# Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands/Chapter I

Whoever will take a view of the Rise of this Commonwealth, must trace it up as high as the first Commotions in the Seventeen Provinces, under the Duchess of Parma's Government; and the true Causes of that more avowed and general Revolt in the Duke of Alva's time. And, to find out the natural Springs of those Revolutions, must reflect upon that sort of Government under which the Inhabitants of those Provinces lived for so many Ages past, in the subjection of their several Dukes or Counts; till by Marriages, Successions or Conquest, they came to be united in the House of Burgundy, under Philip sirnamed The Good: And afterwards in that of Austria, under Philip Father of Charles in the Person of that great Emperor incorporated with those vast Dominions of Germany and Spain, Italy and the Indies.
Nor will it be from the purpose upon this search, to run a little higher into the Antiquities of these Countries: For though most Men are contented only to see a River as it runs by them, and talk of the changes in it, as they happen; when 'tis troubled, or when clear; when it drowns the Country in a Flood, or forsakes it in a Drowth: Yet he, that would know the nature of the Water, and the Causes of those Accidents (so as to guess at their continuance or return), must find out its source, and observe with what strength it rises, what length it runs, and how many small streams fall in, and feed it to such a height, as make it either delightful or terrible to the Eye, and useful or dangerous to the Country about it.
The Numbers and Fury of the Northern Nations, under many different names, having by several Inundations broken clown the whole frame of the Roman Empire, extended in their Provinces as far as the Rhine; either gave a birth, or made way for the several Kingdoms and Principalities, that have since continued in the parts of Europe on this side that River, which made the ancient Limits of the Gallick and German Nations. The Tract of Land, which we usually call the Low-Countries, was so wasted by the Invasions or Marches of this raging People, (who past by them to greater Conquests,) that the Inhabitants grew thin; and being secure of nothing they possest, fell to seek the support of their Lives, rather by hunting, or by violence, than by Labour and Industry; and thereby the grounds came to be uncultivated, and in the course of years turned either to Forrest, or Marshes; which are the two natural Soils of all desolated Lands in the more temperate Regions. For by soaking of frequent show'rs, and the course of Waters from the higher into lower Grounds, when there is no issue that helps them to break out into a Channel, the flat Land grows to be a mixture of Earth and Water, and neither of common use nor passage to Man or Beast, which is call'd a Marsh. The higher, and so the drier, parts, moistned by the Rain, and warm'd by the Sun, shoot forth some sorts of Plants, as naturally as Bodies do some sort of Hair; which, being preserved by the desolateness of a place untrodden, as well as untill'd, grow to such Trees or Shrubs as are natural to the Soil, and those in time producing both Food and Shelter for several kind of Beasts, make the sort of Country we call a Forest.
And such was Flanders for many years before Charlemaign's time, when the Power of the Francs, having raised and establisht a great Kingdom of their own, upon the entire Conquest of Gaul, began to reduce the disorders of that Country to the form of a Civil, or (at least) Military Government; To make divisions and distributions of Lands and Jurisdictions, by the Bounty of the Prince, or the Services of his chief Followers and Commanders; To one of whom, a great extent of this Land was given, with the Title of Forester of Flanders. This Office continued for several descents, and began to civilize the Country, by repressing the violence of Robbers and Spoilers, who infested the Woody and Fast-places, and by encouraging the milder People to fall into Civil Societies, to trust to their Industry for subsistence, to Laws for protection, and to their Arms united under the Care and Conduct of their Governours, for Safety and Defence.
In the time of Charlemaigne, as some write; or, as others, in that of Charles the Bald, Flanders was erected into a County, which changed the Title of Forester for that of Count, without interrupting the Succession.
What the extent of this County was at first, or how far the jurisdiction of Foresters reached, I cannot affirm; nor whether it only bordered upon, or included, the lower parts of the vast Woods of Ardenne, which in Charlemaigns's time, was all Forest as high as Aix, and the rough Country for some Leagues beyond it, and was used commonly by that Emperor for his Hunting: This appears by the ancient Records of that City, which attribute the discovery, or at least, retrieving the knowledge of those hot Baths, to the fortune of that Prince, while he was Hunting: For his Horse poching one of his Legs into some hollow ground, made way for the smoaking water to break out, and gave occasion for the Emperor's building that City, and making it his usual Seat, and the place of Coronation for the following Emperors.
Holland, being an Island made by the dividing-branches of the ancient Rhyne, and called formerly Batavia, was esteemed rather a part of Germany than Gaul, (between which it was seated,) in regard of its being planted by the Catti, a great and ancient People of Germany, and was treated by the Romans rather as an Allied than Subjected Province; who drew from thence no other Tribute besides Bands of Soldiers, much esteemed for their Valour, and joyned as Auxiliaries to their Legions in their Gallick, German, and Brittish Wars.
'Tis probable, this Island changed in a great measure Inhabitants and Customs, as well as Names, upon the inroads of the barbarous Nations, but chiefly of the Normans and Danes, from whose Countries and Language the Names of Holland and Zealand seem to be derived. But about the Year 860. a Son of the Count of Frize, by a Daughter of the Emperor Lewis the Second, was by him instituted Count of Holland, and gave beginning to that Title; which, running since that time through so many direct or collateral Successions and some Usurpations, came to an end at last in Philip the Second, King of Spain, by the defection of the United Provinces.
Under these first Foresters and Counts, who began to take those wasted Countries and mixed People into their Care, and to intend the growth, strength, and riches of their Subjects, which they esteemed to be their own; Many old and demolisht Castles were re-built, many new ones erected, and given by the Princes to those of their Subjects or Friends whom they most loved or esteemed, with large circuits of Lands for their support, and Seigneurial Jurisdiction over the Inhabitants. And this upon several easie Conditions, but chiefly of attendance on their Prince at the necessary times of either honouring him in Peace, or serving him in War. Nay possibly, some of these Seigneuries and their jurisdictions, may, as they pretend, have been the remains of some old Principalities in those Countries among the Gallick and German Nations, the first Institutions whereof were lost in the immensity of time that preceded the Roman Discoveries or Conquest, and might be derived perhaps from the first Paternal Dominion, or Concurrence of loose People into orderly Neighborhoods, with a deference, if not subjection, to the wisest or bravest among them.
Under the same Counts were either founded or restored many Cities and Towns; of which the old had their ancient Freedoms and Jurisdictions confirmed, or others annexed; and the New had either the same granted to them by example of the others; or great Immunities and Priviledges for the encouragement of Inhabitants to come and People in them: All these Constitutions agreeing much in substance perhaps by imitation, or else by the agreeing nature of the People, for whom, or by whom, they were framed; but differing in form according to the difference of their Original, or the several Natures, Customs and Interests of the Princes, whose Concessions many of them were, and all their Permissions.
Another Constitution which entred deep into their Government, may be derived from another source. For those Northern Nations whose unknown Language and Countries perhaps made them be called Barbarous, (though indeed almost all Nations out of Italy and Greece were styled so by the Romans,) but whose Victories in obtaining new Seats, and Orders in possessing them, might make us allow them for a better policy'd People, than they appeared by the vastness of their multitude, or the rage of their Battels.
Wherever they past, and seated their Colonies and Dominions, they left a Constitution which has since been called in most European Languages, The States; consisting of Three Orders, Noble, Ecclesiastical, and Popular, under the limited Principality of one Person, with the style of King, Prince, Duke, or Count. The remainders at least, or traces hereof, appear still in all the Principalities founded by those People in Italy, France and Spain; and were of a piece with the present Constitutions in most of the great Dominions on t'other side the Rhyne: And it seems to have been a temper first introduced by them between the Tyranny of the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Liberty of the Grecian or Roman Commonwealths.
'Tis true, the Goths were Gentiles when they first broke into the Roman Empire, till one great swarm of this People, upon Treaty with one of the Roman Emperors, and upon Concessions of a great Tract of Land to be a Seat for their Nation, embraced at once the Christian Faith. After which, the same People breaking out of the Limits had been allowed them, and by fresh numbers bearing all down where they bent their march; as they were a great means of propagating Religion in many parts of Europe where they extended their Conquests; so the Zeal of these new Proselytes, warmed by the veneration they had for their Bishops and Pastors, and enriched by the spoils and possessions of so vast Countries, seem to have been the First that introduced the maintenance of the Churches and Clergy, by endowments of Lands, Lordships, and Vassals, appropriated to them: For before this time the Authority of the Priesthood in all Religions seemed wholly to consist in the Peoples Opinion of their Piety, Learning, or Virtues, or a Reverence for their Character and Mystical Ceremonies and Institutions; their Support, or their Revenues, in the voluntary Oblations of pious Men, the Bounty of Princes, or in a certain share out of the Labours and Gains of those who lived under their Cure, and not in any subjection of Mens Lives or Fortunes, which belonged wholly to the Civil Power: And Ammianus, though lie taxes the Luxury of the Bishops in Valentinian's time, yet he speaks of their Riches which occasioned or fomented it, as arising wholly from the Oblations of the People. But the Devotion of these new Christians introducing this new form of endowing their Churches; and afterwards Pepin and Charlemaign King of the Franks, upon their Victories in Italy, and the favour of the Roman Bishop to their Title and Arms, having annexed great Territories and Jurisdictions to that See: This Example, or Custom, was followed by most Princes of the Northern Races through the rest of Europe, and brought into the Clergy great possessions of Lands, and by a necessary consequence a great share of a Temporal Power, from the dependances of their Subjects or Tenants; by which means they came to be generally one of the three Orders that composed the Assembly of the States in every Country.
