History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain Part 36 (1/2)
But the amount of suffering from such a persecution is not to be estimated merely by the number of those who have actually suffered death, when the fear of death hung like a naked sword over every man's head. Alva had expressed to Philip the wish that every man, as he lay down at night, or as he rose in the morning, ”might feel that his house, at any hour, might fall and crush him!”[1069] This humane wish was accomplished. Those who escaped death had to fear a fate scarcely less dreadful, in banishment and confiscation of property. The persecution very soon took this direction; and persecution when prompted by avarice is even more odious than when it springs from fanaticism, which, however degrading in itself, is but the perversion of the religious principle.
Sentence of perpetual exile and confiscation was p.r.o.nounced at once against all who fled the country.[1070] Even the dead were not spared; as is shown by the process inst.i.tuted against the marquis of Bergen, for the confiscation of his estates on the charge of treason. That n.o.bleman had gone with Montigny, as the reader may remember, on his mission to Madrid, where he had recently died,--more fortunate than his companion, who survived for a darker destiny. The duke's emissaries were everywhere active in making inventories of the property of the suspected parties.
”I am going to arrest some of the richest and worst offenders,” writes Alva to his master, ”and bring them to a pecuniary composition.”[1071]
He shall next proceed, he says, against the delinquent cities. In this way a round sum will flow into his majesty's coffers.[1072] The victims of this cla.s.s were so numerous, that we find a single sentence of the council sometimes comprehending eighty or a hundred individuals. One before me, in fewer words than are taken up by the names of the parties, dooms no less than a hundred and thirty-five inhabitants of Amsterdam to confiscation and exile.[1073]
One may imagine the distress brought on this once flouris.h.i.+ng country by this wholesale proscription; for besides the parties directly interested, there was a host of others incidentally affected,--hospitals and charitable establishments, widows and helpless orphans, now reduced to want by the failure of the sources which supplied them with their ordinary subsistence.[1074] Slow and sparing must have been the justice doled out to such impotent creditors, when they preferred their claims to a tribunal like the Council of Blood! The effect was soon visible in the decay of trade and the rapid depopulation of the towns.
Notwithstanding the dreadful penalties denounced against fugitives, great numbers, especially from the border states, contrived to make their escape. The neighboring districts of Germany opened their arms to the wanderers; and many a wretched exile from the northern provinces, flying across the frozen waters of the Zuyder Zee, found refuge within the hospitable walls of Embden.[1075] Even in an inland city like Ghent, half the houses, if we may credit the historian, were abandoned.[1076]
Not a family was there, he says, but some of its members had tasted the bitterness of exile or of death.[1077] ”The fury of persecution,” writes the prince of Orange, ”spreads such horror throughout the nation, that thousands, and among them some of the princ.i.p.al Papists, have fled a country where tyranny seems to be directed against all, without distinction of faith.”[1078]
Yet in a financial point of view the results did not keep pace with Alva's wishes. Notwithstanding the large amount of the confiscations, the proceeds, as he complains to Philip, were absorbed in so many ways, especially by the peculation of his agents, that he doubted whether the expense would not come to more than the profits![1079] He was equally dissatisfied with the conduct of other functionaries. The commissioners sent into the provinces, instead of using their efforts to detect the guilty, seemed disposed, he said, rather to conceal them. Even the members of the Council of Troubles manifested so much apathy in their vocation, as to give him more annoyance than the delinquents themselves![1080] The only person who showed any zeal in the service was Vargas. He was worth all the others of the council put together.[1081]
The duke might have excepted from this sweeping condemnation Hessels, the lawyer of Ghent, if the rumors concerning him were true. This worthy councillor, it is said, would sometimes fall asleep in his chair, worn out by the fatigue of trying causes and signing death-warrants. In this state, when suddenly called on to p.r.o.nounce the doom of the prisoner, he would cry out, half awake, and rubbing his eyes, ”_Ad patibulum! Ad patibulum!_”--”To the gallows! To the gallows!”[1082]
[Sidenote: RESULTS.]
