Books: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1572
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John Lothrop Motley >> The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1572
These healing measures came entirely too late. The estates of Holland
met, indeed, on the appointed day of July; but they assembled not in
obedience to Alva, but in consequence of a summons from William of
Orange. They met, too, not at the Hague, but at Dort, to take formal
measures for renouncing the authority of the Duke. The first congress of
the Netherland commonwealth still professed loyalty to the Crown, but was
determined to accept the policy of Orange without a question.
The Prince had again assembled an army in Germany, consisting of
fifteen thousand foot and seven thousand horse, besides a number of
Netherlanders, mostly Walloons, amounting to nearly three thousand more.
Before taking the field, however, it was necessary that he should
guarantee at least three months' pay to his troops. This he could no
longer do, except by giving bonds endorsed by certain cities of Holland
as his securities. He had accordingly addressed letters in his own name
to all the principal cities, fervently adjuring them to remember, at
last, what was due to him, to the fatherland, and to their own character.
"Let not a sum of gold," said he in one of these letters, "be so dear to
you, that for its sake you will sacrifice your lives, your wives, your
children, and all your descendants, to the latest generations; that you
will bring sin and shame upon yourselves, and destruction upon us who
have so heartily striven to assist you. Think what scorn you will incur
from foreign nations, what a crime you will commit against the. Lord
God, what a bloody yoke ye will impose forever upon yourselves and your
children, if you now seek for subterfuges; if you now prevent us from
taking the field with the troops which we have enlisted. On the other
hand, what inexpressible benefits you will confer on your country, if you
now help us to rescue that fatherland from the power of Spanish vultures
and wolves."
This and similar missives, circulated throughout the province of Holland,
produced a deep impression. In accordance with his suggestions, the
deputies from the nobility and from twelve cities of that province
assembled on the 15th July, at Dort. Strictly speaking, the estates or
government of Holland, the body which represented the whole people,
consisted of the nobler and six great cities. On this occasion, however,
Amsterdam being still in the power of the King, could send no deputies,
while, on the other hand, all the small towns were invited to send up
their representatives to the Congress. Eight accepted the proposal; the
rest declined to appoint delegates, partly from motives of economy,
partly from timidity.'
These estates were the legitimate representatives of the people, but
they had no legislative powers. The people had never pretended to
sovereignty, nor did they claim it now. The source from which the
government of the Netherlands was supposed to proceed was still the
divine mandate. Even now the estates silently conceded, as they had ever
done, the supreme legislative and executive functions to the land's
master. Upon Philip of Spain, as representative of Count Dirk the First
of Holland, had descended, through many tortuous channels, the divine
effluence originally supplied by Charles the Simple of France. That
supernatural power was not contested, but it was now ingeniously turned
against the sovereign. The King's authority was invoked against himself
in the person of the Prince of Orange, to whom, thirteen years before,
a portion of that divine right had been delegated. The estates of
Holland met at Dort on the 15th July, as representatives of the people;
but they were summoned by Orange, royally commissioned in 1559 as
stadholder, and therefore the supreme legislative and executive officer
of certain provinces. This was the theory of the provisional government.
The Prince represented the royal authority, the nobles represented both
themselves and the people of the open country, while the twelve cities
represented the whole body of burghers. Together, they were supposed to
embody all authority, both divine and human, which a congress could
exercise. Thus the whole movement was directed against Alva and against
Count Bossu, appointed stadholder by Alva in the place of Orange.
Philip's name was destined to figure for a long time, at the head
of documents by which monies were raised, troops levied, and taxes
collected, all to be used in deadly war against himself.
The estates were convened on the 15th July, when Paul Buys, pensionary of
Leyden, the tried and confidential friend of Orange, was elected Advocate
of Holland. The convention was then adjourned till the 18th, when Saint
Aldegonde made his appearance, with full powers to act provisionally in
behalf of his Highness.
