Maximilian's peace orders as useless, the prince marched his army of 24,000 men to the relief of Mons. Most of the Netherland cities on the way accepted his authority, and everything looked favorable for his success, when an unforeseen and terrible calamity occurred. The French king, Charles IX., whose troops had been routed before Mons [by the Spaniards], had promised to furnish further aid to the provinces. Admiral Coligny was to join the forces of Orange with 15,000 men. The frightful massacre of St. Bartholomew in Paris, on the 24th of August, … was a terrible blow to the prince. It broke up all his plans. He had reached the neighborhood of Mons, which he was trying to reinforce, when a night attack was made by the Spaniards on his lines, September 11. … Obliged to leave his gallant brother Louis to his fate in Mons, Orange narrowly escaped being killed on his retreat. … Deserted by the cities that had been so earnest in his cause, sorrowful, but not despairing for his country, William had only his trust in God and his own destiny to sustain him. As Holland was the only province that clung to the hero patriot, he went there expecting and prepared to die for liberty. Louis of Nassau was forced, on the 21st of September, to abandon Mons to the Spaniards, who allowed Noircarmes … to massacre and pillage the inhabitants contrary to the terms of surrender. This wretch killed Catholics and Protestants alike, in order to secure their riches for himself. … The city of Mechlin, which had refused to admit a garrison of his troops, was even more brutally ravaged by Alva in order to obtain gold. … Alva's son, Don Frederic, now proved an apt pupil of his father, by almost literally executing his command to kill every man and burn every house in the city of Zutphen, which had opposed the entrance of the king's troops. The massacre was terrible and complete. The cause of Orange suffered still more by the cowardly flight of his brother-in-law, Count Van den Berg, from his post of duty in the provinces of Gelderland and Overyssel. By this desertion rugged Friesland was also lost to the patriot side. Holland alone held out against the victorious Spaniards. The little city of Naarden at first stoutly refused to surrender, but being weak was obliged to yield without striking a blow. Don Frederic's agent, Julian Romero, having promised that life and property should be spared, the people welcomed him and his soldiers at a grand feast on the 2d of December. Hardly was this over when 500 citizens, who had assembled in the town hall, were warned by a priest to prepare for death. This was the signal for the entrance of the Spanish troops, who butchered everyone in the building. They then rushed furiously through the streets, pillaging and then setting fire to the houses. As the inmates came forth, they were tortured and killed by their cruel foes. … Alva wrote boastfully to the king that 'they had cut the throats of the burghers and all the garrison, and had not left a mother's son alive.' He ascribed this success to the favor of God in permitting the defence of so feeble a city to be even attempted. … As the city of Haarlem was the key to Holland, Don Frederic resolved to capture it at any cost. But the people were so bent upon resistance that they executed two of their magistrates for secretly negotiating with Alva. … {2265} Ripperda, the commandant of the Haarlem garrison, cheered soldiers and people by his heroic counsels, and through the efforts of Orange the city was placed under patriot rule. Amsterdam, which was in the enemy's hands, was ten miles distant, across a lake traversed by a narrow causeway, and the prince had erected a number of forts to command the frozen surface. As a thick fog covered the lake in these December days, supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition were brought into the city in spite of the vigilance of the besiegers. The sledges and skates of the Hollanders were very useful in this work. But against Don Frederic's army of 30,000 men, nearly equalling the entire population of Haarlem, the city with its extensive but weak fortifications had only a garrison of about 4,000. The fact that about 300 of these were respectable women, armed with sword, musket, and dagger, shows the heroic spirit of the people. The men were nerved to fresh exertions by these Amazons, who, led by their noble chief, the Widow Kenau Hasselaer, fought desperately by their side, both within and without the works. The banner of this famous heroine, who has been called the Joan of Arc of Haarlem, is now in the City Hall. A vigorous cannonade was kept up against the city for three days, beginning December 18, and men, women, and children worked incessantly in repairing the shattered walls. They even dragged the statues of saints from the churches to fill up the gaps, to the horror of the superstitious Spaniards. The brave burghers repelled their assaults with all sorts of weapons. Burning coals and boiling oil were hurled at their heads, and blazing pitch-hoops were skilfully caught about their necks. Astonished by this terrible resistance, which cost him hundreds of lives, Don Frederic resolved to take the city by siege." On the last day of January. 1573, Don Frederic having considerably shattered an outwork called the ravelin, ordered a midnight assault, and the Spaniards carried the fort. "They mounted the walls expecting to have the city at their mercy. Judge of their amazement to find a new and stronger fort, shaped like a half-moon, which had been secretly constructed during the siege, blazing away at them with its cannon. Before they could recover from their shock, the ravelin, which had been carefully undermined, blew up, and sent them crushed and bleeding into the air. The Spaniards outside, terrified at these outbursts, retreated hastily to their camp, leaving hundreds of dead beneath the walls. Two assaults of veteran soldiers, led by able generals, having been repelled by the dauntless burghers of Haarlem, famine seemed the only means of forcing its surrender. Starvation in fact soon threatened both besiegers and besieged. Don Frederic wished to abandon the contest, but Alva threatened to disown him as a son if he did so. … There was soon a struggle for the possession of the lake, which was the only means of conveying supplies to the besieged. In the terrible hand-to-hand fight which followed the grappling of the rival vessels, on the 28th of May, the prince's fleet, under Admiral Brand, was totally defeated. … During the month of June the wretched people of Haarlem had no food but linseed and rapeseed, and they were soon compelled to eat dogs, cats, rats, and mice. When these gave out they devoured shoe-leather and the boiled hides of horses and oxen, and tried to allay the pangs of hunger with grass and weeds. The streets were full of the dead and the dying." Attempts at relief by Orange were defeated. "As a last resort the besieged resolved to form a solid column, with the women and children, the aged and infirm, in the centre, to fight their way out; but Don Frederic, fearing the city would be left in ruins, induced them to surrender on the 12th of July, under promise of mercy. This promise was cruelly broken by a frightful massacre of 2,000 people, which gave great joy to Alva and Philip."

A. Young, History of the Netherlands, chapters 10-11.

ALSO IN: R. Watson, History of Philip II., books 11-12.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1573-1574. Siege and deliverance of Alkmaar. Displacement of Alva. Battle of Mookerhyde and death of Louis of Nassau. Siege and relief of Leyden. The flooding of the land. Founding of Leyden University.

