Holland - Thomas Colley Grattan
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The expiration of the twelve years' truce was now at hand; and
the United Provinces, after that long period of intestine trouble
and disgrace, had once more to recommence a more congenial struggle
against foreign enemies; for a renewal of the war with Spain
might be fairly considered a return to the regimen best suited
to the constitution of the people. The republic saw, however,
with considerable anxiety, the approach of this new contest. It
was fully sensible of its own weakness. Exile had reduced its
population; patriotism had subsided; foreign friends were dead;
the troops were unused to warfare; the hatred against Spanish
cruelty had lost its excitement; the finances were in confusion;
Prince Maurice had no longer the activity of youth; and the still
more vigorous impulse of fighting for his country's liberty was
changed to the dishonoring task of upholding his own tyranny.
The archdukes, encouraged by these considerations, had hopes
of bringing back the United Provinces to their domination. They
accordingly sent an embassy to Holland with proposals to that
effect. It was received with indignation; and the ambassador,
Peckius, was obliged to be escorted back to the frontiers by
soldiers, to protect him from the insults of the people. Military
operations were, however, for a while refrained from on either
side, in consequence of the deaths of Philip III. of Spain and
the archduke Albert. Philip IV. succeeded his father at the age
of sixteen; and the archduchess Isabella found herself alone at
the head of the government in the Belgian provinces. Olivarez
became as sovereign a minister in Spain, as his predecessor the
duke of Lerma had been; but the archduchess, though now with
only the title of stadtholderess of the Netherlands, held the
reins of power with a firm and steady hand.
In the celebrated thirty years' war which had commenced between
the Protestants and Catholics of Germany, the former had met with
considerable assistance from the United Provinces. Barneveldt, who
foresaw the embarrassments which the country would have to contend
with on the expiration of that truce, had strongly opposed its
meddling in the quarrel; but his ruin and death left no restraint
on the policy which prompted the republic to aid the Protestant
cause. Fifty thousand florins a month to the revolted Protestants,
and a like sum to the princes of the union, were for some time
advanced. Frederick, the elector palatine, son-in-law of the
king of England, and nephew of the prince, was chosen by the
Bohemians for their king; but in spite of the enthusiastic wishes
of the English nation, James persisted in refusing to interfere
in Frederick's favor. France, governed by De Luynes, a favorite
whose influence was deeply pledged, and, it is said, dearly sold to
Spain, abandoned the system of Henry IV., and upheld the House of
Austria. Thus the new monarch, only aided by the United Provinces,
and that feebly, was soon driven from his temporary dignity;
his hereditary dominions in the palatinate were overrun by the
Spanish army under Spinola; and Frederick, utterly defeated at
the battle of Prague, was obliged to take refuge in Holland.
James's abandonment of his son-in-law has been universally blamed
by almost every historian. He certainly allowed a few generous
individuals to raise a regiment in England of two thousand four
hundred chosen soldiers, who, under the command of the gallant
Sir Horace Vere, could only vainly regret the impossibility of
opposition to ten times their number of veteran troops.
This contest was carried on at first with almost all the advantages
on the side of the House of Austria. Two men of extraordinary
character, which presented a savage parody of military talent,
and a courage chiefly remarkable for the ferocity into which it
degenerated, struggled for a while against the imperial arms.
These were the count of Mansfield and Christian of Brunswick. At
the head of two desperate bands, which, by dint of hard fighting,
acquired something of the consistency of regular armies, they
maintained a long resistance; but the duke of Bavaria, commanding
the troops of the emperor, and Count Tilly at the head of those
of Spain, completed in the year 1622 the defeat of their daring
and semi-barbarous opponents.
Spinola was resolved to commence the war against the republic by
some important exploit. He therefore laid siege to Berg-op-Zoom,
a place of great consequence, commanding the navigation of the
Meuse and the coasts of all the islands of Zealand. But Maurice,
roused from the lethargy of despotism which seemed to have wholly
changed his character, repaired to the scene of threatened danger;
and succeeded, after a series of desperate efforts on both sides,
to raise the siege, forcing Spinola to abandon his attempt with
a loss of upward of twelve thousand men. Frederick Henry in the
meantime had made an incursion into Brabant with a body of light
troops; and ravaging the country up to the very gates of Mechlin,
Louvain, and Brussels, levied contributions to the amount of
six hundred thousand florins. The states completed this series
of good fortune by obtaining the possession of West Friesland,
by means of Count Mansfield, whom they had despatched thither
at the head of his formidable army, and who had, in spite of the
opposition of Count Tilly, successfully performed his mission.