The distinguished plenipotentiary delivered before the congress a long
and very effective harangue. He recalled the sacrifices and efforts of
the Prince during previous years. He adverted to the disastrous campaign
of 1568, in which the Prince had appeared full of high hope, at the head
of a gallant army, but had been obliged, after a short period, to retire,
because not a city had opened its gates nor a Netherlander lifted his
finger in the cause. Nevertheless, he had not lost courage nor closed
his heart; and now that, through the blessing of God, the eyes of men had
been opened, and so many cities had declared against the tyrant, the
Prince had found himself exposed to a bitter struggle. Although his own
fortunes had been ruined in the cause, he had been unable to resist the
daily flood of petitions which called upon him to come forward once more.
He had again importuned his relations and powerful friends; he had at
last set on foot a new and well-appointed army. The day of payment had
arrived. Over his own head impended perpetual shame, over the fatherland
perpetual woe, if the congress should now refuse the necessary supplies.
"Arouse ye, then," cried the orator, with fervor, "awaken your own zeal
and that of your sister cities. Seize Opportunity by the locks, who
never appeared fairer than she does to-day."
The impassioned eloquence of St. Aldegonde produced a profound
impression. The men who had obstinately refused the demands of Alva,
now unanimously resolved to pour forth their gold and their blood at
the call of Orange. "Truly," wrote the Duke, a little later, "it almost
drives me mad to see the difficulty with which your Majesty's supplies
are furnished, and the liberality with which the people place their lives
and fortunes at the disposal of this rebel." It seemed strange to the
loyal governor that men should support their liberator with greater
alacrity than that with which they served their destroyer! It was
resolved that the requisite amount should be at once raised, partly
from the regular imposts and current "requests," partly by loans from
the rich, from the clergy, from the guilds and brotherhoods, partly from
superfluous church ornaments and other costly luxuries. It was directed
that subscriptions should be immediately opened throughout the land, that
gold and silver plate, furniture, jewellery, and other expensive articles
should be received by voluntary contributions, for which inventories and
receipts should be given by the magistrates of each city, and that upon
these money should be raised, either by loan or sale. An enthusiastic
and liberal spirit prevailed. All seemed determined rather than pay the
tenth to Alva to pay the whole to the Prince.
The estates, furthermore, by unanimous resolution, declared that they
recognized the Prince as the King's lawful stadholder over Holland,
Zealand, Friesland, and Utrecht, and that they would use their influence
with the other provinces to procure his appointment as Protector of all
the Netherlands during the King's absence. His Highness was requested to
appoint an Admiral, on whom, with certain deputies from the Water-cities,
the conduct of the maritime war should devolve.
The conduct of the military operations by land was to be directed by
Dort, Leyden, and Enkbuizen, in conjunction with the Count de la Marck.
A pledge was likewise exchanged between the estates and the pleni-
potentiary, that neither party should enter into any treaty with the
King, except by full consent and co-operation of the other. With regard
to religion, it was firmly established, that the public exercises of
divine worship should be permitted not only to the Reformed Church, but
to the Roman Catholic--the clergy of both being protected from all
molestation.
After these proceedings, Count de la Marck made his appearance before the
assembly. His commission from Orange was read to the deputies, and by
them ratified. The Prince, in that document, authorized "his dear
cousin" to enlist troops, to accept the fealty of cities, to furnish them
with garrisons, to re-establish all the local laws, municipal rights, and
ancient privileges which had been suppressed. He was to maintain freedom
of religion, under penalty of death to those who infringed it; he was to
restore all confiscated property; he was, with advice of his council, to
continue in office such city magistrates as were favorable, and to remove
those adverse to the cause.
The Prince was, in reality, clothed with dictatorial and even regal
powers. This authority had been forced upon him by the prayers of the
people, but he manifested no eagerness as he partly accepted the onerous
station. He was provisionally the depositary of the whole sovereignty of
the northern provinces, but ho cared much less for theories of government
than for ways and means. It was his object to release the country from
the tyrant who, five years long, had been burning and butchering the
people. It was his determination to drive out the foreign soldiery. To
do this, he must meet his enemy in the field. So little was he disposed
to strengthen his own individual power, that he voluntarily imposed
limits on himself, by an act, supplemental to the proceedings of the
Congress of Dort. In this important ordinance made by the Prince of
Orange, as a provisional form of government, he publicly announced "that
he would do and ordain nothing except by the advice of the estates, by
reason that they were best acquainted with the circumstances and the
humours of the inhabitants." He directed the estates to appoint
receivers for all public taxes, and ordained that all military officers
should make oath of fidelity to him, as stadholder, and to the estates of
Holland, to be true and obedient, in order to liberate the land from the
Albanian and Spanish tyranny, for the service of his royal Majesty as
Count of Holland. The provisional constitution, thus made by a sovereign
prince and actual dictator, was certainly as disinterested as it was
sagacious.
