The Story of Nations - Holland/Chapter 10

It was understood that the new governor represented a policy of concession of amnesty, even of peace. But he was hampered by two conditions. He was to secure the king’s supremacy, and the total prohibition of any but the Roman Catholic religion. It was obvious that unless an unconditional surrender was made, there was no hope for peace, and, in fact, the war continued for thirty-six years longer. Yet every one desired peace, Catholic and Protestant, Spaniard, Fleming, and Hollander, the advisers and tools of Alva, and the friends and adherents of Orange. Even Philip would have been glad to stop the perpetual drain on his resources, and avert the bankruptcy which was imminent.

The army, now numbering sixty-two thousand, was nearly a twelve months’ pay in arrears. The country had been impoverished and the States refused to grant a dollar. But, on the other side, though the Dutch were out-numbered and out-generalled, they maintained their fleets and their forces, though they were sometimes short in granting supplies. Requesens, therefore imagined that the whole of the Netherlands would accept peace on any terms; and if only the nobles had to be consulted, he was probably in the right.

The Hollanders were now unquestionably superiors on the sea, as was to be conclusively proved. The patriots were besieging Middelburg, in the island of Walcheren, in which a Spanish general of great ability and courage was commander. The new governor found it necessary to relieve the garrison, which was nearly starved out. It could only be effected after a victorious sea fight. The battle was joined on January 29th, and the patriots were entirely victorious. Middelburg was soon surrendered.

The siege of Leyden was the great event of the year. It was closely invested, and Orange bade his brother Louis relieve it. On March 14th he fought a battle with the besieging force; his army was nearly annihilated, and he and his brother Henry slain. Their bodies, however, were never discovered. It seemed now that Leyden would be lost, not from the victorious army, which mutinied immediately after their victory, and marching on Antwerp, seized the city. Their pay was three years in arrear. But the danger was not passed, for the siege was reformed. Meanwhile the Dutch admiral had succeeded in destroying another Spanish fleet.

The second siege of Leyden began on May 26th. It lasted till October 3rd. The limits of this work disable the author from describing in detail this memorable siege, and the relief of the city by the Beggars of the Sea. To meet their foe, and to baffle him, the Hollanders cut the dykes between Leyden and the sea, and turned the leaguer of the Spaniards into a sea fight, in which the patriots were thoroughly in their element. At last the Spaniards retreated in panic, and the siege was raised.

In remembrance of this great deliverance, States of Holland resolved to found a university the town of Leyden. They endowed it with the possessions of the abbey of Egmont, and provided it with teachers, selected from the ablest scholars in the Netherlands. For two centuries the University of Leyden was the most famous in Europe. But Orange still kept up the form of loyalty, and the charter of the university declares that it was founded by Philip, Count of Holland.

The two provinces, Holland and Zeland, though Harlem and Amsterdam were still in the power of the enemy, raised nearly as high a revenue monthly for the prosecution of the war, as Alva had been able to extract yearly from the rest of the Netherlands. The fact is, their trade grew with their efforts. They were still in theory subjects of Spain, and they traded with the Spanish possessions. They were even charged with manufacturing and selling the powder with which the Spaniards bombarded their cities. Even to the last they made war on the Spanish Government, and had commercial transactions with Spanish subjects; for as Philip did not recognize their independence, they seem, except at their pleasure, to be at war with him only in their own country.

In the autumn of 1574, the Constitution of Holland was organized. William was made commander-in-chief; a monthly grant for the expenses of the army, was conceded to him, and practically the whole conduct of affairs was conferred on him. Then came the farce of negotiating a peace. The terms of Philip were inadmissible. He refused toleration to the reformed religion, and the conferences were abruptly closed.

In 1575, the states of Holland and Zeland were united. It was not done without some difficulty, for the municipal principle had ruinously kept cities apart, and made military action capricious and uncertain. It was this temper of isolation, constantly breaking out and thwarting the interests of the whole republic, which prolonged the war, narrowed the independence, and ultimately was a potent factor in bringing about the decline of the Dutch Republic.