We must now turn from these brief records of military affairs,
the more pleasing theme for the historian of the Netherlands
in comparison with domestic events, which claim attention but
to create sensations of regret and censure. Prince Maurice had
enjoyed without restraint the fruits of his ambitious daring.
His power was uncontrolled and unopposed, but it was publicly
odious; and private resentments were only withheld by fear, and,
perhaps, in some measure by the moderation and patience which
distinguished the disciples of Arminianism. In the midst, however,
of the apparent calm, a deep conspiracy was formed against the
life of the prince. The motives, the conduct, and the termination
of this plot, excite feelings of many opposite kinds. We cannot,
as in former instances, wholly execrate the design and approve
the punishment. Commiseration is mingled with blame, when we
mark the sons of Barneveldt, urged on by the excess of filial
affection to avenge their venerable father's fate; and despite
our abhorrence for the object in view, we sympathize with the
conspirators rather than the intended victim. William von
Stoutenbourg and Renier de Groeneveld were the names of these
two sons of the late pensionary. The latter was the younger;
but, of more impetuous character than his brother, he was the
principal in the plot. Instead of any efforts to soften down
the hatred of this unfortunate family, these brothers had been
removed from their employments, their property was confiscated,
and despair soon urged them to desperation. In such a time of
general discontent it was easy to find accomplices. Seven or
eight determined men readily joined in the plot; of these, two
were Catholics, the rest Arminians; the chief of whom was Henry
Slatius, a preacher of considerable eloquence, talent, and energy.
It was first proposed to attack the prince at Rotterdam; but
the place was soon after changed for Ryswyk, a village near The
Hague, and afterward celebrated by the treaty of peace signed
there and which bears its name. Ten other associates were soon
engaged by the exertions of Slatius: these were Arminian artisans
and sailors, to whom the actual execution of the murder was to
be confided; and they were persuaded that it was planned with
the connivance of Prince Frederick Henry, who was considered
by the Arminians as the secret partisan of their sect. The 6th
of February was fixed on for the accomplishment of the deed.
The better to conceal the design, the conspirators agreed to go
unarmed to the place, where they were to find a box containing
pistols and poniards in a spot agreed upon. The death of the
Prince of Orange was not the only object intended. During the
confusion subsequent to the hoped-for success of that first blow,
the chief conspirators intended to excite simultaneous revolts
at Leyden, Gouda, and Rotterdam, in which towns the Arminians
were most numerous. A general revolution throughout Holland was
firmly reckoned on as the infallible result; and success was
enthusiastically looked for to their country's freedom and their
individual fame.
But the plot, however cautiously laid and resolutely persevered
in, was doomed to the fate of many another; and the horror of
a second murder (but with far different provocation from the
first) averted from the illustrious family to whom was still
destined the glory of consolidating the country it had formed.
Two brothers named Blansaart, and one Parthy, having procured a
considerable sum of money from the leading conspirators, repaired
to The Hague, as they asserted, for the purpose of betraying the
plot; but they were forestalled in this purpose: four of the
sailors had gone out to Ryswyk the preceding evening, and laid the
whole of the project, together with the wages of their intended
crime, before the prince; who, it would appear, then occupied the
ancient chateau, which no longer exists at Ryswyk. The box of arms
was found in the place pointed out by the informers, and measures
were instantly taken to arrest the various accomplices. Several
were seized. Groeneveld had escaped along the coast disguised as
a fisherman, and had nearly effected his passage to England,
when he was recognized and arrested in the island of Vlieland.
Slatius and others were also intercepted in their attempts at
escape.--Stoutenbourg, the most culpable of all, was the most
fortunate; probably from the energy of character which marks
the difference between a bold adventurer and a timid speculator.
