that the Affront they had put upon him in refusing to give him Audience was designed only to lessen his Authority that nothing but a publick satisfaction would make him amends for this Affront which he demanded earnestly of the States The Deputies of Amsterdam and other Cities answered this Remonstrance by a long Manifesto wherein they alledged the Reasons that induced them to make the Prince that Request this touched him to the quick and made him continue more obstinate against disbanding the Souldiers and transported him so much that he Arrested six of the principal Magistrates and sent them Prisoners immediately after into the Castle of Lovestein This violent proceeding of the Prince alarm'd all Holland The people were generally apprehensive that he aspired to the Soveraignty of the United Provinces and that he opposed the disbanding the Troops for no other reason All Europe said something and tho probably the Prince had no such design the attempt that he made upon Amsterdam confirmed the suspicions all men had entertained of him that he was too arrogant to obey the orders of a popular Government But those who judge impartially of this action are of opinion that he never aim'd at making himself King and that he had no other prospect in besieging Amsterdam but to revenge some private affronts and support his authority and credit by humbling such a powerful City Whatever his reasons were he resolved to besiege it and actually perform'd it on the 30th of Iuly 1650 he narrowly miss'd of surprizing it for the Citizens had not the least apprehension of such a design The Troops appointed for this enterprize put their orders so punctually in execution and met so exactly at their rendezvous that the City must unavoidably have fallen into the Prince's hands but for the Hamburgh Courier who passed through the Prince's Army without being perceived and gave timely notice of it to the Magistrates The City immediately took the alarm the Council of Thirty six met the Burghers run to their Arms the Bridges were drawn up the Cannon mounted upon the Ramparts and the City put in a posture of defence Deputies were dispatched to the Prince with proposals which took up all the next day which was done to gain time for the opening of their Sluces The Prince seeing all the Country under water and the impossibility of continuing a long Siege and the firm resolution of the Burghers hearkened to a Treaty of accommodation which was concluded three days after very much to his advantage The Prince was sensible the States would resent this attempt and the better to make his peace with them he released the Prisoners out of the Castle of Lovestein upon condition that they should be for ever unqualified for any public employments or places and at the same time presented a Memorial to the States with a particular account of the motives he had to form this Siege The States sent it back without opening it assuring him that there needed no justification since the difference had been so soon adjusted About a month after the Prince assisted at a particular Assembly in the Dutchy of Guelders where by his prudence and good conduct he entirely quieted all the jealousies they had entertained of him He returned to the Hague about the beginning of November and went to bed very weary with his Journey He had been observed to be melancholy ever since the miscarriage of his design upon Amsterdam for which reason the Court was not alarm'd with this little indisposition He was let blood the next day and the day after the Small Pox appeared and proved so violent that the Physicians believed him in danger he died the 6th day in the Twenty fourth year of his age on the 6th of November 1650. There wanted but three things to make his memory immortal viz. The Continuation of the War which he passionately desired a longer Life and a little more Deference to the State whom he treated with too much authority for he was Master of a great many good qualities and eminently possessed the advantages of body and mind He was a great General and would have been as renowned for all civil and military vertues as the Heroes of his Family He had a vast comprehensive Genius and learned in his Youth the Mathematics and spoke English French Italian Spanish and High Dutch as readily and fluently as his Mother Tongue He was buried at Delf in the magnificent Tomb of the Princes of Orange in great state He married Mary Stuart eldest Daughter to Charles I. King of Great Britain An Illustrious Birth Interest of State and Glory are the three ordinary motives which sway Princes in the choice of their alliances and all three concur in the making this match for the Glory of the immortal actions of his Father Frederick were spread over all Europe William his Son had given a Thousand proofs that he did not degenerate from the Valour and Vertue of his Ancestors and the Family of Nassau had given five Electors to Cologne and Ments and an Emperor to Germany The proposals were no sooner made but they were accepted and the Marriage was celebrated at London with great magnificence From this Marriage was born William III. whose History we are now entring upon WILLIAM III. KING of ENGLAND Prince of Orange etc. THE HISTORY OF WILLIAM III. Prince of Orange AND King of GREAT BRITAIN Out of the French by Mr. Brown THe sudden and unexpected death of William II. who died in the 24th year of his age threw the Court and Friends of the House of Nassau into such a consternation as is not easie to be exprest But to moderate their grief the Princess Royal within eight days after was delivered of William Henry a Prince in whom the valour and all the other qualities of his glorious ancestors revived and who may justly be stiled the Restorer of that flourishing Republick whereof his Fathers were the Architects and Founders He was born on the fourteenth of November 1650 and had for his Godfathers the States of Holland and of Zealand the Cities of Delf Leiden and Amsterdam As it was his misfortune to be born at a calamitous conjuncture when his enemies were furnished with a plausible pretence to deprive him of those Dignities which his Ancestors had enjoy'd the States General finding themselves now at liberty by the death of William II. and concluding from the enterprize of Amsterdam what they might expect from a single Governour resolved to remedy all inconveniences that might for the future happen upon this occasion and so appointed a General Assembly to meet at the Hague This Assembly began on the eighteenth of Ianuary 1651 and did not end till the month of August the same year In the first Session it was resolved That since the Country was now without a Governour by the death of the Prince the choice of all Officers and Magistrates for the time to come should be in the disposal of the Cities and that not only
absolutely Commanded half the Roman Legions who governed all the World With these great forces and advantages they entred upon the Stage made their first Victories the fore-runners to the next pursued their blow and one overthrew the Empire of the Persians and the other the Roman Commonwealth But Prince William has equall'd the Glory of these great Conquerors by attaquing the formidable Power of King Philip of Spain without any Army or Forces and by maintaining himself many years against him His Courage was always greater than his Misfortunes and when all the World thought him ruin'd and he was driven out of the Netherlands he entred 'em again immediately at the Head of a new Army and by his great Conduct laid the foundations of a Commonwealth that covers the Ocean with its Fleets and over-matches all Europe in the number and strength of its Naval Forces His Enemies had no other way to ruin him but by a base Treachery which he might have avoided if he had reposed less confidence in the love of the People who served him instead of Guards and considered him as the Father and Tutelar God of their Country After having reflected on all the Illustrious Persons that have lived before him I can meet with no one that equall'd his profound Wisdom heroick Courage and Constancy under all his Adversities but Gaspar de Coligny Lord of Chastillon Admiral of France so great a Man that D'Avila his Enemy was forc'd to own that he was more talk'd of in Europe than the King of France himself This Admiral after the loss of four Battles was so far from being broken or ruin'd and continued still so powerfull that his Enemies were oblig'd