Catholic party in Europe were seeking to establish. It was determined to dispatch Egmont to Madrid to open the eyes of the King to the real situation. The cordiality with which he was received, and the honors that were rendered him in the Spanish court, made him satisfied with the smooth but vague and unmeaning assurances of Philip. Egmont was the more incensed, when, after his return, he found that he had been duped, and that the old edicts were to be sharply enforced without a jot of concession. The announcement that the persecution was to go on without the least mitigation, filled the land with consternation. The foreign merchants fled, as from a pestilence, and Antwerp, the principal mart, was silent. irritation of the people found a vent in a multitude of angry or satirical publications, which no vigilance of the Inquisition could prevent from seeing the light.2

The

About five hundred nobles, to whom burghers were afterwards added, united in an agreement called the Compromise, by which they pledged themselves to withstand the Spanish tyranny, the Inquisition that was crushing the country, and every violent act which should be undertaken against any one of their number. In this league were Count Louis of Nassau, a man of high courage, but more excitable and radical than his brother; the accomplished St. Aldegonde, and Brederode, whose character was less entitled to respect, but who was full of spirit and daring. They contemplated at the outset only legal means of resistance. But in their ranks were found

1 The cruel orders of Philip are given in his famous dispatch from the forest of Segovia (October 17, 1565). Gachard, i. cxxix.

2 Granvelle's correspondence bears constant witness to the general antipathy towards the Spaniards—"La mauvaise volonté que l'on témoigne ici universellement a tous les Espagnols," as he styles it, in one place (Papiers d'Etat du Cardinal de Granvelle, tome vii., p. 52). This antipathy he attributes to the industry of the lords in propagating calumnies in regard to the intention of the King to bring in the Spanish Inquisition, to rule there as he ruled in Italy, etc. Granvelle recommends the bestowal of offices and distinctions, such as places of trust in Italy, upon Netherlanders, in order to create a Spanish feeling among the friends of persons thus honored, and among aspirants for like favors.

some who hoped to mend their fortunes by political commotion. The great nobles stood aloof from the association. William especially was wise enough to perceive that it would accomplish nothing effectual, but rather imperil the cause which all had at heart. The members resolved on a great public demonstration, and waited on the Regent in a body with a petition that, until a repeal of the edicts could be procured, she would suspend the execution of them. She bridled her indignation, but Barlaymont, one of the Council, was known to have styled them "a band of beggars." They accepted the title and adopted the beggar's sack and bowl for their symbols. Multitudes of people began now to assemble all over the open country, for the purpose of listening to the Calvinist preachers and of worshipping according to their own preference. From ten to twenty thousand persons would gather, the women and children being placed for safety in the centre, and the whole assembly being encircled by armed men, with watchmen stationed to give warning of approaching danger. They listened to a sermon, sang Psalms, and used the opportunity to perform the rite of baptism, or the marriage service where it was desired. Orange obtained from the Regent the allowance that the preaching in the country, outside of the cities, should not be disturbed. The popular movement was so powerful that she found herself helpless (1566).

Philip had stubbornly refused to comply with the urgent requests of the Regent that the edicts might be softened. Two nobles, Berghen and Montigny, were sent to represent to him the condition of the country, and the extent of the popular indignation. The King at length recognized the perils of the situation, and wrote to the Regent that the Inquisition might cease, provided the new bishops were suffered to exercise their functions freely; that he was disposed to moderate the Placards, but that time would be required to mature the measure; and that the Regent might

give, not only the Confederates, but others also, an assurance of pardon. At the same time, on the 9th of August, 1566, in the presence of a notary, and before the Duke of Alva and other witnesses, he signed a secret declaration that, notwithstanding the assurance given to the Duchess of Parma, since he had not acted in this matter freely and spontaneously, he did not consider himself bound by that promise, but reserved to himself the right to punish the guilty parties, and especially the authors and fomenters of the sedition.1 He wrote also to the Nuncio of the Pope, with an injunction of secrecy, an expression of his purpose to maintain the Inquisition and the edicts in all their rigor.2 Philip has thus left behind him the documentary proof of his perfidy, of his deliberate design to break his word to a nation.

