History of the United Netherlands, 1600-09 | Page 4

of a peace
between their ally and their enemy. Celerity was a vital element in the
success of such a mission; for the secret negotiations which it was
intended to impede were supposed to be near their termination. Yet
months were consumed in a journey which in our day would have been
accomplished in twenty-four hours. And now in this great military
expedition the essential and immediate purpose was to surprise a small
town almost within sight from the station at which the army was ready
to embark. Such a midsummer voyage in this epoch of steam-tugs and
transports would require but a few hours. Yet two days long the fleet
lay at anchor while a gentle breeze blew persistently from the
south-west. As there seemed but little hope that the wind would
become more favourable, and as the possibility of surprise grew fainter
with every day's delay, it was decided to make a landing upon the
nearest point of Flemish coast placed by circumstances within their
reach: Count Ernest of Nassau; with the advance-guard, was
accordingly, despatched on the 21st June to the neighbourhood of the
Sas-of Ghent, where he seized a weakly guarded fort, called Philippine,
and made thorough preparations, for the arrival of the whole army. On
the following day the rest of the troops made their appearance, and in
the course of five hours were safely disembarked.
The army, which consisted of Zeelanders, Frisians, Hollanders,
Walloons, Germans, English, and Scotch, was divided into three corps.
The advance was under the command of Count Ernest, the battalia
under that of Count George Everard Solms, while the rear-guard during
the march was entrusted to that experienced soldier Sir Francis Vere.
Besides Prince Maurice, there were three other members of the house
of Nassau serving in the expedition--his half-brother Frederic Henry,
then a lad of sixteen, and the two brothers of the Frisian stadholder,
Ernest and Lewis Gunther, whom Lewis William had been so faithfully
educating in the arts of peace and war both by precept and example.
Lewis Gunther, still a mere youth, but who had been the first to scale
the fort of Cadiz, and to plant on its height the orange banner of the
murdered rebel, and whose gallantry during the whole expedition had
called forth the special commendations of Queen Elizabeth--expressed
in energetic and affectionate terms to his father--now commanded all

the cavalry. Certainly if the doctrine of primordial selection could ever
be accepted among human creatures, the race of Nassau at that day
might have seemed destined to be chiefs of the Netherland soil. Old
John of Nassau, ardent and energetic as ever in the cause of the
religious reformation of Germany and the liberation of Holland, still
watched from his retirement the progress of the momentous event. Four
of his brethren, including the great founder of the republic, had already
laid down their lives for the sacred cause. His son Philip had already
fallen under the banner in the fight of Bislich, and three other sons were
serving the republic day and night, by sea and land, with sword, and
pen, and purse, energetically, conscientiously, and honourably. Of the
stout hearts and quick intellects on which the safety of the
commonwealth then depended, none was more efficient or true than the
accomplished soldier and statesman Lewis William. Thoroughly
disapproving of the present invasion of Flanders, he was exerting
himself, now that it had been decided upon by his sovereigns the
States- Generals, with the same loyalty as that of Maurice, to bring it to
a favourable issue, although not personally engaged in the adventure.
So soon as the troops had been landed the vessels were sent off as
expeditiously as possible, that none might fall into, the enemy's hands;
the transports under a strong convoy of war-ships having been directed
to proceed as fast as the wind would permit in the direction of Nieuport.
The march then began. On the 23rd they advanced a league and halted
for the night at Assenede. The next day brought them three leagues
further, to a place called Eckerloo. On the 25th they marched to Male, a
distance of three leagues and a half, passing close to the walls of
Bruges, in which they had indulged faint hopes of exciting an
insurrection, but obtained nothing but a feeble cannonade from the
fortifications which did no damage except the killing of one muleteer.
The next night was passed at Jabbeke, four leagues from Male, and on
the 27th, after marching another league, they came before the fort of
Oudenburg.
This important post on the road which the army would necessarily
traverse in coming from the interior to the coast was easily captured
and then strongly garrisoned. Maurice with the main army spent the
two following days at the fortress,