Books: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1568
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John Lothrop Motley >> The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1568
But little heed was paid to the remonstrances in behalf of the imperial
Courts, or the privileges of Brabant. These were but cobweb impediments
which, indeed, had long been brushed away. President Viglius was even
pathetic on the subject of Madame Egmont's petition to the council of
Brabant. It was so bitter, he said, that the Duke was slightly annoyed,
and took it ill that the royal servants in that council should have his
Majesty's interests so little at heart. It seemed indecent in the eyes
of the excellent Frisian, that a wife pleading for her husband, a mother
for her, eleven children, so soon to be fatherless, should indulge in
strong language!
The statutes of the Fleece were obstacles somewhat more serious. As,
however, Alva had come to the Netherlands pledged to accomplish the
destruction of these two nobles, as soon as he should lay his hands upon
them, it was only a question of form, and even that question was, after a
little reflection, unceremoniously put aside.
To the petitions in behalf of the two Counts, therefore, that they should
be placed in the friendly keeping of the Order, and be tried by its
statutes, the Duke replied, peremptorily, that he had undertaken the
cognizance of this affair by commission of his Majesty, as sovereign of
the land, not as head of the Golden Fleece, that he should carry it
through as it had been commenced, and that the Counts should discontinue
presentations of petitions upon this point.
In the embarrassment created by the stringent language of these statutes,
Doctor Viglius found an opportunity to make himself very useful. Alva
had been turning over the laws and regulations of the Order, but could
find no loophole. The President, however, came to his rescue, and
announced it as his legal opinion that the Governor need concern himself
no further on the subject, and that the code of the Fleece offered no
legal impediment to the process. Alva immediately wrote to communicate
this opinion to Philip, adding, with great satisfaction, that he should
immediately make it known to the brethren of the Order, a step which was
the more necessary because Egmont's advocate had been making great
trouble with these privileges, and had been protesting at every step of
the proceedings. In what manner the learned President argued these
troublesome statutes out of the way, has nowhere appeared; but he
completely reinstated himself in favor, and the King wrote to thank him
for his legal exertions.
It was now boldly declared that the statutes of the Fleece did not extend
to such crimes as those with which the prisoner were charged. Alva,
moreover, received an especial patent, ante-dated eight or nine months,
by which Philip empowered him to proceed against all persons implicated
in the troubles, and particularly against Knights of the Golden Fleece.
It is superfluous to observe that these were merely the arbitrary acts of
a despot. It is hardly necessary to criticise such proceedings. The
execution of the nobles had been settled before Alva left Spain. As they
were inhabitants of a constitutional country, it was necessary to stride
over the constitution. As they were Knights of the Fleece, it was
necessary to set aside the statutes of the Order. The Netherland
constitutions seemed so entirely annihilated already, that they could
hardly be considered obstacles; but the Order of the Fleece was an august
little republic of which Philip was the hereditary chief, of which
emperors, kings, and great seigniors were the citizens. Tyranny might
be embarrassed by such subtle and golden filaments as these, even while
it crashed through municipal charters as if they had been reeds and
bulrushes. Nevertheless, the King's course was taken. Although the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of the Order expressly
provided for the trial and punishment of brethren who had been guilty of
rebellion, heresy, or treason; and although the eleventh chapter;
perpetual and immutable, of additions to that constitution by the Emperor
Charles, conferred on the Order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes
whatever committed by the knights, yet it was coolly proclaimed by Alva,
that the crimes for which the Admiral and Egmont had been arrested, were
beyond the powers of the tribunal.
So much for the plea to the jurisdiction. It is hardly worth while to
look any further into proceedings which were initiated and brought to a
conclusion in the manner already narrated. Nevertheless, as they were
called a process, a single glance at the interior of that mass of
documents can hardly be superfluous.
The declaration against Count Horn; upon which, supported by invisible
witnesses, he was condemned, was in the nature of a narrative. It
consisted in a rehearsal of circumstances, some true and some fictitious,
with five inferences. These five inferences amounted to five crimes--
high treason, rebellion, conspiracy, misprision of treason, and breach of
trust. The proof of these crimes was evolved, in a dim and misty manner,
out of a purposely confused recital. No events, however, were
recapitulated which have not been described in the course of this
history. Setting out with a general statement, that the Admiral, the
Prince of Orange, Count Egmont, and other lords had organized a plot to
expel his Majesty from the Netherlands, and to divide the provinces among
themselves; the declaration afterwards proceeded to particulars. Ten of
its sixty-three articles were occupied with the Cardinal Granvelle, who,
by an absurd affectation, was never directly named, but called "a certain
personage--a principal personage--a grand personage, of his Majesty's
state council." None of the offences committed against him were
forgotten: the 11th of March letter, the fool's-cap, the livery, were
reproduced in the most violent colors, and the cabal against the minister
was quietly assumed to constitute treason against the monarch.