After the surrender of Haarlem, a mutiny broke out among the Spanish troops that had been engaged in the siege, to whom 28 months' arrears of pay were due. "It was appeased with great difficulty at the end of seven weeks, when Alva determined to make a decisive attack on Holland both by land and water, and with this view commanded his son, Don Frederic di Toledo, to march to the siege of Alkmaar, and repaired in person to Amsterdam. … Don Frederic laid siege to Alkmaar at the head of 16,000 able and efficient troops; within the town were 1,300 armed burghers and 800 soldiers, as many perhaps as it was at that time capable of containing. With this handful of men the citizens of Alkmaar defended themselves no less resolutely than the Haarlemmers had done. The fierce onslaughts of the Spaniards were beaten back with uniform success on the part of the besieged; the women and girls were never seen to shrink from the fight, even where it was hottest, but unceasingly supplied the defenders with stones and burning missiles, to throw amongst their enemies. … But as there were no means of conveying reinforcements to the besieged from without, and their supplies began to fail, they resolved, after a month's siege, on the desperate measure of cutting through the dykes. Some troops sent by Sonnoy having effected this, and opened the sluices, the whole country was soon deluged with water. Don Frederic, astounded at this novel mode of warfare, and fearing that himself and his whole army would be drowned, broke up his camp in haste, and fled, rather than retreated, to Amsterdam. It seemed almost as though the blessing which the Prince of Orange had promised his people had come upon them. The capture of Geertruydenberg, about this time, by one of his lieutenants, was followed by a naval victory, as signal as it was important. The Admiral Bossu, to whom was given the command of the [Spanish] fleet at Amsterdam, having sailed through the Pampus with the design of occupying the Zuyderzee, and thus making himself master of the towns of North Holland, encountered the fleet of those towns, consisting of 24 vessels, commanded by Admiral Dirkson, stationed in the Zuyderzee to await his arrival." After several days of skirmishing, the Dutch fleet forced a close fight, "which lasted with little intermission from the afternoon of the 11th of October to midday of the 12th, during which time two of the royalist ships were sunk and a third captured. {2266} "The remainder fled or surrendered, Bossu, himself, being taken prisoner. "On intelligence of the issue of the battle, Alva quitted Amsterdam in haste and secrecy. This success delivered the towns of North Holland from the most imminent danger, and rendered the possession of Amsterdam nearly useless to the royalists." Alva was now forced to call a meeting of the states-general, in the hope of obtaining a vote of money. "Upon their assembling at Brussels, the states of Holland despatched an earnest and eloquent address, exhorting them to emancipate themselves from Spanish slavery and the cruel tyranny of Alva, which the want of unanimity in the provinces had alone enabled him to exercise. … Their remonstrance appears to have been attended with a powerful effect, since the states-general could neither by threats or remonstrances be induced to grant the smallest subsidy. … Alva, having become heartily weary of the government he had involved in such irretrievable confusion, now obtained his recall; his place was filled by Don Louis de Requesens, grand commander of Castile. In the November of this year, Alva quitted the Netherlands, leaving behind him a name which has become a bye-word of hatred, scorn, and execration. … During the six years that he had governed the Netherlands, 18,000 persons had perished by the hand of the executioner, besides the numbers massacred at Naarden, Zutphen, and other conquered cities." The first undertaking of the new governor was an attempt to raise the siege of Middleburg, the Spanish garrison in which had been blockaded by the Gueux for nearly two years; but the fleet of 40 ships which he fitted out for the purpose was defeated, at Romers-waale, with a loss of ten vessels. "The surrender of Middleburg immediately followed, and with it that of Arnemuyden, which put the Gueux in possession of the principal islands of Zealand, and rendered them masters of the sea." But these successes were counterbalanced by a disaster which attended an expedition led from Germany by Louis of Nassau, the gallant but unfortunate brother of the Prince of Orange. His army was attacked and utterly destroyed by the Spaniards (April 14, 1574) at the village of Mookerheyde, or Mook, near Nimeguen, and both Louis and his brother Henry of Nassau were slain. "After raising the siege of Alkmaar, the Spanish forces, placed under the command of Francesco di Valdez on the departure of Don Frederic di Toledo, had for some weeks blockaded Leyden; but were recalled in the spring of this year to join the rest of the army on its march against Louis of Nassau. From that time the burghers of Leyden … had not only neglected to lay up any fresh stores of corn or other provision, but to occupy or destroy the forts with which the enemy had encompassed the town. This fact coming to the knowledge of Don Louis, he once more dispatched Valdez to renew the siege at the head of 8,000 troops. … Mindful of Haarlem and Alkmaar, the Spanish commander … brought no artillery, nor made any preparations for assault, but, well aware that there were not provisions in the town sufficient for three months, contented himself with closely investing it on all sides, and determined to await the slow but sure effects of famine." In this emergency, the States of Holland "decreed that all the dykes between Leyden and the Meuse and Yssel should be cut through, and the sluices opened at Rotterdam and Schiedam, by which the waters of those rivers, overflowing the valuable lands of Schieland and Rhynland, would admit of the vessels bringing succours up to the very gates of Leyden. The damage was estimated at 600,000 guilders. … The cutting through the dykes was a work of time and difficulty, as well from the labour required as from the continual skirmishes with the enemy. … Even when completed, it appeared as if the vast sacrifice were utterly unavailing. A steady wind blowing from the north-east kept back the waters. … Meanwhile the besieged, who for some weeks heard no tidings of their deliverers, had scarcely hope left to enable them to sustain the appalling sufferings they endured. … 'Then,' says the historian, who heard it from the mouths of the sufferers, 'there was no food so odious but it was esteemed a dainty.' … The siege had now lasted five months. … Not a morsel of food, even the most filthy and loathsome, remained … when, on a sudden, the wind veered to the north-west, and thence to the south-west; the waters of the Meuse rushed in full tide over the land, and the ships rode triumphantly on the waves. The Gueux, attacking with vigour the forts on the dykes, succeeded in driving out the garrisons with considerable slaughter. … On the … 3rd of October … Valdez evacuated all the forts in the vicinity. … In memory of this eventful siege, the Prince and States offered the inhabitants either to found an university or to establish a fair. They chose the former; but the States … granted both: the fair of Leyden was appointed to be held on the 1st of October in every year, the 3rd being ever after held as a solemn festival; and on the 8th of February in the next year, the university received its charter from the Prince of Orange in the name of King Philip. Both proved lasting monuments."

C. M. Davies, History of Holland, part 2, chapters 8-9 (volumes 1-2).

ALSO IN: J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, part 4, chapters 1-2 (volume 2).

W. T. Hewett, The University of Leiden (Harper's Magazine, March, 1881).

C. M. Yonge, Cameos from English History, series 5, chapter 16.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1575-1577. Congress at Breda. Offer of sovereignty to the English Queen. Death of Requesens. Mutiny of the Soldiery. The Spanish Fury. Alliance of Northern and Southern provinces under the Pacification of Ghent and the Union of Brussels. Arrival of Don John of Austria.

