History of the United Netherlands, 1585 part 3 | Page 8

considered so favourable terms to the
besieged. Autumn was approaching. Already the fury of the storms had
driven vessels clean over the dykes; the rebels in Holland and Zeeland
were preparing their fleets--augmented by many new ships of war and
fire- machines--for another desperate attack upon the Palisades, in
which there was great possibility of their succeeding; an auxiliary force
from England was soon expected; so that, in view of all these
circumstances, he had resolved to throw himself at his Majesty's feet
and implore his clemency. "If this people of Antwerp, as the head, is
gained," said he, "there will be tranquillity in all the members."
These reasons were certainly conclusive; nor is it easy to believe, that,
under the circumstances thus succinctly stated by Alexander, it would
have been impossible for the patriots to hold out until the promised
succour from Holland and from England should arrive. In point of fact,
the bridge could not have stood the winter which actually ensued; for it
was the repeatedly expressed opinion of the Spanish officers in

Antwerp, that the icebergs which then filled the Scheldt must inevitably
have shattered twenty bridges to fragments, had there been so many. It
certainly was superfluous for the Prince to make excuses to Philip for
accepting the proposed capitulation. All the prizes of victory had been
thoroughly secured, unless pillage, massacre, and rape, which had been
the regular accompaniments of Alva's victories, were to be reckoned
among the indispensable trophies of a Spanish triumph.
Nevertheless, the dearth in the city had been well concealed from the
enemy; for, three days after the surrender, not a loaf of bread was to be
had for any money in all Antwerp, and Alexander declared that he
would never have granted such easy conditions had he been aware of
the real condition of affairs.
The articles of capitulation agreed upon between Parma and the
deputies were brought before the broad council on the 9th August.
There was much opposition to them, as many magistrates and other
influential personages entertained sanguine expectations from the
English negotiation, and were beginning to rely with confidence upon
the promises of Queen Elizabeth. The debate was waxing warm, when
some of the councillors, looking out of window of the great hall,
perceived that a violent mob had collected in the streets. Furious cries
for bread were uttered, and some meagre- looking individuals were
thrust forward to indicate the famine which was prevailing, and the
necessity of concluding the treaty without further delay. Thus the
municipal government was perpetually exposed to democratic violence,
excited by diametrically opposite influences. Sometimes the
burgomaster was denounced for having sold himself and his country to
the Spaniards, and was assailed with execrations for being willing to
conclude a sudden and disgraceful peace. At other moments he was
accused of forging letters containing promises of succour from the
Queen of England and from the authorities of Holland, in order to
protract the lingering tortures of the war. Upon this occasion the
peace-mob carried its point. The councillors, looking out of window,
rushed into the hall with direful accounts of the popular ferocity; the
magistrates and colonels who had been warmest in opposition suddenly
changed their tone, and the whole body of the broad council accepted
the articles of capitulation by a unanimous vote.
The window was instantly thrown open, and the decision publicly

announced. The populace, wild with delight, rushed through the streets,
tearing down the arms of the Duke of Anjou, which had remained
above the public edifices since the period of that personage's temporary
residence in the Netherlands, and substituting, with wonderful celerity,
the escutcheon of Philip the Second. Thus suddenly could an Antwerp
mob pass from democratic insolence to intense loyalty.
The articles, on the whole, were as liberal as could have been expected.
The only hope for Antwerp and for a great commonwealth of all the
Netherlands was in holding out, even to the last gasp, until England and
Holland, now united, had time to relieve the city. This was,
unquestionably, possible. Had Antwerp possessed the spirit of Leyden,
had William of Orange been alive, that Spanish escutcheon, now raised
with such indecent haste, might have never been seen again on the
outside wall of any Netherland edifice. Belgium would have become at
once a constituent portion of a great independent national realm,
instead of languishing until our own century, the dependency of a
distant and a foreign metropolis. Nevertheless, as the Antwerpers were
not disposed to make themselves martyrs, it was something that they
escaped the nameless horrors which had often alighted upon cities
subjected to an enraged soldiery. It redounds to the eternal honour of
Alexander Farnese--when the fate of Naarden and Haarlem and
Maestricht, in the days of Alva, and of Antwerp itself in