II.

THE WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS TO THE UNION OF UTRECHT.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Many of the men who had been obliged to leave their homes had turned to the sea for refuge. Legitimate commerce could not absorb them all, even if it had been flourishing as formerly, and so in their desperate condition they became buccaneers. The prince of Orange took advantage of this, and issued a commission to a reckless fugitive noble named William de la Marck to act as his admiral and attack Spanish ships wherever he could find them. De la Marck was a distant relative of Egmont, and had sworn not to clip his hair or beard till he had avenged the count’s death. In March 1572 he was lying at anchor at Dover with a fleet of twenty-four vessels, when by order of Queen Elizabeth all supplies of provisions were refused to him. He was then compelled to do something desperate at once, or starve, so he resolved to sail to Enkhuizen, and try to get possession of that port. The wind failed him, however, so on the 1st of April he put into the Maas and anchored in front of Brill (Brielle), a walled and fortified town on the island of Voorne. The Spanish garrison had just been sent to Utrecht. The Sea Beggars were only a few hundred in number, but Pieter Koppelstok, who was sent by De la Marck to demand the surrender of the town, when questioned as to their strength replied about five thousand. The authorities and adherents of the government fled in fear, and the half-famished rovers battered in the gates and took possession of the place. This was the beginning of the second campaign against the Spaniards.

It could not be expected that the Sea Beggars, after their wrongs and their sufferings, would act very gently with their opponents, but the ferocity which they displayed on this occasion cannot be excused or passed lightly over. They broke all the altars, statues, and ornaments in the churches, dressed themselves in clerical robes, and barbarously put to death thirteen priests and monks who had not been able to make their escape. A Spanish force was sent from Utrecht to recover Brill, but was beaten off with considerable loss. De la Marck was then of opinion that the place should be abandoned, but Captain Treslong, whose father had once been governor of the town, induced him to continue to hold it and to rally the patriots around him there, who quickly came in and joined him.

[Sidenote: Successes of the Sea Beggars.]

As soon as intelligence of the repulse of the Spaniards from Brill reached Flushing (Vlissingen), that important town declared for the prince of Orange, and sent to De la Marck to beg for assistance. Two hundred Sea Beggars, all in clerical garments, were thereupon forwarded in three vessels, and quickly reached their destination. Here also an act of inexcusable barbarity took place. The engineer who had constructed the citadel of Antwerp, Pacheco by name, had just arrived in Flushing to erect a fortress there. He was seized and at once hanged with two other Spanish officers. With the town half the island of Walcheren went over to the patriot cause, and very shortly a strong force of Beggars, aided by some French soldiers and English volunteers, assembled there to protect it.

The example thus set was speedily followed by most of the towns that were not overawed by powerful Spanish garrisons in the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Overyssel, and Friesland. Amsterdam, Middelburg, Goes, Arnemuide, Utrecht, and a few others were too strongly garrisoned to be able to rise. In some of the towns the change was made without bloodshed, in others the most barbarous cruelties were practised on both sides, for passion had taken the place of reason and charity. The revolted towns declared that they remained faithful to King Philippe as count of Holland, etc., that the ancient charters conferring rights and privileges were restored, that there was perfect freedom for both the Roman Catholic and Reformed religions, that they accepted the prince of Orange as stadholder for the sovereign of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Friesland, and that they repudiated the duke of Alva, the inquisition, and the tax on commerce.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Other successes awaited the patriot cause. On the 24th of May 1572 Count Louis of Nassau with a small band obtained possession of the important town of Mons in Hainaut. And on the 10th of June a richly laden Spanish fleet from Lisbon arrived at Flushing and cast anchor, being unaware of what had occurred there. Most of the ships were captured, a thousand Spanish soldiers on board were made prisoners, five hundred thousand crowns of gold sent by Philippe for his army chest and a large quantity of ammunition became prize to the Beggars, and much spice and other valuable merchandise was secured.

On the 15th of July the estates of Holland, consisting of the nobles and deputies from eight cities, met at Dordrecht. The prince of Orange was in Germany, where he had engaged an army of fifteen thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry, besides three thousand refugee Walloons. The estates adopted measures for raising all the money that they could to pay these troops for three months, and Orange then entered the southern provinces. His first object was to relieve Mons, which was besieged by a strong Spanish army, and to effect a junction with Admiral Coligny, who with the approval of the king of France was to aid him with ten thousand Huguenots. After crossing the border, town after town opened its gates to him, and received the garrisons he placed in them. Everything looked bright before him, when suddenly, without the slightest warning, a thunderbolt fell which utterly destroyed his hopes and those of the patriot party.

A contingent of Huguenots was cut to pieces when attempting to enter Mons, but the main body under Coligny was believed to be ready to advance, when tidings were received of the fearful Massacre of Saint Bartholomew on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of August 1572. The treacherous Charles IX of France, by an act of savage cruelty without parallel in a Christian state, had betrayed the cause it was his interest to favour, and had murdered a hundred thousand of his Protestant subjects. Admiral Coligny was among the victims. Orange realised at once that his cause was shattered, his German troops had not been fully paid, and were almost mutinous, so he was obliged to retire and disband them. The towns that had welcomed him now hastened to disown him, and returned to their obedience to Alva. On the 20th of September Mons capitulated on honourable terms, which were not, however, faithfully observed by the conquerors, and all the southern provinces were again under the Spanish yoke.

[Sidenote: Sack of Mechlin.]