This Constitution of the States had been establisht from time immemorial in the several Provinces of the Low Countries, and was often assembled for determining Disputes about succession of their Princes, where doubtful or contested; For deciding those between the great Towns: For raising a Milice for the defence of their Countries in the Wars of their Neighbors; For Advice in time of Dangers abroad, or Discontents at home; But always upon the new Succession of a Prince, and upon any new Impositions that were necessary on the People. The use of this Assembly was another of those Liberties, whereof the Inhabitants of these Provinces were so fond and so tenacious. The rest, besides those antient Priviledges already mentioned of their Towns, were Concessions and Graces of several Princes, in particular Exemptions or Immunities, jurisdiction both in choice and exercise of Magistracy and Civil Judicature within themselves; or else in the customs of using none but Natives in Charges and Offices, and passing all weighty Affairs by the great Council composed of the great Lords of the Country, who were in a manner all Temporal, there being but three Bishops in all the Seventeen Provinces, till the time of Philip the Second of Spain.
The Revenues of these Princes consisted in their ancient Demesnes, in small Customs, (which yet grew considerable by the greatness of Trade in the Maritime Towns,) and in the voluntary Contributions of their Subjects, either in the States, or in particular Cities, according to the necessities of their Prince, or the affections of the People. Nor were these frequent; for the Forces of these Counts were composed of such Lords, who either by their Governments, or other Offices; or by the tenure of their Lands, were obliged to attend their Prince on Horseback, with certain numbers of Men, upon all his Wars: or else of a Milice, which was call'd Les gens d'ordonnance, who served on foot, and were not unlike our Train-bands; the use, or at least style whereof, was renewed in Flanders upon the last War with France in 1667, when the Count Egmont was made by the Governor, General de gens d'ordonnance.
These Forces were defrayed by the Cities or Countries, as the others were raised by the Lords when occasion required; and all were licensed immediately when it was past, so that they were of little charge to the Prince. His Wars were but with other Princes of his own size, or Competitors to his Principality; or sometimes with the Mutinies of his great Towns; Short, though Violent; and decided by one Battle or Siege; unless they fell into the quarrels between England and France, and then they were engaged but in the skirts of the War, the gross of it being waged between the two Kings, and these smaller Princes made use of for the credit of Alliance, or sometimes the commodiousness of a Diversion, rather than for any great weight they made in the main of the Affair.
The most frequent Wars of the Counts of Holland, were with the Frisons, a part of the old Saxons; and the fiercest battels of some of the Counts of Flanders, were with the Normans, who past that way into France, and were the last of those Nations that have infested the more Southern parts of Europe. I have somtimes thought, how it should have come to pass, that the infinite swarm of that vast Northern Hive, which so often shook the World like a great Tempest, and overflowed it like a Torrent; changing Names, and Customs, and Government, and Language, and the very face of Nature, wherever they seated themselves; which, upon record of story, under the name of Gauls, pierced into Greece and Italy, sacking Rome, and besieging the Capitol in Camillus his time; under that of the Cimbers, marcht though France, to the very confines of Italy, defended by Marius; under that of Huns or Lombards, Visigoths, Goths, and Vandals, conquered the whole Forces of the Roman Empire, sackt Rome thrice in a small compass of years; seated three Kingdoms in Spain and Africk, as well as Lombardy; and under that of Danes or Normans, possest themselves of England, a great part of France, and even of Naples and Sicily. How (I say) these Nations, which seemed to spawn in every Age, and at some intervals of time discharged their own native Countries of so vast Numbers, and with such terror to the World, should about seven or eight hundred years ago leave off the use of these furious Expeditions, as if on a sudden they should have grown barren, or tame, or better contented with their own ill Climates. But I suppose, we owe this benefit wholly to the growth and progress of Christianity in the North; by which, early and undistinguisht Copulation, or multitude of Wives, were either restrained or abrogated; By the same means Learning and Civility got footing among them in some degree, and enclosed certain Circuits of those vast Regions, by the distinctions and bounds of Kingdoms, Principalities, or Commonalties. Men began to leave their wilder lives, spent without other Cares or Pleasures, than of Food, or of Lust; and betook themselves to the ease and entertainment of Societies: With Order and Labour, Riches began, and Trade followed; and these made way for Luxury, and that for many Diseases or ill habits of Body, which, unknown to the former and simpler Ages, began to shorten and weaken both Life and Procreation. Besides, the divisions and circles of Dominion occasioned Wars between the several Nations, though of one Faith; and those of the Poles, Hungarians, and Muscovites, with the Turks or Tartars, made greater slaughters; and by these Accidents I suppose the Numbers of those fertil Broods have been lessened, and their Limits in a measure confined; and we have had thereby, for so long together in these parts of the World, the Honour and Liberty of Drawing our own Blood, upon the quarrels of Humor or Avarice, Ambition or Pride, without the assistance, or need, of any barbarous Nations to destroy us.
But to end this digression, and return to the Low-Countries, where the Government lasted, in the form and manner described, (though in several Principalities,) till Philip of Burgundy, in whom all the Seventeen Provinces came to be united.
By this great extent of a populous Country, and the mighty growth of Trade in Bruges, Gant, and Antwerp, attributed by Comines to the goodness of the Princes, and ease and safety of the People; both Philip, and his Son Charles the Hardy, found themselves a Match for France, then much weakened, as well by the late Wars of England, as the Factions of their Princes. And in the Wars with France, was the House of Burgundy, under Charles and Maximilian of Austria, (who Married his Daughter and Heir) and afterwards under Charles the Fifth, their Grandchild, almost constantly engaged; the course, successes, and revolutions whereof are commonly known.
Philip of Burgundy, who began them, was a good and wise Prince, lov'd by his Subjects, and esteemed by his Enemies; and took his measures so well, that, upon the declining of the English Greatness abroad, by their Dissentions at home, he ended his quarrels in France, by a Peace, with Safety and Honour. So that he took no pretence from his Greatness, or his Wars, to change any thing in the Forms of his Government: But Charles the Hardy engaged more rashly against France, and the Switzers, began to ask greater and frequent Contributions of his Subjects; which, gain'd at first by the credit of his Father's Government and his own great Designs, but spent in an unfortunate War, made his People discontented, and him disesteemed, till he ended an unhappy Life, by an untimely Death, in the Battel of Nancy.
In the time of Maximilian, several German Troops were brought down into Flanders for their defence against France; and in that of Charles the Fifth, much greater Forces of Spaniards and Italians, upon the same occasion; a thing unknown to the Low-country-men in the time of their former Princes. But through the whole course of this Emperor's Reign, who was commonly on the fortunate hand, his Greatness and Fame encreasing together, either diverted or suppressed any discontents of his Subjects upon the increase of their Payments, or the grievance of so many Foreign Troops among them. Besides, Charles was of a gentle and a generous Nature; and, being born in the Low-Countries, was naturally kind and easie to that People, whose Customs and Language he always used when he was among them, and employed all their great Men in the Charges of his Court, his Government, or his Armies, through the several parts of his vast Dominions; so that upon the last great Action of his life, which was the resignation of his Crowns to his Son and Brother, he left to Philip the Second, the Seventeen Provinces, in a condition as Peaceable, and as Loyal, as either Prince or Subjects could desire.
Philip the Second, coming to the possession of so many and great Dominions, about the year 1556, after some trial of good and ill fortune in the War with France, (which was left him by his Father, like an encumbrance upon a great Estate,) restored, by the Peace of Cambrey, not only the quiet of his own Countries, but in a manner of all Christendom, which was in some degree or other engaged in the quarrel of these Princes. After this, he resolved to return into Spain, and leave the Low-Countries under a subordinate Government, which had been till Charles the Fifths time the constant Seat of their Princes, and shar'd the Presence of that great Emperor with the rest of his Dominions. But Philip, a Spaniard born, retaining, from the Climate or Education of that Country, the Severeness and Gravity of the Nation, which the Flemings called Reservedness and Pride; Conferring the Offices of his House, and the Honour of his Council and Confidence, upon Spaniards, and thereby introducing their Customs, Habits, and Language into the Court of Flanders: Continuing, after the Peace, those Spanish and Italian Forces, and the demand of Supplies from the States which the War had made necessary, and the easier supported; He soon left off being lov'd, and began to be feared by the Inhabitants of those Provinces.
But Philip the Second thought it not agreeing with the Pomp and Greatness of the House of Austria, already at the head of so mighty Dominions; nor with his Designs of an yet greater Empire, to consider the Discontents or Grievances of so small a Country; nor to be limited by their ancient Forms of Government: And therefore, at his departure for Spain, and substitution of his natural Sister the Dutchess of Parma, for Governess of the Low-Countries, assisted by the Ministry of Granvell, he left her instructed to continue the Foreign Troops, and the demand of Money from the States for their support, which was now by a long course of War grown customary among them, and the Sums only disputed between the Prince and the States: To establish the Fourteen Bishops, he had agreed with the Pope, should be added to the Three, that were anciently in the Low-Countries: To revive the Edicts of Charles the Fifth against Luther, publish't in a Diet of the Empire about the year 1550, but eluded in the Low-Countries even in that Emperor's time; and thereby to make way for the Inquisition with the same course it had received in Spain; of which the Lutherans here, and the Moors there, were made an equal pretence. And these points, as they came to be owned and executed, made the first Commotions of Mens Minds in the Provinces.
The hatred of the People against the Spaniards, and the Insolencies of those Troops, with the charge of their support, made theme look't upon by the Inhabitants in general, as the Instruments of their Oppression and Slavery, and not of their Defence, when a general Peace had left them no Enemies: And therefore the States began here their Complaints, with a general Consent and Passion of all the Nobles, as well as Towns and Country. And upon the delays that were contrived, or fell in, the States first refused to raise any more Monies either for the Spaniards Pay, or their own standing Troops; and the people ran into so great despair, that in Zealand they absolutely gave over the working at their Digues, suffering the Sea to gain every Tide upon the Country; and resolving (as they said) rather to be devoured by that Element, than by the Spanish Soldiers: So that after many Disputes and Intrigues between the Governess and the Provinces, the King, upon her Remonstrances, was induced to their removal; which was accordingly performed with great joy and applause of the People.
