Chapter VII: Part 7

Thus coolly, and without a groan of sympathy, does Robertson relate a crime which extinguished a great nation.

But in this instance, it must be confessed, that the crime is less liable to awaken the indignation of the historian and his readers, because Might seems to _have made_ Right; this last outrage was not resisted. When Charles V. thus coolly drove the ploughshare of destruction over the constitutional rights of Spain, we cannot but wonderingly inquire, where are those proud and turbulent Aragonese, Catalonians, Castilians, from whom he and his courtiers so narrowly escaped with life, when, in order to force from them 200,000 ducats, he removed the Cortes from Valladolidto Compostella, by an exertion of his royal prerogative? Where are those “Children of Toledo,” invoked by the dying Padilla to take vengeance for the wrongs he suffered in their cause? Whither, oh, whither has fled the spirit of the Holy Junta? What has Spain been doing in these last score of years, that it should be so changed? The ruthless will to destroy their constitutional rights in Charles V.—that can surprise us no longer; that is the inherited spirit, the essence of the family of Hapsburgh. How can any finite thing grow, _except after its kind_? What is wonderful is not that Charles, with the Pope, and Italy, and Flanders at his feet with the imperial army of Germany to execute his behests, so managing by his cold diplomacy and cunning hypocrisy all these forces, that they know not well what they are doing it is not wonderful that all this was too much for the material forces of Spain, or of any nation whatever, but it is wonderful, and it needs explanation, that, in Spain itself, not a battle was fought to sow the blood-seeds of a future harvest, not a solitary voice even uttered the death-shriek of freedom over their blood-honoured, time-honoured constitutional rights at the moment they were finally strangled.

We must, in fact, look in another quite different direction for the explanation of this fact, and, though it takes us a little out of the course of our appointed work, we shall take leave to do so.

Liberty, that uncontained, uncontainable _spirit_, which is the life of all life, at once its origin and its end, _what_ is it, _where_ is it? _Where the Spirit of the Lord is_, says the apostle, _there is liberty_. But let us not repeat these words technically; let us at once, ‘clearing our minds of cant,’ seize upon their meaning. In vain for us is the Spirit of the Lord, unless it is _incarnated_; and yet, when it becomes incarnate, let us realize that none the less is it the uncontained and uncontainable, and to be worshipped as such, neither in the temple nor on the mountain, but in spirit and in truth. Liberty is nothing if it is not the element of _manliness_. It exists for no nation any longer than _manliness_ pervades the people. It is ITSELF EVOLVED from the manliness of a people, and whatever may have been its triumphs on any soil, if the men of that soil change or become no longer manly, we may wander among the palaces or the cottages where they formerly dwelt, and inquire for its whereabout in vain. Man cannot serve two masters, God and mammon. When the moment for Charles V.’s master-stroke came, instead of those men who once startled the echoes of the Sierras of Spain with their NO to the demand of an encroaching royal prerogative, there are _ghouls_ only, that inhabit castle and cottage, city palace and city bizarre; the activity, the energy, the life-blood of the country, has gone over the sea;—for America has been discovered; the gold and silver mines of Mexico and Peru have been opened a far off Eldorado, a _material_ ‘fountain of immortal youth,’ that the _body_ may imbibe, has seized the imagination and addressed every passion of the young men of the commons of Spain. The trees of the garden are so fine for the eyes, that the tree of life, which stands in the midst of the garden, is passed by, until at last the words of doom have been pronounced, and there is no winning the way back, but to fight with the flaming sword which turns every way.

We have said and seen, in the foregoing pages, that the stronghold of liberty is ever in THE COMMONS of a nation; and no nobility is strengthened by manliness any farther, or any longer, than it makes common cause with the rights of the commons. The nobility of Spain deserted the commons in 1521, and this enabled Charles, in 1539, to do, as far as their order was concerned, what we have just recorded. Still there would have been hope for Spain, if—which is a fact very commonly overlooked—the commons had not been far away from sacred fatherland, drinking themselves drunk with the gold they had madly quaffed, after having waded through seas of Indian blood to seize it. But it may be asked, how could so base a quest have carried off noble men? How could manly priests of the spirit of liberty have let the wine of immortality be spilled, while they were rushing madly after what could, at best, be of no value but as the chalice to hold it?

It is the child’s question, who wonders over the story of the chosen people of the Bible, that they could stray away from their invisible God and King after the stone and metal gods of the Pagans. Never was the most sordid of objects so enveloped in the robes of an angel of light. Who does not know that every innocent and lawful affection, every noble and generous plan of usefulness to others, that the interests of science, nay, even those of religion itself, can most easily take on this garb of foreign adventure, after means to attain their object? And were not the emblems of religion—the crosier and the bread of the Lord—used freely by pope and prelate, to mystify and consecrate to the imaginative and superstitious their own desire of action and adventure, even their sordid lust of gold? Let us not revile, but LEARN that liberty is a jealous god, who will have no other gods before her, but inexorably visit on the children’s children the faithlessness of their fathers to the Invisible Source, Guardian, Element, and End of a nation’s life.