But Vargas was after the duke's own heart. Alva was never weary of commending his follower to the king. He besought Philip to interpose in his behalf, and cause three suits which had been brought against that functionary to be suspended during his absence from Spain. The king accordingly addressed the judge on the subject. But the magistrate (his name should have been preserved) had the independence to reply, that ”justice must take its course, and could not be suspended from favor to any one.” ”Nor would I have it so,” answered Philip, (it is the king who tells it;) ”I would do only what is possible to save the interests of Vargas from suffering by his absence.” In conclusion he tells the duke, that Vargas should give no heed to what is said of the suits, since he must be a.s.sured, after the letter he has received under the royal hand, that his sovereign fully approves his conduct.[1083] But if Vargas, by his unscrupulous devotion to the cause, won the confidence of his employers, he incurred, on the other hand, the unmitigated hatred of the people,--a hatred deeper, it would almost seem, than even that which attached to Alva; owing perhaps to the circ.u.mstance that, as the instrument for the execution of the duke's measures, Vargas was brought more immediately in contact with the people than the duke himself.
As we have already seen, many, especially of those who dwelt in the border provinces, escaped the storm of persecution by voluntary exile.
The suspected parties would seem to have received, not unfrequently, kindly intimations from the local magistrates of the fate that menaced them.[1084] Others, who lived in the interior, were driven to more desperate courses. They banded together in considerable numbers, under the name of the ”wild _Gueux_,”--”_Gueux sauvages_,”--and took refuge in the forests, particularly of West Flanders. Thence they sallied forth, fell upon unsuspecting travellers, especially the monks and ecclesiastics, whom they robbed, and sometimes murdered. Occasionally they were so bold as to invade the monasteries and churches, stripping them of their rich ornaments, their plate and other valuables, when, loaded with booty, they hurried back to their fastnesses. The evil proceeded to such a length, that the governor-general was obliged to order out a strong force to exterminate the banditti, while at the same time he published an edict, declaring that every district should be held responsible for the damage done to property within its limits by these marauders.[1085]
It might be supposed that, under the general feeling of resentment provoked by Alva's cruel policy, his life would have been in constant danger from the hand of the a.s.sa.s.sin. Once, indeed, he had nearly fallen a victim to a conspiracy headed by two brothers, men of good family in Flanders, who formed a plan to kill him while attending ma.s.s at an abbey in the neighborhood of Brussels.[1086] But Alva was not destined to fall by the hand of violence.
We may well believe that wise and temperate men, like Viglius, condemned the duke's proceedings as no less impolitic than cruel. That this veteran councillor did so is apparent from his confidential letters, though he was too prudent to expose himself to Alva's enmity by openly avowing it.[1087] There were others, however,--the princes of Germany, in particular,--who had no such reasons for dissembling, and who carried their remonstrances to a higher tribunal than that of the governor-general.
On the second of March, 1568, the Emperor Maximilian, in the name of the electors, addressed a letter to Philip, in behalf of his oppressed subjects in the Netherlands. He reminded the king that he had already more than once, and in most affectionate terms, interceded with him for a milder and more merciful policy towards his Flemish subjects. He entreated his royal kinsman to reflect whether it were not better to insure the tranquillity of the state by winning the hearts of his people, than by excessive rigor to drive them to extremity. And he concluded by intimating that, as a member of the Germanic body, the Netherlands had a right to be dealt with in that spirit of clemency which was conformable to the const.i.tutions of the empire.[1088]
Although neither the arguments nor the importunity of Maximilian had power to shake the constancy of Philip, he did not refuse to enter into some explanation, if not vindication, of his conduct. ”What I have done,” he replied, ”has been for the repose of the provinces, and for the defence of the Catholic faith. If I had respected justice less, I should have despatched the whole business in a single day. No one acquainted with the state of affairs will find reason to censure my severity. Nor would I do otherwise than I have done, though I should risk the sovereignty of the Netherlands,--no, though the world should fall in ruins around me!”[1089]--Such a reply effectually closed the correspondence.