He is believed to have passed from The Hague in the same manner
as Grotius quitted his prison; and, by the aid of a faithful
servant, he accomplished his escape through various perils, and
finally reached Brussels, where the archduchess Isabella took him
under her special protection. He for several years made efforts to
be allowed to return to Holland; but finding them hopeless, even
after the death of Maurice, he embraced the Catholic religion, and
obtained the command of a troop of Spanish cavalry, at the head
of which he made incursions into his native country, carrying
before him a black flag with the effigy of a death's head, to
announce the mournful vengeance which he came to execute.
Fifteen persons were executed for the conspiracy. If ever mercy
was becoming to a man, it would have been pre-eminently so to
Maurice on this occasion; but he was inflexible as adamant. The
mother, the wife, and the son of Groeneveld, threw themselves at
his feet, imploring pardon. Prayers, tears and sobs were alike
ineffectual. It is even said that Maurice asked the wretched
mother "why she begged mercy for her son, having refused to do
as much for her husband?" To which cruel question she is reported
to have made the sublime answer--"Because my son is guilty, and
my husband was not."
These bloody executions caused a deep sentiment of gloom. The
conspiracy excited more pity for the victims than horror for the
intended crime. Maurice, from being the idol of his countrymen, was
now become an object of their fear and dislike. When he moved from
town to town, the people no longer hailed him with acclamations; and
even the common tokens of outward respect were at times withheld. The
Spaniards, taking advantage of the internal weakness consequent on
this state of public feeling in the States, made repeated incursions
into the provinces, which were now united but in title, not in
spirit. Spinola was once more in the field, and had invested the
important town of Breda, which was the patrimonial inheritance
of the princes of Orange. Maurice was oppressed with anxiety
and regret; and, for the sake of his better feelings, it may be
hoped, with remorse. He could effect nothing against his rival;
and he saw his own laurels withering from his careworn brow. The
only hope left of obtaining the so much wanted supplies of money
was in the completion of a new treaty with France and England.
Cardinal Richelieu, desirous of setting bounds to the ambition
and the successes of the House of Austria, readily came into
the views of the States; and an obligation for a loan of one
million two hundred thousand livres during the year 1624, and one
million more for each of the two succeeding years, was granted
by the king of France, on condition that the republic made no
new truce with Spain without his mediation.
An alliance nearly similar was at the same time concluded with
England. Perpetual quarrels on commercial questions loosened
the ties which bound the States to their ancient allies. The
failure of his son's intended marriage with the infanta of Spain
had opened the eyes of King James to the way in which he was
despised by those who seemed so much to respect him. He was highly
indignant; and he undertook to revenge himself by aiding the
republic. He agreed to furnish six thousand men, and supply the
funds for their pay, with a provision for repayment by the States
at the conclusion of a peace with Spain.
Prince Maurice had no opportunity of reaping the expected advantages
from these treaties. Baffled in all his efforts for relieving
Breda, and being unsuccessful in a new attempt upon Antwerp,
he returned to The Hague, where a lingering illness, that had
for some time exhausted him, terminated in his death on the 23d
of April, 1625, in his fifty-ninth year. Most writers attribute
this event to agitation at being unable to relieve Breda from
the attack of Spinola. It is in any case absurd to suppose that
the loss of a single town could have produced so fatal an effect
on one whose life had been an almost continual game of the chances
of war. But cause enough for Maurice's death may be found in the
wearing effects of thirty years of active military service, and
the more wasting ravages of half as many of domestic despotism.
CHAPTER XVIII
TO THE TREATY OF MUNSTER
A.D. 1625--1648
Frederick Henry succeeded to almost all his brother's titles and
employments, and found his new dignities clogged with an accumulation
of difficulties sufficient to appall the most determined spirit.
Everything seemed to justify alarm and despondency. If the affairs
of the republic in India wore an aspect of prosperity, those in
Europe presented a picture of past disaster and approaching peril.
Disunion and discontent, an almost insupportable weight of taxation,
and the disputes of which it was the fruitful source, formed
the subjects of internal ill. Abroad was to be seen navigation
harassed and trammelled by the pirates of Dunkirk; and the almost
defenceless frontiers of the republic exposed to the irruptions
of the enemy. The king of Denmark, who endeavored to make head
against the imperialist and Spanish forces, was beaten by Tilly,
and made to tremble for the safety of his own States. England did
nothing toward the common cause of Protestantism, in consequence
of the weakness of the monarch; and civil dissensions for a while
disabled France from resuming the system of Henry IV. for humbling
the House of Austria.