The erecting of Fourteen new Bishops Sees, raised the next Contest. The great Lords lookt upon this Innovation as a lessening of their Power, by introducing so many new Men into the great Council. The Abbats (out of whose Lands they were to be endowed) pleaded against it, as a violent usurpation upon the Rights of the Church, and the Will of the Dead, who had given those Lands to a particular use. The Commons murmured at it, as a new degree of Oppression upon their Conscience or Liberty, by the erecting so many new Spiritual Courts of judicature, and so great a number of judges, being Seventeen for Three, that were before in the Country; and those depending absolutely upon the Pope, or the King. And all Men declaimed against it, as a breach of the King's Oath at his accession to the Government, for the preserving the Church and the Laws in the same state he found them. However, this Point was gain'd entirely by the Governess, and carried over the head of all opposition, though not without leaving a general discontent.
In the midst of these ill Humors stirring in Flanders, the Wars of Religion, breaking out in France, drove great numbers of Calvinists into all those parts of the Low Countries that confine upon France, as the Troubles of Germany had before of Lutherans, into the Provinces about the Rhine; and the Persecutions under Queen Mary, those of the Church of England into Flanders and Brabant, by the great commerce of this Kingdom with Bruges and Antwerp.
These Accidents and Neighborhoods filled these Countries, in a small tract of Time, with swarms of the Reformed Professors: And the Admiration of their Zeal, the Opinion of their Doctrine and Piety, the Compassion of their Sufferings, the Infusion of their Discontents, or the Humour of the Age, gain'd them every day many Proselytes in the Low-Countries, some among the Nobles, many among the Villages, but most among the Cities, whose Trade and Riches were much encreased by these new Inhabitants; and whose Interest thereby, as well as Conversation, drew them on to their Favour.
This made work for the Inquisition, though moderately exercised by the Prudence and Temper of the Governess, mediating between the rigor of Granvell, who strained up to the highest his Master's Authority, and the execution of his Commands, upon all occasions; and the resoluteness of the Lords of the Provinces, to temper the King's Edicts, and protect the Liberties of their Country against the admission of this New and Arbitrary judicature, unknown to all ancient Laws and Customs of the Country; and for that, not less odious to the People, than for the cruelty of their executions. For, before the Inquisition, the care of Religion was in the Bishops; and before that, in the Civil Magistrates throughout the Provinces.
Upon angry Debates in Council, but chiefly upon the universal Ministry of Granvell, a Burgundian of mean Birth, grown at last to a Cardinal; and more famous for the greatness of his Parts, than the goodness of his Life. The chief Lords of the Country (among whom the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Horn, the Marquess of Berghen and Montigny, were most considerable) grew to so violent and implacable an hatred of the Cardinal, (whether from Passion or Interest,) which was so universally spread through the whole Body of the People, either by the Causes of it, or the Example, that the Lords first refused their attendance in Council, protesting, Not to endure the sight of a Man so absolute there, and to the ruin of their Country: And afterwards petitioned the King in the name of the whole Country, for his removal: Upon the delay whereof and the continance of the Inquisition, the People appeared, upon daily occasions and accidents, heated to that degree, as threatned a general Combustion in the whole Body, when ever the least Flame should break out in any part.
But the King at length consented to Granvell's recess, by the Opinion of the Dutchess of Parma, as well as the persuit of the Provinces: Wherupon the Lords reassumed their places in Council; Count Egmont was sent into Spain to represent the Grievances of the Provinces; and being favourably dispatcht by the King, especially by remitting the rigor of the Edicts about Religion, and the Inquisition, all noise of Discontent and Tumult was appeased, the Lords were made use of by the Governess in the Council, and Conduct of Affairs; and the Governess was by the Lords both Obeyed and Honoured.
In the beginning of the Year 1565. there was a Conference at Bayonne between Katherine Queen-Mother of France and her Son Charles the Ninth, (though very young,) with his Sister Isabella Queen of Spain: In which no other person but the Duke of Alva interven'd, being deputed thither by Philip, who excused his own Presence, and thereby made his Enterview pass for an effect or expression of kindness between the Mother and her Children. Whether great Resolutions are the more suspected, where great Secresie is observed; or it be true, what the Prince of Orange affirmed to have by accident discovered, That the extirpation of all Families which should profess the New Religion in the French or Spanish Dominions, was here agreed on, with mutual assistance of the two Crowns; 'Tis certain, and was owned, that Matters of Religion were the subject of that Conference; and that soon after, in the same Year, came Letters from King Philip to the Dutchess of Parma, disclaiming the Interpretation which had been given to his Letters by Count Egmont; declaring, His Pleasure was, That all Hereticks should be put to death without remission: That the Emperor's Edicts, and the Council of Trent, should be published and observed; and commanding, That the utmost assistance of the Civil Power should be given to the Inquisition.
When this was divulged, at first, the astonishment was great throughout their Provinces; but that soon gave way to their Rage, which began to appear in their Looks, in their Speeches, their bold Meetings and Libels; and was encreased by the miserable spectacles of so many Executions upon account of Religion. The Constancy of the Sufferers, and Compassion of the Beholders, conspiring generally to lessen the opinion of Guilt or Crime, and heighten a detestation of the Punishment and desire of Revenge, against the Authors of that Counsel, of whom the Duke of Alva was esteemed the Chief.
In the beginning of the Year, 1566. began an open Mutiny of the Citizens in many Towns, hindring Executions, and forcing Prisons and Officers; and this was followed by a Confederacy of the Lords, Never to suffer the Inquisition in the Low-Countries, as contrary to all Laws, both Sacred and Prophane, and exceeding the Cruelty of all former Tyrannies. Upon which, all resolutions of Force or Rigor grew unsafe for the Government, now too weak for such a revolution of the People; and on the other side, Brederode, in confidence of the general Favour, came in the head of Two hundred Gentlemen, thorow the Provinces, to Brussels, and in bold terms petitioned the Governess for abolishing the Inquisition, and Edicts about Religion; and that new ones should be fram'd by a Convention of the States.
The Governess was forced to use gentle Remedies to so violent a Disease; to receive the Petition without shew of the resentment she had at heart, and to promise a representation of their Desires to the King; which was accordingly done: But though the King was startled with such consequences of his last Commands, and at length induced to recall them; yet, whether by the slowness of his Nature, or the forms of the Spanish Court, the Answer came too late: And as all his former Concessions, either by delay, or testimonies of ill-will or meaning in them, had lost the good Grace; so this lost absolutely the Effect, and came into the Low-Countries when all was in flame, by an insurrection of the meaner people through many great Towns of Flanders, Holland, and Utrecht; who fell violently upon the spoil of Churches, and destruction of Images, with a thousand circumstances of barbarous and brutish Fury; which, with the Institution of Consistories and Magistrates in each Town among those of the Reformed Profession, with Publick Confederacies and Distinctions, and private Contributions agreed upon for the support of their common Cause, gave the first date in this year of 1566. to the revolt of the Low-Countries.
But the Nobility of the Country, and the richest of the People in the Cities, though unsatisfied with the Government, yet feeling the Effects, and abhorring the Rage, of popular Tumults, as the worst mischief that can befall any State; And encouraged by the arrival of the King's Concessions, began to unite their Councils and Forces with those of the Governess, and to employ themselves both with great Vigor and Loyalty, for suppressing the late Insurrections, that had seized upon many, and shaked most of the Cities of the Provinces; in which the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont were great Instruments, by the Authority of their great Charges, (One being Governor of Holland and Zealand, and the other of Flanders;) but more by the general love and confidence of the People; Till by the reducing Valenciens, Maestricht, and the Burse, by Arms; The submission of Antwerp and other Towns; The defection of Count Egmont from the Councils of the Confederate Lords (as they were called;) The retreat of the Prince of Orange into Germany; and the death of Brederode, with the news and preparations of King Philip's sudden journy into the Low-Countries, as well as the Prudence and Moderation of the Dutchess, in governing all these circumstances; The whole Estate of the Provinces was perfectly restored to its former Peace, Obedience, and, at least, Appearance of Loyalty.
King Philip, whether having never really decreed his journy into Flanders, or diverted by the pacification of the Provinces, and apprehension of the Moors rebelling in Spain, or a distrust of his Son Prince Charles his violent Passions and Dispositions, or the expectation of what had been resolved at Bayonne, growing ripe for execution in France, gave over the discourse of seeing the Low-Countries; But at the same time took up the resolution for dispatching the Duke of Alva thither at the head of an Army of Ten thousand Veterane Spanish, and Italian, Troops, for the assistance of the Governess, the execution of the Laws, the suppressing and punishment of all, who had been Authors or Fomenters of the late Seditions.
This Result was put suddenly in execution, though wholly against the Advice of the Dutchess of Parma in Flanders, and the Duke of Ferin (one of the Chief Ministers) in Spain: Who thought, the present Peace of the Provinces ought not to be invaded by new occasions; nor the Royal Authority lessened, by being made a Party in a War upon his Subjects; nor a Minister employed, where he was so professedly both hating, and hated, as the Duke of Alva in the Low-Countries.
But the King was unmoveable; so that in the end of the Year 1567, the Duke of Alva arrived there with an Army of Ten thousand, the best Spanish and Italian Soldiers, under the Command of the choicest Officers, which the Wars of Charles the Fifth, or Philip the Second, had bred up in Europe; which, with Two thousand Germans the Dutchess of Parma had raised in the last Tumults, and under the Command of so Old and Renowned a General as the Duke of Alva, made up a Force, which nothing in the Low-Countries could look in the face with other Eyes, than of Astonishment, Submission, or Despair.
Upon the first report of this Expedition, the Trading People of the Towns and Country began in vast Numbers to retire out of the Provinces; so as the Dutchess wrote to the King, That, in few days, above a Hundred thousand Men had left the Country, and withdrawn both their Money and Goods, and more were following every day: So great Antipathy there ever appears between Merchants and Soldiers; whilst one pretends to be safe under Laws, which the other pretends shall be subject to his Sword, and his Will. And upon the first Action of the Duke of Alva after his arrival, which was the seizing Count Egmont and Horn, as well as the suspected death of the Marquess of Berghen, and imprisonment of Montigny in Spain, (whither, some Months before, they had been sent with Commission and Instructions from the Dutchess,) she immediately desired leave of the King to retire out of the Low-Countries.
