Books: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1573 74
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John Lothrop Motley >> The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1573 74
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The great dyke having been thus occupied, no time was lost in breaking it
through in several places, a work which was accomplished under the very
eyes of the enemy. The fleet sailed through the gaps, but, after their
passage had been effected in good order, the Admiral found, to his
surprise, that it was not the only rampart to be carried. The Prince had
been informed, by those who claimed to know, the country, that, when once
the Land-scheiding had been passed, the water would flood the country.
as far as Leyden, but the "Green-way," another long dyke three-quarters
of a mile farther inward, now rose at least a foot above the water, to
oppose their further progress. Fortunately, by, a second and still more
culpable carelessness, this dyke had been left by the Spaniards in as
unprotected a state as the first had been, Promptly and audaciously
Admiral Boisot took possession of this barrier also, levelled it in many
places, and brought his flotilla, in triumph, over its ruins. Again,
however, he was doomed to disappointment. A large mere, called the
Freshwater Lake, was known to extend itself directly in his path about
midway between the Land-scheiding and the city. To this piece of water,
into which he expected to have instantly floated, his only passage lay
through one deep canal. The sea which had thus far borne him on, now
diffusing itself over a very wide surface, and under the influence of an
adverse wind, had become too shallow for his ships. The canal alone was
deep enough, but it led directly towards a bridge, strongly occupied by
the enemy. Hostile troops, moreover, to the amount of three thousand
occupied both sides of the canal. The bold Boisot, nevertheless,
determined to force his passage, if possible. Selecting a few of his
strongest vessels, his heaviest artillery, and his bravest sailors, he
led the van himself, in a desperate attempt to make his way to the mere.
He opened a hot fire upon the bridge, then converted into a fortress,
while his men engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a succession of
skirmishers from the troops along the canal. After losing a few men,
and ascertaining the impregnable position of the enemy, he was obliged
to withdraw, defeated, and almost despairing.
A week had elapsed since the great dyke had been pierced, and the
flotilla now lay motionless--in shallow water, having accomplished less
than two miles. The wind, too, was easterly, causing the sea rather to
sink than to rise. Everything wore a gloomy aspect, when, fortunately,
on the 18th, the wind shifted to the north-west, and for three days blew
a gale. The waters rose rapidly, and before the second day was closed
the armada was afloat again. Some fugitives from Zoetermeer village now
arrived, and informed the Admiral that, by making a detour to the right,
he could completely circumvent the bridge and the mere. They guided him,
accordingly, to a comparatively low dyke, which led between the villages
of Zoetermeer and Benthuyzen: A strong force of Spaniards was stationed
in each place, but, seized with a panic, instead of sallying to defend
the barrier, they fled inwardly towards Leyden, and halted at the village
of North Aa. It was natural that they should be amazed. Nothing is more
appalling to the imagination than the rising ocean tide, when man feels
himself within its power; and here were the waters, hourly deepening and
closing around them, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on the
waves rode a flotilla, manned by a determined race; whose courage and
ferocity were known throughout the world. The Spanish soldiers, brave as
they were on land, were not sailors, and in the naval contests which had
taken place between them and the Hollanders had been almost invariably
defeated. It was not surprising, in these amphibious skirmishes, where
discipline was of little avail, and habitual audacity faltered at the
vague dangers which encompassed them, that the foreign troops should lose
their presence of mind.
Three barriers, one within the other, had now been passed, and the
flotilla, advancing with the advancing waves, and driving the enemy
steadily before it, was drawing nearer to the beleaguered city. As one
circle after another was passed, the besieging army found itself
compressed within a constantly contracting field. The "Ark of Delft," an
enormous vessel, with shot-proof bulwarks, and moved by paddle-wheels
turned by a crank, now arrived at Zoetermeer, and was soon followed by
the whole fleet. After a brief delay, sufficient to allow the few
remaining villagers to escape, both Zoetermeer and Benthuyzen, with the
fortifications, were set on fire, and abandoned to their fate. The blaze
lighted up the desolate and watery waste around, and was seen at Leyden,
where it was hailed as the beacon of hope. Without further impediment,
the armada proceeded to North Aa; the enemy retreating from this position
also, and flying to Zoeterwoude, a strongly fortified village but a mile
and three quarters from the city walls. It was now swarming with troops,
for the bulk of the besieging army had gradually been driven into a
narrow circle of forts, within the immediate neighbourhood of Leyden.
