had razed because the Nobility met there to draw up an Address against the Inquisition At that time all Men believed the King of Spain had entirely lost the Netherlands for he was forced to comply with the time and ratify and approve the Peace In pursuance of this Treaty the Castles of Ghent Valenciennes Cambray Utrceht and Groeningen were demolished all Friezeland declared for the States and Gaspar de Robb who had married the Heiress of Billy and Malepert Governour of the Province was laid close Prisoner in the Town-house of Groeningen with Irons on his Legs This Gaspar a Man of Sense and Courage was Son to King Philip's Nurse and Native of Robb in Portugal He was advanced and employed by Margaret of Parma and in her time was Governour of Philipville He was released out of Prison by Vertue of the perpetual Edict which was made under the Government of Don Iohn of Austria Christopher de Vasquez who had hid himself in the Monastery of the Cordeliers shaved and disguised like a Monk was also taken and carried in that Habit into the great Square of Groeningen the people crying out in Mockery that they had got a new Bishop favourer of the Inquisition Upon this Subject I cannot forbear observing how addicted the People of these Countries are to turn their Enemies into Ridicule upon the least good Success as they did after the taking of Levarden in Friezland for the States having surprized it they brought all the Monks and Priests into the great Square where their Troops were drawn up in Battalia and placed them by Ranks between the Ranks of the Souldiers and then conducted them out of the City in the same order at the sound of Fises and Drums with incredible Mockeries and there left them without doing them any other injury than laughing at them They had already given Proofs of this Inclination to Derision and Raillery after the surprizing of the Brill in that Picture which I mentioned before where Count de la Mark put Spectacles on the Duke of Alva's Nose and at Harlem where the Citizens believing That Don Frederick de Toledo would raise the Siege made Processions of Images clad like Monks Priests and Cardinals holding the Figures of the blessed Sacrament which they flung down from the tops of their Walls I my Self at Twelve years old observed the particular bent of this Nation to Mockery My Father who was Embassador into Holland had put to Board in the Year 1622. with Doctor Iohn Gerard Vossius a German and Native of Heidelburg who has published a vast number of Learned works My elder Brother my Self and my younger Brother called Daniel who was killed in the Battle of Harlingen in the Year 1645 who had so great a Genius for the Mathematicks that he would have equal'd the Reputation of Galileus and Archimedes if Death had not snatch'd him away in the flower of his Age. That Year 1622. Maurice Prince of Orange having forced the Marquess Ambrose Spinola to raise the Siege of Bergen-op-zoom assisted by Count Ernest of Mansfield and Duke Christian of Brunswick the Cities of the Low Countries were transported with inexpressible Joy Among others Leyden joyned Derision to its publick rejoycings This Doctor 's House stood before the Square of the Church call'd Hoguetanskirk where was one of the greatest Bonfires Upon the top of the Pile was placed a great Spinning Wheel which they call Spin in Dutch and round it little Tickets of Paper on which was written the Name of Spinola General of the Spanish Army Upon the Cord of the Wheel there were other Tickets with the Names of Gonsolvo de Cordoua one of the chief Commanders of the Spanish Army Upon the Wheel was a great Distaff loaded with Flax which they call Ulasque in Dutch and upon it was writ the Name of Don Louis de Valasco General of the Horse this done they put Fire to it and the People over-joy'd fancied they had burnt these Generals with their Names This bears some Resemblance with the Rebus's of Picardy and acquainted me at that time with the raillying Humour of these People Pursuant to this Inclination of the People 't was reported with probability some years since That the Sieur van Beuningen which is the Sieur du Boudon in French had caused himself to be ingraved an a Medal like another Ioshua making the Sun stand still meaning that he had put a stop to and been the Iupiter Stator of the French King's Conquests who had taken the Body of the Sun for his device But Persons very well informed have assured me that 't was a scandal fastned on him to cast an Odium upon him and his Nation at our Court and that the Medal was never seen nor had ever any Being unless in the Imaginations of those Men who contrived the Story It is true That the united Provinces after the Peace of Aix la Chapelle all the Honour of which they assum'd to themselves puffed up with the Glory of a Treaty which they imagined so advantageous to them Coyned Medals with a pompous Motto which their Enemies call'd proud and which as I am assured was this Assertis Legibus sacris Defensis exteris Regibus Vindicata perorbem Christianum Marium libertate Egregiâ pace virtute Armorum partâ Batavia P. Which I thus translate in favour of the Ladies Having vindicated our Religion and Laws And defended Foreign Kings our Allies And established the security of Navigation in the Seas of the Christian World and made a glorious Peace by the force of our Arms the States-General c. The Consideration of which made Monsieur de Lamoignon the greatest and most famous Man in France for his Learning and Vertue say to me that the Romans after the Destruction of Numantia and Carthage the Rival of their Empire could not have talked of their Victories in more lofty and magnificent Terms At the end of the Year 1671. the States-General seeing that those Medals drew upon them the Envy and Hatred of the most powerful Monarchs suppressed them as well as they could by breaking the Coins and Molds insomuch as there remain very few unless in the Hands of the Curious These proud Medals with the continual and insolent Reflections of the Amsterdam Gazzette which took a Liberty of openly rallying all things without sparing Crowned Heads which ought always to be respected was not the least Motive of the last War 'T is this gave credit to the imaginary Medal of the Sieur Van Beuningen whose Airy and Extravagant Discourses made any thing to be believed of him Upon this Subject I may affirm with Reason that those Men are the wisest who are never arrogant in good Fortune which many easily change into bad by the ordinary Revolutions of the Affairs of this World which suffer nothing to be settled or lasting Besides Moderation make Men lamented when they are unhappy but we rejoice at the Misfortune of Insolent persons When Duke Charles of Burgundy had
February following eight days after the Defeat made sufficient amends for this Loss Don Iohn encouraged by this great Success and hoping that this Victory would be the Instrument of another advanced with great Forces to attack the Army of the States at Rimenant near Malines commanded by the Count de Bossut But the Count had intrenched himself so strongly that Don Iohn was obliged to retire in great Confusion and considerable Loss And 't was agreed on by all Hands that if the Count de Bossut had marched out of his Camp he would have intirely defeated Don Iohn who had a Crucifix in his Colours with this Motto With this Sign I have beaten the Turks and with This I will beat the Hereticks In Iuly the States-General consented to a Toleration of both Religions in the Provinces which was called the Peace of Religion which all Men were not satisfied with by this means a Third Party sprung up called the Malecontents the principal of which were Emanuel de Lalain Baron de Montigny the Viscount of Ghent Governour of Artois Valentine de Pardieu Sieur de la Motte Governour of Gavelines the Baron de Capres and others Thus the Provinces of Artois and Hainault returned to the Obedience of the King notwithstanding all the Remonstrances which the States made to them by Letters and Deputies About this time the States coined Money with the Bodies of Count Horn and Count Egmont and their Heads upon Stakes on one side and on the reverse two Horsemen and two Footmen fighting with this Inscription praestat pugnare pro patriâ quam simulatâ pace decipi It is better to fight for our Country than be deceived by a feigned peace The Malecontents to secure themselves against the States desired that the Foreign Troops might be recalled into the Netherlands contrary to the Pacification of Ghent and the perpetual Edict On the other side the States in order to their Defence treated with the Duke of Alencon whom they call'd the Defender of the Belgick Liberty upon condition that he should supply them with 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse paid at his own Charge This Treaty was concluded by the Means of the Queen of Navarre his Sister who in her Journey to the Spaw-Waters had drawn over a great number of Men to the party of her Brother whom she loved so tenderly among others the Count de Lalain and the Sieur D' Enchy Governour of Cambray A. D. 1578. in September died Don Iohn of Austria in the Camp at Namur of Grief for being suspected in Spain where his Secretary had been Assassinated or of Poyson as many are of Opinion Immediately after died the Count de Bossut General of the States who after his Death desired Mr. de la Nove Bras de fer in Consideration of his Reputation Valour Conduct and Experience in War to take upon him the Charge of Mareschal de Camp of their Army Alexander Farneze Prince of Parma succeeded Don Iohn in the Government of the Low Countries and by his Civility and obliging Carriage to all Men added to the great Promises he made strengthened the Party of the Male-Contents and weakened the power of the States About this time the 22d of Ianuary A. D. 1579. the Prince of Orange laid the first Foundation of the Commonwealth of the united Provinces by the strict Union which he made at Utrecht between the Provinces of Gueldres Zutphen Holland Zealand Friezland and the Ommelands consisting of Twenty six Articles the chief of which were these The Provinces made an Alliance against the common Enemy and promised mutually to assist each other and never to treat of Peace or War but by common Consent And all this without prejudice to the Statutes Privileges and Customs of every particular Province Which Article was broken under the Government of Prince Maurice when the States General assumed a Jurisdiction over all the Subjects of the Provinces who till that time had no other Lords than the particular States of the Province This Treaty was called the Union of Utrecht because 't was made in that City It was râ—…tified by all the Governours of the Provinces and the States to show how necessary a perfect Union was to their Preservation took those words of Micipsa in Salust for their device Concordiâ res parvae crescunt little Things become great by Concord That Year Maestricht was taken by Storm by the Duke of Parma after a Siege of four Months and a Treaty of Peace was set afoot at Cologne by the Mediation of the Emperor Rodolphus but the King of Spain refusing to grant a Toleration of Religion in the Netherlands though it had been allowed in France and Germany the design did not take effect Under the Government of the Duke of Parma many Actions passed between the Male-Contents and the Troops of the States commanded by Mr. de la Nove who surprized Ninove in Flanders and took in their Beds Count Egmont his Wife and Mother with Count Charles his Brother and carried them Prisoners to Ghent where the People as they passed through the Streets threw Dirt upon them and treated them with a thousand Indignities and abuses upbraiding them with abandoning their Country to joyn with the Executioners of their Fathers But Monsieur de la Nove after great Success was surprized himself with the few Men he had with him by the Viscount of Ghent and Marquess of Risbourg The Cause of this Accident was the Sieur Marquette's not obeying Monsieur Nove's Orders in breaking down the Bridge which led to him By order of the Duke of Parma he was carried Prisoner to the Castle of Limburg where he was barbarously treated by the Spaniards who offered to set him at Liberty provided they might put out his Eyes From whence 't is visible how apprehensive they were of this great Captain At last after a long Imprisonment he was exchang'd upon Count Egmont's Swearing never more to bear Arms against Spain of which the Duke of Lorrain and many other Lords and Princes were Guarrantees Besides his great Skill in the Art of War which is celebrated by all Historians never was a Man of so clear and dis-interested a Vertue which he gave continual proofs of during the whole Course of his Life but among the rest one very remarkable Instance Monsieur de la Nove Bras de fer was a Gentleman of Bretaigne and had a Sister married to Monsieur de Vezins a Man of Quality and Fortune in Anjou who had by her a Son and two Daughters this Sister had 20000 Crowns for her Fortune but dying young Monsieur de Vezins married a Woman who was one of her Attendants by whom he had several Children This Megere after the Death of her Husband desiring to secure to her Children the great Estate of the House of Vezins could think of no more effectual way than by delivering the Children of the first Wife her Mistress to an English Merchant for a Sum of Money upon Condition that she
this fine Hexameter Qui deditante duas triplicem dabit ille Coronam The Fury of the Leaguers thus paraphrased it in the following Distick Qui deditante duas unam abstulit altera nutat Tertia tonsoris est facienda manu Besides this in a private Cabal held by those of that party where this Execrable Design was proposed it hapning that one in the companâ—… who was more moderate than the rest demanded Who should be the Man that durst put the King in a Cloyster The Cardinal of Guise who was of a hot fiery constitution after he had reproached him for his faint â—…eartedness roundly told him That were the King in his hands he would for his head between his knees and immediately make him a Monk's Crown with the point of a Poiniard An Aâ—…r 〈◊〉 cost him very dear for after Henry III had caus'd Monsieur de Guise his Brother to be executed and was considering with himself what he should do with the Cardinal whom he had order'd to be apprehended Col. Alphonso d' Ornano Father to the Mareschal of that Name having put him in mind of these cruel words and remonstrated to him That the living Brother was infinitely more dangerous than he that was now dead had ever been the King swore he should dye and immediately sent Monsieur de Gaast Captain of the Guards with positive Orders to dispatch him This secret Solicitation of Henry III. against Mary Stuart his own Sister in Law Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France makes it appear That to preserve our selves we often sacrifice our Allies and Relations and even Religion it self to Interest and Reason of State Witness what the aforesaid Q. Elizabeth heretofore told my Father That she held her Life by the Courtesie of King Philip II. her Brother in Law although he was the greatest Enemy she had Upon this consideration she kept his Picture in her Bed-chamber and made him be looked upon by all the World as her Saviour And in effect he hinder'd her Sister Mary from putting her to death For Q. Mary Second Wife to K. Philip being a great Catholic and very infirm had reason to fear that her Sister Elizabeth who was a Protestant when she came to succeed her would banish the Catholic Religion out of England theâ—…ower â—…ower of London But. K. Philip oâ—…d the motion with all his power fearing lest Mary Stuart Heir to Q. Elizabeth who then was marry'd to K. Francis II. should one day becoâ—… Queen of Great Britain by Right of Succession and joyning it to France as it would unqueâ—…ionably happen if she had any children by tâ—…e Union of so many Kingdoms a formidable power would be erected that would uâ—…erly ruin and confound his vast design of an Universal Monarchy At this very juncture the Spaniards make Religion truckle to Interest and those Grave Gentlemen who have so often in their Writings reproached us for our Alliances with Hereticks and particularly with Holland and Sweden in order to recommend themselves with a better grace to the Court of Rome at present look upon the Hollanders as the greatest support of their Monarchy permitting them to preach publickly in their Cities Nay to show what a consideration they have for these people Admiral d'Ruyter a little before his death got a great Number of Hungarian Ministers to be released out of the Gallys of Naples whither the Emperour had sent them at one word's speaking to the Marquiss de Los-Velez the Viceroy Thus any body may perceive that 't is Interest only that governs the World and that a great Captain had reason to say That Princes commanded the People but that Interest commanded Princes Which is so palpable so apparent a Truth that the most sacred things among men have been often devoted to this wicked principle and the greatest part of Crown'd Heads observe the Rules of Iustice and Religion no farther than they find them consistent with their dearly beloved Interest As for what remains if any scrupulous person shall think sit to quarrel with my Memoirs for comparing William Prince of Orange and Admiral Colligny who were both Hereticks and both Rebels to the greatest Heroes of Antiquity yet I would not have him conclude that I have the least leaning towards Heresy and Rebellion to which I have an equal Aversion My meaning is That it is a Sign of as much if not more Vertue to make ones self a Prince of a private person than to be one and being weak to resist mighty powers than to gain Batles being born to a Scepter as Alexander and Gustavus Adolphus were Kings owe their Victories to the Valour of their Captains and Troops and sometimes to the Winds and to the Sun that is to meer Fortune Thus Cicero speaking to Caesar tells him That he acquired more glory in pardoning Marcellus and restoring his Enemy to his Estate and Dignities than if he had gained a great many Battels because his Soldiers and Officers would attribute the principal honour of it to themselves and for an undeniable Argument That the gaining of a Battle is owine to the Experience and Courage of the Soldery the Prince of Conde who had as much personal Bravery as ever any man in the World had after he had defeated at Rocroy the old disciplined Regiments of the Low-Countries and those of the Empire at Nordlingue durst not appear in Guyenne before the Count of Harcourt who had but a small Body of old experienced Troops with him altho the Prince had twice the Number of New raised men Difference in Religion ought not to diminish our Esteem of any man We have seen several good Catholicks of very shallow Understandings as for Instance the Cardinal de Pelleve who as he was once haranguing the States General broke off abruptly and made nothing on 't which gave occasion to the following Lines Seigneurs Etats excusez le bon-homme Il a laissé son Calepin à Rome On the other hand we have seen some Huguenots as for Instance Monsieur de la None whom the most celebrated Writers have compared to the greatest men of former Ages As for my self I adore extraordinary Merit where-ever I find it be it in an Heretic in a Rebel nay even in an Enemy The Duke of Lesse Viceroy of Naples has left an Eternal Monument of this Generous Maxim behind him by erecting a magnificent Tomb in St. Maries de la Nove at Naples to Peter of Navarr with this Inscription Petro Navarro Cantabro solertissimo in expugnandis Urbibus duci Consalvus Ferdinandus Luessae Princeps Ludovici filius Magni Consalvi Nepos quamvis Gallorum partes secutum Pio Sepulchri muncrum honestavit cum hoc habeat in se praeclara virtus ut ctiam in hoste sit admirabilis This Hero honour'd Vertue in an Enemy in a Rebel and in a Deserter and not thinking it sufficient to commend him in private erected a Noble Mausoleum to his Memory Caesar was not less regarded at Rome because he was
