CHAPTER IV

REVOLUTION IN THE NETHERLANDS

INDEPENDENCE DECLARED- - ASSASSINATION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE-RELIGIOUS TOLERATION ESTABLISHED-1574-1585

FOR some two years after the unsuccessful siege of Leyden, but little of importance occurred in the field, where the war was dragging its slow length along. Negotiations were constantly going on for peace; but as one party demanded full religious liberty, and the other the absolute domination of the Church of Rome, no basis of agreement could be reached.

Still, though the insurgent provinces would not yield, their position was very perilous. Holland was cut in two by the capture of Harlem, and Amsterdam still held out for Spain. France, Germany, and England refused all aid, and the patriots saw nothing before them but the prospect of slow extermination. If need be, they said, they could "die in the last ditch;" but no men long for such a fate. At length, the Prince of Orange, seeing no other resource, and being threatened with war by Elizabeth and Protestant England, had made up his mind to an heroic step for the salvation of his people, although it involved the loss of their native land. The country, which their fathers had rescued from the waves, was to be given up; the accumulated wealth of centuries abandoned; and the nation, with its

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religion and its liberty, was to seek a new home beyond the sea.

At this juncture Requesens met with a sudden death, leaving the army without a leader and the government without a head.

The death of Requesens was followed by results which changed the fate of Holland. For years the Spanish troops had been unpaid. They now rose in mutiny and wreaked their long-pent fury upon the peaceful cities of the lower Netherlands. In November, 1576, Antwerp, the commercial capital of the world, was sacked, as if it had been taken by assault. Eight thousand of its inhabitants were murdered, five hundred palaces were left in ruins, and twelve millions of property destroyed or carried off. In this massacre-called the "Spanish Fury"

no distinction was made on the score of religion; Catholic and Protestant, layman and prelate, being alike murdered and plundered by the Spanish soldiery who had come into the land to put down heresy. The destruction of Antwerp, and the slaughter of some twelve thousand peaceful citizens in other towns, brought about what was called the Pacification of Ghent, a consolidation of all the provinces to effect the expulsion of the foreign troops, and the restoration of the ancient privileges of the people. The union was only temporary, for the inhabitants of the southern states, most of whom were Catholics, soon returned to their old allegiance; but the interval gave the patriots of the North a muchneeded breathing-spell. How they improved it we shall shortly see.

Late in 1576, Don John of Austria, half-brother of the King of Spain, the hero of Lepanto, a man whose life had been one romance, and who now at the age of thirty-one was accounted the foremost soldier of the

world, came to the Netherlands as successor to Requesens. He found a people inflexibly bent on the removal of the Spanish troops. Before this demand he at last reluctantly gave way, and to the number of ten thousand they took up their march for Italy. The joy experienced by the people at this triumph was, however, destined to a short life. It soon became apparent that the ideas of the new governor-general were no more liberal than were those of his hated predecessors. At the end of the first year of his rule the whole country again rose in revolt, the Estates-General declared Don John a public enemy, and a new act of union was signed between the provinces, by which, providing for the common defence, they also guaranteed mutual religious toleration. This was the last attempt to bind all the states together. It failed in the end, largely through the jealousy of the Catholic nobles, who disliked and feared "Father William," the idol of the people. An army of some twenty thousand men, among whom were thirteen companies of Scotch and English volunteers, met in the field an equal force under Don John, and was almost utterly annihilated, as usual, with a Spanish loss of only ten or eleven.

Meeting such a crushing defeat at the outset, the future would have looked very dark for the new Confederacy but that some other events gave signs of promise. In the first place, the Prince of Orange had taken advantage of the confusion which followed the death of Requesens to gain the cities in Zeeland which had stood out for Spain. Then Harlem and Amsterdam were recovered by an uprising of the people, so that two states were entirely freed from the foreign yoke. With these successes the other northern provinces fell into line, never thereafter to be separated.

DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA-HIS DESIGNS ON ENGLAND 231

Nor was this all. The hero of Lepanto had come to the Netherlands with a scheme which was to be the crowning achievement of his romantic life. He expected by making generous concessions to secure a speedy peace, and then to cross over to England with his army of veterans, place himself at the head of the Catholics, release and marry Mary of Scotland-now nine years a prisoner-drive out Elizabeth, and take possession of the English throne. The project had the approval of the pope, and might have been successfully carried out but for the action of the Netherlanders which forced the immediate dismissal of the Spanish troops.* Still, its effect was not lost upon Elizabeth. Slowly she was reaching the conviction that for her own security she must aid the rebels across the Channel. Her counsellors, one and all, were of opinion that she should generously espouse their cause; but this was impossible for a woman of her nature. Finally, however, in 1578, she loaned them, on good security, a hundred thousand pounds, and furnished them with five thousand soldiers, to be supported at their cost. With this they had to be content.+

In France the outlook was much brighter. As soon as the court recovered from its first excitement, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew was seen to have been a blunder. Spain was the leading Catholic power of Europe, and as her ally France would have to take a subordinate position, while as a neutral or a secret enemy she could be first in influence. This consideration had led to a religious peace, in 1573, by which the Hugue

* Creighton's "Age of Elizabeth," p. 151.

Motley's "Dutch Republic," iii. 300, 338, 343. See as to her tortuous methods, Froude, xi. 127, etc.

nots were given possession of La Rochelle and three other important towns. In 1574, Charles IX., haunted ever by the spectre of his murdered subjects, and with their shrieks and groans ringing in his ears, sank into the grave and was succeeded by his brother. The new monarch, Henry III., was a believer in the policy of opposition to the growing power of Spain. After long negotiations, his younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, offered the states his services, with those of ten thousand troops. In August, 1578, they were accepted, and he was declared "Defender of the liberty of the Netherlands against the tyranny of the Spaniards and their adherents."

The French troops were valuable allies, and if the patriots had not been impoverished something might have been done against Don John. That unfortunate commander was, however, almost as badly off as they. Philip had at first supplied him with money, but for months past had exhibited his usual parsimony and procrastination. In fact, the king seemed jealous of his soldier brother, and was desirous not only that he should not succeed in any of his ambitious plans, but that he should not live to vex him with his martial glory. He had both his wishes. The invasion of England became impossible through the resistance of the Netherlanders; without money for his troops, all other operations were suspended, and in October, 1578, death (which was, as usual, attributed to poison) closed the career of the warrior whose sun had risen in such a blaze of splendor.

The air of the Netherlands had proved unwholesome to the last two governors. They were now to be succeeded by a man whose rule was longer, and whose influence was to be more powerful for evil. Alexander