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., 1. 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.

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 werè 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. The 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

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. 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.