Meanwhile the war had opened vigorously in Hainault. Louis of Nassau
had no sooner found himself in possession of Mons than he had despatched
Genlis to France, for those reinforcements which had been promised by
royal lips. On the other hand, Don Frederic held the city closely
beleaguered; sharp combats before the walls were of almost daily
occurrence, but it was obvious that Louis would be unable to maintain the
position into which he had so chivalrously thrown himself unless he
should soon receive important succor. The necessary reinforcements were
soon upon the way. Genlis had made good speed with his levy, and it was
soon announced that he was advancing into Hainault, with a force of
Huguenots, whose numbers report magnified to ten thousand veterans.
Louis despatched an earnest message to his confederate, to use extreme
caution in his approach. Above all things, he urged him, before
attempting to throw reinforcements into the city, to effect a junction
with the Prince of Orange, who had already crossed the Rhine with his new
army.
Genlis, full of overweening confidence, and desirous of acquiring singly
the whole glory of relieving the city, disregarded this advice. His
rashness proved his ruin, and the temporary prostration of the cause of
freedom. Pushing rapidly forward across the French frontier, he arrived,
towards the middle of July, within two leagues of Mons. The Spaniards
were aware of his approach, and well prepared to frustrate his project.
On the 19th, he found himself upon a circular plain of about a league's
extent, surrounded with coppices and forests, and dotted with farm-houses
and kitchen gardens. Here he paused to send out a reconnoitring party.
The little detachment was, however, soon driven in, with the information
that Don Frederic of Toledo, with ten thousand men, was coming instantly
upon them. The Spanish force, in reality, numbered four thousand
infantry, and fifteen hundred cavalry; but three thousand half-armed
boors had been engaged by Don Frederic, to swell his apparent force. The
demonstration produced its effect, and no sooner had the first panic of
the intelligence been spread, than Noircarmes came charging upon them at
the head of his cavalry. The infantry arrived directly afterwards, and
the Huguenots were routed almost as soon as seen. It was a meeting
rather than a battle. The slaughter of the French was very great, while
but an insignificant number of the Spaniards fell. Chiappin Vitelli was
the hero of the day. It was to his masterly arrangements before the
combat, and to his animated exertions upon the field, that the victory
was owing. Having been severely wounded in the thigh but a few days
previously, he caused himself to be carried upon a litter in a recumbent
position in front of his troops, and was everywhere seen, encouraging
their exertions, and exposing himself, crippled as he was, to the whole
brunt of the battle. To him the victory nearly proved fatal; to Don
Frederic it brought increased renown. Vitelli's exertions, in his
precarious condition, brought on severe inflammation, under which he
nearly succumbed, while the son of Alva reaped extensive fame from the
total overthrow of the veteran Huguenots, due rather to his lieutenant
and to Julian Romero.
The number of dead left by the French upon the plain amounted to at least
twelve hundred, but a much larger number was butchered in detail by the
peasantry, among whom they attempted to take refuge, and who had not yet
forgotten the barbarities inflicted by their countrymen in the previous
war. Many officers were taken prisoners, among whom was the Commander-
in-chief, Genlis.
That unfortunate gentleman was destined to atone for his rashness and
obstinacy with his life. He was carried to the castle of Antwerp, where,
sixteen months afterwards, he was secretly strangled by command of Alva,
who caused the report to be circulated that he had died a natural death.
About one hundred foot soldiers succeeded in making their entrance into
Mona, and this was all the succor which Count Louis was destined to
receive from France, upon which country he had built such lofty and such
reasonable hopes.
