The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555 | Page 5

the necessity of maintaining the Catholic religion in its purity.
After this long harangue, which has been fully reported by several
historians who were present at the ceremony, the councillor proceeded
to read the deed of cession, by which Philip, already sovereign of Sicily,
Naples, Milan, and titular King of England, France, and Jerusalem,
now received all the duchies, marquisates, earldoms, baronies, cities,

towns, and castles of the Burgundian property, including, of course, the
seventeen Netherlands.
As De Bruxelles finished, there was a buzz of admiration throughout
the assembly, mingled with murmurs of regret, that in the present great
danger upon the frontiers from the belligerent King of France and his
warlike and restless nation, the provinces should be left without their
ancient and puissant defender. The emperor then rose to his feet.
Leaning on his crutch, he beckoned from his seat the personage upon
whose arm he had leaned as he entered the hall. A tall, handsome youth
of twenty-two came forward--a man whose name from that time
forward, and as long as history shall endure, has been, and will be,
more familiar than any other in the mouths of Netherlanders. At that
day he had rather a southern than a German or Flemish appearance. He
had a Spanish cast of features, dark, well chiselled, and symmetrical.
His head was small and well placed upon his shoulders. His hair was
dark brown, as were also his moustache and peaked beard. His forehead
was lofty, spacious, and already prematurely engraved with the anxious
lines of thought. His eyes were full, brown, well opened, and
expressive of profound reflection. He was dressed in the magnificent
apparel for which the Netherlanders were celebrated above all other
nations, and which the ceremony rendered necessary. His presence
being considered indispensable at this great ceremony, he had been
summoned but recently from the camp on the frontier, where,
notwithstanding his youth, the emperor had appointed him to command
his army in chief against such antagonists as Admiral Coligny and the
Due de Nevers.
Thus supported upon his crutch and upon the shoulder of William of
Orange, the Emperor proceeded to address the states, by the aid of a
closely-written brief which he held in his hand. He reviewed rapidly the
progress of events from his seventeenth year up to that day. He spoke
of his nine expeditions into Germany, six to Spain, seven to Italy, four
to France, ten to the Netherlands, two to England, as many to Africa,
and of his eleven voyages by sea. He sketched his various wars,
victories, and treaties of peace, assuring his hearers that the welfare of
his subjects and the security of the Roman Catholic religion had ever
been the leading objects of his life. As long as God had granted him
health, he continued, only enemies could have regretted that Charles

was living and reigning, but now that his strength was but vanity, and
life fast ebbing away, his love for dominion, his affection for his
subjects, and his regard for their interests, required his departure.
Instead of a decrepit man with one foot in the grave, he presented them
with a sovereign in the prime of life and the vigor of health. Turning
toward Philip, he observed, that for a dying father to bequeath so
magnificent an empire to his son was a deed worthy of gratitude, but
that when the father thus descended to the grave before his time, and by
an anticipated and living burial sought to provide for the welfare of his
realms and the grandeur of his son, the benefit thus conferred was
surely far greater. He added, that the debt would be paid to him and
with usury, should Philip conduct himself in his administration of the
province with a wise and affectionate regard to their true interests.
Posterity would applaud his abdication, should his son Prove worthy of
his bounty; and that could only be by living in the fear of God, and by
maintaining law, justice, and the Catholic religion in all their purity, as
the true foundation of the realm. In conclusion, he entreated the estates,
and through them the nation, to render obedience to their new prince, to
maintain concord and to preserve inviolate the Catholic faith; begging
them, at the same time, to pardon him all errors or offences which he
might have committed towards them during his reign, and assuring
them that he should unceasingly remember their obedience and
affection in his every prayer to that Being to whom the remainder of his
life was to be dedicated.
Such brave words as these, so many vigorous asseverations of
attempted performance of duty, such fervent hopes expressed of a
benign administration in behalf of the son, could not but affect the
sensibilities of the audience, already excited and