to grant him a Peace and had it not been for a Treachery whose Memory will be eternally abhorr'd by all good Men he might have ended his days in Peace and done great service to his Country by the Conquest of the Low-Countries which he propos'd at so favourable a conjuncture that we might easily have made our selves masters of ' em But the ill maxims of those Divines who would conform all Religion to the humours and passions of Princes and the Doctrine That no Faith ought to be kept with Rebels and Hereticks and that 't is lawfull to do a small evil to bring about a greater good added to the powerfull Motive of Revenge prevail'd over all the Ties of Honour and Faith which ought always to be sacred and inviolable William of Nassaw Prince of Orange was Born in the Year 1533 at the Castle of Dillembourgh in the County of Nassaw He was Nine years Page of Honour to the Emperour Charles the Fifth who continually admired his extraordinary good sense and modesty This great Prince took delight to communicate his most important affairs to him and instruct him and has often declar'd to those he was most familiar with That this young Prince furnish'd him with Expedients and Counsels that surpriz'd him and which otherwise he had never thought of When he gave private Audience to Foreign Princes and Ministers and Prince William was about to retire with the rest of the Company he usually bid him stay All the World was surpriz'd to see this great and wife Monarch esteem him above all those that were about him and trust him at so tender an Age with all the secrets of his Empire the management of Affairs and the weightiest Negotiations He was scarce Twenty years old when Charles the Fifth chose him out among all the great Lords of his Court to carry the Imperial Crown which he resign'd to his Brother Ferdinand An Office which he discharged with much unwillingness assuring his good Master That 't was an unwelcome Task he had imposed on him of carrying that Crown to another which his Uncle Henry Count of Nassaw had put upon his Head And for a proof that Charles the Fifth set on less a value on his Courage than his Prudence when Philibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy was obliged by his own private affairs to be absent some time from the Netherlands tho' the Prince was but 22 years old and was in Breda at that time Charles the Fifth of his own accord against the advice of all his Counsel made him Generalissimo to the prejudice of so many experienc'd Captains and among the rest of Count Egmont who was Twelve years older at a time when he had to deal with two great Generals Mounsieur de Nevers and the Admiral of France But the Prince was so far from receiving any blow that Campagn that he built Charlemont and Philipville in sight of the French Armies I do not pretend to relate all the Actions of the Prince of Orange which would require a Volume and which so many Historians have done in several Languages 'T would be a strange itch of writing and a manifest robbery to publish what may be met with in particular Books My design is only to make some Reflections and Observations on this great Prince and acquaint the World with some particulars of his Life which I learn'd from my Father and other eminent Men of that Age. But in order to make my History more intelligible and agreeable to those who have not read his Life I was engaged contrary to my former intentions by an Illustrious Person to whom I have too many Obligations to refuse him any thing to make a short Abridgment of his Life enough to give a general Idea of him as Geographers present us at one view all the Old and New World in a little Map not doubting but a Narrow Portraicture of so extraordinary a Man will cause these Particulars I know of his Life to be read with greater pleasure and besides will show to all the World upon what foundations this Prince has erected the powerfull Commonwealth of the United Provinces Besides the esteem the Emperour had for his Vertue there was no Man at his Court whom he lov'd so tenderly as the Prince of Orange Which he made appear to the last moment of his Administration For at the famous Assembly at Brussels A. D. 1555 when the Emperour resign'd all his Kingdoms to his Son Philip 't was remarkable that in so considerable an Action he was supported by the Prince of Orange All these marks of Confidence and professions of Friendship which the Emperour made him were the cause of his Misfortunes For tho' at his departure into Spain the Emperour recommended him particularly to the King his Son the Spaniards who govern'd him for he had been bred always in Spain being jealous of the growing Greatness and good Fortune of this young Prince made the King entertain such suspicions of him that his most innocent words and actions had an ill interpretation put upon 'em and the refusel which the States made of complying with the demands of the King was laid to his charge He easily perceived by the cold receptions of the King that his Enemies had ruin'd him in his good opinion But he was confirm'd in his
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
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
of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester Captain General for the Queen of England in the United Provinces whose insupportable Pride and unmeasurable Ambition did them more prejudice than the Sums of Money which he brought and the Troops which he commanded ever contributed to their Service for four entire years the States were reduced to strange Extremities so that it was thought impossible for this young Prince to rid himself of so great Difficulties and to cure those Evils which were occasioned by the Intrigues of Spain and the Treachery of some of the Earl of Leicester's Dependants who after their return into England sold the most important places to the Spaniards To be short as the Affairs of this World do not always continue in the same posture and are subject to a perpetual change so that good Fortune which till then had favoured the Duke of Parma in all his Enterprizes of a sudden came over to the Party of Prince Maurice for the Spanish Navy which they had entitled The Invincible and was designed to swallow up England and the United Provinces was destroyed in the year 1588. by the Fleet and good fortune of Queen Elizabeth the third part of so great a Navy scarce returning into the Spanish Havens after having undergone incredible dangers upon the Coasts of England Scotland and Ireland and this inestimable loss was accompanied with the mortification which the Duke of Parma received before Berghen ap-zoom which he had besieged Prince Maurice having forced him to quit his Enterprize with the entire ruine of his Reputation After this Success the Prince for the course of 20 years to the time of the Truce had fortune still so favourable to him that he conquered 38 or 40 Towns and more Fortresses and defied the Spaniards in open Field at three signal Battels besides he obtained several great Victories at Sea as well upon the Coast of Flanders as upon that of Spain and the Indies by the Valor of his Lieutenants and Vice-admirals But nothing gained him so much Reputation as the happy Surprizal of the Town and Castle of Breda which belonged to his own Propriety He made himself Master of it in 1590 by the stratagem of a Boat of Turfs without any effusion of Blood or losing so much as one Soldier upon so important an occasion and since this remarkable Action has made so great a noise in the World it may not be unnecessary to give some account of it in as brief terms as possible A Boatman called Adrian Bergues who furnished the Garison of Breda with Turfs being discontented with the Spaniards proposed a way to Prince Maurice how to surprize the place by placing some Soldiers in the bottom of his Boat The Prince seeing the probability of the matter gave the management of this great design to Charles de Heraugiere a Walloon Gentleman Native of Cambray Captain of Foot in his Guards reputed a Man of Bravery and Conduct As soon as he received this Order he made choice of 70 Soldiers out of several Companies and some Commanders whose Courage had been tryed These he put at the bottom of the Boat where they were placed very uneasily as being forced either to lie down or stoop the rest of the Boat being filled up with Turfs to a very great height It was extreme cold weather besides they were up to the knees in water which came in by a leak