belief when King Philip was going aboard the Ship at Flushing which was to carry him into Spain The King looking on him with a great deal of anger reproach'd him with hindring the execution of his designs by his private intrigues The Prince replying with much submission that the States had done every thing voluntarily and of their own accord the King took him by the hand and shaking it answer'd in Spanish No los Estadós mas vos vos vos repeating the word vos several times which the Spaniards use by way of contempt as we say in French Toy Ioy Thou thou This particular I had from my Father who learn'd it from a Confident of the Prince of Orange who was present The Prince after this publick affront had more wit than to conduct the King aboard his Vessel but contented himself with taking leave of him and wishing him a good Voyage into Spain For he was secure enough in the City where he was well beloved and where there was a great concourse of people from all parts to see the King 's Embarkment As a further proof of his disgrace instead of having the Government of the Netherlands conferr'd on him which his Ancestors had enjoy'd and which he passionately desired he saw Cardinal Granville his Enemy at the Helm intrusted with all the secrets of the Court of Spain under Margaret of Austria Duchess of Parma and Governess of the Netherlands who had particular Orders to have an eye on his Actions and to communicate no affair of importance to him which made him resolve for the preservation of his Honour and his Life too which he saw openly threatned to support himself with the love of the People and court Foreign Alliances From hence 't is reasonable enough to conclude that King Philip by his ill usage of the Prince of Orange who had done such great Services to the Emperour his Father was himself the cause of all the Disorders in the Low-Countries For had he continued a favourable Treatment to the Prince of Orange according to the advice and example of his Father he had without dispute been a good Subject and never had taken those desperate resolutions which kindled a fire that lasted above a Hundred years and cost the Lives of so many Thousand Men and drain'd the Treasure of the Indies This ought to be a warning never to drive great Courages to despair We meet with a Thousand instances of this nature in History but particularly of Narses This famous Eunuch after all his great Services were slighted for the Empress Sophia Wife of Iustin the Second had sent him word that she would make him Spin with her Women replied That he would weave such a Web that she and the whole Empire should never be able to cover And to make his Threatnings good he call'd the Lombards into Italy who conquer'd the best part of it to which they left their Name This done without returning to Constantinople he stay'd some time at Naples where he died quietly in his Bed in spite of all the designs of this proud Empress who had sent Longinus a wicked and cruel Man to succeed him with Orders to dispatch him But before I enter upon the General History of the Actions of this Prince 't will be proper to say something of his Family leaving the Particulars which would be too tedious to the Genealogists The House of Nassaw is without contradiction one of the greatest and ancientest in all Germany For besides its high Alliances the number of its Branches and the honour of giving an Emperour near Four hundred years since it has this particular advantage to have continued Ten entire Ages and to boast with the State of Venice as a Learned Man says That its Government is founded upon a Basis of a Thousand years standing Count Oiho of Nassaw who liv'd Six hundred years since had two Wives The first brought him in Marriage the Country of Gueldres and the other Zulphen which were preserved Three Ages in the House of Nassaw After him another Count Otho of Nassaw Married the Countess of Viandden who had great Estates in the Netherlands above Three hundred years since His Grandson Engilbert the first of that Name Count of Nassaw Married the Heiress of Laeke and Breda A. D. 1404 and was Grandfather to Engilbert of Nassaw the second of that Name This Prince was great in War and Peace He won the Battle of Guinegaste punish'd the Rebellion of Bruges and was Governour-General of the Netherlands under Maximilian the First He died without Children and made his Brother Iohn Heir of all his Estates This Count Iohn had two Sons Henry and William The Lands in the Low-Countries fell to Henry's share the Eldest William the Youngest had those of Germany This is that Henry Count of Nassaw to whose strong Solicitations against Francis the Fifth Charles the Fifth owed his Empire This was he who on the Day of his Coronation put the Imperial Crown upon his Head Nevertheless after the conclusion of Peace between those great Princes when he was sent by the Emperour to do Homage for the Counties of Flanders and Artois King Francis by an incredible generosity forgetting all what was pass'd Married him to Claude de Chalon only Sister to Philibert de Chalon Prince of Orange who had been brought up by Ann of Bretan his Mother-in-law By this means Rene de Nassaw and of Chalons his only Son was Prince of Orange after the Death of his Uncle Philibert de Chalons who died without Issue William Count of Nassaw Brother to Count Henry embraced the reform'd Religion and banish'd the Catholick out of his Dominions 'T was he who was the Father of the great William of Nassaw whose Life I am writing who became Prince of Orange and Lord of all the Estates of the House of Chalons by the Will of Rene de Nassaw and de Chalon his Cosin German who was kill'd at the Siege of St. Desier A. D. 1544. and left no Children behind him The Emperour Charles the fifth who was so much obliged to the House of Nassaw was extreamly concern'd to see this young Prince bred up a Heretick with much ado he removed him from his Father and placed him near his Person in order to his Conversion to the Catholick Religion which indeed the Prince made a publick profession of as long as the Emperour liv'd and in the beginning of the Reign of Philip the Third But the prejudice of the Education and the new Religion which he had suck'd in with his Milk and had a taste of afterwards at the Court of France where the new Opinions were very much in Vogue when he was a Hostage at Paris for the Peace of Cambray made so strong an Impression on him that he could never wear it off His Father Count William of Nassaw had Five Sons and seven Daughters by Iulienne Countess of Stolbourg The eldest was this William of Nassaw Prine of Orange The youngest was Iohn Count
Canon But this proved a long and a bloody Siege having lasted from December 1572. to Iuly 1573. The Spaniards lost above Four thousand Men before it among others the Sieur Crossonier Great Master of the Artillery and Bartholomew Campi de Besoro an excellent Engineer There was so great a Famine in the City that a little Child Three years old was dug up by its Parents some days after it was buried to prolong their miserable Life During this Siege Don Frederick tired with its length and despairing of good Success talked of returning into Brabant but the Duke of Alva blaming his impatience sent him word that if he resolved to raise the Siege he himself would come in Person sick as he was to carry it on But if his Indisposition hindred him he would send into Spain for his Mother to supply the place of her Son This reproach made Don Frederick resolve to continue the Siege In the heat of the Siege the Spaniards having thrown into the City the Head of a Man with this Inscription The Head of Philip Konigs id est King who came to relieve Harlem with an Army of Two thousand Men and aftewards another with this Inscription The Head of Anthony le Peintre who betrayed Mons to the French The Inhabitants of Harlem put to Death eleven Spanish Prisoners and put their Heads into a Barrel which by Night they rolled into the Enemies Camp With this Inscription The Citizens of Harlem pay the Duke of Alva ten Heads that he may no longer make Waer upon them for the Payment of the Tenth penny which they have not yet paid and for Interest they give him the Eleventh Head As they had hopes that the Siege would be raised they suffered themselves to be transported to prophane Mockeries making the Images of Priests Monks Cardinals and Popes and then tumbled them down from the top of the Walls after they had stabbed them in a hundred places At last the City being reduced to the greatest extremity by an unheard of Famine which swept away above Thirteen thousand Persons and all hopes of relief being vanished by the defeat of the Succours which the Count de la Mark and the Baron de Balemberg were bringing to the City they were obliged to surrender at Discretion by the Crys of the Women and Children for the Men had resolved to Sally out in a Body and cut out an honourable passage with their Swords through the Enemies Army The Spaniards forced the Citizens to pay a great Summ of Money to hinder the entire Destruction of the place and hang'd and drown'd above Two thousand Persons in some few days among others all the Ministers the principal Men of the City and the Officers of the Troops Wibald Riperda Governour and Lancelot a Bastard Son to Brederode were both beheaded The Cruelty of the Spaniards at Harlem instead of doing their Cause Service ruin'd it and made the People resolve rather to suffer the last Miseries than submit to so Cruel and Tyrannical a Government Thus the little City of Alkmar bravely repulsed all their Attacks and the Prince of Orange surprized Gertrudemberg which belonged to him in his own Right and which covered Dordrecht About the same time Maximilian de Henin Count de Bossut a famous Captain and very much valued by the Duke of Alva who was made Governour of Holland was taken in the Zuider-Zee which is the Sea of Amsterdam and his Fleet defeated by that of the Prince of Orange His great Ship was also taken which he called the Inquisition to reproach the Dutch with the principal Cause of their revolt This Count was carried to Horn where he remained Prisoner Four years till the Pacification of Ghent The Spaniards having taken Prisoner at the Hague Philip de Marnix Sieur de St. Aldegonde Minister of State to the Prince of Orange he assured the Duke of Alva that he would treat the Count de Bossut in the same manner as he did St. Aldegonde The Prince of Orange can never be enough commended for his good Nature in treating the Count with so much Kindness and Civility though not long before he had corrupted a Burgomaster of Delft and prevailed upon him to betray the Prince and deliver him into his hands whilst he was walking out of the City But the Conspiracy was discovered by a Letter intercepted from the Count to the Burgomaster About that time the Duke of Alva and his Son were recalled into Spain King Philip having found out too late that their Cruelty confirmed the Low-Countries in their Rebellion Lewis de Requesens great Commander of the Order of St. Iames in Castile and Governour of Milan who had a great share in the famous Victory of Lepanto succeeded the Duke of Alva in the Government of the Netherlands The Duke at his Departure boasted that he had put to Death by the hands of the Hangman above Eighteen thousand Men yet cruel Vargas who returned into Spain with him cryed at parting that his Clemency and Gentleness had lost the King the Netherlands A. D. 1574. Middleburg the Capital City of Zealand having been a long time defended by that renowned Captain Christopher de Mondragon and endured a great Famine and after the defeat of the Spanish Fleets who attempted in vain to relieâ—…e it was reunited to the rest of the Province This Siege lasted two years and the Spaniards spent above Seven Millions in the several Fleets they set out to Succour it The Prince of Orange so successful at Sea had always ill Luck at Land For the fourth Army which Count Lodowick of Nassau brought him out of Germany to assist him in driving out the Spaniards from the rest of Holland was defeated near Nimeguen by Sancho D'Avila a General of great Experience who from a private Souldier had advanced himself through all the Degrees and Employments of War to that great Command The Germans of Count Lodowicks Army instead of providing for their own and their General 's Defences fell to Mutiny according to their usual Custom and demand their Pay In this Action Count Lodowick and his Brother Count Henry of Nassau and Christopher Count Palatine were all three killed D'Avila remained Master of the Field of Battel of Sixteen pieces of Canon and all the Baggage This Battel was fought in the beginning of the Government of Requesens The Prince of Orange who loved his Brothers tenderly was sensibly afflicted with this loss But he abated nothing of his Constancy and Courage A. D. 1575. the Spaniards encouraged by the defeat and death of the two Brothers of the Prince of Orange laid Siege to the City of Leyden which after a long and unparallell'd Famine was miraculously saved by breaking down the Banks which drowned a great many Spaniards and by the Succours which was conveyed into the City by an infinite number of Boats that swam on the Lands that were overflown When the Prince represented to the States the Damage which the breaking down the Dikes
