her refusal the offer would be made to the king of France, operated on the other side. The envoy of Requesens, finding the deputation of the states headed by St. Aldegonde, one of the very persons proscribed by name from her ports by Elizabeth, could have little doubt how her inclination lay. Upon his complaining of the reception of a man whom she had expressly excluded, she answered, “ that he came over as a deputy to give her an account of the conference of Breda, and she was obliged, therefore, to receive him with courtesy.” She reiterated once more her assurance that she should still faithfully adhere to the league of Burgundy, which bound England and Spain to abstain mutually from aiding or protecting those whom they respectively considered rebels to their authority. This league seemed made only to be evaded or infringed. It was the constant study of the lives of both parties to violate, whilst they had the air of respecting it. Never were the courts of Elizabeth and Philip without fugitive malecontents plotting mischief against their respective sovereigns. did it, by a curious destiny in the history of treaties, last longer than many leagues much more honestly entered into, and more faithfully observed.

Yet

The deputies of the states were less easily satisfied than the envoy of Requesens. They demanded an immediate and explicit answer, in order that, if she refused, they should apply to the king of France. This touched the right chord. Elizabeth had anticipated, and was prepared for it. She had already sent sir H. Cobham to Spain to press upon Philip the expediency of making peace, in order to prevent the states from throwing themselves into the arms of France; and she despatched a special envoy to divert the prince of Orange from seeking the protection of Henry III., to which he had a manifest inclination. Thus prepared, she declined the proffered sovereignty; but gave the deputies hopes of her mediating peace with Philip, intimated that they might expect succour from her if peace could not be obtained, deprecated especially their placing them

selves under the protection of France, and privately supplied them with a sum of money.

*

Requesens, without cruelty or oppression, was operating with great activity against the states: his chief aim was to dislodge the prince of Orange from Zealand. Philip showed no disposition to make peace, though he received the suggestion without offence. Elizabeth was threatened with the necessity either of declaring herself openly, or of seeing the states crushed by Spain or annexed to France. A fortunate event rescued the Netherlands from peril, and allowed her to re-adjust herself in her position as a balancing power. A pestilential fever, or, according to some writers, the plague itself, made some atonement for its ravages in the states, by carrying off the Spanish governor, on the 5th of March, 1576. His death was so sudden that he appointed no successor, as he was warranted to do the officers who served immediately under him knew Philip too well to presume beyond their express commissions, even for his service; and the Low Countries were rescued from almost certain subjugation. The council of

werp.

Disorders The troops

state assumed the powers of government. the most dreadful immediately followed. which Requesens employed to make the conquest of Zealand mutinied for their pay, made an irruption into Brabant, plundered some villages, and seized on AntThe spirit of revolt and plunder extended to the whole of Philip's forces in the provinces. They dismissed their officers, abandoned their garrisons or occupied them as rebels, and were declared by the council enemies and traitors. The mutineers rendezvoused at Alost, and spread pillage and slaughter with wanton or infuriate cruelty. In the growing town of Maestricht, and especially in the flourishing town of Antwerp, property was pillaged, buildings were destroyed, and the inhabitants were massacred, to a lamentable extent. The states of Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault raised troops to quell the mutineers; and called to their aid

* Grot. Ann. lib. ii.

the provinces of Holland and Zealand, and the prince of Orange. In this dreadful state of disorder and anomaly, Philip, who had no alternative, confirmed the authority of the council, until the arrival of don John of Austria, his natural brother, whom he had appointed successor to Requesens.

Order and ultimate liberty grew out of this confusion. The states, those which had resisted as well as those which obeyed Philip,—were brought into communication for their common defence against several thousand miscreants, organised and armed only for pillage and bloodshed. Negotiations had been begun, and an understanding, if not a treaty, had been agreed upon at Breda after the failure of the conference with the authorities of Philip. A meeting of the states assembled at Ghent, deliberated under the protection of the prince of Orange whilst the citadel was occupied by the mutineers, assumed as the basis of their deliberations the understanding or compact of Breda, and concluded, on the 8th of November, 1576, the treaty called the Pacification of Ghent. Philip's authority was allowed; but this was the first great step in the progress of union and independence. The contracting parties were the states of Brabant, Hainault, Flanders, on the one side, and the states of Holland and Zealand on the other.

