The Revolt of The Netherlands, book 3 | Page 7

she said, "is coming to us, with an address in the name of
the league, demanding the abolition of the Inquisition and a mitigation
of the edicts. The advice of my senate is to guide me in my answer to
him; but before you give your opinions on this point permit me to
premise a few words. I am told that there are many even amongst
yourselves who load the religious edicts of the Emperor, my father,
with open reproaches, and describe them to the people as inhuman and
barbarous. Now I ask you, lords and gentlemen, knights of the Fleece,
counsellors of his majesty and of the state, whether you did not
yourselves vote for these edicts, whether the states of the realm have
not recognized them as lawful? Why is that now blamed, which was
formerly declared right? Is it because they have now become even more
necessary than they then were? Since when is the Inquisition a new
thing in the Netherlands? Is it not full sixteen years ago since the
Emperor established it? And wherein is it more cruel than the edicts? If
it be allowed that the latter were the work of wisdom, if the universal
consent of the states has sanctioned them-- why this opposition to the
former, which is nevertheless far more humane than the edicts, if they
are to be observed to the letter? Speak now freely; I am not desirous of
fettering your decision; but it is your business to see that it is not misled
by passion and prejudice." The council of state was again, as it always
had been, divided between two opinions; but the few who spoke for the
Inquisition and the literal execution of the edicts were outvoted by the
opposite party with the Prince of Orange at its head. "Would to
heaven," he began,--"that my representations had been then thought
worthy of attention, when as yet the grounds of apprehension were
remote; things would in that case never have been carried so far as to
make recourse to extreme measures indispensable, nor would men have
been plunged deeper in error by the very means which were intended to
beguile them from their delusion. We are all unanimous on the one
main point. We all wish to see the Catholic religion safe; if this end can
be secured without the aid of the Inquisition, it is well, and we offer our
wealth and our blood to its service; but on this very point it is that our
opinions are divided.
"There are two kinds of inquisition: the see of Rome lays claim to one,

the other has, from time immemorial, been exercised by the bishops.
The force of prejudice and of custom has made the latter light and
supportable to us. It will find little opposition in the Netherlands, and
the augmented numbers of the bishops will make it effective. To what
purpose then insist on the former, the mere name of which is revolting
to all the feelings of our minds? When so many nations exist without it
why should it be imposed on us? Before Luther appeared it was never
heard of; but the troubles with Luther happened at a time when there
was an inadequate number of spiritual overseers, and when the few
bishops were, moreover, indolent, and the licentiousness of the clergy
excluded them from the office of judges. Now all is changed; we now
count as many bishops as there are provinces. Why should not the
policy of the government adjust itself to the altered circumstances of
the times? We want leniency, not severity. The repugnance of the
people is manifest--this we must seek to appease if we would not have
it burst out into rebellion. With the death of Pius IV. the full powers of
the inquisitors have expired; the new pope has as yet sent no
ratification of their authority, without which no one formerly ventured
to exercise his office. Now, therefore, is the time when it can be
suspended without infringing the rights of any party.
"What I have stated with regard to the Inquisition holds equally good in
respect to the edicts also. The exigency of the times called them forth,
but are not those times passed? So long an experience of them ought at
last to have taught us that against hersey no means are less successful
than the fagot and sword. What incredible progress has not the new
religion made during only the last few years in the provinces; and if we
investigate the cause of this increase we shall find it principally in the
glorious constancy of those who have fallen sacrifices to the truth of
their opinions. Carried away by sympathy and admiration, men begin to
weigh in silence whether what is maintained with such