History of the United Netherlands, 1587b | Page 9

shameful attempts to repudiate the ancient
authority of the States, and to usurp a control over the communities and
nobles by them represented, and to the perpetual efforts to foster
dissension, disunion, and rebellion among the inhabitants. Having thus
drawn up a heavy bill of indictment, nominally against the Earl's illegal
counsellors, but in reality against the Earl himself, he proceeded to deal
with the most important matter of all.
"The principal cities and fortresses in the country have been placed in
hands of men suspected by the States on legitimate grounds, men who
had been convicted of treason against these Provinces, and who
continued to be suspected, notwithstanding that your Excellency had
pledged your own honour for their fidelity. Finally, by means of these
scoundrels, it was brought to pass, that the council of state having been
invested by your Excellency with supreme authority during your
absence--a secret document, was brought to light after your departure,
by which the most substantial matters, and those most vital to the
defence of the country, were withdrawn from the disposition of that
council. And now, alas, we see the effects of these practices!
"Sir William Stanley, by you appointed governor of Deventer, and

Rowland York, governor of Fort Zutphen, have refused, by virtue of
that secret document, to acknowledge any authority in this country.
And notwithstanding that since your departure they and their soldiers
have been supported at our expense, and had just received a full
month's pay from the States, they have traitorously and villainously
delivered the city and the fortress to the enemy, with a declaration
made by Stanley that he did the deed to ease his conscience, and to
render to the King of Spain the city which of right was belonging to
him. And this is a crime so dishonourable, scandalous, ruinous, and
treasonable, as that, during this, whole war, we have never seen the like.
And we are now, in daily fear lest the English commanders in
Bergen-op-Zoom, Ostend, and other cities, should commit the same
crime. And although we fully suspected the designs of Stanley and
York, yet your Excellency's secret document had deprived us of the
power to act.
"We doubt not that her Majesty and your Excellency will think this
strange language. But we can assure you, that we too think it strange
and grievous that those places should have been confided to such men,
against our repeated remonstrances, and that, moreover, this very
Stanley should have been recommended by your Excellency for general
of all the forces. And although we had many just and grave reasons for
opposing your administration--even as our ancestors were often wont to
rise against the sovereigns of the country--we have, nevertheless,
patiently suffered for a long time, in order not to diminish your
authority, which we deemed so important to our welfare, and in the
hope that you would at last be moved by the perilous condition of the
commonwealth, and awake to the artifices of your advisers.
"But at last-feeling that the existence of the state can no longer be
preserved without proper authority, and that the whole community is
full of emotion and distrust, on account of these great treasons--we, the
States-General, as well as the States-Provincial, have felt constrained to
establish such a government as we deem meet for the emergency. And
of this we think proper to apprize your Excellency."
He then expressed the conviction that all these evil deeds had been
accomplished against the intentions of the Earl and the English
government, and requested his Excellency so to deal with her Majesty
that the contingent of horse and foot hitherto accorded by her "might be

maintained in good order, and in better pay."
Here, then, was substantial choleric phraseology, as good plain
speaking as her Majesty had just been employing, and with quite as
sufficient cause. Here was no pleasant diplomatic fencing, but
straightforward vigorous thrusts. It was no wonder that poor Wilkes
should have thought the letter "too sharp," when he heard it read in the
assembly, and that he should have done his best to prevent it from
being despatched. He would have thought it sharper could he have seen
how the pride of her Majesty and of Leicester was wounded by it to the
quick. Her list of grievances against the States seem to vanish into air.
Who had been tampering with the Spaniards now? Had that "shadowy
and imaginary authority" granted to Leicester not proved substantial
enough? Was it the States-General, the state-council, or was it the
"absolute governor" --who had carried off the supreme control of the
commonwealth in his pocket--that was responsible for the ruin effected
by Englishmen who had scorned all "authority" but his own?
The States, in another blunt letter to the Queen herself, declared the
loss