History of The Reign of Philip The Second King of Spain History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain Part 23

The discontent of the lords at receiving this laconic epistle may be imagined. They were indignant that so little account should be made of their representations, and that both they and the country should be sacrificed to the king's partiality for his minister. The three lords waited on the regent, and extorted from her a reluctant consent to a.s.semble the knights of the order, and to confer with them and the other n.o.bles as to the course to be taken.

It was there decided that the lords should address a second letter, in the name of the whole body, to Philip, and henceforth should cease to attend the council of state.[565]

In this letter, which bears the date of July the twenty-ninth, they express their disappointment that his majesty had not come to a more definite resolution, when prompt and decisive measures could alone save the country from ruin. They excuse themselves from visiting Spain in the critical state of affairs at home. At another time, and for any other purpose, did the king desire it, they would willingly do so. But it was not their design to appear as accusers, and inst.i.tute a process against the minister. They had hoped their own word in such an affair would have sufficed with his majesty. It was not the question whether the minister was to be condemned, but whether he was to be removed from an office for which he was in no respect qualified.[566] They had hoped their attachment and tried fidelity to the crown would have made it superfluous for them to go into a specification of charges. These, indeed, could be easily made, but the discontent and disorder which now reigned throughout the country were sufficient evidence of the minister's incapacity.[567]

They stated that they had acquainted the regent with their intention to absent themselves in future from the council, where their presence could be no longer useful; and they trusted this would receive his majesty's sanction. They expressed their determination loyally and truly to discharge every trust reposed in them by the government; and they concluded by apologizing for the homely language of their epistle,--for they were no haranguers or orators, but men accustomed to act rather than to talk, as was suited to persons of their quality.[568]--This last shaft was doubtless aimed at the cardinal.--The letter was signed by the same triumvirate as the former. The abstract here given does no justice to the doc.u.ment, which is of considerable length, and carefully written.

The language is that of men who to the habitual exercise of authority united a feeling of self-respect, which challenged the respect of their opponents. Such were not the men to be cajoled or easily intimidated. It was the first time that Philip had been addressed in this lofty tone by his great va.s.sals. It should have opened his eyes to the condition and the character of his subjects in the Netherlands.

The coalition drew up, at the same time, an elaborate "remonstrance,"

which they presented to Margaret. In it they set forth the various disorders of the country, especially those growing out of the state of religion and the embarra.s.sment of the finances. The only remedy for these evils is to be found in a meeting of the states-general. The king's prohibition of this measure must have proceeded, no doubt, from the evil counsels of persons hostile to the true interests of the nation. As their services can be of little use while they are thus debarred from a resort to their true and only remedy in their embarra.s.sments, they trust the regent will not take it amiss, that, so long as the present policy is pursued, they decline to take their seats in the council of state, to be merely shadows there, as they have been for the last four years.[569]

[Sidenote: MARGARET DESIRES HIS REMOVAL.]

From this period the malecontent lords no more appeared in council. The perplexity of Margaret was great. Thus abandoned by the n.o.bles in whom the country had the greatest confidence, she was left alone, as it were, with the man whom the country held in the greatest abhorrence. She had long seen with alarm the storm gathering round the devoted head of the minister. To attempt alone to uphold his falling fortunes would be probably to bury herself in their ruins. In her extremity, she appealed to the confederates, and, since she could not divide them, endeavored to divert them from their opposition. They, on the other hand, besought the regent no longer to connect herself with the desperate cause of a minister so odious to the country. Possibly they infused into her mind some suspicions of the subordinate part she was made to play, through the overweening ambition of the cardinal. At all events, an obvious change took place in her conduct, and while she deferred less and less to Granvelle, she entered into more friendly relations with his enemies.

This was especially the case with Egmont, whose frank and courteous hearing and loyal disposition seem to have won greatly on the esteem of the d.u.c.h.ess.