We do not pursue the history of Spain through the reigns of the other kings of the House of Austria, although there might be much gathered to illustrate our subject, even as late as the time of the War of Succession, when the Catalonians were faithful to the House of Austria, yet were heartlessly abandoned at last to the House of Bourbon, without any stipulations for mercy made for them by those whose interests they had defended so heroically. We must turn to the history of the Netherlands.

The Netherlands came under the House of Austria, as we have already seen, by the marriage of Maximilian I. with Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold. The constitutional liberties of the people, in some instances, dated as far back as the ninth century. Mr. Grattan, in his History of the Netherlands, says:—

“From the time of Charlemagne, the people of the ancient Menapia formed political associations to raise a barrier against the despotic violence of the Franks. These associations were called _Gilden_, and in the Latin of the times _Gildonia_. They comprised, besides their covenants for mutual protection, an obligation which bound every member to give succour to any other, in cases of illness, conflagration, or shipwreck. But the growing force of these social compacts alarmed the quick-sighted despotism of Charlemagne, and they were, consequently, prohibited both by him and his successors. To give a notion of the importance of this prohibition to the whole of Europe, it is only necessary to state that the most ancient corporations (all which had preceded and engendered the most valuable municipal rights) were nothing more than gilden.

Thus, to draw an example from Great Britain, the corporative charter of Berwick still bears the title of _Charta Gildoniæ_. But the ban of the sovereigns was without efficacy, when opposed to the popular will. The gilden stood their ground; and within a century after the death of Charlemagne, all Flanders was covered with corporate towns.

“This popular opposition took, however, another form in the northern parts of the country, which still bore the common name of Friesland; for there it was not merely local but national. The Frisons succeeded in obtaining the sanction of the monarch to consecrate, as it were, those rights which were established under the ancient forms of government. The fact is undoubted; but the means which they employed are uncertain. It appears most probable that this great privilege was the price of their military services; for they held a high place in the victorious armies of Charlemagne; and Turpin, the old French romancer, alluding to the popular traditions of his time, represents the warriors of Friesland as endowed with the most heroic valor.

“These rights, which the Frisons secured, according to their own statements, from Charlemagne, but most undoubtedly from some one or other of the earliest emperors, consisted, first, in the freedom of every order of citizens; secondly, in the right of property,—a right which admitted no authority of the sovereign to violate by confiscation, except in cases of downright treason; thirdly, in the privilege of trial by none but native judges, and according to their national usages; fourthly, in a very narrow limitation of the military services which they owed to the king; fifthly, in the hereditary title to feudal property, in direct line, on payment of certain dues or rents. These five principal articles sufficed to render Friesland, in its political aspect, totally different from the other portions of the monarchy. Their privileges secured, their property inviolable, their duties limited, the Frisons were altogether free from the servitude which weighed down France. It will soon be seen that these special advantages produced a government nearly analogous to that which Magna Charta was the means of founding at a later period in England.”

With respect to Flanders, Grattan also says:—

“It was about the year 1100 that the commons began to possess the privilege of regulating their internal affairs: they appointed their judges and magistrates, and attached to their authority the old custom of ordering all the citizens to assemble or march when the summons of the feudal lord sounded the signal for their assemblage or service. By this means each municipal magistracy had the disposal of a force far superior to those of the nobles, for the population of the towns exceeded both in number and discipline the vassals of the seigniorial lands. And these trained bands of the towns made war in a way very different from that hitherto practised; for the chivalry of the country, making the trade of arms a profession for life, the feuds of the chieftains produced hereditary struggles, almost always slow, and mutually disastrous. But the townsmen, forced to tear themselves from every association of home and its manifold endearments, advanced boldly to the object of the contest; never shrinking from the dangers of war, from fear of that still greater one to be found in a prolonged struggle. It is thus that it may be remarked, during the memorable conflicts of the thirteenth century, that when even the bravest of the knights advised their counts or dukes to grant or demand a truce, the citizen militia never knew but one cry—‘To the charge.’”

With such a background of privilege in their history, it is not strange that the Netherlands should have wished to make terms with Maximilian, before acknowledging his authority. They stipulated for their rights, and in a war which broke out in consequence of his attempt, after the death of Mary, to usurp power, his person was actually seized and imprisoned at Bruges; nor was he released until all Europe interposed; and then, only on conditions which, with the perfidy characteristic of his house, he violated as soon as he was free. “For,” as Mr. Grattan says, “these kind of compacts were never observed by the princes of those days, beyond the actual period of their capacity to violate them. The emperor having entered the Netherlands at the head of 40,000 men, Maximilian, so supported, soon showed his contempt for the obligations he had sworn to, and had recourse to force for the extension of his authority. The valour of the Flemings and the military talents of their leader, Philip of Cleves, thwarted all his projects, and a new compromise was entered into. Flanders paid a large subsidy, and held fast her rights. The German troops were sent into Holland, and employed for the extinction of the Hoeks; who, as they formed by far the weaker faction, were now soon destroyed. That province, which had been so long distracted by its intestine feuds, and which had consequently played but an insignificant part in the transactions of the Netherlands, now resumed its place; and acquired thenceforth new honor, till it at length came to figure in all the importance of historical distinction.”

