[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D. W. ]

MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 6. 

THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, D. C. L. , LL. D. 

1855

1560-1561 [CHAPTER II. ]

 Agitation in the Netherlands--The ancient charters resorted to as barriers against the measures of government--"Joyous entrance" of Brabant--Constitution of Holland--Growing unpopularity of Antony Perrenot, Archbishop of Mechlin--Opposition to the new bishoprics, by Orange, Egmont, and other influential nobles--Fury of the people at the continued presence of the foreign soldiery--Orange resigns the command of the legion--The troops recalled--Philip's personal attention to the details of persecution--Perrenot becomes Cardinal de Granvelle--All the power of government in his hands--His increasing unpopularity--Animosity and violence of Egmont towards the Cardinal--Relations between Orange and Granvelle--Ancient friendship gradually changing to enmity--Renewal of the magistracy at Antwerp--Quarrel between the Prince and Cardinal--Joint letter of Orange and Egmont to the King--Answer of the King--Indignation of Philip against Count Horn--Secret correspondence between the King and Cardinal--Remonstrances against the new bishoprics--Philip's private financial statements--Penury of the exchequer in Spain and in the provinces--Plan for debasing the coin--Marriage of William the Silent with the Princess of Lorraine circumvented--Negotiations for his matrimonial alliance with Princess Anna of Saxony-- Correspondence between Granvelle and Philip upon the subject-- Opposition of Landgrave Philip and of Philip the Second--Character and conduct of Elector Augustus--Mission of Count Schwartzburg-- Communications of Orange to the King and to Duchess Margaret-- Characteristic letter of Philip--Artful conduct of Granvelle and of the Regent--Visit of Orange to Dresden--Proposed "note" of Elector Augustus--Refusal of the Prince--Protest of the Landgrave against the marriage--Preparations for the wedding at Leipzig--Notarial instrument drawn up on the marriage day--Wedding ceremonies and festivities--Entrance of Granvelle into Mechlin as Archbishop-- Compromise in Brabant between the abbeys and bishops. 

The years 1560 and 1561 were mainly occupied with the agitation anddismay produced by the causes set forth in the preceding chapter. 

Against the arbitrary policy embodied in the edicts, the new bishopricsand the foreign soldiery, the Netherlanders appealed to their ancientconstitutions. These charters were called "handvests" in the vernacularDutch and Flemish, because the sovereign made them fast with his hand. As already stated, Philip had made them faster than any of the princes ofhis house had ever done, so far as oath and signature could accomplishthat purpose, both as hereditary prince in 1549, and as monarch in 1555. The reasons for the extensive and unconditional manner in which he sworeto support the provincial charters, have been already indicated. 

Of these constitutions, that of Brabant, known by the title of the'joyeuse entree, blyde inkomst', or blithe entrance, furnished the mostdecisive barrier against the present wholesale tyranny. First andforemost, the "joyous entry" provided "that the prince of the land shouldnot elevate the clerical state higher than of old has been customary andby former princes settled; unless by consent of the other two estates, the nobility and the cities. "

Again; "the prince can prosecute no one of his subjects nor any foreignresident, civilly or criminally, except in the ordinary and open courtsof justice in the province, where the accused may answer and defendhimself with the help of advocates. "

Further; "the prince shall appoint no foreigners to office in Brabant. "

Lastly; "should the prince, by force or otherwise, violate any of theseprivileges, the inhabitants of Brabant, after regular protest entered, are discharged of their oaths of allegiance, and as free, independent andunbound people, may conduct themselves exactly as seems to them best. "

Such were the leading features, so far as they regarded the points now atissue, of that famous constitution which was so highly esteemed in theNetherlands, that mothers came to the province in order to give birth totheir children, who might thus enjoy, as a birthright, the privileges ofBrabant. Yet the charters of the other provinces ought to have been aseffective against the arbitrary course of the government. "No foreigner, "said the constitution of Holland, "is eligible as, councillor, financier, magistrate, or member of a court. Justice can be administered only bythe ordinary tribunals and magistrates. The ancient laws and customsshall remain inviolable. Should the prince infringe any of theseprovisions, no one is bound to obey him. "

These provisions, from the Brabant and Holland charters, are only citedas illustrative of the general spirit of the provincial constitutions. Nearly all the provinces possessed privileges equally ample, duly signedand sealed. So far as ink and sealing wax could defend a land againstsword and fire, the Netherlands were impregnable against the edicts andthe renewed episcopal inquisition. Unfortunately, all history shows howfeeble are barriers of paper or lambskin, even when hallowed with amonarch's oath, against the torrent of regal and ecclesiasticalabsolutism. It was on the reception in the provinces of the new andconfirmatory Bull concerning the bishoprics, issued in January, 1560, that the measure became known, and the dissatisfaction manifest. The discontent was inevitable and universal. The ecclesiasticalestablishment which was not to be enlarged or elevated but by consentof the estates, was suddenly expanded into three archiepiscopates andfifteen bishoprics. The administration of justice, which was onlyallowed in free and local courts, distinct for each province, was to beplaced, so far as regarded the most important of human interests, in the, hands of bishops and their creatures, many of them foreigners and most ofthem monks. The lives and property of the whole population were to be atthe mercy of these utterly irresponsible conclaves. All classes wereoutraged. The nobles were offended because ecclesiastics, perhapsforeign ecclesiastics, were to be empowered to sit in the provincialestates and to control their proceedings in place of easy, indolent, ignorant abbots and friars, who had generally accepted the influence ofthe great seignors. The priests were enraged because the religioushouses were thus taken out of their control and confiscated to a bench ofbishops, usurping the places of those superiors who had formally beenelected by and among themselves. The people were alarmed because themonasteries, although not respected nor popular, were at least charitableand without ambition to exercise ecclesiastical cruelty; while, on theother hand, by the new episcopal arrangements, a force of thirty newinquisitors was added to the apparatus for enforcing orthodoxy alreadyestablished. The odium of the measure was placed upon the head of thatchurchman, already appointed Archbishop of Mechlin, and soon to be knownas Cardinal Granvelle. From this time forth, this prelate began to beregarded with a daily increasing aversion. He was looked upon as theincarnation of all the odious measures which had been devised; as thesource of that policy of absolutism which revealed itself more and morerapidly after the King's departure from the country. It was for thisreason that so much stress was laid by popular clamor upon the clauseprohibiting foreigners from office. Granvelle was a Burgundian; hisfather had passed most of his active life in Spain, while both he and hismore distinguished son were identified in the general mind with Spanishpolitics. To this prelate, then, were ascribed the edicts, the newbishoprics, and the continued presence of the foreign troops. The peoplewere right as regarded the first accusation. They were mistaken as tothe other charges. 

The King had not consulted Anthony Perrenot with regard to the creationof the new bishoprics. The measure, which had been successivelycontemplated by Philip "the Good, " by Charles the Bold, and by theEmperor Charles, had now been carried out by Philip the Second, withoutthe knowledge of the new Archbishop of Mechlin. The King had for oncebeen able to deceive the astuteness of the prelate, and had concealedfrom him the intended arrangement, until the arrival of Sonnius with theBulls. Granvelle gave the reasons for this mystery with much simplicity. "His Majesty knew, " he said, "that I should oppose it, as it was morehonorable and lucrative to be one of four than one of eighteen. " Infact, according to his own statement, he lost money by becomingarchbishop of Mechlin, and ceasing to be Bishop of Arras. For thesereasons he declined, more than once, the proffered dignity, and at lastonly accepted it from fear of giving offence to the King, and afterhaving secured compensation for his alleged losses. In the same letter(of 29th May, 1560) in which he thanked Philip for conferring upon himthe rich abbey of Saint Armand, which he had solicited, in addition tothe "merced" in ready money, concerning the safe investment of whichhe had already sent directions, he observed that he was now willing toaccept the archbishopric of Mechlin; notwithstanding the odium attachedto the measure, notwithstanding his feeble powers, and notwithstandingthat, during the life of the Bishop of Tournay, who was then in rudehealth, he could only receive three thousand ducats of the revenue, giving up Arras and gaining nothing in Mechlin; notwithstanding all this, and a thousand other things besides, he assured his Majesty that, "sincethe royal desire was so strong that he should accept, he would considernothing so difficult that he would not at least attempt it. " Having madeup his mind to take the see and support the new arrangements, he wasresolved that his profits should be as large as possible. We have seenhow he had already been enabled to indemnify himself. We shall find himsoon afterwards importuning the King for the Abbey of Afflighem, theenormous revenue of which the prelate thought would make another handsomeaddition to the rewards of his sacrifices. At the same time, he was mostanxious that the people, and particularly the great nobles, should notascribe the new establishment to him, as they persisted in doing. "Theysay that the episcopates were devised to gratify my ambition, " he wroteto Philip two years later; "whereas your Majesty knows how steadily Irefused the see of Mechlin, and that I only accepted it in order not tolive in idleness, doing nothing for God and your Majesty. " He thereforeinstructed Philip, on several occasions, to make it known to thegovernment of the Regent, to the seignors, and to the country generally, that the measure had been arranged without his knowledge; that theMarquis Berghen had known of it first, and that the prelate had, intruth, been kept in the dark on the subject until the arrival of Sonniuswith the Bulls. The King, always docile to his minister, accordinglywrote to the Duchess the statements required, in almost the exactphraseology suggested; taking pains to repeat the declarations on severaloccasions, both by letter and by word of mouth, to many influentialpersons. 