would occasion they replyed that a Country spoiled was worth more than a Country lost But in regard this was a very memorable Siege I think fit to say in general that they had built two hundred flat bottomed Boats with Twelve thirteen fourteen sixteen and eighteen Oars The greatest carried two pieces of Canon before and two on the sides they sent for Eight hundred Seamen from Zealand who had all little pieces of Paper in their Hats with this Inscription Rather serve the Turk than the Pope and Spaniard upbraiding them with the violence they used to their Bodies and Consciences This Fleet was Commanded by the Admiral Louis Bossut One of the Seamen having plucked out the Heart of a Spaniard eat it publickly all raw and bloody so violent is the Aversion and Passion of these Country-men They had no Bread in the City for Seven weeks and their daily allowance to a Man was half a Pound of Horse-flesh or Beef but by good Fortune to the City that very day the Spaniards drew off Twenty six Fathoms of the Wall fell down and a North wind dryed up the greatest part of the Water and they must unavoidably have fallen into the power of the Spaniards if they had stayed only one day longer Such an Accident happened at Rochelle for a little after the surrender a tempest broke down a great part of the Bank In this Siege they made Paper Money with this Inscription Haec libertatis imago They Coyned Tin Money at Alkmar and had Five hundred Rix dollars for Five thousand pieces of that Coin Before the Relief of Leyden Ferdinand de la Hoy the new Governour of Holland and the Sieur de Liques Governour of Harlem sollicited the Citizens of Leyden to surrender flatterring them with a good and favourable Treatment They answered him only with this Latin Verse Fistula dulce canit voluerem dum decipit anceps Continuing to perswade them by Letter to a Surrender they replyed That they would defend themselves to the last Extremity and that if they hadspent all their Provisions and had eaten their left hands they should have still their right hands remaining to guard themselves from the Tyranny of the Spaniards and that they remembred the Cruelties which had been committed at Malines Zutphen Harden and Harlem The Prince of Orange after the relief of Leyden was received into the City as a God He preserved and embalmed seven Pigeons in the Town-house in token of his perpetual Acknowledgement of the Service they did him in carrying the Letters of the besieged to him and his Answers back again At that time he founded the University of Leyden setled annual Revenues upon it and endow'd it with great Privileges The Year before the Prince having lost his second Wife Anne of Saxe married Charlotte de Bourbon Daughter to the Duke of Montpensier who had retired to the Court of Frederick the Third Elector Palatine The Marriage was celebrated at the Brill where she was conducted from Heydelberg by the Siegneur de St. Aldegonde She had been a Nun formerly and Abbess of Iouarre The Father a zealous Catholick demanded his Daughter of the Elector by Monsieur the President de Thou and after that by Monsieur D'Aumont The Elector offered to restore her to the King provided she might be allowed the free exercise of her Religion but Mr. de Montpensier choosing rather to have his Daughter live at a distance from him than see her before his Eyes make profession of a Religion which was so much his Aversion gave at last his Consent to the Marriage and gave her a Fortune After the Siege of Leyden a Treaty of Peace was set a foot at Breda but it did not take effect The States of Holland and Zealand demanded the departure of the Spaniards out of the Netherlands the meeting of the States General and the liberty and exercise of their Religion Requesens on the contrary offered to withdraw the Spaniards and a general Act of Oblivion of all things passed and the Re establishment of their Privileges but added that the King of Spain would never tolerate any other Religion in his Dominions than the Roman Catholick The Treaty of Peace being broken of the States Coyned Money on one Side of which was stamped the Lyon of Holland holding a naked Sword with this Motto Securius bellum pace dubiâ War is safer than a doubtful Peace About the same time the Commander Requesens made himself Master of Zirczee in Zealand by the incomparable Gallantry of Christopher de Mondragon who waded over several Leagues of the Sea to the Amazement of all the World and the great hazard of his Troops But Requesens dying not long after the Spanish and German Soldiers mutinyed for want of Pay and fell to ravage all the Country They sack'd Maestritcht and Antwerp it self where the loss was computed at Twenty four Millions in Money and other moveables and in the Destruction of houses The plundering of this great City lasted several days and was called the fury of the Spaniards many of whom made their Guards of their Swords and Corselets of pure Gold but the Goldsmiths of Antwerp mixed Copper with it The Spaniards made Prisoners in Antwerp Count Egmont the Seigneur de Goignie and the Baron de Capres This last making a low Bow to Hieronimo Rhode chief of the Muniteers who sate in an Elbow Chair at the entrance of the Citadel received a kick in the Belly from this insolent Spaniard who told him by way of Scorn that he had nothing to do with his reverence The Spanish and German Troops after the taking of Antwerp living with insupportable Licentiousness and committing great Barbarities the Provinces who continued firm to the obedience of the King of Spain called in the Prince of Orange to their assistance for they lay exposed to all the Robberies and Insolence of those Mutineers and declared the Spaniards Enemies to the King and Country At that time all the Provinces of the Low Countries except Luxemburg which is divided from the rest united for their common defence and made the famous Treaty of Peace at Ghent A. D. 1576. containing Twenty five Articles the principal of which were That there should be a general Amnesty of all that was past That all things should continue in the same posture they were in at that time They took a solemn Oath to mutually assist each other to free the Country from the Yoke of the Spaniards and other Foreigners That all Placarts and Condemnations which were made upon the Account of the late Troubles should be suspended till the meeting of the States General That all Prisoners particularly the Count de Boissut should be set at Liberty That the Pillars Trophies and Statues with Inscriptions which had been Erected by the Duke of Alva should be pluck'd down particularly that which was set up in the Court of Antwerp and the Pyramid he had raised in the place where the Hotel de Culembourg stood which he
help you if not the Devil take you Body and Soul and all the standers by cryed Amen By Virtue of this Edict all Prisoners were released on both sides the Count Egmont the Sieur de S. Goignie the Sieur de Capres and others in the Custody of the Spaniards and Gaspar de Robb and others by the States This done Don Iohn was received into Brussels in great State as Governour-general of the Low-Countries But beginning to oppress the Provinces pursuant to the private Orders he received from the Court of Spain which were discovered by several Letters intercepted which Don Iohn and his Secretary Escovedo writ in Cyphers to the King and his Ministers which Philip de Mornix Seignieur de St. Aldegonde decyphered This made them resolve to oppose his pernicious Designs by Force of Arms. Don Iohn under a pretence that they had a Design upon his Person retired from Brussels and having received the Queen of Navarre into Namur surprized the Castle of Namur and then Charlemont and made preparations for War and recalled the Spanish and German Troops He called that day he seized the Gastle of Namur the first of his Government as Henry the III. afterwards called the Day of the Murther of the Duke of Guise the first of his Reign The States took up Arms on their side demolished the Castle of Antwerp and joined themselves to the Prince of Orange But the States-General assembled at Brussels demanding the free Exercise of the Catholick Religion in Holland and Zealand he made answer that he could make no Alterations in that Affair without consulting the States of these two Provinces who had the sole and absolute Power of doing it This was a fundamental Maxim of that State which was afterwards changed by the Factions and Force of Arms under the Government of Prince Maurice his Son as I shall manifest in his Life Prince William of Orange being arrived at Breda with his third Wife Charlotte de Bourbon he was invited by the States to come and encourage them by his Presence For this Effect the Burghers of Antwerp went out to meet him and conducted him into their City where the States-General deputed to him the Abbots of Villiers and Marotes the Barons de Fresin and Capres to beseech him to come in all haste to Brussels The Prince went to Brussels through the New-Canal attended by the Burghers of Antwerp who marched in good Order on one side of the Canal and on the other side by the Burghers of Brussels all in gilt Armour who came out of their City to meet him He was receiv'd into Brussels with great magnificence and Triumph with incredible Acclamations of Joy by all the World Immediately he was declared Governour of Brabant and Superintendant of the Finances of the Provinces Upon this we may observe that tho' the Life of this Prince has been cross'd by strange Disappointments and Misfortunes capable of sinking a Man of less Resolution than himself Yet these Accidents were sweeted from time to time with those secret pleasures and Delights which the most Stoical and insensible Men are overjoyed at as the Acclamations and Applauses of the People whose Hearts and Affections he entirely possess'd Other Princes command only the Bodies of their Subjects without having any Empire over their Minds which ought to make up the noblest part of their Dominions But as Envy is the inseparable Companion of Vertue and a great Reputation is often more dangerous than a bad one this pompous Reception of the Prince of Orange added to the Authority his great Birth Experience and Merit gained him in the States and in the Hearts of the People procured him the Jealousy of many Lords and Gentlemen of Quality the chief of whom were the Duke Arschot newly made Governour of Flanders the Marquess of Havret his Brother the Count de Lalain and his Brother the Siegneur de Montigny the Viscount of Ghent Count Egmont the Sieurs de Compigny de Rassinguem and de Sueveguem and many others This jealous Party dispatched privately the Sieur de Malstede to offer the Government of the Low-Countries to the Archduke Matthias Brother to the Emperor Rodolphus He made so much hast and pressed the Archduke so strongly to depart that he was arrived at Cologne from Vienna before 't was known that they had sent for him These Gentlemen imagined that they should have all the Management of the Government under the Archduke who would consider them as the Authors of his Establishment and at the same time should ruine the Authority of the Prince of Orange by giving him a Superiour of that Quality But the Prince of Orange who had the Art of Complying with all Times and turning Poison into Antidotes made a Modest Complement to the States General for not acquainting him with so important a Resolution as they had taken of sending for the Archduke whereas nothing ought to be transacted without the common Consent of all especially Matters of such Consequence But he made no Opposition to the Reception or Establishment of the Archduke Then having brought over to his party the Count de Lalain who had the chief Command of the Army he managed Matters so well by his Address and Submissions that he gained the Archduke who was made Governour of the Netherlands upon certain Conditions and he himself was declared Lieutenant-General by majority of Voices in the States and the Archduke in consideration of his great Abilities trusted him with the intire Management of Affairs In this manner the Prince of Orange by his good Conduct and Prudence turn'd that Storm upon his Enemies which they raised with Design to ruin him For the Duke of Arschot the head of the Faction had the Mortification to be seized in the Capital City of his Government Ghent by a Creature of the Prince of Orange Rehove who bore the greatest Sway in that large City And to make his Grief the more sensible his best Friends the Bishops of Bruges and Ypres and the Sieurs de Ressinguem and de Sueveguein and many others of his Dependants were seiz'd on at the same time Don Iohn of Austria having been declar'd Enemy of the Low-Countries by the States-General the 7th of September 1577. recall'd all the Spanish and Italian Troops who had retired out of the Netherlands in pursuance to the perpetual Edict with a great Body of Germans under the Command of Alexander Farneze Duke of Parma Son to Margaret of Austria formerly Governess of the Netherlands With this Reinforcement the last day of Ianuary An. Dom. 1578. he defeated the Army of the States at Gemblours commanded by the Sieur de Goiguin in the Absence of the Count de Lalain and the principal Officers who were at a Wedding in Brussels for which they were extreamly censured All the Cannon was taken with 30 Colours and 4 Cornets But the Reduction of the Famous City of Amsterdam which surrender'd to the States and was united to the Body of Holland the 8th of
should never see them more The Merchant carried them immediately to Iersey and Guernsey No one knew what became of the Daughters but the Foreign Merchant having more good Nature than the Mother in Law took pity of the Boy and brought him with him to London where he bred him up and taught him the Trade of a Shoomaker This Boy when he was grown up travelling up and down the Country happened to be in Flanders at the time that Monsieur de la Nove commanded the Army of the States and bringing him some Shooes Monsieur de la Hove having narrowly view'd him told those that were about him that this young Lad had much of the Air Stature and Mien of his Brother in Law de Vezins Though he was exposed at the Age of 4 or 5 years he still retained some memory of his Name his Country and what he was and told him that his Name was Vezins and that he was a French Man by Birth But the great Business of Monsieur de la Nove hinder'd him from making further Enquiry into the Matter at that time Some years after being released from his Imprisonment at Limburg and retiring to Geneva this same young Man who travelled over the World as Apprentices do once more meeting him when he had no Affairs after having very well examined him and besides the general Resemblance discovered some particular Marks which those of the Family de Vezins bore he resolved to make him be acknowledged Heir of that House and in order to it contrary to his own Interest made all the necessary Proceedings in Anjou at the Council and Parliament for the recovery of the Estate but being kill'd at Lambette in Bretaigne with a Musquet Ball before the Affair was compleated his Son Odel de la Nove whom I have seen in my youth Embassador extraordinary into Holland a Man that pursued the generous Example of his Father put an end to the Process and by a famous Decree made him be declared Heir of the House of Vezins which the Children of his cruel Mother in Law had so long usurped These Heroick Actions of the Father and Son can never be sufficiently praised which the curious Reader will be glad to learn and the Example of so rare a Vertue may Spâ—…r on a generous Mind to an Emulation of such noble Performances In this time the Prince of Orange who had been made Governour of Flanders was at Ghent where he altered the Magistrates of the City erected contrary to their Privileges by the Violence of Iohn Imbese a turbulent daring Fellow who had at that time the chief Authority of the City Imbese retired into Germany to Prince Casimir Palatine who had formerly brought such a great Body of Horse to the Assistance of the States that they had much more been harass'd and inconvenienc'd by them than relieved or defended But he returned again to Ghent and domineered there for some time with a Guard of 30 Halberdiers who still accompanied him but in the end a contrary Faction setting up against him as nothing is more changeable than the Affections of the People he was arrested tryed and beheaded An. Dom. 1580. the Prince of Orange represented to the States-General that Considering the Desertion of some Provinces and the Falling off of a great many Men who quitted their Party to reconcile themselves to Spain by the means of the Duke of Parma they could no longer defend themselves against so powerful an Enemy and that they were obliged either to make an Accommodation with Spain which he would never advise them to do when they could have no Security for their Lives or Religion or else to chuse some neighbouring Prince for their Lord and that he could think of none more proper than the Duke of Anjou and Alencon only Brother to Henry the III. King of France Which Resolution the States approving of they sent Deputies into France the most considerable of whom was Philip de Mornix Seigneur de S. Aldegonde who made a Treaty with him in September An. Dom. 1580. at the Castle of Plessis les tours The Heads of which were That the States of Holland Brabant Flanders Zealand Utrecht and Friezland would acknowledge him for their Sovereign Prince and his Posterity after him upon Condition that he should leave Matters of Religion in the same Posture they were in at that time and preserve the Privileges of the Provinces That he should hold an Assembly of the States-General every year who nevertheless should have power to meet when they pleased That he should put no Man into any Employment Place or Government of the Provinces without their Consent And that if he invaded their Privileges and broke the Treaty he should forfeit his Right and that they should be absolved from their Oath of Fidelity and have power to elect a new Prince The Archduke seeing that there was no further Occasion for his Presence in the Netherlands and that they were looking out for a more powerful Protection withdrew after having received Thanks and many Presents according to their Abilities and the Times leaving behind him the Reputation of a good and moderate Prince But his Enemies in the End made him suspected of holding Intelligence with the Spaniards The Prince of Orange with all his Power sollicited the coming of the Duke of Alencon to support himself and his Country with so considerable a Prince but more particularly because in Iune 1580. the King had published a terrible Proscription against him in which he upbraids him with the Favours he had received from the Emperor among others for having secured to him the Succession of Renè de Nassaw and de Chalon Prince of Orange That he had made him Governour of Holland Zealand Utrecht and Burgundy Knight of the Golden-Fleece and Councellor of State That though he was a Stranger he had loaded him with Honours and Riches for which he made him very ungrateful Returns That by his Instigation the Nobility had presented the Address against the Inquisition That he had introduced the New Religion into the Low-Countries and disturb'd the Catholick Religion by the breaking of Images and demolishing Altars That he had made War upon his Lord That he had opposed all the Pacifications even that of Ghent and broken the perpetual Edict that in short he declared him an ungrateful Man a Rebel a Disturber of the publick Peace a Heretick a Hypocrite a Cain a Iudas one that had a hardned Conscience a profane Wretch who had taken a Nun out of the Cloister to marry her and had Children by her a wicked and perjur'd man the Head of the Troubles of the Netherlands the Plague of Christendom the common Enemy of Mankind That he out-law'd him and gave his Life his Body and Estate to him that could seize on it and to free the World from his Tyranny he promis'd upon the Word of a King and as a Servant of God Almighty to give 25000 Crowns to any man that should bring