which at last they fortunately stopped The excessive cold made them cough very much but above all Matthew Helt a Lieutenant whose name ought to be remembred here in testimony of the Courage he shew'd upon this occasion not being able to hinder himself from coughing as they came near to the Castle drew his Sword and desired his Comrades to kill him that the Enterprize might not fail and he become the cause of their ruine but the Boatman hindred him from being heard by often pumping as if his Boat had took water The Garrison consisting of Italians wanted Firing the Soldiers because of the Ice helped to draw the Boat by a Sluce within the walls of the Castle as the Trojans brought the wooden Horse into their City which gave occasion to the Poets of the time to compare the taking of Breda to that of Troy but withal remarking this difference that the Horse made the Enemies Masters of Troy from whence proceeded its ruine whereas this Boat put the right Lord into possession of Breda who thereupon caused it immediately to flourish Prince Maurice having spread the report that he had a design upon Gertrudemberg made the Surprizal of Breda become more easie for Edward Lanza vechia who was Governor of both places ran to that which he thought was most in danger So the Castle being without a Commander was easily carried As soon as Heraugiere had made himself Master of it by the death of 40 of the Enemy Prince Maurice attended by the Counts de Hohenlo and Solmes Francis Vere the General of the English Iustin of Nassau the Admiral and the Sieur de Famars General of the Artillery being entred into the Castle with several of his Troops was afterwards received into the Town whence the Italian Garrison which for the most part consisted of Horse ran with full speed by the way of Antwerp Heraugiere with a great deal of Justice was made Governor of Breda and Lambert Charles a French Man a brave Soldier of Fortune was made Serjeant Major I saw him afterwards when he was Governor of Nimeguen There were Medals stamped upon so considerable an occasion which had these words upon one side Breda à Servitute Hispanica vindicata ductu Principis Mauricii à NASSAU 4 Martii 1590. Breda delivered from the Spanish Yoke by the conduct of Prince Maurice of NASSAU March 4. 1590. And upon the Reverse was represented a Boat with these words Parati vincere aut mori prepared to overcome or dye One of these Medals was given to each of the Soldiers in the Boat as likewise a Sum of Money with the promise of future advancement Adrian de Bergues the Boatman had likewise a Medal and was rewarded with a very large Pension This Surprizal may occasion this necessary Reflection That ye ought never to trust the guard of two Frontier places at the same time to one only Governor who has but too much trouble to preserve his own Government from the neighbouring Enemy whose mind is always intent and his eyes open for some opportunity to be able to surprize him The taking of Hulst in Flanders was a very considerable Action and that of Gertrudemberg much more so by reason of a long and difficult siege in sight of the Spanish Army consisting of 30000 Men commanded by the old Count Peter Ernest of Mansfeldt in the absence of the Duke of Parma who was then in France with Succors for the League This old General could never force the young Prince in his own Lines nor oblige him to come out of them though he presented him battle
each day continually so that when Count Mansfeldt said one day to a Trumpeter whom P. Maurice had sent him That he admired his Master who was a young Prince full of heat and courage would always contain himself within the covert of his own retrenchments the Trumpeter answered him That his Excellency of Nassau was a young Prince who desired to become one day such an old and experienced General as his Excellency of Mansfeldt was at present The year following he took the great and famous Town of Groninghen Capital of the Province he likewise took and retook Rimbergues and seized upon Maeurs and the Grave Towns belonging to his own Patrimony having by the death of several Spaniards revenged the public injuries and those of his Private Family The Reputation of Prince Maurice was very much increased by the long and memorable defence of Ostend where the Spaniards having lost more than Threescore Thousand Men in a Siege that continued above 3 Years and exhausted their Treasures by the expence of above two Millions at last became Masters of a bit of ground which might seem to be a burying place rather than a City At the time of this loss Prince Maurice was so happy and diligent that to return it with Usury in a few days he seized upon the Town of Sluise in Flanders which was of more consequence than Ostend that had cost so many Men so much Time and so vast a Treasure upon which Theophilus says very well in the Ode he made for the Prince of Orange Much time and many years the Spaniards spend Before their Forces gain Ostend But Sir when you resolve to seize a Town Few Days suffice to beat its Bulwarks down Each Day of yours much more importance bears Than all that space of time which mortal Men call Years This Ode did not displease Prince Maurice and tho he was naturally an Enemy to Flattery and Vain glory yet he recompenced this Poet with a Chain of Gold and his Medal to a very great value But this Prince showed at the battle of Newport where he overcame the Arch-Duke Albert that he knew as well how to defeat a numerous and well appointed Army in open field as to defend places or else to force and surprize them The Arch-Duke and the Duke d'Aumale were wounded in the fight Francis Mendoza Admiral of Arragon Maister de Campe was taken Prisoner with a great many other Commanders and even the Arch-Dukes Pages whom Prince Maurice sent him back very civâ—…illy without any Ransom All the Cannon the Baggage and above 100 Cornets and Colors remained in the hands of the Conqueror who saw above 6000 Enemies dead upon the place and had all other marks of a full and entire Victory which made several People say because this great Success happened upon the 2d day of Iuly that the Fortune of the House of Nassau was changed seeing that 300 years before upon the same day of Iuly the Emperor Adolphus of Nassau had lost his Life and Empire near Spire in a Battle against Albert of Austria and that the same day Maurice had revenged the disgrace of his Ancestors by the defeat of the Arch-Duke Albert who was a Descendant from the former Albert of Austria A little before the fight there was a dispute of Honor between Prince Maurice and Prince Henry Frederick his younger Brother who was then but 17 Years old for when the Elder desired him to retire into some place of Safety that in case of any misfortune he might defend his Family and his Country Prince Henry being offended said he would run the same fortune with himself and live or dye by him Prince Maurice showed that no ill success could daunt his courage for the Resolution he had taken to give Battle was not altered notwithstanding that the night before the Arch-Duke had defeated the Count Ernest whom the Prince had sent to seize a pass with 2 Regiments of Foot and 4 Troops of Horse that were all cut off and several Colors with 2 pieces of Cannon taken It is remarkable that the Prince to take away from his Army all hopes of a retreat and to show his Men that they had nothing to trust to but their Arms made all those Vessels that brought them into Flanders to be sent away for which he was much commended by the Admiral of Arragon as the thing which had gained him the Victory by the necessity that was laid upon his Soldiers to fight boldly as having no prospect of Life but in the defeat of the Spaniards so he told his Men before the fight that they must either overcome the Enemy or drink up all the water in the Sea There came out at that time a magnificent Inscription upon this Battle in honor of Prince Maurice which is this Anno 1600 secunda die Iulij Mauricius Aransionensium Princeps in Flandriam terram hospitem traducto exercitu cum Alberto Archiduce Austriae conflixit copias ejus cecidit Duces multos primumque Mendosam coepit reversus ad suos victor signa hostium centum quinque in Hagiensi Capitolio suspendit Deo Bellatori In the year 1600 the 2d day of July Maurice Prince of Orange having brought his Army into Flanders then possessed by his Enemy fought with Albert Arch-Duke of Austria slew his Forces took several Commanders and especially