History of the United Netherlands, 1585 part 4 | Page 7

that
a new attack was to be made by the 10th May upon the Kowenstyn,
that it was sure to be successful, and that the siege of Antwerp was as
good as raised. So Lord Burghley informed me, in presence of Lord
Leicester, that her Majesty was determined to await the issue of this
enterprise. It was quite too late to get troops in readiness; to co-operate
with the States' army, so soon as the 10th May, and as Antwerp was so
sure to be relieved, there was no pressing necessity for haste. I uttered
most bitter complaints to these lords and to other counsellors of the
Queen, that she should thus draw back, on account of a letter from a
single individual, without paying sufficient heed to the despatches from
the States-General, who certainly knew their own affairs and their own
necessities better than any one else could do, but her Majesty sticks

firm to her resolution."
Here were immense mistakes committed on all sides. The premature
shooting up of those three rockets from the cathedral-tower, on the
unlucky 10th May, had thus not only ruined the first assault against the
Kowenstyn, but also the second and the more promising adventure.
Had the four thousand bold Englishmen there enlisted, and who could
have reached the Provinces in time to cooperate in that great enterprise,
have stood side by side with the Hollanders, the Zeelanders, and the
Antwerpers, upon that fatal dyke, it is almost a certainty that Antwerp
would have been relieved, and the whole of Flanders and Brabant
permanently annexed to the independent commonwealth, which would
have thus assumed at once most imposing proportions.
It was a great blunder of Sainte Aldegonde to station in the cathedral,
on so important an occasion, watchmen in whose judgment he could
not thoroughly rely. It was a blunder in Gilpin, intelligent as he
generally showed himself, to write in such sanguine style before the
event. But it was the greatest blunder of all for Queen Elizabeth to
suspend her cooperation at the very instant when, as the result showed,
it was likely to prove most successful. It was a chapter of blunders from
first to last, but the most fatal of all the errors was the one thus
prompted by the great Queen's most traitorous characteristic, her
obstinate parsimony.
And now began a series of sharp chafferings on both sides, not very
much to the credit of either party. The kingdom of England, and the
rebellious Provinces of Spain, were drawn to each other by an
irresistible law of political attraction. Their absorption into each other
seemed natural and almost inevitable; and the weight of the strong
Protestant organism, had it been thus completed, might have balanced
the great Catholic League which was clustering about Spain.
It was unfortunate that the two governments of England and the
Netherlands should now assume the attitude of traders driving a hard
bargain with each other, rather than that of two important
commonwealths, upon whose action, at that momentous epoch, the
weal and wo of Christendom was hanging. It is quite true that the
danger to England was great, but that danger in any event was to be
confronted--Philip was to be defied, and, by assuming the cause of the
Provinces to be her own, which it unquestionably was, Elizabeth was

taking the diadem from her head--as the King of Sweden well
observed--and adventuring it upon the doubtful chance of war. Would it
not have been better then--her mind being once made up--promptly to
accept all the benefits, as well as all the hazards, of the bold game to
which she was of necessity a party? But she could not yet believe in the
incredible meanness of Henry III. "I asked her Majesty" (3rd May,
1585), said Ortel, "whether, in view of these vast preparations in France,
it did not behove her to be most circumspect and upon her guard. For,
in the opinion of many men, everything showed one great scheme
already laid down--a general conspiracy throughout Christendom
against the reformed religion. She answered me, that thus far she could
not perceive this to be the case; 'nor could she believe,' she said, 'that
the King of France could be so faint-hearted as to submit to such
injuries from the Guises.'"
Time was very soon to show the nature of that unhappy monarch with
regard to injuries, and to prove to Elizabeth the error she had
committed in doubting his faint-heartedness. Meanwhile, time was
passing, and the Netherlands were shivering in the storm. They, needed
the open sunshine which her caution kept too long behind the clouds.
For it was now enjoined upon Walsingham to manifest a coldness upon
the part of the English government towards the States. Davison was to
be allowed to return; "but,"