This was easily obtained, and the Duke of Alva invested in the Government, with Powers never given before to any Governour: A Council of Twelve was erected for Tryal of all Crimes committed against the King's Authority, which was called by the People, The Council of Blood. Great numbers were condemned and executed by Sentence of this Council, upon account of the late Insurrections; More by that of the Inquisition, against the parting-advice of the Dutchess of Parma, and the Exclamations of the People at those illegal Courts. The Towns stomached the breach of their Charters, the People of their Liberties, the Knights of the Golden-Fleece the Charters of their Order, by these new and odious Courts of Judicature; All complain of the disuse of the States, of the introduction of Armies, but all in vain: The King was constant to what he had determined; Alva was in his nature cruel and inexorable; the new Army was fierce and brave, and desirous of nothing so much as a Rebellion in the Country; The People were enraged, but awed and unheaded; All was Seizure and Process, Confiscation and Imprisonment, Blood and Horror, Insolence and Dejection, Punishments executed, and meditated Revenge: The smaller Branches were lopt off apace; the great ones were longer a hewing down. Count Egmont and Horne lasted several Months; but, at length, in spight of all their Services to Charles the Fifth, and to Philip; as well of their new Merits, in the quieting of the Provinces, and of so great Supplications and Intercessions as were made in their Favour, both in Spain and in Flanders, they were publickly beheaded at Brussels, which seemed to break all patience in the People; and, by their end, to give those commotions a beginning, which cost Europe so much Blood, and Spain a great part of the Low-Country-Provinces.
After the Process of Egmont and Horne, the Prince of Orange, who was retired into Germany, was summoned to his Trial for the same Crimes, of which the others had been accused; and, upon his not appearing, was condemned, proclaimed Traitor, and his whole Estate, which was very great in the Provinces, (and in Burgundy) seized upon, as forfeited to the King. The Prince, treated in this manner while he was quiet and unarmed in Germany, employs all his Credit with those Princes engaged to him by Alliance, or by common fears of the House of Austria, throws off all Obedience to the Duke of Alva, raises Forces, joyns with great numbers flocking to him out of the Provinces; All enraged at the Duke of Alva's Cruel and Arbitrary Government, and resolved to revenge the Count Egmont's death, (who had ever been the Darling of the People.) With these Troops he enters Friesland, and invades the outward parts of Brabant, receives succors from the Protestants of France, then in Arms under the Prince of Conde: And after many various Encounters and Successes, by the great Conduct of Alva, and Valour of his Veterane Army, being hindred from seizing upon any Town in Brabant, (which both of them knew would shake the Fidelity of the Provinces,) he is at length forced to break up his Army, and to retire into Germany. Hereupon, Alva returns in Triumph to Brussels; and, as if he had made a Conquest, instead of a Defence, causes out of the Cannon taken from Lewis of Nassau, his Statue to be cast in Brass, treading and insulting upon two smaller Statues, that represented the Two Estates of the Low-Countries; And this to be erected in the Cittadel he had built at Antwerp, for the absolute subjecting of that rich, populous, and mutinous Town.
Nothing had raised greater indignation among the Flemings, than the publique sight and ostentation of this Statue; and the more, because they knew the boast to be true, finding their ancient Liberties and Priviledges (the Inheritance of so many Ages, or Bounty of so many Princes) all now prostrate before this one Man's Sword and Will, who from the time of Charles the Fifth had ever been esteemed an Enemy of their Nation, and Author of all the Counsels for the absolute subduing their Country.
But Alva, mov'd with no Rumors, terrify'd with no Threats from a broken and unarmed People, and thinking no Measures nor Forms were any more necessary to be observed in the Low-Countries, pretends greater sums are necessary for the pay and reward of his Victorious Troops, than were annually granted upon the King's Request, by the States of the Provinces: And therefore demands a general Tax of the Hundredth part of every Man's Estate in the Low-Countries, to be raised at once: And for the future, the Twentieth of all Immoveables, and the Tenth of all that was Sold.
The States, with much reluctancy, consent to the first, as a thing that ended at once; but refused the other two, alledging the poverty of the Provinces, and the ruin of Trade. Upon the Duke's persisting, they petition the King by Messengers into Spain, but without redress; draw out the Year in Contests, sometimes stomachful, sometimes humble, with the Governor; Till the Duke, impatient of further delay, causes the Edict, without consent of the States, to be published at Brussels. The People refuse to pay, the Soldiers begin to levy by force; the Townsmen all shut up their Shops; the People in the Country forbear the Market, so as not so much as Bread or Meat is to be bought in the Town. The Duke is enraged, and calls the Soldiers to arms, and commands several of the Inhabitants, who refused the payments, to be hanged that very night upon their Sign-posts; which nothing moves the Obstinacy of the People. And now the Officers and the Guards are ready to begin the Executions, when news comes to Town of the taking of the Briel by the Gueses, and of the expectation That had given of a sudden Revolt in the Province of Holland.
This unexpected blow struck the Duke of Alva; and foreseeing the consequences of it, because he knew the Stubble was dry, and now he found the Fire was fallen in, he thought it an ill time to make an end of the Tragedy in Brabant, whilst a new Scene was opened in Holland; and so, giving over for the present his Taxes and Executions, applies his Thoughts to the suppression of this new Enemy, that broke in upon him from the Sea; and for that reason, the bottom and reach of the Design, as well as the nature and strength of their Forces, were to the Duke the less known, and the more suspected. Now because this seizure of the Briel began the second great Commotion of the Low-Countries in 1570, and that which indeed never ended, but in the loss of those Provinces, where the death of the Spanish and Royal Government gave life to a new Commonwealth; It will be necessary to know, what sort of Men, and by what Accidents united, and by what Fears or Hopes emboldned, were the first Authors of this Adventure.
Upon Brederode's delivering a Petition to the Dutchess of Parma, against the Inquisition, and for some liberty in point of Religion; Those Persons, which attended him, looking mean in their Cloaths and their Garb, were called by one of the Courtiers at their entrance into the Palace, Gueses, which signifies Beggars; a Name, though raised by chance or by scorn, yet affected by the Party, as an expression of Humility and Distress, and used ever after by both sides, as a Name of distinction, comprehending all, who dissented from the Roman Church, how different soever in Opinion among themselves.
These Men, spread in great numbers through the whole extent of the Provinces, by the accidents and dispositions, already mentioned, after the appeasing of their first Sedition, were broken in their common Counsels; and by the Cruelty of the Inquisition, and Rigor of Alva, were in great multitudes forced to retire out of the Provinces, at least, such as had means or hopes of subsisting abroad: Many of the poorer and more desperate fled into the Woods of the upper Countries, (where they are thick and wild,) and liv'd upon spoil; and, in the first descent of the Prince of Orange his Forces, did great mischiefs to all scatter'd parties of the Duke of Alva's Troops in their march through those parts. But after that attempt of the Prince ended without success, and he was forced back into Germany; the Count of Marcke, a violent and implacable Enemy to the Duke of Alva and his Government, with many others of the broken Troops, (whom the same fortune and disposition had left together in Friezland,) mann'd out some Ships of small force, and betook themselves to Sea; and, with Commissions from the Prince of Orange, began to prey upon all they could master, that belonged to the Spaniards. They sometimes sheltered and watered, and sold their Prizes in some Creeks or small Harbors of England, though forbidden by Queen Elizabeth, (then in Peace with Spain) sometimes in the River Ems, or some small Ports of Friezland; till at length, having gain'd considerable Riches by these Adventures, whether to sell, or to refresh, whether driven by storm, or led by design, (upon knowledge of the ill Blood which the new Taxes had bred in all the Provinces) they landed in the Island of the Briel, assaulted and carried the Town, pull'd down the Images in the Churches, professed openly their Religion, declared against the Taxes and Tyranny of the Spanish Government, and were immediately followed by the Revolt of most of the Towns of Holland, Zealand, and West-Friezland, who threw out the Spanish Garrisons, renounced their obedience to King Philip, and swore Fidelity to the Prince of Orange.
The Prince returned out of Germany with new Forces; and, making use of this fury of the People, contented not himself with Holland and Zealand, but marcht up into the very heart of the Provinces, within five Leagues of Brussels, seizing upon Mechlin, and many other Towns, with so great Consent, Applause, and Concourse of People, that the whole Spanish Dominion seemed now ready to expire in the Low-Countries, if it had not been revived by the Massacre of the Protestants at Paris; which, contrived by joint Counsels with King Philip, and acted by a Spanish party in the Court of France, and with so fatal a blow to the contrary Faction, encouraged the Duke of Alva, and dampt the Prince of Orange in the same degree; so that one gathers strength enough to defend the heart of the Provinces, and the other retires into Holland, and makes that the seat of the War.
This Country was strong by its nature and seat among the Waters, that encompass and divide it; but more by a rougher sort of People at that time, less softned by Trade, or by Riches; less used to Grants of Money and Taxes; and proud of their ancient Fame, recorded in the Roman Stories, of being obstinate Defenders of their Liberties, and now most implacable Haters of the Spanish Name.
All these dispositions were increased and hardened, in the War that ensued under the Duke of Alva's Conduct, or his Sons; by the slaughter of all innocent Persons and Sexes, upon the taking of Naerden, where the Houses were burnt, and the Walls levelled to the Ground; by the desperate defence of Haerlem for ten Months, with all the practises and returns of ignominy, cruelty, and scorn on both sides; while the very Women listed themselves in Companies, repaired Breaches, gave Alarms, and beat up Quarters, till, all being famisht, four hundred Burgers (after the surrender) were kill'd in cold Blood, among many other examples of an incensed Conqueror; Which made the Humour of the parties grow more desperate, and their hatred to Spain and Alva incurable.