penny he answers That his not being punished for it is sufficient Proof that he had Orders to do it And that he cannot escape the Imputation of a Tyrant for Imposing this Tribute or suffering so great a Boldness committed against his Will to go unpunished He adds that the Duke of Alva had too much Sense to dare settle so severe an Imposition without the express and reiterated Orders of the King and that otherwise he would never have fined the Burgo-master of Amsterdam 25000 Florins for opposing the raising of this new Tax That the King would have done much better to preserve the Kingdom of Tunis and Guletta which the Emperor had conquered from the Turks and which he preferred to all his other Victories than to make an unjust War upon his own Subjects But that his Passion and Fury had transported him so far that his Eyes and Understanding were blinded and hindred him from seeing the ill Measures he had taken And that he chose rather to expose his Weakness to his Subjects than employ his Forces against the common Enemy of Christendom He adds that as Hannibal had sworn the Ruin of the Romans upon the Altars of his Gods so the Duke of Alva had vowed the Destruction of the Netherlands which is visible from the Cruelties he committed there That if a Master is known by his Servant they might easily guess at the good Affection the King bare to the Low-Countries by the Tyranny of this unrelenting Minister When the King says That the Pope dispenses with him from keeping his Oath the Prince answers That he does not consider that by breaking his Oath at the same time his Subjects were absolved from their Oath of Fidelity He adds That the Duke of Alva was preparing to hang the principal Men of Brussels for refusing to submit to the raising of the tenth Penny and that the Hangman was ordered to get ready seventeen Ropes that the Dictum of the Sentence was already writ and the Spanish Soldiers going to their Arms to guard the Execution when the happy News of the Taking of the Brille arrived and saved them from the Gallows Speaking of the perpetual Edict he says it was concluded by the Artifice of the Spaniards contrary to his Advice and that of the States of Holland and Zealand That there was no other Difference between the Duke of Alva and the Commander de Requesens and Don Iohn but that the last could not dissemble as well as they nor conceal his Venom so long For 't is undisputable from the Letters which were intercepted that he had the same Orders as the other Governours had to oppress the Low-Countries When they charge him with Breaking the Pacification of Ghent and the perpetual Edict he answers That 't was the Spaniards that broke it by restoring no man to the possession of his Estate or Charges and by detaining the Prisoners That the King had given Orders to Don Iohn not to observe the Peace as appears from the intercepted Letters and that when he swore to it 't was on Condition that he would keep it till he repented of it as he explained himself to some Deputies of the States Thus the Peace of Ghent and the perpetual Edict being once violated 't was in the Power of the States to provide for their own Defence by explaining enlarging and altering the Treaty That he is extreamly concerned at the Insolencies which the Soldiers committed in his Governments though they were not to be compared with the intolerable Outrages of the Spaniards He Complains of the Treachery of many Lords and Gentlemen of the Netherlands who preferred their own private Interests and the Spanish Tyranny to the Good of their Country which they have torn by their Division and might have rendred flourishing by their Union Inveighing against the Infidelity of his false Brothers called Male-contents he says He cannot enough admire the Inconstancy and the unsettledness of their Resolutions They serve the Duke of Alva says he and the Commander Requesens like Servants and make a vigorous War upon me Immediately after They treat with me are reconciled and declare themselves Enemies to the Spaniards Don Iohn arrives they follow him and contrive my Ruin when Don Iohn miscarries in his Attempt upon Antwerp they quit him and recall me I am no sooner come but contrary to their Oath without acquainting me with it they call in the Archduke Matthias And him too they immediately forsake and without giving me notice send for the Duke of Anjou and promise him Wonders and then abandon him and join with the Duke of Parma upon which the Prince cries out Are the Waves of the Sea or the Euripus more inconstant than these Men who consented to this Proscription when 't was my Courage and Firmness that restored them to the Enjoyment of their Estates and Places When they say that he got the Government of Brabant and Flanders by Intriguing and making Parties he answers in a Word That these Governments were conferred on him at the Desire of the States and by a general Approbation When they endeavour to make him odious by saying that he loads the People with Impositions he replies That they are laid on by the Consent of the People and if the King raises such excessive Taxes upon his Subjects to oppress Holland and Zealand and the other United Provinces why should not they have the same Liberty allowed them in order to defend themselves from the Spanish Tyranny When they blame him for turning out those Officers in the Cities who were well affected to the King he says That they were Enemies to the Country and he did well to drive them out When the King taxes him with the Credit and Authority he had over the People as a great Crime he answers that 't is a great Honour to him that they have chosen him for their Defender against so cruel a Tyranny which has kindled so just an Hatred and Aversion in all their Hearts When they reproach him with hating the Nobility Yes says the Prince those who degenerating from their Ancestors and not treading in their generous Steps betray their Country and join with those who endeavour its Ruin When the King says that the Peace treated at Cologne by the Mediation of the Emperor Rodolphus was judged reasonable by all men of Sence the Prince says That it follows thence necessarily that all those who think it unreasonable and deceitful have neither Reason nor Judgment For what Appearance is there continues he that a People harrassed and impoverished by so long a War would refuse an equitable Peace with their Prince unless it appeared to be a Bait or a Blind only to surprize them That this Peace projected at Cologne was worse than War and that the Honey of a treacherous Tongue is more dangerous than the Point of a Sword That if the Emperor thought this a reasonable Peace he was perswaded so by the Betrayers of their Country When they object to him the
Union of Utrecht which they reckon the worst and greatest of his Crimes he answers That the Spaniards like nothing that contributes to the Interests of the States and what is wholesome to the Oppressed is mortal to the Favourers of Tyranny That their Enemies had grounded all their Hopes upon their Division against which there is no such Specifick as a Good Union nor a more certain Antidote against Discord than Concord which has prevented and made useless all their Intrigues and Intelligences He owns that he was the Author of this Union and speaks it so loud that he wishes that not only Spain but all Europe may hear him Upon which he exhorts the States to preserve it and to practice the Moral of the Bundle of Arrows tied together by one Band which they bear in their Arms. Instead of blushing at it he glories in an Action so conducive to the Preservation of their Liberties When they upbraid him with driving out the Church-Men he denies that he ever did so till George de Lalain Count de Renneberg Governour of Freizland surprized Groningen by Treachery and the Massacre of the principal Burghers among others the Burgo-Master Hillebrand a Man of the greatest Authority in the City having supped with him and caressed him the better to over-reach him the day before this infamous Surprizal And that they could not reproach him that in all the Troubles and Confusions stirred up by the Spaniards he ever stained his Hands in the Blood of the Confederates who relied on his Faith When he is accused of driving out some of the Nobility he denies it and declares that they retired voluntarily through the Terrour of their Consciences having openly contriv'd the Ruin of their Country and Wou'd to God added the Prince all they who are like them would follow them to rid the Country of all Fear He says 't is ridiculous to call him Hypocrite who never dissembled with the Spaniards When he was their Friend he talked freely to them and foretold them by Word of Mouth and Writing that those rigorous Persecutions would ruin them That being forced to become their Enemy to support the Liberty of his Country what Hypocrisy can they charge him with unless they call Hypocrisy the making open War upon them taking their Cities driving them out of the Country and acting against them with all the Vigour the Right of a just War entitles him to That if they will take the Pains to read over his Defence which he published 13 years since to justify his Taking up Arms they will see the Letters of a King who is a Hypocrite and Dissembler who thought to surprize him with fair Words as now he thinks to daunt him with Threats When King Philip calls the Prince of Orange Desperate as Cain and Iudas he says 't is a quite different thing to distrust the Grace of God who cannot Lye and to suspect the Words of a treacherous and deceitful Man Witness the poor Moors of Granada Count Egmont Horn and many others That the fall of Cain and Iudas was Despair caused by the dreadful Sins they had been guilty of to which State he was not yet reduced his Conscience upbraiding him with nothing But the Style of a Man in Despair is visible in this Heathenish and Turkish Proscription When he accuses him of Distrust and says it is an ordinary thing with wicked Men he makes an Apostrophe to Cardinal Granville whom he believed the Authour of this Proscription in these Terms And thou Cardinal who hast lost so much time at the College unless thou callest that Learning to be trained up in thy Youth in the Arts of Lying and Deceiving what answer canst thou make to that sententious Orator and Lover of his Country when he says that Distrust and Jealousy is the strongest Bulwark of Liberty against Tyranny Which was said against another Philip a puny Tyrant in comparison of this Dom Philip who has out done the greatest and whose Tyranny the divine Philippick it self is not able to express Consider of it and I for my part says the Prince will speak write and ingrave every where this fine and useful Sentence And would to God I may be better believed by my People than Demosthenes was by his who suffering themselves to be imposed on by such Villains and Dissemblers as thou art were in the end utterly ruined When the King reproaches him with refusing very advantageous Offers which were made him upon condition he would retire into Germany and abandon the States he says the Spanish Folly and Impertinence cannot be sufficiently admired who endeavouring to blacken and defame him raise his Reputation by owning that he preferrs the Safety of the States and their Liberty to his own Repose and Native Country That he would willingly be freed from all his Troubles and Disappointments and enjoy his Estate and the Presence of his Son in Peace But since this could not be effected without perjuring himself and betraying the States violating his Faith and abandoning them to the Cruelty of their mortal Enemies No Consideration of his Estate his Life Children or Wife should prevail upon him to deliver them over a Prey to the Spaniards to be worried and massacred by them He concludes 't was a very great Crime which they reproach'd him with to be a Man of Honour and of unshaken Firmness and Constancy not to be wrought on by Threatnings nor Promises And that on those false Accusations the King and Spaniards have grounded this barbarous Proscription full of Calumnies Abuses and inconceivable Imprecations which he is no more frighted with than Philibert of Orange was with the Bull which Pope Clement the VII thundered out against him who for all that made him his Prisoner He declares to the States and all Europe that whatever Spaniard or whatever Man in the Spanish Interests says or shall say as this Proscription does that he is a wicked Man and a Traitor lyes speaks falsely and against the Truth That though the Spaniards forbid him the use of Fire and Water in spite of all their Rage he will live by the Assistance of his Friends as long as it pleases God who alone has the Disposal of Life and Death and who has numbered all the Hairs of his Head As for his Estates he hopes God willing that the Purchase of them will cost the Spaniards so dear that they will be obliged to seek out others elsewhere at an easier rate As for those they wrongfully detain from him he hopes to dispossess them and that they never usurped the Possessions of a poor Prince who proved a greater Burthen to them When the King promises 25000 Crowns to any Man that shall bring him alive or dead to make him a Gentleman if not so before with a full Pardon of all his Crimes how hainous soever he answers that if a Gentleman had been guilty of so villainous an Action no man of Honour would eat or drink with the Wretch or endure his
Presence That if the Spaniards reckon such Men Noble and if this is the ready way to Honour in Castile no wonder all the World believes that the most part of the Spanish Nobility are descended from the Moors and Iews who sold our Saviour's Life for ready Money and that they inherit the Vertue of their Ancestors Upon this Subject the Prince writes that the Just God has taken away the King's Understanding who by the ennobling of Villains and pardoning of the greatest Crimes would destroy the Defender of a People tyrannized over That he has the Impudence to mix the Name of God with so many abominable Promises though he calls himself the Minister of God and assumes the power of not only permitting what God forbids but of rewarding it with Money Nobility and indemnity of all their Offences The Prince concludes by a Persuasive of Union to the States and not to suffer themselves to be dazled with the false Praises the King gives those who forsook them contrary to their Oath to scatter Division among them His Enemy gives out that his Quarrel is only to the Prince of Orange as Author of all these Troubles and the War which will last eternally so long as he lives imitating the Wolves in the Fable who published that their Design was only on the Dogs the Keepers and Guardians of the Flock to devour afterwards the Sheep at their Leisure But for a Proof of the King 's Dissembling and his Cruelty when he was absent in Germany the Country was as much persecuted as ever As many were drown'd hang'd and burn'd as before and the Liberty of the Country was extreamly well maintained by their mild Governour the Duke of Alva That the King 's principal Design was to root out the Religion the only bulwark of the State without which it could not support it self three days For they of the Reformed Religion could repose no Confidence in Spaniards or Papists He repeats once more that Union and Religion may defend and protect them from all their Enemies and concludes in these Words That he would willingly purchase their Ease and Repose at the Expence of his own Banishment or Death That Exile and Death upon these Conditions would be grateful and agreeable But if they thought his Life might contribute to the Defence of their Liberties he offered them his Assistance Industry and Blood it self which he would spill to the last Drop in their Preservation The Prince of Orange would willingly have had the States-General publish this Apology in their Name But some Provinces finding the Reflections on the King to be too severe and bitter and not being acquainted with the Crimes he imputed to the King thought it not proper They contented themselves with declaring by a Decree That the Prince of Orange was wrongfully accused that he had accepted the Government at their earnest Desires and offer'd to maintain a Troop of Horse for the greater Security of his Person Desiring him to continue to defend their Liberties and promising all Obedience and Deference to his Commands and Counsels which they acknowledged to have no other aim but their Safety Not long after An. Dom. 1581. the City and Castle of Breda were surprized by Claude de Barlaymont Count de Hautepenne by the Means of the Baron de Fresin kept prisoner in the place by Order of the States upon Suspicion of holding Intelligence with the Spaniards the Truth of which he confirmed as much a Prisoner as he was by causing the City to be surprized by the Means of one Soldier whom he had gained over to his Party This was a great Loss to the States and a sensible Affliction to the Prince whose hereditary Estate this City and its Territories were This is an Instance that a Prisoner ought never to be kept in a Frontier-Town but in the Heart of the Country for as they think of nothing but setting themselves at Liberty and all their Thoughts are bent that way they are always contriving Methods and inventing Ways to bring it about 't is in effect Nourishing a Serpent in our Bosom and there needs nothing more to take an Impregnable Fortress than the corrupting of a Centinel when the Enemy is in the Neighbourhood who may come at the time appointed to Petard or Scale the place We should have seen in our time a remarkable instance of a Surprize of this Nature to the great Advantage of the Arms of France if Hatred and Revenge had not born a greater Influence over the great Minister than the Glory of his Master or the Good of his Kingdom But this Mystery has lain concealed hitherto for fear of his Resentment who governed all things with an absolute Authority in the last years of the Life of Monsieur the Cardinal de Richelieu The Story is this After the Defeat of Honne Court in May 1642. Don Francisque de Mello Governour of the Low-Countries put several Prisoners of Quality in the Castle of Ghent to the Number of Seventy The principal of whom were the Count de Rantzau since Mareschal of France the Marquess de Roquelaure now Duke and Governour of Guyenne the Marquess de St. Maigrim kill'd at the Battle of St. Anthony and the Sieur de Lalen Captain in the Regiment of Piedmont who died afterwards at Cremona commanding the French Infantry of the Army of Italy This Monsieur de Lalen was originally of Lyons of mean Birth but of extraordinary Valor and Fidelity which might give him just Grounds to hope for the highest Employments of War Monsieur de Rantzau impatient in his Prison obtained Leave of the Spaniards to send Monsieur de Lalen into France to propose some Exchange of Prisoners But during his stay at Court where the variety and multitude of Business hinders their speedy Dispatch and where Monsieur de Noyers who hated him did not take much pains to get him his Liberty Monsieur de Rantzau tired with the long Stay of Monsieur de Lalen and holding a secret Correspondence with me by Letters who did him all the good Offices at Court of which I was capable upon the Account of the Esteem and Friendship I had for him he complained extreamly in all his Letters of Monsieur Lalen's being detained so long at a time when his Presence was necessary for a great Design which he had projected At length overcome by his Impatience he writ me a long Letter in Cyphers part French part Latin by which he advised me that nothing was easier than to surprize the Cittadel of Ghent by the Means of the Hollanders who were Neighbours to it and the Prince of Orange might advance near with a Body of Foot without giving the least Jealousy and in short desired me to go to Court and make this Proposal But in Order to make appear how easy this Enterprise might have been put in Execution 't will be convenient to insert the proper Terms of the Letter which was writ in Cyphers a Copy of which I