"The bankrupt state of Philip II.'s exchequer, and the reverses which his arms had sustained, induced him to accept … the proffered mediation of the Emperor Maximilian, which he had before so arrogantly rejected, and a Congress was held at Breda from March till June 1575. But the insurgents were suspicious, and Philip was inflexible; he could not be induced to dismiss his Spanish troops, to allow the meeting of the States-General, or to admit the slightest toleration in matters of religion; and the contest was therefore renewed with more fury than ever. The situation of the patriots became very critical when the enemy, by occupying the islands of Duyveland and Schouwen, cut off the communication between Holland and Zealand; especially as all hope of succour from England had expired. {2267} Towards the close of the year envoys were despatched to solicit the aid of Elizabeth, and to offer her, under certain conditions, the sovereignty of Holland and Zealand. Requesens sent Champagny to counteract these negociations, which ended in nothing. The English Queen was afraid of provoking the power of Spain, and could not even be induced to grant the Hollanders a loan. The attitude assumed at that time by the Duke of Alençon, in France, also prevented them from entering into any negociations with that Prince. In these trying circumstances, William the Silent displayed the greatest firmness and courage. It was now that he is said to have contemplated abandoning Holland and seeking with its inhabitants a home in the New World, having first restored the country to its ancient state of a waste of waters; a thought, however, which he probably never seriously entertained, though he may have given utterance to it in a moment of irritation or despondency. … The unexpected death of Requesens, who expired of a fever, March 5th 1576, after a few days' illness, threw the government into confusion. Philip II. had given Requesens a carte blanche to name his successor, but the nature of his illness had prevented him from filling it up. The government therefore devolved to the Council of State, the members of which were at variance with one another; but Philip found himself obliged to intrust it 'ad interim' with the administration, till a successor to Requesens could be appointed. Count Mansfeld was made commander-in-chief, but was totally unable to restrain the licentious soldiery. The Spaniards, whose pay was in arrear, had now lost all discipline. After the raising of the siege of Leyden they had beset Utrecht and pillaged and maltreated the inhabitants, till Valdez contrived to furnish their pay. No sooner had Requesens expired than they broke into open mutiny, and acted as if they were entire masters of the country. After wandering about some time and threatening Brussels, they seized and plundered Alost, where they established themselves; and they were soon afterwards joined by the Walloon and German troops. To repress their violence, the Council of State restored to the Netherlanders the arms of which they had been deprived, and called upon them by a proclamation to repress force by force; but these citizen-soldiers were dispersed with great slaughter by the disciplined troops in various rencounters. Ghent, Utrecht, Valenciennes, Maestricht were taken and plundered by the mutineers; and at last the storm fell upon Antwerp, which the Spaniards entered early in November, and sacked during three days. More than 1,000 houses were burnt, 8,000 citizens are said to have been slain, and enormous sums in ready money were plundered. The whole damage was estimated at 24,000,000 florins. The horrible excesses committed in this sack procured for it the name of the 'Spanish Fury.' The government was at this period conducted in the name of the States of Brabant. On the 5th of September, De Hèze, a young Brabant gentleman who was in secret intelligence with the Prince of Orange, had, at the head of 500 soldiers, entered the palace where the Council of State was assembled, and seized and imprisoned the members. William, taking advantage of the alarm created at Brussels by the sack of Antwerp, persuaded the provisional government to summon the States-General, although such a course was at direct variance with the commands of the King. To this assembly all the provinces except Luxemburg sent deputies. The nobles of the southern provinces, although they viewed the Prince of Orange with suspicion, feeling that there was no security for them so long as the Spanish troops remained in possession of Ghent, sought his assistance in expelling them; which William consented to grant only on condition that an alliance should be effected between the northern and the southern, or Catholic provinces of the Netherlands. This proposal was agreed to, and towards the end of September Orange sent several thousand men from Zealand to Ghent, at whose approach the Spaniards, who had valorously defended themselves for two months under the conduct of the wife of their absent general Mondragon, surrendered, and evacuated the citadel. The proposed alliance was now converted into a formal union by the treaty called the Pacification of Ghent, signed November 8th 1576; by which it was agreed, without waiting for the sanction of Philip, whose authority however was nominally recognised, to renew the edict of banishment against the Spanish troops, to procure the suspension of the decrees against the Protestant religion, to summon the States-General of the northern and southern provinces, according to the model of the assembly which had received the abdication of Charles V., to provide for the toleration and practise of the Protestant religion in Holland and Zealand, together with other provisions of a similar character. About the same time with the Pacification of Ghent, all Zealand, with the exception of the island of Tholen, was recovered from the Spaniards. … It was a mistake on the part of Philip II. to leave the country eight months with only an 'ad interim' government. Had he immediately filled up the vacancy … the States could not have seized upon the government, and the alliance established at Ghent would not have been effected, by which an almost independent commonwealth had been erected. But Philip seems to have been puzzled as to the choice of a successor; and his selection, at length, of his brother Don John of Austria [a natural son of Charles V.], caused a further considerable delay. … The state of the Netherlands compelled Don John to enter them, not with the pomp and dignity becoming the lawful representative of a great monarch, but stealthily, like a traitor or conspirator. In Luxemburg alone, the only province which had not joined the union, could he expect to be received; and he entered its capital a few days before the publication of the treaty of Ghent, in the disguise of a Moorish slave, and in the train of Don Ottavio Gonzaga, brother of the Prince of Melfi. Having neither money nor arms, he was obliged to negociate with the provincial government in order to procure the recognition of his authority. At the instance of the Prince of Orange, the States insisted on the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, the maintenance of the treaty of Ghent, an act of amnesty for past offences, the convocation of the States-General, and an oath from Don John that he would respect all the charters and customs of the country. The new governor was violent, but the States were firm, and in January 1577 was formed the Union of Brussels, the professed objects of which were, the immediate expulsion of the Spaniards, and the execution of the Pacification of Ghent; while at the same time the Catholic religion and the royal authority were to be upheld. {2268} This union, which was only a more popular repetition of the treaty of Ghent, soon obtained numberless signatures. … Meanwhile Rodolph II., the new Emperor of Germany, had offered his mediation, and appointed the Bishop of Liege to use his good offices between the parties; who, with the assistance of Duke William of Juliers, brought, or seemed to bring, the new governor to a more reasonable frame of mind. … Don John yielded all the points in dispute, and embodied them in what was called the Perpetual Edict, published March 12th, 1577. The Prince of Orange suspected from the first that these concessions were a mere deception."

T. H. Dyer, History of Modern Europe, book 3, chapters 7-9 (volume 2).

ALSO IN: Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell, Don John of Austria, volume 2, chapters 4-5.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1577-1581. The administration of Don John. Orange's well-founded distrust. Emancipation of Antwerp. Battle of Gemblours. Death of Don John and appointment of Parma. Corruption of Flemish nobles. Submission of the Walloon provinces. Pretensions of the Duke of Anjou. Constitution and declared independence of the Dutch Republic.

"It now seemed that the Netherlands had gained all they asked for, and that everything for which they had contended had been conceded. The Blood Council of Alva had almost extirpated the Reformers, and an overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of the Low Countries, with the exception of the Hollanders and Zelanders, belonged to the old Church, provided the Inquisition was done away with, and a religious peace was accorded. But Don John had to reckon with the Prince of Orange. In him William had no confidence. He could not forget the past. He believed that the signatures and concessions of the governor and Philip were only expedients to gain time, and that they would be revoked or set aside as soon as it was convenient or possible to do so. … He had intercepted letters from the leading Spaniards in Don John's employment, in which, when the treaty was in course of signature, designs were disclosed of keeping possession of all the strong places in the country, with the object of reducing the patriots in detail. … Above all, William distrusted the Flemish nobles. He knew them to be greedy, fickle, treacherous, ready to betray their country for personal advantage, and to ally themselves blindly with their natural enemies. … As events proved, Orange was in the right. Hence he refused to recognize the treaty in his own states of Holland and Zeland. As soon as it was published and sent to him, William, after conference with these states, published a severe criticism on its provisions. … In all seeming however Don John was prepared to carry out his engagements. He got together with difficulty the funds for paying the arrears due to the troops, and sent them off by the end of April. He caressed the people and he bribed the nobles. He handed over the citadels to Flemish governors, and entered Brussels on May 1st. Everything pointed to success and mutual good will. But we have Don John's letters, in which he speaks most unreservedly and most unflatteringly of his new friends, and of his designs on the liberties of the Netherlands. And all the while that Philip was soothing and flattering his brother, he had determined on ruining him, and on murdering the man [Escovedo] whom that brother loved and trusted. About this time, too, we find that Philip and his deputy were casting about for the means by which they might assassinate the Prince of Orange, 'who had bewitched the whole people!' An attempt of Don John to get possession of the citadel of Antwerp for himself failed, and the patriots gained it. The merchants of Antwerp 'agreed to find the pay still owing to the soldiers, on condition of their quitting the city. But while they were discussing the terms, a fleet of Zeland vessels came sailing up the Scheldt. Immediately a cry was raised, 'The Beggars are coming,' and the soldiers fled in dismay [August 1, 1577]. Then the Antwerpers demolished the citadel, and turned the statue of Alva again into cannon. After these events, William of Orange put an end to negotiations with Don John. Prince William was in the ascendant. But the Catholic nobles conspired against him, and induced the Archduke Matthias, brother of the German Emperor Rodolph, to accept the place of governor of the Netherlands in lieu of Don John. He came, but Orange was made the Ruwaard of Brabant, with full military power. It was the highest office which could be bestowed on him. The 'Union of Brussels' followed and was a confederation of all the Netherlands. But the battle of Gemblours was fought in February, 1578, and the patriots were defeated. Many small towns were captured, and it seemed that in course of time the governor would recover at least a part of his lost authority. But in the month of September, Don John was seized with a burning fever, and died on October 1st. … The new governor of the Netherlands, son of Ottavio Farnese, Prince of Parma, and of Margaret of Parma, sister of Philip of Spain, was a very different person from any of the regents who had hitherto controlled the Netherlands. He was, or soon proved himself to be, the greatest general of the age, and he was equally, according to the statesmanship of the age, the most accomplished and versatile statesman. He had no designs beyond those of Philip, and during his long career in the Netherlands, from October, 1578, to December, 1592, he served the King of Spain as faithfully and with as few scruples as Philip could have desired. … Parma was religious, but he had no morality whatever. … He had no scruple in deceiving, lying, assassinating, and even less scruple in saying or swearing that he had done none of these things. … He had an excellent judgment of men, and indeed he had experience of the two extremes, of the exceeding baseness of the Flemish nobles, and of the lofty and pure patriotism of the Dutch patriots. Nothing indeed was more unfortunate for the Dutch than the belief which they entertained, that the Flemings who had been dragooned into uniformity, could be possibly stirred to patriotism. Alva had done his work thoroughly. It is possible to extirpate a reformation. But the success of the process is the moral ruin of those who are the subjects of the experiment. Fortunately for Parma, there was a suitor for the Netherland sovereignty, in the person of the very worst prince of the very worst royal family that ever existed in Europe, i. e., the Duke of Anjou, of the house of Valois.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1577-1578.

