History Of The United Netherlands ( Vol-I )

Preface

The indulgence with which the History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic was received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewed industry.

A single word seems necessary to explain the some¬ what increased proportions which the present work has assumed over th.B original design. The intimate con¬ nection which was formed between the Kingdom of England and the Republic of Holland, immediately after the death of William the Silent, rendered the history and the fatq of the two commonwealths for a season almost identical. The years of anxiety and suspense during which* the great Spanish project for subjugating England and reconquering the Netherlands, by the same invasion, was slowly matured, were of deepest import for the. future destiny of those two countries and for the caule 'df national liberty. The deep-laid conspiracy of Spain and Rome against human rights deserves to be patiently examined, for it is one of the great lessons of history. The crisis was long and doubtful, and the health — perhaps the existence — of England and Holland, and, with them, of a great part of Christendom, was on the issue.

History has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come from superstition and despotism, and the

a 2

IV

PREFACE.

blessings which flow from the maintenance of religious and political freedom, as those afforded by the straggle between England and Holland on the one side, and Spain and Rome on the other, during the Bpoch which I have attempted to describe. It is for this reason that I have thought it necessary to reveal, as minutely as possible, the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priest against the people, and to show how it was baffled at last by the strong self-helping energy of two free nations combined.

The period occupied by these two volumes is there¬ fore a short one, when counted by years, for it begins in 1584 and ends with thB commencement of 1590. When estimated by the significance of events and their results for future ages, it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examination which it has received. With the year 1588 the crisis was past; England was safe, and the new Dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized. It is my design, in two additional volumes, which, with the two now published, will complete the present work, to carry the history of the Republic down to the Synod of Dort. After this epoch the Thirty Years’ War broke out in Grermany ; and it is my wish, at a future day, to retrace the history of that eventful struggle, and to combine with it the civil and military events in Hol¬ land, down to the epoch when the Thirty Years’ War and the Eighty Years’ War of the Netherlands were both brought to a close by the Peace of West¬ phalia.

The materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundant that it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller oompass without doing

PREFACE.

V injustice to the subject. It was desirable to throw full light on these prominent points of the history, while the law of historical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in the succeeding portions, in which less important objects may be more slightly indicated. That I may not be thought capable of abusing the reader’s confidence by inventing conversations, speeches, or letters, I would take this opportunity of stating — although I have repeated the remark in the foot-notes — that no personage in these pages is made to write or speak any words save those which, on the best his¬ torical evidence, he is. known to have written or spoken.

A brief allusion to my sources of information will not seem superfluous. I have carefully studied all the leading contemporary chronicles and pamphlets of Holland, Flanders, Spain, France, Germany, and Eng¬ land ; but, as the authorities are always indicated in the notes, it is unnecessary to give a list of them here. But by far my most valuable materials are entirely un- . published ones.

The archives of England are especially rich for the history of the sixteenth century ; and it will be seen, in the course of the narrative, how largely I have drawn from those mines of historical wealth, the State Paper Office and the MS. department of the British Museum. Although both these great national depositories are in admirable order, it is to be regretted that they are not all embraced in one collection, as much trouble might then be spared to the historical student, who is now obliged to pass frequently from the one place to the other, in order to find different portions of the same correspondence.

\n

PREFACE.

From the royal archives of Holland I have obtained many most important, entirely unpublished documents, by the aid of which I have endeavoured to verify, to illustrate, or sometimes to correct, the recitals of the elder national chroniclers ; and I have derived the greatest profit from thB invaluable series of Archives and Correspondence of the Orange-Nassau Family, given to the world by M. Groen van Prinsterer. I desire to renew to that distinguished gentleman, and to that emi¬ nent scholar M. Bakhuyzen van den Brink, the expres¬ sion of my gratitude for their constant kindness and advice during my residence at the Hague. Nothing can exceed the courtesy which has been extended to me in Holland, and I am deeply grateful for the indulgence with which my efforts to illustrate the history of the country have been received where that history is best known.

I have also been much aided by the study of a portion of the Archives of Simancas, the originals of which are in the Archives de l’Empire in Paris, and which were most liberally laid before me through the kindness of M. le Comte de La Borde.