The Admiral, it was further charged, had advised and consented to the
fusion of the finance and privy councils with that of state, a measure
which was clearly treasonable. He had, moreover, held interviews with
the Prince of Orange, with Egmont, and other nobles, at Breda and at
Hoogstraaten, at which meetings the confederacy and the petition had been
engendered. That petition had been the cause of all the evils which had
swept the land. "It had scandalously injured the King, by affirming that
the inquisition was a tyranny to humanity, which was an infamous and
unworthy proposition." The confederacy, with his knowledge and
countenance, had enrolled 30,000 men. He had done nothing, any more than
Orange or Egmont, to prevent the presentation of the petition. In the
consultation at the state-council which ensued, both he and the Prince
were for leaving Brussels at once, while Count Egmont expressed an
intention of going to Aix to drink the waters. Yet Count Egmont's
appearance (proceeded this indictment against another individual)
exhibited not a single sign of sickness. The Admiral had, moreover,
drank the toast of "Vivent leg gueux" on various occasions, at the
Culemberg House banquet, at the private table of the Prince of Orange,
at a supper at the monastery of Saint Bernard's, at a dinner given by
Burgomaster Straalen. He had sanctioned the treaties with the rebels at
Duffel, by which he had clearly rendered himself guilty of high treason.
He had held an interview with Orange, Egmont, and Hoogstraaten, at
Denremonde, for the treasonable purpose of arranging a levy of troops to
prevent his Majesty's entrance into the Netherlands. He had refused to
come to Brussels at the request of the Duchess of Parma, when the rebels
were about to present the petition. He had written to his secretary that
he was thenceforth resolved to serve neither King nor Kaiser. He had
received from one Taffin, with marks of approbation, a paper, stating
that the assembling of the states-general was the only remedy for the
troubles in the land. He had, repeatedly affirmed that the inquisition
and edicts ought to be repealed.
On his arrival at Tournay in August, 1566, the people had cried "Vivent
les gueux;" a proof that he liked the cry. All his transactions at
Tournay, from first to last, had been criminal. He had tolerated
Reformed preaching, he had forbidden Catholics and Protestants to molest
each other, he had omitted to execute heretics, he had allowed the
religionists to erect an edifice for public worship outside the walls.
He had said, at the house of Prince Espinoy, that if the King should come
into the provinces with force, he would oppose him with 15,000 troops.
He had said, if his brother Montigny should be detained in Spain, he
would march to his rescue at the head of 50,000 men whom he had at his
command. He had on various occasions declared that "men should live
according to their consciences"--as if divine and human laws were dead,
and men, like wild beasts, were to follow all their lusts and desires.
Lastly, he had encouraged the rebellion in Valenciennes.
Of all these crimes and misdeeds the procurator declared himself
sufficiently informed, and the aforesaid defendant entirely, commonly,
and publicly defamed.
Wherefore, that officer terminated his declaration by claiming "that the
cause should be concluded summarily, and without figure or form of
process; and that therefore, by his Excellency or his sub-delegated
judges, the aforesaid defendant should be declared to have in diverse
ways committed high treason, should be degraded from his dignities, and
should be condemned to death, with confiscation of all his estates."
The Admiral, thus peremptorily summoned, within five days, without
assistance, without documents, and from the walls of a prison, to answer
to these charges, 'solos ex vinculis causam dicere', undertook his task
with the boldness of innocence. He protested, of course, to the
jurisdiction, and complained of the want of an advocate, not in order to
excuse any weakness in his defence, but only any inelegance in his
statement. He then proceeded flatly to deny some of the facts, to admit
others, and to repel the whole treasonable inference. His answer in all
essential respects was triumphant. Supported by the evidence which, alas
was not collected and published till after his death, it was impregnable.
