Holland - Thomas Colley Grattan
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One last resource was left to the besieged; that which had formerly
been resorted to at Leyden, and by which the place was saved.
To enable them to inundate the immense plain which stretched
between Lillo and Strabrock up to the walls of Antwerp, it was
necessary to cut through the dike which defended it against the
irruptions of the eastern Scheldt. This plain was traversed by
a high and wide counter-dike, called the dike of Couvestien; and
Alexander, knowing its importance, had early taken possession
of and strongly defended it by several forts. Two attacks were
made by the garrison of Antwerp on this important construction;
the latter of which led to one of the most desperate encounters
of the war. The prince, seeing that on the results of this day
depended the whole consequences of his labors, fought with a
valor that even he had never before displayed, and he was finally
victorious. The confederates were forced to abandon the attack,
leaving three thousand dead upon the dike or at its base; and
the Spaniards lost full eight hundred men.
One more fruitless attempt was made to destroy the bridge and
raise the siege, by means of an enormous vessel bearing the
presumptuous title of The End of the War. But this floating citadel
ran aground, without producing any effect; and the gallant governor
of Antwerp, the celebrated Philip de Saint Aldegonde, was forced
to capitulate on the 16th of August, after a siege of fourteen
months. The reduction of Antwerp was considered a miracle of
perseverance and courage. The prince of Parma was elevated by
his success to the highest pinnacle of renown; and Philip, on
receiving the news, displayed a burst of joy such as rarely varied
his cold and gloomy reserve.
Even while the fate of Antwerp was undecided, the United Provinces,
seeing that they were still too weak to resist alone the undivided
force of the Spanish monarchy, had opened negotiations with France
and England at once, in the hope of gaining one or the other for
an ally and protector. Henry III. gave a most honorable reception
to the ambassadors sent to his court, and was evidently disposed
to accept their offers, had not the distracted state of his own
country, still torn by civil war, quite disabled him from any
effective co-operation. The deputies sent to England were also
well received. Elizabeth listened to the proposals of the states,
sent them an ambassador in return, and held out the most flattering
hopes of succor. But her cautious policy would not suffer her
to accept the sovereignty; and she declared that she would in
nowise interfere with the negotiations, which might end in its
being accepted by the king of France. She gave prompt evidence
of her sincerity by an advance of considerable sums of money,
and by sending to Holland a body of six thousand troops, under
the command of her favorite, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester; and
as security for the repayment of her loan, the towns of Flushing
and Brille, and the castle of Rammekins, were given up to her.
The earl of Leicester was accompanied by a splendid retinue of
noblemen, and a select troop of five hundred followers. He was
received at Flushing by the governor, Sir Philip Sidney, his
nephew, the model of manners and conduct for the young men of
his day. But Leicester possessed neither courage nor capacity
equal to the trust reposed in him; and his arbitrary and indolent
conduct soon disgusted the people whom he was sent to assist.
They had, in the first impulse of their gratitude, given him
the title of governor and captain-general of the provinces, in
the hope of flattering Elizabeth. But this had a far contrary
effect: she was equally displeased with the states and with
Leicester; and it was with difficulty that, after many humble
submissions, they were able to appease her.
To form a counterpoise to the power so lavishly conferred on
Leicester, Prince Maurice was, according to the wise advice of
Olden Barnevelt, raised to the dignity of stadtholder,
captain-general, and admiral of Holland and Zealand. This is
the first instance of these states taking on themselves the
nomination to the dignity of stadtholder, for even William has
held his commission from Philip, or in his name; but Friesland,
Groningen, and Guelders had already appointed their local governors,
under the same title, by the authority of the states-general,
the archduke Mathias, or even of the provincial states. Holland
had now also at the head of its civil government a citizen full
of talent and probity, who was thus able to contend with the
insidious designs of Leicester against the liberty he nominally
came to protect. This was Barnevelt, who was promoted from his
office of pensionary of Rotterdam to that of Holland, and who
accepted the dignity only on condition of being free to resign
it if any accommodation of differences should take place with
Spain.