Murtherer being killed by the Halberdiers of the Prince and Papers found in his pocket which proved him to be a Spamard they were undeceived and the People who had run to their Arms to revenge his Murther on the French at the Cloister of S. Michael where the Duke of Anjou lodged retired to their Houses The Prince of Orange to appease the Tumult with much Difficulty writ a Letter with his own Hand to the Magistrate to assure him that the Spaniards were the Authors of this Attempt The Grief and Concern of this great City for the Wounding of the Prince cannot be expressed Immediately publick Prayers were appointed and as long as he continued in Danger the People stayed in the Churches praying to God for his Recovery When he was well they kept a general Fast and the whole Day was imployed in thanking God for restoring to them the Father of their Country When he was in a Condition to travel the Duke of Anjou carried him to Ghent and Bruges where another great Conspiracy against those Princes was discovered The chief Man concerned in it was Nicholas Salvedo a Spaniard who confessed that he had received 4000 Crowns from the Duke of Parma to make away the Duke of Anjou and the Prince of Orange by Poyson or any other way and that he followed them in order to put his villainous Design in Execution Francis Baza an Italian and Native of Bresse one of his Complices was arrested likewise and confessed the same thing but before Execution stabbed himself with his Knife to prevent the Severity of the Punishment which was preparing for them Salvedo was carried to Paris where by a Decree of the Parliament he was drawn in pieces by four Horses in the Greve The wretched Salvedo seeing himself a Prisoner in the Conciergerie accused Monsieur de Villeroy in hopes to save himself by making so great a Man a Partner in his Guilt or at least suspend the Punishment he deserved But no Credit was given to so Hellish an Accusation of a Minister of the greatest Abilities and the most devoted to the Good and Interest of the State of all those who ever had the Administration of France And it must be acknowledged to his Honor that in all the Fury of the League he was the Man that prevented its falling into the Hands of Foreigners and after a Ministry of fifty years died poorer at the End than the Beginning of his Greatness His Father had been likewise Secretary of State and his Grandfather of the same Name De Neville was so under Francis the First and Superintendant of the Finances The Duke of Anjou imitating the Conduct of Rehoboam who ruined himself by following the Counsel of the young Men by the Advice of the Sieurs de Fervaques S. Agnan de la Rochepot and other hot-headed young Fellows that governed him without acquainting the Prince of Orange the Duke of Montpensier Count de Lavall nor any other Lords who were capable of giving him good Counsel resolved contrary to his Oath and against all Justice to seize the same day on all the most considerable Cities of the Netherlands as Dunkirk Dendermonde Bruges and Antwerp it self not being able to bear any longer the great Authority of the Prince of Orange and so limited a Power complaining to be only a Sovereign in Name And for a Proof of his just Resentment and in his own Justification he alledged that the People of Antwerp had taken up Arms to destroy him in his Lodgings and having rebelled against him by so rash an Act he was consequently absolved from his Oath Thus he surprized Dunkirk Dendermonde and some other places but missed of Bruges and Antwerp when he thought himself Master of it for though he had poured into the City 17 Companies of Foot supported by all his Army which he had advanced near the Walls under pretence of making a review of it nevertheless the Burghers ran in all hast to their Arms and made so brave a Resistance that the French were obliged to retire in Disorder to the Gate by which they entred where there was made such a terrible Slaughter of them that 't was impossible for those without to succour their Friends within for there were Mountains of dead Bodies pil'd in Heaps one upon the other which block'd up the Entry and cut off the Retreat of the French of whom there were more stifled than kill'd In this bloody Dispute called the Enterprize upon Antwerp there were killed only 83 Burghers and 1500 French among whom were 300 Gentlemen who were all buried without Distinction in a great Ditch And as the people of these Counties who are much of the same Humour with the Germans in all extraordinary Events make Computations upon the Numbers they observed that this Deliverance fell out in the Year 1583 which Number made up that of the 83 Burghers and 1500 French who were killed that day The Duke of Anjou having miscarried in his Attempt surrendred by a Treaty made with the States all the Places he had possessed himself of and returning into France died of Grief in his Appenage of Chateau-Thierry in the beginning of the next year with the Reputation of a violent and unsettled Temper The Flemmings believed that the Prince of Orange was concerned in the Attempt the French made to surprize Antwerp and his Enemies and Enviers which great Men never fail to have made use of this false pretence to lessen his great Credit and of his fourth Marriage with Louise de Coligny Daughter to the Admiral de Chastillon whom he married after he had lost his third Wise Charlotte de Bourbon who died at Antwerp not long after he was cured of his Wound which was a visible proof as they said of his Inclination to the French who at that time were had in Execration by all the Netherlands Seeing himself thus suspected and that the Party of the States declined in the Walloon Provinces he retired into Holland where he thought his Life in greater Security and less exposed to those Attempts which Superstition on one side and the Reward promised in the Proscription on the other made every one ready to undertake against his Person He chose the City of Delft for his ordinary Residence where at the Beginning of the year 1584. he had a Son born called Henry Frederick Grandfather to the present Prince of Orange who did not degenerate from the Vertue of his Ancestors Prince William employed Philip de Mornix Seigneur de S. Aldegonde in the Management of his greatest Affairs and made him Burgomaster of Antwerp when he left it He was a Man of Quality Integrity and Learning About the End of his Life he made use of Iohn Barneveld whom he valued very much upon the account of his Honesty and great Capacity Having been almost overset with the Tempests which had been raised up against him and having a Heart above the Storms he took for his Devise a Sea-Gull or Didapper in Latin
Mergus with this Motto Saevis tranquillus in Undis Undisturb'd in the midst of the stormy Waves He behaved himself with so much Sweetness and Civility to the common People that he never wore his Hat as he walked through the Streets where People of all Ages and Sexes crowded to see him His most intimate Friends assured my Father that in his Passage through the Streets if he heard a Noise in any House and saw a Husband and Wife quarrelling he entred heard the Difference patiently perswaded them to a Reconciliation with incredible Sweetness The Breach made up the Master of the House asked him if he would not taste his Beer the Prince said yes the Beer brought the Burgher according to the Fashion of the Country begins the Prince's Health in a Gup which they call a Cann and which is usually of blew Earth then wiping off the Froth with the palm of his Hand presented the Can to the Prince who pledged him And when his Confidents told him that he condescended too much to Men of such mean Quality and treated them with too much Civility the Prince used to answer that what was gained by pulling off a Hat or a little Complaisance was bought at a very easy Rate No wonder after this that he was so universally lamented by the People when he was unhappily assassinated in the 51st year of his Age. 'T was done by one Baltazar de Guerard a Gentleman of the Franche Comtè and Native of Villefons in the County of Burgundy who in Hopes of a Reward or pretending to merit Heaven by taking out of the World an Enemy to the King and the Catholick Religion killed him at Delft as he rose from Table with a Pistol Shot loaded with three Bullets of which he died without saying any thing more than Lord have Mercy on my Soul and this poor People This dismal Accident happened in the presence of Louise de Coligny his fourth Wife and the Countess of Schouarzebourg his Sister whom he loved very tenderly and who never forsook him and was present at Antwerp when Iouregny wounded him This Villain had insinuated himself into the Acquaintance of the Prince under the name of Francis Guyon Son to Peter Guyon of Besancon who suffered for Religion He had always the Huguenot Psalms in his Hands and was a constant Frequenter of Sermons the better to conceal his Design Insomuch as the Prince trusted him and sent him upon several Dispatches and at the very Moment he assassinated him he demanded of the Prince a Pass-port to go somewhere where the Prince was sending him He was but 22 years old and made appear as much Constancy and Resolution in suffering the Punishment of his Crime as Boldness in undertaking it He repeated a hundred times that if he had not done it he would do it again and when his Flesh was plucked off his Limbs with burning Pincers he did not utter the least Cry or Groan which made the Hollanders believe he was possessed by the Devil and the Spaniards that he was assisted by God Almighty so different are the Opinions and Passions of Mankind The Marks of the Balls which entred into a Stone of the Gate after they had gone through the Body of the Prince are shown to Strangers at this day in Delft in Holland and I my self saw them when I was young Thus died William of Nassaw Prince of Orange and these are his principal Actions which are like so many solid Pillars upon which he has erected the great Fabrick of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces There was need of as vast a Genius and Capacity as his was to undertake so great and difficult a Work an unparallelled Courage to carry it on to the End and an unheard of Constancy in arriving to it in spite of the formidable Power of Spain and the domestick Treasons which crossed his generous Designs After this I believe no Man will accuse me of an Hyperbole for ranking this great Man among the Heroes of Antiquity and asserting that the Life and Vertue of the Admiral de Coligny bore a great Resemblance with that of the Prince of Orange They had both a very great share of Conduct Wisdom and Moderation They both had the Address to clear up and unravel the most perplexed and embroiled Affairs Both heard more than they talk'd They had both the Art of persuading and were full of good Counsels Both possessed the Hearts the Esteem and the Veneration of all those of their Party Their Courage was above their Misfortunes and their Constancy in supporting them was admirable Both were often routed and still found some glorious Resources in all their Adversities Both had to do with the most powerful Kings of Christendom Both made use of the Assistance of England and Germany to maintain themselves Both lived in the same Time and out-lived 50 years Both supported the same Religion and established it one in France the other in the Low-Countries Both were proscribed and Prices set on their Heads The Prince was seconded in his Wars by the Courage of Count Lodowick Adolphus and Henry of Nassaw his Brothers And the Admiral was supported in his by the Counsels of Odel de Coligny Cardinal de Chatillon and by the Valour of Francis de Coligny Seigneur d' Andelot Colonel-General of the French Infantry his two Brothers In fine both died a violent Death and by Treason and both equally dreaded The powerful Princes whom they had attacked not thinking themselves secure till they had cut off these two great Men and not being able to compass it by open Force and War made use of Treachery and Fraud to bring it about The Prince would never have perished as the Admiral did for he would never have committed himself to the Power of his Enemies being of the same Opinion with the Man who said that when a Subject draws his Sword against his King he ought to throw away the Scabbard The Prince died by giving all sorts of Persons too free Access to his Person at a time when Superstition was the Motive to such horrible Attempts and perhaps by being of Caesar's Opinion who told his Friends when they advised him to guard himself and make himself fear'd That 't was better to die once than live in continual Apprehensions of Death As soon as the News of his Murder was spread about nothing was to be seen over all Parts in the Cities but Tears nothing to be heard over all the Villages of the Country but Lamentations as if all had lost what was most dear to them The People of the United Provinces in the Celebration of his Funeral shewed the greatest Mourning which was ever heard of and their Affliction went even to Despair The Funeral Pomp was very Magnificent all the Nobility assisted at it and the chief Men of the Provinces in deep Mourning followed by an incredible Number of People of all Conditions Prince Maurice his Son followed the Corps having on his Right Hand
long Combat where abundance of persons of France England and the Low Countries ran from all parts to see from the shore so extraordinary a spectacle The greatest part of so powerful a Fleet was burnt destroyed or separated and those which escaped put themselves under the covert of some English Vessels and so retreated into the River of Thames or some Port in Flanders The Spaniards lost above 7000 men that were burnt or drowned besides 2000 who were made Prisoners by the Hollanders This Victory was very great and memorable for there were 40 large Vessels sunk burnt or taken and amongst others the great Galeon of Portugal called Mater Tereza was burnt which was 62 foot broad and had 800 men on board who all perished This Tromp was the Father of Count Tromp who was engaged in the King of Denmark's service and gained great advantages over the Swedes In the year 1641 Prince Henry Frederick married his only Son Prince William to the Princess Mary of England eldest Daughter to Charles I. King of Great Britain and Madam Henrietta of France and this Marriage was celebrated with a great deal of Pomp and Magnificence The year 1645 was remarkable for the taking of the important Town of Hulsh in Flanders which was carried in spite of the Spaniards who could neither put succors into it nor make Prince Henry raise the Siege This Prince during the space of two and twenty years that he had the Government in his hands was remarkable for his wife and moderate conduct Because the Princess Louise de Coligny his Mother had maintained Barnevelt's Party some people thought that the Prince following his Mothers inclinations would re-establish that Party and recall such of them as had been banished and among others Mr Grotius But this Prince like a good Politician thought it better to let things continue in the posture he found them in than to embroil'em afresh by bringing a prevailing party upon his back I have seen Mr. Grotius in a great passion upon this occasion and he has spoke very ill of the Prince accusing him of Ingratitude and of having no respect for those who had been Friends to his Mother Prince Henry was very rich but instead of finding any support from England he was forc'd to help King Charles in his necessity with all his ready Money The greatest part of which has been repaid by the King of England since his Restauration to his Nephew the Prince of Orange Henry Frederick died the 14th of March 1647 and was buried with a great deal of State Besides his Children that we have mentioned before he left a Natural Son remarkable for his Valor his name was Mr. Zulestein Collonel of the Dutch Infantry who died at the attack of Vorden Prince William of Orange laid the Foundation of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces and was their first Founder his eldest Son Maurice secured and established this Commonwealth by his Victories which forced the Spaniards in the Treaty of Truce for 12 years to acknowledge the United Provinces for a free State and Henry Frederick Brother to Maurice and Grandfather to the present