Mendoza then returning Conqueror to his Country he hung up 105 of the Enemies Colors in the Councel House at the Hague to the Honor of God the Disposer of Victory This was not his first Essay of a Field Battle for otherwise he might have passed for one that was good only at the taking of Towns but he had long before forced the Duke of Parma to raise the Seige of Knotsemburg over against Nimiguen having defeated 7 Troops of his best Cavalry a disgrace which the Duke lessen'd by the necessity laid upon him by Orders from Spain to go and succor Roan In the year 1594 he had likewise at the Battle of Tournhout defeated and slain the Lord de Balancon Count de Varax General of the Artillery of Spain who commanded a body of 6000 Foot and 600 Horse of which besides the General above 2000 were left upon the place with several Prisoners of Note amongst whom a Count of Mansfeldt was one there were 38 Ensigns taken with the Cornet of Alonzo de Mondragon which were all hung up in the great Hall of the Castle at the Hague for a perpetual Memorial And upon this occasion I shall here relate how an Ambassador of Poland being come from King Sigismond to exhort the States General to reconcile themselves to the King of Spain whose Power he magnified so far as that sooner or later it would entirely subdue them and speaking as if he would frighten them with lofty words full of Vanity and according to the Eloquence of his Nation Count Maurice who was then present at this Harrangue upon his going out of the Assembly led the Ambassador
Professors of Divinity should be prohibited to speak concerning Grace and Predestination either in the Pulpit or the Universities that all Printers likewise should be forbid to publish any books upon this Subject that both Parties should live together in Brotherly Union without scandalously dividing the Church that this Doctrine was so subtle and so incomprehensible to the Common People that the whole Country would be at rest and easie as soon as nothing more should be spoke concerning it that there remained a field large enough for the Ministers to comfort and instruct their Flocks by exhorting them to the practice of Gods Commandments and Christian Vertues by explaining to them the Old and New Testament which leads Mens Minds to nothing more than Peace and Charity In short he added that the book of Predestination was a book so difficult and obscure that the greatest Doctors could not see a Letter in it and that the very Angels had much ado to comprehend it This Council was so wise and prudent that at the same time it was followed by the French King who seeing his Kingdom disturbed with the same Questions and threatned with a dangerous Schism by the disputes and frequent writings of the Iesuits and such as were called Iansenists imposed a perpetual silence to all these Writers But Prince Maurice and his dependants opposed themselves to the sentiments of Monsieur Barnevelt and his Party as esteeming them to lye under a suspition of holding correspondence with the Roman Catholicks and the Spaniards and that by this means they would bring back Popery into the United Provinces which was the only thing that could ruine that Republick and Francis Aersens being a bold Man that could write and speak fluently he was ordered to make use of his Pen upon this Occasion There were several papers published at this time among which one was called Praevia Detectio another Dissertatio Necessaria a third Hispanici Concilii Artes and whereas Monsieur Barnevelts Party had commended his wisdom and the pains he had taken for the good of his Country and the Counsels he had given so much for its advantage so Monsieur Aersens by these writings accused him openly of being in League with the Papists and corrupted by the Spaniards to ruine the true Religion and bring his Country back again into Slavery Monsieur Barnevelt answered Aersens with a very large Apology wherein all his long services for the good of the State were represented to the sull but this gained no ground upon those who were affected to Prince Maurice who had the Power in his hands and the Soldiers all depending upon him and then the common People could not but follow him as having no reason to think he could have any design to their prejudice who had so long exposed himself to a great many dangers in the defence of their Liberties Monsieur de Barnevelt seeing himself thus attacqued complained to the States of Holland as his Judges and Natural Lords who took him into their protection by an authentic Act but he having counselled those of Utrecht to preserve their new Garrison which they had levied for their particular safety upon their own charges affirming they might do it by the priviledge of their Province the States of each Country having reserved their Rights by the Union of Utrecht The Prince of Orange and his Party imputed this action to him as a crime and made it pass for an attempt against the good of the confederated Commonwealth The Prince soon after went to Utrecht assisted by some Deputies of the States General disarmed the new Levies and changed the Magistrates as at Leyden Haerlem Amsterdam and other places afterwards he displaced several of the States of Holland and substituted others in their room a little while after by an extraordinary Order of Eight Persons under the Title of States General Prince Maurice caused Monsieur Barnevelt to be arrested he was put into the Castle of the Hague in the same Chamber where Admiral Mendoza of Arragon had heretofore been Prisoner at the same time Monsieur Hoguerbeis a Person of merit and known capacity was arrested likewise with Monsieur Hugo Grotius Pentionary of Rotterdam a Man of great Learning and the Sieur de Leydenberg Secretary to the States of Utrecht They were accused of several crimes against the State amongst others that they would have laid the whole Country in blood and betray'd it to the Spaniards The Prince to secure himself from any hatred that might be drawn upon him in this conjuncture declared that whatever he acted was in the Name of the States General as principal Conservators of the safety of the Republic The Prisoners on the other side remonstrated That though this was done under the Name of the States General yet that in effect it proceeded only from the power of the Prince who was armed and followed by the greatest part of the common People that the change at present made in the Common-wealth was so considerable that it ought to astonish all those who were true Lovers of the Laws and Liberties of their Country That as for the States General they had no Jurisdiction over the Subjects of particular Provinces much less to arrest Persons of their Quality who were deprived of their Employments without any process against all Justice and in opposition to the States of Holland who were their only Lords and Superiors that their true crimes were their opposition to the ambitious desires of Prince Maurice their obedience to the States of Holland who were their Masters their Counsel to some Towns to preserve their Priviledges and to arm themselves for their own safeties and finally their refusal to give consent to the calling of a General Synod which they thought would cause more mischief than advantage to their Country that they were opprest by their Enemies under the Title of States General who are the Deputies of Provinces only for the affairs of Peace and War for the receiving proposals from foreign Ambassadors and reporting them to the particular States of each Province the States General having no other lawful Right of intermedling with the affairs of the Provinces each of which are soveraign States and have time out of mind been Masters of the Life and Fortune of their Subjects that this was only a specious Pretext by which the Neighboring Princes who did not know the true constitution of the Provinces might be hindered from defending them and to put some sort of colour upon so great an Injustice they alledged farther for themselves the ancient Customs sworn to by the Earls of Holland the Dukes of Burgundy and Charles the 5th which for several ages had been inviolably observed and for whose preservation their Ancestors had taken Arms That as for a General or National Synod they could not agree to it because it would seem as if the Seven Provinces were but one Nation contrary to the priviledge of particular Provinces which had always provided for matters of Religion in