The same Army broken and forced to rise from before Alcmaer, after a long and fierce Siege in Alva's time; and from before Leyden, in the time of Requisenes (where the Boors themselves opened the Sluces, and drown'd the Country, resolving to mischief the Spaniards, at the charge of their own ruin,) gave the great turn to Affairs in Holland.
The King grows sensible of Danger, and apprehensive of the total defection of the Provinces; Alva weary of his Government, finding his violent Councils and Proceedings had raised a Spirit, which was quiet before he came, and was never to be laid any more. The Duke is recalled, and the War goes on under Requisenes; who dying suddenly, and without provisions made by the King for a Successor; the Government, by customs of the Country, devolved by way of Interim upon the Great Council, which lasted some time, by the delay of Don John of Austria's coming, who was declared the new Governour.
But in this Interim, the strength of the Disease appears; for, upon the mutiny of some Spanish Troops, for want of their Pay, and their seizing Alost, a Town near Brussels, the People grow into a rage, the Tradesmen give over their Shops, and the Country-men their Labour, and all run to Arms; In Brussels they force the Senate, pull out those Men they knew to be most addicted to the Spaniards, kill such of that Nation as they meet in the streets, and all in general cry out for the expulsion of Foreigners out of the Low-Countries, and the Assembling of the States; to which the Council is forced to consent. In the mean time, the chief Persons of the Provinces enter into an agreement with the Prince of Orange, to carry on the common Affairs of the Provinces by the same Counsels; so as when the Estates assembled at Ghent, without any contest, they agreed upon that Act, which was called The Pacification of Ghent, in the Year 1576. whereof, the Chief Articles were, The expulsion of all foreign Soldiers out of the Provinces; Restoring all the ancient Forms of Government; And referring matters of Religion in each Province to the Provincial Estates; And that for performance hereof, the rest of the Provinces should for ever be confederate with Holland and Zealand. And this made the first Period of the Low-Country Troubles, proving to King Philip a dear Experience, how little the best Conduct, and boldest Armies, are able to withstand the Torrent of a stubborn and enraged People, which ever bears all down before it, till it comes to be divided into different Chanels by Arts, or by Chance; or, till the Springs, which are the Humours that fed it, come to be spent, or dry up of themselves.
The Foreign Forces, refusing to depart, are declared Rebels; whereupon the Spanish Troops force and plunder several Towns, and Antwerp among the rest, (by advantage of the Cittadel,) with equal Courage and Avarice; and defend themselves in several Holds from the Forces of the States, till Don John's arrival at Luxemburg, the only Town of the Provinces, where he thought himself safe, as not involved in the defection of the rest.
The Estates refuse to admit him, without his accepting and confirming the Pacification of Ghent; which at length he does, by leave from the King, and enters upon the Government with the dismission of all Foreign Troops, which return into Italy. But soon after, Don John, whether out of Indignation to see himself but a precarious Governour, without force or dependence; or, desiring new occasions of Fame by a War; or, instructed from Spain upon new Counsels, takes the occasion of complementing Queen Margaret of Navar upon her journy out of France to the Spaw, and on a sudden seizes upon the Castle of Namur. Whereupon the Provinces for the third time throw off their Obedience, call the Prince of Orange to Brussels, where he is made Protector of Brabant, by the States of that Province, and preparations are made on both sides for the War: While Spain is busie to form new Armies, and draw them together in Namur and Luxemburg, the only Provinces obedient to that Crown: And all the rest agree to elect a Governour of their own, and send to Matthias the Emperor's Brother, to offer him the Charge.
At this time began to be formed the Male-content Party in the Low-Countries; which, though agreeing with the rest in their hatred to the Spaniards, and defence of their Liberties and Laws, yet were not inclin'd to shake off their Allegiance to their Prince, nor change their old and establisht Religion: And these were headed by the Duke of Areschot, and several Great Men, the more averse from a general defection, by emulation or envy of the Prince of Orange his Greatness, who was now grown to have all the influence and credit in the Counsels of the League.
By the assistance of this Party, after Don John's sudden Death, the Duke of Parma, succeeding him, gain'd Strength and Reputation upon his coming to the Government, and an entrance upon that great Scene of Glory and Victory, which made both his Person so renowned, and the time of his Government signalized by so many Sieges and Battels, and the reduction of so great a part of the Body of the Provinces to the subjection of Spain.
Upon the growth of this Party, and for distinction from them, who, persuing a middle and dangerous Counsel, were at length to become an accession to one of the Extreams; The more Northern Provinces, meeting by their Deputies at Utrecht, in the Year 1579, framed that Act or Alliance, which was ever after called The Union of Utrecht; and was the Original Constitution and Frame of that Commonwealth, which has since been so well known in the World, by the Name of The United Provinces.
This Union was grounded upon the Spaniards breach of the Pacification of Ghent, and new invasion of some Towns in Gelderland; and was not pretended to divide these Provinces from the generality, nor from the said Pacification; but to strengthen and persue the Ends of it, by more vigorous and united Counsels and Arms.
The chief force of this Union consists in these Points, drawn out of the Instrument it self.
The Seven Provinces unite themselves so, as if they were but one Province, and so, as never to be divided by Testament, Donation, Exchange, Sale, or Agreement: Reserving to each particular Province and City, all Priviledges, Rights, Customs and Statutes; In adjudging whereof, or differences that shall arise between any of the Provinces, the rest shall not intermeddle further, than to intercede towards an Agreement.
They bind themselves to assist one another with Life and Fortunes against all Force and Assault made upon any of them, whether upon pretence of Royal Majesty, of restoring Catholique Religion, or any other whatsoever.
All Frontier-Towns belonging to the Union, if Old, to be fortified at the charge of the Province where they lye; if New, to be erected at the charge of the Generality.
All Imposts and Customs from three Months to three Months, to be offered to them that bid most; and, with the Incomes of the Royal Majesty, to be employed for the common defence.
All Inhabitants to be Listed and Trained within a Month, from 18 to 60 years old. Peace and War not to be made without consent of all the Provinces; Other cases, that concern the management of both, by most Voices. Differences that shall arise upon the first, between the Provinces, to be submitted to the Stadtholders.
Neighbouring-Princes, Lords, Lands, and Cities, to be admitted into the Union, by consent of the Provinces.
For Religion, those of Holland and Zealand to act in it as seems good unto themselves. The other Provinces may regulate themselves according to the tenor establisht by Matthias, or else as they shall judge to be most for the peace and welfare of their particular Provinces; provided, every one remain free in his Religion, and no Man be examined or entrapped for that cause, according to the Pacification of Ghent.
In case of any dissention or differences between Provinces, if it concern one in particular, it shall be accommodated by the others; if it concern all in general, by the Stadtholders: In both which cases, Sentence to be pronounced within a Month, and without Appeal or Revision.
The States to be held, as has been formerly used; and the Mint in such manner, as shall hereafter be agreed by all the Provinces.
Interpretation of these Articles to remain in the States; but in case of their differing, in the Stadtholders.
They bind themselves to fall upon, and imprison, any, that shall act contrary to these Articles; in which case no Priviledge nor Exemption to be valid.
This Act was Signed by the Deputies of Gelderland, Zutphen, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, and the Omlands of Frize, Jan. 23, 15 79. but was not Signed by the Prince of Orange till May following; and with this Signification, judging, that by the same the Superiority and Authority of Arch-Duke Matthias is not lessened.
In the same Year, this Union was enter'd and signed by the Cities of Ghent, Nimmeguen, Arnhem, Leewarden, with some particular Nobles of Friezland, Venlo, Ypres, Antwerp, Breda, and Bruges. And thus these Provinces became a Commonwealth, but in so low and uncertain a state of Affairs, by reason of the various Motions and Affections of Mens Minds, the different Ends and Interests of the several Parties, especially in the other Provinces; and the mighty Power and Preparations of the Spanish Monarchy to oppress them, that in their first Coin they caused a Ship to be stamped, labouring among the Waves without Sails or Oars; and these words: Incertum, quò fata ferant.
I thought so particular a deduction necessary to discover the natural causes of this Revolution in the Low-Countries, which has since had so great a part, for near an hundred years, in all the Actions and Negotiations of Christendom; and to find out the true Incentives of that obstinate love for their Liberties, and invincible hatred for the Spanish Nation and Government, which laid the foundation of this Commonwealth: And this last I take to have been the stronger passion, and of the greater effect, both in the bold Counsels of contracting their Union, and the desperate Resolutions of defending it. For not long after, the whole Council of this new State, being prest by the extremities of their Affairs, passing by the form of Government in the way of a Commonwealth, made an earnest and solemn Offer of the Dominion of these Provinces both to England and France; but were refused by both Crowns: And though they retain'd the Name of a Free People, yet they soon lost the ease of the Liberties they contended for, by the absoluteness of their Magistrates in the several Cities and Provinces, and by the extream pressure of their Taxes, which so long a War, with so mighty an Enemy, made necessary for the support of their State.
But the hatred of the Spanish Government, under Alva, was so universal, that it made the Revolt general through the Provinces, running through all Religions, and all Orders of Men, as appeared by the Pacification of Ghent; Till by the division of the Parties, by the Powers of so vast a Monarchy as Spain at that time, and by the matchless Conduct and Valour of the Duke of Parma, this Humor, like Poison in a strong Constitution, and with the help of violent Physick, was expell'd from the Heart, which was Flanders and Brabant, (with the rest of the Ten Provinces) into the outward Members; and by their being cut off, the Body was saved. After which, the most enflamed Spirits being driven by the Arms of Spain, or drawn by the hopes of Liberty and Safety, into the United Provinces out of the rest, the hatred of Spain grew to that heigth, that they were not only willing to submit to any new Dominion, rather than return to the old; but when they could find no Master to protect them, and their Affairs grew desperate, they were once certainly upon the Counsel of burning their great Towns, wasting and drowning what they could of their own Country, and going to seek some new Seats in the Indies. Which they might have executed, if they had found Shipping enough to carry off all their Numbers, and had not been detained by the compassion of those which must have been left behind, at the mercy of an incensed and conquering Master.
