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WIL and justice were thoroughly corrupt. Law was sold by the judges to the highest bidder; and the temple of justice was converted into a den of thieves. The rights and liberties of the people were systematically and flagrantly violated; and orders were given by Philip that the sanguinary decrees of the council of Trent should be enforced throughout his dominions. To all these measures the prince of Orange offered a strenuous, but open and constitutional resistance: and while, on the one hand, he strove to induce the king to convoke the states-general, to moderate or abolish the persecuting edicts, and to govern in accordance with the constitution; on the other, he set himself to moderate the fiery zeal of the more violent patriots, and to restrain the excesses of the image-breakers, who at this period unhappily broke out into furious riots, and committed great havoc on the ecclesiastical edifices throughout the country. In 1566 the famous "Compromise," as it was termed, was drawn up and signed by many of the leading nobles (the Gueux), pledging themselves to oppose the inquisition, and to defend each other against all consequences of such a resistance. The prince of Orange was not consulted as to the formation of this league, and disapproved of much in the conduct of its originators: but he privately employed all his influence with the regent and the king to bring about a change of measures, though without effect. Ambassadors were sent to Spain to detail the grievances of the Netherlanders, and to entreat redress. Philip detained them at Madrid on various pretexts, and ultimately caused them to be secretly murdered. He was at this moment making preparations to cut down the confederacy, and destroy the liberties of the country; but, as false and treacherous as he was obstinate and revengeful, he instructed the regent to hold out hopes of a favourable answer to the patriots, that they might be thrown off their guard, and kept waiting till he was ready to inflict his predetermined revenge. The prince of Orange, however, contrived to obtain accurate intelligence of Philip's most secret plans and purposes. The private secretary of the Spanish monarch was William's secret agent, and nothing passed in the cabinet at Madrid which did not find its way to the ears of Orange. He was therefore early made aware that the duke of Alva, a skilful soldier, but a bloodthirsty ruffian, was to be sent to the Netherlands at the head of a powerful army to quench in torrents of blood the light of the Reformation; and that himself, and the Counts Egmont, Horn, and Hoogstraaten, were to be arrested on a charge of treason, and put to death. He resolved at once to leave the country, and having in vain endeavoured to make his friend. Count Egmont, sensible of his danger, he resigned all his offices, and in April, 1567, took his departure for Dillenburg, the ancestral seat of his family in Germany. The arrival of Alva in the month of August inaugurated a reign of terror. The infamous Blood council was established. Counts Egmont and Horn were treacherously seized and put to death; the prisons were filled with men of all ranks and ages; the scaffolds were crowded with victims, and blood was shed like water. Upwards of eighteen thousand persons are believed to have suffered death by Alva's orders; and immense numbers fled from their homes, and sought refuge in other countries. The prince of Orange was summoned to appear before the Blood council, and on his refusal was declared a rebel, and his eldest son, then a student at Louvain, was seized and sent a prisoner into Spain. The rights and privileges of the cities were destroyed at a blow, and the citizens reduced to poverty by the exactions of the duke. The prince of Orange meanwhile was making diligent preparations for an attempt on behalf of his oppressed countrymen; and having raised the necessary funds by the sale of his jewels, plate, and furniture, he at length assembled a considerable force, which he divided into four armies—three of which he sent by different routes to invade the provinces. But though these bands of patriots met with some successes, and at Heiligen-Lee, Count Louis of Nassau defeated the Spanish forces under Aremburg, the issue of their attempt was unfortunate. Count Adolphus, a brother of Orange, was killed at Heiligen-Lee, and Count Louis was routed at Jemmingen, and his army completely destroyed. Orange himself at the head of the fourth division of his forces, towards the close of the year (October, 1568) made a wonderful passage of the Meuse, fording it with the water up to his soldiers' necks, and marching into Brabant, endeavoured to compel Alva to give him battle. But that wary general, knowing that it was impossible for Orange long to keep his troops in the field, refused to fight; and after a month of procrastinating tactics, the prince's soldiers became discontented with their hardships and clamorous for pay, and the approach of winter put an end to this barren campaign. The greater part of his troops were disbanded; but the prince himself and his two brothers, with the remnant of his army, marched to the assistance of the French Huguenots. In the course of this year a great change came over the mind of the prince. He was originally connected with the Romish church, but does not appear to have had any earnest religious convictions. He did not profess to be more than a statesman, and a man of the world. But he now became a deeply religious man, firmly convinced of the truth of the reformed faith, regulating his conduct by the precepts of the word of God, and living habitually under the influence of things unseen and eternal. Hence, at this dark and distressing crisis, his language breathed only unwavering submission to the divine will, and he calmly relied on the providence of God for protection and deliverance.

The prince, though foiled in his last campaign, was determined to persevere in his efforts to free his native land from the ruthless oppressor; and by the advice of Admiral Coligny he resolved to create a naval force for the purpose of harassing the Spanish commerce. Privateering commissions were accordingly issued by him. A fleet of "sea-beggars," as they were called, was speedily collected, and inflicted great damage on Spanish vessels. For some time they obtained stores, anus, and ammunition in the English ports; but at length Elizabeth, to prevent an open rupture with Philip, refused them further supplies of provisions. Desperate and starving, the "sea-beggar" fleet, under the celebrated William de la Marck, made a sudden descent on the island of Voorn, and took the town of Brill (1570), which was reckoned one of the keys of the Netherlands. This was the beginning of the future state of the Seven Provinces. Flushing next fell into the hands of the "sea-beggars," and soon Rotterdam, Dort, Leyden, and all the other towns of Holland and Zeeland, except Amsterdam and Middleburg, spontaneously declared for Orange as lawful stadtholder for the king, and against the government of the hated Alva. There was an extensive adherence to the patriotic cause throughout the other provinces also, and the prince resuming his former commission as stadtholder in 1559, convened the states of Holland. They enthusiastically agreed to recognize his authority, to support his policy, and to supply the funds necessary to carry on the war; and highly to the credit both of the prince and the estates, it was unanimously resolved to guarantee the public exercise of worship, both to the Roman catholics and to the protestants. Orange, now the virtual sovereign of the northern provinces, crossed the Rhine from Germany in July, 1572, at the head of twenty-five thousand men, and took possession of Roermonde, Mechlin, Oudenarde, and various other places. His brother Louis surprised the important city of Mons, and many other towns declared in his favour and admitted his garrisons. He had received assurance of assistance from the French king; his hopes were high, and success seemed certain, when the news of the St. Bartholomew massacre struck him to the earth, as he said, "with the blow of a sledge hammer," destroyed his well-matured plans, and blasted his legitimate hopes. His attempt to relieve Mons, now closely invested by Alva, failed. The towns which had declared for him fell off at once, his troops mutinied, and almost alone he regained Holland, the only province which remained faithful to him. Mons capitulated on terms which were shamefully violated; Mechlin was deliberately given up by Alva to be plundered by his troops, and was completely ruined; and Zutphen was handed over to Don Frederick, Alva's son, with orders not to leave a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house to the ground. Haarlem surrendered to Don Frederick after a desperate resistance, on the promise of lenient treatment, but the garrison, with the exception of the Germans, were immediately butchered, with many hundreds of the citizens; and when the executioners were exhausted with their bloody work, they tied their victims two and two, back to back, and drowned them in the Haarlem lake. But notwithstanding these reverses. Orange continued the struggle with indomitable resolution, and not without some counter-balancing successes. Don Frederick was completely foiled in his attempt to take the little town of Alkmaar, and was obliged to raise the siege, in which he had lost many men (8th October, 1573). Three days later a brilliant naval victory was gained