King of England by the continuation of his Conquests at last forced the Spaniards to renounce entirely the right which they had pretended to that Country so that we may say with reason and justice that this illustrious Father and his two generous Sons who have imitated his Vertues are the Founders of this Commonwealth which sends Ambassadors that are covered before the most powerful Kings in Christendom even before the King of Spain himself whose Vassals they were about 100 years ago Henry Frederick had for his devise this word Patriaeque Patrique intimating thereby that he thought of nothing but serving his Country and revenging the Death of his Father WILLIAM II Prince of Orange THE LIFE OF WILLIAM II. Prince of Orange THis Prince was born in the year 1626 the States General were his Godfathers and by the appointment of his Father was called William after the name of his Illustrious Grandfather In the year 1630 this young Prince was declared General of the Cavalry of the Low Countries and the year following the States granted him the Survivorship of the Government of their Province He was no sooner of Age to bear Arms but he followed his Father to the Army and was present at the Siege of Breda giving great proofs of his Courage though but 13 years old Immediately upon the death of his Father Frederick Henry he took the Oath of Fidelity to the States for the Government of which they had granted him the Reversion All Europe was in a profound Peace upon conclusion of the Treaty at Munster which was done the next year after Prince Henry's death The States considering the vast Debts they had contracted by the extraordinary Expences they had been obliged to make resolved to retrench all unnecessary ones having a great number of Troops in their pay that were of no use now the War was at an end they proposed to disband a considerable part of them William the Second who had succeeded in all the Places of the Prince his Father and knowing very well that nothing but the Army could support the credit of the Places he was possessed of made a strong opposition to this design of the States General He represented that it was against all the Rules of Policy to disband Troops who had been so faithful to the Provinces and that France or Spain might make use of this opportunity to fall upon their Common-wealth in a time when they could not be in a condition to defend themselves The States who were already resolved to break 120 Companies to make some sort of satisfaction to the Prince offered to continue the ordinary Pay to the disbanded Officers The Prince agreed to this proposal but the Province of Guelders and the City of Amsterdam opposed and protested against it for several reasons They who were in the Prince's Interests advised him to visit the principal Cities of the Netherlands to perswade the Magistrates to take a Resolution of leaving not only the Officers but the Troops in the same condition they were in before the War that they might be in a readiness to serve where-ever there was occasion Pursuant to this advice the Prince having sent for the principal Collonels of the Army went in person to four or fiveCities of Holland The Burghers of Amsterdam who were well assured that the Prince would visit them too and apprehending his presence would cross the Resolutions they had taken desired him by their Deputies to put off his intended Journey to this City for several Reasons which they gave him Haerlem Medemblic and several other places followed the Example of Amsterdam The Proceedings of these Cities was so considerable an Affliction to the Prince and incensed him so much that in a meeting of the States General he resented it with inexpressible concern He endeavoured to insinuate to them by a great number of Reasons
to force the Prince out of his retrenchments they were forced to retire with loss and to abandon their works All this while the frontier Towns and Garrisons in the Province of Holland sell every day into the hands of the Enemy which made the people complain openly and distrust the fidelity of those that governed The Inhabitants of Dort were the first that rose and sent one of their Captains to the Magistrates to know whether they were resolved to defend the City or to sit still The Magistrates answered that they were ready to resist the efforts of those that should attaque them and to do all that could be expected from them the people demanded at the same time to see the Magazines But the Keys being missing this put the Mobb into so great a serment that there were a thousand voices crying out at the same time That there was Treachery in the case That they would have the Prince of Orange to be their Head and Governour threatning to murder the Magistrates upon the spot if they did not immediately comply with their demands These menaces so terribly alarmed the Magistrates that they dispatched Commissioners that very moment to his Highness desiring him to come to their City with all possible haste to prevent by his presence the insurrection of the people The Prince alledged several reasons to them to convince them how dangerous it was for him to leave the Army but all was to no purpose they persisted still in their demand till at last the Prince resolved to grant what they desired Being therefore with great solemnity conducted to the Town-Hall they intreated him to signify his pleasure to them To which his Highness answered that it belonged to them to make proposals to him since they were the occasion of his coming After some demur they requested him that for the satisfaction of the People he would be pleased to visit the Fortifications and Magazines of the City without taking the least notice of making him Stadt-holder to which the Prince freely consented and to that effect made the tour of the Town immediately But at his return the people suspecting that the Magistrates had deceived them as well as they had done the Prince flocked in great multitudes about his Coach and boldly asked him but with a great deal of respect for his person whether the Magistrates had made him their Governour or no His Highness having modestly answered That he was content with the honour they had already done him and that he had as much as he cou'd desire they unanimously declared That they wou'd not lay down their Arms till they had chose him Stadt-holder So that at last the Magistrates terrified with the menaces of the people and not knowing what other measures to take in so critical a juncture were not without some repugnance constrained to accomplish what they had before only done by halves So difficult a matter it is for men to lay aside a settled hatred and aversion that has once taken root in their hearts Upon this they passed an Ordinance to abolish the perpetual Edict which the Prince refused to own unless they would absolve him of the Oath he had taken when he accepted the Charge only of Captain General which they gave him likewise by this Ordinance So they immediately made another Act which was read in the great Hall by the Secretary by which the Magistrates declared his Highness the Prince of Orange to be Stadt-holder Captain and Admiral General of all their forces as well by Sea as by Land and gave him all the power dignity and authority which his Ancestors of glorious memory had enjoy'd After this the whole City rang with acclamations of an universal joy and the arms of the House of Orange were immediately placed upon the Towers and Ramparts Only Cornelius de Wit an ancient Burghermaster coming from the Fleet sick and indisposed said he wou'd never sign the Act whatever instances were made him to do it He was pressed after an extraordinary manner not to refuse the signing of it but neither the perswasions of the chief men of the City nor the threatnings of the people who were ready to plunder his house nor the tears of his Wife who was sensible of the great danger he was in cou'd prevail with him to alter his resolutions Nay it went so far that his Wife threatned to show her self at the Window and declare her own innocence and that of her Children and to abandon him to the fury of the populace but all this made no impression upon him Dort was not the only place that rose up after this manner All the Cities of Holland and Zealand where the Burghers took notice of the ill conduct of their Magistrates did almost the same thing So that upon a report made by the Deputies of the respective Cities the States of Holland Zealand and Friesland did not only confirm what had been done by the City of Dort but in a full Assembly of the States they presented his Highness with some publick Acts by which the Prince was absolved from his first Oath of Captain General and at the same time was invested with the Dignity of Stadt-holder together with all the rights jurisdictions and priviledges heretofore granted to his Predecessors In conseâ—…ence of which his Highness the very same day in the Hall of Audience took the place of Stadt-holder Captain and Admiral General of the United Provinces with the usual Ceremonies and afterwards returned to the Army that was encamped at Bodegrave From this very moment as if the re-establishment of the Prince had inspired the people with new Courage a body of five thousand French were twice repulsed before Ardemburgh and without counting those that were killed upon the place were forced to leave five hundred Prisoners behind them amongst which were several Officers and persons of Quality and all this effected by the extraordinary bravery of no more than two hundred Burghers 'T is true that the Women and Boys assisted them no body being spared upon this occasion which will be an everlasting disgrace to France that looked upon the City as good as in their own possession The Burghers of Groningen did not defend themselves with less Courage and good fortune against the Bishop of Munster than those of Ardemburgh had done against the King of France For that Bishop having besieg'd this City with an Army of twenty five or thirty thousand men he was obliged to raise the Siege with the loss of almost half his Souldiers after he had been at a prodigious expence in buying all sorts of Ammunition and Instâ—…ments of War necessary to make himself master of that important place In the midst of this extraordinary zeal the people show'd for the Prince an accident happen'd that served to confirm him more effectually in their affection and occasioned the death of two of his greatest enemies For a Chyrurgion having accused Cornelius de Wit Bailiff of Putten with having secretly proposed
to him to poison or kill the Prince of Orange after examination of the matter the Baoliff was apprehended and put in Prison and altho he denied what was laid to his charge by throwing back the same crime upon his Accuser in order to justifie himself to the Prince and People nevertheless being confronted with the Chyrurgeon who still persisted in his Accusation which he confirmed by a promise that he said the Bailiff had made him of 300000 Franks for a recompence and of six Ducatoons which he had given him in hand and by several other circumstances usual in affairs of this nature the Court of Holland after they had maturely considered the report made by the Advocate General condemned Cornelius to be divested of all his dignities and employments and to be perpetually banished out of the Territories of Holland and Friezeland But the people seeing the States had pushed on the matter so far and imagining that a Criminal who was treated with so much severity wou'd have received a greater punishment if the Judges had not favoured him began to murmur at the Sentence as too mild and gentle and immediately ran towards the Prison with weapons in their hands It hapned at this moment that Iohn de Wit came in his Coach to take his Brother out of Prison when one of the Burghers dropping these words amongst the people Now the two Traytors are together and it is our fault if they scape us This was enough to animate the Mobb who were heated enough before but another thing happen'd that helped to exasperate them more which was that whilst the people were waiting for the coming out of the two Brothers some body or other had maliciously spread a report that above a thousand Peasants and Fishermen were marching towards the Hague to plunder it Upon which another Burgher saying Come along Gentlemen let us make these Traytors come out follow me and I will show you the way These words inflamed them to the highest degree so they immediately burnt the Prison-gates drew out the two Brothers by main violence dragg'd them about the streets murder'd them and cut them to pieces crying aloud Behold the Traytors that have betray'd their Country Thus fell Cornelius and Iohn de Witt two sworn Enemies of the House of Orange 'T is commonly pretended that Iohn was Author of these politic resolutions viz. the exclusion of his Royal Highness from all his Offices of the perpetual Edict and of the Qualities requisite for a Stadt-holder Min Heer Fagel succeeded the Pensioner in his place the Prince of Orange having approved his election The Elector of Brandenburgh writ a Letter to the States in favour of the Prince telling them that since he heard his R. Highness was re-established in the dignities of his Ancestors he did not doubt but Heaven would prosper a resolution so advantageous to the public especially since he knew the Prince inherited all the Vertues of his Glorious Predecessors protesting besides that he found himself obliged since his Elevation to contribute all that lay in his power to assist the Prince to recover and preserve what his Ancestors had acquired at the expence of their own blood with so much reputation to themselves About this time the Prince being resolved to dislodge the advanced Guards of the French made a Detachment of Horse and Foot and with them gives an Alarm to the Enemy whom he chased as far as their trenches before Utrecht disheartened with the loss of their own men before Cronemburgh While both Parties were thus busied in the Feild there was great changing of the Magistrates in most of the Cities to the great satisfaction of the Inhabitants who now hoped to see their Country enjoy its ancient Tranquillity His Highness not being any longer able to suffer the corruption of Military Discipline which had been so fatal to the Republic in general ordered several Officers to be punished for their Cowardice and Treachery But nothing touched him so sensibly as to see the Season almost past without any considerable action which made him resolve to attack Narden For this purpose he commands Coll. Zulestein and Count Horn to advance the first to take his quarters between Utrecht and Narden and the other to intrench himself at Polanen on the Mill side His Highness intrenched on that part near Bodegrave with four Regiments The Duke of Luxemburgh made all imaginable haste to relieve the besieged and with about eight or nine thousand men fell upon the quarter of Coll. Zulestein but was repulsed with loss and forced to retire The Town was afterwards batter'd in a very furious manner and reduced to such extremities that they sent Deputies to capitulate But in this interval the Duke of Luxemburgh having received a new reinforcement marched by a way full of water by the help of some Peasants who served him as Guides he once more attacqued when they least expected him the very same quarters of Coll. Zulestein from whence he had been beaten the night before and after a bloody resolute dispute wherein the Collonel was slain having refused quarter the Duke at last threw three thousand men by way of relief into the Town Nevertheless he was repulsed the second time by Count Horn and forced to leave his Prisoners behind him Of the French there were 2000 killed and fifty Officers who dyed of their wounds within 5 days after the engagement without reckoning those that lost their Arms and Legs upon this occasion Which caused so great a consternation amongst the French that were at Utrecht that after this time the Officers drew lots when they were go out in any Parties against the Prince of Orange Of the Hollanders were slain Six or Seven Hundred Men besides Coll. Zulestein and a Lieutenant Collonel His Highness seeing the City had received so considerable a relief retired to his own Quarters with the honor of a compleat Victory and raised the Seige without the least loss having defeated almost five entire Regiments the greatest part of their Officers being either slain or mortally wounded and having twice repulsed an old General who had never succeeded in his design had it not been for the perfidiousness of the Peasants After the unsuccessful attempt upon Narden his Highness assembled a Council of War at which the principal Officers of the Army assisted and having commanded the Horse that were quartered at Helden to hinder the English Merchandise from being transported from Rotterdam to Brabant he marched himself to Rosendael which was the place of the general Randezvous from whence with an Army composed of Twenty four Thousand Horse and Foot he took his march directly to the Country of Liege At his approach the Count de Duras who was at Moseyk retired with his Army to Vassemburgh and higher towards the River Roer 'T was believed that his Highness's principal design was to chase the French from their quarters near the Meuse and give battle to the Count de Duras who commanded the Enemy's Troops in
