The Revolt of The Netherlands, book 3

The Revolt of The Netherlands,
book 3

The Project Gutenberg EBook Revolt of Netherlands, by Schiller, Book
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Title: The Revolt of The Netherlands, Book III.
Author: Frederich Schiller
Release Date: Oct, 2004 [EBook #6778] [Yes, we are more than one
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OF NETHERLANDS, BOOK III. ***

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BOOK III.
CONSPIRACY OF THE NOBLES
1565. Up to this point the general peace had it appears been the sincere
wish of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, and their
friends. They had pursued the true interests of their sovereign as much
as the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions had been as
little at variance with the former as with the latter. Nothing bad as yet
occurred to make their motives suspected, or to manifest in them a
rebellious spirit. What they had done they had done in discharge of
their bounden duty as members of a free state, as the representatives of
the nation, as advisers of the king, as men of integrity and honor. The
only weapons they had used to oppose the encroachments of the court
had been remonstrances, modest complaints, petitions. They had never
allowed themselves to be so far carried away by a just zeal for their
good cause as to transgress the limits of prudence and moderation
which on many occasions are so easily overstepped by party spirit. But
all the nobles of the republic did not now listen to the voice of that
prudence; all did not abide within the bounds of moderation.
While in the council of state the great question was discussed whether
the nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies
summoned to their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity,
and while the middle-classes and the people contented themselves with
empty complaints, menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of
all seemed least called upon, and on whose support least reliance had
been placed, began to take more active measures. We have already
described a class of the nobility whose services and wants Philip at his
accession had not considered it necessary to remember. Of these by far
the greater number had asked for promotion from a much more urgent
reason than a love of the mere honor. Many of them were deeply sunk

in debt, from which by their own resources they could not hope to
emancipate themselves. When then, in filling up appointments, Philip
passed them over he wounded them in a point far more sensitive than
their pride. In these suitors he had by his neglect raised up so many idle
spies and merciless judges of his actions, so many collectors and
propagators of malicious rumor. As their pride did not quit them with
their prosperity, so now, driven by necessity, they trafficked with the
sole capital which they could not alienate--their nobility and the
political influence of their names; and brought into circulation a coin
which only in such a period could have found currency--their
protection. With a self-pride to which they gave the more scope as it
was all they could now call their own, they looked upon themselves as
a strong intermediate power between the sovereign and the citizen, and
believed themselves called upon to hasten to the rescue of the
oppressed state, which looked imploringly to them for succor. This idea
was ludicrous only so far as their self-conceit was concerned in it; the
advantages which they contrived to draw from it were substantial
enough. The Protestant merchants, who held in their hands the chief
part of the wealth of the Netherlands, and who believed they could not
at any price purchase too dearly the undisturbed exercise of their
religion,