{2269}

This person was favoured by Orange, probably because he had detected Philip's designs on France, and thought that national jealousy would induce the French government, which was Catherine of Medici, to favour the low countries. Besides, Parma had a faction in every Flemish town, who were known as the Malcontents, who were the party of the greedy and unscrupulous nobles. And, besides Anjou, there was the party of another pretender, John Casimir, of Poland. He, however, soon left them. Parma quickly found in such dissensions plenty of men whom he could usefully bribe. He made his first purchases in the Walloon district, and secured them. The provinces here were Artois, Hainault, Lille, Douay, and Orchies. They were soon permanently reunited to Spain. On January 20, 1570, the Union of Utrecht, which was virtually the Constitution of the Dutch Republic, was agreed to. It was greater in extent on the Flemish side than the Dutch Republic finally remained, less on that of Friesland [comprising Holland, Zeland, Gelderland, Zutphen, Utrecht, and the Frisian provinces]. Orange still had hopes of including most of the Netherland seaboard, and he still kept up the form of allegiance to Philip. The principal event of the year was the siege and capture of Maestricht [with the slaughter of almost its entire population of 34,000]. … Mechlin also was betrayed by its commander, De Bours, who reconciled himself to Romanism, and received the pay for his treason from Parma at the same time. In March, 1580, a similar act of treason was committed by Count Renneberg, the governor of Friesland, who betrayed its chief city, Groningen. … In the same year, 1580, was published the ban of Philip. This instrument, drawn up by Cardinal Granvelle, declared Orange to be a traitor and miscreant, made him an outlaw, put a heavy price on his head (25,000 gold crowns), offered the assassin the pardon of any crime, however heinous, and nobility, whatever be his rank. … William answered the ban by a vigorous appeal to the civilized world. … Renneberg, the traitor, laid siege to Steenwyk, the principal fortress of Drenthe, at the beginning of 1581. … In February, John Norris, the English general, … relieved the town. Renneberg raised the siege, was defeated in July by the same Norris, and died, full of remorse, a few days afterwards. But the most important event in 1581 was the declaration of Dutch Independence formally issued at the Hague on the 26th of July. By this instrument, Orange, though most unwillingly, felt himself obliged to accept the sovereignty over Holland and Zeland, and whatever else of the seven provinces was in the hands of the patriots. The Netherlands were now divided into three portions. The Walloon provinces in the south were reconciled to Philip and Parma. The middle provinces were under the almost nominal sovereignty of Anjou, the northern were under William. … Philip's name was now discarded from public documents … ; his seal was broken, and William was thereafter to conduct the government in his own name. The instrument was styled an 'Act of Abjuration.'"

J. E. T. Rogers, The Story of Holland, chapters 11-12.

ALSO IN: J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, part 5, chapters 4-5, and part 6, chapters 1-4.

Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell, Don John of Austria, volume 2, chapters 8-10.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1581-1584. Refusal of the sovereignty of the United Provinces by Orange. Its bestowal upon the Duke of Anjou. Base treachery of Anjou. The "French Fury" at Antwerp. Assassination of the Prince of Orange.

"What, then, was the condition of the nation, after this great step [the Act of Abjuration] had been taken? It stood, as it were, with its sovereignty in its hand, dividing it into two portions, and offering it, thus separated, to two distinct individuals. The sovereignty of Holland and Zealand had been reluctantly accepted by Orange. The sovereignty of the United Provinces had been offered to Anjou, but the terms of agreement with that Duke had not yet been ratified. The movement was therefore triple, consisting of an abjuration and of two separate elections of hereditary chiefs; these two elections being accomplished in the same manner by the representative bodies respectively of the united provinces and of Holland and Zealand. … Without a direct intention on the part of the people or its leaders to establish a republic, the Republic established itself. Providence did not permit the whole country, so full of wealth, intelligence, healthy political action—so stocked with powerful cities and an energetic population, to be combined into one free and prosperous commonwealth. The factious ambition of a few grandees, the cynical venality of many nobles, the frenzy of the Ghent democracy, the spirit of religious intolerance, the consummate military and political genius of Alexander Farnese, the exaggerated self-abnegation and the tragic fate of Orange, all united to dissever this group of flourishing and kindred provinces. 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 been held up for centuries by many writers as a conspirator and a self-seeking intriguer. … 'These provinces,' said John of Nassau, 'are coming very unwillingly into the arrangement with the Duke of Alençon [soon afterwards made Duke of Anjou]. The majority feel much more inclined to elect the Prince, who is daily, and without intermission, implored to give his consent. … 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 kingdom for himself and his own private advancement. Moreover, he believes that the connexion with France will be of more benefit to the country and to Christianity.' … The unfortunate negotiations with Anjou, to which no man was more opposed than Count John, proceeded therefore. In the meantime, the sovereignty over the united provinces was provisionally held by the national council, 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 have been recording, took his leave of the states, and departed in the month of October. … Thus it was arranged that, for the present, at least, the Prince should exercise sovereignty over Holland and Zealand; although he had himself used his utmost exertions to induce those provinces to join the rest of the United Netherlands in the proposed election of Anjou. {2270} This, however, they sternly refused to do. There was also a great disinclination felt by many in the other states to this hazardous offer of their allegiance, and it was the personal influence of Orange that eventually carried the measure through. … By midsummer [1581] the Duke of Anjou made his appearance in the western part of the Netherlands. The Prince of Parma had recently come before Cambray with the intention of reducing that important city. On the arrival of Anjou, however, … Alexander raised the siege precipitately and retired towards Tournay," to which he presently laid siege, and which was surrendered to him in November.

J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, part 6, chapters 4-5 (volume 3).