Satisfied, at last, that it would be impracticable to maintain the government much longer on its present basis, Margaret resolved to write to her brother on the subject, and at the same time to send her confidential secretary, Armenteros, to Spain, to acquaint the king with the precise state of affairs in the Netherlands.[570]

After enlarging on the disorders and difficulties of the country, the d.u.c.h.ess came to the quarrel between the cardinal and the n.o.bles. She had made every effort to reconcile the parties; but that was impossible. She was fully sensible of the merits of Granvelle, his high capacity, his experience in public affairs, his devotion to the interests both of the king and of religion.[571] But, on the other hand, to maintain him in the Netherlands, in opposition to the will of the n.o.bles, was to expose the country, not merely to great embarra.s.sments, but to the danger of insurrection.[572] The obligations of the high place which she occupied compelled her to lay the true state of the case before the king, and he would determine the course to be pursued.--With this letter, bearing the date of August twelfth, and fortified with ample instructions from the d.u.c.h.ess, Armenteros was forthwith despatched on his mission to Spain.

It was not long before the state of feeling in the cabinet of Brussels was known, or at least surmised, throughout the country. It was the interest of some of the parties that it should not be kept secret. The cardinal, thus abandoned by his friends, became a more conspicuous mark for the shafts of his enemies. Libels, satires, pasquinades, were launched against him from every quarter. Such fugitive pieces, like the insect which dies when it has left its sting, usually perish with the occasion that gives them birth. But some have survived to the present day, or at least were in existence at the close of the last century, and are much commended by a critic for the merits of their literary execution.[573]

It was the custom, at the period of our narrative, for the young people to meet in the towns and villages, and celebrate what were called "academic games," consisting of rhetorical discussions on the various topics of the day, sometimes of a theological or a political character.

Public affairs furnished a fruitful theme at this crisis; and the cardinal, in particular, was often roughly handled. It was in vain the government tried to curb this licence. It only served to stimulate the disputants to new displays of raillery and ridicule.[574]

Granvelle, it will be readily believed, was not slow to perceive his loss of credit with the regent, and the more intimate relations into which she had entered with his enemies. But whatever he may have felt, he was too proud or too politic to betray his mortification to the d.u.c.h.ess. Thus discredited by all but an insignificant party, who were branded as the "Cardinalists," losing influence daily with the regent, at open war with the n.o.bles, and hated by the people, never was there a minister in so forlorn a situation, or one who was able to maintain his post a day in such circ.u.mstances. Yet Granvelle did not lose heart; as others failed him, he relied the more on himself; and the courage which he displayed, when thus left alone, as it were, to face the anger of the nation, might have well commanded the respect of his enemies. He made no mean concession to secure the support of the n.o.bles, or to recover the favor of the regent. He did not shrink from the dangers or the responsibilities of his station; though the latter, at least, bore heavily on him. Speaking of the incessant pressure of his cares, he writes to his correspondent, Perez, "My hairs have turned so white you would not recognize me."[575] He was then but forty-six. On one occasion, indeed, we do find him telling the king, that, "if his majesty does not soon come to the Netherlands, he must withdraw from them."[576]

This seems to have been a sudden burst of feeling, as it was a solitary one, forced from him by the extremity of his situation. It was much more in character that he wrote afterwards to the secretary, Perez: "I am so beset with dangers on every side, that most people give me up for lost.

But I mean to live as long, by the grace of G.o.d, as I can; and if they do take away my life, I trust they will not gain everything for all that."[577] He nowhere intimates a wish to be recalled. Nor would his ambition allow him to resign the helm; but the fiercer the tempest raged, the more closely did he cling to the wreck of his fortunes.

The arrival of Armenteros with the despatches, and the tidings that he brought, caused a great sensation in the court of Madrid. "We are on the eve of a terrible conflagration," writes one of the secretaries of Philip; "and they greatly err who think it will pa.s.s away as formerly."

He expresses the wish that Granvelle would retire from the country, where, he predicts, they would soon wish his return. "But ambition," he adds, "and the point of honor are alike opposed to this. Nor does the king desire it."[578]

Yet it was not easy to say what the king did desire,--certainly not what course he would pursue. He felt a natural reluctance to abandon the minister, whose greatest error seemed to be that of too implicit an obedience to his master's commands. He declared he would rather risk the loss of the Netherlands than abandon him.[579] Yet how was that minister to be maintained in his place, in opposition to the will of the nation?

In this perplexity, Philip applied for counsel to the man in whom he most confided,--the duke of Alva; the very worst counsellor possible in the present emergency.