The wretched people of the Netherlands, meanwhile, now looked to the prince of Orange as the only refuge left them, under Providence. Those who fled the country, especially persons of higher condition, gathered round his little court at Dillemburg, where they were eagerly devising plans for the best means of restoring freedom to their country. They brought with them repeated invitations from their countrymen to William that he would take up arms in their defence. The Protestants of Antwerp, in particular, promised that, if he would raise funds by coining his plate, they would agree to pay him double the value of it.[1090]
William had no wish nearer his heart than that of a.s.suming the enterprise. But he knew the difficulties that lay in the way, and, like a wise man, he was not disposed to enter on it till he saw the means of carrying it through successfully. To the citizens of Antwerp he answered, that not only would he devote his plate, but his person and all that he possessed, most willingly, for the freedom of religion and of his country.[1091] But the expenses of raising a force were great,--at the very least, six hundred thousand florins; nor could he now undertake to procure that amount, unless some of the princ.i.p.al merchants, whom he named, would consent to remain with him as security.[1092]
In the mean time he was carrying on an extensive correspondence with the German princes, with the leaders of the Huguenot party in France, and even with the English government,--endeavoring to propitiate them to the cause, as one in which every Protestant had an interest. From the elector of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse he received a.s.surances of aid. Considerable sums seem to have been secretly remitted from the princ.i.p.al towns in the Low Countries; while Culemborg, Hoogstraten, Louis of Na.s.sau, and the other great lords who shared his exile, contributed as largely as their dilapidated fortunes would allow.[1093]
The prince himself parted with his most precious effects, p.a.w.ning his jewels, and sending his plate to the mint,--”the fit ornaments of a palace,” exclaims an old writer, ”but yielding little for the necessities of war.”[1094]
[Sidenote: ORANGE a.s.sEMBLES AN ARMY]
By these sacrifices a considerable force was a.s.sembled before the end of April, consisting of the most irregular and incongruous materials. There were German mercenaries, who had no interest in the cause beyond their pay; Huguenots from France, who brought into the field a hatred of the Roman Catholics which made them little welcome, even as allies, to a large portion of the Netherlands; and, lastly, exiles from the Netherlands,--the only men worthy of the struggle,--who held life cheap in comparison with the great cause to which they devoted it. But these, however strong in their patriotism, were for the most part simple burghers untrained to arms, and ill fitted to cope with the hardy veterans of Castile.
Before completing his levies, the prince of Orange, at the suggestion of his friend, the landgrave of Hesse, prepared and published a doc.u.ment, known as his ”Justification,” in which he vindicated himself and his cause from the charges of Alva. He threw the original blame of the troubles on Granvelle, denied having planned or even promoted the confederacy of the n.o.bles, and treated with scorn the charge of having, from motives of criminal ambition, fomented rebellion in a country where he had larger interests at stake than almost any other inhabitant. He touched on his own services, as well as those of his ancestors, and the ingrat.i.tude with which they had been requited by the throne. And in conclusion, he prayed that his majesty might at length open his eyes to the innocence of his persecuted subjects, and that it might be made apparent to the world that the wrongs inflicted on them had come from evil counsellors rather than himself.[1095]
The plan of the campaign was, to distract the duke's attention, and, if possible, create a general rising in the country, by a.s.sailing it on three several points at once. A Huguenot corps, under an adventurer named Cocqueville, was to operate against Artois. Hoogstraten, with the lord of Villers, and others of the banished n.o.bles, were to penetrate the country in a central direction through Brabant. While William's brothers, the Counts Louis and Adolphus, at the head of a force, partly Flemish, partly German, were to carry the war over the northern borders, into Groningen; the prince himself, who established his head-quarters in the neighborhood of Cleves, was busy in a.s.sembling a force prepared to support any one of the divisions, as occasion might require.
It was the latter part of April, before Hoogstraten and Louis took the field. The Huguenots ware still later; and William met with difficulties which greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded the formation of his own corps. The great difficulty--one which threatened to defeat the enterprise at its commencement--was the want of money, equally felt in raising troops and in enforcing discipline among them when they were raised. ”If you have any love for me,” he writes to his friend, the ”wise” landgrave of Hesse, ”I beseech you to aid me privately with a sum sufficient to meet the pay of the troops for the first month. Without this I shall be in danger of failing in my engagements,--to me worse than death; to say nothing of the ruin which such a failure must bring on our credit and on the cause.”[1096] We are constantly reminded, in the career of the prince of Orange, of the embarra.s.sments under which our own Was.h.i.+ngton labored in the time of the Revolution, and of the patience and unconquerable spirit which enabled him to surmount them.
Little need be said of two of the expeditions, which were failures.
Hoogstraten had scarcely crossed the frontier, towards the end of April, when he was met by Alva's trusty lieutenant, Sancho Davila, and beaten, with considerable loss. Villers and some others of the rebel lords, made prisoners, escaped the sword of the enemy in the field, to fall by that of the executioner in Brussels. Hoogstraten, with the remnant of his forces, made good his retreat, and effected a junction with the prince of Orange.[1097]