Alva had reinforced his army very largely with German mercenaries, the same class of men that Orange had raised his forces from, and he had enlisted a great many Walloons. He was without money to pay either them or his Spanish veterans. He gave them instead the city of Mechlin to plunder for three days, the Spaniards to have it for the first day, the Germans for the second, and the Walloons for the third. Mechlin was almost entirely a Catholic city, but it had welcomed the prince of Orange, and had received a garrison from him. This was to be its punishment by Alva. The horrors of the sack of the doomed city cannot be fully told, but they can be imagined. The Spaniards knew that the richest spoil would be found in the churches, and they resolved not to leave it for others. In their lust for spoil the churches, the monasteries, and the convents of Mechlin were treated by these Catholics as the cathedral of Antwerp had been by the fanatic Protestants. Then the citizens were tortured and murdered, and nameless horrors were perpetrated upon females, until the first day ended. On the second day the Germans, and on the third the debased Walloons, followed in the sack of Mechlin, leaving it desolate, plundered, and utterly forlorn. Such was Alva’s punishment of a disobedient city.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The tide of fortune was now setting as strong against the patriot cause as it had been in its favour during the earlier months of the year. On the 26th of August the Beggars laid siege to Goes in Zeeland, which was defended by a Spanish garrison, but must have fallen if it had not been relieved on the 21st of October by an army that had made a wonderful march through shallow water. The besiegers were then obliged to flee, but they were pursued, and their rearguard was completely destroyed.

Alva now sent a strong army under his son Don Frederic de Toledo to reduce the northern provinces to subjection. Don Frederic directed his march to Gelderland, where the town of Zutphen attempted to resist him. It was easily taken, however, when all its adult male inhabitants were put to the sword, and most of its buildings were destroyed by fire. The whole of the provinces east and south of the Zuider Zee now submitted to Alva, only Holland and Zeeland still holding out, and even of these the largest towns--Amsterdam and Middelburg--were occupied by Spanish garrisons. There was no national army in existence, and each town was politically isolated from all the others, a condition of things which made defence extremely difficult.

Don Frederic now marched towards North Holland, meeting no opposition until he reached the little town of Naarden, on the shore of the Zuider Zee, south-east of Amsterdam. Naarden offered a feeble resistance, but on a verbal promise from General Julian Romero that life and property would be spared, it surrendered. Every man in the place and nearly every woman was put to death, and the little town was set on fire and razed to the ground.

A more memorable siege than any which had yet taken place was that of the town of Haarlem. On the 11th of December 1572 Haarlem was beleaguered by an army of thirty thousand Spaniards, Germans, and Walloons, commanded by Don Frederic de Toledo. The duke of Alva had his headquarters in the neighbouring city of Amsterdam, whence supplies of provisions, ammunition, and whatever else was needed could be forwarded to the camps without delay. Within the walls of the town were only four thousand fighting men, so that the Spanish commander could reasonably hope that a few days would suffice for its reduction. But the people of Haarlem were stouthearted as ever were Greeks in the olden time, they hated the Spanish yoke as that of the foul fiend, and they had made up their minds to resist to the very last. Assault after assault was made upon their walls, and whenever a breach was effected the enemy came storming upon it, but only to be beaten back. In the night the breaches were repaired, the women and children assisting in the work. A band of three hundred women, led by the widow Kenau Hasselaer, did as much and as splendid service fighting in the breaches and on the walls as any men could have done. The children too did what they could by carrying powder and food from place to place.

[Sidenote: Siege of Haarlem.]

So month after month passed away, and heroic Haarlem still held out. The prince of Orange from Delft used almost superhuman exertions to get men together and to throw reinforcements and provisions into the beleaguered town, but they all failed in getting through the encircling bands. At last food, even of the most disgusting kind, entirely failed, and when many had died of actual starvation, those who could no longer fight from weakness submitted on a promise of lenient treatment. It was on the 12th of July 1573, seven months and two days after the commencement of the siege, that Haarlem fell. The promise of lenity was kept by the plunder of the town being commuted for a sum of money to be paid in four instalments, so that the horrors which Mechlin had witnessed were spared to Haarlem, but two thousand three hundred of the inhabitants were put to death after the surrender. The besiegers had paid dearly for the town, for they had lost no fewer than twelve thousand men in combat or by disease in those seven months of desperate fighting.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Alkmaar, a small though important town in North Holland, was then summoned to submit, but declined to do so. The prince of Orange had managed to obtain eight hundred soldiers, who were sent to assist the burghers, thirteen hundred in number, to defend it. On the 21st of August 1573 Don Frederic de Toledo invested the town with sixteen thousand veteran troops, and immediately began to attempt to batter down part of the wall. On three occasions breaches were made, and storming

## parties tried to effect an entrance, but were driven back by boiling

oil, tarred and burning hoops, and other missiles of the kind being thrown upon them. The soldiers then refused to storm again, and the only course left was to wait for famine to do its work. But some letters of the prince of Orange fell into Don Frederic’s hands, from which he learned that the dykes were to be cut and the land flooded, when he resolved to raise the siege rather than risk the loss of his whole army by drowning. On the 8th of October the people of Alkmaar had the happiness of seeing from their walls the Spanish army with all its appurtenances in full retreat towards Amsterdam.

Another triumph for the patriot cause followed quickly, to Alva’s intense discomfiture. He had purchased some ships and built others at Amsterdam, until he had a fleet of thirty men-of-war, which he equipped in the most efficient manner known in those days. The largest carried thirty-two cannon, and was manned by one hundred and fifty seamen, besides having on board over two hundred veteran Spanish soldiers under the captains Alonzo de Conquera and Fernando Lopez. She was named the _Inquisitie_, and carried the flag of Admiral Maximilian de Henniu, count of Bossu. This fleet was intended by Alva to command the Zuider Zee, and was regarded by him as an invincible armada.

The Sea Beggars, to oppose this formidable armament, collected together twenty-four vessels of inferior size, which were placed under the command of a valiant seaman named Cornelis the son of Dirk, who was styled admiral of North Holland.

