The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1569-70 | Page 2

refused an
audience, and the Duke was taxed with presumption in venturing, as if
be had been a sovereign, to send a legation to a crowned head. No
satisfaction was given to Alva, but a secret commissioner was
despatched to Spain to discuss the subject there. The wrath of Alva was
not appeased by this contemptuous treatment. Chagrined at the loss of
his funds, and stung to the quick by a rebuke which his arrogance had
merited, he resorted to a high-handed measure. He issued a
proclamation commanding the personal arrest of every Englishman
within the territory of the Netherlands, and the seizure of every article
of property which could be found belonging to individuals of that
nation. The Queen retaliated by measures of the same severity against
Netherlanders in England. The Duke followed up his blow by a
proclamation (of March 31st, 1569), in which the grievance was
detailed, and strict non-intercourse with England enjoined. While the
Queen and the Viceroy were thus exchanging blows, the real sufferers
were, of course, the unfortunate Netherlanders. Between the upper and
nether millstones of Elizabeth's rapacity and Alva's arrogance, the poor
remains of Flemish prosperity were well nigh crushed out of existence.
Proclamations and commissions followed hard upon each other, but it
was not till April 1573, that the matter was definitely arranged. Before
that day arrived, the commerce of the Netherlands had suffered, at the
lowest computation, a dead loss of two million florins, not a stiver of
which was ever reimbursed to the sufferers by the Spanish government.
Meantime, neither in the complacency of his triumph over William of
Orange, nor in the torrent of his wrath against the English Queen, did
the Duke for a moment lose sight of the chief end of his existence in
the Netherlands. The gibbet and the stake were loaded with their daily
victims. The records of the period are foul with the perpetually renewed
barbarities exercised against the new religion. To the magistrates of the
different cities were issued fresh instructions, by which all municipal
officers were to be guided in the discharge of their great duty. They
were especially enjoined by the Duke to take heed that Catholic
midwives, and none other, should be provided for every parish, duly
sworn to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which

occurred, in order that the curate might instantly proceed to baptism.
They were also ordered to appoint certain spies who should keep watch
at every administration of the sacraments, whether public or private,
whether at the altar or at death-beds, and who should report for
exemplary punishment (that is to say, death by fire) all persons who
made derisive or irreverential gestures, or who did not pay suitable
honor to the said Sacraments. Furthermore, in order that not even death
itself should cheat the tyrant of his prey, the same spies were to keep
watch at the couch of the dying, and to give immediate notice to
government of all persons who should dare to depart this life without
previously receiving extreme unction and the holy wafer. The estates of
such culprits, it was ordained, should be confiscated, and their bodies
dragged to the public place of execution.
An affecting case occurred in the north of Holland, early in this year,
which, for its peculiarity, deserves brief mention. A poor Anabaptist,
guilty of no crime but his fellowship with a persecuted sect, had been
condemned to death. He had made his escape, closely pursued by an
officer of justice, across a frozen lake. It was late in the winter, and the
ice had become unsound. It trembled and cracked beneath his footsteps,
but he reached the shore in safety. The officer was not so fortunate. The
ice gave way beneath him, and he sank into the lake, uttering a cry for
succor. There were none to hear him, except the fugitive whom he had
been hunting. Dirk Willemzoon, for so was the Anabaptist called,
instinctively obeying the dictates of a generous nature, returned,
crossed the quaking and dangerous ice, at the peril of his life, extended
his hand to his enemy, and saved him from certain death. Unfortunately
for human nature, it cannot be added that the generosity, of, the action
was met by a corresponding heroism. The officer was desirous, it is
true, of avoiding the responsibility of sacrificing the preserver of his
life, but the burgomaster of Asperen sternly reminded him to remember
his oath. He accordingly arrested the fugitive, who, on the 16th of May
following, was burned to death under the most lingering tortures.
Almost at the same time four clergymen, the eldest seventy years of age,
were executed at the Hague, after an imprisonment of three years. All
were of blameless lives, having committed no crime save that