The people, however, persisted in identifying the Bishop with the scheme. They saw that he was the head of the new institutions; that he was toreceive the lion's share of the confiscated abbeys, and that he wasforemost in defending and carrying through the measure, in spite of allopposition. That opposition waxed daily more bitter, till the Cardinal, notwithstanding that he characterised the arrangement to the King as "aholy work, " and warmly assured Secretary Perez that he would contributehis fortune, his blood, and his life, to its success, was yet obliged toexclaim in the bitterness of his spirit, "Would to God that the erectionof these new sees had never been thought of. Amen! Amen!"

Foremost in resistance was the Prince of Orange. Although a Catholic, he had no relish for the horrible persecution which had been determinedupon. The new bishoprics he characterized afterwards as parts "of onegrand scheme for establishing the cruel inquisition of Spain; the saidbishops to serve as inquisitors, burners of bodies; and tyrants ofconscience: two prebendaries in each see being actually constitutedinquisitors. " For this reason he omitted no remonstrance on the subjectto the Duchess, to Granvelle, and by direct letters to the King. Hisefforts were seconded by Egmont, Berghen, and other influential nobles. Even Berlaymont was at first disposed to side with the opposition, butupon the argument used by the Duchess, that the bishoprics and prebendswould furnish excellent places for his sons and other members of thearistocracy, he began warmly to support the measure. Most of the labor, however, and all the odium, of the business fell upon the Bishop'sshoulders. There was still a large fund of loyalty left in the popularmind, which not even forty years of the Emperor's dominion had consumed, and which Philip was destined to draw upon as prodigally as if thetreasure had been inexhaustible. For these reasons it still seemed mostdecorous to load all the hatred upon the minister's back, and to retainthe consolatory formula, that Philip was a prince, "clement, benign, anddebonair. "

The Bishop, true to his habitual conviction, that words, with the people, are much more important than things, was disposed to have the word"inquisitor" taken out of the text of the new decree. He was anxiousat this juncture to make things pleasant, and he saw no reason why menshould be unnecessarily startled. If the inquisition could be practised, and the heretics burned, he was in favor of its being done comfortably. The word "inquisitor" was unpopular, almost indecent. It was better tosuppress the term and retain the thing. "People are afraid to speak ofthe new bishoprics, " he wrote to Perez, "on account of the clauseproviding that of nine canons one shall be inquisitor. Hence people fearthe Spanish inquisition. "--He, therefore, had written to the King tosuggest instead, that the canons or graduates should be obliged to assistthe Bishop, according as he might command. Those terms would suffice, because, although not expressly stated, it was clear that the Bishop wasan ordinary inquisitor; but it was necessary to expunge words that gaveoffence. 

It was difficult, however, with all the Bishop's eloquence and dexterity, to construct an agreeable inquisition. The people did not like it, inany shape, and there were indications, not to be mistaken, that one daythere would be a storm which it would be beyond human power to assuage. At present the people directed their indignation only upon a part of themachinery devised for their oppression. The Spanish troops wereconsidered as a portion of the apparatus by which the new bishoprics andthe edicts were to be forced into execution. Moreover, men were, wearyof the insolence and the pillage which these mercenaries had so longexercised in the land. When the King had been first requested towithdraw them, we have seen that he had burst into a violent passion. He had afterward dissembled. Promising, at last, that they should allbe sent from the country within three or four months after his departure, he had determined to use every artifice to detain them in the provinces. He had succeeded, by various subterfuges, in keeping them there fourteenmonths; but it was at last evident that their presence would no longer betolerated. Towards the close of 1560 they were quartered in Walcherenand Brill. The Zelanders, however, had become so exasperated by theirpresence that they resolutely refused to lay a single hand upon thedykes, which, as usual at that season, required great repairs. Ratherthan see their native soil profaned any longer by these hated foreignmercenaries, they would see it sunk forever in the ocean. They swore toperish-men, women, and children together-in the waves, rather than endurelonger the outrages which the soldiery daily inflicted. Such was thetemper of the Zelanders that it was not thought wise to trifle with theirirritation. The Bishop felt that it was no longer practicable to detainthe troops, and that all the pretext devised by Philip and his governmenthad become ineffectual. In a session of the State Council, held on the25th October, 1560, he represented in the strongest terms to the Regentthe necessity for the final departure of the troops. Viglius, who knewthe character of his countrymen, strenuously seconded the proposal. Orange briefly but firmly expressed the same opinion, declining anylonger to serve as commander of the legion, an office which, inconjunction with Egmont, he had accepted provisionally, with the bestof motives, and on the pledge of Philip that the soldiers should bewithdrawn. The Duchess urged that the order should at least be deferreduntil the arrival of Count Egmont, then in Spain, but the proposition wasunanimously negatived. 

Letters were accordingly written, in the name of the Regent, to the King. It was stated that the measure could no longer be delayed, that theprovinces all agreed in this point, that so long as the foreignersremained not a stiver should be paid into the treasury; that if they hadonce set sail, the necessary amount for their arrears would be furnishedto the government; but that if they should return it was probable thatthey would be resisted by the inhabitants with main force, and that theywould only be allowed to enter the cities through a breach in their wall. It was urged, moreover, that three or four thousand Spaniards would notbe sufficient to coerce all the provinces, and that there was not moneyenough in the royal exchequer to pay the wages of a single company of thetroops. "It cuts me to the heart, " wrote the Bishop to Philip, "to seethe Spanish infantry leave us; but go they must. Would to God that wecould devise any pretext, as your Majesty desires, under which to keepthem here! We have tried all means humanly possible for retaining them, but I see no way to do it without putting the provinces in manifestdanger of sudden revolt. "

Fortunately for the dignity of the government, or for the repose of thecountry, a respectable motive was found for employing the legionelsewhere. The important loss which Spain had recently met with in thecapture of Zerby made a reinforcement necessary in the army engaged inthe Southern service. Thus, the disaster in Barbary at last relieved theNetherlands of the pest which had afflicted them so long. For a briefbreathing space the country was cleared of foreign mercenaries. 

The growing unpopularity of the royal government, still typified, however, in the increasing hatred entertained for the Bishop, was notmaterially diminished by the departure of the Spaniards. The edicts andthe bishoprics were still there, even if the soldiers were gone. Thechurchman worked faithfully to accomplish his master's business. Philip, on his side, was industrious to bring about the consummation of hismeasures. Ever occupied with details, the monarch, from his palace inSpain, sent frequent informations against the humblest individuals inthe Netherlands. It is curious to observe the minute reticulations oftyranny which he had begun already to spin about a whole, people, whilecold, venomous, and patient he watched his victims from the centre of hisweb. He forwarded particular details to the Duchess and Cardinalconcerning a variety of men and women, sending their names, ages, personal appearance, occupations, and residence, together with directionsfor their immediate immolation. Even the inquisitors of Seville were setto work to increase, by means of their branches or agencies in theprovinces, the royal information on this all-important subject. "Thereare but few of us left in the world, " he moralized in a letter to theBishop, "who care for religion. 'Tis necessary, therefore, for us totake the greater heed for Christianity. We must lose our all, if needbe, in order to do our duty; in fine, " added he, with his usualtautology, "it is right that a man should do his duty. "

Granvelle--as he must now be called, for his elevation to thecardinalship will be immediately alluded to--wrote to assure the Kingthat every pains would be taken to ferret out and execute the individualscomplained of. He bewailed, however, the want of heartiness on the partof the Netherland inquisitors and judges. "I find, " said he, "that alljudicial officers go into the matter of executing the edicts withreluctance, which I believe is caused by their fear of displeasing thepopulace. When they do act they do it but languidly, and when thesematters are not taken in hand with the necessary liveliness, the fruitdesired is not gathered. We do not fail to exhort and to command them todo their work. " He added that Viglius and Berlaymont displayed laudablezeal, but that he could not say as much for the Council of Brabant. Those councillors "were forever prating, " said he, "of theconstitutional rights of their province, and deserved much lesscommendation. "

The popularity of the churchman, not increased by these desperateexertions to force an inhuman policy upon an unfortunate nation, receivedlikewise no addition from his new elevation in rank. During the latterpart of the year 1560, Margaret of Parma, who still entertained aprofound admiration of the prelate, and had not yet begun to chafe underhis smooth but imperious dominion, had been busy in preparing for him adelightful surprise. Without either his knowledge or that of the King, she had corresponded with the Pope, and succeeded in obtaining, as apersonal favor to herself, the Cardinal's hat for Anthony Perrenot. In February, 1561, Cardinal Borromeo wrote to announce that the coveteddignity had been bestowed. The Duchess hastened, with joyous alacrity, to communicate the intelligence to the Bishop, but was extremely hurt tofind that he steadily refused to assume his new dignity, until he hadwritten to the King to announce the appointment, and to ask hispermission to accept the honor. The Duchess, justly wounded at hisrefusal to accept from her hands the favor which she, and she only, had obtained for him, endeavored in vain to overcome his pertinacity. She represented that although Philip was not aware of the application orthe appointment, he was certain to regard it as an agreeable surprise. She urged, moreover, that his temporary refusal would be misconstrued atRome, where it would certainly excite ridicule, and very possibly giveoffence in the highest quarter. The Bishop was inexorable. He feared, says his panegyrist, that he might one day be on worse terms than atpresent with the Duchess, and that then she might reproach him with herformer benefits. He feared also that the King might, in consequence ofthe step, not look with satisfaction upon him at some future period, whenhe might stand in need of his favors. He wrote, accordingly, a mostcharacteristic letter to Philip, in which he informed him that he hadbeen honored with the Cardinal's hat. He observed that many persons werealready congratulating him, but that before he made any demonstration ofaccepting or refusing, he waited for his Majesty's orders: upon his willhe wished ever to depend. He also had the coolness, under thecircumstances, to express his conviction that "it was his Majesty who hadsecretly procured this favor from his Holiness. "

The King received the information very graciously, observing in reply, that although he had never made any suggestion of the kind, he had "oftenthought upon the subject. " The royal command was of course at oncetransmitted, that the dignity should be accepted. By special favor, moreover, the Pope dispensed the new Cardinal from the duty of going toRome in person, and despatched his chamberlain, Theophilus Friso, toBrussels, with the red hat and tabbard. 

