United Netherlands was to be raised. Its immediate results
were far from promising. The falling away of the Walloon
provinces and the Catholic nobles from the patriot cause
threatened it with ruin. Nothing but the strong personal
influence and indefatigable labours of the prince of Orange
stood in the way of a more general defection. Everywhere,
save in staunch and steadfast Holland and Zeeland, a feeling
of wavering and hesitation was spreading through the land.
In Holland and Zeeland William was supreme, but elsewhere
his aims and his principles were misrepresented and misunderstood.
He saw that unaided the patriotic party could not hope
to resist the power of Philip II., and he had therefore resolved
to gain the support of France by the offer of the sovereignty
Sovereignty offered to
the Duke of Anjou.
The Ban against William of Orange.
The Act of Abjuration.
The Apology.
of the Netherlands to the duke of Anjou. But Anjou
was a Catholic, and this fact aroused among the Protestants
a feeling that they were being betrayed.
But the prince persisted in the policy he felt to be a
necessity, and (23rd of Jan. 1581) a treaty was concluded
with the duke, by which he, under certain
conditions, agreed to accept the sovereignty of the Netherland
provinces, except Holland and Zeeland. These two provinces
were unwilling to have any sovereign but William
himself, and after considerable hesitation he agreed
to become their Count (24th of July 1581). He felt
that he was justified in taking this step because of the
Ban which Philip had published on the 15th of March
1581, in which Orange had been proclaimed a traitor and
miscreant, and a reward offered to any one who would take his
life. His practical answer to the king was the act
of Abjuration, by which at his persuasion the representatives
of the provinces of Brabant, Flanders,
Holland, Zeeland, Gelderland and Utrecht, assembled
at the Hague, declared that Philip had forfeited his sovereignty
over them, and that they held themselves henceforth absolved
from their allegiance to him. In a written defence,
the famous Apology, published later in the year, William
replied at great length to the charges that had been
brought against him, and carrying the war into the enemy’s
camp, endeavoured to prove that the course he had pursued
was justified by the crimes and tyranny of the king.
The duke of Anjou was solemnly inaugurated as duke of Brabant (February 1582), and shortly afterwards as duke of Gelderland, count of Flanders and lord of Friesland. William had taken up his residence at Antwerp in order to give the French prince his strongest personal Attempt on the Life of Orange by Jean Jaureguy. support, and while there a serious attempt was made upon his life (March 18th) by a youth named Jean Jaureguy. He fired a pistol at the prince close to his head, and the ball passed under the right ear and out at the left jaw. It was a terrible wound, but fortunately not fatal. Meanwhile Anjou soon grew tired of his dependent position and of the limitations placed upon his sovereignty. He resolved by a secret and sudden attack (17th of January 1583) to make himself master of Antwerp and of the person of Orange. The assault was made, but it proved an utter failure. The citizens resisted stoutly behind barricades, and the French were routed with heavy loss. The “French Fury” as it was called, rendered the position of Anjou in the Netherlands impossible, and made William himself unpopular in Brabant. He accordingly withdrew to Delft. In the midst of his faithful Hollanders he felt that he could still organize The French Fury. resistance, and stem the progress made by Spanish arms and Spanish influence under the able leadership of Alexander of Parma. Antwerp, with St Aldegonde as its burgomaster, was still in the hands of the patriots and barred the way to the sea, and covered Zeeland from invasion. Never for one moment did William lose heart or relax his efforts and vigilance; he felt that with the two maritime provinces secure the national cause need not be despaired of. But his own days had now drawn to their end. The failure of Jaureguy did not deter a young Catholic zealot, by name Balthazar Gérard, from attempting to assassinate the man whom he looked upon as the arch-enemy of God and the king. Under the pretext of seeking a passport, Assassination of William the Silent. Gérard penetrated into the Prinsenhof at Delft, and firing point blank at William as he left the dining hall, mortally wounded him (10th of July 1584). Amidst general lamentations “the Father of his Country,” as he was called, was buried with great state in the Nieuwe Kerk at Delft at the public charge.
But though the great leader was dead, he had not striven or worked in vain. The situation was critical, but there was no panic. Throughout the revolted provinces there was a general determination to continue the struggle to the bitter end. To make head, however, against the victorious advance of Parma, before whose arms all the chief towns of Brabant and Flanders, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels and lastly—after a valiant defence—Antwerp itself had fallen, it was necessary to look for the protection of a foreign ruler. The government, now that the commanding personal influence of William was no more, was without any central authority which could claim obedience. The States-General were but the delegates of a number of sovereign provinces, Maurice of Nassau. and amongst these Holland by its size and wealth (after the occupation by the Spaniards of Brabant and Flanders) was predominant. Maurice of Nassau, William’s second son, had indeed on his father’s death been appointed captain and admiral-general of the Union, president of the Council of State, and stadholder of Holland and Zeeland, but he was as yet too young, only seventeen, to take a leading part in affairs. Count Hohenloo took the command of the troops with the title of lieutenant-general. Two devoted adherents of William of Orange, Paul Buys, advocate The Sovereignty offered to Henry III. and declined. of Holland, and Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, pensionary of Rotterdam, were the statesmen who at this difficult juncture took the foremost part in directing the policy of the confederacy. They turned first to France. The sovereignty of the provinces was offered to Henry III., but the king, harassed by civil discords in his own country, declined the dangerous honour (1585). Repelled in this direction, the States-General next turned themselves to England. Elizabeth was alarmed by the successes of the Spanish arms, and especially by the fall of Antwerp; and, though refusing the sovereignty, she agreed to send a force of 5000 foot and 1000 horse to the aid of the Provinces under the command of the earl of Leicester, her expenses being guaranteed by the handing over to her the towns Leicester Governor-general. of Flushing, Brill and Rammekens as pledges (10th of August 1585). Leicester, on landing in Holland, was in the presence of the States-General and of Maurice of Nassau invested with the title of governor-general and practically sovereign powers (February 1586).
The new governor had great difficulties to contend with. He
knew nothing of the language or the character of the people he
was called upon to govern; his own abilities both as
general and statesman were mediocre; and he was
hampered constantly in his efforts by the niggardliness
Failure and withdrawal
of Leicester.
and changing whims of his royal mistress. In trying
to consolidate the forces of the Provinces for united action and
to centralize its government, he undoubtedly did his best,
according to his lights, for the national cause. But he was too
hasty and overbearing. His edict prohibiting all commercial
intercourse with the enemy at once aroused against him the
bitter hostility of the merchants of Holland and Zeeland, who
thrived by such traffic. His attempts to pack the council of
State, on which already two Englishmen had seats, with personal
adherents and to override the opposition of the provincial
states of Holland to his arbitrary acts, at last made his position
impossible. The traitorous surrender of Deventer and Zutphen
by their English governors, Stanley and York, both Catholics,
rendered all Englishmen suspect. The States of Holland under
the leadership of Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, took up an attitude
of resolute hostility to him, and the States of Holland dominated
the States-General. In the midst of these divided councils the
important seaport of Sluis was taken by Parma. Utterly discredited,
Leicester (6th of August 1587) abandoned the task,