I have, further, enjoyed an inestimable advantage in the perusal of the whole correspondence between Philip II., his ministers, and governors, relating to the affairs of the Netherlands, from the Bpoch at which this work commences down to that monarch’s death. Copies of this correspondence have been carefully made from the originals at Simancas by order of the Belgian Grovemment, nnder the superintendence of the eminent archivist M. Gachard, who has already published a synopsis or abridgment of a portion of it in a French

PREFACE.

vii

translation, The translation and abridgment of so large a mass of papers, however, must necessarily occupy many years, and it may be long, therefore, before the whole of the correspondence — and particularly that portion of it relating to the epoch occupied by these volumes — sees the light. It was, therefore, of the greatest importance for me to see the documents themselves unabridged and untranslated. This privilege has been accorded me, and I desire to express my thanks to his Excellency M. van de Weyer, the distinguished representative of Belgium at the English Court, to whose friendly offices I am mainly indebted for the satisfaction of my wishes in this respect. A letter from him to his Excellency M. Rogier, Minister of the Interior in Belgium — who likewise took the most courteous interest in promoting my views — obtained for me the permission thoroughly to study this correspondence ,* and I passed several months in Brussels, occupied with reading the whole of it from the year 1584 to the end of the reign of Philip II.

I was thus saved a long visit to the Archives of Siman cas, for it would he impossible conscientiously to write the history of the epoch without a thorough ex¬ amination of the correspondence of the King and his ministers. I venture to hope, therefore — whatever judgment may he passed upon my own labours — that this work may he thought to possess an intrinsic value ; for the various materials of wJnch it is composed are original, and — so far as I am aware — have not been made use of by any historical writer.

I would take this opportunity to repeat my thank9 to M. Gachard, Archivist of the kingdom of Belgium* viii PREFACE.

for the uniform courtesy and kindness which I have received at his hands, and to hear my testimony to the skill and critical accuracy with which he has illustrated so many passages of Belgian and Spanish history.

SI, Hertford-Street% May

November 11 th, IStjU.

CONTENTS OF YOL. L

Chapter I

Murder of the Prince of Orange — Extension Df Protestantism — Vast Power of- Spain — Religious Origin of the Revolt — Disposal of the Sovereignty — Courage of the Estates of Holland — Children of the Prince of Orange — Provisional Council of State — Firm attitude of Holland and Zeeland — Weakness of Flanders — Fall of Ghent — Adroit¬ ness of Alexander Farnese . . . . . . Page 1

Chapter II

Relations of the Republic to France — Queen Elizabeth’s severity towards Catholics and Calvinists — Relative Positions of England and Francs — Timidity of Germany — Apathy of Protestant Germany — Indignation of the Netherlander — Henry III. of France — The King and his Minion* — Henry of Guise — Henry, of Navarre — Power of France — Embassy of the States to France — Ignominious Position of the Envoys — Views of the French Huguenots — Efforts to procure Annexation — Success of Des Pruneaux . 24

Chapter III

Policy of England — Schemes of the Pretender of Portugal — Hesitation of the French Court — Secret Wishes of France — Contradictory Views as to the Opinions of Netherlander — Their Love for England and Elizabeth — Prominent Statesmen of the Provinces — Roger Williams the Welsh¬ man— Views of Walsingham, Burghley, and the Queen — An Embassy to Holland decided upon — Davison sent to the Hague — Cautious and Secret Measures of Burghley — Consequent Dissatisfaction of Walsingham — English and Dutch Suspicion of France — Increasing Affection

of Holland for England . . . — 62

VOL* I. b ,

X

CONTENTS OF VOL. L

Chapter IV

Reception of the Butch Envoys at the Louvre — Ignominious Result of tho Embassy — Secret Influences at work — Bargaining between the French and Spanish Courts — Claims of Catharine de’ Medici upon Portugal — Letters of Henry and Catharine — Secret Proposal by France to invade England — States’ Mission to Henry of Navarre — Subsidies of Philip to Guise — Treaty of Joinville — Philip’s share in the League denied by Parma — Philip in reality its Chief — Manifesto of the League — Atti¬ tude of Henry III. and of Navarre — The League demands a Royal Decree — Designs of France and Spain against Eugland — Secret Inter¬ view of Mendoza and Villeroy — Complaints of English Persecution — Edict of Nemours — Excommunication of Navarre and his Reply Page 90

