History of the United Netherlands, 1595 | Page 9

and came
before Cambray with an army of twelve thousand foot and nearly four
thousand horse. But before narrating the further movements of the
vigorous new governor- general, it is necessary to glance at the military
operations in the eastern part of the Netherlands and upon the Rhine.
The States-General had reclaimed to their authority nearly all that
important region lying beyond the Yssel--the solid Frisian bulwark of
the republic--but there were certain points nearer the line where Upper
and Nether Germany almost blend into one, which yet acknowledged
the name of the king. The city of Groenlo, or Grol, not a place of much
interest or importance in itself, but close to the frontier, and to that
destined land of debate, the duchies of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg, still
retained its Spanish garrison. On the 14th July Prince Maurice of
Nassau came before the city with six thousand infantry, some
companies of cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery. He made his
approaches in form, and after a week's operations he fired three volleys,
according to his custom, and summoned the place to capitulate.
Governor Jan van Stirum replied stoutly that he would hold the place
for God and the king to the last drop of his blood. Meantime there was
hope of help from the outside.
Maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there was a man to be
dealt with who had been called the "good old Mondragon" when the
prince was in his cradle; and who still governed the citadel of Antwerp,
and was still ready for an active campaign.

Christopher Mondragon was now ninety-two years old. Not often in the
world's history has a man of that age been capable of personal,
participation in the joys of the battlefield, whatever natural reluctance
veterans are apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control.
But Mondragon looked not with envy but with admiration on the
growing fame of the Nassau chieftain, and was disposed, before he
himself left the stage, to match himself with the young champion.
So soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of Maurice against
Grol, the ancient governor of Antwerp collected a little army by
throwing together all the troops that could be spared from the various
garrisons within his command. With two Spanish regiments, two
thousand Swiss, the Walloon troops of De Grisons, and the Irish
regiment of Stanley--in all seven thousand foot and thirteen hundred
horse--Mondragon marched straight across Brabant and Gelderland to
the Rhine. At Kaiserworth he reviewed his forces, and announced his
intention of immediately crossing the river. There was a murmur of
disapprobation among officers and men at what they considered the
foolhardy scheme of mad old Mondragon. But the general had not
campaigned a generation before, at the age of sixty- nine, in the bottom
of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours long of an October night,
in the face of a rising tide from the German Ocean and of an army of
Zeelanders, to be frightened now at the summer aspect of the peaceful
Rhine.
The wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by the aid of a staff,
but armed in proof, with plumes waving gallantly from his iron
headpiece, and with his rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought
to the river's edge. Then calmly seating himself in the presence of his
host, he stated that he should not rise from that chair until the last man
had crossed the river. Furthermore, he observed that it was not only his
purpose to relieve the city of Grol, but to bring Maurice to an action,
and to defeat him, unless he retired. The soldiers ceased to murmur, the
pontoons were laid, the, river was passed, and on the 25th July,
Maurice, hearing of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe in his
position, raised the siege of the city. Burning his camp and everything
that could not be taken with him on his march, the prince came in
perfect order to Borkelo, two Dutch miles from Grol. Here he occupied
himself for some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the

guise of soldiers infested that region and made the little cities of
Deutecom, Anholt, and Heerenberg unsafe. He ordered the inhabitants
of these places to send out detachments to beat the bushes for his
cavalry, while Hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds
thoroughly with packs of bloodhounds until every man and beast to be
found lurking in those wild regions should be extirpated. By these
vigorous and cruel, but perhaps necessary, measures the brigands were
at last extirpated, and honest people began to sleep in their beds.
On the 18th August Maurice took up a strong position at Bislich, not
far from Wesel, where the River