On obtaining the imperial crown, Maximilian was able to leave the scene of trouble, and invest Philip I. with the government of the Netherlands. The latter ensured his quiet possession of the place by renouncing all pretensions to Friesland, re-establishing commercial relations with England, whom Maximilian had offended, and taking care to consult the States-General on his projects of marriage with Joanna of Castile. His reign was rendered remarkable by the war of Friesland in defence of its independence against Albert of Saxony, to whom Maximilian had, as emperor, granted the stadtholdership, as reward for services rendered. In this war Albert took by assault the town of Leuwaarden, on which occasion he had all the chief burghers _impaled_. But, fortunately for the country, he died in 1500, without having succeeded in his projects of usurpation.

In what spirit Charles V. treated his paternal heritage, may be judged by his conduct towards Ghent, when it attempted, in 1529, “to vindicate its rights and privileges against the exactions of his sister Margaret, whom Maximilian had made Governess of the Netherlands,” after the death of Philip.

We quote the words of Robertson:—

“Having received orders from her brother to invade France, with all the forces she could raise, she assembled the States of the United Provinces, and obtained from them a subsidy of 1,200,000 florins, to defray the expense of that undertaking. Of this sum, the county of Flanders was obliged to pay a third part as its proportion. But the citizens of Ghent, the most considerable city in that country, averse to a war with France, with which they carried on an extensive and gainful commerce, refused to pay their quota, and contended, that in consequence of stipulations between them and the ancestors of their present sovereign, the Emperor, no tax could be levied upon them, unless they had given their express consent to the imposition of it. The governess, on the other hand, maintained, that as the subsidy of 1,200,000 florins had been granted by the States of Flanders, of which their representatives were members, they were bound, of course, to conform to what was enacted by them, as it is the first principle in society on which the tranquillity and order of government depend, that the inclinations of the minority must be overruled by the judgment and decision of the superior number. The citizens of Ghent, however, were not willing to relinquish a privilege of such high importance as that which they claimed. Having been accustomed, under the government of the house of Burgundy, to enjoy extensive immunities, and to be treated with much indulgence, they disdained to sacrifice to the delegated power of a regent, those rights and liberties which they had often and successfully asserted against their greatest princes. The queen, though she endeavoured at first to soothe them, and to reconcile them to their duty by various concessions, was at last so much irritated by the obstinacy with which they adhered to their claim, that she ordered all the citizens of Ghent, on whom she could lay hold, in any part of the Netherlands, to be arrested. But this rash action made an impression very different from what she expected, on men whose minds were agitated with all the violent passions which indignation at oppression and zeal for liberty inspire. Less affected with the danger of their friends and companions, than irritated at the governess, they openly despised her authority and sent deputies to the other towns of Flanders, conjuring them not to abandon their country at such a juncture, but to concur with them in vindicating its rights against the encroachments of a woman who either did not know or did not regard their immunities. All but a few inconsiderable towns declined entering into a confederacy against the governess; they joined, however, in petitioning her to put off the term for payment of the tax so long, that they might have it in their power to send some of their number into Spain, in order to lay their title to exemption before their sovereign. This she granted with some difficulty. But Charles received their commissioners with an haughtiness to which they were not accustomed from their ancient princes, and enjoining them to yield the same respectful obedience to his sister, which they owed to him in person, remitted the examination of their claim to the council of Malines. This court, which is properly a standing committee of the parliament, or States of the country, and which possesses the supreme jurisdiction in all matters, civil as well as criminal, pronounced the claim of the citizens of Ghent to be ill-founded, and appointed them forthwith to pay their proportion of the tax.”

An insurrection was the consequence, in which the Netherlanders relied upon the assistance of Charles’s enemy, the king of France. But it was the interest or the humour of Francis, at the moment, rather to communicate their intentions to the emperor, to whom he at the same time granted a free passage through his dominions to the Netherlands. Thus abandoned, as Robertson continues:

“The near approach of danger made them at last so sensible of their own folly, that they sent ambassadors to Charles, imploring his mercy, and offering to set open their gates at his approach. The emperor, without vouchsafing any other answer, than that he would appear among them as their sovereign, with sceptre and sword in his hand, began his march at the head of his troops. Though he chose to enter the city on the twenty-fourth of February, his birth-day, he was touched with nothing of that tenderness or indulgence which was natural toward the place of his nativity. Twenty-six of the principal citizens were put to death; a greater number was sent into banishment; _the city was declared to have forfeited all its privileges and immunities_; the revenues belonging to it were confiscated; _its ancient form of government was abolished_; the nomination of its magistrates was vested for the future in the emperor and his successors; _a new system of laws and political administration was prescribed_; and, in order to bridle the seditious spirit of the citizens, orders were given to erect a strong citadel, for defraying the expense of which a fine of 180,000 florins was imposed on the inhabitants, together with an annual tax of 6,000 florins for the support of the garrison. By these rigorous proceedings, Charles not only punished the citizens of Ghent, but set an awful example of severity before the other subjects in the Netherlands, whose immunities and privileges, _partly the effect, partly the cause of their extensive commerce_, circumscribed the prerogative of their sovereign within very narrow bounds, and often stood in the way of measures which he wished to undertake, or fettered and retarded him in his operations.”

