Texts concerning the Revolt of the Netherlands

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42 Advice and counsel of the prince of Orange on some articles sent to His Excellency by the deputies of the Union, 28 September 1579 ¹

After January 1579 when some provinces joined together in the Union of Utrecht the administrative situation became extraordinarily complicated. The prince of Orange stayed with the States General which continued in assembly at Antwerp, but in August he was called to Ghent because of the crisis developing there. In September 1579 some delegates from the Union of Utrecht were sent to Ghent. On 18 September they handed the Prince proposals concerning the peace negotiations at Cologne, the levying of taxes, the negotiations in progress with the duke of Anjou and the government of the country. The prince answered them in the document of 28 September.

As to your third article dealing with the question of the duke of Anjou, His Excellency has this to say. He acknowledges the admirable way in which the provinces and all the subjects have done their duty and sees on the other hand that the king has not displayed the least sign of regard towards his subjects and even less towards the reformed religion. His governors and servants bitterly attack the country, and the articles propounded by those who negotiated with the States in former times and by the duke of Terranova² during the recent peace negotiations at Cologne are fallacious. Therefore, His Excellency answers that unless peace is offered by the deputies of the king on terms favourable to the fatherland as well as to religion, and assurances are given that there shall not be the slightest reason for the suspicion that on the pretext of peace the king and his servants should want to tyrannise once more over the country and exterminate religion, the provinces may want to choose a prince as their protector. All things considered His Excellency thinks that in that case no lord or prince could be found whose authority and means are of greater importance and consequence than those of the kingdom of England or the

1 Advijs ende raedt van den Prince van Oraengien op sekere articulen aen zijne Excellentie ghesonden van weghen der ghedeputeerden van der Unie (Knuttel, no. 503).

2 The representative of the Spanish king at Cologne.

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duke of Anjou. The princes of the Holy Roman Empire have been asked several times to take these countries under their protection, and His Imperial Majesty himself has also been asked very humbly by His Highness³ and the States General both in letters and by nobles and other distinguished persons sent thither, but His Imperial Majesty or the princes of the empire could not be persuaded to render any assistance to these countries, though they are members of the empire.⁴ On the other hand His Excellency has been informed on good authority that the queen of England intends to agree to become the protectress of these provinces and that she is favourably disposed toward the duke of Alençon and feels affection for him.⁵ She has, in fact, written this to the States, adding that in order to perform such a magnificent task it is necessary to have a prince and lord who can perform it in person. His Excellency thinks (and if he is wrong the united provinces and towns should correct him) that no other means is left but to have recourse to the afore-mentioned duke of Anjou. However, the condition must be that the country is given the assistance of soldiers and sufficient means to put up a stubborn defence against the Spaniards and drive them away. Religion and the privileges of the country as well as its freedoms and jurisdiction must be fully guaranteed and it should especially be ensured that each province separately remains in full possession of its old fiefs and other prerogatives and that no alterations be made to them now or later on. But if the provinces think it more advisable not to elect a prince as their protector, His Excellency will comply with their discretion and counsel. In that case too he promises to serve and assist them as much as he can in all matters that they may consider advisable for the benefit and prosperity of these countries. And he urges and admonishes them always to give heed to the best and most expedient means to withstand such a powerful and terrible enemy as is theirs...

Your fourth point concerns the government of these provinces. In this matter His Excellency leaves it to the provinces and their deputies to take the decisions they think appropriate. As to His Highness, the Archduke Matthias, he approves of what has already been advised by the deputies.

3 Archduke Matthias.

4 Marnix of St Aldegonde addressed the Diet at Worms in the name of a delegation from the Netherlands on 7 May 1578 and referred to the treaty of Augsburg of 1548 concerning the Burgundian circle (see Document 19, note 8).

5 The title of duke of Anjou was conferred on Francis of Alençon in 1576. In August 1579 he paid a visit to Queen Elizabeth concerning his proposal of marriage.

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But as to His Excellency himself, His Excellency will not refrain from calling the attention of the deputies to the fact that he has not been able to rectify the many great and gross faults and abuses which have been committed because he was not obeyed. All of us know that commands and orders are vain unless they are obeyed and complied with by those who should do so.

On this subject many serious complaints have been lodged by all sorts of people for various reasons. Some of them are wise people. They know that the source of the evil is partly the lack of proper obedience, partly the fact that the money necessary for carrying on the war has not been raised in due time or has not been spent on what it was destined for or was held back by evil practices and cunning devices. Nevertheless it is His Excellency whom they deftly hold responsible for all such irregularities, as if His Excellency could have done everything on his own without any means and without the assistance of those who should help him. What made it even more difficult for His Excellency to act in the required manner was the fact that people who defended our case and had taken our side raised many obstacles because they had different opinions and pursued private designs, as became clear afterwards.

Many others, not so clever though not of really evil nature (mankind being naturally inclined to calumny particularly against those who govern them) have rejoiced at these and similar propositions and have been so stupid as to air them at their tables as well as in the streets and other places where they found themselves. They did not perceive that the inventors of such calumnies intended to bring about the utter ruin of the provinces, and that they helped these men by repeating their denunciations. Some of them, incidentally, had undoubtedly been bribed by the enemy.

His Excellency, seeing the ingratitude of people who witnessed the arrest of his son, taken away in custody,⁶ and the loss of His Excellency's three brothers,⁷ and who know that he has got head over heels into debt and lost all his possessions, had reasons enough to accept the excellent and profitable offers which were made to him had he been willing to listen to them and to come to a private agreement during the peace negotiations. And His Excellency might well have been inclined to such dealings when he noticed that people who behaved previously as if they were totally

6 Philip William (see Document 23, note 12).

7 Adolph (born 1540) was killed in the battle of Heiligerlee in 1568. For Louis and Henry see Document 19, note 2.

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devoted to the religion, very ungratefully declared to be his enemies.⁸ But nevertheless His Excellency's only purpose remains to further the honour and glory of God and the welfare of the fatherland. He has treated all these forms of ingratitude and unfairness as matters that must be forgotten as soon as possible. And without any or with very small resources, but aided by the confidence His Excellency has inspired in the soldiers, he has so far with the utmost exertion prevented the enemy from invading the country further, when the latter attacked the provinces from all sides by force of arms as well as with ruses and evil practices. The enemy was, moreover, strengthened both by the imprudence and by the wickedness of some of us, who pretended to be on our side but in fact did more harm to the country than all the violence of the enemy. Indeed it is very surprising that the whole country has not been entirely lost.

As the afore-mentioned united provinces now offer His Excellency the post of lieutenant-general of these provinces⁹ His Excellency declares that he is willing to obey some other person whom the afore-mentioned provinces would like to appoint, and that he promises to spare no pains in the service of the provinces and to do his utmost as he has done so far. If however the provinces persist and pray His Excellency (who has devoted himself wholly to the service of God Almighty and the fatherland) to accept the post of lieutenant-general, then His Excellency desires that the provinces will understand the causes of the afore-mentioned abuses, in order that they may take appropriate measures.

8 The Ghent extremists, who disapproved of his negotiations with the duke of Anjou. In order to take action against them the prince had been in that town since 18 August.

9 Viz. those of the Union of Utrecht.