Alexander of Parma had, by the death of his mother, in February,
1586, exchanged his title of prince for the superior one of duke
of Parma, and soon resumed his enterprises with his usual energy
and success; various operations took place, in which the English
on every opportunity distinguished themselves; particularly in
an action near the town of Grave, in Brabant; and in the taking
of Axel by escalade, under the orders of Sir Philip Sidney. A
more important affair occurred near Zutphen, at a place called
Warnsfeld, both of which towns have given names to the action. On
this occasion the veteran Spaniards, under the marquis of Guasto,
were warmly attacked and completely defeated by the English;
but the victory was dearly purchased by the death of Sir Philip
Sidney, who was mortally wounded in the thigh, and expired a
few days afterward, at the early age of thirty-two years. In
addition to the valor, talent, and conduct, which had united to
establish his fame, he displayed, on this last opportunity of
his short career, an instance of humanity that sheds a new lustre
on even a character like his. Stretched on the battlefield, in all
the agony of his wound, and parched with thirst, his afflicted
followers brought him some water, procured with difficulty at a
distance, and during the heat of the fight. But Sidney, seeing a
soldier lying near, mangled like himself, and apparently expiring,
refused the water, saying, "Give it to that poor man; his sufferings
are greater than mine."
Leicester's conduct was now become quite intolerable to the states.
His incapacity and presumption were every day more evident and
more revolting. He seemed to consider himself in a province wholly
reduced to English authority, and paid no sort of attention to the
very opposite character of the people. An eminent Dutch author
accounts for this, in terms which may make an Englishman of this age
not a little proud of the contrast which his character presents to
what it was then considered. "The Englishman," says Grotius, "obeys
like a slave, and governs like a tyrant; while the Belgian knows
how to serve and to command with equal moderation." The dislike
between Leicester and those he insulted and misgoverned soon became
mutual. He retired to the town of Utrecht; and pushed his injurious
conduct to such an extent that he became an object of utter hatred
to the provinces. All the friendly feelings toward England were
gradually changed into suspicion and dislike. Conferences took
place at The Hague between Leicester and the states, in which
Barnevelt overwhelmed his contemptible shuffling by the force of
irresistible eloquence and well-deserved reproaches; and after
new acts of treachery, still more odious than his former, this
unworthy favorite at last set out for England, to lay an account
of his government at the feet of the queen.
The growing hatred against England was fomented by the true patriots,
who aimed at the liberty of their country; and may be excused, from
the various instances of treachery displayed, not only by the
commander-in-chief, but by several of his inferiors in command. A
strong fort, near Zutphen, under the government of Roland York, the
town of Deventer, under that of William Starily, and subsequently
Guelders, under a Scotchman named Pallot, were delivered up to
the Spaniards by these men; and about the same time the English
cavalry committed some excesses in Guelders and Holland, which
added to the prevalent prejudice against the nation in general. This
enmity was no longer to be concealed. The partisans of Leicester
were, one by one, under plausible pretexts, removed from the
council of state; and Elizabeth having required from Holland
the exportation into England of a large quantity of rye, it was
firmly but respectfully refused, as inconsistent with the wants
of the provinces.
Prince Maurice, from the caprice and jealousy of Leicester, now
united in himself the whole power of command, and commenced that
brilliant course of conduct which consolidated the independence
of his country and elevated him to the first rank of military
glory. His early efforts were turned to the suppression of the
partiality which in some places existed for English domination;
and he never allowed himself to be deceived by the hopes of peace
held out by the emperor and the kings of Denmark and Poland. Without
refusing their mediation, he labored incessantly to organize
every possible means for maintaining the war. His efforts were
considerably favored by the measures of Philip for the support
of the league formed by the House of Guise against Henry III. and
Henry IV. of France; but still more by the formidable enterprise
which the Spanish monarch was now preparing against England.
Irritated and mortified by the assistance which Elizabeth had
given to the revolted provinces, Philip resolved to employ his
whole power in attempting the conquest of England itself; hoping
afterward to effect with ease the subjugation of the Netherlands.
He caused to be built, in almost every port of Spain and Portugal,
galleons, carricks, and other ships of war of the largest dimensions;
and at the same time gave orders to the duke of Parma to assemble
in the harbors of Flanders as many vessels as he could collect
together.
