History of the United Netherlands, 1590b

History of the United
Netherlands, 1590b

The Project Gutenberg EBook History of United Netherlands, 1590(b)
#62 in our series by John Lothrop Motley Copyright laws are changing
all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country
before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project
Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers*****
Title: History of the United Netherlands, 1590(b)
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4862] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 9,
2002]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY
UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1590(b) ***

This eBook was produced by David Widger

[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making
an entire meal of them. D.W.]

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS From the Death of
William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609
By John Lothrop Motley

MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg
Edition, Vol. 62
History of the United Netherlands, 1590(b)
CHAPTER XXIII
.
Philip's scheme of aggrandizement--Projected invasion of France--
Internal condition of France--Character of Henry of Navarre--
Preparation for action--Battle of Ivry--Victory of the French king over
the League--Reluctance of the King to attack the French capital--Siege
of Paris--The pope indisposed towards the League-- Extraordinary
demonstration of ecclesiastics--Influence of the priests--Extremities of
the siege--Attempted negotiation--State of Philip's army--Difficult
position of Farnese--March of the allies to the relief of Paris--Lagny
taken and the city relieved--Desertion of the king's army--Siege of
Corbeil--Death of Pope Sixtus V.-- Re-capture of Lagny and
Corbeil--Return of Parma to the Netherlands --Result of the expedition.

The scene of the narrative shifts to France. The history of the United
Netherlands at this epoch is a world-history. Were it not so, it would
have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really
capable of affording. The battle of liberty against despotism was now
fought in the hop-fields of Brabant or the polders of Friesland, now in
the: narrow seas which encircle England, and now on the sunny plains
of Dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of Brittany, or along the high
roads and rivers which lead to the gates of Paris. But everywhere a
noiseless, secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an
instant's pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders,
pikemen and carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields
and amid a din of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the
regular hum of human industry. For nearly a generation of mankind,
Germans and Hollanders, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Scotchmen,
Irishmen, Spaniards and Italians seemed to be born into the world
mainly to fight for or against a system of universal monarchy,
conceived for his own benefit by a quiet old man who passed his days
at a writing desk in a remote corner of Europe. It must be confessed
that Philip II. gave the world work enough. Whether--had the peoples
governed themselves--their energies might not have been exerted in a
different direction, and on the whole have produced more of good to
the human race than came of all this blood and awoke, may be
questioned.
But the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme
of the Church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind
which awakening reason was inclined to dispute. Countries and nations
being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a
few favoured individuals--provided always that those individuals were
obedient to the chief-priest--it had now become right and proper for the
Spanish monarch to annex Scotland, England, and France to the very
considerable possessions which were already his own. Scotland he
claimed by virtue of the expressed wish of Mary to the exclusion of her
heretic son.
France, which had been unjustly usurped by another family in times
past to his detriment, and which only a mere human invention--a
"pleasantry" as Alva had happily termed it, called the "Salic
law"--prevented