Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/146

 Party feeling between the Catholics and Protestants was running high. To quiet the tumult and to restore peace was the mission of the Silent Prince.

The true version of the riot had at length reached Brussels. When the Regent comprehended that it was but a handful of malcontents that she had to reckon with, she roused her energies and sent Philip de Lanoy with a thousand picked veterans to crush the rebels.

The army which young Thoulouse commanded was not one to excite the admiration of any one possessed with a knowledge of military tactics. It was almost entirely composed of the turbulent elements of Antwerp and the surrounding districts, "beggars," in deed and truth.

The youthful commander sat in the front room of a country house, which served as his headquarters, reading, when de Lanoy, at the head of the Regent's army, marched against Oosterweel. Half of his forces were absent on marauding expeditions, and the remainder were scattered about, wholly unconscious of danger.

Thoulouse was an ardent Protestant, and wholly devoted to this cause. He felt that the last step of the followers of this cause had been over a precipice. None regretted the actions of the iconoclasts more than he, yet he remained stanch to the faith and resolved to defend it to the death. Wind and