Chapter V

Position and Character of Farnese — Preparations for Antwerp Siege — Its Characteristics — Foresight of William the Silent hp- Saint e Aldegonde, the Burgomaster — Anarchy in Antwerp — Character of Sainte Alde¬ gonde — Admiral Treslong — Justinus de Nassau — Hoheulo — Opposi¬ tion to the Plan of Orange — Liefkeushoek — Head-quarters of Parma at KalloD — Difficulty of supplying the City — Results of not piercing the Dykes — Preliminaries of the Siege — Successes of the Spaniards — Energy of Farnese with sword and pen — His Correspondence with the Antwerpers — Progress of the Bridge — Impoverished Condition of Parma — Patriots attempt Bois-le-Duc — Their Misconduct — Failure of the Enterprise — The Scheldt Bridge completed — Description of the Structure — Position of Alexander and his Army — La Motte attempts in vain Ostend — Patriots gain Liefkenshoek — Projects of Gianibelli — Alaren on the Bridge- — The Fire-Ships — The Explosion — Its Results

— Death of the Viscount of Ghent — Perpetual Anxiety of Farnese — s Impoverish^ State of the Spaniards — Intended Attack of the Kowen-

styn — Second Attack on the Kowenstyn — A Landing effected *— A sharp Combat — The Dyke pierced — Rally of the Spaniards — Parma comes to the Rescue — Fierce struggle on the Dyke — The Spaniards su ccessful

— Premature triumph at Antwerp — Defeat of the Patriots — The Ship ** War’s End” — Despair of the Citizens — Sainte Aldegonde discouraged

— His critical Position — His Negotiations with the enemy — Corre¬ spondence with Richardot — Commotion in the City — Interview of Mamix with Parma — Suspicious Conduct of Maruix — Deputation to

' the Prince — Oration of Mamix — Private Views of Parma — Capitu¬ lation of Antwerp — Mistakes of Mamix — Philip on the Religious Question — Triumphal Entrance ofAlexander — Rebuilding of the Citadel

— Gratification of Philip — Note on Sainte Aldegonde .. .. 129

CONTENTS C F YOL. I.

XI

Chapter VI

Policy of England — Diplomatic Coquetry — Dutch Envoys in England — Conference of Qrtel and Walsingham — Interview with Leicester — Private Audience of the Queen — Letters of the States-General — Ill Effect of Gilpiu’s Despatch — Close Bargaining of the Queen and States

— Guarantees required by England — England’s comparative Weakness

— The English characterised — Paul Hentzner — The Envoys in London

— Their Characters — Olden- Barneveld described — Reception at Green¬ wich — Speech of Menin — Reply of the Queen — Memorial of the Envoys — Discussions with the Ministers — Second Speech of the Queen

— Third Speech of the Queen — Sir John Norris sent to Holland — Parsimony of Elizabeth — Energy of Davison — Protracted Negotiations

— Friendly Sentiments of Count Maurice — Letters from him and Louisa

de Coligny — Davison vexed by the Queen’s Caprice — Dissatisfaction of Leicester — His vehement Complaints — The Queen’s Avarice — Per¬ plexity of Davison — Manifesto of Elizabeth — Sir Philip Sidney — His Arrival at Flushing . .. Page 270

CHAPTER VH.

The Earl of Leicester — His Triumphal Entrance into Holland — English Spies about him — Importance of Holland to England — Spanish Schemes for invading England — Letter of the Grand Commander — Perilous Position of England — True Nature of the Contest — Wealth and Strength of the Provinces — Power of the Dutch and English people — Affection of the Hollanders for the Queen — Secret Purposes of Leicester Wretched Condition of English Troops — The Nassaus and Hohenlo — The Earl’s Opinion of them — Clerk and Killigvew — Interview with the States — Government-General offered to the Earl — . Discussions on the Subject — The Earl accepts the Office — His Ambition and Mistakes

— His Installation at the Hague — Intimations of the Queen’s Displea¬ sure — Deprecatory Letters of Leicester — Davison’s Mission to England

— Queen’s Anger and Jealousy — Her angry Letters to- the Earl and the States — Arrival of Davison — Stormy Interview with the Queen — The second one is calmer — Queen’s Wrath somewhat mitigated — Mis¬ sion of H^neage to the States — Shirley sent to England by the Earl — His Interview with Elizabeth — Leicester’s Letters to his Friends — Paltry Conduct of the Earl to Davison — He excuses himself at Davison’ £ Expense — His Letter to Burghley — Effect of the Queen’s Letters to the States — Suspicion and Discontent in Holland — States excuse their Conduct to the Queen — Leicester discredited in Holland — Evil conse¬ quences to Holland and England — Magic effect of a Letter from Leicester

