The Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland, 1613-15 | Page 7

Aerssens with the agents of the princes to procure them
assistance. The mutiny for the time was brief, and was settled on the
15th of May 1614, by the peace of Sainte-Menehould, as much a
caricature of a treaty as the rising had been the parody of a war. Van
der Myle, son-in-law of Barneveld, who had been charged with a
special and temporary mission to France, brought back the terms, of the
convention to the States-General. On the other hand, Conde and his
confederates sent a special agent to the Netherlands to give their
account of the war and the negotiation, who refused to confer either
with du Maurier or Barneveld, but who held much conference with
Aerssens.
It was obvious enough that the mutiny of the princes would become
chronic. In truth, what other condition was possible with two characters
like Mary de' Medici and the Prince of Conde respectively at the head
of the government and the revolt? What had France to hope for but to
remain the bloody playground for mischievous idiots, who threw about

the firebrands and arrows of reckless civil war in pursuit of the paltriest
of personal aims?
Van der Myle had pretensions to the vacant place of Aerssens. He had
some experience in diplomacy. He had conducted skilfully enough the
first mission of the States to Venice, and had subsequently been
employed in matters of moment. But he was son-in-law to Barneveld,
and although the Advocate was certainly not free from the charge of
nepotism, he shrank from the reproach of having apparently removed
Aerssens to make a place for one of his own family.
Van der Myle remained to bear the brunt of the late ambassador's
malice, and to engage at a little later period in hottest controversy with
him, personal and political. "Why should van der Myle strut about, with
his arms akimbo like a peacock?" complained Aerssens one day in
confused metaphor. A question not easy to answer satisfactorily.
The minister selected was a certain Baron Asperen de Langerac, wholly
unversed in diplomacy or other public affairs, with abilities not above
the average. A series of questions addressed by him to the Advocate,
the answers to which, scrawled on the margin of the paper, were to
serve for his general instructions, showed an ingenuousness as amusing
as the replies of Barneveld were experienced and substantial.
In general he was directed to be friendly and respectful to every one, to
the Queen-Regent and her counsellors especially, and, within the limits
of becoming reverence for her, to cultivate the good graces of the
Prince of Conde and the other great nobles still malcontent and
rebellious, but whose present movement, as Barneveld foresaw, was
drawing rapidly to a close. Langerac arrived in Paris on the 5th of April
1614.
Du Maurier thought the new ambassador likely to "fall a prey to the
specious language and gentle attractions of the Due de Bouillon." He
also described him as very dependent upon Prince Maurice. On the
other hand Langerac professed unbounded and almost childlike
reverence for Barneveld, was devoted to his person, and breathed as it
were only through his inspiration. Time would show whether those
sentiments would outlast every possible storm.

CHAPTER X

Weakness of the Rulers of France and England--The Wisdom of
Barneveld inspires Jealousy--Sir Dudley Carleton succeeds Winwood--
Young Neuburg under the Guidance of Maximilian--Barneveld strives
to have the Treaty of Xanten enforced--Spain and the Emperor wish to
make the States abandon their Position with regard to the Duchies--
The French Government refuses to aid the States--Spain and the
Emperor resolve to hold Wesel--The great Religious War begun--The
Protestant Union and Catholic League both wish to secure the Border
Provinces--Troubles in Turkey--Spanish Fleet seizes La Roche--Spain
places large Armies on a War Footing.
Few things are stranger in history than the apathy with which the wide
designs of the Catholic party were at that moment regarded. The
preparations for the immense struggle which posterity learned to call
the Thirty Years' War, and to shudder when speaking of it, were going
forward on every side. In truth the war had really begun, yet those most
deeply menaced by it at the outset looked on with innocent calmness
because their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze. The passage of
arms in the duchies, the outlines of which have just been indicated, and
which was the natural sequel of the campaign carried out four years
earlier on the same territory, had been ended by a mockery. In France,
reduced almost to imbecility by the absence of a guiding brain during a
long minority, fallen under the distaff of a dowager both weak and
wicked, distracted by the intrigues and quarrels of a swarm of
self-seeking grandees, and with all its offices, from