the injuries of Barnevelt's Party which revived itself in the persons of the two De-wits who were Brothers expecting with a silent patience which was greater much than that of his Ancestor the great Prince William what time would produce and what favorable occasions might occur at last for his Re-establishment for having by a solemn sentence been deprived of all the Employments of his Family after the sudden death of the Prince his Father he was restored to them again at the beginning of the last war by an Ordinance that was made on purpose for it His Rise and Re-establishment were owing to France which having made great Conquests for almost 8 years together the greatest part of the Frontier Towns and several capital places of the Provinces Utrecht and Zutphen among others were rendered up at the very sight of their Armies though these places were provided with large Garrisons yet being composed of Officers and Men without any experience the King of France became Master of more than 40 places in less than two months These misfortunes which seemed to be the presages of greater and had put the United Provinces into the utmost consternation gave occasion to the People to complain of the ill conduct of the two De Wits who governed till that time and furnished those who adhered to the House of Nassau with a reasonable pretext to affirm that the Princes of Orange were only able to uphold their tottering State and defend them against their most potent Enemies and that as heretofore they had protected them against the Tyranny of Spain so it was they alone who could preserve them from the Fury and Violence of the French Armies The Grand-mother of this young Prince who was a Woman of a Masculine courage and suffered the indignities that had been offered to the House of Orange with great impatience having beheld it in its greatest splendour was not a little serviceable in stirring up all the creatures and dependants on the House of Nassau who were very numerous these people being angry to see themselves fallen from their credit the principal employments being given to the Sons of Burgomasters and seconded by the fury of the people that were grown out of all patience at so many disasters and the sight of a victorious Army through the very bowels of the Countrey massacred the Enemies of the Young Prince who was afterwards restored to the possession of all the dignities that had belonged to his Ancestors which is to say that of General of their Forces Stadt-holder and Admiral which were moreover by a solemn decree made hereditary to his Family Upon this occasion it cannot but be admired how so powerful a State that had made head for Fourscore years against the Crown of Spain had taken such large Towns and gained so many Battels and had become formidable at Sea to all the Princes of the world having carried its Arms and Victory to the farthest part of the Earth that this State I say which had rendred itself so famous by the long defence of Ostend which has equall'd the reputation of the famous Sieges of Tire and the ancient Troy should be reduced in less than two months to the very brink of its ruine and it had assuredly been destroyed in the year 1672 if by a desperate resolution it had not resolved to save itself by drowning part of the Country as a Pilot who throws all his Cargo overboard during a furious Storm that so he may preserve his Men and Vessel But those who knew the constitution of these Provinces and were not ignorant that discord is the plague and certain destruction of the most flourishing States were not so much amazed considering it was more than Threescore years since that Country had been torn in pieces by two contrary Factions which threatned its subversion without any Foreign Forces This Gangreen likewise had so seized upon the most noble parts of the United Provinces that in the year 1672 by a strange fatality and an unaccountable passion the greatest part of the chief Persons in that Country desired the loss of their Land Army and the defeat of the Prince of Orange whose Rise and Power they so much envied For this reason they had not sufficiently provided his Army with necessary provisions whilst they applied their principal cares to increase the Fleet to resist the Kings of England and France who attacked them jointly with a Navy of above Fourscore Men of War But it is not less surprizing to consider the expedition the French made in this Campaign when as these people for fear of becoming subject to the House of Orange allied to these great Monarchs had committed a considerable fault in their Politicks for after the Peace of Munster imagining themselves to be in perfect security and that they had nothing more to be afraid of and being acknowledged Soveraigns by Spain they might rather give Laws than receive them from any body They disbanded the greatest part of their old Forces that were Strangers and those experienced Officers who had gained so great Glory to their Country imagining that the surest means of freeing themselves from the Slavery which they thought themselves threatened with was to take from the Prince of Orange the support of his Government by reforming those Troops which looked upon him as their Master having taken an Oath to him and were devoted perfectly to his service Besides the principal men in the Country had as they thought some interest in this change for they gave all the Commands in the Army and the Government of places to their own Relations thinking by the assistance of this Souldiery to sortifie themselves and at the same time to weaken the House of Orange but they found by sad experience that endeavoring to avoid one inconvenience they fell quickly into a greater For having given the great Employments in the Army and Government of places to Sons of Burgomasters and Deputies of Towns People without any experience and who wanted Tutors for themselves rather than to be Commanders when a strong and powerful Enemy made War against them these young men show'd none of their Northern courage in this storm and danger for there were places that were garrisoned with 5000 Foot and 800 Horse that rendred themselves all Prisoners of War at the very sight of the French Army without making any resistance My Brother de la Villaumaine who came into France a little before this last War giving me an account of the state of the Army in Holland told me that if a powerful Enemy should attack them the Officers must resolve to perish and bear the brunt in their own persons having no confidence in the Souldiers they commanded who did not know how to manage their Arms a Prophecy which was since accomplished at the expence of his Life A little before he told me likewise that the Dutch Horse were so ill equipped that 50 Reyters of Munster would put to flight two or three Hundred Dutch
Troopers who would fly before these Germans as Sheep before a Wolf There happened the like inconvenience to the Swedes for having committed the same fault as the Hollanders because after the Peace of Munster they likewise disbanded the old Troops which had done such great actions and revived the antient Glory of the Goths who had conquered a great part of Europe being so bold as to attack the Elector of Brandenburg and his old Souldiers with their new Levies that never durst maintain their ground against him and were always beaten when he could joyn them so that if by an extraordinary good fortune they had not had so faithful and so mighty a Protector as the French King they had quite lost Pomerania and been sent back to their own cold Countries beyond the Baltick Sea All which shows us that a Prince ought always to keep a large body of old Troops to defend his State which without such a support runs the hazard of becoming a prey to the first Enemy that shall be bold and strong enough to attack it To these two causes of the extremities to which Holland was reduced in 1672 that is to say to the intestine divisions and to the disbanding of the old foreign Souldiers there may a third be likewise added which was the extraordinary and unheard of drowth that happen'd that year for it was so great that the Rhine one of the greatest Rivers in Europe that carries Men of War was so low that the French Troops were able to ford it so the Country being frightned to see itself attacked both by Sea and Land by the powers of France and England united to its ruine was reduced to the utmost despair seeing Heaven conspire to their destruction by taking away those