Besides Zoeterwoude, the two posts where they were principally
established were Lammen and Leyderdorp, each within three hundred rods of
the town. At Leyderdorp were the head-quarters of Valdez; Colonel Borgia
commanded in the very strong fortress of Lammen.
The fleet was, however, delayed at North Aa by another barrier, called
the "Kirk-way." The waters, too, spreading once more over a wider space,
and diminishing under an east wind, which had again arisen, no longer
permitted their progress, so that very soon the whole armada was stranded
anew. The, waters fell to the depth of nine inches; while the vessels
required eighteen and twenty. Day after day the fleet lay motionless
upon. the shallow sea. Orange, rising from his sick bed as soon as he
could stand, now came on board the fleet. His presence diffused
universal joy; his words inspired his desponding army with fresh hope.
He rebuked the impatient spirits who, weary of their compulsory idleness,
had shown symptoms of ill-timed ferocity, and those eight hundred mad
Zealanders, so frantic in their hatred to the foreigners, who had so long
profaned their land, were as docile as children to the Prince. He
reconnoitred the whole ground, and issued orders for the immediate
destruction of the Kirkway, the last important barrier which separated
the fleet from Leyden. Then, after a long conference with Admiral
Boisot, he returned to Delft.
Meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. The burghers had been
in a state of uncertainty for many days; being aware that the fleet had
set forth for their relief, but knowing full well the thousand obstacles
which it, had to surmount. They had guessed its progress by the
illumination from, the blazing villages; they had heard its salvos of
artillery, on its arrival at North Aa; but since then, all had been dark
and mournful again, hope and fear, in sickening alternation, distracting
every breast. They knew that the wind was unfavorable, and at the dawn
of each day every eye was turned wistfully to the vanes of the, steeples.
So long as the easterly breeze prevailed, they felt, as they anxiously
stood on towers and housetops; that they must look in vain for the
welcome ocean. Yet, while thus patiently waiting, they were literally
starving; for even the misery endured at Harlem had not reached that
depth and intensity of agony to which Leyden was now reduced. Bread,
malt-cake, horseflesh, had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, and
other vermin, were esteemed luxuries: A small number of cows, kept as
long as possible, for their milk, still remained; but a few were killed
from day to day; and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficient
to support life among the famishing population. Starving wretches
swarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered,
contending for any morsel which might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood
as it ran along the pavement; while the hides; chopped and boiled, were
greedily devoured. Women and children, all day long, were seen searching
gutters and dunghills for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercely
with the famishing dogs. The green leaves were stripped from the trees,
every living herb was converted into human food, but these expedients
could not avert starvation. The daily mortality was frightful infants
starved to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had parched and
withered; mothers dropped dead in the streets, with their dead children
in their arms. In many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found a
whole family of corpses, father, mother, and children, side by side, for
a disorder called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship and
famine, now came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people.
The pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomed
inhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. From six thousand to
eight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet the
people resolutely held out--women and men mutually encouraging each other
to resist the entrance of their foreign foe--an evil more horrible than
pest or famine.
The missives from Valdez, who saw more vividly than the besieged could
do, the uncertainty of his own position, now poured daily into the city,
the enemy becoming more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that the ocean
might yet save the victims from his grasp. The inhabitants, in their
ignorance, had gradually abandoned their hopes of relief, but they
spurned the summons to surrender. Leyden was sublime in its despair. A
few murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at the steadfastness of the
magistrates, and a dead body was placed at the door of the burgomaster,
as a silent witness against his inflexibility. A party of the more
faint-hearted even assailed the heroic Adrian Van der Werf with threats
and reproaches as he passed through the streets. A crowd had gathered
around him, as he reached a triangular place in the centre of the town,
into which many of the principal streets emptied themselves, and upon one
side of which stood the church of Saint Pancras, with its high brick
tower surmounted by two pointed turrets, and with two ancient lime trees
at its entrance. There stood the burgomaster, a tall, haggard, imposing
figure, with dark visage, and a tranquil but commanding eye. He waved
his broadleaved felt hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in language
which has been almost literally preserved, What would ye, my friends?
Why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender the city to
the Spaniards? a fate more horrible than the agony which she now endures.