He denied that he had ever plotted against his King, to whom he had ever
been attached, but admitted that he had desired the removal of Granvelle,
to whom he had always been hostile. He had, however, been an open and
avowed enemy to the Cardinal, and had been engaged in no secret
conspiracy against his character or against his life. He denied that the
livery (for which, however, he was not responsible) had been intended to
ridicule the Cardinal, but asserted that it was intended to afford an
example of economy to an extravagant nobility. He had met Orange and
Egmont at Breda and Hoogstraaten, and had been glad to do so, for he had
been long separated from them. These interviews, however, had been
social, not political, for good cheer and merry-making, not for
conspiracy and treason. He had never had any connection with the
confederacy; he had neither advised nor protected the petition, but, on
the contrary, after hearing of the contemplated movement, had written to
give notice thereof to the Duchess. He was in no manner allied, with
Brederode, but, on the contrary, for various reasons, was not upon
friendly terms with him. He had not entered his house since his return
from Spain. He had not been a party to the dinner at Culemburg House.
Upon that day he had dined with the Prince of Orange, with whom he was
lodging and, after dinner, they had both gone together to visit Mansfeld,
who was confined with an inflamed eye. There they had met Egmont, and
the three had proceeded together to Culemburg House in order to bring
away Hoogstraaten, whom the confederates had compelled to dine with them;
and also to warn the nobles not to commit themselves by extravagant and
suspicious excesses. They had remained in the house but a few minutes,
during which time the company had insisted upon their drinking a single
cup to the toast of "Vivent le roy et les gueux." They had then retired,
taking with them Hoogstraaten, and all thinking that they had rendered a
service to the government by their visit, instead of having made
themselves liable to a charge of treason. As to the cries of "Vivent les
gueux" at the tables of Orange, of the Abbot of Saint Bernard, and at
other places, those words had been uttered by simple, harmless fellows;
and as he considered, the table a place of freedom, he had not felt
himself justified in rebuking the manners of his associates,
particularly, in houses where he was himself but a guest. As for
committing treason at the Duffel meeting, he had not been there at all.
He thanked God that, at that epoch, he had been absent from Brussels, for
had he, as well as Orange and Egmont, been commissioned by the Duchess to
arrange those difficult matters, he should have considered it his duty to
do as they did. He had never thought of levying troops against his
Majesty. The Denremonde meeting had been held, to consult upon four
subjects: the affairs of Tournay; the intercepted letters of the French
ambassador, Alava; the letter of Montigny, in which he warned his brother
of the evil impression which the Netherland matters were making in Spain;
and the affairs of Antwerp, from which city the Prince of Orange found it
necessary at that moment to withdraw.--With regard to his absence from
Brussels, he stated that he had kept away from the Court because he was
ruined. He was deeply in debt, and so complete was his embarrassment,
that he had been unable in Antwerp to raise 1000 crowns upon his
property, even at an interest of one hundred per cent. So far from being
able to levy troops, he was hardly able to pay for his daily bread. With
regard to his transactions at Tournay, he had, throughout them all,
conformed himself to the instructions of Madame de Parma. As to the cry
of "Vivent les gueux," he should not have cared at that moment if the
populace had cried 'Vive Comte Horn', for his thoughts were then occupied
with more substantial matters. He had gone thither under a special
commission from the Duchess, and had acted under instructions daily
received by her own hand. He had, by her orders, effected a temporary
compromise between the two religious parties, on the basis of the Duffel
treaty. He had permitted the public preaching to continue, but had not
introduced it for the first time. He had allowed temples to be built
outside the gates, but it was by express command of Madame, as he could
prove by her letters. She had even reproved him before the council,
because the work had not been accomplished with sufficient despatch.
With regard to his alleged threat, that he would oppose the King's
entrance with 15,000 men, he answered, with astonishing simplicity, that
he did not remember making any such observation, but it was impossible
for a man to retain in his mind all the nonsense which he might
occasionally utter. The honest Admiral thought that his poverty, already
pleaded, was so notorious that the charge was not worthy of a serious
answer. He also treated the observation which he was charged with having
made, relative to his marching to Spain with 50,000 men to rescue
Montigny as "frivolous and ridiculous." He had no power to raise a
hundred men. Moreover he had rejoiced at Montigny's detention, for he
had thought that to be out of the Netherlands was to be out of harm's
way. On the whole, he claimed that in all those transactions of his
which might be considered anti-Catholic, he had been governed entirely by
the instructions of the Regent, and by her Accord with the nobles. That
Accord, as she had repeatedly stated to him, was to be kept sacred until
his Majesty, by advice of the states-general, should otherwise ordain.
Finally, he observed, that law was not his vocation. He was no
pettifogger, but he had endeavored loyally to conform himself to the
broad and general principles of honor, justice, and truth. In a very few
and simple words, he begged his judges to have regard to his deeds, and
to a life of loyal service. If he had erred occasionally in those times
of tumult, his intentions had ever been faithful and honorable.
