History of the United Netherlands, 1605-07 | Page 5

swerved to the right, and
came down upon Lochem. The little town, with its very slender
garrison, surrendered at once. It was not a great conquest, but it might
possibly be of use in the campaign. It was taken before the stadholder
could move a step to its assistance, even had he deemed it prudent to

leave Yssel- side for an hour. The summer was passing away, the rain
was still descending, and it was the 1st of August before Spinola left
Lochem. He then made a rapid movement to the north, between Zwoll
and Hasselt, endeavouring to cross the Blackwater, and seize
Geelmuyden, on the Zuyder Zee. Had he succeeded, he might have
turned Maurice's position. But the works in that direction had been
entrusted to an experienced campaigner, Warmelo, sheriff of Zalant,
who received the impetuous Spinola and his lieutenant, Count Solre, so
warmly, that they reeled backwards at last, after repeated assaults and
great loss of men, and never more attempted to cross the Yssel.
Obviously, the campaign had failed. Utrecht and Holland were as far
out of the Catholic general's reach as the stars in the sky, but at least,
with his large armies, he could earn a few trophies, barren or
productive, as it might prove, before winter, uniting with the deluge,
should drive him from the field.
On the 3rd August, he laid siege to Groll (or Groenlo), a fortified town
of secondary importance in the country of Zutphen, and, squandering
his men with much recklessness, in his determination not to be baffled,
reduced the place in eleven days. Here he paused for a breathing spell,
and then, renouncing all his schemes upon the inner defences of the
republic, withdrew once more to the Rhine and laid siege to Rheinberg.
This frontier place had been tossed to and fro so often between the
contending parties in the perpetual warfare, that its inhabitants must
have learned to consider themselves rather as a convenient circulating
medium for military operations than as burghers who had any part in
the ordinary business of life. It had old-fashioned defences of stones
which, during the recent occupation by the States, had been much
improved, and had been strengthened with earthworks.
Before it was besieged, Maurice sent his brother Frederic Henry, with
some picked companies, into the place, so that the garrison amounted
to three thousand effective men.
The Prince de Soubise, brother of the Duc de Rohan, and other French
volunteers of quality, also threw themselves into the place, in order to
take lessons in the latest methods of attack and defence. It was now
admitted that no more accomplished pupil of the stadholder in the
beleaguering art had appeared in Europe than his present formidable
adversary. On this occasion, however, there was no great display of

science. Maurice obstinately refused to move to the relief of the place,
despite all the efforts of a deputation of the States-General who visited
his camp in September, urging him strenuously to take the chances of a
stricken field.
Nothing could induce the stadholder, who held an observing position at
Wesel, with his back against the precious watery quadrilateral, to risk
the defence of those most vital lines of the Yssel and the Waal. While
attempting to save Rheinberg, he felt it possible that he might lose
Nymegen, or even Utrecht. The swift but wily Genoese was not to be
trifled with or lost sight of an instant. The road to Holland might still be
opened, and the destiny of the republic might hang on the consequences
of a single false move. That destiny, under God, was in his hands alone,
and no chance of winning laurels, even from his greatest rival's head,
could induce him to shrink from the path of duty, however obscure it
might seem. There were a few brilliant assaults and sorties, as in all
sieges, the French volunteers especially distinguishing themselves; but
the place fell at the end of forty days. The garrison marched out with
the honours of war. In the modern practice, armies were rarely captured
in strongholds, nor were the defenders, together with the population,
butchered.
The loss, after a six weeks' siege, of Rheinberg, which six years before,
with far inferior fortifications, had held out a much longer time against
the States, was felt as a bitter disappointment throughout the republic.
Frederic Henry, on leaving the place, made a feeble and unsuccessful
demonstration against Yenlo, by which the general dissatisfaction was
not diminished. Soon afterwards, the war became more languid than
ever. News arrived of a great crisis on the Genoa exchange. A
multitude of merchants, involved in pecuniary transactions with
Spinola, fell with one tremendous crash. The funds of the Catholic
commander-in-chief were already exhausted, his acceptances could no
longer be negotiated.
His credit was