[Sidenote: First Victory at Sea.]

Bossu plundered and laid waste some villages along the coast, but at length the son of Dirk resolved boldly to attack him. He tried to keep the Sea Beggars at a distance and destroy them with his artillery, while they, who were but ill supplied with cannon or powder, were determined to grapple with his ships and fight him hand to hand. In the first and second days’ manœuvring they succeeded in this manner in overmastering one of his ships, when they made the officers prisoners, and put to death all the others on board. Then for more than a week the weather prevented anything further being done, and both parties remained inactive.

On the 11th of October 1573 the great battle took place. The Sea Beggars closed with their opponents, and after desperate fighting succeeded in sinking one of Bossu’s ships and overmastering five others. They had grappled with the _Inquisitie_ herself, when the remainder of the fleet gave up the contest and set sail for Amsterdam, throwing their cannon overboard to enable them to pass some shoals. Night was setting in, and there were so many wounded in the patriot ships that it was considered imprudent to follow the fugitives. Four small vessels were made fast to Bossu’s ship. One was beaten off, but the other three clung to her like leeches. She drifted on a sandbank off Hoorn, but so fierce was the fighting that no one seemed to notice that they were no longer in motion. Bossu in a coat of mail stood on her deck and directed the soldiers, and the Sea Beggars scrambled up her sides and attacked like demons. Boats put out from Hoorn bringing volunteers to aid in the struggle, and taking the wounded ashore to be cared for. At short intervals for twenty-eight hours the hand to hand contest lasted on the deck of the _Inquisitie_, till only fourteen or fifteen men remained unwounded to defend her. Bossu could hold out no longer. He surrendered on condition that he and his officers should be honourably treated as captives, and that the soldiers and sailors should either be exchanged or pay only one month’s wages as ransom. The prisoners were taken to Hoorn, and were kept as hostages, which prevented the putting to death of many prominent patriots then in the power of the Spanish authorities.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Such was the first important battle on the sea won by the sturdy Hollanders, and it was to be a beginning of a series of victories which in later years shed deathless renown on them and the land they so bravely fought for. Surnames had not then come into common use for humble folk, and it is only as Cornelis the son of Dirk that the valiant admiral of North Holland can be mentioned in history.

The sanguinary government of Alva in the Netherlands now drew to its close. He had requested to be relieved, and the king was not unwilling to try if some one else could not manage affairs better, or at least without such constant demands upon the revenue of Spain. On the 17th of November 1573 his successor Don Luis de Requesens y Cuniga, Grand Commander of St. Iago, and recently governor of Milan, arrived in Brussels, and on the 29th of the same month assumed duty as governor and captain-general of the Netherlands.

The complete absence of honour or principle in Alva was illustrated by the manner in which he left Amsterdam. He was heavily in debt in that city both privately and for the government, so he called for all accounts to be sent in on a certain day, and during the preceding night departed stealthily. On the 18th of December he left the Netherlands, taking with him the curses of the unhappy people. It was reported, though perhaps incorrectly, that he boasted of having caused through his infamous Council of Blood eighteen thousand six hundred people to lose their lives at the stake or on the scaffold during the six years of his administration.[23] No wonder that successive generations of Netherlanders taught their children to regard him, not as a man, but as an absolute devil in human form, the incarnation of all that was false, and treacherous, and cruel.

[Sidenote: Philippe’s Conditions of Peace.]

The condition of affairs in the Netherlands when the Grand Commander Requesens assumed the administration was about as bad as well could be. Only parts of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland were in open revolt, but everywhere the country was seething with discontent. There was a standing army of sixty-two thousand men--Spaniards, German mercenaries, and Walloons--engaged in suppressing the disposition to rise in arms, £1,300,000 was due to them as arrears of pay, the cost of maintaining them was £120,000 a month, and there was not a single sixpence in the treasury. Already £8,000,000 had been received from Spain, and had been spent to no purpose. So many soldiers were needed to garrison the towns that only a sufficient number could be spared to besiege Leyden, none were available to reduce any of the other revolted towns or even to relieve Middelburg, which was beleaguered by the patriots. The mighty Spanish empire, with the gold and silver of America at its disposal, with some of the fairest provinces of Italy at its command, was held at bay by parts of two little provinces, under the direction of William prince of Orange.

Under these circumstances the king spoke of his willingness to bring about a reconciliation of the people to his rule and to pardon them for their past resistance, but he laid down two indispensable conditions; that they should admit his absolute authority, and that they should return to the Roman Catholic faith.

The patriots too were desirous of putting an end to the long and bitter strife, but they also claimed conditions which they could not forego: the recognition of constitutional rights, entire freedom of conscience, and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country. The two positions were irreconcilable, and so the war went on. Holland and Zeeland now contained very few Catholics, for Alva had made the religion that he professed almost as hateful as he was himself.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Middelburg, the principal city in the province of Zeeland, was besieged by the patriots and such troops as the prince of Orange could engage in his cause; but was defended with the utmost skill and bravery by the Spanish garrison under Colonel Christopher Mondragon. Provisions, however, were running short, and it became evident that if relief was not speedily afforded, the place would be lost to the king. Requesens therefore collected seventy-five ships of different sizes at Bergen op Zoom and thirty more at Antwerp, which were laden with stores of food and munitions of war, all the soldiers that he could engage or spare with any degree of prudence were embarked in them, and they were directed to drop down to Flushing, to unite there, and to succour Middelburg. By the time they were ready the soldiers and townspeople were in the utmost extremity of hunger.