The charges against Count Egmont were very similar to those against Count
Horn. The answers of both defendants were nearly identical.
Interrogations thus addressed to two different persons, as to
circumstances which had occurred long before, could not have been thus
separately, secretly, but simultaneously answered in language
substantially the same, had not that language been the words of truth.
Egmont was accused generally of plotting with others to expel the King
from the provinces, and to divide the territory among themselves.
Through a long series of ninety articles, he was accused of conspiring
against the character and life of Cardinal Granvelle. He was the
inventor, it was charged, of the fool's-cap livery. He had joined in the
letters to the King, demanding the prelate's removal. He had favored the
fusion of the three councils. He had maintained that the estates-general
ought to be forthwith assembled, that otherwise the debts of his Majesty
and of the country could never be paid, and that the provinces would go
to the French, to the Germans, or to the devil. He had asserted that he
would not be instrumental in burning forty or fifty thousand men, in
order that the inquisition and the edicts might be sustained. He had
declared that the edicts were rigorous. He had advised the Duchess, to
moderate them, and remove the inquisition, saying that these measures,
with a pardon general in addition, were the only means of quieting the
country. He had advised the formation of the confederacy, and promised
to it his protection and favor. He had counselled the presentation of
the petition. He had arranged all these matters, in consultation with
the other nobles, at the interviews at Breda and Hoogstraaten. He had
refused the demand of Madame de Parma, to take arms in her defence. He
had expressed his intention, at a most critical moment, of going to the
baths of Aix for his health, although his personal appearance gave no
indication of any malady whatever. He had countenanced and counselled
the proceedings of the rebel nobles at Saint Trond. He had made an
accord with those of "the religion" at Ghent, Bruges, and other places.
He had advised the Duchess to grant a pardon to those who had taken up
arms. He had maintained, in common with the Prince of Orange, at a
session of the state council, that if Madame should leave Brussels, they
would assemble the states-general of their own authority, and raise a
force of forty thousand men. He had plotted treason, and made
arrangements for the levy of troops at the interview at Denremonde, with
Horn, Hoogstraaten, and the Prince of Orange. He had taken under his
protection on the 20th April, 1566, the confederacy of the rebels; had
promised that they should never be molested, for the future, on account
of the inquisition or the edicts, and that so long as they kept within
the terms of the Petition and the Compromise, he would defend them with
his own person. He had granted liberty of preaching outside the walls in
many cities within his government. He had said repeatedly, that if the
King desired to introduce the inquisition into the Netherlands, he would
sell all his property and remove to another land; thus declaring with how
much contempt and detestation he regarded the said inquisition. He had
winked at all the proceedings of the sectaries. He had permitted the cry
of "Vivent les gueux" at his table. He had assisted at the banquet at
Culemburg House.
These were the principal points in the interminable act of accusation.
Like the Admiral, Egmont admitted many of the facts, and flatly denied
the rest. He indignantly repelled the possibility of a treasonable
inference from any of, or all, his deeds. He had certainly desired the
removal of Granvelle, for he believed that the King's service would
profit by his recal. He replied, almost in the same terms as the Admiral
had done, to the charge concerning the livery, and asserted that its
principal object had been to set an example of economy. The fool's-cap
and bells had been changed to a bundle of arrows, in consequence of a
certain rumor which became rife in Brussels, and in obedience to an
ordinance of Madame de Parma. As to the assembling of the states-
general, the fusion of the councils, the moderation of the edicts, he had
certainly been in favor of these measures, which he considered to be
wholesome and lawful, not mischievous or treasonable. He had certainly
maintained that the edicts were rigorous, and had advised the Duchess,
under the perilous circumstances of the country, to grant a temporary
modification until the pleasure of his Majesty could be known. With
regard to the Compromise, he had advised all his friends to keep out of
it, and many in consequence had kept out of it. As to the presentation
of the petition, he had given Madame de Parma notice thereof, so soon as
he had heard that such a step was contemplated. He used the same
language as had been employed by Horn, with regard to the interview at
Breda and Hoogstraaten--that they had been meetings of "good cheer" and
good fellowship. He had always been at every moment at the command of
the Duchess, save when he had gone to Flanders and Artois to suppress the
tumults, according to her express orders. He had no connexion with the
meeting of the nobles at Saint Trond. He had gone to Duffel as special
envoy from the Duchess, to treat with certain plenipotentiaries appointed
at the Saint Trond meeting. He had strictly conformed to the letter of
instructions, drawn up by the Duchess, which would be found among his
papers, but he had never promised the nobles his personal aid or
protection. With regard to the Denremonde meeting, he gave almost
exactly the same account as Horn had given. The Prince, the Admiral, and
himself, had conversed between a quarter past eleven and dinner time,
which was twelve o'clock, on various matters, particularly upon the
King's dissatisfaction with recent events in the Netherlands, and upon a
certain letter from the ambassador Alava in Paris to the Duchess of
Parma. He had, however, expressed his opinion to Madame that the letter
was a forgery. He had permitted public preaching in certain cities,
outside the walls, where it had already been established, because this
was in accordance with the treaty which Madame had made at Duffel, which
she had ordered him honorably to maintain. He had certainly winked at
the religious exercises of the Reformers, because he had been expressly
commanded to do so, and because the government at that time was not
provided with troops to suppress the new religion by force. He related
the visit of Horn, Orange, and himself to Culemburg House, at the
memorable banquet, in almost the same words which the Admiral had used.
