The Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland, 1618 | Page 4

of Utrecht, and of Overyssel to bring
these religious differences before the Assembly of My Lords the States-
General, a proceeding directly in the teeth of the Act of Union and
other treaties, and before a Synod which people called National, and
that meantime every effort was making to discredit all those who stood
up for the laws of these Provinces and to make them odious and
despicable in the eyes of the common people.

"Especially it was I that was thus made the object of hatred and
contempt in their eyes. Hundreds of lies and calumnies, circulated in
the form of libels, seditious pamphlets, and lampoons, compelled me to
return from Utrecht to the Hague. Since that time I have repeatedly
offered my services to your Excellency for the promotion of mutual
accommodation and reconciliation of differences, but without success."
He then alluded to the publication with which the country was ringing,
'The Necessary and Living Discourse of a Spanish Counsellor', and
which was attributed to his former confidential friend, now become his
deadliest foe, ex-Ambassador Francis Aerssens, and warned the Prince
that if he chose, which God forbid, to follow the advice of that
seditious libel, nothing but ruin to the beloved Fatherland and its lovers,
to the princely house of Orange-Nassau and to the Christian religion
could be the issue. "The Spanish government could desire no better
counsel," he said, "than this which these fellows give you; to encourage
distrust and estrangement between your Excellency and the nobles, the
cities, and the magistrates of the land and to propose high and haughty
imaginings which are easy enough to write, but most difficult to
practise, and which can only enure to the advantage of Spain. Therefore
most respectfully I beg your Excellency not to believe these fellows,
but to reject their counsels . . . . Among them are many malignant
hypocrites and ambitious men who are seeking their own profit in these
changes of government--many utterly ragged and beggarly fellows and
many infamous traitors coming from the provinces which have
remained under the dominion of the Spaniard, and who are filled with
revenge, envy, and jealousy at the greater prosperity and bloom of these
independent States than they find at home.
"I fear," he said in conclusion, "that I have troubled your Excellency
too long, but to the fulfilment of my duty and discharge of my
conscience I could not be more brief. It saddens me deeply that in
recompense for my long and manifold services I am attacked by so
many calumnious, lying, seditious, and fraudulent libels, and that these
indecencies find their pretext and their food in the evil disposition of
your Excellency towards me. And although for one-and-thirty years
long I have been able to live down such things with silence, well-doing,
and truth, still do I now find myself compelled in this my advanced old
age and infirmity to make some utterances in defence of myself and

those belonging to me, however much against my heart and
inclinations."
He ended by enclosing a copy of the solemn state paper which he was
about to lay before the States of Holland in defence of his honour, and
subscribed himself the lifelong and faithful servant of the Prince.
The Remonstrance to the States contained a summary review of the
political events of his life, which was indeed nothing more nor less than
the history of his country and almost of Europe itself during that period,
broadly and vividly sketched with the hand of a master. It was
published at once and strengthened the affection of his friends and the
wrath of his enemies. It is not necessary to our purpose to reproduce or
even analyse the document, the main facts and opinions contained in it
being already familiar to the reader. The frankness however with which,
in reply to the charges so profusely brought against him of having
grown rich by extortion, treason, and corruption, of having gorged
himself with plunder at home and bribery from the enemy, of being the
great pensioner of Europe and the Marshal d'Ancre of the
Netherlands--he alluded to the exact condition of his private affairs and
the growth and sources of his revenue, giving, as it were, a kind of
schedule of his property, has in it something half humorous, half
touching in its simplicity.
He set forth the very slender salaries attached to his high offices of
Advocate of Holland, Keeper of the Seals, and other functions. He
answered the charge that he always had at his disposition 120,000
florins to bribe foreign agents withal by saying that his whole
allowance for extraordinary expenses and trouble in maintaining his
diplomatic and internal correspondence was exactly 500 florins yearly.
He alluded to the slanders circulated as to his wealth and its