While Requesens was thus engaged, the prince of Orange and the Sea Beggars were not idle. A fleet was collected at Flushing, and was placed under the command of Louis Boisot, a Zeelander of noble birth and a brother of the governor of the town. He had the title of admiral of Zeeland conferred upon him. Boisot did not wait to be attacked, but on the 20th of January 1574 sailed up the Schelde to meet the larger of the two squadrons, which was commanded by Julian Romero, and which had just set sail when he met it. He at once grappled with his opponents, and a desperate combat took place, which lasted two hours. One of Romero’s vessels was sunk, another was blown up, and fifteen were captured. Twelve hundred of his sailors and soldiers were killed fighting, or were thrown overboard and drowned, and it would have gone hard with the others if they had not put back to Bergen op Zoom. Requesens, standing on a dyke at Bergen, was a spectator of the discomfiture of his fleet. The patriots’ loss was much less than that of their enemy, but several of the captains were killed and Boisot himself received a wound in the face which deprived him of an eye.

[Sidenote: Great Disaster.]

The Antwerp squadron, commanded by Sancho d’Avila, had meantime arrived off Flushing, but when intelligence of Romero’s defeat was received, it at once put about and returned.

This event decided the fate of Middelburg. The last cat and dog in the town had been eaten, when on the 18th of February 1574 Mondragon capitulated on condition that his troops should be permitted to leave with their arms and personal property, and the town gave in its adhesion to the prince of Orange.

On both sides now great exertions were made to raise troops, the difficulty in the way being the want of money. Men in any number could always be had in Germany, provided the means of equipping and paying them were forthcoming. The jealousy of Spain which pervaded the French court enabled Louis of Nassau to obtain a considerable sum, with which he enrolled an army of three thousand cavalry and six thousand infantry, and entered the province of Limburg. His intention was to take possession of Maastricht, and then to effect a junction with his brother the prince of Orange, who had collected six thousand infantry at the isle of Bommel.

But a terrible disaster overtook Count Louis. Requesens was able to engage some Germans, and he drew every man that was available from the Netherlands garrisons. Even the siege of Leyden was raised, and the troops that had beleaguered that city since the 31st of October 1573 broke up their camps an the 21st of March 1574, and joined the main army. The garrison of Maastricht was strengthened, and the way was blocked by which the junction of the two forces in the service of Orange could be effected. The cavalry of Count Louis began to desert, and soon that arm of his force was reduced to two thousand men. On the 14th of April 1574 a battle was fought at a little village named Mookerheyde, on the bank of the Maas, in which the army of Count Louis was utterly defeated, and it was annihilated by a massacre after the engagement was over. Both Count Louis and his younger brother Count Hendrik perished, no one knew exactly when or how, for their bodies were never seen again.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Requesens, however, was unable to gather the full harvest of the victory, for the day after the battle the Spanish troops mutinied. Their pay was three years in arrear. They marched to Antwerp, which city they took possession of on the 26th of April, and quartered themselves on the wealthiest inhabitants. There they remained until the municipal authorities provided Requesens with money to pay them their arrears, when he granted them a full amnesty, and they returned to obedience. Just as this was effected Admiral Boisot made his appearance at Antwerp, and burned or sank fourteen ships of Sancho d’Avila’s squadron that had returned from Flushing three months before.

Requesens was now able to resume the siege of Leyden, and on the 26th of May 1574 the second investment was commenced by General Francisco Valdez with eight thousand German and Walloon soldiers. Spanish and Italian troops afterwards arrived, and a chain of forts was completed right round the walls, which prevented ingress or egress. The villages in the neighbourhood were also occupied, and Leyden was completely isolated from the rest of the country. The residents knew that if the city was taken, the whole of Holland must fall, and they had resolved to die rather than surrender. There was no possibility of raising an army to relieve them.

The prince of Orange took up his headquarters at Delft, and bent all his energy to save the devoted city in the only way in which it could be done. He got together more than two hundred flat-bottomed vessels, the largest drawing when laden not more than two feet of water, armed some of them with such cannons as were then in use, and provided all of them with oars for rowing. The relief of Leyden was to be entrusted to the Sea Beggars, the men who knew no fear, who hated the Spaniards with such a deadly loathing that they would neither ask nor give quarter. On the 1st of September Admiral Louis Boisot arrived from Flushing to take command of the flotilla, and with him came forty officers and eight hundred of the hardiest and roughest of the Zeeland Beggars, burning with a desire to harpoon Spanish soldiers as if they were devil-fish. Already two thousand four hundred men, mostly sailors or canal workers, but a few French and German soldiers with even a sprinkling of Englishmen and Scotchmen, were on board, and a large quantity of provisions had been shipped. With Boisot’s arrival all was complete.

[Sidenote: Siege of Leyden.]

The outer dyke was now cut, and the sea rushed over the land, sweeping away farmhouses and cultivated fields and rich meadows, but opening a way towards Leyden. On went Boisot with the flotilla till the next of the dykes which lay between him and Leyden was reached. He had expected to find it defended, but the Spaniards had neglected it, and so it was cut and he went farther on. The next dyke was held by the Spaniards, but the fierce Zeelanders drove them from it and harpooned them to their hearts’ content.