We do not relate the shameful conduct of Charles to Francis, at this time, being obliged by the limitations of our plan to confine ourselves principally to the crimes of the House of Austria against liberty and law, and to omit its bad faith towards brother despots.

Before we go on to speak of the atrocious reign of Philip II. over the Netherlands, we will copy a paragraph from Mr. Grattan, in which is described the condition of the country at the time of his accession, which he introduces with some references to the causes of its prosperity.

“The amazing increase of commerce was, above all other considerations, the cause of the growth of liberty in the Netherlands. The Reformation opened the minds of men to that intellectual freedom, without which political enfranchisement is a worthless privilege. The invention of printing opened a thousand channels to the flow of erudition and talent, and sent them out from the reservoirs of individual possession to fertilise the whole domain of human nature. War, which seems to be an instinct of man, and which particular instances of heroism often raise to the dignity of a passion, was reduced to a science, and made subservient to those great principles of policy in which society began to perceive its only chance of durable good. Manufactures attained a state of high perfection, and went on progressively with the growth of wealth and luxury. The opulence of the towns of Brabant and Flanders was without any previous example in the state of Europe. A merchant of Bruges took upon himself alone the security for the ransom of John the Fearless, taken at the battle of Nicopolis, amounting to 200,000 ducats. A provost of Valenciennes repaired to Paris at one of the great fairs periodically held there, and purchased on his own account every article that was for sale. At a repast given by one of the counts of Flanders to the Flemish magistrates, the seats they occupied were unfurnished with cushions. Those proud burghers folded their sumptuous cloaks and sat on them. After the feast they were retiring without retaining these important and costly articles of dress; and on a courtier reminding them of their apparent neglect, the burgomaster of Bruges replied, ‘We Flemings are not in the habit of carrying away the cushions after dinner!’ The meetings of the different towns for the sports of archery were signalised by the most splendid display of dress and decoration. The archers were habited in silk, damask, and the finest linen, and carried chains of gold of great weight and value. Luxury was at its height among women. The queen of Philip the Fair of France, on a visit to Bruges, exclaimed, with astonishment not unmixed with envy, I thought myself the only queen here; but I see six hundred others who appear more so than I.

“The external relations of the country presented an aspect of prosperity and peace. England was closely allied to it by queen Mary’s marriage with Philip; France, fatigued with war, had just concluded with it a five years’ truce; Germany, paralyzed by religious dissensions, exhausted itself in domestic quarrels; the other states were too distant or too weak to inspire any uneasiness; and nothing appeared wanting for the public weal. Nevertheless there was something dangerous and alarming in the situation of the Low Countries; but the danger consisted wholly in the connection between the monarch and the people, and the alarm was not sounded till the mischief was beyond remedy.

“Philip had only once visited the Netherlands before his accession to sovereign power. Being at that time twenty-two years of age, his opinions were formed and his prejudices deeply rooted. Everything that he observed on this visit was calculated to revolt both. The frank cordiality of the people appeared too familiar. The expression of popular rights sounded like the voice of rebellion. Even the magnificence displayed in his honor offended his jealous vanity. From that moment he seems to have conceived an implacable aversion to the country, in which alone, of all his vast possessions, he could not display the power or inspire the terror of despotism.

“The sovereign’s dislike was fully equalled by the disgust of his subjects. His haughty severity and vexatious etiquette revolted their pride as well as their plain dealing; and the moral qualities of their new sovereign were considered with loathing. The commercial and political connection between the Netherlands and Spain had given the two people ample opportunities for mutual acquaintance. The dark, vindictive dispositions of the latter inspired a deep antipathy in those whom civilisation had softened and liberty rendered frank and generous; and the new sovereign seemed to embody all that was repulsive and odious in the nation of which he was the type.

“Philip knew well that force alone was insufficient to reduce such a people to slavery. He succeeded in persuading the states to grant him considerable subsidies, some of which were to be paid by instalments during a period of nine years. That was gaining a great step towards his designs, as it superseded the necessity of a yearly application to the three orders, the guardians of the public liberty. At the same time he sent secret agents to Rome, to obtain the approbation of the pope to his insidious but most effective plan for placing the whole of the clergy in dependence upon the crown. He also kept up the army of Spaniards and Germans which his father had formed on the frontiers of France; and although he did not remove from their employments the functionaries already in place, he took care to make no new appointments to office among the natives of the Netherlands.

“In the midst of these cunning preparations for tyranny, Philip was suddenly attacked in two quarters at once; by Henry II. of France, and by Pope Paul IV.”

The important results of these two wars, the alliance of France, and the support of the Pope, results brought about by the incredible baseness and hypocrisy of Philip; together with the hostility of Elizabeth of England, which he provoked by the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis, (1559,) were all made subservient to the grand design of consolidating despotism in the Netherlands.