The prelate, having thus reached the dignity to which he had longaspired, did not grow more humble in his deportment, or less zealous inthe work through which he had already gained so much wealth andpreferment. His conduct with regard to the edicts and bishoprics hadalready brought him into relations which were far from amicable with hiscolleagues in the council. More and more he began to take the control ofaffairs into his own hand. The consulta, or secret committee of thestate council, constituted the real government of the country. Here themost important affairs were decided upon without the concurrence of theother seignors, Orange, Egmont, and Glayon, who, at the same time, wereheld responsible for the action of government. The Cardinal was smoothin manner, plausible of speech, generally even-tempered, but he wasoverbearing and blandly insolent. Accustomed to control royalpersonages, under the garb of extreme obsequiousness, he began, in hisintercourse with those of less exalted rank, to omit a portion of thesubserviency while claiming a still more undisguised authority. Tonobles like Egmont and Orange, who looked down upon the son of NicolasPerrenot and Nicola Bonvalot as a person immeasurably beneath themselvesin the social hierarchy, this conduct was sufficiently irritating. TheCardinal, placed as far above Philip, and even Margaret, in mental poweras he was beneath them in worldly station, found it comparatively easy todeal with them amicably. With such a man as Egmont, it was impossiblefor the churchman to maintain friendly relations. The Count, whonotwithstanding his romantic appearance, his brilliant exploits, and hisinteresting destiny, was but a commonplace character, soon conceived amortal aversion to Granvelle. A rude soldier, entertaining no respectfor science or letters, ignorant and overbearing, he was not the man tosubmit to the airs of superiority which pierced daily more and moredecidedly through the conventional exterior of the Cardinal. Granvelle, on the other hand, entertained a gentle contempt for Egmont, whichmanifested itself in all his private letters to the King, and wassufficiently obvious in his deportment. There had also been distinctcauses of animosity between them. The governorship of Hesdin havingbecome vacant, Egmont, backed by Orange and other nobles, had demandedit for the Count de Roeulx, a gentleman of the Croy family, who, as wellas his father, had rendered many important services to the crown. Theappointment was, however, bestowed, through Granvelle's influence, uponthe Seigneur d'Helfault, a gentleman of mediocre station and character, who was thought to possess no claims whatever to the office. Egmont, moreover, desired the abbey of Trulle for a poor relation of his own; butthe Cardinal, to whom nothing in this way ever came amiss, had alreadyobtained the King's permission to, appropriate the abbey to himselfEgmont was now furious against the prelate, and omitted no opportunityof expressing his aversion, both in his presence and behind his back. On one occasion, at least, his wrath exploded in something more thanwords. Exasperated by Granvelle's polished insolence in reply to hisown violent language, he drew his dagger upon him in the presence of theRegent herself, "and, " says a contemporary, "would certainly have sentthe Cardinal into the next world had he not been forcibly restrained bythe Prince of Orange and other persons present, who warmly representedto him that such griefs were to be settled by deliberate advice, not bycholer. " At the same time, while scenes like these were occurring in thevery bosom of the state council, Granvelle, in his confidential lettersto secretary Perez, asserted warmly that all reports of a want of harmonybetween himself and the other seignors and councillors were false, andthat the best relations existed among them all. It was not hisintention, before it should be necessary, to let the King doubt hisability to govern the counsel according to the secret commission withwhich he had been invested. 

His relations with Orange were longer in changing from friendship to openhostility. In the Prince the Cardinal met his match. He found himselfconfronted by an intellect as subtle, an experience as fertile inexpedients, a temper as even, and a disposition sometimes as haughty ashis own. He never affected to undervalue the mind of Orange. "'Tis aman of profound genius, vast ambition--dangerous, acute, politic, " hewrote to the King at a very early period. The original relations betweenhimself and the Prince bad been very amicable. It hardly needed theprelate's great penetration to be aware that the friendship of so exalteda personage as the youthful heir to the principality of Orange, and tothe vast possessions of the Chalons-Nassau house in Burgundy and theNetherlands, would be advantageous to the ambitious son of the BurgundianCouncillor Granvelle. The young man was the favorite of the Emperor fromboyhood; his high rank, and his remarkable talents marked himindisputably for one of the foremost men of the coming reign. Thereforeit was politic in Perrenot to seize every opportunity of making himselfuseful to the Prince. He busied himself with securing, so far as itmight be necessary to secure, the succession of William to his cousin'sprincipality. It seems somewhat ludicrous for a merit to be made notonly for Granvelle but for the Emperor, that the Prince should have beenallowed to take an inheritance which the will of Rene de Nassau mostunequivocally conferred, and which no living creature disputed. Yet, because some of the crown lawyers had propounded the dogma that "the sonOf a heretic ought not to succeed, " it was gravely stated as an immenseact of clemency upon the part of Charles the Fifth that he had notconfiscated the whole of the young Prince's heritage. In returnGranvelle's brother Jerome had obtained the governorship of the youth, upon whose majority he had received an honorable military appointmentfrom his attached pupil. The prelate had afterwards recommended themarriage with the Count de Buren's heiress, and had used his influencewith the Emperor to overcome certain objections entertained by Charles, that the Prince, by this great accession of wealth, might be growing toopowerful. On the other hand, there were always many poor relations anddependents of Granvelle, eager to be benefitted by Orange's patronage, who lived in the Prince's household, or received handsome appointmentsfrom his generosity. Thus, there had been great intimacy, founded uponvarious benefits mutually conferred; for it could hardly be asserted thatthe debt of friendship was wholly upon one side. 

When Orange arrived in Brussels from a journey, he would go to thebishop's before alighting at his own house. When the churchman visitedthe Prince, he entered his bed-chamber without ceremony before he hadrisen; for it was William's custom, through life, to receive intimateacquaintances, and even to attend to important negotiations of state, while still in bed. 

The show of this intimacy had lasted longer than its substance. Granvelle was the most politic of men, and the Prince had not servedhis apprenticeship at the court of Charles the Fifth to lay himself bareprematurely to the criticism or the animosity of the Cardinal with therecklessness of Horn and Egmont. An explosion came at last, however, andvery soon after an exceedingly amicable correspondence between the twoupon the subject of an edict of religious amnesty which Orange waspreparing for his principality, and which Granvelle had recommended himnot to make too lenient. A few weeks after this, the Antwerp magistracywas to be renewed. The Prince, as hereditary burgrave of that city, was entitled to a large share of the appointing power in these politicalarrangements, which at the moment were of great importance. The citizensof Antwerp were in a state of excitement on the subject of the newbishops. They openly, and in the event, successfully resisted theinstallation of the new prelate for whom their city had been constituteda diocese. The Prince was known to be opposed to the measure, and to thewhole system of ecclesiastical persecution. When the nominations for thenew magistracy came before the Regent, she disposed of the whole matterin the secret consulta, without the knowledge, and in a manner opposed tothe views of Orange. He was then furnished with a list of the newmagistrates, and was informed that he had been selected as commissioneralong with Count Aremberg, to see that the appointments were carried intoeffect. The indignation of the Prince was extreme. He had already takenoffence at some insolent expressions upon this topic, which the Cardinalhad permitted himself. He now sent back the commission to the Duchess, adding, it was said, that he was not her lackey, and that she might sendsome one else with her errands. The words were repeated in the statecouncil. There was a violent altercation--Orange vehemently resentinghis appointment merely to carry out decisions in which he claimed anoriginal voice. His ancestors, he said, had often changed the whole ofthe Antwerp magistracy by their own authority. It was a little too muchthat this matter, as well as every other state affair, should becontrolled by the secret committee of which the Cardinal was the chief. Granvelle, on his side, was also in a rage. He flung from the council-chamber, summoned the Chancellor of Brabant, and demanded, amid bitterexecrations against Orange, what common and obscure gentleman there mightbe, whom he could appoint to execute the commission thus refused by thePrince and by Aremberg. He vowed that in all important matters he would, on future occasions, make use of nobles less inflated by pride, and moretractable than such grand seignors. The chancellor tried in vain toappease the churchman's wrath, representing that the city of Antwerpwould be highly offended at the turn things were taking, and offering hisservices to induce the withdrawal, on the part of the Prince, of thelanguage which had given so much offence. The Cardinal was inexorableand peremptory. "I will have nothing to do with the Prince, MasterChancellor, " said he, "and these are matters which concern you not. "Thus the conversation ended, and thus began the open state of hostilitiesbetween the great nobles and the Cardinal, which had been brooding solong. 

On the 23rd July, 1561, a few weeks after the scenes lately described, the Count of Egmont and the Prince of Orange addressed a joint letter tothe King. They reminded him in this despatch that, they had originallybeen reluctant to take office in the state council, on account of theirprevious experience of the manner in which business had been conductedduring the administration of the Duke of Savoy. They had feared thatimportant matters of state might be transacted without their concurrence. The King had, however, assured them, when in Zeland, that all affairswould be uniformly treated in full council. If the contrary should everprove the case, he had desired them to give him information to thateffect, that he might instantly apply the remedy. They accordingly nowgave him that information. They were consulted upon small matters:momentous affairs were decided upon in their absence. Still they wouldnot even now have complained had not Cardinal Granvelle declared that allthe members of the state council were to be held responsible for itsmeasures, whether they were present at its decisions or not. Not likingsuch responsibility, they requested the King either to accept theirresignation or to give orders that all affairs should be communicatedto the whole board and deliberated upon by all the councillors. 