— The Queen appeased — Her Letters to the States and the Earl — She permits the granted Authority — Unhappy Results of the Queen’s Course

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

m

— Her variable Moods — She attempts to deceive Walsingham — Her Injustice tD Heneage — His Perplexity and Distress — Humiliating Posi¬ tion of Leicester — His melancholy Letters to the Queen — He receives a little Consolation — And writes more cheerfully — The Queen is more benignant — The States less contented than the Earl — His Quarrels with them begin .. .. . . . . Page 345

Chapter VIII

Forlorn Condition of Flanders — Parma’s secret Negotiations with the Queen — Grafigni and Bodraan — - Their dealings with English Counsel¬ lors — Duplicity Df Farnese — Secret Offers of the English Peace-Party

— Letters and Intrigues of De Loo — Drake’s Victories and their Effect

— Parma’s Perplexity and Anxiety — He is relieved by the News from

England — Queen’s secret Letters to Parma — His Letters and Instruc¬ tions to Bodman — Bodman’s secret Transactions at Greenwich — Wal¬ singham detects and exposes the Plot — The Intriguers baffled — Queen’s Letter to Parma and his to the King — Unlucky Results of the Peace-Intrigues — Unhandsome' Treatment of Leicester — Indignation of the Earl and Walsingham — Secret Letter of Parma to Philip — Inva¬ sion of England recommended -p Details of the Project .. 461

TIE UNITED NETHEBLAND&

Chapter I

Murder of Orange — Extension of Protestantism — Vast Power of Spain — Reli¬ gious Origin of the Revolt — Disposal of the Sovereignty — Courage of the Estates of Holland — Children of William the Silent — Provisional Council of State — Firm Attitude of Holland and Zeeland — Weakness of Flanders — Fall of Ghent — Adroitness of Alexander Famese.

William the Silent, Prince of Orange, had been mur¬ dered on the 10th July, 1584. It is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster than the one thus brought about by the hand of a single obscure fanatic. For nearly twenty years the character of the Prince had been expanding steadily as the difficulties of his situa¬ tion increased. Habit, necessity, and the natural gifts of the man, had combined tdlnvest him at last with an authority whifth-seemed more than human. There was such ge" confidence in his sagacity, courage, and purity, ' .he nation had come to think with his brain, and to with his hand. It was natural that, for an

instan iere should be a feeling as of absolute and helpl paralysis.

W? ever his technical attributes in the polity of the Net! .lands — and it would be difficult to define them with, perfect accuracy — there is no doubt that he stood there^ the head of a commonwealth, -in an attitude such as haVl been maintained by but few of the kings, or chiefs, or high priests of history. Assassination, a regu¬ lar ahd almost indispensable portion of the working machinery of Philip’s government, had produced, in this instance, after repeated disappointments, the result at last which had been so anxiously desired. The ban of the Pope and the offered gold of the King had accom¬ plished a victory greater than any yet achieved by the - voi I. B

2 . THE UNITED NETHERLANDS. Chap. IT

armies of Spain, brilliant as bad been tbeir triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the Netherlands.

Had that “ exceeding proud, neat, and spruce511 Doc¬ tor of Laws, ^AViljliam Parry, who had been busying himself at about, the same time with his memorable project against the Queen of England, proved as success¬ ful as Balthazar Gerard, the fate of Christendom would have been still darker. Fortunately, that member of parliament had made the discovery in time — not fur himself, but, for Elizabeth — that the “Lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns;553 the well-known result being that the traitor was hanged and the sove¬ reign saved.