While the country was thus agitated, in the summer of 1566, there burst forth the storm of iconoclasm that swept over the land, destroying the paintings, images, and other symbols and instruments of Catholic worship, from those which adorned the great cathedral of Antwerp, to such as decorated the humblest chapels and convents. In Flanders alone more than four hundred churches were sacked. The work of destruction was accomplished by mobs hastily gathered, and was one fruit of the excitement and exasperation provoked by the terrible persecution. Magistrates and burghers, whether Catholic or Protestant, looked on, offering no resistance to the progress of the tempest. However it may be condemned, it was not exactly like the invasion of the temples of one religious denomination by another. These edifices were felt to belong to the people in common; all had some right in them. Calvinists at that period habitually

1 Gachard, i. cxxxiii. 443.

2 Ibid., 422. See also Motley, i. 531. The Nuncio, the Archbishop of Sorrento, had been sent to the Netherlands ostensibly to look after the reformation of the clergy: really, as the secret correspondence shows, in reference to the Inquisition and the extirpation of heresy.

looked upon the use of images in worship, and upon the mass, as forms of idolatry, of a sin explicitly forbidden in the decalogue. Similar uprisings of the populace took place in France and in Scotland, and from the same causes. The Protestant ministers and the Prince of Orange, with other chiefs of the liberal party, generally denounced the image-breaking. The effect of it was disastrous. What the iconoclasts considered the destruction of the implements of an impious idolatry, the Catholics abhorred as sacrilege. The patriotic party was divided, and besides this advantage gained by the government, a plausible pretext was afforded for the most sanguinary retaliation. The Regent was obliged, however, to make a truce with the Confederacy of nobles, in which it was agreed that the Inquisition should be given up and liberty allowed to the new doctrine, while the confederates in return, as long as the promises to them should be kept, were to abandon their association. Orange undertook to quell the disturbances in Antwerp, and Egmont in Flanders; the latter manifesting his loyalty to Catholicism and his anger at the iconoclasts, by brutal severities. The Regent exhibited the utmost energy in repressing disorder, and in punishing the offenders. Valenciennes, which endeavored to stand a siege, was taken and heavily punished. Order was everywhere restored. Orange foresaw what course Philip would pursue. He would not take the oath of unlimited obedience to what the King might choose to command, and separating regretfully from Egmont and Horne, who had more confidence in Philip, he retired to Dillenburg, in Nassau, the ancient seat of his family. From the moment when Philip heard the news

1 Motley, i. 570. Whether the popular leaders encouraged the image-breaking or not, is one of the disputed points. That they did is maintained by Koch, Untersuchungen über die Empörung u. den Abfall d. Niederlande von Spanien (1861) p. 115 seq. Juste (ii. 184) holds the contrary opinion. Koch writes in a polemical, partisan spirit, but some of his criticisms upon Motley are worthy of attention.

THE COMING OF ALVA.

301 of the iconoclastic disturbances, he had no thought but that of armed coercion and vengeance. While he was preparing a military force so strong that he expected to cut off all hope of resistance, he veiled his designs by assurances to the Regent and to the Council that his policy was to be one of mildness, clemency, and grace, with the avoidance of all harshness.1 It was fortunate that there was one man whom he could not deceive.

What the Regent most deprecated was the sending of the Duke of Alva to the Netherlands, to whom she had a strong personal antipathy, and whose coming, as she knew, would undo at once the work of pacification, which she considered herself, through her resolute proceedings, to have nearly accomplished. But in accordance with Alva's advice, Philip had resolved on a scheme of savage repression and punishment, and Alva was the person selected to carry it out. His reputation was very high as a military man, although his talents seem not to have fitted him for the management of large armies; he had a contracted, but clear and crafty intellect, immeasurable arrogance, inflexible obstinacy, and a heart of stone. Conciliation and mercy were terms not found in his vocabulary. His theory, like that of Philip, was that the great lords were at the bottom of the disaffection of the inferior nobility, and that these in turn were the movers of sedition among the people. Neither the King nor his General could comprehend a spontaneous, common sentiment, pervading a nation. Alva conceived that the great mistake of Charles V. had been in sparing the captive leaders in the Smalcaldic war. From the Emperor's experience he derived a conclusive argument against every policy but that of unrelenting severity in dealing with rebels and heretics. Such was the man who was chosen to settle the disturbances in the Netherlands. He conducted a body of ten thousand Spanish troops from Italy

1 Gachard, 1. xlviii. 487, 488.