Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/351

 1 5 73.] THE SPANISH TREATY. 331 there were minds which theology had failed to calcine. Orange meanwhile was left to struggle on with such help as volunteers could give him. On the I2th of July, 1573, the town of Haarlem surrendered to Alva. The siege had cost him twelve thousand of his troops, but as he had found severity hitherto useless, he deter- mined to make Haarlem an example of what he called clemency. The garrison, consisting chiefly of English, French, and Scots, was put to the sword. A few of the principal citizens were selected for execution, but the town was not, like Mechlin, given over to pillage, and private property was generally spared. The Duke then moved on Alkmaar, hoping that it would open its gates. But Alkmaar was obstinate as Haarlem had been. He tried one desperate assault, but failed, and it appeared clear to him that he would have to conquer the two Provinces inch by inch. One town had already cost him an army recruited with enormous difficulty from Italy and Spain. Holland and Zealand formed a great intrenched camp, intersected by dykes, canals, and rivers. The sea was open behind, and as long as Protestant Europe, as long especially as England, con- tinued to throw in men and powder, the problem ap- peared a hopeless one. The natural remedy would have been to hold Eli- zabeth responsible for the acts of her subjects, and to threaten her with war unless she checked them. She had herself given further provocation. In the spring of 1571, when the Spanish ambassador had been discovered to be a party to the Norfolk conspiracy, a hint was given