The Spanish fleet, consisting of more than one hundred and forty
ships of the line, and manned by twenty thousand sailors, assembled
at Lisbon under the orders of the duke of Medina Sidonia; while
the duke of Parma, uniting his forces, held himself ready on the
coast of Flanders, with an army of thirty thousand men and four
hundred transports. This prodigious force obtained, in Spain,
the ostentatious title of the Invincible Armada. Its destination
was for a while attempted to be concealed, under pretext that
it was meant for India, or for the annihilation of the United
Provinces; but the mystery was soon discovered. At the end of
May, the principal fleet sailed from the port of Lisbon; and
being reinforced off Corunna by a considerable squadron, the
whole armament steered its course, for the shores of England.
The details of the progress and the failure of this celebrated
attempt are so thoroughly the province of English history that they
would be in this place superfluous. But it must not be forgotten
that the glory of the proud result was amply shared by the new
republic, whose existence depended on it. While Howard and Drake
held the British fleet in readiness to oppose the Spanish Armada,
that of Holland, consisting of but twenty-five ships, under the
command of Justin of Nassau, prepared to take a part in the conflict.
This gallant though illegitimate scion of the illustrious house,
whose name he upheld on many occasions, proved himself on the
present worthy of such a father as William, and such a brother as
Maurice. While the duke of Medina Sidonia, ascending the Channel
as far as Dunkirk, there expected the junction of the duke of
Parma with his important reinforcement, Justin of Nassau, by a
constant activity, and a display of intrepid talent, contrived
to block up the whole expected force in the ports of Flanders
from Lillo to Dunkirk. The duke of Parma found it impossible
to force a passage on any one point; and was doomed to the
mortification of knowing that the attempt was frustrated, and the
whole force of Spain frittered away, discomfited, and disgraced,
from the want of a co-operation, which he could not, however,
reproach himself for having withheld. The issue of the memorable
expedition, which cost Spain years of preparation, thousands
of men, and millions or treasure, was received in the country
which sent it forth with consternation and rage. Philip alone
possessed or affected an apathy which he covered with a veil
of mock devotion that few were deceived by. At the news of the
disaster, he fell on his knees, and rendering thanks for that
gracious dispensation of Providence, expressed his joy that the
calamity was not greater.
The people, the priests, and the commanders of the expedition
were not so easily appeased, or so clever as their hypocritical
master in concealing their mortification. The priests accounted
for this triumph of heresy as a punishment on Spain for suffering
the existence of the infidel Moors in some parts of the country.
The defeated admirals threw the whole blame on the duke of Parma.
He, on his part, sent an ample remonstrance to the king; and
Philip declared that he was satisfied with the conduct of his
nephew. Leicester died four days after the final defeat and
dispersion of the Armada.
The war in the Netherlands had been necessarily suffered to languish,
while every eye was fixed on the progress of the Armada, from
formation to defeat. But new efforts were soon made by the duke
of Parma to repair the time he had lost, and soothe, by his
successes, the disappointed pride of Spain. Several officers now
came into notice, remarkable for deeds of great gallantry and
skill. None among those was so distinguished as Martin Schenck,
a soldier of fortune, a man of ferocious activity, who began
his career in the service of tyranny, and ended it by chance
in that of independence. He changed sides several times, but,
no matter who he fought for, he did his duty well, from that
unconquerable principle of pugnacity which seemed to make his
sword a part of himself.
Schenck had lately, for the last time, gone over to the side
of the states, and had caused a fort to be built in the isle
of Betewe--that possessed of old by the Batavians--which was
called by his name, and was considered the key to the passage
of the Rhine. From this stronghold he constantly harassed the
archbishop of Cologne, and had as his latest exploit surprised and
taken the strong town of Bonn. While the duke of Parma took prompt
measures for the relief of the prelate, making himself master in
the meantime of some places of strength, the indefatigable Schenck
resolved to make an attempt on the important town of Nimeguen. He
with great caution embarked a chosen body of troops on the Wahal,
and arrived under the walls of Nimeguen at sunrise on the morning
chosen for the attack. His enterprise seemed almost crowned with
success; when the inhabitants, recovering from their fright,
precipitated themselves from the town; forced the assailants to
retreat to their boats; and, carrying the combat into those
overcharged and fragile vessels, upset several, and among others
that which contained Schenck himself, who, covered with wounds,
and fighting to the last gasp, was drowned with the greater part
of his followers. His body, when recovered, was treated with
the utmost indignity, quartered, and hung in portions over the
different gates of the city.