Meantime the heroic defenders of Leyden were in the very last stage of distress. Everything that under ordinary circumstances would be considered eatable had been consumed, and nothing remained but dried hides, rats, mice, the leaves of the trees, and the weeds of the ground. They were dying of hunger, and pestilence arising from want of food carried off from six to seven thousand of them. But still they held out. A few indeed in their despair upbraided the burgomaster Van der Werf with consigning them to death, but when he replied that he would never surrender Leyden, though they might cut him to pieces and eat him if they chose, they desisted and even applauded him.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The flotilla was aground, and a strong easterly wind was blowing, which drove the waters back and day after day caused Boisot and his gallant followers almost to abandon hope of success. A great and apparently impregnable fortress was in front of them, and it would have to be passed before the starving city could be reached. Then in man’s deepest extremity came God’s hand to aid the cause of freedom. During the night of the 1st of October a violent gale set in from the north-west, which drove gigantic waves along the coast of Holland, then the wind veered round to the south-west and sent the heaped up water through the broken dykes, and soon the flotilla was free again. Valdez was a brave soldier, but he felt unequal to a contest with the rising flood and the Sea Beggars on their own element. During the night of the 2nd of October he abandoned his camps, withdrew the garrison from the great fort Lemmen, and fled in the darkness. That same night part of the city wall fell down with a crash, which would have given him an entrance had it happened a few hours sooner.

In the early morning of the 3rd of October 1574 Boisot, finding all impediments removed, swept with his flotilla into the canals of Leyden, and the city after its great agony was saved. He had lost only forty men in this marvellous feat, surely one of the most wonderful events recorded in history, while of his enemy over a thousand were slain or drowned. Property to the value of over a million gulden--£83,333--had been destroyed by cutting the dykes, but what was that compared with the rescue of Leyden from the Spaniards!

The relief of Leyden gave renewed hope to the patriot cause. On the 12th of November 1574 the estates of Holland, assembled at Delft, conferred almost dictatorial power upon the prince of Orange, and voted him as large a sum of money as they could raise to carry on the war. That amount was only £45,000 a year, but it was a very considerable sum for one small province to contribute, especially when it is considered that the cities of Amsterdam and Haarlem were in the hands of the Spaniards, and Leyden, with the territory adjoining it, was too impoverished to give any aid. On the 4th of June 1575 the province of Zeeland united with Holland in a kind of loose confederation, the principal bond being that the prince of Orange was the head of both.

[Sidenote: Siege of Zierikzee.]

An attempt to bring about a state of peace was made again, and commissioners from both sides sat at Breda from the 3rd of March to the 13th of July 1575; but as Philippe would only allow those of the reformed religion to sell their property and leave the country, the negotiations came to nothing. Bigotry and intolerance were not confined to one side, however. Some revolting cruelties practised by Diederik Sonoy, governor of North Holland, upon Roman Catholics at Alkmaar, equalled, if they did not surpass, the most fiendish tortures of the inquisition. The prince of Orange did everything in his power to suppress such barbarities, while Philippe countenanced them: otherwise one party was as vindictive as the other.

On the 19th of July 1575 the little town of Oudewater in South Holland, close to the border of Utrecht, was besieged by a Spanish force, and was taken by assault on the 7th of August. The men were all butchered, the women met with a worse fate, and the houses, after being pillaged, were burned to the ground.

The memorable siege of Zierikzee, the principal town on the island of Schouwen, in Zeeland, followed. The island of Tholen was the only part of Zeeland held by the Spaniards, and there a force of three thousand men was got together, who during the night of the 27th of September 1575 actually waded across the channel that separates Tholen from Duiveland. There were some French, English, and Scotch troops in the service of Orange at Duiveland, but they retreated at once, and threw themselves into Zierikzee. The invaders, consisting of Spanish, German, and Walloon soldiers, followed quickly, and laid siege to the town. The villages of Brouwershaven and Bommenede on the same island of Schouwen were also attacked, and for a time were wiped out of existence. Then the whole force, under Colonel Mondragon, sat down and pressed the siege of Zierikzee.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Requesens had no money with which to raise more troops, and Orange was in the same position, so the siege dragged on month after month. On the 15th of June 1576 Admiral Louis Boisot with a few ships tried to force a passage through a barrier into the harbour, but his own vessel, that was leading the way, ran aground, and the others drew off. The ship was got afloat again, but was sunk by a Spanish battery, when three hundred of her crew went down.[24] The admiral and the remainder of the crew jumped overboard, and tried to escape by swimming. Some of them succeeded in doing so, but the gallant Boisot, to the great loss of the patriot cause, was drowned. Zierikzee held out until the 21st of June 1576, when it capitulated on honourable terms, and escaped being sacked and burned by the payment of a ransom of £16,666. The Spaniards did not long remain in possession of it.

To the prince of Orange it had now become apparent that the only chance of securing constitutional government and freedom of conscience was the renunciation of Philippe and the choice of some other sovereign able to protect the country. The farce of fighting against the count of Holland and at the same time of transacting all business in his name could no longer be carried on. On the 1st of October 1575 the estates of Holland and Zeeland met at Rotterdam, when the prince laid a proposal to this effect before them. They adjourned for a few days in order to consult the cities, and then assembled again at Delft and unanimously adopted the prince’s proposal. Then commenced a long series of negotiations with Elizabeth of England and a brother of the king of France, but all failed, because it was generally believed that if either accepted, he or she would at once have the other, combined with Spain, as an enemy. So the struggle had to be carried on unaided, except with a little secret assistance given now and then.

[Sidenote: Mutiny of the Spanish Troops.]

On the 5th of March 1576 the Grand Commander Requesens died after only four days’ illness, and the Council of State, a weak and vacillating body, assumed the administration until a successor should be appointed. This Council was at the head of affairs when a fresh disaster fell upon the country.

Immediately after the fall of Zierikzee the Spanish and Walloon troops who had so long been investing that town broke out in open mutiny. They demanded their arrear pay, and when this was not forthcoming they deposed their officers, elected others, and levied contributions upon the country just as a band of avowed robbers would do. From Zeeland they marched into Brabant, where they took possession of the little town of Herenthals, and after consuming everything there, directed their devastating course southward to the environs of Brussels. The inhabitants of the capital were in great alarm, but they prepared for defence with such spirit that the mutineers did not attack them. They seized instead the little town of Assche close by, and next the larger town of Alost. Here they committed frightful atrocities, murdering every one who resisted them.