In a private letter, written some weeks later (August 15), Egmont beggedsecretary Erasso to assure the King that their joint letter had not beendictated by passion, but by zeal for his service. It was impossible, he said, to imagine the insolence of the Cardinal, nor to form an ideaof the absolute authority which he arrogated. 

In truth, Granvelle, with all his keenness, could not see that Orange, Egmont, Berghen, Montigny and the rest, were no longer pages and youngcaptains of cavalry, while he was the politician and the statesman. By six or seven years the senior of Egmont, and by sixteen years ofOrange, he did not divest himself of the superciliousness of superiorwisdom, not unjust nor so irritating when they had all been boys. In his deportment towards them, and in the whole tone of his privatecorrespondence with Philip, there was revealed, almost in spite ofhimself, an affectation of authority, against which Egmont rebelled andwhich the Prince was not the man to acknowledge. Philip answered theletter of the two nobles in his usual procrastinating manner. The Countof Horn, who was about leaving Spain (whither he had accompanied theKing) for the Netherlands, would be entrusted with the resolution whichhe should think proper to take upon the subject suggested. In the meantime, he assured them that he did not doubt their zeal in his service. 

As to Count Horn, Granvelle had already prejudiced the King against him. Horn and the Cardinal had never been friends. A brother of the prelatehad been an aspirant for the hand of the Admiral's sister, and had beensomewhat contemptuously rejected. Horn, a bold, vehement, and not verygood-tempered personage, had long kept no terms with Granvelle, and didnot pretend a friendship which he had never felt. Granvelle had justwritten to instruct the King that Horn was opposed bitterly to thatmeasure which was nearest the King's heart--the new bishoprics. He hadbeen using strong language, according to the Cardinal, in opposition tothe scheme, while still in Spain. He therefore advised that his Majesty, concealing, of course, the source of the information, and speaking as itwere out of the royal mind itself, should expostulate with the Admiralupon the subject. Thus prompted, Philip was in no gracious humor whenhe received Count Horn, then about to leave Madrid for the Netherlands, and to take with him the King's promised answer to the communication ofOrange and Egmont. His Majesty had rarely been known to exhibit so muchanger towards any person as he manifested upon that occasion. After afew words from the Admiral, in which he expressed his sympathy with theother Netherland nobles, and his aversion to Granvelle, in general terms, and in reply to Philip's interrogatories, the King fiercely interruptedhim: "What! miserable man!" he vociferated, "you all complain of thisCardinal, and always in vague language. Not one of you, in spite of allmy questions, can give me a single reason for your dissatisfaction. "With this the royal wrath boiled over in such unequivocal terms thatthe Admiral changed color, and was so confused with indignation andastonishment, that he was scarcely able to find his way out of the room. 

This was the commencement of Granvelle's long mortal combat with Egmont, Horn, and Orange. This was the first answer which the seignors were toreceive to their remonstrances against the churchman's arrogance. Philipwas enraged that any opposition should be made to his coercive measures, particularly to the new bishoprics, the "holy work" which the Cardinalwas ready, to "consecrate his fortune and his blood" to advance. Granvelle fed his master's anger by constant communications as to theefforts made by distinguished individuals to delay the execution of thescheme. Assonville had informed him, he wrote, that much complaint hadbeen made on the subject by several gentlemen, at a supper of CountEgmont's. It was said that the King ought to have consulted them all, and the state councillors especially. The present nominees to the newepiscopates were good enough, but it would be found, they said, that veryimproper personages would be afterwards appointed. The estates ought notto permit the execution of the scheme. In short, continued Granvelle, "there is the same kind of talk which brought about the recall of theSpanish troops. " A few months later, he wrote to inform Philip that apetition against the new bishoprics was about to be drawn up by "the twolords. ". They had two motives; according to the Cardinal, for this step--first, to let the King know that he could do nothing without theirpermission; secondly, because in the states' assembly they were then thecocks of the walk. They did not choose, therefore, that in the clericalbranch of the estates any body should be above the abbots, whom theycould frighten into doing whatever they chose. At the end, of the year, Granvelle again wrote to instruct his sovereign how to reply to theletter which was about to be addressed to him by the Prince of Orange andthe Marquis Berghen on the subject of the bishoprics. They would tellhim, he said, that the incorporation of the Brabant abbeys into the newbishoprics was contrary to the constitution of the "joyful entrance. "Philip was, however, to make answer that he had consulted theuniversities, and those learned in the laws, and had satisfied himselfthat it was entirely constitutional. He was therefore advised to sendhis command that the Prince and Marquis should use all their influence topromote the success of the measure. Thus fortified, the King was enablednot only to deal with the petition of the nobles, but also with thedeputies from the estates of Brabant, who arrived about this time atMadrid. To these envoys, who asked for the appointment of royalcommissioners, with whom they might treat on the subject of thebishoprics, the abbeys, and the "joyful entrance, " the King answeredproudly, "that in matters which concerned the service of God, he was hisown commissioner. " He afterwards, accordingly, recited to them, withgreat accuracy, the lesson which he had privately received from theubiquitous Cardinal. Philip was determined that no remonstrance fromgreat nobles or from private citizens should interfere with the thoroughexecution of the grand scheme on which he was resolved, and of which thenew bishoprics formed an important part. Opposition irritated him moreand more, till his hatred of the opponents became deadly; but it, at thesame time, confirmed him in his purpose. "'Tis no time to temporize, " hewrote to Granvelle; "we must inflict chastisement with full rigor andseverity. These rascals can only be made to do right through fear, andnot always even by that means. "

At the same time, the royal finances did not admit of any very activemeasures, at the moment, to enforce obedience to a policy which wasalready so bitterly opposed. A rough estimate, made in the King's ownhandwriting, of the resources and obligations of his exchequer, a kind ofbalance sheet for the, years 1560 and 1561, drawn up much in the samemanner as that in which a simple individual would make a note of hisincome and expenditure, gave but a dismal picture of his pecuniary, condition. It served to show how intelligent a financier is despotism, and how little available are the resources of a mighty empire whenregarded merely as private property, particularly when the owner chancesto have the vanity of attending to all details himself: "Twenty millionsof ducats, " began the memorandum, "will be required to disengage myrevenues. But of this, " added the King, with whimsical pathos for anaccount-book, "we will not speak at present, as the matter is so entirelyimpossible. " He then proceeded to enter the various items of expensewhich were to be met during the two years; such as so many millions dueto the Fuggers (the Rothschilds of the sixteenth century), so many tomerchants in Flanders, Seville, and other places, so much for PrinceDoria's galleys, so much for three years' pay due to his guards, so muchfor his household expenditure, so much for the, tuition of Don Carlos, and Don Juan d'Austria, so much for salaries of ambassadors andcouncillors--mixing personal and state expenses, petty items and greatloans, in one singular jumble, but arriving at a total demand upon hispurse of ten million nine hundred and ninety thousand ducats. 

To meet this expenditure he painfully enumerated the funds upon which hecould reckon for the two years. His ordinary rents and taxes being alldeeply pledged, he could only calculate from that source upon two hundredthousand ducats. The Indian revenue, so called, was nearly spent; stillit might yield him four hundred and twenty thousand ducats. Thequicksilver mines would produce something, but so little as hardly torequire mentioning. As to the other mines, they were equally unworthy ofnotice, being so very uncertain, and not doing as well as they were wont. The licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to America were putdown at fifty thousand ducats for the two years. The product of the"crozada" and "cuarta, " or money paid to him in small sums byindividuals, with the permission of his Holiness, for the liberty ofabstaining from the Church fasts, was estimated at five hundred thousandducats. These and a few more meagre items only sufficed to stretch hisincome to a total of one million three hundred and thirty thousand farthe two years, against an expenditure calculated at near eleven millions. "Thus, there are nine millions, less three thousand ducats, deficient, "he concluded ruefully (and making a mistake in his figures in his ownfavor of six hundred and sixty-three thousand besides), "which I may lookfor in the sky, or try to raise by inventions already exhausted. "

Thus, the man who owned all America and half of Europe could only raise amillion ducats a year from his estates. The possessor of all Peru andMexico could reckon on "nothing worth mentioning" from his mines, andderived a precarious income mainly from permissions granted his subjectsto carry on the slave-trade and to eat meat on Fridays. This wascertainly a gloomy condition of affairs for a monarch on the threshold ofa war which was to outlast his own life and that of his children; a warin which the mere army expenses were to be half a million florinsmonthly, in which about seventy per cent. Of the annual disbursements wasto be regularly embezzled or appropriated by the hands through which itpassed, and in which for every four men on paper, enrolled and paid for, only one, according to the average, was brought into the field. 

Granvelle, on the other hand, gave his master but little consolation fromthe aspect of financial affairs in the provinces. He assured him that"the government was often in such embarrassment as not to know where tolook for ten ducats. " He complained bitterly that the states wouldmeddle with the administration of money matters, and were slow in thegranting of subsidies. The Cardinal felt especially outraged by theinterference of these bodies with the disbursement of the sums whichthey voted. It has been seen that the states had already compelled thegovernment to withdraw the troops, much to the regret of Granvelle. They continued, however, to be intractable on the subject of supplies. "These are very vile things, " he wrote to Philip, "this authority whichthey assume, this audacity with which they say whatever they thinkproper; and these impudent conditions which they affix to everyproposition for subsidies. " The Cardinal protested that he had in vainattempted to convince them of their error, but that they remainedperverse. 