Yet such was the condition of Europe- at that day. A small, dull- elderly, imperfectly-educated, patient, plodding invalid, with white hair and protruding under¬ jaw, and dreary visage, was sitting day after da}^ seldom, speaking, never smiling, seven or eight hours out of every twenty- four, at a writing-table covered with hoops of interminable despatches, in a cabinet far away beyond the seas and mountains, in the VBry heart of Spain. A clerk or two, noiselessly opening and shutting the door, from time to time, fetching fresh bundles of letters and taking away others— all written and composed by secretaries or high functionariesr— and all to he scrawled over in the margin by the dilWeg^jjhjijTgjTi in a big schoolboy’s hand and style — if JveiMSchoSBB^even in the sixteenth century, could write so illegib. express himself so awkwardly;3 couriers in the court \ arriv¬ ing from or departing for the uttermost part$ ^ '\rth — Asia, Africa, America, Europe — to fetch and cai 'these interminable epistles, which contained the irresp, siblo commands of this one individual, and were frik hted with the doom and destiny of countless millions of the world’s inhabitants — such was the system of ^em¬ inent against which the Netherlands had protest# and revolted. . It was a system under which their fi§||s had been made desolate, their cities burned and p^faged, their mem hanged, burned, drowned, or hacked t6|ieoes, their women subjected to every outrage ; and iojut an end to which they had been devoting their treas||e and

1 Camden's ‘ Elizabeth^ ed. 168^, p. 3051 2 Camden, j||o7

SeetyoL ii, of this work for instances. *'

MURDER OF THE PRINCE CF ORANGE. 3

their "blood for nearly the length of one generation. It was a system, too, which, among other results, had just brought about the death of the foremost statesman of Europe, and had nearly effected simultaneously the murder of the most eminent sovereign in the world. The industrious Philip, safe and tranquil in the depths of the Es corial, saying his prayers three times a day with exemplary regularity, had just sent three bullets through the body of William the Silent at his dining-room door in Delft. “ Had it only been done two years earlier,” observed the patient old man, “ much trouble might have been spared me ; but ’tis better late than never.” Sir .Edward Stafford, English envoy in Paris, wrote to his government — so soon as the news of the murder ' reached him — that, according to his information out of the Spanish minister’s own house, “ the same practice that had been executed upon the Prince of Orange, there were practisers more than two or three about to execute upon her Majesty, and that within two months.” With¬ out vouching for the absolute accuracy of this intelli¬ gence, he implored the Queen to be more upon her guard than ever. “For there is no doubt,” said the envoy, “ that she is a chief mark to shoot at ; and seeing that there were men cunning enough to inchant a man and to encourage him to kill the Prince of Orange in the midst of Holland, and that there was a knave found desperate enough to do it, we must think hereafter that anything; may be done. Therefore God preserve her Majesty.” 1 .

Invisible as the Grand Lama of Thibet, clothed with power as extensive and absolute as had ever been wielded

l Murdin’s ‘ State Papers,’ 412-415. his mercy's sake, preserve.” (Herle to

William Herle, too, wrote from Hoi- the Queen, 22nd July, 1584, State-Paper land, immediately after the murder, Office MS.) Moreover, another secret warning the Queen to he more than ever agent of Walsingham, Stephen Le Sieur, on her guard. The seminary at Dieppe, wrote shortly afterwards from Antwerp, placed "‘upon the brim of England,” that the Prince of Orange had been was constantly sending Scotch and Eng- warned by persons resident in Cologne of lish assassins into their own country, the attempt about to be made upon his “'Tis known to me,” he said, “that life, but had unfortunately not heeded there are entered above seven score lurk- the- admonition. The saidfe persons who ing Jesuits into the realm of late, and had furnished that information now they do secretly repair more and more wrote to apprise Le Sieur that there was to sow infection and rebellion among a similar plot on foot against the Queen, your subjects, and to conspire against (Le Sieur to^Valsingham, 7th September, your royal person, whom God alway, for 1584, State-Paper Office MS.)

4- THE UNITED NETHERLANDS, Out, J

by the most imperial Caesar, Philip the Prudent, as ho grew older and feebler in mind and body, seemed to become more gluttonous of work,1 more ambitious to extend his sceptre over lands which he had never seen or dreamed of seeing, more fixed in his determination to annihilate that monster Protestantism, which it had been the business of his life to combat, more eager to put to death every human creature, whether anointed monarch or humble artisan, that defended heresy or opposed his progress to universal empire.

If this enormous power, this fabulous labour, had been wielded or performed with a beneficent intention ; if the man who seriously regarded himself as the owner of a third of the globe, with the inhabitants thereof, had attempted to deal with these extensive estates inherited from his ancestors with the honest intention of a thrifty landlord, an intelligent slave-owner, it would have yet been possible for a little longer to smile at the delusion, and endure the practice.