I tell you I have made an oath to hold the city, and may God give me
strength to keep my oath! I can die but once; whether by your hands, the
enemy's, or by the hand of God. My own fate is indifferent to me, not so
that of the city intrusted to my care. I know that we shall starve if
not soon relieved; but starvation is preferable to the dishonored death
which is the only alternative. Your menaces move me not; my life is at
your disposal; here is my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide my
flesh among you. Take my body to appease your hunger, but expect no
surrender, so long as I remain alive.
The words of the stout burgomaster inspired a new courage in the hearts
of those who heard him, and a shout of applause and defiance arose from
the famishing but enthusiastic crowd. They left the place, after
exchanging new vows of fidelity with their magistrate, and again ascended
tower and battlement to watch for the coming fleet. From the ramparts
they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. "Ye call us rat-eaters and
dog-eaters," they cried, "and it is true. So long, then, as ye hear dog
bark or cat mew within the walls, ye may know that the city holds out.
And when all has perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devour
our left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, our liberty, and
our religion, against the foreign tyrant. Should God, in his wrath, doom
us to destruction, and deny us all relief, even then will we maintain
ourselves for ever against your entrance. When the last hour has come,
with our own hands we will set fire to the city and perish, men, women,
and children together in the flames, rather than suffer our homes to be
polluted and our liberties to be crushed." Such words of defiance,
thundered daily from the battlements, sufficiently informed Valdez as to
his chance of conquering the city, either by force or fraud, but at the
same time, he felt comparatively relieved by the inactivity of Boisot's
fleet, which still lay stranded at North Aa. "As well," shouted the
Spaniards, derisively, to the citizens, "as well can the Prince of Orange
pluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls of Leyden
for your relief."
On the 28th of September, a dove flew into the city, bringing a letter
from Admiral Boisot. In this despatch, the position of the fleet at
North Aa was described in encouraging terms, and the inhabitants were
assured that, in a very few days at furthest, the long-expected relief
would enter their gates. The letter was read publicly upon the market-
place, and the bells were rung for joy. Nevertheless, on the morrow, the
vanes pointed to the east, the waters, so far from rising, continued to
sink, and Admiral Boisot was almost in despair. He wrote to the Prince,
that if the spring-tide, now to be expected, should not, together with a
strong and favorable wind, come immediately to their relief, it would be
in pain to attempt anything further, and that the expedition would, of
necessity, be abandoned. The tempest came to their relief. A violent
equinoctial gale, on the night of the 1st and 2nd of October, came
storming from the north-west, shifting after a few hours full eight
points, and then blowing still more violently from the south-west. The
waters of the North Sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coast
of Holland, and then dashed furiously landward, the ocean rising over the
earth, and sweeping with unrestrained power across the ruined dykes.
In the course of twenty-four hours, the fleet at North Aa, instead of
nine inches, had more than two feet of water. No time was lost. The
Kirk-way, which had been broken through according to the Prince's
instructions, was now completely overflowed, and the fleet sailed at
midnight, in the midst of the storm and darkness. A few sentinel vessels
of the enemy challenged them as they steadily rowed towards Zoeterwoude.
The answer was a flash from Boisot's cannon; lighting up the black waste
of waters. There was a fierce naval midnight battle; a strange spectacle
among the branches of those quiet orchards, and with the chimney stacks
of half-submerged farmhouses rising around the contending vessels.
The neighboring village of Zoeterwoude shook with the discharges of the
Zealanders' cannon, and the Spaniards assembled in that fortress knew
that the rebel Admiral was at last, afloat and on his course. The
enemy's vessels were soon sunk, their crews hurled into the waves.
On went the fleet, sweeping over the broad waters which lay between
Zoeterwoude and Zwieten. As they approached some shallows, which led
into the great mere, the Zealanders dashed into the sea, and with sheer
strength shouldered every vessel through. Two obstacles lay still in
their path--the forts of Zoeterwoude and Lammen, distant from the city
five hundred and two hundred and fifty yards respectively. Strong
redoubts, both well supplied with troops and artillery, they were likely
to give a rough reception to the light flotilla, but the panic; which had
hitherto driven their foes before the advancing patriots; had reached
Zoeterwoude. Hardly was the fleet in sight when the Spaniards in the
early morning, poured out from the fortress, and fled precipitately to
the left, along a road which led in a westerly direction towards the
Hague. Their narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, and
hundreds sank beneath the constantly deepening and treacherous flood.