It was probably at this time that the plan for debasing the coin, suggested to Philip some time before by a skilful chemist named Malen, and always much approved of both by himself and Ruy Gomez, recurred tohis mind. "Another and an extraordinary source of revenue, althoughperhaps not a very honorable one, " wrote Suriano, "has hitherto been keptsecret; and on account of differences of opinion between the King and hisconfessor, has been discontinued. " This source of revenue, it seemed, was found in "a certain powder, of which one ounce mixed with six ouncesof quicksilver would make six ounces of silver. " The composition wassaid to stand the test of the hammer, but not of the fire. Partly inconsequence of theological scruples and partly on account of oppositionfrom the states, a project formed by the King to pay his army with thiskind of silver was reluctantly abandoned. The invention, however, was sovery agreeable to the King, and the inventor had received such liberalrewards, that it was supposed, according to the envoy, that in time ofscarcity his Majesty would make use of such coin without reluctance. 

It is necessary, before concluding this chapter, which relates theevents of the years 1560 and 1561, to allude to an important affairwhich occupied much attention during the whole of this period. Thisis the celebrated marriage of the Prince of Orange with the PrincessAnna of Saxony. By many superficial writers; a moving cause of the greatNetherland revolt was found in the connexion of the great chieftain withthis distinguished Lutheran house. One must have studied the charactersand the times to very little purpose, however, to believe it possiblethat much influence could be exerted on the mind of William of Orange bysuch natures as those of Anna of Saxony, or of her uncle the ElectorAugustus, surnamed "the Pious. "

The Prince had become a widower in 1558, at the age of twenty-five. Granvelle, who was said to have been influential in arranging his firstmarriage, now proposed to him, after the year of mourning had expired, an alliance with Mademoiselle Renee, daughter of the Duchess de Lorraine, and granddaughter of Christiern the Third of Denmark, and his wifeIsabella, sister of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. Such a connexion, not only with the royal house of Spain but with that of France--for, the young Duke of Lorraine, brother of the lady, had espoused thedaughter of Henry the considered highly desirable by the Prince. Philipand the Duchess Margaret of Parma both approved, or pretended to approve, the match. At the same time the Dowager Duchess of Lorraine, mother ofthe intended bride, was a candidate, and a very urgent one, for theRegency of the Netherlands. Being a woman of restless ambition, andintriguing character, she naturally saw in a man of William's stationand talents a most desirable ally in her present and future schemes. On the other hand, Philip--who had made open protestation of his desireto connect the Prince thus closely with his own blood, and had warmlyrecommended the match to the young lady's mother--soon afterwards, whilewalking one day with the Prince in the park at Brussels, announced to himthat the Duchess of Lorraine had declined his proposals. Such a resultastonished the Prince, who was on the best of terms with the mother, andhad been urging her appointment to the Regency with all his-influence, having entirely withdrawn his own claims to that office. No satisfactoryexplanation was ever given of this singular conclusion to a courtship, begun with the apparent consent of all parties. It was hinted that theyoung lady did not fancy the Prince; but, as it was not known that a wordhad ever been exchanged between them, as the Prince, in appearance andreputation, was one of the most brilliant cavaliers of the age, and asthe approval of the bride was not usually a matter of primary consequencein such marriages of state, the mystery seemed to require a furthersolution. The Prince suspected Granvelle and the King, who were believedto have held mature and secret deliberation together, of insincerity. The Bishop was said to have expressed the opinion, that although thefriendship he bore the Prince would induce him to urge the marriage, yet his duty to his master made him think it questionable whether itwere right to advance a personage already placed so high by birth, wealth, and popularity, still higher by so near an alliance with hisMajesty's family. The King, in consequence, secretly instructed theDuchess of Lorraine to decline the proposal, while at the same time hecontinued openly to advocate the connexion. The Prince is said to havediscovered this double dealing, and to have found in it the onlyreasonable explanation of the whole transaction. Moreover, the Duchessof Lorraine, finding herself equally duped, and her own ambitious schemeequally foiled by her unscrupulous cousin--who now, to the surprise ofevery one, appointed Margaret of Parma to be Regent, with the Bishop forher prime minister--had as little reason to be satisfied with thecombinations of royal and ecclesiastical intrigue as the Prince of Orangehimself. Soon after this unsatisfactory mystification, William turnedhis attentions to Germany. Anna of Saxony, daughter of the celebratedElector Maurice, lived at the court of her uncle, the Elector Augustus. A musket-ball, perhaps a traitorous one, in an obscure action with Albertof Brandenbourg, had closed the adventurous career of her father sevenyears before. The young lady, who was thought to have inherited much ofhis restless, stormy character, was sixteen years of age. She was farfrom handsome, was somewhat deformed, and limped. Her marriage-portionwas deemed, for the times, an ample one; she had seventy thousand rixdollars in hand, and the reversion of thirty thousand on the death ofJohn Frederic the Second, who had married her mother after the death ofMaurice. Her rank was accounted far higher in Germany than that ofWilliam of Nassau, and in this respect, rather than for pecuniaryconsiderations, the marriage seemed a desirable one for him. The manwho held the great Nassau-Chalons property, together with the heritageof Count Maximilian de Buren, could hardly have been tempted by 100, 000thalers. His own provision for the children who might spring from theproposed marriage was to be a settlement of seventy thousand florinsannually. The fortune which permitted of such liberality was not one tobe very materially increased by a dowry which might seem enormous tomany of the pauper princes of Germany. "The bride's portion, " says acontemporary, "after all, scarcely paid for the banquets and magnificentfestivals which celebrated the marriage. When the wedding was paid for, there was not a thaler remaining of the whole sum. " Nothing, then, couldbe more puerile than to accuse the Prince of mercenary motives in seekingthis alliance; an accusation, however, which did not fail to be brought. 

There were difficulties on both sides to be arranged before this marriagecould take place. The bride was a Lutheran, the Prince was a Catholic. With regard to the religion of Orange not the slightest doubt existed, nor was any deception attempted. Granvelle himself gave the most entireattestation of the Prince's orthodoxy. "This proposed marriage gives megreat pain, " he wrote to Philip, "but I have never had reason to suspecthis principles. " In another letter he observed that he wished themarriage could be broken off; but that he hoped so much from the virtueof the Prince that nothing could suffice to separate him from the truereligion. On the other side there was as little doubt as to his creed. Old Landgrave Philip of Hesse, grandfather of the young lady, wasbitterly opposed to the match. "'Tis a papist, " said he, "who goes tomass, and eats no meat on fast days. " He had no great objection to hischaracter, but insurmountable ones to his religion. "Old Count William, "said he, "was an evangelical lord to his dying day. This man is apapist!" The marriage, then, was to be a mixed marriage. It isnecessary, however, to beware of anachronisms upon the subject. Lutherans were not yet formally denounced as heretics. On the contrary, it was exactly at this epoch that the Pope was inviting the Protestantprinces of Germany to the Trent Council, where the schism was to beclosed, and all the erring lambs to be received again into the bosom ofthe fold. So far from manifesting an outward hostility, the papaldemeanor was conciliating. The letters of invitation from the Pope tothe princes were sent by a legate, each commencing with the exordium, "To my beloved son, " and were all sent back to his Holiness, contemptuously, with the coarse jest for answer, "We believe our mothersto have been honest women, and hope that we had better fathers. " Thegreat council had not yet given its decisions. Marriages were ofcontinual occurrence, especially among princes and potentates, betweenthe adherents of Rome and of the new religion. Even Philip had been mostanxious to marry the Protestant Elizabeth, whom, had she been a peasant, he would unquestionably have burned, if in his power. ThroughoutGermany, also, especially in high places, there was a disposition tocover up the religious controversy; to abstain from disturbing the asheswhere devastation still glowed, and was one day to rekindle itself. Itwas exceedingly difficult for any man, from the Archduke Maximilian down, to define his creed. A marriage, therefore; between a man and woman ofdiscordant views upon this topic was not startling, although in generalnot considered desirable. 

There were, however, especial reasons why this alliance should bedistasteful, both to Philip of Spain upon one side, and to the LandgravePhilip of Hesse on the other. The bride was the daughter of the electorMaurice. In that one name were concentrated nearly all the disasters, disgrace, and disappointment of the Emperor's reign. It was Maurice whohad hunted the Emperor through the Tyrolean mountains; it was Maurice whohad compelled the peace of Passau; it was Maurice who had overthrown theCatholic Church in Germany, it was Maurice who had frustrated Philip'selection as king of the Romans. If William of Orange must seek a wifeamong the pagans, could no other bride be found for him than the daughterof such a man?

Anna's grandfather, on the other hand, Landgrave Philip, was thecelebrated victim to the force and fraud of Charles the Fifth. He sawin the proposed bridegroom, a youth who had been from childhood, thepetted page and confidant of the hated Emperor, to whom he owed his longimprisonment. He saw in him too, the intimate friend and ally--for thebrooding quarrels of the state council were not yet patent to the world--of the still more deeply detested Granvelle; the crafty priest whosesubstitution of "einig" for "ewig" had inveigled him into that terriblecaptivity. These considerations alone would have made him unfriendly tothe Prince, even had he not been a Catholic. 