“To lead his already deceived subjects the more surely into the snare, he announced his intended departure on a short visit to Spain; and created for the period of his absence a provisional government, chiefly composed of the leading men among the Belgian nobility. He flattered himself that the states, dazzled by the illustrious illusion thus prepared, would cheerfully grant to this provisional government the right of levying taxes during the temporary absence of the sovereign. He also reckoned on the influence of the clergy in the national assembly, to procure the revival of the edicts against heresy, which he had gained the merit of suspending. These, with many minor details of profound duplicity, formed the principal features of a plan, which, if successful, would have reduced the Netherlands to the wretched state of colonial dependence by which Naples and Sicily were held in the tenure of Spain.

“As soon as the states had consented to place the whole powers of government in the hands of the new administration for the period of the king’s absence, the royal hypocrite believed his scheme secure, and flattered himself he had established an instrument of durable despotism. The composition of this new government was a masterpiece of political machinery. It consisted of several councils, in which the most distinguished citizens were entitled to a place, in sufficient numbers to deceive the people with a show of representation, but not enough to command a majority, which was sure on any important question to rest with the titled creatures of the court. The edicts against heresy, soon adopted, gave to the clergy an almost unlimited power over the lives and fortunes of the people. But almost all the dignitaries of the church being men of great respectability and moderation, chosen by the body of the inferior clergy, these extraordinary powers excited little alarm. Philip’s project was suddenly to replace these virtuous ecclesiastics by others of his own choice, as soon as the states broke up from their annual meeting; and for this intention he had procured the secret consent and authority of the court of Rome.

“In support of these combinations, the Belgian troops were completely broken up and scattered in small bodies over the country. The whole of this force, so redoubtable to the fears of despotism, consisted of only 3000 cavalry. It was now divided into fourteen companies (or squadrons in the modern phraseology,) under the command of as many independent chiefs, so as to leave little chance of any principle of union reigning among them. But the German and Spanish troops in Philip’s pay were cantoned on the frontiers, ready to stifle any incipient effort in opposition to his plans. In addition to these imposing means for their execution, he had secured a still more secret and more powerful support;—a secret article in the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis obliged the king of France to assist him with the whole armies of France against his Belgian subjects, should they prove refractory. Thus the late war, of which the Netherlands had borne all the weight, and earned all the glory, only brought about the junction of the defeated enemy with their own king for the extinction of their national independence.

“To complete the execution of this system of perfidy, Philip convened an assembly of all the states at Ghent, in the month of July, 1559. This meeting of the representatives of the three orders of the state offered no apparent obstacle to Philip’s views. The clergy, alarmed at the progress of the new doctrines, gathered more closely round the government of which they required the support. The nobles had lost much of their ancient attachment to liberty; and had become, in various ways, dependent on the royal favour. Many of the first families were then represented by men possessed rather of courage and candour than of foresight and sagacity. That of Nassau, the most distinguished of all, seemed the least interested in the national cause. A great part of its possessions were in Germany and France, where it had recently acquired the sovereign principality of Orange. It was only from the third order—that of the commons—that Philip had to expect any opposition. Already, during the war, it had shown some discontent, and had insisted on the nomination of commissioners to control the accounts and the disbursements of the subsidies. But it seemed improbable, that among this class of men, any would be found capable of penetrating the manifold combinations of the king, and disconcerting his designs.

“Anthony Perrenotte de Granvelle, bishop of Arras, who was considered as Philip’s favourite counsellor, but who was in reality no more than his docile agent, was commissioned to address the assembly in the name of his master, who spoke only Spanish. His oration was one of cautious deception, and contained the most flattering assurances of Philip’s attachment to the people of the Netherlands. It excused the king for not having nominated his only son Don Carlos to reign over them in his name; alleging, as a proof of his royal affection, that he preferred giving them as governant a Belgian princess, Madame Marguerite, duchess of Parma, the natural daughter of Charles V. by a young lady, a native of Audenarde. Fair promises and fine words were thus lavished in profusion to gain the confidence of the deputies.

“But notwithstanding all the talent, the caution, and the mystery of Philip and his minister, there was among the nobles one man who saw through all. This individual, endowed with many of the highest attributes of political genius, and pre-eminently with judgment, the most important of all, entered, fearlessly into the contest against tyranny—despising every personal sacrifice for the country’s good. Without making himself suspiciously prominent, he privately warned some members of the states of the coming danger. Those in whom he confided did not betray the trust. They spread among the other deputies the alarm, and pointed out the danger to which they had been so judiciously awakened. The consequence was, a reply to Philip’s demand, in vague and general terms, without binding the nation by any pledge; and an unanimous entreaty that he would diminish the taxes, withdraw the foreign troops, and entrust no official employments to any but natives of the country.

“Philip was utterly astounded at all this. In the first moment of his vexation he imprudently cried out, ‘Would ye, then, also bereave _me_ of my place; I, who am a Spaniard?’ But he soon recovered his self-command, and resumed his usual mask; expressed his regret at not having sooner learned the wishes of the state; promised to remove the foreign troops within three months; and set off for Zealand, with assumed composure, but filled with the fury of a discovered traitor and humiliated despot.