While this unfortunate event was occurring, the Prince had already put
his army in motion. On the 7th of July he had crossed the Rhine at
Duisburg, with fourteen thousand foot, seven thousand horse, enlisted in
Germany, besides a force of three thousand Walloons. On the 23rd of
July, he took the city of Roermond, after a sharp cannonade, at which
place his troops already began to disgrace the honorable cause in which
they were engaged, by imitating the cruelties and barbarities of their
antagonists. The persons and property of the burghers were, with a very
few exceptions, respected; but many priests and monks were put to death
by the soldiery under circumstances of great barbarity. The Prince,
incensed at such conduct, but being unable to exercise very stringent
authority over troops whose wages he was not yet able to pay in full,
issued a proclamation, denouncing such excesses, and commanding his
followers, upon pain of death, to respect the rights of all individuals,
whether Papist or Protestant, and to protect religious exercises both in
Catholic and Reformed churches.
It was hardly to be expected that the troops enlisted by the Prince in
the same great magazine of hireling soldiers, Germany, from whence the
Duke also derived his annual supplies, would be likely to differ very
much in their propensities from those enrolled under Spanish banners; yet
there was a vast contrast between the characters of the two commanders.
One leader inculcated the practice of robbery, rape, and murder, as a
duty, and issued distinct orders to butcher every mother's son in the
cities which he captured; the other restrained every excess to, the
utmost of his ability, protecting not only life and property, but even
the ancient religion.
The Emperor Maximilian had again issued his injunctions against the
military operations of Orange. Bound to the monarch of Spain by so many
family ties, being at once cousin, brother-in-law, and father-in-law of
Philip, it was difficult for him to maintain the attitude which became
him, as chief of that Empire to which the peace of Passau had assured
religious freedom. It had, however, been sufficiently proved that
remonstrances and intercessions addressed to Philip were but idle breath.
It had therefore become an insult to require pacific conduct from the
Prince on the ground of any past or future mediation. It was a still
grosser mockery to call upon him to discontinue hostilities because the
Netherlands were included in the Empire, and therefore protected by the
treaties of Passau and Augsburg. Well did the Prince reply to his
Imperial Majesty's summons in a temperate but cogent letter, in which he
addressed to him from his camp, that all intercessions had proved
fruitless, and that the only help for the Netherlands was the sword.
The Prince had been delayed for a month at Roermonde, because, as he
expressed it; "he had not a single sou," and because, in consequence,
the troops refused to advance into the Netherlands. Having at last been
furnished with the requisite guarantees from the Holland cities for three
months' pay, on the 27th of August, the day of the publication of his
letter to the Emperor, he crossed the Meuse and took his circuitous way
through Diest, Tirlemont, Sichem, Louvain, Mechlin, Termonde, Oudenarde,
Nivelles. Many cities and villages accepted his authority and admitted
his garrisons. Of these Mechlin was the most considerable, in which he
stationed a detachment of his troops. Its doom was sealed in that
moment. Alva could not forgive this act of patriotism on the part of a
town which had so recently excluded his own troops. "This is a direct
permission of God," he wrote, in the spirit of dire and revengeful
prophecy, "for us to punish her as she deserves, for the image-breaking
and other misdeeds done there in the time of Madame de Parma, which our
Lord was not willing to pass over without chastisement."
Meantime the Prince continued his advance. Louvain purchased its
neutrality for the time with sixteen thousand ducats; Brussels
obstinately refused to listen to him, and was too powerful to be forcibly
attacked at that juncture; other important cities, convinced by the
arguments and won by the eloquence of the various proclamations which he
scattered as he advanced, ranged themselves spontaneously and even
enthusiastically upon his side. How different world have been the result
of his campaign but for the unexpected earthquake which at that instant
was to appal Christendom, and to scatter all his well-matured plans and
legitimate hopes. His chief reliance, under Providence and his own
strong heart, had been upon French assistance. Although Genlis, by his
misconduct, had sacrificed his army and himself, yet the Prince as still
justly sanguine as to the policy of the French court. The papers which
had been found in the possession of Genlis by his conquerors all spoke
one language. "You would be struck with stupor," wrote Alva's secretary,
"could you see a letter which is now in my power, addressed by the King
of France to Louis of Nassau." In that letter the King had declared his
determination to employ all the forces which God had placed in his hands
to rescue the Netherlands from the oppression under which they were
groaning. In accordance with the whole spirit and language of the French
government, was the tone of Coligny in his correspondence with Orange.
