History of the United Netherlands, 1587d | Page 4

and himself piled fiction upon fiction,
by their utter disbelief in every word which came to them from
England.
The private negotiations had been commenced, or rather had been
renewed, very early in February of this year. During the whole critical
period which preceded and followed the execution of Mary, in the

course of which the language of Elizabeth towards the States had been
so shrewish, there had been the gentlest diplomatic cooing between
Farnese and herself. It was--Dear Cousin, you know how truly I confide
in your sincerity, how anxious I am that this most desirable peace
should be arranged; and it was--Sacred Majesty, you know how much
joy I feel in your desire for the repose of the world, and for a solid
peace between your Highness and the King my master; how much I
delight in concord--how incapable I am by ambiguous words of
spinning out these transactions, or of deceiving your Majesty, and what
a hatred I feel for steel, fire, and blood.'
Four or five months rolled on, during which Leicester had been wasting
time in England, Farnese wasting none before Sluys, and the States
doing their best to counteract the schemes both of their enemy and of
their ally. De Loo made a visit, in July, to the camp of the Duke of
Parma, and received the warmest assurances of his pacific dispositions.
"I am much pained," said Alexander, "with this procrastination. I am so
full of sincerity myself, that it seems to me a very strange matter, this
hostile descent by Drake upon the coasts of Spain. The result of such
courses will be, that the King will end by being exasperated, and I shall
be touched in my honour--so great is the hopes I have held out of being
able to secure a peace. I have ever been and I still am most anxious for
concord, from the affection I bear to her sacred Majesty. I have been
obliged, much against my will, to take the field again. I could wish now
that our negotiations might terminate before the arrival of my fresh
troops, namely, 9000 Spaniards and 9000 Italians, which, with
Walloons, Germans, and Lorrainers, will give me an effective total of
30,000 soldiers. Of this I give you my word as a gentleman. Go, then,
Andrew de Loo," continued the Duke, "write to her sacred Majesty,
that I desire to make peace; and to serve her faithfully; and that I shall
not change my mind, even in case of any great success, for I like to
proceed rather by the ways of love than of rigour and effusion of
bleed."
"I can assure you, oh, most serene Duke," replied Andrew, "that the
most serene Queen is in the very same dispositions with yourself."
"Excellent well then," said the Duke, "we shall come to an agreement at
once, and the sooner the deputies on both sides are appointed the
better."

A feeble proposition was then made, on the part of the peace-loving
Andrew, that the hostile operations against Sluy's should be at once
terminated. But this did not seem so clear to the most serene Duke. He
had gone to great expense in that business; and he had not built bridges,
erected forts, and dug mines, only to abandon them for a few fine
words, Fine words were plenty, but they raised no sieges. Meantime
these pacific and gentle murmurings from Farnese's camp had lulled the
Queen into forgetfulness of Roger Williams and Arnold Groenevelt and
their men, fighting day and night in trench and mine during that critical
midsummer. The wily tongue of the Duke had been more effective than
his batteries in obtaining the much-coveted city. The Queen obstinately
held back her men and money, confident of effecting a treaty, whether
Sluys fell or not. Was it strange that the States should be distrustful of
her intentions, and, in their turn, become neglectful of their duty?
And thus summer wore into autumn, Sluys fell, the States and their
governor-general were at daggers-drawn, the Netherlanders were full of
distrust with regard to England, Alexander hinted doubts as to the
Queen's sincerity; the secret negotiations, though fertile in suspicions,
jealousies, delays, and such foul weeds, had produced no wholesome
fruit, and the excellent De Loo became very much depressed. At last a
letter from Burghley relieved his drooping spirits. From the most
disturbed and melancholy man in the world, he protested, he had now
become merry and quiet. He straightway went off to the Duke of Parma,
with the letter in his pocket, and translated it to him by candlelight, as
he was careful to state, as an important point in his narrative. And
Farnese was fuller of fine phrases than ever.
"There is no cause whatever," said he, in a most loving