The wild Zealanders, too, sprang from their vessels upon the crumbling
dyke and drove their retreating foes into the sea. They hurled their
harpoons at them, with an accuracy acquired in many a polar chase; they
plunged into the waves in the keen pursuit, attacking them with boat-hook
and dagger. The numbers who thus fell beneath these corsairs, who
neither gave nor took quarter, were never counted, but probably not less
than a thousand perished. The rest effected their escape to the Hague.
The first fortress was thus seized, dismantled, set on fire, and passed,
and a few strokes of the oars brought the whole fleet close to Lammen.
This last obstacle rose formidable and frowning directly across their
path. Swarming as it was with soldiers, and bristling with artillery,
it seemed to defy the armada either to carry it by storm or to pass under
its guns into the city. It appeared that the enterprise was, after all,
to founder within sight of the long expecting and expected haven. Boisot
anchored his fleet within a respectful distance, and spent what remained
of the day in carefully reconnoitring the fort, which seemed only too
strong. In conjunction with Leyderdorp, the head-quarters of Valdez, a
mile and a half distant on the right, and within a mile of the city, it
seemed so insuperable an impediment that Boisot wrote in despondent tone
to the Prince of Orange. He announced his intention of carrying the
fort, if it were possible, on the following morning, but if obliged to
retreat, he observed, with something like despair, that there would be
nothing for it but to wait for another gale of wind. If the waters
should rise sufficiently to enable them to make a wide detour, it might
be possible, if, in the meantime, Leyden did not starve or surrender, to
enter its gates from the opposite side.
Meantime, the citizens had grown wild with expectation. A dove had been
despatched by Boisot, informing them of his precise position, and a
number of citizens accompanied the burgomaster, at nightfall, toward the
tower of Hengist. Yonder, cried the magistrate, stretching out his hand
towards Lammen, "yonder, behind that fort, are bread and meat, and
brethren in thousands. Shall all this be destroyed by the Spanish guns,
or shall we rush to the rescue of our friends?"--"We will tear the
fortress to fragments with our teeth and nails," was the reply, "before
the relief, so long expected, shall be wrested from us." It was resolved
that a sortie, in conjunction with the operations of Boisot, should be
made against Lammen with the earliest dawn. Night descended upon the
scene, a pitch dark night, full of anxiety to the Spaniards, to the
armada, to Leyden. Strange sights and sounds occurred at different
moments to bewilder the anxious sentinels. A long procession of lights
issuing from the fort was seen to flit across the black face of the
waters, in the dead of night, and the whole of the city wall, between the
Cow-gate and the Tower of Burgundy, fell with a loud crash. The horror-
struck citizens thought that the Spaniards were upon them at last; the
Spaniards imagined the noise to indicate, a desperate sortie of the
citizens. Everything was vague and mysterious.
Day dawned, at length, after the feverish, night, and, the Admiral
prepared for the assault. Within the fortress reigned a death-like
stillness, which inspired a sickening suspicion. Had the city, indeed,
been carried in the night; had the massacre already commenced; had all
this labor and audacity been expended in vain? Suddenly a man was
descried, wading breast-high through the water from Lammen towards the
fleet, while at the same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his cap
from the summit of the fort. After a moment of doubt, the happy mystery
was solved. The Spaniards had fled, panic struck, during the darkness.
Their position would still have enabled them, with firmness, to frustrate
the enterprise of the patriots, but the hand of God, which had sent the
ocean and the tempest to the deliverance of Leyden, had struck her
enemies with terror likewise. The lights which had been seen moving
during the night were the lanterns of the retreating Spaniards, and the
boy who was now waving his triumphant signal from the battlements had
alone witnessed the spectacle. So confident was he in the conclusion to
which it led him, that he had volunteered at daybreak to go thither all
alone. The magistrates, fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment to
believe the truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. Valdez,
flying himself from Leyderdorp, had ordered Colonel Borgia to retire with
all his troops from Lammen. Thus, the Spaniards had retreated at the
very moment that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side of
the city for their entrance. The noise of the wall, as it fell, only
inspired them with fresh alarm for they believed that the citizens had
sallied forth in the darkness, to aid the advancing flood in the work of
destruction. All obstacles being now removed, the fleet of Boisot swept
by Lammen, and entered the city on the morning of the 3rd of October.