He had done all in his power to prevent Madame from leaving Brussels,
in which effort he had been successful, and from which much good had
resulted to the country. He had never recommended that a pardon should
be granted to those who had taken up arms, but on the contrary, had
advised their chastisement, as had appeared in his demeanor towards the
rebels at Osterwel, Tournay, and Valenciennes. He had never permitted
the cry of "Vivent les gueux" at his own table, nor encouraged it in his
presence any where else.
Such were the leading features in these memorable cases of what was
called high treason. Trial there was none. The tribunal was
incompetent; the prisoners were without advocates; the government
evidence was concealed; the testimony for the defence was excluded; and
the cause was finally decided before a thousandth part of its merits
could have been placed under the eyes of the judge who gave the sentence.
But it is almost puerile to speak of the matter in the terms usually
applicable to state trials. The case had been settled in Madrid long
before the arrest of the prisoners in Brussels. The sentence, signed by
Philip in blank, had been brought in Alva's portfolio from Spain. The
proceedings were a mockery, and, so far as any effect upon public opinion
was concerned, might as well have been omitted. If the gentlemen had
been shot in the court-yard of Jasse-house, by decree of a drum-head
court-martial, an hour after their arrest, the rights of the provinces
and the sentiments of humanity would not have been outraged more utterly.
Every constitutional and natural right was violated from first to last.
This certainly was not a novelty. Thousands of obscure individuals,
whose relations and friends were not upon thrones and in high places, but
in booths and cellars, and whose fate therefore did not send a shudder of
sympathy throughout Europe, had already been sacrificed by the Blood
tribunal. Still this great case presented a colossal emblem of the
condition in which the Netherlands were now gasping. It was a monumental
exhibition of the truth which thousands had already learned to their
cost, that law and justice were abrogated throughout the land. The
country was simply under martial law--the entire population under
sentence of death. The whole civil power was in Alva's hand; the whole
responsibility in Alva's breast. Neither the most ignoble nor the most
powerful could lift their heads in the sublime desolation which was
sweeping the country. This was now proved beyond peradventure. A
miserable cobbler or weaver might be hurried from his shop to the
scaffold, invoking the 'jus de non evocando' till he was gagged, but the
Emperor would not stoop from his throne, nor electors palatine and
powerful nobles rush to his rescue; but in behalf of these prisoners the
most august hands and voices of Christendom had been lifted up at the
foot of Philip's throne; and their supplications had proved as idle as
the millions of tears and death-cries which had beep shed or uttered in
the lowly places of the land. It was obvious; then, that all
intercession must thereafter be useless. Philip was fanatically
impressed with his mission. His viceroy was possessed by his loyalty as
by a demon. In this way alone, that conduct which can never be palliated
may at least be comprehended. It was Philip's enthusiasm to embody the
wrath of God against heretics. It was Alva's enthusiasm to embody the
wrath of Philip. Narrow-minded, isolated, seeing only that section of
the world which was visible through the loop-hole of the fortress in
which Nature had imprisoned him for life, placing his glory in
unconditional obedience to his superior, questioning nothing, doubting
nothing, fearing nothing, the viceroy accomplished his work of hell with
all the tranquillity of an angel. An iron will, which clove through
every obstacle; adamantine fortitude, which sustained without flinching a
mountain of responsibility sufficient to crush a common nature, were
qualities which, united to, his fanatical obedience, made him a man for
Philip's work such as could not have been found again in the world.