Meantime, the Duke of Anjou had visited England, paying court to Queen Elizabeth, whom he hoped to marry, but who declined the alliance after making the acquaintance of her suitor. "Elizabeth made all the reparation in her power, by the honours paid him on his dismissal. She accompanied him as far as Canterbury, and sent him away under the convoy of the earl of Leicester, her chief favourite; and with a brilliant suite and a fleet of fifteen sail. Anjou was received at Antwerp with equal distinction; and was inaugurated there on the 19th of February [1582] as Duke of Brabant, Lothier, Limbourg, and Guelders, with many other titles, of which he soon proved himself unworthy. … During the rejoicings which followed this inauspicious ceremony, Philip's proscription against the Prince of Orange put forth its first fruits. The latter gave a grand dinner in the chateau of Antwerp, which he occupied, on the 18th of March, the birth-day of the duke of Anjou." As he quitted the dining hall, he was shot in the cheek by a young man who approached him with the pretence of offering a petition, and who proved to be the tool of a Spanish merchant at Antwerp, with whom Philip of Spain had contracted for the procurement of the assassination. The wound inflicted was severe but not fatal. "Within three months, William was able to accompany the duke of Anjou in his visits to Ghent, Bruges, and the other chief towns of Flanders; in each of which the ceremony of inauguration was repeated. Several military exploits now took place [the most important of them being the capture of Oudenarde, after a protracted siege, by the Prince of Parma]. … The duke of Anjou, intemperate, inconstant, and unprincipled, saw that his authority was but the shadow of power. … The French officers, who formed his suite and possessed all his confidence, had no difficulty in raising his discontent into treason against the people with whom he had made a solemn compact. The result of their councils was a deep-laid plot against Flemish liberty; and its execution was ere-long attempted. He sent secret orders to the governors of Dunkirk, Bruges, Termonde, and other towns, to seize on and hold them in his name; reserving for himself the infamy of the enterprise against Antwerp. To prepare for its execution, he caused his numerous army of French and Swiss to approach the city." Then, on the 17th of January, 1583, with his body guard of 200 horse, he suddenly attacked and slew the Flemish guards at one of the gates and admitted the troops waiting outside. "The astonished but intrepid citizens, recovering from their confusion, instantly flew to arms. All differences in religion or politics were forgotten in the common danger to their freedom. … The ancient spirit of Flanders seemed to animate all. Workmen, armed with the instruments of their various trades, started from their shops and flung themselves upon the enemy. … The French were driven successively from the streets and ramparts. … The duke of Anjou saved himself by flight, and reached Termonde. His loss in this base enterprise [known as the French Fury] amounted to 1,500; while that of the citizens did not exceed 80 men. The attempts simultaneously made on the other towns succeeded at Dunkirk and Termonde; but all the others failed. The character of the Prince of Orange never appeared so thoroughly great as at this crisis. With wisdom and magnanimity rarely equalled and never surpassed, he threw himself and his authority between the indignation of the country and the guilt of Anjou; saving 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. … A new treaty was negotiated, confirming Anjou in his former station, with renewed security against any future treachery on his part. He in the mean time retired to France," where he died, June 10, 1584. Exactly one month afterwards (July 10), Prince William was murdered, in his house, at Delft, by Balthazar Gerard, one of the many assassins whom Philip II. and Parma had so persistently sent against him. He was shot as he placed his foot upon the first step of the great stair in his house, after dining in a lower apartment, and he died in a few moments.

T. C. Grattan, History of the Netherlands, chapter 13.

ALSO IN: J. A. Froude, History of England: Reign of Elizabeth, chapters 26, 29, 31-32 (volume 5-6).

D. Campbell, The Puritan in Holland, England, and America, chapter 4 (volume 1).

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585. Limits of the United Provinces and the Spanish Provinces. The Republican constitution of the United Provinces, and the organization of their government. Disgraceful surrender of Ghent. Practical recovery of Flanders and Brabant by the Spanish king.

At the time of the assassination of the Prince of Orange, "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 'reconciliation' of the Walloon Provinces in the year 1583-4—had placed the Provinces of Hainault, Arthois, Douay, with the flourishing cities, Arras, Valenciennes, Lille, Tournay, and 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 establish himself in an unrecognized but practical petty sovereignty, in defiance both of France and Spain; while East Flanders and South Brabant still remained a disputed territory, and the immediate field of contest. With these limitations, it may be assumed, for general purposes, that the territory of the United States was that of the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands, while the obedient Provinces occupied what is now the territory of Belgium. … {2271} What now was the political position of the United Provinces at this juncture? The sovereignty which had been held by the Estates, ready to be conferred respectively upon Anjou and Orange, remained in the hands of the Estates. There was no opposition to this theory. … The people, as such, claimed no sovereignty. … What were the Estates? … The great characteristic of the Netherland government was the municipality. Each Province contained a large number of cities, which were governed by a board of magistrates, varying in number from 20 to 40. This college, called the Vroedschap (Assembly of Sages), consisted of the most notable citizens, and was a self-electing body—a close corporation—the members being appointed for life, from the citizens at large. Whenever vacancies occurred from death or loss of citizenship, the college chose new members—sometimes immediately, sometimes by means of a double or triple selection of names, the choice of one from among which was offered to the stadtholder [governor, or sovereign's deputy] of the province. This functionary was appointed by the Count, as he was called, whether Duke of Bavaria or of Burgundy, Emperor, or King. After the abjuration of Philip [1581], the governors were appointed by the Estates of each Province. The Sage-Men chose annually a board of senators, or schepens, whose functions were mainly judicial; and there were generally two, and sometimes three, burgomasters, appointed in the same way. This was the popular branch of the Estates. But, besides this body of representatives, were the nobles, men of ancient lineage and large possessions, who had exercised, according to the general feudal law of Europe, high, low, and intermediate jurisdiction upon their estates, and had long been recognized as an integral part of the body politic, having the right to appear, through delegates of their order, in the provincial and in the general assemblies. Regarded as a machine for bringing the most decided political capacities into the administration of public affairs, and for organizing the most practical opposition to the system of religious tyranny, the Netherland constitution was a healthy, and, for the age, an enlightened one. … Thus constituted was the commonwealth upon the death of William the Silent. The gloom produced by that event was tragical. Never in human history was a more poignant and universal sorrow for the death of any individual. The despair was, for a brief season, absolute; but it was soon succeeded by more lofty sentiments. … Even on the very day of the murder, the Estates 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.' … 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—were disposed of at auction for the benefit of his creditors. He left eleven children—a son and daughter by the first wife, a son and daughter by Anna of Saxony, six daughters by Charlotte of Bourbon, and an infant, Frederic Henry, born six months before his death. The eldest son, Philip William, had been a captive in Spain for seventeen years, having been kidnapped from school, in Leyden, in the year 1567. He had already become … thoroughly Hispaniolized under the masterly treatment of the King and the Jesuits. … The next son was Maurice, then 17 years of age. … Grandson of Maurice of Saxony, whom he resembled in visage and 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 girding himself for his life's work. … Very soon afterwards the States General established a State Council, as a provisional executive board, for the term of three months, for the Provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, and such parts of Flanders and Brabant as still remained in the Union. At the head of this body was placed young Maurice, who accepted the responsible position, after three days' deliberation. … The Council consisted of three members from Brabant, two from Flanders, four from Holland, three from Zeeland, two from Utrecht, one from Mechlin, and three from Friesland—eighteen in all. They were empowered and enjoined to levy troops by land and sea, and to appoint naval and military officers; to establish courts of admiralty, to expend the moneys voted by the States, to maintain the ancient privileges of the country, and to see that all troops in service of the Provinces made oath of fidelity to the Union. Diplomatic relations, questions of peace and war, the treaty-making power, 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. … Alexander of Parma … was swift to take advantage of the calamity which had now befallen the rebellious Provinces. … In Holland and Zeeland the Prince's blandishments were of no avail. … In Flanders and Brabant the spirit was less noble. Those provinces were nearly lost already. Bruges [which had made terms with the King early in 1584] seconded Parma's efforts to induce its sister-city Ghent to imitate its own baseness in surrendering without a struggle; and that powerful, turbulent, but most anarchical little commonwealth was but too ready to listen to the voice of the tempter. … Upon the 17th August [1584] Dendermonde surrendered. … Upon the 7th September Vilvoorde capitulated, by which event the water-communication between Brussels and Antwerp was cut off, Ghent, now thoroughly disheartened, treated with Parma likewise; and upon the 17th September made its reconciliation with the King. The surrender of so strong and important a place was as disastrous to the cause of the patriots as it was disgraceful to the citizens themselves. It was, however, the result of an intrigue which had been long spinning. … The noble city of Ghent—then as large as Paris, thoroughly surrounded with moats, and fortified with bulwarks, ravelins, and counterscarps, constructed of earth, during the previous two years, at great expense, and provided with bread and meat, powder and shot, enough to last a year—was ignominiously surrendered. The population, already a very reduced and slender one for the great extent of the place and its former importance, had been estimated at 70,000. {2272} The number of houses was 35,000, so that, as the inhabitants were soon farther reduced to one-half, there remained but one individual to each house. On the other hand, the 25 monasteries and convents in the town were repeopled. … The fall of Brussels was deferred till March, and that of Mechlin (19th July, 1585), and of Antwerp [see below] (19th August, 1585), till Midsummer of the following year; 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 command of the sea was destined to remain for centuries with the new republic."