“A fleet under the command of count Horn, the admiral of the United Provinces, waited at Flessingue to form his escort to Spain. At the very moment of his departure, William of Nassau, prince of Orange and governor of Zealand, waited on him to pay his official respects. The king, taking him apart from the other attendant nobles, recommended him to hasten the execution of several gentlemen and wealthy citizens attached to the newly introduced religious opinions. Then, quite suddenly, whether in the random impulse of suppressed rage, or that his piercing glance discovered William’s secret feelings in his countenance, he accused him with having been the means of thwarting his designs. ‘Sire,’ replied Nassau, ‘it was the work of the national states.’—‘No!’ cried Philip, grasping him furiously by the arm; ‘it was not done by the states, but by you, and you alone!’”

“This glorious accusation was not repelled. He who had saved his country in unmasking the designs of its tyrant, admitted by his silence his title to the hatred of the one and the gratitude of the other. On the 20th of August, Philip embarked and set sail; turning his back for ever on the country which offered the first check to his despotism; and, after a perilous voyage, he arrived in that which permitted a free indulgence to his ferocious and sanguinary career.

“For some time after Philip’s departure, the Netherlands continued to enjoy considerable prosperity. From the period of the peace of Chateau-Cambresis, commerce and navigation had acquired new and increasing activity. The fisheries, but particularly that of herrings, became daily more important; that one alone occupying 2000 boats. While Holland, Zealand, and Friesland made this progress in their peculiar branches of industry, the southern provinces were not less active or successful. Spain and the colonies offered such a mart for the objects of their manufacture, that in a single year they received from Flanders fifty large ships, filled with articles of household furniture and utensils. The exportation of woollen goods amounted to enormous sums. Bruges alone sold annually to the amount of 4,000,000 florins of stuffs of Spanish, and as much of English, wool; and the least value of the florin then was quadruple its present worth. The commerce with England, though less important than that with Spain, was calculated yearly at 24,000,000 florins, which was chiefly clear profit to the Netherlands, as their exportations consisted almost entirely of objects of their own manufacture. Their commercial relations with France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the Levant, were daily increasing. Antwerp was the centre of this prodigious trade. Several sovereigns, among others Elizabeth of England, had recognized agents in that city, equivalent to consuls of the present times; and loans of immense amount were frequently negotiated by them with wealthy merchants, who furnished them, not in negotiable bills or for unredeemable debentures, but in solid gold, and on a simple acknowledgment.

“Flanders and Brabant were still the richest and most flourishing portions of the state. Some municipal fêtes given about this time afford a notion of their opulence. On one of these occasions the town of Mechlin sent a deputation to Antwerp, consisting of 326 horsemen dressed in velvet and satin with gold and silver ornaments; while those of Brussels consisted of 340 as splendidly equipped, and accompanied by seven huge triumphal chariots and seventy-eight carriages of various constructions,—a prodigious number for those days.”

We cannot give a complete account of the contest which Philip II. waged with the people of these rich and free provinces. That contest brought before the world the consummate ability and virtue of the first William of Orange, who at an early day penetrated, as we have seen, the designs of the tyrant, and until the unfortunate day in which he was murdered by the third assassin whom Philip had educated for the purpose, stood for the rights of his nation, glorious both in victory and defeat. We will make a few extracts to show the character of the events, happy if we succeed in sending our readers to study out all the details in Schiller’s Revolt of the Netherlands, and Mr. Grattan’s more extensive history of the country from its origin to the battle of Waterloo.

“The new bishops were to a man most violent, intolerant, and it may be conscientious, opponents to the wide-spreading doctrines of reform. The execution of the edicts against heresy was confided to them. The provincial governors and inferior magistrates were commanded to aid them with a strong arm; and the most unjust and frightful persecution immediately commenced. But still some of these governors and magistrates, considering themselves not only the officers of the prince, but the protectors of the people, and the defenders of the laws rather than of the faith, did not blindly conform to those harsh and illegal commands. The prince of Orange, stadtholder of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, and count of Egmont, governor of Flanders and Artois, permitted no persecutions in those five provinces. But in various places the very people, even when influenced by their superiors, openly opposed it. Catholics as well as Protestants were indignant at the atrocious spectacles of cruelty presented on all sides. The public peace was endangered by isolated acts of resistance, and fears of a general insurrection soon became universal.

“The public fermentation subsided; the patriot lords re-appeared at court; and the prince of Orange acquired an increasing influence in the council and over the government, who by his advice adopted a conciliatory line of conduct—a fallacious but still a temporary hope for the nation. But the calm was of short duration. Scarcely was this moderation evinced by the government, when Philip, obstinate in his designs, and outrageous in his resentment, sent an order to have the edicts against heresy put into most rigorous execution, and to proclaim throughout the seventeen provinces the furious decree of the council of Trent.

“Not satisfied with the hitherto established forms of punishment, Philip now expressly commanded that the more revolting means decreed by his father in the rigour of his early zeal, such as burning, living burial, and the like, should be adopted; and he somewhat more obscurely directed that the victims should be no longer publicly immolated, but secretly destroyed. He endeavoured, by this vague phraseology, to avoid the actual utterance of the word _inquisition_; but he thus virtually established that atrocious tribunal, with attributes still more terrific than even in Spain; for there the condemned had at least the consolation of dying in open day, and of displaying the fortitude which is rarely proof against the horror of a private execution. Philip had thus consummated his treason against the principles of justice and the practices of jurisprudence, which had heretofore characterized the country; and against the most vital of those privileges which he had solemnly sworn to maintain.