In the same year, however, the States suffered another reverse. The island of Schouwen was invaded by an army which marched through the sea to the mainland by one of those channels which separate the islands of the Dutch coast, and its capital, Zierikzee, was besieged. The situation induced the Hollanders, though with no little hesitation, to take an important step.

This was no less than to formally discard the sovereignty of Philip, and to declare their independence as far as he was concerned. But William and the States were far from believing that they could still stand alone. The renunciation of Philip was necessary only because they wished or felt it necessary that they should adopt some other prince as their lord provided of course that their new ruler would protect their religion and their liberties. Negotiation with divers powers were continued during the whole of the War of Independence.

There were three Powers to whom they might apply—the Emperor of Germany, the Queen of England, and the King of France. The first of these seemed most constitutional. It had undoubtedly been case that in early times Holland had formed part of the German Empire, and the fact had not been forgotten in the negotiations between Philip and emperor. Had the proposition of William been accepted, the independence of Holland would practically have been secured, for the States would have occupied the position which the German sovereigns did under what was no more than the nominal supremacy of the emperor. No doubt the religion of the Dutch, Calvinism, was an obstacle, for Protestant Germany was Lutheran, and fifty years later the irreconcilable enmity of the Calvinists and Lutherans was no small cause of the disasters which Germany suffered in the Thirty Years’ War.

Another difficulty was in the family relations of the emperor and Philip. The princes of Austria, Spain, and Portugal were closely connected by family ties, and marriages often taking place between certain members of these families, by the Pope’s dispensation, which would have been impossible in any other persons. In Spain and Portugal the marriage of uncle and niece was far from uncommon, and ever more closely related persons were, as political exigencies seemed to dictate, contemplated for such unions. Besides the real assistance the Emperor of Germany could give was little. Any effectual help must come from the Protestant princes.

Elizabeth of England was in a very peculiar position. Her foreign enemies held her to be illegitimate. Her rival, Mary Stewart, was indeed in prison, and was detested in Scotland. But she had her party, and carried on her intrigues. Again, Elizabeth was very poor. The manufactures and trade of England were not developed, and she did not yet suspect that her sailors would be a match for Spain. Nor did she like the idea of patronizing revolted subjects. It was a dangerous precedent, and might be used against her. She preferred, therefore, to intrigue, to lend a favourable ear to the States, perhaps to assist them secretly—at any rate, to assist them cautiously. Even when she broke with Philip and went to war with him, she greatly hesitated. Though she knew that the Netherlands were at this time the bulwark of England and the fortress of Protestantism, she was timid and slow. She would and she would not. In the end she helped Holland more than any other state did.

The author of the massacre of St. Bartholomew had now passed away, and the last prince of the house of Valois was on the throne. He was even a more contemptible person than his predecessor, and the Queen Dowager was the real ruler. But who could trust this treacherous Court, whose perfidy was even greater than that of Spain, and whose crimes had been more colossal? Still Orange inclined to France as, indeed, his son Maurice, with better apparent reason, did. At any rate, it was well to play off the jealousy of England against the jealousy of France.

It was at this time, as we are told, that Orange seriously meditated the scheme of transferring the Hollanders from the land of their birth to a new settlement, either in the Old or New World. It might be curious to speculate on what the course of history might have been if the whole population had migrated to the United States or the Tropics, to the island of Java or to the island of Manhattan, and that either or both these places had been the home of this race instead of being its colonies. But it was destined that Europe should be the theatre of the great deliverance.

It is not certain that Orange was seriously debating the alternative of emigration. It has been confidently alleged that he was; it has been as confidently disputed. But on March 5th the Grand Commander died, after a few days’ illness. There was a lull for a time. Philip, as years passed on, became more procrastinating than ever, though he was none the less absolute and determined on the purposes which he had formed.