The Admiral assured the Prince that there was no doubt as to the
earnestness of the royal intentions in behalf of the Netherlands, and
recommending extreme caution, announced his hope within a few days to
effect a junction with him at the head of twelve thousand French
arquebusiers, and at least three thousand cavalry. Well might the
Prince of Orange, strong, and soon to be strengthened, boast that the
Netherlands were free, and that Alva was in his power. He had a right
to be sanguine, for nothing less than a miracle could now destroy his
generous hopes--and, alas! the miracle took place; a miracle of perfidy
and bloodshed such as the world, familiar as it had ever been and was
still to be with massacre, had not yet witnessed. On the 11th of August,
Coligny had written thus hopefully of his movements towards the
Netherlands, sanctioned and aided by his King. A fortnight from that
day occurred the "Paris-wedding;" and the Admiral, with thousands of his
religious confederates, invited to confidence by superhuman treachery,
and lulled into security by the music of august marriage bells, was
suddenly butchered in the streets of Paris by royal and noble hands.
The Prince proceeded on his march, during which the heavy news had been
brought to him, but he felt convinced that, with the very arrival of the
awful tidings, the fate of that campaign was sealed, and the fall of Mons
inevitable. In his own language, he had been struck to the earth "with
the blow of a sledge-hammer,"--nor did the enemy draw a different augury
from the great event.
The crime was not committed with the connivance of the Spanish
government. On the contrary, the two courts were at the moment bitterly
hostile to each other. In the beginning of the summer, Charles IX. and
his advisers were as false to Philip, as at the end of it they were
treacherous to Coligny and Orange. The massacre of the Huguenots had
not even the merit of being a well-contrived and intelligently executed
scheme. We have seen how steadily, seven years before, Catharine de
Medici had rejected the advances of Alva towards the arrangement of a
general plan for the extermination of all heretics within France and the
Netherlands at the same moment. We have seen the disgust with which Alva
turned from the wretched young King at Bayonne, when he expressed the
opinion that to take arms against his own subjects was wholly out of the
question, and could only be followed by general ruin. "'Tis easy to see
that he has been tutored," wrote Alva to his master. Unfortunately,
the same mother; who had then instilled those lessons of hypocritical
benevolence, had now wrought upon her son's cowardly but ferocious nature
with a far different intent. The incomplete assassination of Coligny,
the dread of signal vengeance at the hands of the Huguenots, the
necessity of taking the lead in the internecine snuggle; were employed
with Medicean art, and with entire success. The King was lashed into a
frenzy. Starting to his feet, with a howl of rage and terror, "I agree
to the scheme," he cried, "provided not one Huguenot be left alive in
France to reproach me with the deed."
That night the slaughter commenced. The long premeditated crime was
executed in a panic, but the work was thoroughly done. The King,
who a few days before had written with his own hand to Louis of Nassau,
expressing his firm determination to sustain the Protestant cause both in
France and the Netherlands, who had employed the counsels of Coligny in
the arrangement, of his plans, and who had sent French troops, under
Genlis and La None, to assist their Calvinist brethren in Flanders, now
gave the signal for the general massacre of the Protestants, and with his
own hands, from his own palace windows, shot his subjects with his
arquebuss as if they had been wild beasts.
Between Sunday and Tuesday, according to one of the most moderate
calculations, five thousand Parisians of all ranks were murdered. Within
the whole kingdom, the number of victims was variously estimated at from
twenty-five thousand to one hundred thousand. The heart of Protestant
Europe, for an instant, stood still with horror. The Queen of England
put on mourning weeds, and spurned the apologies of the French envoy with
contempt. At Rome, on the contrary, the news of the massacre created a
joy beyond description. The Pope, accompanied by his cardinals, went
solemnly to the church of Saint Mark to render thanks to God for the
grace thus singularly vouchsafed to the Holy See and to all Christendom;
and a Te Deum was performed in presence of the same august assemblage.