“His design of establishing this horrible tribunal so impiously named _holy_ by its founders, had been long suspected by the people of the Netherlands. The expression of those fears had reached him more than once. He as often replied by assurances that he had formed no such project, and particularly to count d’Egmont during his recent visit to Madrid. But at the very time he assembled a conclave of his creatures, doctors of theology, of whom he formally demanded an opinion as to whether he could conscientiously tolerate two sorts of religion in the Netherlands. The doctors, hoping to please him, replied, that ‘he might, for the avoidance of a greater evil.’ Philip trembled with rage, and exclaimed, with a threatening tone, ‘I ask not if I _can_, but if I _ought_.’ The theologians read in this question the nature of the expected reply; and it was amply conformable to his wish. He immediately threw himself on his knees before a crucifix, and raising his hands towards heaven, put up a prayer for strength in his resolution to pursue as deadly enemies all who viewed that effigy with feelings different from his own. If this were not really a sacrilegious farce, it must be that the blaspheming bigot believed the Deity to be a monster of cruelty like himself.

“And now in reality began the awful revolution of the Netherlands against their tyrant. In a few years this so lately flourishing and happy nation presented a frightful picture; and in the midst of European peace, prosperity, and civilization, the wickedness of one prince drew down on the country he misgoverned more evils than it had suffered for centuries from the worst effects of his foreign foes.

“The confederation acquired its perfect organization in the month of February, 1566, on the 10th of which month its celebrated manifesto was signed by its numerous adherents.

“This remarkable proclamation of general feeling consisted chiefly in a powerful reprehension of the illegal establishment of the inquisition in the Low Countries, and a solemn obligation on the members of the confederacy to unite in the common cause against this detested nuisance. Men of all ranks and classes offered their signatures, and several Catholic priests among the rest.

“Even while the council of state held its sittings, the report was spread through Brussels, that the confederates were approaching. And at length they did enter the city, to the amount of some hundreds of the representatives of the first families in the country. On the following day, the 5th of April, 1556, they walked in solemn procession to the palace. Their demeanour was highly imposing, from their mingled air of forbearance and determination. All Brussels thronged out, to gaze and sympathise with this extraordinary spectacle of men whose resolute step showed they were no common suppliants, but whose modest bearing had none of the seditious air of faction. The government received the distinguished petitioners with courtesy, listened to their detail of grievances, and returned a moderate, conciliatory, but evasive answer.

“Having presented two subsequent remonstrances to the government, and obtained some consoling promises of moderation, the chief confederates quitted Brussels, leaving several directors to sustain their cause in the capital; while they themselves spread into the various provinces, exciting the people to join the legal and constitutional resistance with which they were resolved to oppose the march of bigotry and despotism.

“The confederation gained ground every day. Its measures had totally changed the face of affairs in all parts of the nation. The general discontent now acquired stability, and subsequent importance. The chief merchants of many of the towns enrolled themselves in the patriot band.”

The result of these first measures was a deputation from Marguerite to Philip, praying for redress of the grievances named by the confederation; and even Philip’s Spanish Councillors advised gentleness and the abolition of the Inquisition.

“The king’s first care on receiving this advice was to order, in all the principal towns of Spain and the Netherlands, prayer and processions, to implore the divine approbation on the resolutions which he had formed. He appeared then in person at the council of state, and issued a decree, by which he refused his consent to the convocation of the states-general, and bound himself to take several German regiments into his pay. He ordered the duchess of Parma, by a private letter, to immediately cause to be raised 3000 cavalry and 10,000 foot, and he remitted to her for this purpose 300,000 florins gold. He next wrote with his own hand to several of his partisans in the various towns, encouraging them in their fidelity to his purposes, and promising them his support. He rejected the adoption of the moderation recommended to him; but he consented to the abolition of the inquisition in its most odious sense, reëstablishing that modified species of ecclesiastical tyranny which had been introduced into the Netherlands by Charles V. The people of that devoted country were thus successful in obtaining one important concession from the king, and in meeting unexpected consideration from this Spanish council. Whether these measures had been calculated with a view to their failure, it is not now easy to determine; at all events they came too late. When Philip’s letters reached Brussels, the iconoclasts or image-breakers were abroad.

“It requires no profound research to comprehend the impulse which leads a horde of fanatics to the most monstrous excesses. That the deeds of the iconoclasts arose from the spontaneous outburst of mere vulgar fury, admits of no doubt. The aspersion which would trace those deeds to the meeting of St. Trond, and fix the infamy on the body of nobility there assembled, is scarcely worthy of refutation. The very lowest of the people were the actors as well as the authors of the outrages, which were at once shocking to every friend of liberty, and injurious to that sacred cause. Artois and western Flanders were the scenes of the first exploits of the iconoclasts. A band of peasants, intermixed with beggars and various other vagabonds, to the amount of about 300, urged by fanaticism and those baser passions which animate every lawless body of men, armed with hatchets, clubs, and hammers, forced open the doors of some of the village churches in the neighbourhood of St. Omer, and tore down and destroyed not only the images and relics of saints, but those very ornaments which Christians of all sects hold sacred, and essential to the most simple rites of religion.