The following year was distinguished by another daring attempt on
the part of the Hollanders, but followed by a different result.
A captain named Haranguer concerted with one Adrien Vandenberg
a plan for the surprise of Breda, on the possession of which
Prince Maurice had set a great value. The associates contrived
to conceal in a boat laden with turf (which formed the principal
fuel of the inhabitants of that part of the country), and of
which Vandenberg was master, eighty determined soldiers, and
succeeded in arriving close to the city without any suspicion
being excited. One of the soldiers, named Matthew Helt, being
suddenly afflicted with a violent cough, implored his comrades
to put him to death, to avoid the risk of a discovery. But a
corporal of the city guard having inspected the cargo with
unsuspecting carelessness, the immolation of the brave soldier
became unnecessary, and the boat was dragged into the basin by
the assistance of some of the very garrison who were so soon to
fall victims to the stratagem. At midnight the concealed soldiers
quitted their hiding-places, leaped on shore, killed the sentinels,
and easily became masters of the citadel. Prince Maurice, following
close with his army, soon forced the town to submit, and put it
into so good a state of defence that Count Mansfield, who was
sent to retake it, was obliged to retreat after useless efforts
to fulfil his mission.
The duke of Parma, whose constitution was severely injured by
the constant fatigues of war and the anxieties attending on the
late transactions, had snatched a short interval for the purpose
of recruiting his health at the waters of Spa. While at that place
he received urgent orders from Philip to abandon for a while all
his proceedings in the Netherlands, and to hasten into France
with his whole disposable force, to assist the army of the League.
The battle of Yvri (in which the son of the unfortunate Count
Egmont met his death while fighting in the service of his father's
royal murderer) had raised the prospects and hopes of Henry IV.
to a high pitch; and Paris, which he closely besieged, was on
the point of yielding to his arms. The duke of Parma received his
uncle's orders with great repugnance; and lamented the necessity
of leaving the field of his former exploits open to the enterprise
and talents of Prince Maurice. He nevertheless obeyed; and leaving
Count Mansfield at the head of the government, he conducted his
troops against the royal opponent, who alone seemed fully worthy
of coping with him.
The attention of all Europe was now fixed on the exciting spectacle
of a contest between these two greatest captains of the age. The
glory of success, the fruit of consummate skill, was gained by
Alexander; who, by an admirable manoeuvre, got possession of
the town of Lagny-sur-Seine, under the very eyes of Henry and
his whole army, and thus acquired the means of providing Paris
with everything requisite for its defence. The French monarch saw
all his projects baffled, and his hopes frustrated; while his
antagonist, having fully completed his object, drew off his army
through Champagne, and made a fine retreat through an enemy's
country, harassed at every step, but with scarcely any loss.
But while this expedition added greatly to the renown of the
general, it considerably injured the cause of Spain in the Low
Countries. Prince Maurice, taking prompt advantage of the absence
of his great rival, had made himself master of several fortresses;
and some Spanish regiments having mutinied against the commanders
left behind by the duke of Parma, others, encouraged by the impunity
they enjoyed, were ready on the slightest pretext to follow their
example. Maurice did not lose a single opportunity of profiting by
circumstances so favorable; and even after the return of Alexander
he seized on Zutphen, Deventer, and Nimeguen, despite all the
efforts of the Spanish army. The duke of Parma, daily breaking
down under the progress of disease, and agitated by these reverses,
repaired again to Spa, taking at once every possible means for
the recruitment of his army and the recovery of his health, on
which its discipline and the chances of success now so evidently
depended.
But all his plans were again frustrated by a renewal of Philip's
peremptory orders to march once more into France, to uphold the
failing cause of the League against the intrepidity and talent
of Henry IV. At this juncture the emperor Rodolf again offered
his mediation between Spain and the United Provinces. But it
was not likely that the confederated States, at the very moment
when their cause began to triumph, and their commerce was every
day becoming more and more flourishing, would consent to make
any compromise with the tyranny they were at length in a fair
way of crushing.