The Elector Augustus, however, uncle and guardian to the bride, was notonly well-disposed but eager for the marriage, and determined to overcomeall obstacles, including the opposition of the Landgrave, without whoseconsent he was long pledged not to bestow the hand of Anna. For thisthere were more than one reason. Augustus, who, in the words of one ofthe most acute historical critics of our day, was "a Byzantine Emperor ofthe lowest class, re-appearing in electoral hat and mantle, " was not firmin his rights to the dignity he held. He had inherited from his brother, but his brother had dispossessed John Frederic. Maurice, when turningagainst the Emperor, who had placed him in his cousin's seat, had notthought it expedient to restore to the rightful owner the rank which hehimself owed to the violence of Charles. Those claims might berevindicated, and Augustus be degraded in his turn, by a possiblemarriage of the Princess Anna, with some turbulent or intriguing Germanpotentate. Out of the land she was less likely to give trouble. Thealliance, if not particularly desirable on the score of rank, was, inother worldly respects, a most brilliant one for his niece. As for thereligious point, if he could overcome or circumvent the scruples of theLandgrave, he foresaw little difficulty in conquering his own conscience. 

The Prince of Orange, it is evident, was placed in such a position, thatit would be difficult for him to satisfy all parties. He intended thatthe marriage, like all marriages among persons in high places at thatday, should be upon the "uti possidetis" principle, which was thefoundation of the religious peace of Germany. His wife, after marriageand removal to the Netherlands, would "live Catholically;" she would beconsidered as belonging to the same Church with her husband, was to giveno offence to the government, and bring no suspicion upon himself, byviolating any of the religious decencies. Further than this, William, who at that day was an easy, indifferent Catholic, averse to papalpersecutions, but almost equally averse to long, puritanical prayers andfaces, taking far more pleasure in worldly matters than in ecclesiasticalcontroversies, was not disposed to advance in this thorny path. Having astern bigot to deal with, in Madrid, and another in Cassel, he soonconvinced himself that he was not likely entirely to satisfy either, andthought it wiser simply to satisfy himself. 

Early in 1560, Count Gunther de Schwartzburg, betrothed to the Prince'ssister Catharine, together with Colonel George Von Holl, were despatchedto Germany to open the marriage negotiations. They found the ElectorAugustus already ripe and anxious for the connexion. It was easy for theenvoys to satisfy all his requirements on the religious question. If, asthe Elector afterwards stated to the Landgrave, they really promised thatthe young lady should be allowed to have an evangelical preacher in herown apartments, together with the befitting sacraments, it is verycertain that they travelled a good way out of their instructions, forsuch concessions were steadily refused by William in person. It is, however, more probable that Augustus, whose slippery feet were disposedto slide smoothly and swiftly over this dangerous ground, had representedthe Prince's communications under a favorable gloss of his own. At anyrate, nothing in the subsequent proceedings justified the conclusionsthus hastily formed. 

The Landgrave Philip, from the beginning, manifested his repugnance tothe match. As soon as the proposition had been received by Augustus, that potentate despatched Hans yon Carlowitz to the grandfather atCassel. The Prince of Orange, it was represented, was young, handsome, wealthy, a favorite of the Spanish monarch; the Princess Anna, on theother hand, said her uncle was not likely to grow straighter or betterproportioned in body, nor was her crooked and perverse character likelyto improve with years. It was therefore desirable to find a settlementfor her as soon as possible. The Elector, however, would decide uponnothing without the Landgrave's consent. 

To this frank, and not very flattering statement, so far as theyoung lady was concerned, the Landgrave answered stoutly andcharacteristically. The Prince was a Spanish subject, he said, and wouldnot be able to protect Anna in her belief, who would sooner or laterbecome a fugitive: he was but a Count in Germany, and no fitting matchfor an Elector's daughter; moreover, the lady herself ought to beconsulted, who had not even seen the Prince. If she were crooked inbody, as the Elector stated, it was a shame to expose her; to conceal it, however, was questionable, as the Prince might complain afterwards that astraight princess had been promised, and a crooked one fraudulentlysubstituted, --and so on, though a good deal more of such quaintcasuistry, in which the Landgrave was accomplished. The amount of hisanswer, however, to the marriage proposal was an unequivocal negative, from which he never wavered. 

In consequence of this opposition, the negotiations were for a timesuspended. Augustus implored the Prince not to abandon the project, promising that every effort should be made to gain over the Landgrave, hinting that the old man might "go to his long rest soon, " and evensuggesting that if the worst came to the worst, he had bound himself todo nothing without the knowledge of the Landgrave, but was not obliged towait for his consent. 

On the other hand, the Prince had communicated to the King of Spain thefact of the proposed marriage. He had also held many long conversationswith the Regent and with Granvelle. In all these interviews he haduniformly used one language: his future wife was to "live as a Catholic, "and if that point were not conceded, he would break off the negotiations. He did not pretend that she was to abjure her Protestant faith. TheDuchess, in describing to Philip the conditions, as sketched to her bythe Prince, stated expressly that Augustus of Saxony was to consent thathis niece "should live Catholically after the marriage, " but that it wasquite improbable that "before the nuptials she would be permitted toabjure her errors, and receive necessary absolution, according to therules of the Church. " The Duchess, while stating her full confidence inthe orthodoxy of the Prince, expressed at the same time her fears thatattempts might be made in the future by his new connexions "to perverthim to their depraved opinions. "

A silence of many months ensued on the part of the sovereign, duringwhich he was going through the laborious process of making up his mind, or rather of having it made up for him by people a thousand miles off. In the autumn Granvelle wrote to say that the Prince was very muchsurprised to have been kept so long waiting for a definite reply to hiscommunications, made at the beginning of the year concerning his intendedmarriage, and to learn at last that his Majesty had sent no answer, uponthe ground that the match had been broken off; the fact being, that thenegotiations were proceeding more earnestly than ever. 

Nothing could be more helpless and more characteristic than the letterwhich Philip sent, thus pushed for a decision. "You wrote me, " said he, "that you had hopes that this matter of the Prince's marriage would gono further, and seeing that you did not write oftener on the subject, I thought certainly that it had been terminated. This pleased me not alittle, because it was the best thing that could be done. Likewise, "continued the most tautological of monarchs, "I was much pleased that itshould be done. Nevertheless;" he added, "if the marriage is to beproceeded with, I really don't know what to say about it, except to referit to my sister, inasmuch as a person being upon the spot can see betterwhat can be done with regard to it; whether it be possible to prevent it, or whether it be best, if there be no remedy, to give permission. But ifthere be a remedy, it would be better to take it, because, " concluded theKing, pathetically, "I don't see how the Prince could think of marryingwith the daughter of the man who did to his majesty, now in glory, thatwhich Duke Maurice did. "

Armed with this luminous epistle, which, if it meant any thing, meant areluctant affirmation to the demand of the Prince for the royal consent, the Regent and Granvelle proceeded to summon William of Orange, and tocatechise him in a manner most galling to the pride, and with a latitudenot at all justified by any reasonable interpretation of the royalinstructions. They even informed him that his Majesty had assembled"certain persons learned in cases of conscience, and versed in theology, "according to whose advice a final decision, not yet possible, would begiven at some future period. This assembly of learned conscience-keepersand theologians had no existence save in the imaginations of Granvelleand Margaret. The King's letter, blind and blundering as it was, gavethe Duchess the right to decide in the affirmative on her ownresponsibility; yet fictions like these formed a part of the"dissimulation, " which was accounted profound statesmanship by thedisciples of Machiavelli. The Prince, however irritated, maintained hissteadiness; assured the Regent that the negotiation had advanced too farto be abandoned, and repeated his assurance that the future Princess ofOrange was to "live as a Catholic. "

In December, 1560, William made a visit to Dresden, where he was receivedby the Elector with great cordiality. This visit was conclusive as tothe marriage. The appearance and accomplishments of the distinguishedsuitor made a profound impression upon the lady. Her heart was carriedby storm. Finding, or fancying herself very desperately enamored of theproposed bridegroom, she soon manifested as much eagerness for themarriage as did her uncle, and expressed herself frequently with theviolence which belonged to her character. "What God had decreed, " shesaid, "the Devil should not hinder. "

The Prince was said to have exhibited much diligence in his attentionto the services of the Protestant Church during his visit at Dreaden. As that visit lasted, however, but ten or eleven days, there was no greatopportunity for shewing much zeal. 

At the same period one William Knuttel was despatched by Orange on theforlorn hope of gaining the old Landgrave's consent, without making anyvital concessions. "Will the Prince, " asked the Landgrave, "permit mygranddaughter to have an evangelical preacher in the house?"--"No, "answered Knuttel. "May she at least receive the sacrament of the Lord'sSupper in her own chamber, according to the Lutheran form?"--" No, "answered Knuttel, "neither in Breda, nor any where else in theNetherlands. If she imperatively requires such sacraments, she mustgo over the border for them, to the nearest Protestant sovereign. "

Upon the 14th April, 1561, the Elector, returning to the charge, caused alittle note to be drawn up on the religious point, which he forwarded, inthe hope that the Prince would copy and sign it. He added a promise thatthe memorandum should never be made public to the signer's disadvantage. 

At the same time he observed to Count Louis, verbally, "that he had beensatisfied with the declarations made by the Prince when in Dresden, uponall points, except that concerning religion. He therefore felt obligedto beg for a little agreement in writing. "By no means! by no means!"interrupted Louis promptly, at the very first word, "the Prince can giveyour electoral highness no such assurance. 'T would be risking life, honor, and fortune to do so, as your grace is well aware. The Electorprotested that the declaration, if signed, should never come into theSpanish monarch's hands, and insisted upon sending it to the Prince. Louis, in a letter to his brother, characterized the document as"singular, prolix and artful, " and strongly advised the Prince to havenothing to do with it. 

