History of the United Netherlands, 1598

History of the United
Netherlands, 1598

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Title: History of the United Netherlands, 1598
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4870] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 9,
2002]

Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY
UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1598 ***

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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. 70
History of the United Netherlands, 1598

CHAPTER XXXIV
.
Mission of the States to Henry to prevent the consummation of peace
with Spain--Proposal of Henry to elevate Prince Maurice to the
sovereignty, of the States--Embarkation of the States' envoys for
England--Their interview with Queen Elizabeth--Return of the envoys
from England--Demand of Elizabeth for repayment of her advances to
the republic--Second embassy to England--Final arrangement between
the Queen and the States.
The great Advocate was now to start on his journey in order to make a
supreme effort both with Henry and with Elizabeth to prevent the

consummation of this fatal peace. Admiral Justinus of Nassau, natural
son of William the Silent, was associated with Barneveld in the mission,
a brave fighting man, a staunch patriot, and a sagacious counsellor; but
the Advocate on this occasion, as in other vital emergencies of the
commonwealth, was all in all.
The instructions of the envoys were simple. They were to summon the
king to fulfil his solemnly sworn covenants with the league. The States-
General had never doubted, they said, that so soon as the enemy had
begun to feel the effects, of that league he would endeavour to make a
composition with one or other of the parties in order to separate them,
and to break up that united strength which otherwise he could never
resist. The king was accordingly called upon to continue the war
against the common enemy, and the States-General offered, over and
above the four hundred and fifty thousand florins promised by them for
the support of the four thousand infantry for the year 1598, to bring
their whole military power, horse and foot, into the field to sustain his
Majesty in the war, whether separately or in conjunction, whether in the
siege of cities or in open campaigns. Certainly they could hardly offer
fairer terms than these.
Henry had complained, and not unreasonably, that Elizabeth had made
no offers of assistance for carrying on the war either to Fonquerolles or
to Hurault de Maisse; but he certainly could make no reproach of that
nature against the republic, nor assign their lukewarmness as an excuse
for his desertion.
The envoys were ready to take their departure for France on the last day
of January.
It might be a curious subject to consider how far historical events are
modified and the world's destiny affected by the different material
agencies which man at various epochs has had at his disposal. The
human creature in his passions and ambitions, his sensual or sordid
desires, his emotional and moral nature, undergoes less change than
might be hoped from age to age. The tyrant; the patriot, the demagogue,
the voluptuary, the peasant, the trader, the intriguing politician, the
hair-splitting diplomatist, the self-sacrificing martyr, the self-seeking
courtier, present essentially one type in the twelfth, the sixteenth, the
nineteenth, or any other century. The human tragi-comedy seems ever
to repeat itself with the same bustle, with the same excitement for

immediate interests, for the development of