The Spanish and Italian Writers content themselves to attribute the causes of these Revolutions to the change of Religion, to the native stubbornness of the People, and to the Ambition of the Princes of Orange: But Religion, without mixtures of Ambition and Interest, works no such violent effects; and produces rather the Examples of constant sufferings, than of desperate Actions. The nature of the People cannot change of a sudden, no more than the Climate which infuses it; and no Country hath brought forth better Subjects, than many of these Provinces, both before and since these Commotions among them: And the Ambition of one Man could neither have designed or atchieved so great an Adventure, had it not been seconded with universal Discontent: Nor could that have been raised to so great an heighth and heat, without so many circumstances as fell in from an unhappy course of the Spanish Counsels, to kindle and foment it. For though it had been hard to Head such a Body, and give it so strong a Principle of Life, and so regular Motions, without the accident of so great a Governour in the Provinces, as Prince William of Orange; A Man of equal Abilities in Council and in Arms; Cautious and Resolute, Affable and Severe, Supple to occasions, and yet Constant to his Ends; of mighty Revenues and Dependence in the Provinces, of great: Credit and Alliance in Germany; esteemed and honoured abroad, but at home infinitely lov'd and trusted by the People, who thought him affectionate to their Country, sincere in his Professions and Designs, able and willing to defend their Liberties, and. unlikely to invade them by any Ambition of his own. Yet all these Qualities might very well have been confin'd to the Duty and Services of a Subject, as they were in Charles the Fifth's time; Without the absence of the King, and the Peoples Opinion of his Ill-will to their Nation and their Laws; Without the continuance of Foreign Troops after the Wars were ended; The erecting of the new Bishops Sees, and introducing the Inquisition; The sole Ministry of Granvel, and exclusion of the Lords from their usual part in Councils and Affairs; The Government of a Man so hated, as the Duke of Alva; The rigor of his Prosecutions, and the insolence of his Statue: And lastly, Without the death of Egmont, and the imposition of the Tenth and Twentieth part, against the Legal forms of Government in a Country, where a long derived Succession had made the People fond and tenacious of their ancient Customs and Laws.
These were the seeds of their hatred to Spain; which, increasing by the course of about Threescore years War, was not allay'd by a long succeeding Peace; but will appear to have been an Ingredient into the Fall, as it was into the Rise, of this State; which, having been thus planted, came to he conserved and cultivated by many Accidents and Influences from abroad: But those having had no part in the Constitution of their State, nor the Frame of their Government; I will content my self to mention only the chief of them, which most contributed to preserve the Infancy of this Commonwealth, and make way for its growth. The Causes of its succeeding Greatness and Riches being not to be sought for in the Events of their Wars, but in the Institutions and Orders of their Government, their Customs and Trade, which will make the Arguments of the ensuing Chapters.
When Don John threw off the Conditions he had at first accepted of the Pacification of Ghent, and by the surprize of Namur broke into Arms; The Estate of the Provinces offer'd the Government of their Country to Matthias, Brother to the Emperor, as a temper between their return to the Obedience of Spain, and the Popular Government which was moulding in the Northern Provinces. But Matthias arriving without the advice or support of the Emperor, or Credit in the Provinces; and having the Prince of Orange given him for his Lieutenant-General, was only a Cypher, and his Government a piece of Pageantry, which past without effect, and was soon ended; So that, upon the Duke of Parma's taking on him the Government, some new Protection was necessary to this Infant-State, that had not Legs to support it against such a storm, as was threatned upon the return of the Spanish and Italian Forces, to make the Body of a formidable Army, which the Duke of Parma was forming in Namur and Luxemburgh.
Since the Conference of Bayonne between the Queen-Mother of France, and her Daughter Queen of Spain; Those two Crowns had continued, in the Reign of Francis and Charles, to assist one another in the common Design there agreed on, of prosecuting with violence those they called the Hereticks, in both their Dominions. The Peace held constant, if not kind, between England and Spain; so as King Philip had no Wars upon his hands in Christendom, during these Commotions in the Low-Countries; And the boldness of their Confederates, in their first Revolt and Union, seemed greater at such a time, than the success of their Resistances afterwards, when so many occasions fell in to weaken and divert the Forces of the Spanish Monarchy.
For Henry the Third coming to the Crown of France, and at first only fetter'd and controul'd by the Faction of the Guises, but afterwards engaged in an open War, (which They had raised against him, upon pretext of preserving the Catholique Religion, and in a conjunction of Counsels with Spain) was forced into better measures with the Hugonots of his Kingdom, and fell into ill intelligence with Philip the Second, so as Queen Elizabeth having declined to undertake openly the protection of the Low-Country Provinces, It was, by the concuring resolution of the States, and the consent of the French Court, devolved upon the Duke of Alencon, Brother to Henry the Third.
But this Prince entred Antwerp with an ill presage to the Flemings, by an attempt which a Biscainer made, the same day, upon the Prince of Orange's Life, shooting him, though not mortally, in the Head: And He continued his short Government with such mutual distasts between the French and the Flemings, (the Heat and Violence of one Nation agreeing ill with the Customs and Liberties of the other,) that the Duke, attempting to make himself absolute Master of the City of Antwerp by force, was driven out of the Town, and thereupon retired out of the Country, with extream resentment of the Flemings, and indignation of the French; so as the Prince of Orange being not long after Assasin'd at Delph, and the Duke of Parma encreasing daily in Reputation and in Force, and the Male-content Party falling back apace to his Obedience, an end was presaged by most Men to the Affairs of the Confederates.
But the Root was deeper, and not so easily shaken: For the United Provinces, after the unhappy Transactions with the French, under the Duke of Alencon, reassumed their Union in 1583. binding themselves, in case, by fury of the War, any point of it had not been observed, to endeavour from that time to see it effected: In case any doubt had happened, to see it clear'd: And any Difficulties, composed: And in regard, the Article concerning Religion had been so fram'd in the Union, because in all the other Provinces, besides Holland and Zealand, the Romish Religion was then used, but now the Evangelical; It was agreed by all the Provinces of the Union, That, from this time in them all, the Evangelical Reformed Religion should alone be openly Preached and Exercised.
They were so far from being broken in their Designs by the Prince of Orange's death, That they did all the Honour that could be to his Memory, substituted Prince Maurice his Son, though but Sixteen years old, in all his Honours and Commands, and obstinately refused all overtures that were made them of Peace; resolving upon all the most desperate Actions and Sufferings, rather than return under the Spanish Obedience.
But these Spirits were fed and heighten'd, in a great degree, by the hopes and countenance given them about this time from England: For Queen Elisabeth, and Philip the Second, though they still preserved the Name of Peace, yet had worn out, in a manner, the Effects as well as the Dispositions of it, whilst the Spaniard fomented and assisted the Insurrections of the Irish, and Queen Elizabeth the new Commonwealth in the Low-Countries; though neither directly, yet by Countenance, Money, voluntary Troops, and ways that were equally felt on both sides, and equally understood.
King Philip had lately increased the greatness of his Empire, by the Inheritance or Invasion of the Kingdoms of Portugal, upon King Sebastian's loss in Africa; But I know not whether he had encreas'd his Power, by the accession of a Kingdom, with disputed Title, and a discontented People, who could neither be used like good Subjects and governed without Armies; nor like a Conquered Nation, and so made to bear the charge of their forced Obedience; But this addition of Empire, with the vast Treasure flowing every year out of the Indies, had without question raised King Philip's Ambition to vaster designs; which made him embrace at once, the protection of the League in France against Henry the Third and Fourth; and the Donation made him of Ireland by the Pope; and so embarque himself in a War with both those Crowns, while He was bearded with the open Arms and defiance of his own Subjects in the Low-Countries.
But 'tis hard to be imagin'd, how far the Spirit of one Great Man goes in the Fortunes of any Army or State. The Duke of Parma coming to the Government without any footing in more than two of the smallest Provinces, collecting an Army from Spain, Italy, Germany, and the broken Troops of the Country left him by Don John, having all the other Provinces confederated against him, and both England and France beginning to take open part in their defence; yet, by force of his own Valour, Conduct, and the Discipline of his Army, with the dis-interessed and generous Qualities of his Mind, winning equally upon the Hearts and Arms of the Revolted Countries, and piercing through the Provinces with an uninterrupted course of Successes, and the recovery of the most important Towns in Flanders; At last, by the taking of Antwerp and Groningue, reduced the Affairs of the Union to so extreme distress, that, being grown destitute of all hopes and succors from France, (then deep engaged in their own Civil Wars,) They threw themselves wholly at the Feet of Queen Elizabeth, imploring her Protection, and offering her the Sovereignty of their Country. The Queen refused the Dominion, but enter'd into Articles with their Deputies in 1585. obliging her Self to very great Supplies of Men and of Moneys, lent them upon the security of the Briel, Flushing, and Ramekins; which were performed, and Sir John Norrice sent over to command her Forces; and afterwards in 87, upon the War broken out with Spain, and the mighty threats of the Spanish Armada, she sent over yet greater Forces under the Earl of Leicester, whom the States admitted, and swore Obedience to him, as Governour of their United Provinces.
But this Government lasted not long, distasts and suspicions soon breaking out between Leicester and the States; partly from the jealousie of his affecting an Absolute Dominion, and Arbitrary disposal of all Offices; But chiefly, of the Queens intentions to make a Peace with Spain; and the easie loss of some of their Towns, by Governors placed in them by the Earl of Leicester, encreased their Discontents. Notwithstanding this ill intercourse, the Queen re-assures them in both those Points, disapproves some of Leicester's proceedings, receives franc and hearty assistances from them in her Naval Preparations, against the Spaniards; and at length, upon the disorders encreasing between the Earl of Leicester and the States, commands him to resign his Government, and release the States of the Oath they had taken to obey him. And after all this had past, the Queen easily sacrificing all particular resentments to the interest of her Crown, continued her Favour, Protection and Assistances, to the States, during the whole course of Her Reign, which were return'd with the greatest deference and veneration to her Person, that was ever paid by them to any Foreign Prince, and continues still to Her Name in the remembrance, and frequently in the mouths, of all sorts of People among them.