time the French still advanced on that side where the Imperialists lay posted but Count Souches instead of ranging his men in Battel quitted his post and passed the River in so much haste that he left some pieces of Cannon behind him which his Highness had sent him and cou'd not be recover'd without extream danger By this means the Prince of Conde having an open passage entred the Town with part of his Army and he had certainly gained that Advantage as to cut off all mannâ—… of Communication between the Confederates had it not been for a great Fog that arose on the sudden and prevented his design The Prince of Orange considering the present state of his affairs was of opinion that it was the best way to draw off and so followed after the Imperialists and the Spaniards whom he joyn'd within a league of Oudenard but finding that by reason of the great opiniatrete of the former he should be able to effect nothing here he was resolved to return the same way to Grave where his presence was so necessary to carry on the Siege leaving Count Waldeck to command the Army in his absence The Prince arrived befor this place on the ninth of October with sixty Troops of Horse and tho the Besieged who were now reduced to great extremities defended themselves with great vigour and resolution till the 25th of the same month yet the Marquess de Chamilly seeing it was impossible to hold out against a general assault because of the great breaches in the works demanded a cessation of Arms for three or four hours and after Hostages on both sides the City surrendred on very honourable conditions and thus ended this Campaign The year 1675 began with the Addresses of the Burghers wherein they thanked his Highness for the mighty services he had done them in delivering them from the calamities and miseries they had suffered under the tyranny of a foreign Enemy In consideration of which they offer'd him the Soveraignty of the Dutchy of Gueldres and Earldom of Zutphen with the Titles of Duke of Gueldres and Count of Zutphen But the Prince reflecting with himself that the accepting of this offer would give matter of jealousy to some persons and give others occasion to infer that he only aimed at his own Grandeur in this war to convince the world of the sincerity of his intentions he judged it the best way to refuse these Honours but at the same time did not refuse the offer they made him of being hereditary Governour of that Province This he readily accepted and after he had taken the Oaths reformed several abuses that had got footing during the Enemy's usurpation there And now by reason of the continual alarms the People were in upon the occasion of the French King's resolutions who was to open the Campaign himself in Person in the beginningâ—… of the Spring he continually applied his thoughts upon the war and for that end always assisted at those Conferences where they debated upon their military affairs He was at Cleve to confer with the Elector of Brandenburgh who entertained him with great magnificence and soon after his arrival at the Hague fell ill of the Small-pox which news caused so much the greater consternain the United Provinces because that disease had been fatal to his Family in the Person of his Father his Mother and the Duke of Glocester but by the care and prudence of an able Physician and by the assistance of some remedies which the Elector of Brandenburgh sent him he recovered his health to the universal joy not only of Holland but all the Confederates No sooner was he perfectly recovered but he repaired to the general rendezvous at Rosendael for the King of France being now upon his march in Brabant it was necessary for the Prince to observe his motions and so much the more because Limburg which was besieged by the Marquis de Rochefort demanded a speedy relief For this reason his Highness parting with his Army from Duffel joyn'd the Dukes of Lunenburg and Lorrain at Gangelt with a resolution to raise the Siege And in all probability it had come to a Battel between the French King and the Prince since the King who was then at Maestricht having received advice of the Prince's march had repassed the Meuse at Viset to oppose his design but the City not being any longer able to sustain the great numbers of their Enemies surrendred sooner than was expected After the taking of Limbug the King of France encamped near Tillemont ravaging all the Country round about Louvain Brussels and Malines He had a mighty desire to make himself master of Louvain but his Highness and the Duke de Villa Hermosa watched him all along so narrowly that he durst not undertake it so that finding he was able to do no more content with having gained Limburg he returned to Paris leaving the Prince of Conde to observe the Prince of Orange And to say the truth both these wary Generals watched one another so carefully that they cou'd not gain the least advantage one over the other But the Prince of Conde was soon commanded to go into Alsatia after the death of the Mareschal de Turenne Our Prince therefore had now to do with a new General the Duke of Luxemburgh but who in prudence and conduct was by no means inferiour to his great Predecessor His Highness had nevertheless this advantage over him that he hindred him from ravaging the territory of Triers so that after the fatal and entire routing of Monsieur de Crequi that City fell into the hands of the Imperialists France having thus sustained two mighty losses in the death of Turenne and the Defeat of Crequi the D. of Luxemburg rather than run the hazard of receiving a third which perhaps might have proved mortal suffer'd the Prince of Orange to take Bins before his face when there were 350 men in Garrison and great store of Provisions His Highness ordered all its Fortifications to be demolished to render it unserviceable to the Enemy and finding the season now well advanced dispersed his Army and came back to the Hague The calamities of war which had for some years afflicted and depopulated the greatest part of Europe were so extremely great and deplorable that several Princes moved with compassion did deliberate of the most proper means to stop the progress of those miseries under which the people languished Tho this design was so highly advantageous to Christendom in general yet it did but slowly advance till at last the K. of Great Britain having concluded a peace with Holland resolved to offer his Mediatorship to procure an universal peace amongst all the Christian Princes which having at last been submitted to the City of Nimeguen was chosen for the place of Treaty where all the Plenipotentiaries met towards the beginning of the year 1676. This hindred neither party from making as mighty preparations to renew the War in the Spring as if there were not
different interests and parties demanded to be satisfied was not to be so speedily concluded as those persons who impatiently wished for it did imagine The very preliminaries of this numerous Assembly at Nimeguen cou'd not be regulated in the compass of one winter and notwithstanding all the instances and application of the King of Great Britain those that reasoned solidly saw well enough that the Peace was in no great readiness Nor were their conjectures vain for no sooner was the year 1677 begun but tho it was the depth of winter the French marched directly into the Spanish Netherlands so that in a short time all the places about Valenciennes Cambray and St. Omers were covered with the Enemies Troops and these three Cities were in a manner blocked up at a distance The French openly boasting that they wou'd make themselves Masters of two important places before the Spaniards were in a condition to take the Field Valenciennes was the first place that was invested with a Army of 50 or 60 thousand men under the command of the Duke of Luxemburg and the Count de Montal and four days after the King himself arrived in person in the Camp There was in the City a Garrison of 2000 Spanish Walloon and Italian Foot with about 1000 Horse and Dragoons commanded by the Marquis de Risburg Brother to Prince d'Epinoy TheKing after his arrival view'd the posts gave orders for the Trenches to be opened and set up Batteries In fine the siege was so vigorously pushed on in a few days that the French were advanced as far as the Glacis of the Counterscrap and a Horn work that was one of the best defences the City had But the King not being willing to lose time in taking all the Out-works regularly order'd an Assault to be made on the Horn-work in four different places all at once by eight in the morning and to facilitate this enterprize alarmed the Besieged all the night with throwing of Bombs Granadoes and Carcasses which had the desired effect For after a short dispute the French enter'd the Town losing no more in this expedition than only Count de Barlemont a Collonel of the Regiment of Picardy three Musqueteers six Granadiers and some Souldiers The King having thus carried Valenciennes sate down before Cambray with part of his Army commanded by the Duke of Luxemburg and order'd the Mareschal d'Humieres to invest St. Omers with another part Cambray is one of the oldest Cities in the Low Countries built ever since the time of Servius Hostilius but the Castle was built by Charles the Fifth upon which account the Spaniards took great care to preserve it There were in Garrison fourteen hundred Horse four Regiments of Foot besides two Companies of old Spanish Souldiers under the command of Don Pedro de Laval the Governour The Cathedral was in so great veneration for the beauty of the structure that the Canons came out of the Town and presented a Petition to the King wherein they requested him not to fire at the Church which he freely granted The lines of Circumvallation were no sooner finished but the King commanded an Assault to be made on the two Half-moons on the Castle side which the French having soon made themselves Masters of they immediately began to undermine the Ramparts this put the Besieged into such a consternation that they desired to Capitulate and surrendred the Town on very honourable Conditions But tho the Town was lost the Castle held â—…ut still for the Governour taking advantage of the Cessation of Arms gave orders in the mean time to have some Cannon and other necessary provisions got ready commanded all the Horses to be slain only reserving ten for each Company and thus retired into the Castle with all his Souldiers before the French had the least suspicion of it being resolved to sell the Castle dearer than he had done the City The King was obliged to cease for some time not only because the French Pioneers were repulsed by the Besieged in a Sally they had made to prevent their approach but also because he was informed that the Prince of Orange was marching to the relief of St. Omers he sent the Duke of Luxemburg with a great part of his Army to reinforce his Brother the Duke of Orleance who had set Siege to that City and had already finished his Batteries For the news of the great success which the French King had at Valenciennes and Cambray and the Siege of St. Omers had so mightily alarmed the United Provinces that the Prince of Orange was forced to take the Field before the rest of the Confederates were ready to joyn him He assigned Ipres for the general Rendezvous of his Army which was composed of Dutch and some other Troops drawn out of the Spanish Garrisons and began his March on the 7th of April and on the 9th arrived at St. Mary Capel where he was informed that the D. of Orleans lay encamped on the great road to St. Omers and had only left a few Regiments in the Trenches to keep the City blocked up The straitness of the ways which he was to pass made his March very tedious so that after he had marched all the next day he advanced no farther than a small River called Pene on the other side of which he perceived the Enemy drawn up in battle The Prince having consulted his Guides and those that knew the Country they all assured him that there was no other passage than this to go to Bacque which they looked upon to be the only place by which St. Omers might be reliev'd Upon this consideration he resolved to pass the River and set upon the Enemy and having ordered some new Bridges to be made and repaired those that the French had broke down he accordingly passed it on the 11th of April by break of day so that all were got over before the Enemy was aware of them But when he had passed it with his Troops he was very much surprized to find that there was another River still between the French and him encumbred with Trees and Hedges altho those that were acquainted with the Country had assured him of the contrary so that he found himself strangely embarass'd as not having in the least expcteed this second Obstacle But this did not hinder him from making himself Master of the Abby de Pienes but in the mean time the Enemy having received a reinforcement of fifteen Thousand men came to attack the Abby where the Prince's Dragoons were posted who being supported by some Regiments of Foot received them so warmly that they were forced to retire After this the Prince set fire to the Abby least the Enemy should post themselves there At the same time the French advanced slowly with the right Wing of their Army to charge the Prince's left Wing in the Flank which was covered with abundance of Hedges where were likewise posted two Battalions The Prince perceiving that the Enemy had received some new
moreover the mighty esteem they had of so glorious an Alliance and their sincere resolution to cultivate the ancient Friendship and good Correspondence which had always been and was between his Britanic Majesty and them This answer arriving at London on the 14t h of November which was his Highness's Birth-day the Marriage was celebrated at eleven at night but with so little noise that the People knew nothing of it till the next morning when they gave all public testimonies of their joy by Ringing of Bells and Bone fires But amidst all this rejoycing and feasting the Prince knowing how necessary his presence was in Holland made all possible expedition to arrive thither He parted from London on the 29th of November with his Princess and landed at Terheyde from whence he went to Hounslaerdyk where they tarried some time till they made their public Entry into the Hague which was a few days after performed with extraordinary Magnificence But I pass all these ceremonies over in silence in order to come to matters of greater importance Towards the beginning of the year 1678 tho it was the midst of Winter the French King made such mighty preparations of War that all Europe was alarmed at them but particularly Holland and the Consederates This made the King of Great Britain send the Earl of Feversham to his Most Christian Majesty with a project of Peace by which Charleroy Aeth Oudenard Courtray Tournay Conde Valenciennes St. Guillain and some other Towns were to be surrendred to the Spaniards and the King of France to keep all the Franche-Comte in his possession but he would not hearken to it and as for the King of England he was as unwilling to abate any thing in his propositions Which obliged his Britannic Majesty to sent orders to my Lord Hyde his Ambassador at Nimeguen to make a strict alliance with the States-General which being concluded he dispatched My Lord Montague into France to press the King to accept his terms and gave out Commissions at the same time for raising an Army but the French King rejected these conditions of Peace and made great provisions for the war on all sides but especially in his new acquisitions in the Low Countries Upon which the King of England recalled the Troops he had in the service of France which besides their other ill treatment were sent home without their pay The King of Great Britain held firm to his resolution and summoning a Parliament communicated to them the late alliance he had made with Holland for the public benefit and repose of Christendom protesting he was resolved to force the French King to a Peace and therefore desired them to furnish him with a summ of Money necessary for such a design The Lower House thanked his Majesty for the great care he took of the Protestant Religion in marrying his Niece to a Protestant Prince beseeching him not to consent to any conditions of Peace with France unless they were better than those at the Pyrenean Treaty To which the King having consented the Commons after a long deliberation resolved to equip a Fleet of Fourscore and ten Men of War and to raise an Army of 29870 Land Men and nominated Commissioners to compute the expence Whilst these things lay under debate the French King who was sensible what designs the Consederates were forming against him resolved to render them all ineffectual by being before hand with them For this effect he left Paris on the 7th of February and marching by the side of Mets entred Flanders no one being able to determine where the storm would fail All the World was of opinion that the design was upon Mons or Namur or some other place of like importance and Ghent which never expected to be attack'd had so weakned itsGarrison by drawing out their men and distributing them in other places that the French King who knew this very well sate down before it on the 1st of March with an Army of Threescore orFourscore Thousand men It was impossible for a City of so large a compass which had not above four or five Hundred Soldiers in Garrison besides the Inhabitants to defend themselves long against a vain-glorious Prince who valued the taking of a Half-moon more than the loss of a Thousand men and who by his assaults and batteries had extreamly weaken'd it So Ghent was forced to surrender nine days after it was besieged from thence the Enemy came before Ipres but that City being much stronger than Ghent and besides furnished with a better Garrison the Besiegers met so warm an opposition there and lost so many Officers and Soldiers before they took it that the King put the greatest part of his Army immediately into Garrison and returned to Paris whether he thought his Army sufficiently harrass'd by these two Sieges or whether he thought he had humbled his Enemies enough to incline them now to accept his own proposals of a Peace or lastly whether he was afraid of the English who had sent considerable Forces into Flanders For about this time the D. of Monmouth was arrived at Bruges with three thousand Horse and Foot which the K. of Great Britain had sent to re-inforce the Prince of Orange's Army and the Parliament was so earnestly bent to pursue the War against France that they petitioned the King to declare open War against it promising to stand by him with their lives and fortunes and to furnish him from time to time with sufficient summs to carry on so generous an undertaking In the mean time all the world was astonished to â—…ear that the French King had intirely abandon'd Messina and all Sicily The more able Politicians imagined that now there were no hopes of a Peace since this Prince had abandon'd his Conquests in Italy as he had lately done those in Holland for no other end but that he might the better compass his designs upon Spain and the Empire But others said it was an infallible sign he was not so strong as he pretended to be and that what he had done was rather out of meer necessity than for any other end However it was the Parliament of England were of belief that France was resolved to continue the War in Germany and the Low Countries and therefore to stop his Career granted his Majesty a Poll-bill and by the same Act prohibited the Importation of all French commodities King Charles who was desirous to enter into a League with the Empire Spain and the United Provinces would oblige them to make the same prohibition in relation to French goods in their own respective Dominions But while the Hollanders were demurring upon the last point believing that such a prohibition would ruine their trade an unexpected accident fell out that changed the whole face of affairs The King of France after his return to Paris seeing his Britannic Majesty was resolved to support the Interests of his Nephew the Prince of Orange particularly since his Voyage into England and his Marriage
