Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/88

76 7(5 HOLLAND [HISTORY. Don Louis of Requesens, grand-commander of Castile, was appointed Alva s successor, and after a brief and deceptive lull the war went on. In January 1574, by the fall of Middelburg, the Spaniards lost their last hold on &quot;VTalchereu and on Zealand, while by the splendid defence of Leyden, unparalleled in the history of heroic endurance, their efforts in another direction were effectually frustrated. After fruitless negotiations with Philip, the estates of William Holland, in November 1574, formally offered to William &quot; the Silent,&quot; prince of Orange, full authority by land and &amp;gt;venior sea &amp;gt; w ^ u ^ ie t^ e f governor or regent. Conferences were also held, with a view to peace, at Breda; and on their failure, in summer 1575, Holland and Zealand drew up articles of union, and an ordinance for their joint govern ment under the prince of Orange. By it he received supreme command in war and absolute authority in all matters of defence, the control of all money voted by the estates, the maintenance of the laws as count, in the king s name, the ultimate appointment (after nomination by the estates) of all judicial officers. He undertook to protect Calvinism, and to suppress &quot;&quot; all religion at variance with the gospel,&quot; while he forbade all inquisition into private opinions. Thess terms accepted, William became, in spite of their nominal recognition of Philip, the true prince of the two provinces. Still this union, brought about by the prince s personal character and ability, and by the popular faith in him, was distasteful to the larger cities. Already wa may note the beginnings of that party division which was afterwards s.) prominent, and divided Holland between the lind-party, popular, quasi-monarchical, Calvinistic, headed by the Orange-Nassau family, and the sea-party, the town-party, headed by the burghers of Amsterdam, Arminian, civic, and aristocratic. Meanwhile the grand-commander made a successful attempt on the Zealand coast. His troops took Duiveland, and laid siege to Zierikzee, chief town of Schouwen, and key of the whole coast. The two provinces, unable to relieve the place, were driven to consider their position. S;&amp;gt; long as they pxid any allegiance to Philip of Spain, agxinst whom they were struggling for life, they could never get; much help from any other prince, nor were they strong enough to assert their own sovereignty. Three powers lay near them : -the empire, already connected with them by old relations, an:l by the family connexion of the house of Orange ; France, with her restless Valois dukes, ready for any venture, whether in Poland, England, or Holland ; and, listly, England, whose queen knew well that Philip was her foe, and that the Low Countries might effectually hinder his efforts against her. The provinces, though William had suggested it, refused to deal with the emperor, and turned to Elizabeth ; she brought them little real help, and they seemel to be on the very brink of ruin when fever carried Requesena off in March 1576. The breathing space thus gained enabled them to strengthen their union under William ; but before the question respecting the position of the duke of Anjou could be settled, the sieg3 of Zierikzee drew to an end. Boisot perished in a too galhnt attempt to break the leaguer, and the town yielded. Things looked ill fur the patriots, and Zealand would have been at the mercy of the conqueror, had not another great mutiny neutralized the success of the victors ; the Spanish and Walloon troops left Zealand and, headed, as usual, by their &quot; eletto,&quot; inarched into the richer plains of Brabant, seizing Alost, whence they threatened both Brussels and Antwerp. One of the results of the panic they caused in Brabant was the capture of Ghent by William. Brussels was only saved from being pillaged by them by the vigour of the inhabitants, who armed in their own defence. Suffering under a powerless administrative, and smarting from the curse of the foreign soldiery, the southerners now began to wish for freedom and union with the other provinces. The broad liberality of Orange, moderating the Calvinism of the people, enabled the two groups to draw together. In October 1576 a Pacifica- congress of the States General of the provinces met at ^ on f Ghent ; the council of state at Brussels was forcibly dis- (jrlient - solved; the frightful &quot;Spanish Fury&quot; at Antwerp struck such terror into all hearts that a treaty was concluded in November 1576 under the title of the &quot; Pacification of Ghent.&quot; It was received with great enthusiasm ; in it the provinces agreed fir^t to eject the foreigner, then to meet in States General and regulate all matters of religion and defence ; it was stipulated that nothing should be done against the Catholic religion ; the Spanish king s name was still used ; the prince of Orange was recognized only as stadtholder of Holland and Zealand. All the seventeen provinces accepted the Pacification ; and for a brief space the &quot; United Provinces &quot; really did exist. Early in January 1577 the &quot;Union of Brussels&quot; was Union o. put forth. The document engaged all who joined to help Brussels in ejecting the foreign troops, in carrying out the Pacifica tion, in .maintaining the Catholic faith, in recognizing Philip s sovereignty, in defending the liberties and con stitutions of the provinces, It was eagerly adopted; and even Holland and Zealand made no demur. When the paper, crowded with signatures, was laid before Don John of Austria, who meanwhile had arrived as regent, he also accepted it ; and on the 17th February 1577 was signed the &quot;Perpetual Edict,&quot; which ratified the Pacification of Per- Ghent. Not till the troops were gone should Don John be l etua l received as governor-general. Philip II. ratified the Edict c a few weeks later. Yet, after all, unity did not ensue from it. The natural divergency between north and south at once appeared ; in character, in interests, above all, in religion, they had little in common ; and when William of Orange refused to pub lish the edict in Holland and Zealand he was warmly sup ported by these provinces. This is perhaps the real point at which Dutch independence begins. Don John ente-ed Brussels in triumph, and, by conciliation and winning manners, had already broken up the union ; the whole of the southern provinces withdrew from it at once, and that well-marked difference in political life, which, after so many changes, slill distinguishes Belgian from Dutchman, was from that moment made clear. Yet, though Don Ji.hn had achieved so much, the result, after all, disappointed him ; he was surrounded by difficulties, suspicions, and plots ; he saw the failure of his larger schemes, and only the partial success of his effort to reduce the Netherlands; he recognized the dangers which the abilities and rivalry of William of Orange were preparing for him. This was soon shown in the seizure of Antwerp citadel by the Seizure patriots, and in the destruction of the hated fortifications, ol Ant so long the sign and efficient cause of their subjection. ^ Other castles, such as that of Ghent, were razed to the ground as soon as the fall of Antwerp citadel was known. Still less was Don John pleased by the election of his rival as ruwaard of Brabant, and by his enthusiastic reception at Brussels. The States General (7th December 1577) declared strongly against Don John s authority. It was clear war must begin again ; and the patriots raised an army nearly 20,000 strong, which was utterly defeated by Don John and Alexander Farnese, at Getnbloux near Namur. But their campaign was wasted on isolated movements and town-taking, while William of Orange fell back unmolested to Antwerp. A sudden illness, so sudden as to arouse the common suspicion of poison, carried off the conqueror of Lcpanto (1st October 1576), and Alexander of Parma succeeded him in the government. The struggle had now entirely passed into the southern