After Leicester's departure, Prince Maurice was, by the consent of the Union, chosen their Governour, but with a reservation to Queen Elizabeth; and enter'd that Command with the hopes, which he made good in the execution of it for many years; proving the greatest Captain of his Age, famous, particularly, in the Discipline and Ordonance of his Armies, and the ways of Fortification by him first invented or perfected, and since his time imitated by all.
But the great breath that was given the States in the heat of their Affairs, was by the sharp Wars made by Queen Elizabeth upon the Spaniards at Sea in the Indies, and the Expedition of Lisbon and Cadiz, and by the declining Affairs of the League in France, for whose support Philip the Second was so passionately engaged, that, twice he commanded the Duke of Parma to interrupt the course of his Victories in the Low-Countries, and march into France for the relief of Roan and Paris; which much augmented the Renown of this great Captain, but as much impaired the state of the Spanish Affairs in Flanders. For in the Duke of Parma's absence, Prince Maurice took in all the places held by the Spaniard on t'other side the Rhine, which gave them entrance into the United Provinces.
The succession of Henry the Fourth to the Crown of France, gave a mighty blow to the Designs of King Philip; and a much greater, The general obedience and acknowledgment of him upon his change of Religion. With this King, the States began to enter a confidence and kindness, and the more by that which interceded between Him and the Queen of England, who had all their dependance during her life; But, after her death, King Henry grew to have greater credit than ever in the United Provinces; though, upon the decay of the Spanish Power under the Ascendent of this King, the States fell into very early jealousies of his growing too great and too near them in Flanders.
With the Duke of Parma died all the Discipline, and, with that, all the Fortunes, of the Spanish Arms in Flanders; The frequent Mutinies of their Soldiers, dangerous in effect and in example, were more talkt of, than any other of their actions, in the short Government of Mansfield, Ernest, and Fuentes. Till the old Discipline of their Armies began to revive, and their Fortune a little to respire under the new Government of Cardinal Albert, who came into Flanders both Governour and Prince of the Low-Countries, in the head of a mighty Army drawn out of Germany and Italy, to try the last effort of the Spanish Power, either in a prosperous War, or, at least, in making way for a necessary Peace.
But the choice of the Arch-Duke, and this new Authority, had a deeper root, and design, than at first appear'd: For that mighty King Philip the Second, born to so vast Possessions, and to so much vaster Desires, after a long dream of raising his Head into the Clouds, found it now ready to lye down in the Dust: His Body broken with Age and Infirmities, his Mind with Cares and distemper'd Thoughts, and the Royal servitude of a solicitous life; He began to see, in the glass of Time and Experience, the true shapes of all human Greatness and Designs; And, finding to what airy Figures he had hitherto sacrificed his Health, and Ease, and the Good of his Life, He now turn'd his Thoughts wholly to Rest and Quiet, which he had never yet allowed either the World, or Himself: His Designs upon England, and his Invincible Armada, had ended in smoak: Those upon France, in Events the most contrary to what he had proposed: And instead of mastering the Liberties, and breaking the Stomach, of his Low-Country Subjects, he had lost Seven of his Provinces, and held the rest by the tenure of a War, that cost him more than they were worth. He had made lately a Peace with England, and desir'd it with France; and though he scorn'd it with his revolted Subjects in his own Name, yet he wish'd it in anothers; and was unwilling to entail a quarrel upon his Son, which had crost his Fortunes, and busied his Thoughts all the course of his Reign. He therefore resolved to commit these two Designs to the management of Arch-Duke Albert, with the style of Governor and Prince of the Low-Countries; to the end, that, if he could reduce the Provinces to their old subjection, He should Govern them as Spanish Dominions; If that was once more in vain attempted, He should by a Marriage with Clara Isabella Eugenia (King Philip's beloved Daughter) receive these Provinces as a Dowry, and become the Prince of them, with a condition only, of their returning to Spain, in case of Isabella's dying without Issue. King Philip believed, that the Presence of a natural Prince among his Subjects; That the Birth and Customs of Arch-Duke Albert, being a German; The generous and obliging dispositions of Isabella, might gain further upon this stubborn People, than all the Force and Rigor of his former Counsels: And at the worst; That they might make a Peace, if they could not a War, and without interessing the Honour and Greatness of the Spanish Crown.
In persuit of this determination, like a wise King, while he intended nothing but Peace, He made Preparations, as if he design'd nothing but War; knowing, that his own desires of Peace would signifie nothing, unless he could force his Enemies to desire it too. He therefore sent the Arch-Duke into Flanders, at the head of such an Army, that, believing the Peace with France must be the first in order, and make way for either the War or Peace, afterward in the Low-Countries, He marcht into France, and took Amiens the chief City of Picardy, and thereby gave such an alarm to the French Court, as they little expected; and had never received in the former Wars. But while Albert bent the whole force of the War upon France, till he determin'd it in a Peace with that Crown, Prince Maurice, who had taken Groningue in the time of Ernest, now mastered Linghen, Groll, and other places in Overyssel, thereby adding those Provinces intire, to the Body of the Union; and at Albert's return into Flanders, entertain'd him with the Battel of Newport, won by the desperate Courage of the English, under Sir Francis Vere, where Albert was wounded, and very near being taken.
After this Loss, the Arch-Duke was yet comforted and relieved by the obsequious Affections and Obedience of his new Subjects, so far as to resolve upon the Siege of Ostend; which having some time continued, and being almost disheartned by the strength of the place, and invincible Courage of the Defendants, He was recruited by a Body of Eight thousand Italians, under the Marquess Spinola, to whom the prosecution of this Siege was committed: He took the place, after Three years Siege, not by any want of Men or Provisions within, (the Haven, and relief by Sea, being open all the time;) but perfectly for want of ground, which was gain'd foot by foot, till not so much was left, as would hold Men to defend it; a great example, how impossible it is to defend any Town, that cannot be relieved by an Army strong enough to raise the Siege.
Prince Maurice, though he could not save Ostend, made yet amends for its loss, by the taking of Grave and Sluyce; so as the Spaniards gain'd little but the honour of the Enterprize: And Philip the Second being dead, about the time of the Arch-Dukes and Dutchesses arrival in Flanders, and, with him the personal resentment of that War, the Arch-Duke, by consent of the Spanish Court, began to apply his Thoughts wholly to a Peace; which another circumstance had made more necessary, than any of those already mentioned.
As the Dutch Commonwealth was born out of the Sea, so out of the same Element it drew its first strength and consideration, as well as afterwards its Riches and Greatness: For before the Revolts, the Subjects of the Low-Countries, though never allowed the Trade of the Indies, but in the Spanish Fleets, and under Spanish Covert, yet many of them had in that manner made the Voyages, and become skilful Pilots, as well as vers'd in the ways, and sensible of the infinite gains of that Trade. And after the Union, a greater confluence of People falling down into the United Provinces, than could manage their Stock, or find employment at Land; Great multitudes turn'd their endeavours to Sea; and, having lost the Trade of Spain and the Streights, fell not only into That of England, France, and the Northern Seas, but ventur'd upon That of the East-Indies, at first with small Forces and Success; But in course of time, and by the Institution of an East-India Company, This came to be persued with so general application of the Provinces, and so great advantage, that they made themselves Masters of most of the Colonies and Forts planted there by the Porteguesses (now Subjects of Spain.) The Dutch Seamen grew as well acquainted with those vast Seas and Coasts, as with their own; and Holland became the great Magazine of all the Commodities of those Eastern Regions.
In the West-Indies their attempts were neither so frequent nor prosperous, the Spanish Plantations there being too numerous and strong; But by the multitude of their Shipping, set out with publique or private Commissions, they infested the Seas, and began to wait for, and threaten, the Spanish Indian Fleets, and sometimes to attempt their Coasts in that new World (which was to touch Spain in the most sensible part,) and gave their Court the strongest motives to endeavor a Peace, that might secure those Treasures in their way, and preserve them in Spain, by stopping the issue of those vast Sums, which were continually transmitted to entertain the Low-Country Wars.
These Respects gave the first rise to a Treaty of Peace, the Proposal whereof came wholly from the Spaniards; and the very mention of it could hardly at first be fast'ned upon the States; nor could they ever be prevail'd with to make way for any Negotiation by a suspension of Arms, till the Arch-Duke had declared, He would treat with them as with free Provinces, upon whom, neither He, nor Spain had any pretence. However, the Affair was persued with so much Art and Industry on the Arch-Dukes part, and with so passionate Desires of the Spanish Court, to end this War, That they were content to Treat it at the Hague, the Seat of the States-General; And, for the greater Honour, and better Conduct of the whole Business, appointed the four chief Ministers of the Arch-Dukes, Their Commissioners to attend and persue it there; who were, Their Camp-Master-General Spinola, The President of the Council, and the Two Secretaries of State and of War in Flanders.
On the other side, in Holland all the Paces towards this Treaty were made with great coldness and arrogance, raising punctilious difficulties upon every word of the Arch-Dukes Declaration of Treating them as Free Provinces, and upon Spain's Ratification of that Form; And forcing them to send Expresses into Spain, upon every occasion, and to attend the length of those Returns. For the prosperous success of their Arms at Land, in the course of above Thirty years War and the mighty growth of their Naval Power, and (under that Protection) of their Trade, had made the whole Body of their Militia, both at Land and Sea, averse from this Treaty, as well as the greatest part of the People; whose inveterate hatred against Spain was still as fierce as ever; and who had the hopes or dispositions of raising their Fortunes by the War, whereof they had so many and great Examples among them.