Ramparts which Nature had designed for its preservation The French Army for the reasons before mentioned had penetrated into the very Heart of the Country and 40 places were taken in a small space of time whereas the State thought they might have found work for 20 years these people that were a little too haughty in their prosperity lay then under a terrible consternation almost in the same condition as the Venetians were heretofore when King Lewis the 12th made himself Master of the greatest part of the Territories which they had upon the Continent Being in this despair they were constrained to the last Remedy which was to overflow their Country and breaking down their Dykes to oppose a Sea to the French forces so hindring them from passing further they averted the ruine of the Commonwealth which else had assuredly run its period Heretofore seeing themselves reduced to a like extremity they made use of the same Remedy against the Spanish Army at the Siege of Leyden having succoured the place then at the very point of being lost with an innumerable company of Boats which swum upon the Land which they had overflow'd and then the United Provinces were reduced to so strange circumstances and to such a height of despair that the principal persons amongst them proposed in imitation of the ancient Switzers to burn all their Towns Villages and Castles and to spoyl the Country as much as they could and go on board their Ships to settle themselves in the Indies so to be delivered from the Spanish Tyranny but they had not Vessels enough to transport a fourth part of the people and were unwilling to leave the greater number to the mercy of so pityless an Enemy and for a Motto of the lamentable condition which this Country was then reduced to they engraved upon the Money which they coyned at that time a Vessel without Masts and Sayls tost by the waves and storm with these words Incertum quó fata ferant words which represented the extremity of their condition But to return to the Prince of Orange He appeared at the head of an Army at 22 years old as his Great Grandfather Prince William who was Generalissimo to the Emperour Charles the V. at the same Age and throughout the course of this great War he show'd so much Courage and Conduct both in Sieges and Battels that he had assuredly pass'd the Actions of his Illustrious Ancestors who for 200 years serv'd for a model to the greatest Generals if he had not had the misfortune to be born in the age of a King whose Genius and Power no common forces could stand against I do not design to make an exact Journal of the Actions of his Illustrious Father Prince Henry Frederick since they may be learnt from other Histories but speak of them in general and relate some certain passages not commonly known In the year 1626 he took Oldensell Capital of the Country of Tuiâ—…z in the Neighbourhood of Friezeland and Groninghen and the same year Peter Hein one of his Vice-Admirals in the Bay of Todos los Santos in the Road of St. Salvador took a Spanish Fleet laden with Sugar In the year 1627 he took Grolle before the face of Count Henry de Bergues General of a powerful Spanish Army that could put no succours into it nor make the Prince raise his Siege he being so well entrenched against the Enemies Army At the end of the year 1627 the same Peter Hein mentioned before took the Spanish Silver Fleet near the Isle of Cuba This prize without reckoning the Galeons and Vessels was esteemed at more than twenty Millions there were besides other Riches 356000 Marks of Silver and 300000 Marks of Gold abundance of Pearls Cochinele Jewels Bezoar Musk Ambergreese 250 Chests of Sugar and an infinite number of Stuffs and other merchandizes of great value This Vice-admiral Peter Hein arrived gloriously in Holland in the beginning of the year 1629 which was remarkable by the Conquest of the strong Town of Bolduc where by a Siege that was very long and difficult Prince Henry Frederick show'd by his conduct and valour that he could overcome that which had resisted his Brother Maurice who had heretofore attacqued that important place without success But what was more marvellous was that whilst Prince Henry Frederick lay before the place Count Henry de Bergues having pass'd the River Isell with a great Army ravaged all the Country of Utrecht where he seized upon Amersfort and put Holland into such a consternation that several people counselled the Prince to quit his enterprize upon Bolduc and succor the heart of his Country which was made desolate by the Enemy but he had the constancy to persevere till he had made himself Master of so considerable a Town without being moved by the Councels of his chief Officers or the Lamentations of the People that had been plundered At the same time the Prince by the vigilance and resolution of Otho de Guent Lord of Dieden Governour of Emeric having happily surprized the Town of Wesel where was the Magazine and Artillery of the Spanish Army which obliged Count Henry de Bergues to repass the Issel in all the haste imaginable he gained by this double
conquest the reputation not only of a very brave but likewise of a very fortunate Captain a quality so desirable to a General that Scilla the Dictator preferred the surname of Happy to that of Great In the year 1630 he seized upon the Town of Olind in Brazil by the conduct of his Vice-Admirals and the same year Count Iohn de Nassau his Cousin who for some discontent had gone out of the Dutch service to that of Spain was defeated near the Rhine and taken by Collonel Illestein who was not half so strong he was carried Prisoner to Wesel from whence he was ransomed for 18000 Rix Dollers The year following the same Count Iohn de Nassau who had gathered together a very strong Fleet in hopes to surprize Willemstat he was totally defeated by the Hollanders above 4000 of his men taken Prisoners and the rest either slain or wounded and the Count had much ado to save himself with the Prince of Brabanzoon In the same year 1631 the States General to gratify the Prince of Orange and to testify their acknowledgment for the services which he had continually done his Country gave the reversion of all his Offices to his Son Prince William and the writings for it were presented to the young Prince in a Box of Gold In the year 1632 Prince Henry after having taken Ruremond Venlo and Strale he set about the conquest of Maestricht a place somewhat distant from Holland scituated upon the River Meuse in the confines of Brabant where he provided his Ammunition and Victuals for the Siege with so much Prudence that he had enough to make himself Master of the place he had surrounded it with a great circumvallation which the Spanish Army could not force no more than another German Army under Henry Godfry Count of Papenheim a famous Captain both which were constrained to retire with disgrace after several efforts that were unsuccessful and many considerable losses In the year 1633 the Prince besieged and took Rhineberg and the year following the Spaniards having besieged the Fort of Phillipin which incommoded the Town of Ghent the Prince of Orange made them raise the Siege A little before Count Henry de Bergue complaining that he was ill used by the Spaniards had quitted their service and retired into Holland upon which he published a Manifesto and two years after in the year 1634 he was condemned as contumacious to have his Head cut off by the sentence of the Court of Mechlin In this place I must tell you how in the year 1628 after the taking of Rochel the Cardinal Richelieu who was absolute Governour in France was mighty desirous to gain the reputation of having destroyed all the retreats of Heresie having an unmeasurable desire of making himself be canoniz'd and to arrive at it the more easily he made his Confessors say that he had never committed so much as a Venial Sin as I have often heard from Mr. Lescot de S. Quintin his Confessor whom he made Bishop of Chartes as crafty a man as ever came out of Picardy who under the pretence of freedom and apparent simplicity conceal'd a great deal of subtilty and artifice The Cardinal to gain a reputation among the Zealots for the Catholic Religion had treated underhand with Iohn Osmael Lord of Walkembourg Governour of Orange who seemed discontented with his Master to deliver up the place to him This man bred up by the Family of Orange and intrusted by Prince Henry with the charge of his Soveraignty was gained by the promise of four