On the 26th of July the mutineers were declared outlaws by the Council of State, but this had no effect upon them, and now the garrisons of other towns began to join hands with them. Like robber bands, which indeed they were, they marched about, levying contributions wherever they chose, and murdering all who opposed them. Their discipline was so perfect that in every encounter with parties of citizens, however large, they came off victorious.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The city of Antwerp, with a population of two hundred thousand souls, was the commercial metropolis of Europe. It was adorned with beautiful buildings, among which the cathedral and the townhouse were considered as rivalling the most stately structures in Christendom. The citadel built by Alva was an impregnable fortress, and at this time the renowned Sancho d’Avila was in command of it. He sided with the mutineers, and became their head, but his troops, who were partly German mercenaries, were divided in opinion, and one strong regiment remained faithful. Upon this wealthy and beautiful city the mutineers now cast their eyes. The Council of State collected as many soldiers as could be obtained, and five thousand infantry and twelve hundred cavalry, mostly Walloons, were sent to aid in the defence.

In the morning of Sunday the 4th of November 1576 the Spanish troops from various quarters arrived at Antwerp, and stormed a barricade which the citizens had hastily thrown up. The Walloons, who had been sent to aid in the defence, fled almost without attempting to resist, and upon the citizens and the faithful German regiment devolved the almost impossible task of protecting the city. They fought splendidly, but could not hold their ground. Driven from the streets they took refuge in houses, which were at once set on fire by the Spaniards, and presently a vast conflagration raged in the fairest part of the city. The magnificent town house was reduced to bare and blackened walls. When night fell resistance had ceased, and the Spanish fiends were in possession of Antwerp. Throughout Monday and Tuesday the work of pillage was carried on, when those who were suspected of having concealed money or valuables were tortured till they died or produced the treasure, all kinds of horrors were perpetrated, Catholic priest and Protestant maid were treated alike with brutal ferocity, and every restraint was set aside. In those three days of horrors eight thousand people perished, property to the value of half a million pounds sterling was destroyed by fire, and at least as much more was taken possession of by the Spanish demons. The event was ever afterwards known as the Spanish Fury of Antwerp. The soldiers of Philippe had obtained their arrears, and thereafter returned to obedience.

[Sidenote: The Pacification of Ghent.]

The conduct of the mutinous Spanish troops had the effect of drawing the different provinces together more closely than ever before. By advice of the prince of Orange, deputies were appointed by a number of the estates and cities, who met with the representatives of Holland and Zeeland, and debated upon what had best be done. They soon arrived at a decision, and on the 8th of November 1576 the important arrangement thereafter known as the Pacification of Ghent was signed by Holland and Zeeland on one side, and by the representatives of the provinces of Brabant, Flanders, Artois, Hainaut, and eight cities, of which Utrecht was one, on the other. It provided for a close and faithful friendship between them all, for the expulsion of the Spanish forces from the Netherlands, for an assemblage of the estates-general of all the provinces as soon as the foreigners were out of the country, for the suppression of persecution for religion and the suspension of all edicts relating to this subject, and for the abstention by Holland and Zeeland of interference with the Roman Catholic religion in the other fifteen provinces. Throughout the whole country this arrangement was received with acclamation, and the seventeen provinces, without in any degree becoming amalgamated into one, were yet united for the purpose of expelling the foreign troops, and to that extent were all in rebellion against the king of Spain. The prince of Orange was the soul of this movement, though he remained only stadholder of Holland and Zeeland.

Another actor appeared at this time on the scene. This was Don John of Austria, a natural son of the emperor Charles V, who had been appointed by Philippe governor-general of the Netherlands. Don John, though still a young man, had acquired great renown as a commander in war, having crushed the revolt of the Moors in Granada and destroyed the Turkish fleet in the famous battle of Lepanto. He arrived at Luxemburg unattended by troops on the 3rd of November 1576, and learning there what was taking place in the provinces, he sent to Brussels to demand hostages for his personal safety before he proceeded farther. He had been instructed by the king to conciliate the Netherlands, and was at liberty to make any concessions, provided the absolute authority of the crown and the exclusive practice of the Roman Catholic worship should be strictly conformed to.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

By advice of the prince of Orange, the representatives then at Brussels resolved to demand conditions from Don John before they should acknowledge him as governor. These were the immediate departure of all foreign troops from the country, an oath to maintain all the rights and privileges of the provinces and towns, the appointment of a new council of state by the estates-general, the right of the estates-general to meet whenever they chose, and to regulate all affairs, the demolition of the citadels that had been built to overawe the towns, and the maintenance of the Pacification of Ghent. A deputation was sent to Luxemburg with these demands, which were presented to Don John on the 6th of December. No decision was arrived at then, and negotiations were continued for months thereafter, though the conditions laid down by the king and those of the estates seemed to be irreconcilable.

Early in January 1577 another document, termed the Union of Brussels, came into existence. It was a compact to expel the Spaniards immediately and to uphold the Pacification of Ghent, to maintain the Catholic as the state religion in the fifteen provinces not under the government of Orange, to acknowledge the king’s authority as a constitutional sovereign, and to defend the various charters. This document was generally signed by people of every class throughout all the provinces except Luxemburg. It marks another stage in the struggle between despotism and liberty.

[Sidenote: The Perpetual Edict.]

Towards the close of this month Don John removed from Luxemburg to the little town of Huy, on the right bank of the Maas, in the province of Liege, hoping that by placing himself thus chivalrously in the power of the people he would command their respect. At the same time it must not be forgotten that there was a party of considerable strength in the southern provinces, consisting of the nobles and their adherents, who were as much opposed to popular liberty as Philippe himself was, and that Don John could rely upon them to support him.