[Sidenote: PHILIP'S LETTER TO GRANVELLE.]

The duke's answer was eminently characteristic of the man. "When I read the letters of these lords," he says, "I am so filled with rage, that, did I not make an effort to suppress it, my language would appear to you that of a madman."[580] After this temperate exordium, he recommends the king on no account to remove Granvelle from the administration of the Netherlands. "It is a thing of course," he says, "that the cardinal should be the first victim. A rebellion against the prince naturally begins with an attack on his ministers. It would be better," he continues, "if all could be brought at once to summary justice. Since that cannot be, it may be best to divide the n.o.bles; to win over Egmont and those who follow him by favors; to show displeasure to those who are the least offenders. For the greater ones, who deserve to lose their heads, your majesty will do well to dissemble, until you can give them their deserts."[581]

Part of this advice the king accepted; for to dissemble did no violence to his nature. But the more he reflected on the matter, the more he was satisfied that it would be impossible to retain the obnoxious minister in his place. Yet when he had come to this decision, he still shrunk from announcing it. Months pa.s.sed, and yet Armenteros, who was to carry back the royal despatches, was still detained at Madrid. It seemed as if Philip here, as on other occasions of less moment, was prepared to leave events to take their own course, rather than direct them himself.

Early in January, 1564, the d.u.c.h.ess of Parma admonished her brother that the lords chafed much under his long silence. It was a common opinion, she said, that he cared little for Flanders, and that he was under the influence of evil counsellors, who would persuade him to deal with the country as a conquered province. She besought him to answer the letter of the n.o.bles, and especially to write in affectionate terms to Count Egmont, who well deserved this for the zeal he had always shown for his sovereign's interests.[582]

One is struck with the tone in which the regent here speaks of one of the leaders of the opposition, so little in unison with her former language. It shows how completely she was now under their influence. In truth, however, we see constantly, both in her letters and those of the cardinal, a more friendly tone of feeling towards Egmont than to either of his a.s.sociates. On the score of orthodoxy in matters of religion he was unimpeachable. His cordial manners, his free and genial temper, secured the sympathy of all with whom he came in contact. It was a common opinion, that it would not be difficult to detach him from the party of malecontents with whom his lot was cast. Such were not the notions entertained of the prince of Orange.

In a letter from Granvelle to Philip, without a date, but written perhaps about this period,[583] we have portraits, or rather outlines, of the two great leaders of the opposition, touched with a masterly hand. Egmont he describes as firm in his faith, loyally disposed, but under the evil influence of William. It would not be difficult to win him over by flattery and favors.[584] The prince, on the other hand, is a cunning and dangerous enemy, of profound views, boundless ambition, difficult to change, and impossible to control.[585] In the latter character we see the true leader of the revolution.

Disgusted with the indifference of the king, shown in his long-protracted silence, the n.o.bles, notwithstanding the regent's remonstrances, sent orders to their courier, who had been waiting in Madrid for the royal despatches, to wait no longer, but return without them to the Netherlands.[586] Fortunately Philip now moved, and at the close of January, 1564, sent back Armenteros with his instructions to Brussels. The most important of them was a letter of dismissal to the cardinal himself. It was very short. "On considering what you write,"

said the king, "I deem it best that you should leave the Low Countries for some days, and go to Burgundy to see your mother, with the consent of the d.u.c.h.ess of Parma. In this way, both my authority and your own reputation will be preserved."[587]

It has been a matter of dispute how far the resignation of the cardinal was voluntary. The recent discovery of this letter of Philip determines that question.[588] It was by command of the sovereign. Yet that command was extorted by necessity, and so given as best to save the feelings and the credit of the minister. Neither party antic.i.p.ated that Granvelle's absence would continue for a long time, much less that his dismissal was final. Even when inditing the letter to the cardinal, Philip cherished the hope that the necessity for his departure might be avoided altogether. This appears from the despatches sent at the same time to the regent.

[Sidenote: PHILIP'S LETTER TO GRANVELLE.]