It is not uninteresting to pause for a moment upon the destiny of these respective parties. The revolution first began in the richer and larger provinces of Brabant, Hainault, and Flanders; whilst the poor and petty provinces of Holland and Zealand, struggling for their existence with penury and the surrounding waters, were hardly thought of by Philip. Yet was it from these that the prince of Orange ventured out, to make head against Alva and the Spanish power. In the assembly of Ghent they already played the leading part; and whilst Brabant, Flanders, and Hainault relapsed into slavery, Holland and Zealand grew from a small community of fishermen into an illustrious republic, disputing the wealth of Europe and Asia with Philip II.

and his successors. The cause may be stated, though it cannot be developed within the limits of these pages. It was the prevalence, in those larger and richer provinces, of a race of nobles, which, knowing no country but its caste, no cause but its selfish jealousy and grovelling ambition, thwarted the prince of Orange in his career by such measures as calling in an archduke Matthias and a duke of Alençon.

The sovereign authority of the king of Spain was still acknowledged in the pacification of Ghent. But the states bound themselves to the defence of their privileges, the expulsion of foreign soldiers from the Low Countries, and the holding of a meeting of the statesgeneral of the provinces for a permanent settlement of their affairs. It would appear extraordinary that this treaty should be approved by Philip, if his dissimu lation, his cruelty, and his instructions to John of Austria, the new governor, were not known. The league of Ghent was confirmed with his oath by don John at Brussels. The states had already subdued the mutineers, completely cleared Holland and Zealand of the Spaniards, and nearly reduced the other provinces to obedience and union. The prospects of the Netherlanders were most auspicious. "But the source of all evil," says Grotius, "still remained, in the jealous ambition of the nobles, and that other not dissimilar vice, the blind zeal of the common people for their religion; both of which, whilst they exist, will supply strength to factions, and instruments to be used against freedom."*

Tranquillity and union were thus nearly restored, when don John of Austria arrived, on the 4th of November. This famous captain was well qualified for a gallant battle or a dashing expedition, but ill suited for a governor of the Low Countries. The very mode in which he travelled would imply his unfitness for a situation which required steady character and deliberative prudence. Haunted still by the images of his abortive project of a crown at Tunis, he travelled with

* Grot. Ann. lib. ii.

his face blackened, and his hair curled as an African, until he arrived at Luxemburgh.* The states hesitated whether they should receive the new governor, and consulted the prince of Orange. His earnest advice was, that they should not receive him, until he had first confirmed with his oath the pacification of Ghent, and removed the army of Philip. Don John, instructed by Philip to concede every thing, gain the common people, then turn upon the states, and punish their rebellion, ordered the Spaniards to move towards and beyond the frontier; and was received as governor. But, with the impetuosity of his character and youth, he soon discovered his real intentions, and the states took the alarm. His designs were fully exposed by his letters, intercepted in Guienne by the king of Navarre, and forwarded by him to the prince of Orange, who communicated them to the states. They disclosed his project not only for subduing the Netherlands, but conquering England, and marrying after liberating the queen of Scots, with which the prince of Orange hastened to acquaint Elizabeth.

At this moment a difference respecting the seizure of vessels had arisen between Elizabeth and the states. It was soon arranged by the prince; and Elizabeth used all her activity and address to rescue the states, yet avoid war. She sent sir J. Smith as envoy to the king of Spain to urge him to peace; declaring that if he did not withdraw his troops, she must aid the states in maintaining their privileges, in order to prevent their annexation to France. In reply to the mission of the states which came to solicit her aid, she declared that, upon their engaging not to call in the French, and not reject fair terms if proposed, she would openly aid them in vindicating their religion and privileges, and expelling the Spanish troops. The states asked a loan of 100,000l.: she gave them 20,000l. and promised the remainder. Don John used evasion and delay, but prepared for surprise upon the states, with the more eagerness, that the pacification of the Netherlands was but a step towards his grand project. Elizabeth

* Strad. de Bell, Belg. dec. 1. lib. ix.