to retire in some disorder The Prince had Castrau before his right Wing which the Duke had gained in great precipitation and it was happy for him that this place was as hard to be got to as the other he quitted In the mean time his Highness whom these difficulties did not discourage had no sooner drawn out his Army to battel but he was resolved to beat the Enemy out of his new post and sending for his Artillery ordered it to play upon the French who were posted a little higher on one side of a Cloister near St. Denys which the Duke of Luxemburg thought he might defend well enough with his Cannon But it was impossible for them to sustain the shock of the Confederate Dragoons who beat them from this Post and made themselves Masters of the Cloister while General Collier advanced on the side of the Abby and seconded by General Delwick broke through the narrow ways and mounting these horrible precipices with an invincible courage routed the Enemiy who for some time made a vigorous resistance in their lines In the midst of this engagement the Prince accompanied by the Duke of Monmouth who fought by his side all the day and encouraged with his good success cried out follow me follow me to encourage those Regimens that were to second the first Both sides were very liberal of their Powder and Ball and all the Regiments of the left Wing seconded one another till night with the same vigour and resolution Count Horn on his side approached nearer with his Cannon and ordered it to play on the French Battalions in the Valley where he caused a terrible slaughter From thence his Highness advanced with speed to Castrau which was attack'd by the Spaniards on the side of the right Wing where the Prince's Regiment of Guards led the Van under the command of Count Solmes who being seconded by the Duke of Holstein's Regiment and by the English forced the Enemies at last to quit the place The Regiment of Foot Guards continued in action with the French for the space of five hours and pursued them a quarter of a League through fields and precipices 'T is certainly a thing hardly to be believ'd that men should be capable of making such brave efforts in places so extremely disadvantageous and several persons who have viewed and examined them since say there are few places in the world naturally so strong The Earl of Ossory did wonders with his English at a small distance from the Foot Guards where the French lost abundance of Men. But the Prince in the heat of the Action advanced so far that he was in great danger of being lost had not Monsieur Onwerkerk come seasonably to his relief and killed an adventurous Captain that was just going to let fly a Pistol at him The Cavalry did nothing all this while by reason of the uneven scituation of the place so that all the execution lay upon the Infantry and Dragoons Night put an end to the dispute by the favour of which the Duke of Luxemburg made his retreat without noise and retired towards Mons and covered himself with a Wood on one side and a River on the other leaving to his Highness as marks of Victory the Field where the Battle was fought the greatest part of the wounded abundance of Tents and Baggage with a world of Powder and other Warlike Ammunition The States General receiving the News of so great a Success sent Commissioners to the Prince to congratulate him for the victory he had gained with so much Glory and Reputation and for the signal Actions by him performed in this last Battle to the great hazard of his life And to testify what a value they set upon his preservation they presented Monsieur Onwerkerk who had so generously opposed himself to the danger that threatned his Highness with a Sword whose handle was of massy gold a pair of Pistols set with gold and a whole Horse Furniture of the same metal The Prince of Orange having thus obliged the Duke of Luxemburg to retire had without question pushed his point and thrown relief into the Town but as he was consulting how to effect it word was brought him that the King of France and the States General had accommodated all differences The success of this Battle hasten'd the conclusion of the Treaty between Spain and France which was signed on the 17th of September to the great praise of the King of England who having joyn'd the terrour of his Arms to the authority of his Mediation had for his recompence the satisfaction to see the peace and general welfare of Europe given as a Portion with his Neice while the two great Alliances between France and Holland and between Spain and France were the and happy effects of the conjugal Alliance between his Highness and the Princess Mary of England The war being thus ended between France and the United Provinces his Highness had time now to breath himself after the fatigues and hurries of the last Campaigns for after the Ratification of the Peace and the Restitution of Mastricht to the States the King of France no more disturbed the Low Countries with the terrour of his Arms so that when his Highness had reformed all those innovations that had been introduced by the French when they were Masters of the Country the people began to enjoy the repose and tranquillity they had so long desired But matters were not so soon adjusted between the Kings of France and Spain By the Treaty concluded between the two Crowns it was agreed that Commissioners should meet at Cambray to regulate any disputes that might happen about the limits This was in the Year 1679. But after several tedious contests occasioned by the excessive pretentions of the French who demanded whole Provinces in the nature of dependances to be delivered into their hands the war was like to have kindled afresh till at last by the unwearied Mediation of the States General a Treaty was signed at the Hague on the 29th of Iune 1684 after which his most Christian Majesty having accommodated all differences with the Emperour by some other Articles of the same Nature a Truce of twenty years was agreed upon which being ratified tho not without some delays on the side of the Spaniards all those devastations and ravages that for the course of several years had ruin'd the finest Country in Europe began to cease In the midst of all these negotiations which the States seldom or never treated of but in the presence of the Prince of Orange whom they still consulted in the most difficult affairs his Highness show'd an extraordinary generosity for when every one was minding his particular Interests he neglected his own and preferr'd the peace and welfare of his Country to that reparation he might justly expect for the great losses he sustain'd in his own Demains For while the King of France burnt and ravaged the Low Countries in order to force the Spaniards to accept his offers a great part of the Prince's patrimony in Brabant underwent the common calamities The same thing happen'd when Luxemburg and the Franche-Comte came to change their Masters Prince d'Isenguyn supported by the authority of France exposed to Sale by sound of Trumpet all the Lands Furniture and Goods of his Highness as having been adjudged to him by a formal Decree of the Parliament of that Country The Provinces of Gueldres Zealand and Utrecht made great complaints in his Highnesses name but were not able to get satisfaction done him Nor suffer'd he less injustice in the Principality of Orange where the Walls of his Capital City were demolished the University disfranchized the Inhabitants barbarously plundered forced to send the young Students home to their Parents and forbidden to educate any of the Reformed Religion for the future all which was directly contrary to the Faith of the late Treaty But when the States represented the great injustice of this procedure the Court of France return'd them no other answer save only this viz. That they had good reasons for what they did As soon as the Truce was confirmed the States were of opinion they might now disband their supernumerary forces and the Deputies of Amsterdam wou'd without any further delay reform the recruits they had made the year before but all the members coming to this conclusion that nothing ought to be done without the advice of the Prince of Orange his Highness upon the mention of this proposal assured them that no one more earnestly desired the ease of the people than himself but however he wou'd never consent till their affairs both at home and abroad were in a better posture of security to leave the Country naked and defenceless The States were soon perswaded to follow this advice and accordingly resolved to keep their Troops as long as the necessity of their affairs demanded it And now from the conclusion of the Peace till the year 1688 when his Highness made his wonderful Expedition into England we have nothing remarkable in this Prince's History What was the success of that prodigious Descent and by what means the ensuing Revolution was carried on which has occasioned so mighty an alteration in this Western part of the World as it is sufficiently known to every English Reader So a just narration of all the surprizing incidents requires a person of more leisure and greater abilities than my self FINIS ☞ Excuse the man and don 't pronounce his doom Poor Soul he left his Calepine at Rome * According to the new Stile which I have all along followed with my Author * A great and stately City upon the Scheld built as 't is commonly pretended by the Emperour Valentinian * Sir W. Temple in his Memoirs represents this matter otherwise for there we are told that K. Ch. the 2d was so far from courting the Prince to come to visit him that he was apprehensive of his arrival
established and to make him more odious The Count de Bossut Governor of Holland for the Spaniards made a fruitless attempt to drive them out of the Brill Many other Cities of Holland viz Horn Alkmar Edam Goude Oudewater Leyden Gorcum Harlem and all Zealand except Middleburg following the Example of the Brill abandoned the Duke of Alva and declared for the Prince of Orange Flushing a considerable City and Port of Zealand was one of the first that revolted by the perswasion of the Priest who on Easter-day as he was saying Mass exhorted the People to recover their Liberty This Air of sedition having blown the People into a flame they immediately went to their Arms and forced the Spanish Garrison to leave the place But they arrested Alvarez Pacheco a Spaniard and Relation of the Duke of Alva who was superintendant of the Fortifications of the Cittadel which was building at Flushing He was immediately hanged by order of Treton who revenged on him the death of his brother who had been beheaded by the Duke of Alva at Brussels 4 years before Pacheco in vain represented that he was a Gentleman and desired the favour to be beheaded but he was hanged publickly on a Gibbet I wonder at the variety of opinions I have met with in the most famous Historians of the Netherlands concerning this Pacheco Grotius says he was a Savoyard though Benlivoglio Strada Meursius and Emanuel de Metteren do all agree he was a Spaniard Cardinal Bentivoglio says he was beheaded and others write that he was hanged on the other side Meursius calls this Gentleman who was executed a Relation of the Duke of Alva Pacioli although the others call him Pacheco confounding this Pacheco with Francis Paciotti of Urbin Count de Montefabre so famous for his skill in fortifications and other engines of War that when he had built the Cittadel at Antwerp his name was given to one of the Bastions by order of the Duke of Alva the four others were called the Duke Ferdinand Toledo and Alva not one by the name of the King his Master But to return to this Pacheco Emanuel de Metteren though a very exact Historian names him Pierre Pacheco though Famianus Strada who was better informed names him Alvarez Which shows that the greatest men are liable to mistakes The Sea Gueux in requital of the Duke of Alva's cruelty hanged all the Prisoners they made without distinction but the Spaniards they tyed by couples back to back and threw them into the Sea As soon as the Prince of Orange arrived in Holland and Zealand he made the Sieur Diederic or Theoderick de Sonoy a Friezland Gentleman his Lieutenant in North-Holland otherwise called Westfrise and Charles Bâ—…issol Governor of Flushing and his Brother Lewis Boissol Admiral These two Gentlemen were of Brussles and being condemned by the Duke of Alva follow'd the â—…ortunes of the Prince of Orange About that time the States of Holland and Zealand met at Dordrecht where they acknowledg'd the Prince of Orange for their Governour though he was absent and obliged themselves by oath never to abandon him and the Prince in like manner swore by his proxy Philip de Marnix Sieur de St. Aldegonde to continue inviolably devoted to their interests 'T was observed in this Assembly that St. Aldegonde gave his hand to all the Deputies of the States and they to him in token of their mutual confidence and fidelity William Count de la Mark then present was declared Lieutenant of the Prince of Orange but rebelling some time after against the Prince with his confidentt Bertel Entens as rash as himself they were both seized on and they would have proceeded to the Trial of the Count if the consideration of his alliances and great services had not pleaded for him for he had been guilty of great cruelties to some good Ecclesiasticks which deserved a severe punishment After he was out of Prison he retired to Leige where he died of the bite of one of his mad dogs The Prince did all things in the Name of the States though he had all the Power of the Government in his own hands such an intire confidence had the People in him There were anciently but six Cities in Holland that had right to vote in the States viz Dordrecht Harlem Leyden Delft Amsterdam and Goude the Prince added twelve others to these six viz Rotterdam Gorcum Schedam Sconen la Brille Alkmar Horn Enkhusen Edam Munikedam Medimblet and Purmerend that he might engage these Cities in his interest by the honour he had done them and that they might be the better affected to him in the assembly of the States and ease the publick miseries and grievances the more effectually by being acquainted with them He had the absolute disposal of all Employments and charges but refused the name of King and contented himself with the Power At that time he banished all the Romish Ceremonies out of the Churches that this difference of Religion might out off all means of an accommodation with the Spaniards who were sworn Enemies to the new opinions A. D. 1572 the Duke of Alva after the recovery of Mons being very much indisposed sent his Son Don Frederick de Toledo to take the Cities of Holland and Guelderland that had revolted from him Don Frederick resolved to make Malines an Example for opening its Gates to the Prince of Orange He did not think it enough to pillage the Town for several days together but permitted his Souldiers to commit all sorts of Cruelties and Barbarities even to ravish the Women without excepting the Nuns After this he marched against the Marquess of Bergues routed him and possessed himself of all the Towns he had won among the rest of Zutphen which he mercilesly gave up to the Plunder of his Army He retook Narden and intirely destroyed it cutting off the Innocent and Guilty without distinction of Age or Sex and contrary to the Promise which Iulian Romero a Spanish Colonel had made to the Burghers of saving their Lives He burnt the Houses razed the Walls let the dead Bodies lie Three whole Weeks in the Streets without Burial An excess of Barbarity which was considered by the most Cruel rather as a detestable Villainy than a just Punishment for their revolts This made Harlem take a Resolution to hold out to the last Extremity having to do with so Merciless a Conqueror The Dutch Historians write that the Art of Printing was begun at Harlem A. D. 1440. by Laurence le Contre and Thomas Pieterson his Son-in-Law but that their Factor Iohn Faustus betraying them carried away the Letters to Amsterdam then to Cologne and from thence to Mayence where he stopt and where Iohn Guttemburg a German Gentleman who is commonly reckoned the Inventor of Printing improved it very much Wibald Riperda a Friezland Gentleman Commanded in the City of Harlem and Don Frederick declared that he would make use of no other Keys to enter the City than his