The duke of Parma again appeared in France in the beginning of
the year 1592; and, having formed his communications with the
army of the League, marched to the relief of the city of Rouen,
at that period pressed to the last extremity by the Huguenot
forces. After some sharp skirmishes--and one in particular, in
which Henry IV. suffered his valor to lead him into a too rash
exposure of his own and his army's safety--a series of manoeuvres
took place, which displayed the talents of the rival generals in
the most brilliant aspect. Alexander at length succeeded in raising
the siege of Rouen, and made himself master of Condebec, which
commanded the navigation of the Seine. Henry, taking advantage
of what appeared an irreparable fault on the part of the duke,
invested his army in the hazardous position he had chosen; but
while believing that he had the whole of his enemies in his power,
he found that Alexander had passed the Seine with his entire
force--raising his military renown to the utmost possible height
by a retreat which it was deemed utterly impossible to effect.
On his return to the Netherlands, the duke found himself again
under the necessity of repairing to Spa, in search of some relief
from the suffering which was considerably increased by the effects
of a wound received in this last campaign. In spite of his shattered
constitution, he maintained to the latest moment the most active
endeavors for the reorganization of his army; and he was preparing
for a new expedition into France, when, fortunately for the good
cause in both countries, he was surprised by death on the 3d
of December, 1592, at the abbey of St. Vaast, near Arras, at
the age of forty-seven years. As it was hard to imagine that
Philip would suffer anyone who had excited his jealousy to die
a natural death, that of the duke of Parma was attributed to
slow poison.
Alexander of Parma was certainly one of the most remarkable, and,
it may be added, one of the greatest, characters of his day. Most
historians have upheld him even higher perhaps than he should
be placed on the scale; asserting that he can be reproached with
very few of the vices of the age in which he lived. Others consider
this judgment too favorable, and accuse him of participation
in all the crimes of Philip, whom he served so zealously. His
having excited the jealousy of the tyrant, or even had he been
put to death by his orders, would little influence the question;
for Philip was quite capable of ingratitude or murder, to either
an accomplice or an opponent of his baseness. But even allowing
that Alexander's fine qualities were sullied by his complicity
in these odious measures, we must still in justice admit that
they were too much in the spirit of the times, and particularly
of the school in which he was trained; and while we lament that
his political or private faults place him on so low a level, we
must rank him as one of the very first masters in the art of
war in his own or any other age.
CHAPTER XIV
TO THE INDEPENDENCE OF BELGIUM AND THE DEATH OF PHILIP II.
A.D. 1592--1599
The duke of Parma had chosen the count of Mansfield for his
successor, and the nomination was approved by the king. He entered
on his government under most disheartening circumstances. The rapid
conquests of Prince Maurice in Brabant and Flanders were scarcely
less mortifying than the total disorganization into which those
two provinces had fallen. They were ravaged by bands of robbers
called Picaroons, whose audacity reached such a height that they
opposed in large bodies the forces sent for their suppression
by the government. They on one occasion killed the provost of
Flanders, and burned his lieutenant in a hollow tree; and on
another they mutilated a whole troop of the national militia,
and their commander, with circumstances of most revolting cruelty.
The authority of governor-general, though not the title, was now
fully shared by the count of Fuentes, who was sent to Brussels by
the king of Spain; and the ill effects of this double viceroyalty
was soon seen, in the brilliant progress of Prince Maurice, and
the continual reverses sustained by the royalist armies. The king,
still bent on projects of bigotry, sacrificed without scruple men
and treasure for the overthrow of Henry IV. and the success of
the League. The affairs of the Netherlands seemed now a secondary
object; and he drew largely on his forces in that country for
reinforcements to the ranks of his tottering allies. A final
blow was, however, struck against the hopes of intolerance in
France, and to the existence of the League, by the conversion
of Henry IV. to the Catholic religion; he deeming theological
disputes, which put the happiness of a whole kingdom in jeopardy,
as quite subordinate to the public good.