The negotiations were now so far successful that on the 12th of February 1577 an agreement was signed by Don John, and on the 17th of the same month received the signatures also of the authorities in Brussels. It ratified the Pacification of Ghent, it required all foreign troops to be sent out of the country without delay, but the estates-general were to pay the German soldiers before leaving. All the privileges, charters, and constitutions of the Netherlands were to be maintained, as was also the Catholic religion. The estates were to disband the troops in their service, and Don John was to be received as governor-general immediately after the departure of the Spanish and Italian soldiers. This agreement was confirmed by Philippe, and took the name of the Perpetual Edict. It was not, however, approved by the estates of Holland and Zeeland, nor by the prince of Orange, who put no confidence in the promises, written or verbal, of either the king or his representatives.

Don John now moved from Huy to Louvain, near Brussels, and towards the close of April 1577 the Spanish and Italian troops set out on their march from the Netherlands to Lombardy. That condition having been carried out, the governor-general entered Brussels, and on the 3rd of May took the oaths of office, just six months after his arrival on the frontier. There were still from ten to fifteen thousand German mercenary soldiers in the king’s service in the country, and the southern nobles were at his beck and call, so that the patriotic party soon had cause for alarm.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Don John, after a residence of less than two months in Brussels, became apprehensive for his personal safety, and fled first to Mechlin, and then to Namur, a town at the confluence of the Sambre and the Maas, not far from the frontier of France. There was a strong fortress in Namur, which the governor-general got possession of by stratagem, and in which he placed a garrison when he went to reside there. He next made an attempt to get possession of the citadel of Antwerp, but failed, and the German troops who occupied it fled on the approach of a fleet of the Sea Beggars and surrendered to the estates.

On the 26th of August the estates addressed a demand to Don John, in which they called upon him to disband all the troops in his service and to send the German mercenaries instantly out of the country, to dismiss every foreigner from office, whether civil or military, and to renounce his secret alliance with the duke of Guise, the head of the Catholic League in France. They required him to govern thenceforth only with the advice and consent of the Council of State, to carry out whatever should be determined on by a majority of that body, and to regard neither measures as binding nor despatches as authentic unless decided upon or drawn up in that Council. This was a demand for parliamentary or what is now termed responsible government in its widest sense, and the representative of King Philippe could not agree to it.

The inhabitants of Antwerp now rose in a body and razed to the ground the side of the citadel which commanded the city, so that it was no longer a menace to them. The people of Ghent also broke down their castle, and remodelled the government of that city in a democratic manner. The estates invited the prince of Orange to visit Brussels and give them advice, and on the 23rd of September he made his appearance there.

[Sidenote: Action of Queen Elizabeth.]

Don John now retired from Namur to Luxemburg, and waited in that city until the king should provide him with an army strong enough to conquer the country. The estates on their part commenced to levy troops, for negotiations had quite ceased. On the 7th of December they declared Don John no longer governor-general, but an enemy of the Netherlands.

The prince of Orange was elected ruward of Brabant, a post which gave him great power in that province, and his influence was enormous throughout the whole country. By his advice a new act of union was signed at Brussels on the 10th of December, by which the adherents of the Roman Catholic church and the Protestants bound themselves to respect each other and to protect one another from all enemies whatever. But this was a step too far in advance of the times to be permanent, for it was an age of bitter intolerance.

Queen Elizabeth of England, fearing that French influence would prevail in the Netherlands if she did not aid the struggling country at this critical time, resolved to give the estates some assistance. On the 7th of January 1578 she entered into an engagement in London to endorse their obligations to the extent of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and to supply five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry, who should, however, be paid by them. This was not regarded as making war against Spain, because at the same time the Catholic League in France was sending a much greater number of well trained men to assist Don John of Austria.

While the armies on both sides were gathering, another factor, that might have caused much confusion, was introduced. A party of nobles, in order to thwart the prince of Orange, invited the archduke Matthias of Hapsburg, brother of the emperor, to fill the post of governor-general. The young man accepted the invitation, and came to the Netherlands, but the prince of Orange and his adherents managed things so adroitly that Matthias, though inaugurated as governor-general on the 18th of January 1578, had really no power conferred upon him, and Orange himself as lieutenant-general retained all authority.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Both parties had by this time collected considerable forces, Don John at Luxemburg, the estates at Namur, but the armies were very differently composed. Philippe had sent several veteran regiments of Spaniards and Italians, the most highly disciplined troops in the world, commanded by Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, and to these had been added some well-trained French battalions, making altogether a compact army of about twenty thousand men. The army of the estates was equal in number, but was a motley assemblage of Germans, French, Netherlanders, English, and Scotch.

On the 31st of January 1578 these forces met at Gemblours, fourteen kilometres from Namur, and the result was the total annihilation of the States army, with hardly any loss at all on Don John’s side. Seven or eight thousand men were killed on the field, six hundred were made prisoners and were immediately hanged or drowned, and the remainder were dispersed. All their baggage, ammunition, weapons, and stores of every kind fell into the hands of the victors, and the patriot cause seemed doomed to ruin.

A great many small towns in the southern provinces were immediately occupied by the king’s troops, terrible atrocities being perpetrated wherever resistance was offered. Brussels, however, the seat of government, was put in a thorough condition for defence, and the States set about organising another army as rapidly as possible.