Shortly after his note to Granvelle, on the nineteenth of February, Philip wrote an answer to the lords in all the tone of offended majesty. He expressed his astonishment that they should have been led, by any motive whatever, to vacate their seats at the council, where he had placed them.[589] They would not fail to return there at once, and show that they preferred the public weal to all private considerations.[590] As for the removal of the minister, since they had not been pleased to specify any charges against him, the king would deliberate further before deciding on the matter. Thus, three weeks after Philip had given the cardinal his dismissal, did he write to his enemies as if the matter were still in abeyance; hoping, it would seem, by the haughty tone of authority, to rebuke the spirit of the refractory n.o.bles, and intimidate them into a compliance with his commands. Should this policy succeed, the cardinal might still hold the helm of government.[591]

But Philip had not yet learned that he was dealing with men who had little of that spirit of subserviency to which he was accustomed in his Castilian va.s.sals. The peremptory tone of his letter fired the blood of the Flemish lords, who at once waited on the regent, and announced their purpose not to reenter the council. The affair was not likely to end here; and Margaret saw with alarm the commotion that would be raised when the letter of the king should be laid before the whole body of the n.o.bles.[592] Fearing some rash step, difficult to be retrieved, she resolved either that the cardinal should announce his intended departure, or that she would do so for him. Philip's experiment had failed. Nothing, therefore, remained but for the minister publicly to declare, that, as his brother, the late envoy to France, had returned to Brussels, he had obtained permission from the regent to accompany him on a visit to their aged mother, whom Granvelle had not seen for fourteen years.[593]

The news of the minister's resignation and speedy departure spread like wildfire over the country. The joy was universal; and the wits of the time redoubled their activity, a.s.sailing the fallen minister with libels, lampoons, and caricatures, without end. One of these caricatures, thrust into his own hand under the pretence of its being a pet.i.tion, represented him as hatching a brood of young bishops, who were crawling out of their sh.e.l.ls. Hovering above might be seen the figure of the Devil; while these words were profanely made to issue from his month: "This is my son; hear ye him!"[594]

It was at this time that, at a banquet at which many of the Flemish n.o.bles were present, the talk fell on the expensive habits of the aristocracy, especially as shown in the number and dress of their domestics. It was the custom for them to wear showy and very costly liveries, intimating by the colors the family to which they belonged.

Granvelle had set an example of this kind of ostentation. It was proposed to regulate their apparel by a more modest and uniform standard. The lot fell on Egmont to devise some suitable livery, of the simple kind used by the Germans. He proposed a dark-gray habit, which, instead of the _aiguillettes_ commonly suspended from the shoulders, should have flat pieces of cloth, embroidered with the figure of a head and a fool's cap. The head was made marvellously like that of the cardinal, and the cap, being red, was thought to bear much resemblance to a cardinal's hat. This was enough. The dress was received with acclamation. The n.o.bles instantly clad their retainers in the new livery, which had the advantage of greater economy. It became the badge of party. The tailors of Brussels could not find time to supply their customers. Instead of being confined to Granvelle, the heads occasionally bore the features of Arschot, Aremberg, or Viglius, the cardinal's friends. The d.u.c.h.ess at first laughed at the jest, and even sent some specimens of the embroidery to Philip. But Granvelle looked more gravely on the matter, declaring it an insult to the government, and the king interfered to have the device given up. This was not easy, from the extent to which it had been adopted. But Margaret at length succeeded in persuading the lords to take another, not personal in its nature. The subst.i.tute was a sheaf of arrows. Even this was found to have an offensive application, as it intimated the league of the n.o.bles.

It was the origin, it is said, of the device afterwards a.s.sumed by the Seven United Provinces.[595]

[Sidenote: HE LEAVES THE NETHERLANDS.]