This note, which the Prince was thus requested to sign, and which hisbrother Louis thus strenuously advised him not to sign, the Prince neverdid sign. Its tenor was to the following effect:--The Princess, aftermarriage, was, neither by menace nor persuasion; to be turned from thetrue and pure Word of God, or the use of the sacrament according to thedoctrines of the Augsburg Confession. The Prince was to allow her toread books written in accordance with the Augsburg Confession. Theprince was to permit her, as often, annually, as she required it, to goout of the Netherlands to some place where she could receive thesacrament according to the Augsburg Confession. In case she were insickness or perils of childbirth, the Prince, if necessary, would callto her an evangelical preacher, who might administer to her the holysacrament in her chamber. The children who might spring from themarriage were to be instructed as to the doctrines of the AugsburgConfession. 

Even if executed, this celebrated memorandum would hardly have beenat variance with the declarations made by the Prince to the Spanishgovernment. He had never pretended that his bride was to become aCatholic, but only to live as a Catholic. All that he had promised, or was expected to promise, was that his wife should conform to the lawin the Netherlands. The paper, in a general way, recognized that law. In case of absolute necessity, however, it was stipulated that thePrincess should have the advantage of private sacraments. This certainlywould have been a mortal offence in a Calvinist or Anabaptist, but forLutherans the practise had never been so strict. Moreover, the Princealready repudiated the doctrines of the edicts, and rebelled against thecommand to administer them within his government. A general promise, therefore, made by him privately, in the sense of the memorandum drawn upby the Elector, would have been neither hypocritical nor deceitful, butworthy the man who looked over such grovelling heads as Granvelle andPhilip on the one side, or Augustus of Saxony on the other, and estimatedtheir religious pretences at exactly what they were worth. A formaldocument, however, technically according all these demands made by theElector, would certainly be regarded by the Spanish government as a veryculpable instrument. The Prince never signed the note, but, as we shallhave occasion to state in its proper place, he gave a verbal declaration, favorable to its tenor, but in very vague and brief terms, before anotary, on the day of the marriage. 

If the reader be of opinion that too much time has been expended upon theelucidation of this point, he should remember that the character of agreat and good man is too precious a possession of history to be lightlyabandoned. It is of no great consequence to ascertain the precise creedof Augustus of Saxony, or of his niece; it is of comparatively littlemoment to fix the point at which William of Orange ceased to be anhonest, but liberal Catholic, and opened his heart to the light of theReformation; but it is of very grave interest that his name should becleared of the charge of deliberate fraud and hypocrisy. It hastherefore been thought necessary to prove conclusively that the Princenever gave, in Dresden or Cassel, any assurance inconsistent with hisassertions to King and Cardinal. The whole tone of his language anddemeanor on the religious subject was exhibited in his reply to theElectress, who, immediately after the marriage, entreated that he wouldnot pervert her niece from the paths of the true religion. "She shallnot be troubled, " said the Prince, "with such melancholy things. Insteadof holy writ she shall read 'Amadis de Gaule, ' and such books of pastimewhich discourse de amore; and instead of knitting and sewing she shalllearn to dance a galdiarde, and such courtoisies as are the mode of ourcountry and suitable to her rank. "

The reply was careless, flippant, almost contemptuous. It is verycertain that William of Orange was not yet the "father William" he wasdestined to become--grave, self-sacrificing, deeply religious, heroic;but it was equally evident from this language that he had small sympathy, either in public or private, with Lutheranism or theological controversy. Landgrave William was not far from right when he added, in his quaintstyle, after recalling this well-known reply, "Your grace will observe, therefore, that when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent willplay. "

So great was the excitement at the little court of Cassel, that manyProtestant princes and nobles declared that "they would sooner give theirdaughters to a boor or a swineherd than to a Papist: The Landgrave wasequally vigorous in his protest, drawn up in due form on the 26th April, 1561. He was not used, he said, "to flatter or to tickle with afoxtail. " He was sorry if his language gave offense, nevertheless "themarriage was odious, and that was enough. " He had no especial objectionto the Prince, "who before the world was a brave and honorable man:' Heconceded that his estates were large, although he hinted that his debtsalso were ample; allowed that he lived in magnificent style, had evenheard "of one of his banquets, where all the table-cloths, plates, andevery thing else, were made of sugar, " but thought he might be even alittle too extravagant; concluding, after a good deal of skimble-skambleof this nature, with "protesting before God, the world, and all piousChristians, that he was not responsible for the marriage, but only theElector Augustus and others, who therefore would one day have to renderaccount thereof to the Lord. "

Meantime the wedding had been fixed to take place on Sunday, the 24thAugust, 1561. This was St. Bartholomew's, a nuptial day which was notdestined to be a happy one in the sixteenth century. The Landgrave andhis family declined to be present at the wedding, but a large andbrilliant company were invited. The King of Spain sent a bill ofexchange to the Regent, that she might purchase a ring worth threethousand crowns, as a present on his part to the bride. Beside thisliberal evidence that his opposition to the marriage was withdrawn, heauthorized his sister to appoint envoys from among the most distinguishednobles to represent him on the occasion. The Baron de Montigny, accordingly, with a brilliant company of gentlemen, was deputed bythe Duchess, although she declined sending all the governors of theprovinces, according to the request of the Prince. The marriage wasto take place at Leipsic. A slight picture of the wedding festivities, derived entirely from unpublished sources, may give some insight into themanners and customs of high life in Germany and the Netherlands at thisepoch. 

The Kings of Spain and Denmark were invited, and were represented byspecial ambassadors. The Dukes of Brunswick, Lauenburg, Mecklenburg, theElector and Margraves of Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Cologne, the Dukeof Cleves, the Bishops of Naumburg, Meneburg, Meissen, with many otherpotentates, accepted the invitations, and came generally in person, a fewonly being represented by envoys. The town councils of Erfurt, Leipsic, Magdeburg, and other cities, were also bidden. The bridegroom waspersonally accompanied by his brothers John, Adolphus, and Louis; by theBurens, the Leuchtenbergs, and various other distinguished personages. 

As the electoral residence at Leipsic was not completely finished, separate dwellings were arranged for each of the sovereign familiesinvited, in private houses, mostly on the market-place. Here they wereto be furnished with provisions by the Elector's officials, but they wereto cook for themselves. For this purpose all the princes had beenrequested to bring their own cooks and butlers, together with their plateand kitchen utensils. The sovereigns themselves were to dine daily withthe Elector at the town-house, but the attendants and suite were to taketheir meals in their own lodgings. A brilliant collection of gentlemenand pages, appointed by the Elector to wait at his table, were ordered toassemble at Leipsic on the 22d, the guests having been all invited forthe 23d. Many regulations were given to these noble youths, that theymight discharge their duties with befitting decorum. Among other orders, they received particular injunctions that they were to abstain from alldrinking among themselves, and from all riotous conduct whatever, whilethe sovereigns and potentates should be at dinner. "It would be ashameful indecency, " it was urged, "if the great people sitting at tableshould be unable to hear themselves talk on account of the screaming ofthe attendants. " This provision did not seem unreasonable. They werealso instructed that if invited to drink by any personage at the greattables they were respectfully to decline the challenge, and to explainthe cause after the repast. 

Particular arrangements were also made for the safety of the city. Besides the regular guard of Leipsic, two hundred and twentyarquebuseers, spearsmen, and halberdmen, were ordered from theneighboring towns. These were to be all dressed in uniform; one arm, side and leg in black, and the other in yellow, according to a paintingdistributed beforehand to the various authorities. As a mounted patrole, Leipsic had a regular force of two men. These were now increased to ten, and received orders to ride with their lanterns up and down all thestreets and lanes, to accost all persons whom they might find abroadwithout lights in their hands, to ask them their business in courteouslanguage, and at the same time to see generally to the peace and safetyof the town. 

Fifty arquebuseers were appointed to protect the town-house, and aburgher watch of six hundred was distributed in different quarters, especially to guard against fire. 

On Saturday, the day before the wedding, the guests had all arrived atLeipsic, and the Prince of Orange, with his friends, at Meneburg. On Sunday, the 24th August, the Elector at the head of his guests andattendants, in splendid array, rode forth to receive the bridegroom. His cavalcade numbered four thousand. William of Orange had arrived, accompanied by one thousand mounted men. The whole troop now entered thecity together, escorting the Prince to the town-house. Here hedismounted, and was received on the staircase by the Princess Anna, attended by her ladies. She immediately afterwards withdrew to herapartments. 