On the other hand, in the north, a great augmentation of the power of the prince of Orange was taking place. Haarlem had been recovered for the patriot cause, the province of Utrecht had accepted the prince as stadholder, and on the 8th of February 1578 the important city of Amsterdam was gained, so that the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht were wholly animated by the same spirit. Then, on the 11th of March the estates of Gelderland elected as governor of that province Count John of Nassau, the only surviving brother of William of Orange, which was almost equivalent to electing the prince himself. The Reformed religion was making very rapid progress in Utrecht and Gelderland, but was not yet as exclusively the faith of the people as in Holland and Zeeland. In June of this year 1578 the second provincial synod of the Reformed churches was held at Dordrecht, the first having met at Hoorn in 1572, a proof how entirely the inquisition had failed to extirpate freedom of conscience in that part of the country.

[Sidenote: Rivalry between England and France.]

The cord that bound the seventeen provinces together was so weak that it was liable to snap at any time, and it was therefore rather to foreign assistance than to their own unaided exertions that the leading men looked to rescue the land from Spanish tyranny. They had appointed the emperor’s brother Matthias their governor-general in name, but that had not brought them the material aid which they needed. A considerable number of the nobles were now intriguing with the worthless duke of Anjou, brother of the king of France, leading him to believe that if he would bring a strong army into the field they would elect him their sovereign in place of Philippe. Even the prince of Orange favoured this scheme, and Anjou actually invaded the country and occupied Mons with a considerable force. The effect was that Queen Elizabeth of England, in her jealousy of France, gave greater assistance in men and money than before, and Anjou disbanded his troops and returned to Paris.

Don John was again helpless for want of money. Philippe had sent him nearly £400,000 from Spain with the troops under Alexander Farnese, and had promised him more, but the money was expended, and the promise was unfulfilled. Without the means of procuring the material of war he could do nothing. Then a pestilence broke out in his main army, and in a few weeks over a thousand men died. Worn out with care and anxiety, after a severe attack of illness, on the 1st of October 1578 Don John of Austria expired in his camp near Namur, after appointing on his deathbed Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, his successor until the king’s pleasure should be known. The temporary appointment was confirmed, and the ablest of all of Philippe’s representatives was free to try what he could do towards settling the great controversy between despotism and liberty in the Netherlands.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Alexander Farnese was the only son of the duke of Parma and Piacenza and of the regent Margaret, who preceded Alva in the administration. He was thirty-three years of age, and had been left a widower by the decease of his wife, a princess of Portugal. He found the country distracted with religious feuds, in which the Protestants were as violent as the Catholics. In Ghent the turbulence of a fanatical party was uncontrollable even by the prince of Orange, and the destruction of statues and ornaments in the churches was accompanied with such atrocious treatment of the leading adherents of the ancient faith that the Walloon provinces of the south, which were ardently Catholic, were exasperated to the last degree. On the 6th of January 1579 an alliance between Hainaut, Artois, and Lille with Douai and Orchies was entered into for the defence and exclusive maintenance of the Catholic church. The nobles in these provinces were timeservers, and Parma soon found that they could easily be bribed by offices and money to abandon the patriot interests. For this purpose Philippe could open his purse widely, though he neglected to pay his soldiers.

On the 17th of May 1579 the estates of the three provinces above named signed at Arras a formal treaty of reconciliation with the king of Spain, and were for ever lost to the Netherlands cause. Several towns in Brabant and Flanders shortly afterwards followed this example. The question of religion being settled to Philippe’s satisfaction, they were allowed to retain their charters subject to the prerogative of the sovereign.

[Sidenote: The Union of Utrecht.]

On the other hand, on the 23rd of January 1579 the foundation of the Netherlands Republic was laid by an agreement termed the Union of Utrecht, which was proclaimed on the 29th of the same month. The union was a loose one, for it left to each province and each city its own constitution unaltered, and only provided for a general assembly of deputies from the estates of the different provinces, in which each should have the same voting power, no matter how many deputies it should send. The object was defence against a common foe. It guaranteed to every man liberty of conscience, but it could not secure liberty of public worship where passion was running high, it could merely prevent inquisition whether Catholic or Protestant. It founded a new State, but the men who concluded it did not realise that this would be the result, they professed that they still adhered to the agreement with the other provinces, only making that agreement a little more binding in their own case. No supreme head was appointed, though Orange was practically in that position, and Matthias was not deprived of his title of governor-general, nor was Philippe formally deposed as sovereign of the provinces outside of Holland and Zeeland. The bishopric of Utrecht now ceased to exist.

The Union of Utrecht was signed by Count John of Nassau for himself and as stadholder of Gelderland, by the deputies of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht, by the deputies of the province of Groningen excluding the capital, by the deputies of Brill and the land of Voorne as a particular district though united with Holland, and further by a minority of the deputies of Friesland, the majority objecting to it. It was open to any other provinces or towns to join the Union, and on the 1st of March 1580 Overyssel gave in its adhesion, but the town of Groningen did not do so until 1595, and the complete province of Friesland not before 1598. Various nobles subsequently joined the Union, as did also the city of Ghent on the 4th of February 1579, the city of Antwerp on the 28th of July 1579, the city of Bruges on the 1st of February 1580, and several others later. Each city came to be practically an independent unit in the province in which it was situated, and could therefore make what alliances it chose. But owing to this circumstance the government of the Union was exceedingly weak, for no resolutions of the states-general were binding upon any town whose deputies did not agree to them.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The provinces Holland, Zeeland, since enlarged by the addition of a small part of Flanders, the northern part of Gelderland including the county of Zutphen, Overyssel, Friesland, and Groningen, together with Drenthe, cover the whole territory of the present kingdom of the Netherlands except North Brabant and Limburg. Drenthe was a dependency of the bishopric of Utrecht from 1024 to 1537, when it became a direct fief to the emperor Charles V. It remained subject to the Spanish government until 1594, when it was overrun by the States forces, and thereafter it was a dependency of either Friesland or Groningen until 1813, when it became a separate province of the kingdom of the Netherlands.