J. L. Motley, History of the United Netherlands, chapter 1 (volume 1).

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585. The Siege and surrender of Antwerp. Decay of the city.

"After the fall of Ghent, Farnese applied himself earnestly to the siege of Antwerp, one of the most memorable recorded in history. The citizens were animated in their defence by the valour and talent of Ste Aldegonde. It would be impossible to detail with minuteness in this general history the various contrivances resorted to on either side for the attack and the defence; and we must therefore content ourselves with briefly adverting to that stupendous monument of Farnese's military genius, the bridge which he carried across the Scheldt, below Antwerp, in order to cut off the communication of the city with the sea and the maritime provinces. From the depth and wideness of the river, the difficulty of finding the requisite materials, and of transporting them to the place selected in the face of an enemy that was superior on the water, the project was loudly denounced by Farnese's officers as visionary and impracticable; yet in spite of all these discouragements and difficulties, as the place seemed unapproachable in the usual way, he steadily persevered, and at last succeeded in an undertaking which, had he failed, would have covered him with perpetual ridicule. The spot fixed upon for the bridge was between Ordam and Kalloo, where the river is both shallower and narrower than at other parts. The bridge consisted of piles driven into the water to such distance as its depth would allow; which was 200 feet on the Flanders side and 900 feet on that of Brabant. The interval between the piles, which was 12 feet broad, was covered with planking; but at the extremities towards the centre of the river the breadth was extended to 40 feet, thus forming two forts, or platforms, mounted with cannon. There was still, however, an interstice in the middle of between 1,000 and 1,100 feet, through which the ships of the enemy, favoured by the wind and tide, or by the night, could manage to pass without any considerable loss, and which it therefore became necessary to fill up. This was accomplished by mooring across it the hulls of 32 vessels, at intervals of about 20 feet apart, and connecting them together with planks. Each vessel was planted with artillery and garrisoned by about 30 men; while the bridge was protected by a flota of vessels moored on each side, above and below, at a distance of about 200 feet. During the construction of the bridge, which lasted half a year, the citizens of Antwerp viewed with dismay the progress of a work that was not only to deprive them of their maritime commerce, but also of the supplies necessary for their subsistence and defence. At length they adopted a plan suggested by Gianbelli, an Italian engineer, and resolved to destroy the bridge by means of fire-ships, which seem to have been first used on this occasion. Several such vessels were sent down the river with a favourable tide and wind, of which two were charged with 6,000 or 7,000 lbs. of gunpowder each, packed in solid masonry, with various destructive missiles. One of these vessels went ashore before reaching its destination; the other arrived at the bridge and exploded with terrible effect. Curiosity to behold so novel a spectacle had attracted vast numbers of the Spaniards, who lined the shores as well as the bridge. Of these 800 were killed by the explosion, and by the implements of destruction discharged with the powder; a still greater number were maimed and wounded, and the bridge itself was considerably damaged. Farnese himself was thrown to the earth and lay for a time insensible. The besieged, however, did not follow up their plan with vigour. They allowed Farnese time to repair the damage, and the Spaniards, being now on the alert, either diverted the course of the fire-ships that were subsequently sent against them, or suffered them to pass the bridge through openings made for the purpose. In spite of the bridge, however, the beleaguered citizens might still have secured a transit down the river by breaking through the dykes between Antwerp and Lillo, and sailing over the plains thus laid under water, for which purpose it was necessary to obtain possession of the counter-dyke of Kowenstyn; but after a partial success, too quickly abandoned by Hohenlohe and Ste Aldegonde, they were defeated in a bloody battle which they fought upon the dyke. Antwerp was now obliged to capitulate; and as Farnese was anxious to put an end to so long a siege, it obtained more favourable terms than could have been anticipated (August 17th 1585). The prosperity of this great commercial city received, however, a severe blow from its capture by the Spaniards. A great number of the citizens, as well as of the inhabitants of Brabant and Flanders, removed to Amsterdam and Middelburg."

T. H. Dyer, History of Modern Europe, book 3, chapter 9 (volume 2).

The downfall of the prosperity of the great capital "was instantaneous. The merchants and industrious citizens all wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide traffic. Civilization and commerce departed, and in their stead were the citadel and the Jesuits."

J. L. Motley, History of the United Netherlands, chapter 5 (volume 1).

ALSO IN: F. Schiller, Siege of Antwerp.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1585-1586. Proffered sovereignty of the United Provinces declined by France and England. Delusive English succors. The queen's treachery and Leicester's incompetency. Useless battle at Zutphen.

"It was natural that so small a State, wasted by its protracted struggles, should desire, more earnestly than ever, an alliance with some stronger power; and it was from among States supposed to have sympathies with Protestants, that such an alliance was sought. From the Protestant countries of Germany there was no promise of help; and the eyes of the Dutch diplomatists were therefore turned towards France and England. In France, the Huguenots, having recovered from St. Bartholomew, now enjoyed toleration; and were a rising and hopeful party, under the patronage of Henry of Navarre. {2273} If the king of France would protect Holland from Philip, and extend to its people the same toleration which he allowed his own subjects, Holland offered him the sovereignty of the united provinces. This tempting offer was declined: for a new policy was now to be declared, which united France and Spain in a bigoted crusade against the Protestant faith. The League, under the Duke de Guise, gained a fatal ascendency over the weak and frivolous king, Henry III., and held dominion in France. … Nor was the baneful influence of the League confined to France: it formed a close alliance with Philip and the Pope, with whom it was plotting the overthrow of Protestant England, the subjection of the revolted provinces of Spain, and the general extirpation of heresy throughout Europe. … The only hope of the Netherlands was now in England, which was threatened by a common danger; and envoys were sent to Elizabeth with offers of the sovereignty, which had been declined by France. So little did the Dutch statesmen as yet contemplate a republic, that they offered their country to any sovereign, in return for protection. Had bolder counsels prevailed, Elizabeth might, at once, have saved the Netherlands, and placed herself at the head of the Protestants of Europe. She saw her own danger, if Philip should recover the provinces: but she held her purse-strings with the grasp of a miser: she dreaded an open rupture with Spain; and she was unwilling to provoke her own Catholic subjects. Sympathy with the Protestant cause, she had none. … She desired to afford as much assistance as would protect her own realm against Philip, at the least possible cost, without precipitating a war with Spain. She agreed to send men and money: but required Flushing, Brill, and Rammekens to be held as a security for her loans. She refused the sovereignty of the States: but she despatched troops to the Netherlands, and sent her favourite, the Earl of Leicester, to command them. As she had taken the rebellious subjects of Spain under her protection, Philip retaliated by the seizure of British ships. Spanish vengeance was not averted, while the Netherlands profited little by her aid."

Sir T. E. May, Democracy in Europe, chapter 11 (volume 2).