But there was, at the bottom, one Foreign, and another Domestick, Consideration, which made way for this Treaty, more than all those Arguments that were the common Theams, or than all the Offices of the Neighbour-Princes, who concerned themselves in this Affair, either from Interest of their own, or the Desires of ending a War, which had so long exercised, in a manner, the Arms of all Christendom upon the Stage of the Low-Countries. The Greatness of the Spanish Monarchy, so formidable under Charles the Fifth, and Philip the Second, began now to decline by the vast Designs, and unfortunate Events, of so many ambitious Counsels: And, on the other side, the Affairs of Henry the Fourth of France were now at the greatest Height and Felicity, after having atchieved so many Adventures, with incredible Constancy and Valour, and ended all his Wars in a Peace with Spain. The Dutch imagin'd, that the hot spirits of the French could not continue long without some exercise; and that to prevent it at home, it might be necessary for that King to give it them abroad; That no enterprize lay so convenient for Him, as that upon Flanders, which had anciently been part of the Gallick Nation, and whose first Princes derived and held of the Kings of France. Besides, they had intimations, that Henry the Fourth was taken up in great Preparations for War, which they doubted would at one time or other fall on that side, at least, if they were invited by any greater decays of the Spanish Power in Flanders: And they knew very well, they should lye as much at the mercy of such a Neighbor as France, as they had formerly done of such a Master as Spain. For the Spanish Power in Flanders was fed by Treasures that came by long and perillous Voyages out of Spain; By Troops drawn either from thence, or from Italy or Germany, with much casualty, and more expence: Their Territory of the Ten Provinces was small, and awed by the Neighborhood and jealousies both of England and France. But if France were once Master of Flanders, the Body of that Empire would be so great, and so entire; so abounding in People, and in Riches, that whenever they found, or made, an occasion of invading the United Provinces, they had no hopes of preserving themselves by any opposition or diversion: And the end of their mighty resistances against Spain was, to have no Master; and not to change one for another, as they should do in this case: Therefore the most Intelligent among their Civil Ministers thought it safest, by a Peace, to give breath to the Arch-Duke's and Spanish Power, and by that means, to lessen the invitation of the Arms of France into Flanders, under so great a King.
For what was Domestique, The Credit and Power of Prince Maurice, built at first upon that of his Father, but much raised by his own Personal Virtues and Qualities, and the success of his Arms, was now grown so high (the Prince being Governor, or Stadtholder, of Four of the Provinces, and Two of his Cousins of the other Three,) that several of the States, headed by Barnevelt, Pensioner of Holland, and a Man of great Abilities and Authority among them, became jealous of the Prince's Power, and pretended to fear the growth of it to an absolute Dominion: They knew, it would increase by the continuance of a War, which was wholly managed by the Prince; and thought, that in a Peace it would diminish, and give way to the Authority of Civil Power: Which disposed this whole Party to desire the Treaty, and to advance the progress and issue of it by all their assistances. And these different humors stirring in the Heart of the States, with almost equal strength and vigor; The Negotiation of a Peace came to be eluded, after long debates and infinite endeavours; Breaking, in appearance, upon the points of Religion, and the Indian Trade: But yet came to knit again, and conclude in a Truce of Twelve years, dated in the year 1609. whereof the most essential points were, The Declaration of Treating with them as Free Provinces; The Cessation of all Acts of Hostility on both sides, during the Truce; The enjoyment for that space, of all that each party possest at the time of the Treaty; That no new Fortification should be raised on either side: And that free Commerce should be restored on all parts in the same manner, as it was before the Wars.
And thus the State of the United Provinces came to be acknowledged, as a Free Common-wealth by their ancient Master, having before been Treated so by most of the Kings and Princes of Europe, in frequent Ambassies and Negotiations. Among which, a particular preference was given to the English Crown, whose Ambassador had Session and Vote in their Council of State, by Agreement with Queen Elisabeth, and in acknowledgment of those great Assistances, which gave life to their State, when it was upon the point of expiring: Though the Dutch pretend, that Priviledge was given to the Ambassador, by virtue of the Possession this Crown had of the Briel, Flussigue, and Ramekins; and that it was to cease upon the restitution of those Towns, and repayment of those Sums lent by the Queen.
In the very time of Treating this Truce, a League was concluded between Henry the Fourth of France, and the States, for preserving the Peace, if it came to be concluded; or, in case of its failing, for assistance of one another, with Ten thousand Men on the Kings part, and Five thousand on the States. Nor did that King make any difficulty of continuing the two Regiments of Foot, and Two hundred Horse in the States Service, at his own charge, after the Truce, which he had maintained for several years before it; Omitting no provisions that might tye that State to his Interests, and make him at present Arbiter of the Peace, and for the future of the War, if the Truce should come to be broken, or to expire of itself.
By what has been related, it will easily appear, That no State was ever born with stronger Throws, or nurst up with harder fare, or inur'd to greater Labours or Dangers in the whole course of its Youth; which are circumstances that usually make strong and healthy Bodies: And so this has proved, having never had more than one Disease break out, in the space, of Ninety three years, which may be accounted the Age of this State, reckoning from the Union of Utrecht, enter'd by the Provinces in 1579. But this Disease, like those of the Seed, or Conception, in a natural Body, Though it first appear'd in Barnevelt's time, breaking out upon the Negotiations with Spain, and seemed to end with his death, (who was beheaded not many years after;) yet has it ever since continued lurking in the Veins of this State, and appearing upon all Revolutions, that seem to favour the predominancy of the one or other Humor in the Body; And under the Names of the Prince of Orange's, and the Arminian, Party, has ever made the weak side of this State; and whenever their Period comes, will prove the occasion of their Fall.
The ground of this name of Arminian was, That whilst Barnevelt's Party accused those of the Prince of Orange's, as being careless of their Liberties, so dearly bought; as devoted to the House of Orange; and disposed to the admission of an absolute Principality, and in order thereunto, as promoters of a perpetual War with Spain: So those of the Prince's Party, accused the others, as leaning still to, and looking kindly upon, their old servitude, and relishing the Spaniard, both in their Politicks, by so eagerly affecting a Peace with that Crown; and in their Religion, by being generally Arminians, (which was esteemed the middle part between the Calvinists and the Roman Religion.) And besides these mutual Reproaches, the two Parties have ever valued themselves upon the asserting, one of the true and purer Reformed Religion; and the other, of the truer and freer Liberties of the State.
The Fortunes of this Commonwealth, that have happened in their Wars or Negotiations, since the Truce with Spain, and what Circumstances or Accidents, both abroad and at home, serv'd to cultivate their mighty growth, and conspired to the Greatness wherein they appear'd to the World in the beginning of the year 1665. being not only the subject of the Relations, but even the Observations, of this present Age; I shall either leave, as more obvious, and less necessary to the account I intend of the Civil Government of this Common-wealth: Or else reserve them till the same vein of Leisure or Humour invite me to continue this Deduction to this present time; The Affairs of this State having been complicated with all the variety and memorable Revolutions, both of Actions and Counsels, that have since happened in the rest of Christendom.
In the mean time, I will close this Relation with an Event, which arrived soon after the conclusion of the Truce, and had like to have broken it within the very year, if not prevented by the Offices of the Neighbour Princes, but more by a change of Humour in the United States, conspiring to the conservation of the new-restored Peace in these parts of the World.
In the end of the year 1609. dyed the Duke of Cleves and Juliers, without Heir-male, leaving those Dutchies to the pretensions of his Daughters, in whose Right the Duke of Brandenburgh and Nieuburgh possessed themselves of such parts of those Territories, as they first could invade; each of them pretending right to the whole Inheritance. Brandenburgh seeks Protection and Favour to his Title, from the United Provinces; Nieuburg from Arch-Duke Albert, and from Spain. The Arch-Duke, newly respiring from so long a War, had no desire to interess himself in this Quarrel, further than the care, that the Dutch should not take advantage of it; and, under pretext of assisting one of the parties, seize upon some of those Dominions lying contiguous to their own. The Dutch were not so equal, nor content to lose so fair an occasion, and surprized the Town of Juliers (though pretending only to keep it till the parties agreed.) And believing that Spain, after having parted with so much in the late Truce, to end a quarrel of their own, would not venture a breach of it upon a quarrel of their Neighbours. But the Arch-Duke, having first taken his measures with Spain, and foreseeing the consequence of this Affair, resolved to venture the whole State of Flanders in a new War, rather than suffer such an encrease of Power and Dominion to the States. And thereupon, First, in the behalf of the Duke of Nieuburgh, requires from them the restitution of Juliers; and upon their artificious and dilatory Answers, immediately draws his Forces together, and with an Army, under the Command of Spinola, marches towards Juliers, (which the States were in no care of, as well provided for a bold defence;) But makes a sudden turn, and sits down before Wesel, with such a terror and surprize to the Inhabitants, that he carries the Town before the Dutch could come in to their assistance. Wesel was a strong Town upon the Rhine, which the Duke of Brandenburgh pretended to, as belonging to the Dutchy of Cleve; but the Citizens held it at this time as an Imperial Town, and under protection of the Dutch; Who, amazed at this sudden and bold attempt of Spinola, which made him Master of a Pass that lay fair for any further Invasion upon their Provinces, (especially those on t'other side the Rhine,) engage the Offices of both the English and French Crowns, to mediate an Agreement, which at length they conclude, so as neither party should, upon any pretence, draw their Forces into any part of these Dutchies. Thus the Arch-Duke having by the fondness of Peace, newly made a Truce, upon Conditions imposed by the Dutch; now by the Resolution of making War, obtains a Peace, upon the very Terms proposed by himself, and by Spain. An Event of great Instruction and Example, how dangerous it ever proves for weak Princes to call in greater to their aid, which makes them a Prey to their Friend, instead of their Enemy; How the only time of making an advantageous Peace, is, when your Enemy desires it, and when you are in the best condition of pursuing a War: And how vain a Counsel it is, to avoid a War, by yielding any point of Interest or Honour; which does but invite new Injuries, encourage Enemies, and dishearten Friends.