The Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland, 1610-12 | Page 4

the head of his contingent
of 8000 foot and a few squadrons of cavalry, and there was great show
of harmony between them. For any practical purposes, de la Chatre

might as well have remained in France. For political ends his absence
would have been preferable to his presence.
Maurice would have rejoiced, had the Marshal blundered longer along
the road to the debateable land than he had done. He had almost
brought Julich to reduction. A fortnight later the place surrendered. The
terms granted by the conqueror were equitable. No change was to be
made in the liberty of Roman Catholic worship, nor in the city
magistracy. The citadel and its contents were to be handed over to the
Princes of Brandenburg and Neuburg. Archduke Leopold and his
adherents departed to Prague, to carry out as he best could his farther
designs upon the crown of Bohemia, this first portion of them having
so lamentably failed, and Sergeant-Major Frederick Pithan, of the
regiment of Count Ernest Casimir of Nassau, was appointed governor
of Julich in the interest of the possessory princes.
Thus without the loss of a single life, the Republic, guided by her
consummate statesman and unrivalled general, had gained an immense
victory, had installed the Protestant princes in the full possession of
those splendid and important provinces, and had dictated her decrees on
German soil to the Emperor of Germany, and had towed, as it were,
Great Britain and France along in her wake, instead of humbly
following those powers, and had accomplished all that she had ever
proposed to do, even in alliance with them both.
The King of England considered that quite enough had been done, and
was in great haste to patch up a reconciliation. He thought his
ambassador would soon "have as good occasion to employ his tongue
and his pen as General Cecil and his soldiers have done their swords
and their mattocks."
He had no sympathy with the cause of Protestantism, and steadily
refused to comprehend the meaning of the great movements in the
duchies. "I only wish that I may handsomely wind myself out of this
quarrel, where the principal parties do so little for themselves," he said.
De la Chatre returned with his troops to France within a fortnight after
his arrival on the scene. A mild proposition made by the French
government through the Marshal, that the provinces should be held in
seguestration by France until a decision as to the true sovereignty could
be reached, was promptly declined. Maurice of Nassau had hardly
gained so signal a triumph for the Republic and for the Protestant cause

only to hand it over to Concini and Villeroy for the benefit of Spain.
Julich was thought safer in the keeping of Sergeant Pithan.
By the end of September the States' troops had returned to their own
country.
Thus the Republic, with eminent success, had accomplished a brief and
brilliant campaign, but no statesman could suppose that the result was
more than a temporary one. These coveted provinces, most valuable in
themselves and from their important position, would probably not be
suffered peacefully to remain very long under the protection of the
heretic States-General and in the 'Condominium' of two Protestant
princes. There was fear among the Imperialists, Catholics, and
Spaniards, lest the baleful constellation of the Seven Provinces might
be increased by an eighth star. And this was a project not to be tolerated.
It was much already that the upstart confederacy had defied Pope,
Emperor, and King, as it were, on their own domains, had dictated
arrangements in Germany directly in the teeth of its emperor, using
France as her subordinate, and compelling the British king to acquiesce
in what he most hated.
But it was not merely to surprise Julich, and to get a foothold in the
duchies, that Leopold had gone forth on his adventure. His campaign,
as already intimated, was part of a wide scheme in which he had
persuaded his emperor-cousin to acquiesce. Poor Rudolph had been at
last goaded into a feeble attempt at revolt against his three brothers and
his cousin Ferdinand. Peace-loving, inert, fond of his dinner, fonder of
his magnificent collections of gems and intagli, liking to look out of
window at his splendid collection of horses, he was willing to pass a
quiet life, afar from the din of battles and the turmoil of affairs. As he
happened to be emperor of half Europe, these harmless tastes could not
well be indulged. Moon-faced and fat, silent and slow, he was not
imperial of aspect on canvas or coin, even when his brows were
decorated with the conventional laurel wreath. He had been stripped of
his authority and all but discrowned by his more bustling brothers
Matthias and Max, while the sombre figure