Council, but the secret directions of Philip to the Regent were such that the conduct of affairs was really in the hands of Granvelle (1559).

In the midst of the murmurs and fears which the organization of the government excited, the attempt was made to retain in the Netherlands several regiments of Spanish soldiers. This measure was undertaken when there was no sign of an insurrection. It was in violation of the ancient rights of the Provinces, and imposed a burden which was the more onerous, since, in the previous year, there had been universal suffering from the scarcity of provisions. Philip had pledged his word, on leaving the Netherlands, that the troops should be withdrawn within four months; but that pledge was disregarded. The disaffection increased to such a degree, that the Regent at length availed herself of a convenient pretext for sending them away. Philip reluctantly acquiesced in what she pronounced an absolute necessity, if the country was to be saved from insurrection.

The second of these irritating measures was the creation of a large number of new bishoprics. Whatever plausible reasons might be urged in favor of this measure, from the great size of the existing dioceses, and their inconvenient relations to the contiguous German bishoprics, the real design of it was not misunderstood. It was a part of the machinery to be employed for tightening the cords of Church discipline, and for the extermination of heresy. The new bishops were to be clothed with inquisitorial powers. The creation of so many important personages, devoted, of course, to the sovereign, was counted a disadvantage to the old hereditary aristocracy of the country.

The two measures of the retention of the troops, and the imposition of the bishops—measures having an ominous relation to one another-revealed unmistakably the

1 Juste, ii. 166, 279.

AGGRESSIONS OF PHILIP II.

293

policy of Philip. The apologists of the King charge the troubles that ensued upon the ambition of the nobles, especially of William, who, it is said, wanted to govern the country themselves, and did all they could to excite disaffection. It may be granted that they were not free from the influence of personal motives, and chafed under the arrangements which deprived them of their natural and legitimate place in the control of public affairs. The charge that either of them aimed at a revolution is destitute of proof. In the midst of all that is subject to controversy, two things cannot reasonably be disputed. One is that foreign domination, that is, the rule of Spanish officers, and the presence of Spanish soldiery, were as hateful to the Netherlanders as they were to the Germans. It was what contributed most to the reaction against Charles V., after the Smalcaldic war, and to the triumph of Maurice. The other fact is, that persecution, the forcible repression of heresy, after the manner of Spanish Catholicism, was repugnant to the general feeling of the people - of the Catholic population of the Low Countries. There was an atmosphere of freedom, and a state of public opinion, to which the policy of Philip was thoroughly opposed. William afterwards declared that, while hunting in company with Henry II. of France, that monarch had incautiously revealed to him the secret designs of himself and Philip for the extirpation of heresy in their dominions. In Philip's scheme for the increase of bishops, and in his detention of the troops, William saw the beginning of the execution of the plot; and he determined, he says, that he would do what he could to rid the land of "the Spanish vermin." That William looked about for a high matrimonial connection, does not indicate any deep-laid plan of unlawful personal advancement; nor in his marriage with Anna, of Saxony, was there any serious attempt to mislead Philip as to the religion to

be adopted by his bride.1 William was charged with cherishing Macchiavellian principles; but the age was Macchiavellian, and he does not appear to have often transgressed the bounds of morality in the use of that profound sagacity by which he coped with unscrupulous adversaries.

Philip renewed the persecuting edicts of Charles V. It was forbidden to print, copy, keep, hide, buy, or sell any writing of Luther, Zwingle, Ecolampadius, Bucer, Calvin, or of any other heretic; to break or to injure any image of the Virgin, or of the Saints; to hold or to attend any heretical conventicle. Laymen were prohibited from reading the Scriptures, or taking part in conferences upon disputed points of doctrine. Transgressors, in case they should recant, were, if they were men, to be beheaded; if women, to be buried alive. If obstinate, they were to be burnt alive, and, in either case, their property was to be confiscated. To omit to inform against suspicious persons, to entertain, lodge, feed, or clothe them, was to be guilty of heresy. Persons who, for the reason that they were suspected, were condemned to abjure heresy, were, in case they rendered themselves again suspicious, to be dealt with as heretics. Every accuser, in case of conviction, was to receive a large share of the confiscated goods. Judges were absolutely forbidden to diminish in any way the prescribed penalties. Severe penalties were threatened against any who should intercede for heretics or present a petition in behalf of them. To carry out these enactments, Charles had established an Inquisition, which was not only independent of the clergy of the country, but to which they were all, from the highest to the lowest, answerable. This was not the Spanish Inquisition, but it was sufficiently rigorous to lead Philip to pronounce it more pitiless than that of Spain. But, terrible as the 1 Compare Prescott, i. 485, with Motley, i. 300 seq. William's wife was to "live catholically."

