History of the United Netherlands, 1598 | Page 7

God, which meant submission to the
pope; and obedience to the king, that was to say, subjection to his
despotic authority. Thus the Christian religion would be ruined
throughout the provinces, and the whole land be made a bridge and a
ladder for Spanish ambition.
The queen here broke forth into mighty oaths, interrupting the envoy's
discourse, protesting over and over again by the living God that she
would not and could not give the States any further assistance; that she
would leave them to their fate; that her aid rendered in their war had
lasted much longer than the siege of Troy did, and swearing that she
had been a fool to help them and the king of France as she had done,

for it was nothing but evil passions that kept the States so obstinate.
The envoy endeavoured to soothe her, urging that as she had gained the
reputation over the whole world of administering her affairs with
admirable, yea with almost divine wisdom, she should now make use
of that sagacity in the present very difficult matter. She ought to believe
that it was not evil passion, nor ambition, nor obstinacy that prevented
the States from joining in these negotiations, but the determination to
maintain their national existence, the Christian religion, and their
ancient liberties and laws. They did not pretend, he said, to be wiser
than great monarch or their counsellors, but the difference between
their form of government and a monarchy must be their excuse.
Monarchs, when they made treaties, remained masters, and could
protect their realms and their subjects from danger. The States-General
could not accept a prince without placing themselves under his absolute
authority, and the Netherlanders would never subject themselves to
their deadly enemy, whom they had long ago solemnly renounced.
Surely these remarks of the Advocate should have seemed entirely
unanswerable. Surely there was no politician in Europe so ignorant as
not to know that any treaty of peace between Philip and the States
meant their unconditional subjugation and the complete abolition of the
Protestant religion. Least of all did the Queen of England require
information on this great matter of state. It was cruel trifling therefore,
it was inhuman insolence on her part, to suggest anything like a return
of the States to the dominion of Spain.
But her desire for peace and her determination to get back her money
overpowered at that time all other considerations.
The States wished to govern themselves, she said; why then could they
not make arrangements against all dangers, and why could they not lay
down conditions under which the king would not really be their master;
especially if France and England should guarantee them against any
infraction of their rights. By the living God! by the living God! by the
living God! she swore over and over again as her anger rose, she would
never more have anything to do with such people; and she deeply
regretted having thrown away her money and the lives of her subjects
in so stupid a manner.
Again the grave and experienced envoy of the republic strove with
calm and earnest words to stay the torrent of her wrath; representing

that her money and her pains had by no means been wasted, that the
enemy had been brought to shame and his finances to confusion; and
urging her, without paying any heed to the course pursued by the King
of France, to allow the republic to make levies of troops, at its own
expense, within her kingdom.
But her Majesty was obdurate. "How am I to defend myself?" she cried;
"how are the affairs of Ireland to be provided for? how am I ever to get
back my money? who is to pay the garrisons of Brill and Flushing?"
And with this she left the apartment, saying that her counsellors would
confer with the envoys.'
From the beginning to the end of the interview the queen was in a very
evil temper, and took no pains to conceal her dissatisfaction with all the
world.
Now there is no doubt whatever that the subsidies furnished by
England to the common cause were very considerable, amounting in
fourteen years, according to the queen's calculation, to nearly fourteen
hundred thousand pounds sterling. But in her interviews with the
republican statesmen she was too prone to forget that it was a common
cause, to forget that the man who had over and over again attempted
her assassination, who had repeatedly attempted the invasion of her
realms with the whole strength of the most powerful military
organization in the world, whose dearest wish on earth was still to
accomplish her dethronement and murder, to extirpate from England
the religion professed by the majority of living Englishmen, and to
place upon her vacant throne a