Leyden was relieved.
The quays were lined with the famishing population, as the fleet rowed
through the canals, every human being who could stand, coming forth to
greet the preservers of the city. Bread was thrown from every vessel
among the crowd. The poor creatures who, for two months had tasted no
wholesome human food, and who had literally been living within the jaws
of death, snatched eagerly the blessed gift, at last too liberally
bestowed. Many choked themselves to death, in the greediness with which
they devoured their bread; others became ill with the effects of plenty
thus suddenly succeeding starvation; but these were isolated cases, a
repetition of which was prevented. The Admiral, stepping ashore, was
welcomed by the magistracy, and a solemn procession was immediately
formed. Magistrates and citizens, wild Zealanders, emaciated burgher
guards, sailors, soldiers, women, children, nearly every living person
within the walls, all repaired without delay to the great church, stout
Admiral Boisot leading the way. The starving and heroic city, which had
been so firm in its resistance to an earthly king, now bent itself in
humble gratitude before the King of kings. After prayers, the whole vast
congregation joined in the thanksgiving hymn. Thousands of voices raised
the-song, but few were able to carry it to its conclusion, for the
universal emotion, deepened by the music, became too full for utterance.
The hymn was abruptly suspended, while the multitude wept like children.
This scene of honest pathos terminated; the necessary measures for
distributing the food and for relieving the sick were taken by the
magistracy. A note dispatched to the Prince of Orange, was received by
him at two o'clock, as he sat in church at Delft. It was of a somewhat
different purport from that of the letter which he had received early in
the same day from Boisot; the letter in which the admiral had, informed
him that the success of the enterprise depended; after-all, upon the
desperate assault upon a nearly impregnable fort. The joy of the Prince
may be easily imagined, and so soon as the sermon was concluded; he
handed the letter just received to the minister, to be read to the
congregation. Thus, all participated in his joy, and united with him in
thanksgiving.
The next day, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his friends, who
were anxious lest his life should be endangered by breathing, in his
scarcely convalescent state; the air of the city where so many thousands
had been dying of the pestilence, the Prince repaired to Leyden. He, at
least, had never doubted his own or his country's fortitude. They could,
therefore, most sincerely congratulate each other, now that the victory
had been achieved. "If we are doomed to perish," he had said a little
before the commencement of the siege, "in the name of God, be it so! At
any rate, we shall have the honor to have done what no nation ever, did
before us, that of having defended and maintained ourselves, unaided, in
so small a country, against the tremendous efforts of such powerful
enemies. So long as the poor inhabitants here, though deserted by all
the world, hold firm, it will still cost the Spaniards the half of Spain,
in money and in men, before they can make an end of us."
The termination of the terrible siege of Leyden was a convincing proof to
the Spaniards that they had not yet made an end of the Hollanders. It
furnished, also, a sufficient presumption that until they had made an end
of them, even unto the last Hollander, there would never be an end of the
struggle in which they were engaged. It was a slender consolation to the
Governor-General, that his troops had been vanquished, not by the enemy,
but by the ocean. An enemy whom the ocean obeyed with such docility
might well be deemed invincible by man. In the head-quarters of Valdez,
at Leyderdorp, many plans of Leyden and the neighbourhood were found
lying in confusion about the room. Upon the table was a hurried farewell
of that General to the scenes of his, discomfiture, written in a Latin
worthy of Juan Vargas: "Vale civitas, valete castelli parvi, qui relicti
estis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!" In his precipitate
retreat before the advancing rebels, the Commander had but just found
time for this elegant effusion, and, for his parting instructions to
Colonel Borgia that the fortress of Lammen was to be forthwith abandoned.
These having been reduced to writing, Valdez had fled so speedily as to
give rise to much censure and more scandal. He was even accused of
having been bribed by the Hollanders to desert his post, a tale which
many repeated, and a few believed. On the 4th of October, the day
following that on which the relief of the city was effected, the wind
shifted to the north-east, and again blew a tempest. It was as if the
waters, having now done their work, had been rolled back to the ocean by
an Omnipotent hand, for in the course of a few days, the land was bare
again, and the work of reconstructing the dykes commenced.
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