On the thirteenth of March, 1564, Granvelle quitted Brussels,--never to return.[596] "The joy of the n.o.bles at his departure," writes one of the privy council, "was excessive. They seemed like boys let loose from school."[597] The three lords, members of the council of state, in a note to the d.u.c.h.ess, declared that they were ready to resume their places at the board; with the understanding, however, that they should retire whenever the minister returned.[598] Granvelle had given out that his absence would be of no long duration. The regent wrote to her brother in warm commendation of the lords. It would not do for Granvelle ever to return. She was a.s.sured by the n.o.bles, if he did return, he would risk the loss of his life, and the king the loss of the Netherlands.[599]

The three lords wrote each to Philip, informing him that they had reentered the council, and making the most earnest protestations of loyalty. Philip, on his part, graciously replied to each, and in particular to the prince of Orange, who had intimated that slanderous reports respecting himself had found their way to the royal ear. The king declared "he never could doubt for a moment that William would continue to show the same zeal in his service that he had always done; and that no one should be allowed to cast a reproach on a person of his quality, and one whom Philip knew so thoroughly."[600] It might almost seem that a double meaning lurked under this smooth language. But whatever may have been felt, no distrust was exhibited on either side.

To those who looked on the surface only,--and they were a hundred to one,--it seemed as if the dismissal of the cardinal had removed all difficulties; and they now confidently relied on a state of permanent tranquillity. But there were others whose eyes looked deeper than the calm suns.h.i.+ne that lay upon the surface; who saw, more distinctly than when the waters were ruffled by the tempest, the rocks beneath, on which the vessel of state was afterward to be wrecked.

The cardinal, on leaving the Low Countries, retired to his patrimonial estate at Besancon,--embellished with all that wealth and a cultivated taste could supply. In this pleasant retreat the discomfited statesman found a solace in those pursuits which in earlier, perhaps happier, days had engaged his attention.[601] He had particularly a turn for the physical sciences. But he was fond of letters, and in all his tastes showed the fruits of a liberal culture. He surrounded himself with scholars and artists, and took a lively interest in their pursuits.

Justus Lipsius, afterwards so celebrated, was his secretary. He gave encouragement to Plantin, who rivalled in Flanders the fame of the Aldi in Venice. His generous patronage was readily extended to genius, in whatever form it was displayed. It is some proof how widely extended, that, in the course of his life, he is said to have received more than a hundred dedications. Though greedy of wealth, it was not to h.o.a.rd it, and his large revenues were liberally dispensed in the foundation of museums, colleges, and public libraries. Besancon, the place of his residence, did not profit least by this munificence.[602]

Such is the portrait which historians have given to us of the minister in his retirement. His own letters show that, with these sources of enjoyment, he did not altogether disdain others of a less spiritual character. A letter to one of the regent's secretaries, written soon after the cardinal's arrival at Besancon, concludes in the following manner: "I know that G.o.d will recompense men according to their deserts.

I have confidence that he will aid me; and that I shall yet be able to draw profit from what my enemies designed for my ruin. This is my philosophy, with which I endeavor to live as joyously as I can, laughing at the world, its calumnies and its pa.s.sions."[603]

With all this happy mixture of the Epicurean and the Stoic, the philosophic statesman did not so contentedly submit to his fate as to forego the hope of seeing himself soon reinstated in authority in the Netherlands. "In the course of two months," he writes, "you may expect to see me there."[604] He kept up an active correspondence with the friends whom he had left in Brussels, and furnished the results of the information thus obtained, with his own commentaries, to the court at Madrid. His counsel was courted, and greatly considered, by Philip; so that from the shades of his retirement the banished minister was still thought to exercise an important influence on the destiny of Flanders.

A singular history is attached to the papers of Granvelle. That minister resembled his master, Philip the Second, in the fertility of his epistolary vein. That the king had a pa.s.sion for writing, notwithstanding he could throw the burden of the correspondence, when it suited him, on the other party, is proved by the quant.i.ty of letters he left behind him. The example of the monarch seems to have had its influence on his courtiers; and no reign of that time is ill.u.s.trated by a greater amount of written materials from the hands of the princ.i.p.al actors in it. Far from a poverty of materials, therefore, the historian has much more reason to complain of an _embarras de richesses_.

[Sidenote: THE GRANVELLE PAPERS.]

Granvelle filled the highest posts in different parts of the Spanish empire; and in each of these--in the Netherlands, where he was minister, in Naples, where he was viceroy, in Spain, where he took the lead in the cabinet, and in Besancon, whither he retired from public life--he left ample memorials under his own hand of his residence there. This was particularly the case with Besancon, his native town, and the favorite residence to which he turned, as he tells us, from the turmoil of office to enjoy the sweets of privacy,--yet not, in truth, so sweet to him as the stormy career of the statesman, to judge from the tenacity with which he clung to office.