“The cities of Ypres, Lille, and other places of importance, were soon subject to similar visitations; and the whole of Flanders was in a few days ravaged by furious multitudes, whose frantic energy spread terror and destruction on their route. Antwerp was protected for a while by the presence of the prince of Orange; but an order from the government having obliged him to repair to Brussels, a few nights after his departure the celebrated cathedral shared the fate of many a minor temple, and was utterly pillaged. The blind fury of the spoilers was not confined to the mere effigies which they considered the types of idolatry, nor even to the pictures, the vases, the sixty-six altars, and their richly wrought accessories; but it was equally fatal to the splendid organ, which was considered the finest at that time in existence. The rapidity and the order with which this torchlight scene was acted, without a single accident among the numerous doers, has excited the wonder of almost all its early historians. One of them does not hesitate to ascribe the ‘miracle’ to the absolute agency of demons. For three days and nights these revolting scenes were acted, and every church in the city shared the fate of the cathedral, which, next to St. Peter’s at Rome, was the most magnificent in Christendom.

“Ghent, Tournay, Valenciennes, Mechlin, and other cities, were next the theatres of similar excesses; and in an incredibly short space of time above 400 churches were pillaged in Flanders and Brabant. Zealand, Utrecht, and others of the northern provinces, suffered more or less; Friesland, Guelders, and Holland alone escaped, and even the latter but in partial instances.

“These terrible scenes extinguished every hope of reconciliation with the king. An inveterate and interminable hatred was now established between him and the people; for the whole nation was identified with deeds which were in reality only shared by the most base, and were loathsome to all who were enlightened. It was in vain that the patriot nobles might hope or strive to exculpate themselves; they were sure to be held criminal either in fact or by implication. No show of loyalty, no efforts to restore order, no personal sacrifice, could save them from the hatred or screen them from the vengeance of Philip.

“The affright of the government during the short reign of anarchy and terror was without bounds.

“Necessity now extorted almost every concession which had been so long denied to justice and prudence. The confederates were declared absolved from all responsibility relative to their proceedings. The suppression of the inquisition, the abolition of the edicts against heresy, and a permission for the preachings, were simultaneously published.

“Philip was ill at Segovia when he received accounts of the excesses of the image-breakers, and of the convention concluded with the heretics. Dispatches from the government, with private advices from Viglius, Egmont, Mansfield, Megham, de Berlaimont, and others, gave him ample information as to the real state of things, and they thus strove to palliate their having acceded to the convention. The emperor even wrote to his royal nephew, imploring him to treat his wayward subjects with moderation, and offered his mediation between them.”

But all was in vain. Philip proceeded with his usual dissimulation. His artifices succeeded in disuniting the Protestants, but hostilities commenced, and there were victories and losses on both sides; new preliminaries of reconciliation, falsely intended, and resulting only in the self-banishment of the patriot lords and an immense emigration; until at last Philip fully developed his plans by sending Alva to supersede Marguerite.

“On the 5th May, 1567, this celebrated captain, whose reputation was so quickly destined to sink into the notoriety of an executioner, began his memorable march; and on the 22d of August, he, with his two natural sons, and his veteran army consisting of about 15,000 men, arrived at the walls of Brussels. The discipline observed on this march was a terrible fore-warning to the people of the Netherlands of the influence of the general and the obedience of the troops. They had little chance of resistance against such soldiers so commanded.

“Several of the Belgian nobility went forward to meet Alva, to render him the accustomed honours, and endeavour thus early to gain his good graces. Among them was the infatuated Egmont, who made a present to Alva of two superb horses, which the latter received with a disdainful air of condescension. Alva’s first care was the distribution of his troops—several thousands of whom were placed in Antwerp, Ghent, and other important towns, and the remainder reserved under his own immediate orders at Brussels. His approach was celebrated by universal terror; and his arrival was thoroughly humiliating to the duchess of Parma. He immediately produced his commission as commander-in-chief of the royal armies in the Netherlands; but he next showed her another, which confided to him powers infinitely more extended than any Marguerite herself had enjoyed, and which proved to her that the almost sovereign power over the country was virtually vested in him.

“Alva first turned his attention to the seizure of those patriot lords whose pertinacious infatuation left them within his reach. He summoned a meeting of all the members of the council of state and the knights of the order of the Golden Fleece, to deliberate on matters of great importance. Counts Egmont and Horn attended, among many others; and at the conclusion of the council they were both arrested (some historians assert by the hands of Alva and his eldest son), as was also Van Straeten, burgomaster of Antwerp, and Casambrot, Egmont’s secretary. The young count of Mansfield appeared for a moment at this meeting; but, warned by his father of the fate intended him, as an original member of the confederation, he had time to fly. The count of Hoogstraeten was happily detained by illness, and thus escaped the fate of his friends. Egmont and Horn were transferred to the citadel of Ghent, under an escort of 3000 Spanish soldiers. Several other persons of the first families were arrested; and those who had originally been taken in arms were executed without delay.