Frederick Henry was at this period in his forty-second year.
His military reputation was well established; he soon proved his
political talents. He commenced his career by a total change in
the tone of government on the subject of sectarian differences.
He exercised several acts of clemency in favor of the imprisoned
and exiled Arminians, at the same time that he upheld the dominant
religion. By these measures he conciliated all parties; and by
degrees the fierce spirit of intolerance became subdued. The foreign
relations of the United Provinces now presented the anomalous
policy of a fleet furnished by the French king, manned by rigid
Calvinists, and commanded by a grandson of Admiral Coligny, for
the purpose of combating the remainder of the French Huguenots,
whom they considered as brothers in religion, though political
foes; and during the joint expedition which was undertaken by the
allied French and Dutch troops against Rochelle, the stronghold
of Protestantism, the preachers of Holland put up prayers for the
protection of those whom their army was marching to destroy. The
states-general, ashamed of this unpopular union, recalled their
fleet, after some severe fighting with that of the Huguenots.
Cardinal Richelieu and the king of France were for a time furious
in their displeasure; but interests of state overpowered individual
resentments, and no rupture took place.
Charles I. had now succeeded his father on the English throne.
He renewed the treaty with the republic, which furnished him
with twenty ships to assist his own formidable fleet in his war
against Spain. Frederick Henry had, soon after his succession
to the chief command, commenced an active course of martial
operations, and was successful in almost all his enterprises.
He took Groll and several other towns; and it was hoped that
his successes would have been pushed forward upon a wider field
of action against the imperial arms; but the States prudently
resolved to act on the defensive by land, choosing the sea for
the theatre of their more active operations. All the hopes of a
powerful confederation against the emperor and the king of Spain
seemed frustrated by the war which now broke out between France
and England. The states-general contrived by great prudence to
maintain a strict neutrality in this quarrel. They even succeeded
in mediating a peace between the rival powers, which was concluded
the following year; and in the meantime they obtained a more
astonishing and important series of triumphs against the Spanish
fleets than had yet been witnessed in naval conflicts.
The West India Company had confided the command of their fleet to
Peter Hein, a most intrepid and intelligent sailor, who proved his
own merits, and the sagacity of his employers on many occasions,
two of them of an extraordinary nature. In 1627, he defeated a
fleet of twenty-six vessels, with a much inferior force. In the
following year, he had the still more brilliant good fortune,
near Havana, in the island of Cuba, in an engagement with the
great Spanish armament, called the Money Fleet, to indicate the
immense wealth which it contained. The booty was safely carried
to Amsterdam, and the whole of the treasure, in money, precious
stones, indigo, etc., was estimated at the value of twelve million
florins. This was indeed a victory worth gaining, won almost
without bloodshed, and raising the republic far above the manifold
difficulties by which it had been embarrassed. Hein perished
in the following year, in a combat with some of the pirates of
Dunkirk--those terrible freebooters whose name was a watchword
of terror during the whole continuance of the war.
The year 1629 brought three formidable armies at once to the
frontiers of the republic, and caused a general dismay all through
the United Provinces; but the immense treasures taken from the
Spaniards enabled them to make preparations suitable to the danger;
and Frederick Henry, supported by his cousin William of Nassau, his
natural brother Justin, and other brave and experienced officers,
defeated every effort of the enemy. He took many towns in rapid
succession; and finally forced the Spaniards to abandon all notion
of invading the territories of the republic. Deprived of the
powerful talents of Spinola, who was called to command the Spanish
troops in Italy, the armies of the archduchess, under the count
of Berg, were not able to cope with the genius of the Prince of
Orange. The consequence was the renewal of negotiations for a
second truce. But these were received on the part of the republic
with a burst of opposition. All parties seemed decided on that
point; and every interest, however opposed on minor questions,
combined to give a positive negative on this.
