The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1560-61 | Page 3

to be one of four than
one of eighteen." In fact, according to his own statement, he lost money
by becoming archbishop of Mechlin, and ceasing to be Bishop of Arras.
For these reasons he declined, more than once, the proffered dignity,
and at last only accepted it from fear of giving offence to the King, and
after having secured compensation for his alleged losses. In the same
letter (of 29th May, 1560) in which he thanked Philip for conferring
upon him the rich abbey of Saint Armand, which he had solicited, in
addition to the "merced" in ready money, concerning the safe
investment of which he had already sent directions, he observed that he
was now willing to accept the archbishopric of Mechlin;
notwithstanding the odium attached to the measure, notwithstanding his
feeble powers, and notwithstanding that, during the life of the Bishop
of Tournay, who was then in rude health, he could only receive three
thousand ducats of the revenue, giving up Arras and gaining nothing in
Mechlin; notwithstanding all this, and a thousand other things besides,
he assured his Majesty that, "since the royal desire was so strong that
he should accept, he would consider nothing so difficult that he would
not at least attempt it." Having made up his mind to take the see and
support the new arrangements, he was resolved that his profits should
be as large as possible. We have seen how he had already been enabled
to indemnify himself. We shall find him soon afterwards importuning
the King for the Abbey of Afflighem, the enormous revenue of which
the prelate thought would make another handsome addition to the
rewards of his sacrifices. At the same time, he was most anxious that
the people, and particularly the great nobles, should not ascribe the new
establishment to him, as they persisted in doing. "They say that the
episcopates were devised to gratify my ambition," he wrote to Philip
two years later; "whereas your Majesty knows how steadily I refused
the see of Mechlin, and that I only accepted it in order not to live in
idleness, doing nothing for God and your Majesty." He therefore
instructed Philip, on several occasions, to make it known to the
government of the Regent, to the seignors, and to the country generally,

that the measure had been arranged without his knowledge; that the
Marquis Berghen had known of it first, and that the prelate had, in truth,
been kept in the dark on the subject until the arrival of Sonnius with the
Bulls. The King, always docile to his minister, accordingly wrote to the
Duchess the statements required, in almost the exact phraseology
suggested; taking pains to repeat the declarations on several occasions,
both by letter and by word of mouth, to many influential persons.
The people, however, persisted in identifying the Bishop with the
scheme. They saw that he was the head of the new institutions; that he
was to receive the lion's share of the confiscated abbeys, and that he
was foremost in defending and carrying through the measure, in spite
of all opposition. That opposition waxed daily more bitter, till the
Cardinal, notwithstanding that he characterised the arrangement to the
King as "a holy work," and warmly assured Secretary Perez that he
would contribute his fortune, his blood, and his life, to its success, was
yet obliged to exclaim in the bitterness of his spirit, "Would to God that
the erection of these new sees had never been thought of. Amen!
Amen!"
Foremost in resistance was the Prince of Orange. Although a Catholic,
he had no relish for the horrible persecution which had been determined
upon. The new bishoprics he characterized afterwards as parts "of one
grand scheme for establishing the cruel inquisition of Spain; the said
bishops to serve as inquisitors, burners of bodies; and tyrants of
conscience: two prebendaries in each see being actually constituted
inquisitors." For this reason he omitted no remonstrance on the subject
to the Duchess, to Granvelle, and by direct letters to the King. His
efforts were seconded by Egmont, Berghen, and other influential nobles.
Even Berlaymont was at first disposed to side with the opposition, but
upon the argument used by the Duchess, that the bishoprics and
prebends would furnish excellent places for his sons and other
members of the aristocracy, he began warmly to support the measure.
Most of the labor, however, and all the odium, of the business fell upon
the Bishop's shoulders. There was still a large fund of loyalty left in the
popular mind, which not even forty years of the Emperor's dominion
had consumed, and which Philip was destined to draw upon as
prodigally as if the treasure had been inexhaustible. For these reasons it
still seemed most decorous to load all the hatred