The cardinal made his library at Besancon the depository, not merely of his own letters, but of such as were addressed to him. He preserved them all, however humble the sources whence they came, and, like Philip, he was in the habit of jotting down his own reflections in the margin. As Granvelle's personal and political relations connected him with the most important men of his time, we may well believe that the ma.s.s of correspondence which he gathered together was immense. Unfortunately, at his death, instead of bequeathing his ma.n.u.scripts to some public body, who might have been responsible for the care of them, he left them to heirs who were altogether ignorant of their value. In the course of time the ma.n.u.scripts found their way to the garret, where they soon came to be regarded as little better than waste paper. They were pilfered by the children and domestics, and a considerable quant.i.ty was sent off to a neighboring grocer, who soon converted the correspondence of the great statesman into wrapping-paper for his spices.

From this ignominious fate the residue of the collection was happily rescued by the generous exertions of the Abbe Boissot. This excellent and learned man was the head of the Benedictines of St.

Vincent in Besancon, of which town he was himself a native. He was acquainted with the condition of the Granvelle papers, and comprehended their importance. In the course of eighty years, which had elapsed since the cardinal's death, his ma.n.u.scripts had come to be distributed among several heirs, some of whom consented to transfer their property gratuitously to the Abbe Boissot, while he purchased that of others. In this way he at length succeeded in gathering together all that survived of the large collection; and he made it the great business of his subsequent life to study its contents and arrange the chaotic ma.s.s of papers with reference to their subjects. To complete his labors, he caused the ma.n.u.scripts thus arranged to be bound, in eighty-two volumes, folio, thus placing them in that permanent form which might best secure them against future accident.

The abbe did not live to publish to the world an account of his collection, which at his death pa.s.sed by his will to his brethren of the abbey of St. Vincent, on condition that it should be for ever open for the use of the town of Besancon. It may seem strange that, notwithstanding the existence of this valuable body of original doc.u.ments was known to scholars, they should so rarely have resorted to it for instruction. Its secluded situation, in the heart of a remote province, was doubtless regarded as a serious obstacle by the historical inquirer, in an age when the public took things too readily on trust to be very solicitous about authentic sources of information. It is more strange that Boissot's Benedictine brethren should have shown themselves so insensible to the treasures under their own roof. One of their body, Dom Prosper l'Evesque, did indeed profit by the Boissot collection to give to the world his Memoires de Granvelle, a work in two volumes, duodecimo, which, notwithstanding the materials at the writer's command, contain little of any worth, unless it be an occasional extract from Granvelle's own correspondence.

At length, in 1834, the subject drew the attention of M. Guizot, then Minister of Public Instruction in France. By his direction a commission of five scholars was inst.i.tuted, with the learned Weiss at its head, for the purpose of examining the Granvelle papers, with a view to their immediate publication. The work was performed in a prompt and accurate manner, that must have satisfied its enlightened projector. In 1839 the whole series of papers had been subjected to a careful a.n.a.lysis, and the portion selected that was deemed proper for publication. The first volume appeared in 1841; and the president of the commission, M. Weiss, expressed in his preface the confident hope that in the course of 1843 the remaining papers would all be given to the press. But these antic.i.p.ations have not been realized. In 1854 only nine volumes had appeared. How far the publication has since advanced I am ignorant.

The Papiers d'Etat, besides Granvelle's own letters, contain a large amount of historical materials, such as official doc.u.ments, state papers, and diplomatic correspondence of foreign ministers,--that of Renard, for example, so often quoted in these pages. There are, besides, numerous letters both of Philip and of Charles the Fifth, for the earlier volumes embrace the times of the emperor.--The minister's own correspondence is not the least valuable part of the collection. Granvelle stood so high in the confidence of his sovereign, that, when not intrusted himself with the conduct of affairs, ha was constantly consulted by the king as to the best mode of conducting them. With a different fate from that of most ministers, he retained his influence when he had lost his place. Thus there were few transactions of any moment in which he was not called on directly or indirectly to take part. And his letters furnish a clew for conducting the historical student through more than one intricate negotiation, by revealing the true motives of the parties who were engaged in it.