The gratitude of the country for the services of Frederick Henry
induced the provinces of which he was stadtholder to grant the
reversion in this title to his son, a child of three years old;
and this dignity had every chance of becoming as absolute, as it
was now pronounced almost hereditary, by the means of an army
of one hundred and twenty thousand men devoted to their chief.
However, few military occurrences took place, the sea being still
chosen as the element best suited to the present enterprises
of the republic. In the widely-distant settlements of Brazil
and Batavia, the Dutch were equally successful; and the East
and West India companies acquired eminent power and increasing
solidity.
The year 1631 was signalized by an expedition into Flanders,
consisting of eighteen thousand men, intended against Dunkirk,
but hastily abandoned, in spite of every probability of success,
by the commissioners of the states-general, who accompanied the
army, and thwarted all the ardor and vigor of the Prince of Orange.
But another great naval victory in the narrow seas of Zealand
recompensed the disappointments of this inglorious affair.
The splendid victories of Augustus Adolphus against the imperial
arms in Germany changed the whole face of European affairs.
Protestantism began once more to raise its head; and the important
conquests by Frederick Henry of almost all the strong places
on the Meuse, including Maestricht, the strongest of all, gave
the United Provinces their ample share in the glories of the
war. The death of the archduchess Isabella, which took place at
Brussels in the year 1633, added considerably to the difficulties
of Spain in the Belgian provinces. The defection of the count
of Berg, the chief general of their armies, who was actuated
by resentment on the appointment of the marquis of St. Croix
over his head, threw everything into confusion, in exposing a
widespread confederacy among the nobility of these provinces
to erect themselves into an independent republic, strengthened
by a perpetual alliance with the United Provinces against the
power of Spain. But the plot failed, chiefly, it is said, by
the imprudence of the king of England, who let the secret slip,
from some motives vaguely hinted at, but never sufficiently
explained. After the death of Isabella, the prince of Brabancon
was arrested. The prince of Epinoi and the duke of Burnonville
made their escape; and the duke of Arschot, who was arrested in
Spain, was soon liberated, in consideration of some discoveries
into the nature of the plot. An armistice, published in 1634,
threw this whole affair into complete oblivion.
The king of Spain appointed his brother Ferdinand, a cardinal
and archbishop of Toledo, to the dignity of governor-general of
the Netherlands. He repaired to Germany at the head of seventeen
thousand men, and bore his share in the victory of Nordlingen;
after which he hastened to the Netherlands, and made his entry
into Brussels in 1634. Richelieu had hitherto only combated the
house of Austria in these countries by negotiation and intrigue;
but he now entered warmly into the proposals made by Holland for
a treaty offensive and defensive between Louis XIII. and the
republic. By a treaty soon after concluded (February 8, 1635)
the king of France engaged to invade the Belgian provinces with
an army of thirty thousand men, in concert with a Dutch force
of equal number. It was agreed that if Belgium would consent
to break from the Spanish yoke it was to be erected into a free
state; if, on the contrary, it would not co-operate for its own
freedom, France and Holland were to dismember, and to divide
it equally.
The plan of these combined measures was soon acted on. The French
army took the field under the command of the marshals De Chatillon
and De Breeze; and defeated the Spaniards in a bloody battle,
near Avein, in the province of Luxemburg, on the 20th of May,
1635, with the loss of four thousand men. The victors soon made
a junction with the Prince of Orange; and the towns of Tirlemont,
St. Trond, and some others, were quickly reduced. The former of
these places was taken by assault, and pillaged with circumstances
of cruelty that recall the horrors of the early transactions of
the war. The Prince of Orange was forced to punish severely the
authors of these offences. The consequences of this event were
highly injurious to the allies. A spirit of fierce resistance was
excited throughout the invaded provinces. Louvain set the first
example. The citizens and students took arms for its defence; and
the combined forces of France and Holland were repulsed, and forced
by want of supplies to abandon the siege, and rapidly retreat. The
prince-cardinal, as Ferdinand was called, took advantage of this
reverse to press the retiring French; recovered several towns;
and gained all the advantages as well as glory of the campaign.
The remains of the French army, reduced by continual combats,
and still more by sickness, finally embarked at Rotterdam, to
return to France in the ensuing spring, a sad contrast to its
brilliant appearance at the commencement of the campaign.