hundred thousand Livres in ready Money and an Estate of twenty thousand Livres a Year in Provence whither he designed to retire and renounce Calvinism having no other Religion besides his interest But this affair being long in hand and Walkembourg resolving not to render the place till the Money was paid down the Prince was so happy as to get some intimation of this Treason He dispatched the Sieur Knuth a Zealander a man of Resolution in whom he had an entire confidence with an express order to dispatch this Traytor but that he might not cause the least suspicion he sent him to Orange alone as pretending other business This Knuth with whom I was acquainted and who was a very bold and dexterous person having made sure of the principal Inhabitants of the Town and of several Gentlemen in the Principality of Orange watched his opportunity to surprize the Governour who being one day come down from the Castle into the Town with very little company contrary to his usual custom he attack'd and killed him in the house of one Pyse a Scrivener whether he was retired Afterwards Knuth went directly to the Castle where the Lieutenant after having levelled the Cannon against the Town and being doubtful for some time what he should do at last received him upon sight of the Prince's order and took a new Oath of Fidelity to Prince Henry Frederick of Nassau together with all the Garrison the Prince afterwards sent the Baron de Dona his Brother-in-law to command in the place This Walkembourg had married the Daughter of the Sieur de Bic Treasurer to the States a Lady of great probity and merit who had used all possible endeavours to alter his pernicious designs She had the trouble as well as his Daughters to see him expire for he was forced to render himself to Knuth after having been wounded through a Chamber-door where he had for a long time defended himself I have heard my Father relate this story with great indignation he being a professed Enemy to all Ingratitude and Unfaithfulness and to shew me and my Brothers the horrors of those crimes he related to us upon this occasion the Treason of Bernardine de Corte who delivered up the Castle of Millan to King Lewis the 12th for a Hundred thousand Crowns that had been intrusted to him by Duke Lodowick Sforza his Master by whom he had been bred in the quality of a Page and was at present preferred before all his other Subjects to the command of that place where he had put all that he thought most precious whilst he was going to seek for succour in Germany He recounted likewise to us such another Treason of Donat Rafagnine who sold Valencia to the same King for fifty thousand Crowns and remarked to us from Guicciardine that these Traytors were so look'd on and detested in the French Army and that shame made them die with discontent This Mr. Knuth rendred an important piece of service to his Master who rewarded him with a Present and a Pension of two thousand Livers a year for his Life No body can imagine but that the Prince of Orange must bear some ill will to Cardinal Richelieu for having endeavoured to take away this Soveraignty which was as dear to him as his Eyes but he concealed his resentment as expecting some favourable opportunity of shewing it which it was not long before it was offered him for some time after the
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
the least thoughts of a Peace So that during the winter his Highness was sufficiently employed to get his Army ready against the opening of the Campaign for it was an easy matter to foresee that there would be occasion for very considerable forces to oppose the common Enemy as soon as the season was approached The French on their part began before the midst of April to make a review of several of their Troops under Mareschal de Crequi near Charleville and Mareschal d' Humieres was in the Field with a body of fifteen Thousand men near Courtray putting all the Country to contribution because the Spaniards were not strong enough to resist them Before the Prince of Orange could come and join the Duke de Villa Hermosa which he did at Cambron on the 26th of April the Mareschal de Crequi had blocked up Conde with an Army of sixteen Thousand men Upon the receit of this news the King of France parted immediately from Paris and was soon after followed by the Duke of Orleance who brought with him a reinforcement of ten Thousand men The place was so furiously attack'd and batter'd on all sides that unable to hold out any longer they were constrained to surrender at discretion altho the Prince of Orange was advanced as far as Granville to relieve it The King of France having given orders to repair the Fortifications of Conde and to place a Garrison of 3000 men in the Town commanded the Duke of Orleance to besiege Buchain This was a small Town but exceeding strong scituate between Cambray and Valenciennes and defended the communication between those two places for this reason it had a good Garrison under the command of a Governor who had the reputation of a brave and prudent Captain But the Duke with such an Army did not find the Siege to be a work of great difficulty and so much the less because the King of France who commanded the Army in person was not far from him and all this while kept the Dutch and Spanish Army in breath The Prince who was now encamped in view of the Enemy near Valenciennes and was resolved to attack him the day following in case Bouchain had not been taken would not quit his Post till the French King had decamped first and having sent a considerable number of Horse and Foot to seize all the passes and bridges upon the River Dender hinder'd him from ravaging the Country of Alost About the beginning of Iune the King returned to Paris and gave the command of his Army in the Spanish Netherlands to Mareschal de Schomberg and the Prince of Orange encamped before Maestricht On the other side the Mareschal to make a powerful diversion sent Humieres with 15000 men to besiege Air a place of prodigious strength for it is encompassed with a deep Morass and excellent Fortifications on three sides so that it can be entred only at one way which was defended by a Fort called St. Francis having five Bastions two Half-Moons and a very deep Ditch Nevertheless all this did not hiâ—…der him from making himself soon Master of the Fort the Governour not having men enough to oppose the great numbers of the French who threw such a prodigious quantity of Bombs and Granadoes into the place that most of the houses were afire So that the Burghers having without the Governours privity demanded to capitulate he was obliged to surrender the Town which nevertheless he did on very honourable conditions that were easily agreed to by the French because they were informed that the Duke de Villa Hermosa was on his way to attempt to raise the Siege All this while the Prince of Orange never stirr'd from before Maestricht which he had invested with his own Army and the Troops of the Confederates to each of whom he assigned their proper quarter Amongst the rest of these Troops the English under Col. Fâ—…wick Col. Widdrington and Col. Ashley to the number of two thousand six hundred then without reckoning the Volunteers and Reformades presented a Request to his Highness wherein they petition'd him to assign them a particular quarter and that they might be commanded separately that so if they behaved themselves like valiant men they might have all the honour and if otherwise all the shame to themselves it not being reasonable that they should suffer for the faults of other men This the Prince readily granted and gave them a separate post over against his own Regiment of Guards under the Command of Col. Fenwick the eldest Collonel of the three and they were as good as their word as they really made it appear by their desperate attacques where they signalized themselves by their extraordinary valour as long as the Siege lasted And in truth never was Siege carried on with greater vigour and resolution than this was the Prince continually encouraging the Souldiers with his presence till he received a slight hurt in his arm by a Musquet-shot but two things hindered them from taking the Town which might otherwise have fallen into their hands First the River was so low that the Prince was forced to stay some days till his Cannon came from Ruremond for want of water In the second place the forces he expected from the Bishop of Munster and the Dukes of Lunenburg