Note 1140 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
M. de Bavay has devoted seventy pages or more of his publication to affidavits of witnesses in behalf of the prosecution. (Procès du Comte d'Egmont, pp. 267-322.) But their testimony bears almost exclusively on the subject of Egmont's dealings with the sectaries,—scarcely warranting the Flemish editor's assertion in his preface, that he has been able to furnish "all the elements of the conviction of the accused by the duke of Alva."
M. de Bavay's work is one of the good fruits of that patriotic zeal which animates the Belgian scholars of our time for the illustration of their national history. It was given to the public only the last year, after the present chapter had been written. In addition to what is contained in former publications, it furnishes us with complete copies of the defence of Egmont, as prepared both by himself and his counsel, and with the affidavits above noticed of witnesses on the part of the government. It has supplied me, therefore, with valuable materials, whether for the correction or the corroboration of my previous conclusions.