It was at this point, between 4 and 5 P. M. , that the Elector andElectress, with the bride and bridegroom, accompanied also by the DameSophia von Miltitz and the Councillors Hans von Ponika and UbrichWoltersdorff upon one side, and by Count John of Nassau and Heinrich vonWiltberg upon the other, as witnesses, appeared before Wolf Seidel, notary, in a corner room of the upper story of the town-house. One of the councillors, on the part of the Elector, then addressedthe bridegroom. He observed that his highness would remember, no doubt, the contents of a memorandum or billet, sent by the Elector on the 14thApril of that year, by the terms of which the Prince was to agree that hewould, neither by threat nor persuasion, prevent his future wife fromcontinuing in the Augsburg Confession; that he would allow her to go toplaces where she might receive the Augsburg sacraments; that in case ofextreme need she should receive them in her chamber; and that thechildren who might spring from the marriage should be instructed as tothe Augsburg doctrines. As, however, continued the councillor, hishighness the Prince of Orange has, for various reasons, declined givingany such agreement in writing, as therefore it had been arranged thatbefore the marriage ceremony the Prince should, in the presence of thebride and of the other witnesses, make a verbal promise on the subject, and as the parties were now to be immediately united in marriage, therefore the Elector had no doubt that the Prince would make noobjection in presence of those witnesses to give his consent to maintainthe agreements comprised in the memorandum or note. The note was thenread. Thereupon, the Prince answered verbally. "Gracious Elector;I remember the writing which you sent me on the 14th April. All thepoint: just narrated by the Doctor were contained in it. I now state toyour highness that I will keep it all as becomes a prince, and conform toit. " Thereupon he gave the Elector his hand. --

What now was the amount and meaning of this promise on the part of thePrince? Almost nothing. He would conform to the demands of the Elector, exactly as he had hitherto said he would conform to them. Taken inconnexion with his steady objections to sign and seal any instrument onthe subject--with his distinct refusal to the Landgrave (through Knuttel)to allow the Princess an evangelical preacher or to receive thesacraments in the Netherlands--with the vehement, formal, and publicprotest, on the part of the Landgrave, against the marriage--with thePrince's declarations to the Elector at Dresden, which were satisfactoryon all points save the religious point, --what meaning could this verbalpromise have, save that the Prince would do exactly as much with regardto the religious question as he had always promised, and no more? Thiswas precisely what did happen. There was no pretence on the part of theElector, afterwards, that any other arrangement had been contemplated. The Princess lived catholically from the moment of her marriage, exactlyas Orange had stated to the Duchess Margaret, and as the Elector knewwould be the case. The first and the following children born of themarriage were baptized by Catholic priests, with very elaborate Catholicceremonies, and this with the full consent of the Elector, who sentdeputies and officiated as sponsor on one remarkable occasion. 

Who, of all those guileless lambs then, Philip of Spain, the Elector ofSaxony, or Cardinal Granvelle, had been deceived by the language oractions of the Prince? Not one. It may be boldly asserted that thePrince, placed in a transition epoch, both of the age and of his owncharacter, surrounded by the most artful and intriguing personages knownto history, and involved in a network of most intricate and difficultcircumstances, acquitted himself in a manner as honorable as it wasprudent. It is difficult to regard the notarial instrument otherwisethan as a memorandum, filed rather by Augustus than by wise William, inorder to put upon record for his own justification, his repeated thoughunsuccessful efforts to procure from the Prince a regularly signed, sealed, and holographic act, upon the points stated in the famous note. 

After the delay occasioned by these private formalities, the bridalprocession, headed by the court musicians, followed by the courtmarshals, councillors, great officers of state, and the electoral family, entered the grand hall of the town-house. The nuptial ceremony wasthen performed by "the Superintendent Doctor Pfeffinger. " Immediatelyafterwards, and in the same hall, the bride and bridegroom were placedpublicly upon a splendid, gilded bed, with gold-embroidered curtains, the Princess being conducted thither by the Elector and Electress. Confects and spiced drinks were then served to them and to the assembledcompany. After this ceremony they were conducted to their separatechambers, to dress for dinner. Before they left the hall, however, Margrave Hans of Brandenburg, on part of the Elector of Saxony, solemnlyrecommended the bride to her husband, exhorting him to cherish her withfaith and affection, and "to leave her undisturbed in the recognizedtruth of the holy gospel and the right use of the sacraments. "

Five round tables were laid in the same hall immediately afterwards--each accommodating ten guests. As soon as the first course of twenty-five dishes had been put upon the chief table, the bride and bridegroom, the Elector and Electress, the Spanish and Danish envoys and others, wereescorted to it, and the banquet began. During the repast, the Elector'schoir and all the other bands discoursed the "merriest and most ingeniousmusic. " The noble vassals handed the water, the napkins, and the wine, and every thing was conducted decorously and appropriately. As soon asthe dinner was brought to a close, the tables were cleared away, and theball began in the same apartment. Dances, previously arranged, wereperformed, after which "confects and drinks" were again distributed, andthe bridal pair were then conducted to the nuptial chamber. 

The wedding, according to the Lutheran custom of the epoch, had thustaken place not in a church, but in a private dwelling; the hall of thetown-house, representing, on this occasion, the Elector's own saloons. On the following morning, however, a procession was formed at seveno'clock to conduct the newly-married couple to the church of St. Nicholas, there to receive an additional exhortation and benediction. Two separate companies of gentlemen, attended by a great number of"fifers, drummers, and trumpeters, " escorted the bride and thebridegroom, " twelve counts wearing each a scarf of the Princess Anna'scolors, with golden garlands on their heads and lighted torches in theirhands, " preceding her to the choir, where seats had been provided for themore illustrious portion of the company. The church had beenmagnificently decked in tapestry, and, as the company entered, a fullorchestra performed several fine motettos. After listening to a longaddress from Dr. Pfeffinger, and receiving a blessing before the altar, the Prince and Princess of Orange returned, with their attendantprocessions, to the town-house. 

After dinner, upon the same and the three following days, a tournamentwas held. The lists were on the market-place, on the side nearest thetown-house; the Electress and the other ladies looking down from balconyand window to "rain influence and adjudge the prize. " The chief hero ofthese jousts, according to the accounts in the Archives, was the Electorof Saxony. He "comported himself with such especial chivalry" that hisfar-famed namesake and remote successor, Augustus the Strong, couldhardly have evinced more knightly prowess. On the first day heencountered George Von Wiedebach, and unhorsed him so handsomely that thediscomfited cavalier's shoulder was dislocated. On the following day hetilted with Michael von Denstedt, and was again victorious, hitting hisadversary full in the target, and "bearing him off over his horse's tailso neatly, that the knight came down, heels over head, upon the earth. "

On Wednesday, there was what was called the palliatourney. The Prince ofOrange, at the head of six bands, amounting in all to twenty-nine men;the Margrave George of Brandenburg, with seven bands, comprising thirty-four men, and the Elector Augustus, with one band of four men, besideshimself, all entered the lists. Lots were drawn for the "gate of honor, "and gained by the Margrave, who accordingly defended it with his band. Twenty courses were then run between these champions and the Prince ofOrange, with his men. The Brandenburgs broke seven lances, the Prince'sparty only six, so that Orange was obliged to leave the listsdiscomfited. The ever-victorious Augustus then took the field, and rantwenty courses against the defenders, breaking fourteen spears to theBrandenburg's ten. The Margrave, thus defeated, surrendered the "gate ofhonor" to the Elector, who maintained, it the rest of the day against allcomers. It is fair to suppose, although the fact is not recorded, thatthe Elector's original band had received some reinforcement. Otherwise, it would be difficult to account for these constant victories, except byascribing more than mortal strength, as well as valor, to Augustus andhis four champions. His party broke one hundred and fifty-six lances, ofwhich number the Elector himself broke thirty-eight and a half. Hereceived the first prize, but declined other guerdons adjudged to him. The reward for the hardest hitting was conferred on Wolf Von Schonberg, "who thrust Kurt Von Arnim clean out of the saddle, so that he fellagainst the barriers. "

On Thursday was the riding at the ring. The knights who partook of thissport wore various strange garbs over their armor. Some were disguisedas hussars, some as miners, come as lansquenettes; others as Tartans, pilgrims, fools, bird-catchers, hunters, monks; peasants, or Netherlandcuirassiers. Each party was attended by a party of musicians, attired insimilar costume. Moreover, Count Gunter Yon Schwartzburg made, hisappearance in the lists, accompanied "by five remarkable giants ofwonderful proportions and appearance, very ludicrous to behold, whoperformed all kind of odd antics on horseback. "

The next day there was a foot tourney, followed in the evening by"mummeries, " or masquerades. These masques were repeated on thefollowing evening, and afforded great entertainment. The costumes weremagnificent, "with golden and pearl embroidery, " the dances were verymerry and artistic, and the musicians, who formed a part of the company, exhibited remarkable talent. These "mummeries" had been brought byWilliam of Orange from the Netherlands, at the express request of theElector, on the ground that such matters were much better understood inthe provinces than in Germany. 

Such is a slight sketch of the revels by which this ill-fated Bartholomewmarriage was celebrated. While William of Orange was thus employed inGermany, Granvelle seized the opportunity to make his entry into the cityof Mechlin, as archbishop; believing that such a step would be betteraccomplished in the absence of the Prince from the country. The Cardinalfound no one in the city to welcome him. None of the great nobles werethere. "The people looked upon the procession with silent hatred. Noman cried, God bless him. " He wrote to the King that he should pushforward the whole matter of the bishoprics as fast as possible, addingthe ridiculous assertion that the opposition came entirely from thenobility, and that "if the seigniors did not talk so much, not a man ofthe people would open his mouth on the subject. "

The remonstrance offered by the three estates of Brabant against thescheme had not influenced Philip. He had replied in a peremptory tone. He had assured them that he had no intention of receding, and that theprovince of Brabant ought to feel itself indebted to him for having giventhem prelates instead of abbots to take care of their eternal interests, and for having erected their religious houses into episcopates. Theabbeys made what resistance they could, but were soon fain to come to acompromise with the bishops, who, according to the arrangement thus made, were to receive a certain portion of the abbey revenues, while theremainder was to belong to the institutions, together with a continuanceof their right to elect their own chiefs, subordinate, however, to theapprobation of the respective prelates of the diocese. Thus was theepiscopal matter settled in Brabant. In many of the other bishoprics thenew dignitaries were treated with disrespect, as they made their entranceinto their cities, while they experienced endless opposition andannoyance on attempting to take possession of the revenue assigned tothem. 

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History shows how feeble are barriers of paperLicences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to AmericaWe believe our mothers to have been honest womenWhen the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will playWiser simply to satisfy himself