2

2" Ce qu'on débite sur l'intention du Roi d'établir aux Pays Bas l'inquisi

POPULAR DISAFFECTION.

295

Inquisition in the Netherlands was, it wanted some of the barbarous features that belonged to the Holy Office in Spain. It was said by Philip, and has been urged by his defenders since, that the persecuting edicts were the work of Charles, and that his successor simply continued them in operation. This statement overlooks the circumstances that they put the authority of Charles, popular though he was, to a severe test; that they were not systematically enforced; that the cruelties inflicted under them had more and more awakened the hostility of the people to such measures; and that in the interval between the promulgation of them by Charles and the renewal of them by Philip, the new opinions had gained a wider acceptance.1

As the Inquisition proceeded with its bloody work, the indignation of the people found utterance through Orange and Egmont, who remonstrated against the cruelties which were inflicted, and complained to the King of Granvelle, on whom they laid the responsibility of everything that was done.

Granvelle is exculpated by Philip from all responsibility for the introduction of the new bishops; and he did not originate some other obnoxious measures which were laid to his credit.2 His impulses were not cruel. But the lords were not out of the way in finding in him the embodiment of the foreign domination which tion d'Espagne, est également faux; jamais le cardinal ne lui a fait cette proposition, ni lui-même n'y a pensé. D'ailleurs l'inquisition des Pays-Bas est plus impitoyable que celle d'Espagne." Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., i. 207.

1 Orange sets forth some of these altered circumstances in a letter to the Regent (January 24, 1566). He speaks of the Placards as quelquefois limités et non ensuivis à la rigeur, mêsme en temps que la misère universelle n'estoit si aspre comme maintenant et notre peuple, par imitation et practicques de nos voisins, non tant enclen a novellité," etc. He depicts plainly the fatal conse quences that will result from perseverance in the severe policy of the King. Groen Van Prinsterer, Archives de la Maison d' Orange-Nassau, tome ii. p. 19. 2 The points on which Granvelle was erroneously accused are presented by Gachard, Correspondance, etc., I. clxx. seq. (Preliminary Rapport). One of the worst things that Granvelle did was to recommend the kidnapping of William's son, who was taken from Louvain, where he was studying, and carried to Spain. There he was kept, and trained up in the Catholic religion.

was striking at the liberties of the country. Whatever opinion he might privately hold as to the wisdom of some of the measures of Philip, he never faltered in his obedience. He knew no higher law than the will of his master. The new arrangement of dioceses abridged his own episcopal power, and would naturally be unwelcome; but when he was made Archbishop of Mechlin, and then, at the intercession of the Regent, received from Rome the 'cardinal's hat, the personal dislike of the lords to him as an upstart, and their patriotic opposition to the policy of which he was the chief executor, reached their climax. The effect of the complaints of the nobles against the cardinal was to kindle in Philip's mind an inextinguishable hostility to them. At length the Regent, impatient of her dependent position with reference to Granvelle, and willing that he should bear all the odium, took sides against him. The excitement became so formidable that Philip found a pretext for removing him from the country, as if at his own request; but the Inquisition went forward with even greater energy in the work of burning and burying alive its victims. It even put to death those who were merely suspected of harboring heretical opinions. The great lords, who on the departure of the Cardinal had returned to the Council, from which they had previously withdrawn, felt that they were deemed to be in part answerable for the incessant murders perpetrated in the name of justice and religion; and when Philip determined to promulgate the decrees of Trent, the Prince of Orange broke through his reserve and startled the Council by a bold and powerful speech upon the unrighteous and dangerous policy which the government was pursuing. The general sense of the country recoiled from that strict ecclesiastical discipline, which the reactionary

1 In the letter in which he denied the truth of certain allegations against Granvelle, he asserts that this minister had never advised him to pacify the country by cutting off a half dozen heads; but Philip adds to the denial: " Quoique serait peut-être pas mal de recourir à ce moyen." Gachard, i. 207.