Leicester sailed for the Hague in the middle of December, 1585, having been preceded by 8,000 English troops, eager to prevent or revenge the fall of Antwerp. "Had there been good faith and resolution, and had Lord Grey, or Sir Richard Bingham, or Sir John Norris been in command, 20,000 Dutch and English troops might have taken the field in perfect condition. The States would have spent their last dollar to find them in everything which soldiers could need. They would have had at their backs the enthusiastic sympathy of the population, while the enemy was as universally abhorred; and Parma, exhausted by his efforts in the great siege, with his chest empty, and his ranks thinned almost to extinction, could not have encountered them with a third of their numbers. A lost battle would have been followed by a renewed revolt of the reconciled Provinces, and Elizabeth, if she found peace so necessary to her, might have dictated her own conditions." But months passed and nothing was done, while Queen Elizabeth was treacherously negotiating with agents of Spain. In the summer of 1586, "half and more than half of the brave men who had come over in the past September were dead. Their places were taken by new levies gathered in haste upon the highways, or by mutinous regiments of Irish kernes, confessed Catholics, and led by a man [Sir William Stanley] who was only watching an opportunity to betray his sovereign. … Gone was now the enthusiasm which had welcomed the landing of Leicester. In the place of it was suspicion and misgiving, distracted councils, and divided purposes. Elizabeth while she was diplomatising held her army idle. Parma, short-handed as he was, treated with his hand upon his sword, and was for ever carving slice on slice from the receding frontiers of the States. At the time of Leicester's installation he was acting on the Meuse. He held the river as far as Venloo. Venloo and Grave were in the hands of the patriots, both of them strong fortresses, the latter especially. … After the fall of Antwerp these two towns were Parma's next object. The siege of Grave was formed in January. In April Colonel Norris and Count Hohenlohe forced the Spanish lines and threw in supplies; but Elizabeth's orders prevented further effort. Parma came before the town in person in June, and after a bombardment which produced little or no effect, Grave, to the surprise of everyone, surrendered. Count Hemart, the governor, was said to have been corrupted, by his mistress. Leicester hanged him; but Hemart's gallows did not recover Grave or save Venloo, which surrendered also three weeks later. The Earl, conscious of the disgrace, yet seeing no way to mend it, … was willing at last to play into his mistress's hands. He understood her [Queen Elizabeth] at last, and saw what she was aiming at. 'As the cause is now followed,' he wrote to her on the 27th of June, 'it is not worth the cost or the danger. … They [the Netherlanders] would rather have lived with bread and drink under your Majesty's protection than with all their possessions under the King of Spain. It has almost broken their hearts to think your Majesty should not care any more for them. But if you mean soon to leave them they will be gone almost before you hear of it. I will do my best, therefore, to get into my hands three or four most principal places in North Holland, so as you shall rule these men, and make war and peace as you list. Part not with Brill for anything. With these places you can have what peace you will in an hour, and have your debts and charges readily answered. But your Majesty must deal graciously with them at present, and if you mean to leave them keep it to yourself.' … No palliation can be suggested, of the intentions to which Leicester saw that she was still clinging, and which he was willing to further in spite of his oath to be loyal to the States. … The incapacity of Leicester … was growing evident. He had been used as a lay figure to dazzle the eyes of the Provinces, while both he and they were mocked by the secret treaty. The treaty was hanging fire. … The Queen had … so far opened her eyes as to see that she was not improving her position by keeping her army idle; and Leicester, that he might not part with his government in entire disgrace, having done absolutely nothing, took the field for a short campaign in the middle of August [1586]. {2274} Parma had established himself in Gelderland, at Zutphen, and Duesberg. The States held Deventer, further down the Issel; but Deventer would probably fall as Grave and Venloo had fallen if the Spaniards kept their hold upon the river; Leicester therefore proposed to attempt to recover Zutphen. Everyone was delighted to be moving. … The Earl of Essex, Sir William Russell, Lord Willoughby, and others who held no special commands, attached themselves to Leicester's staff; Sir Philip Sidney obtained leave of absence from Flushing; Sir John Norris and his brother brought the English contingent of the States army; Sir William Stanley had arrived with his Irishmen; and with these cavaliers glittering about him, and 9,000 men, Leicester entered Gelderland. Duesberg surrendered to him without a blow; Norris surprised a fort outside Zutphen, which commanded the river and straitened the communications of the town." Parma made an attempt, on the morning of September 22, to throw supplies into the town, and Leicester's knights and gentlemen, forewarned of this project by a spy, "Volunteered for an ambuscade to cut off the convoy. … Parma brought with him every man that he could spare, and the ambuscade party were preparing unconsciously to encounter 4,000 of the best troops in the world. They were in all about 500. … The morning was misty. The waggons were heard coming, but nothing could be seen till a party of horse appeared at the head of the train where the ambuscade was lying. Down charged the 500, much as in these late years 600 English lancers charged elsewhere, as magnificently and as uselessly. … Never had been a more brilliant action seen or heard of, never one more absurd and profitless. For the ranks of the Spanish infantry were unbroken, the English could not touch them, could not even approach them, and behind the line of their muskets the waggons passed steadily to the town. … A few, not many, had been killed; but among those whose lives had been flung away so wildly was Philip Sidney. He was struck by a musket ball on his exposed thigh, as he was returning from his last charge," and died a few weeks later. "Parma immediately afterwards entered Zutphen unmolested. … Leicester's presence was found necessary in England. With the natural sympathy of one worthless person for another, he had taken a fancy to Stanley, and chose to give him an independent command; and leaving the government to the Council of the States, and the army again without a chief, he sailed in November for London."

J. A. Froude, History of England: The Reign of Elizabeth, chapter 33 (volume 6).

ALSO IN: Correspondence of Leicester during his Government of the Low Countries (Camden Society 27).

W. Gray, Life and Times of Sir Philip Sidney, chapter 10.

C. R. Markham, The Fighting Veres, chapters 7-8.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1587-1588. The ruin of the Spanish Provinces. Great prosperity of the United Provinces. Siege and capture of Sluys. The last of Leicester.

"Though the United Provinces were distracted by domestic dissensions and enfeebled by mutual distrust, their condition, compared with that portion of the Netherlands reduced under the yoke of Spain, was such as to afford matter of deep gratulation and thankfulness. The miseries of war had visited the latter unhappy country in the fullest measure; multitudes of its inhabitants had fled in despair; and the sword, famine, and pestilence, vied with each other in destroying the remainder. … The rich and smiling pastures, once the admiration and envy of the less favoured countries of Europe, were now no more; woods, roads, and fields, were confounded in one tangled mass of copse and brier. In the formerly busy and wealthy towns of Flanders and Brabant, Ghent, Antwerp, and Bruges, members of noble families were seen to creep from their wretched abodes in the darkness of night to beg their bread, or to search the streets for bones and offal. A striking and cheering contrast is the picture presented by the United Provinces. The crops had, indeed, failed there also, but the entire command of the sea which they preserved, and the free importation of corn, secured plentiful supplies. … They continued to carry on, under Spanish colours, a lucrative half-smuggling traffic, which the government of that nation found it its interest to connive at and encourage. The war, therefore, instead of being, as usual, an hindrance to commerce, rather gave it a new stimulus; the ports were crowded with vessels. … Holland and Zealand had now for more than ten years been delivered from the enemy. … The security they thus offered, combined with the freedom of religion, and the activity of trade and commerce, drew vast multitudes to their shores; the merchants and artisans expelled, on account of their religion, from the Spanish Netherlands, transferred thither the advantages of their enterprise and skill. … The population of the towns became so overflowing that it was found impossible to build houses fast enough to contain it. … 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 [1587]; when, making a feint attack upon Ostend, he afterwards … commenced a vigorous siege of Sluys. In order to draw him off from this undertaking, Maurice, with the Count of Hohenlohe, marched towards Bois-le-Duc. … The danger of Sluys hastened the return of the Earl of Leicester to the Netherlands, who arrived in Ostend with 7,000 foot and 500 horse. … Sluys had been besieged seven weeks, and the garrison was reduced from 1,600 men to scarcely half that number, when Leicester made an attempt to master the fort of Blankenburg, in the neighbourhood of the enemy's camp; but on intelligence that Parma was approaching to give him battle, he hastily retreated to Ostend," and Sluys was surrendered. "The loss of Sluys exasperated the dissensions between Leicester and the States into undisguised and irreconcilable hostility." He was soon afterwards recalled to England, and early in the following year the queen required him to resign his command and governorship in the Netherlands. In the meantime, the English queen had reopened negotiations with Parma, who occupied her attention while his master, Philip II. of Spain, was preparing the formidable Armada which he launched against England the next year

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1588.

