History of the United Netherlands, 1585 part 3 | Page 6

The broad council will soon give their answer, and then we shall send a
deputation. We shall invite Holland and Zeeland to join with us, but
there is little hope of their consent."
Certainly there was little hope of their consent. Sainte Aldegonde was
now occupied in bringing about the capitulation of Antwerp, without
any provision for religious liberty--a concession which Parma had most
distinctly refused--and it was not probable that Holland and Zeeland,
after twenty years of hard fighting, and with an immediate prospect of
assistance from England--could now be induced to resign the great
object of the contest without further struggle.
It was not until a month had elapsed that the authorities of Antwerp
sent their propositions to the Prince of Parma. On the 12th August,

however, Sainte Aldegonde, accompanied by the same three gentlemen
who had been employed on the first mission, and by seventeen others
besides, proceeded with safe-conduct to the camp at Beveren. Here
they were received with great urbanity, and hospitably entertained by
Alexander, who received their formal draft of articles for a capitulation,
and referred it to be reported upon to Richardot, Pamel, and Vanden
Burgh. Meantime there were many long speeches and several
conferences, sometimes between all the twenty-one envoys and the
Prince together; on other occasions, more secret ones, at which only
Aldegonde and one or two of his colleagues were present. It had been
obvious, from the date of the first interview, in the preceding month,
that the negotiation would be of no avail until the government of
Antwerp was prepared to abandon all the conditions which they had
originally announced as indispensable. Alexander had not much
disposition and no authority whatever to make concessions.
"So far as I can understand," Parma had written on the 30th July, "they
are very far from a conclusion. They have most exorbitant ideas,
talking of some kind of liberty of conscience, besides refusing on any
account to accept of garrisons, and having many reasons to allege on
such subjects."
The discussions, therefore, after the deputies had at last arrived, though
courteously conducted, could scarcely be satisfactory to both parties.
"The articles were thoroughly deliberated upon," wrote Alexander, "by
all the deputies, nor did I fail to have private conferences with
Aldegonde, that most skilful and practised lawyer and politician, as
well as with two or three of the others. I did all in my power to bring
them to a thorough recognition of their errors, and to produce a
confidence in his Majesty's clemency, in order that they might concede
what was needful for the interests of the Catholic religion and the
security of the city. They heard all I had to say without exasperating
themselves, and without interposing any strong objections, except in
the matter of religion, and, still more, in the matter of the citadel and
the garrison. Aldegonde took much pains to persuade me that it would
be ruinous for a great, opulent, commercial city to submit to a foreign
military force. Even if compelled by necessity to submit now, the
inhabitants would soon be compelled by the same necessity to abandon
the place entirely, and to leave in ruins one of the most splendid and

powerful cities in the world, and in this opinion Catholics and heretics
unanimously concurred. The deputies protested, with one accord, that
so pernicious and abominable a thing as a citadel and garrison could
not even be proposed to their constituents. I answered, that, so long as
the rebellion of Holland and Zeeland lasted, it would be necessary for
your Majesty to make sure of Antwerp, by one or the other of those
means, but promised that the city should be relieved of the
incumbrance so soon as those islands should be reduced.
"Sainte Aldegonde was not discouraged by this statement, but in the
hope of convincing others, or with the wish of showing that he had
tried his best, desired that I would hear him before the council of state.
I granted the request, and Sainte Aldegonde then made another long
and very elegant oration, intended to divert me from my resolution."
It must be confessed--if the reports, which have come down to us of
that long and elegant oration be correct--that the enthusiasm of the
burgomaster for Alexander was rapidly degenerating into idolatry.
"We are not here, O invincible Prince," he said, "that we may excuse,
by an anxious legation, the long defence which we have made of our
homes. Who could have feared any danger to the most powerful city in
the Netherlands from so moderate a besieging force? You would
yourself have rather wished for, than approved of, a greater facility on
our part, for the brave cannot love the timid. We knew the number of
your troops, we had discovered the famine