came not to his relief On the other side Schomberg having received express orders to succour the Town and for that purpose having marched as far as Tongres his Highness summoned a Council of War to consider what was to be done in this conjuncture where after they had reflected upon the present condition of the Army which was extremely lessen'd and fatigued and found it was impossible to shut up the passes and avenues to the City on the side of Wick and that the French would infallibly throw some relief into it notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary In short after they saw their Horse cou'd not subsist any longer in the Trenches for want of forrage it was unanimously resolved to raise the Siege So the Prince commanded the Horse to join Count Waldeck and sent the Artillery Ammunition and Provisions with the sick and wounded to Ruremond by water keeping his Foot in a posture of fighting till the Vessels were out of all danger Soon after this judging the Campaign was ended for this year he left his Army under the Command of Count Waldeck and returned to Holland to assist at the General Assembly of the States He gave them an account of the last expedition which so highly satisfied them that the President congratulated him upon the score of his happy return and in the name of the whole Assembly thanked him for the extraordinary pains and fatigues he had undergone for the safety of the Republic The Campaign being thus finished all the world was in great hopes that a Peace wou'd be soon concluded but as it is a much easier matter to kindle a fire than to extinguish it a Peace like this where so many
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
an Epicurean than if he had been of any other Sect of Philosophers who held more favourable Sentiments of the Divinity and of his Providence And in our days we more esteem the Poetry and History of George Buchanan for all he was a notorious Heretic than the flat insipid Verses or jejune Histories of several good Catholic Authors Generally speaking we follow the Opinion we suck'd in with our Milk and as to matters of Religion 't is a plain case that we implicitly embrace the Sentiments of the Doctors of our acquaintance and believe upon the Faith of other people without searching into the bottom of things But altho it has been a man's misfortune to have evil parents that have educated him in a false Religion yet this does by no means destroy his Moral and Heroic Vertues which apparently discover themselves in an extraordinary Genius Rebellion is full as detestable as Heresy for 't is a bare-faced revolting against our Soveraigns who are the Images or Representatives of God upon Earth Nevertheless one may say in defence of William Prince of Orange That Philip II. occasion'd the defection of the Low Countries by his contempt of them and by violating the priviledges of those Provinces which the Emperour Charles V. his Father always governed with Clemency and Mildness And as for what respects Admiral Coligny whom I compare to the Prince of Orange altho it has been frequently said by his Enemies who were both numerous and powerful That he served himself of the pretence of the Reformed Religion the better to cover his ambition And after them Davila has asserted as much in his History yet setting all prejudices aside t is certain he was firmly perswaded of the truth of his belief and that the principle Motive of his rising up in Arms was to support and defend it His most familiar Acquaintance who pryed diligently into his behaviour never so much as question'd it and the ardent prayers he poured out at the moment of his death as well as several Letters to his Confidents and Relations which are the faithfullest Pictures of the Soul do sufficiently demonstrate it And here I cannot forbear to exclaim at the Massacres of St. Bartholomew wherein abundance of good Catholicks were sacrificed to the Revenge of their Enemies Thus it was generally condemn'd by all honest men both in France and elsewhere except the authors of that barbarous butchery and their dependants A Latin History lately Printed with the King's Priviledg speaking of this bloody Execution has these words Atra illa dies quam Sequana non abluat suis undis And Monsieur Hardouin de Perefixe Bishop of Rhodez in his History of Henry IV as he mentions this Massacre calls it the most abominable Action that ever was and wishes if it please God that nothing like it may ever happen again I don't pretend to injure the memory of King Charles IX nor of the Queen his Mother but only say that this Action has been universally detested without naming any names However if it were necessary to espouse one party or other on this occasion in my opinion a good Frenchman would do much better to interest himself for Henry our present King's Grandfather who ran so great a risk of his Life and who was so dishonourably treated on this cruel day than for Charles IX who scandalously violated his promise Upon this doleful Subject Henry IV. thus explain'd himself very often and my Father was a Witness of it that the most sensible displeasure he ever receiv'd in his whole Life was that on this fatal day of St. Bartholomew eight hundred Gentlemen all of them men of considerable Estates and Quality were basely Murdered for their affection to him These were his very words and he spoke them when he was King of France at a certaâ—…n time when some zealous Catholicks came to demand justice of him for certain Chronological Tables which the Huguenots had printed at Geneva before their Psalms where was to be seen In the Year 1574 dyed Charles the Massacrer To Authorize this cruel Action it must not be alledged that it was approved of at Rome where I have seen in the Pope's Chappel the Tragedy of St. Bartholomew represented and the Admiral thrown out at the Window with these words at the bottom Pontifex Colinii necem probat I have read these strange words there some fifty years ago not without a great regret and a certain pious Bishop told me he could never see them without astonishment To conclude no one ought to be surpriz'd that writing the Life of William Prince of Orange I have set down the substance of his Apology against the Prosecution of the K. of Spain If it contains any severe passages on the memory of that Prince I am not the first person that divulg'd them This piece was printed in several Languages near a hundred years ago and was sent by the Prince of Orange to the Emperour Rodolphus and to several other Princes of Europe amongst the rest to Henry III. accompanied with a long Letter which the K. received kindly altho this Apology which in truth is none of the gentlest was against his own Brother in Law This is all I have to say upon the subject of these Memoirs which I hope will be approv'd by all lovers of Truth and Truth is the Mistress I have courted all my life time The strong aversion I have to flattery and calumny have somewhat transported me against several Writers that don't deserve the name of Historians but only of scurrilous Authors and little low fulsome panegyrists who being led away by different passions have endeavour'd to conceal the Truth which I have taken pains to discover which will appear by several Secrets of State that I have laid open en passant and which without question will not be unwelcome to good men I have nothing more to add but that I composed these Memoirs to pass away some hours of a dull melancholly solitude to which I find my self reduced having been never bred up to Hunting or any other sports of the like nature which diversions if they don't make a country life happy yet they serve at least to render it less tiresome and disagreable WILLIAM of NASSAU Prince of Orange Founder of the Republique of the United Provinces THE LIFE OF WILLIAM of NASSAW Prince of ORANGE Founder of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces in the Netherlands NO Age of all Antiquity has produc'd a more extraordinary Man than William of Nassau Prince of Orange Examine all the Heroes of Plutarch and all those great Men who lived since that admirable Historian and 't will be difficult to find any upon Record who possess'd more eminently all those Virtues and good Qualities that enter into the Composition of a brave Man The Victories and Conquests of Alexander and Caesar do not so much deserve our admiration The first was Master of all Greece and at the Head of a War-like and Well-disciplin'd Army The other