C. M. Davies, History of Holland, part 3, chapters 2-3 (volume 2).

{2275}

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1588-1593. Successes of Prince Maurice. Departure of Parma to France. His death. Appointment of Archduke Albert to the Government.

"The destruction of the great Spanish Armada by the English in 1588 infused new hopes into all the enemies of Spain, and animated the Dutch with such courage, that Maurice led his army against that of the Duke of Parma, and forced him to raise the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, at that time garrisoned by a portion of Leicester's army under the command of Sir Francis Vere. … The young Stadtholder was induced by this success to surprise the Castle of Blyenbeck, which was yielded to his arms in 1589; and the following year [March 1] he got possession of Breda by a 'ruse de guerre,'"—having introduced 70 men into the town by concealing them in a boat laden with turf. "The Duke of Parma was now recalled from the Low Countries into France [see FRANCE: A. D. 1590], and the old Peter Ernest, Count de Mansfeld, succeeded to the government of the Low Countries. … Maurice defeated the Spanish army in the open field at Caervorden, and took Nimeguen [October 21, 1591] and Zutphen [May 30, 1591; also, Deventer, June 10, of the same year]. … These successes added greatly to the reputation of Count Maurice, who now made considerable progress, so that in the year 1591 the Dutch saw their frontiers extended, and had well-grounded hopes of driving the Spaniards out of Friesland in another campaign. … The death of the Prince of Parma [which occurred December 3, 1592] delivered the Confederates from a formidable adversary; but old Count Mansfeld, at the head of an army of 30,000 men, took the field against them. Maurice, however, in 1593, notwithstanding this covering force, sat down before Gertruydenberg, advantageously situated on the frontier of Brabant." The siege was regarded as a masterpiece of the military art of the day, and the city was brought to surrender at the end of three months. "With the useful aid of Sir Francis Vere and the English, Maurice afterwards took Gronenburg and Grave, which formed part of his own patrimony. The Duke of Parma was succeeded in the government of the Netherlands by the Archduke Albert, a younger son of the Emperor Maximilian, who was married to Isabella, daughter of King Philip."

Sir E. Cust, Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years' War: Maurice of Orange-Nassau, pages 25-28.

ALSO IN: C. R. Markham, The Fighting Veres, part 1, chapters 10-15.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1594-1597. Spanish operations in Northern France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1593-1598.

NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1594-1609. Steady decline of Spanish power. Sovereignty of the provinces made over to the Infanta Isabella and the Archduke, her husband. Death of Philip II. Negotiations for peace. A twelve years' truce agreed upon. Acknowledgment of the independence of the republic.

"Philip's French enterprise had failed. The dashing and unscrupulous Henry of Navarre had won his crown, by conforming to the Catholic faith. …

See FRANCE: A. D. 1591-1593.

Great was the shock given by his politic apostacy to the religious sentiments of Europe: but it was fatal to the ambition of Philip; and again the Netherlands could count upon the friendship of a king of France. Their own needs were great: but the gallant little republic still found means to assist the Protestant champion against their common enemy, the king of Spain. In the Netherlands the Spanish power was declining. The feeble successors of Parma were no match for Maurice of Nassau and the republican leaders: the Spanish troops were starving and mutinous: the provinces under Spanish rule were reduced to wretchedness and beggary. Cities and fortresses fell, one after another, into the hands of the stadtholder. The Dutch fleet joined that of England in a raid upon Spain itself, captured and sacked Cadiz [see SPAIN: A. D. 1596], raised the flag of the republic on the battlements of that famous city; and left the Spanish fleet burning in the harbour. Other events followed, deeply affecting the fortunes of the republic. Philip at length made peace with Henry of Navarre, and was again free to coerce his revolted provinces. But his accursed rule was drawing to a close. In 1598 he made over the sovereignty of the Netherlands to the Infanta Isabella and her affianced husband, the Archduke Albert, who had cast aside his cardinal's hat, his archbishopric, and his priestly vows of celibacy, for a consort so endowed. Philip had ceased to reign in the Netherlands; and a few months afterwards [September 13, 1598] he closed his evil life, in the odour of sanctity. … The tyrant was dead: the little republic, which he had scourged so cruelly, was living and prosperous. … Far different was the lot of the ill-fated provinces still in the grasp of the tyrant. The land lay waste and desolate: its inhabitants had tied to England or Holland, or were reduced to want and beggary. … That the republic should have outlived its chief oppressor was an event of happy augury: but years of trial and danger were still to be passed through. The victory of Nieuport [gained July 2, 1600, by an army of Dutch and English over the superior forces of the Archduke Albert] raised Prince Maurice's fame, as a soldier, to its highest point; and the gallant defence of Ostend, for upwards of three years [against a siege, conducted by the Spanish general Spinola, to which its garrison finally succumbed in 1604, when the town was a heap of ruins, and after 100,000 men are said to have been sacrificed on both sides] … proved that the courage and endurance of his soldiers had not declined during the protracted war [while Sluys was taken by the Prince the same year]. At sea the Dutch fleets won new victories over the Spaniards and Portuguese; and privateers made constant ravages upon the enemy's commerce. But there were also failures and reverses, on the side of the republic, dissensions among its leaders, and anxieties concerning the attitude of foreign States. And thus, with varied fortunes, this momentous war had now continued for upwards of forty years. … On both sides there was a desire for peace. The Dutch would accept nothing short of unconditional independence: the Spaniards almost despaired of reducing them to subjection, while they dreaded more republican victories at sea, and the extension of Dutch maritime enterprise in the East. Overtures for peace were first made cautiously and secretly by the archdukes ['this was the title of the archduke and archduchess'], and received by the States with grave distrust. Jealous and haughty was the bearing of the republic, in the negotiations which ensued. The states-general, in full session, represented Holland, and received the Spanish envoys. The independence of the States was accepted, on both sides, as the basis of any treaty: but, as a preliminary to the negotiations, the republic insisted upon its formal recognition, as a free and equal State, in words dictated by itself. … {2276} At length an armistice was signed, in order to arrange the terms of a treaty of peace. It was a welcome breathing time: but peace was still beset with difficulties and obstacles. The Spaniards were insincere: they could not bring themselves to treat seriously, and in good faith, with heretics and rebels: they desired the re-establishment of the Church of Rome; and they claimed the exclusive right of trading with the East and West Indies. The councils of the republic were also divided. Barneveldt, the civilian, was bent upon peace: Prince Maurice, the soldier, was burning for the renewal of the war. But Barneveldt and the peace party prevailed, and negotiations were continued. Again and again, the armistice was renewed: but a treaty of peace seemed as remote as ever. At length [April 9, 1609], after infinite disputes, a truce for twelve years was agreed upon. In form it was a truce, and not a treaty of peace: but otherwise the republic gained every point upon which it had insisted. Its freedom and independence were unconditionally recognised: it accepted no conditions concerning religion: it made no concessions in regard to its trade with the Indies. The great battle for freedom was won: the republic was free: its troubles and perils were at an end. Its oppressors had been the first to sue for peace: their commissioners had treated with the states-general at the Hague; and they had yielded every point for which they had been waging war for nearly half a century."