But there was another old man, who lived in another palace in another remote land, who in his capacity of representative of Saint Peter, claimed to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth — and had been willing tc bestow them upon the man who would go down and worship him. Philip stood enfeoffed, by divine decree, of all America, the East Indies, the whole Spanish Peninsula, the better portion of Italy, the seventeen Netherlands, and many other possessions far and near; and he contemplated annexing to this extensive property the kingdoms of France, of England, and Ireland. The Holy League, maintained by the sword of Guise, the Pope’s ban, Spanish ducats," Italian condottieri, and German mercenaries, was to exterminate heresy and establish the Spanish dominion in France. The same machinery, aided by the pistol or poniard of the assassin, was to substitute for English protestantism and Eng¬ land’s queen the Homan Catholic religion and a foreign sovereign. ■*“ The holy league,” said Duplessis-Mornay, one of the noblest characters of the age, “ has destined us all to the same sacrifice. The ambition of the

1584,

EXTENSION OF PROTESTANTISM, o

Spaniard, which lias overleaped so many lands and seas, thinks nothing inaccessible.”1

The Netherland revolt had therefore assumed world¬ wide proportions. Had it been merely the rebellion of provinces against a sovereign, the importance of the straggle would have been more local and temporary, But the period was one in which the geographical land¬ marks of countries were almost "removed. The dividingline ran through every state, city, and almost every family. There was a country which believed in the absolute power of the church to dictate the relations between man and his Maker, and to utterly exterminate all who disputed that position. There was another country which protested against that doctrine, and claimed, theoretically or .practically, a liberty of con¬ science. The territory of these countries was mapped out by no visible lines, but the inhabitants of each, whether resident in France, Germany, England, or Flanders, recognised a relationship which took its root in deeper differences than those of race or language. It was not entirely a question of doctrine or dogma. A large portion of the world had become tired of the antiquated delusion of a papal supremacy over every land, and had recorded its determination, once for all, to have done with it. The transition to freedom of conscience became a necessary step, sooner or later to be ;aken. To establish the principle of toleration for all religions was an inevitable consequence of the Hutch revolt ; although, thus far, perhaps only one conspicuous man in advance of his age had boldly announced that doctrine, and had died in its defence. But a great true thought never dies — though long buried in the earth — and the day was- to come, after long years, when the seed was to ripen into a harvest of civil and religious emancipation, and when the very word toleration was to sound like an insult and an absurdity.

A vast responsibility rested upon the head of a monarch, placed as Philip TI. found himself, at this great dividing point in modem history. 'To judge him, or any man in such a position, simply from his own point of view, is weak and illogical. History judges the man according to his point of view. It condemns or applauds i < JVTdiaolres stCorrespoadance de Duplessis-Momay,' Paris, 1S24, i.i. 27,

THE UNITED NETHERLANDS. ' Gimp. 1. 1

the point of view itself. The point of view of a male* factor is not to excuse robbery and murder. Nor is the spirit of the age to he pleaded in defence of the evil-doer at a time when mortals were divided into almost equal troops. The age of Philip II. was also the age of "William of Orange and his four brethren, of Sainte Aldegonde, of Olden-Barneveld, of Duplessis-Mornay, La Noue, Coligny, of Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, Walsingham, Sidney, Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth, of Michael Montaigne, and William Shakspeare. It was not an age of blindness; but of glorious light. If the man whom the Maker of the Universe had permitted to be bom to such boundless functions, chose to put out his own eyes that he'- might grope along his great path¬ way of duty in perpetual darkness, by his deeds he nnisf be judged. The King perhaps firmly believed, that the heretics of the Netherlands, of France, or of England, could escapd eternal perdition only by being extirpated from the earth by fire and sword, and therefore, perhaps, felt it his duty to devote his life to their extermination. But he believed, still more firmly, that his own political authority, throughout his dominions, and his road to almost universal empire, lay over the bodies of those heretics. ' Three centimes have nearly . past since this memorable epoch ; and the world knows the fate of the states which accepted the dogma which it was Philip’s life-work to enforce, and of those who protested against the system. . The Spanish and Italian Peninsulas have had a different history from that which records the career of France, Prussia, the Dutch Commonwealth, the British Empire, the Transatlantic Republic.