The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-26
ASSASSINS AND THEIR WORK.
william of orange-Full, PartIcu-
lars of the Events w hIoh led
to his Assassina. .tion-How
the culprIt was. Executed.

ber in the year 1885, In the Old ducal palace of
Brabant, in the gay city of Brussels, a newly
erected stage or platform stood al the western
end of the great hall. In the centre of this
stage was a splendid canopy, erected us a tenn
porary throne, Around it. on tapestried seats,
sas an assemblage of disnitaries, grave magi5-
trates, and executive officers, arrayed in the pic
turesque and brilliant uniforms peculiar to the
ancient Nethellanders. In the body of the hall
a great multitude was gathered. All we're
awaiting the appearance of Charles " their EN-.
peror who was on that day to abdicate the
throne in favor of his son, Philip ii.
The clock struck three. Charles entered
prematurely decrepit old man, with white and
bristling hair shaggy gray beard, wide fore
head, and dark-blue eye, tottering on crippled
lees, and supported on one side by crutch on
the other by tall and handsome young man of
twenty-five, then simply the emperors page
and conddant, but afterwards the grandest
figure in the history of his country. His fea-
lures were dark, symmetrical, and well
oh,selled; his head small, but sturdily set, his
hair, moustache, and peaked beard of a dark
brown hue; his eyes brown and thoughtful; his
forehead expansive, and even at that early
age, marked with lines of thoughts; for
he was the emFeror's adviser in all
cares Of state. His dress was magnif-
cent in the high est degree as the times in gene.
raj and the present ceremony in particular, rem
dered necessary
This young man was William, Prince of Orange;
and that occasion was his debut, as the hero of
the long and eventlul drama which has rem lered
his name one of the most illusrious in modern
history.
Philip II on that day took the Neither.
lands throne. The abdicating monarch
recommended to his sons confidence the
Prince who had served him so ably.
Philip, at first adopting the recommend
alton, was afterwards led to believe that William
was his enemy and the enemy of his throne.
In the following wear Charles V also abdicated
the throne of Spain, in favor of Philip. When
Philip, in 1859, left the Netherlands to make his
residence IN Spain, he publicly insulted William,
on the eve of his departure. The government
of the Netherlands was bestowed upon Margaret
of Parma, woman wholly under the influence
of Cardinal Granville, an ambitious, unscrupu-
lous p1elate. Under the government of this
willy minister OF evil were the Dutch doomed to
suffer-
In 1859 William of Orange, then still in
Philips confidence, was despatched to France to
negotiate with the French King q treaty of
peace. The Frenchman indiscreetly communi-
Gated to William q plan which was on foot
whereby the Inquisition was to be introduced
into the Netherlands with all its most horrible
machinery, when,to use the Princes own words
'It would need but to look askance at an image
to be cast into the flames" He made no sign
before the French monarch, of his horror at this
news; but, from that hour, his purpose was
firm, to set his life against this monstrous ini-
guilty Himself Catholic, il was not a feeling
of religious opposition that animated him, but
simply one Of sympathy and compassion, as he
thus devoted to massacre"
From this time forth, the life of William of
Orange exhibits striking likeness to that OF
Abraham Lincoln, which we shall seek rather
indicate than to illustrate, by comparison.
Although he ultimately became the instrument
of the Dutch Republics creation on a free basis,
emancipated forever from the shackles of that
slavery of conscience which had cursed the
land, it was not with a purpose to reach that
end that he was first animated. His primary
motive was to combat ,encroachments upon the
e...hk ko - Ia NTH np1o dc % hnIIz
tyranny of the bigoted monarch in his
efforts to obtain an unbounded influence
over his Dutch empire. When, at twenty-six
years of age. William stood arrayed against the
lnquisition and against the prescription of re.
hgious freedom, he simply stood where he was
placed by the inevitable logic of right and JUS
tce. He was not widely known among his
Countrymen: he only awoke their admiration,
their love, their devotion through successive
stages, until at last he was recognized by
them as their champion, and was looked upon
by them as the saviour, Of his country, in the
hands of God. Through the fire of trial put
upon his country, in which he stood as the
central figure, he struggled upward and on ward
against enemies and obstacles the most bitter
and the most appalling, but never quailed-
never faltered. Throughout his whole public
career, he was the mark for ISLANDERS the most
cutting and contnmelious although his life was
one steady and consistent refutation of slarder.
From the hour when he was charged with
having murdered his wife, Anne of Egmont on
ward, he was accused OF every mean, base, cruel
and detestable vice and crime known 10 hui
manity; but purer man perhaps never lived.
To these charges he seldom gave any notice, and
never bestowed angry words upon any one
about him. His manner, while never cringing
or fearful, was gentle and kind to every one.
historian, who spoke most bitterly of the
Prince, gave his character just euogy, saying:-
Never did an arrogant or indlscreet word
fall from his hps He upon no occasion
manifested anger to his servants, however much
they might be in fault, ETC. He also was natu.
rally gay and lively in disposition, fond of genial
conversation, and possessing familiar, yet dig
nifed manner with all who had tn do with him.
Caution was one of his most predominant char
acteristics, that by the radicals of his day he
was deemed too slow; but he did not espouse
the side of freedom in order to convert that
freedom again into slavery: and when the
religious retormers, who had succeeded in
banishlng the Catholic Inquisition, sought
to introduce a mllder, but no less repre-
hensibe slavery over those who rejected
the now popular faith, Williams was the
hand which restrained these radicals and pre-
vented the outrage. He cherished no malice
against enemies, and seemed always too lenient
with offenders. His unimpeachable honesty
was another striking trait in his character. In
1864, when a gangrene had spread through the
whole Government, and corruption and fraud
ruled with high hand-When all public func-
tionaries were notoriously and outrageously
venal-Willam of Orange set his breast against
the sea OF poison, and was uncontamnated bv
1T. "0f all the conspicuous men in the land, y
says Motley, che was the only one whose worst
enemy had never hinted through the whole course
OF his public career, that his hands had known
contamination" And this, not through mere
negative virtue, which is almost no virtue at all
lor ne was sorelY tempted, being plunged in
deep sea OF debt and pecuniary embarrass.
ment throughout his public career, though
wealthy enough while still in private lie. A