The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1568 part 1 | Page 7

process. Alva immediately wrote to
communicate this opinion to Philip, adding, with great satisfaction, that
he should immediately make it known to the brethren of the Order, a
step which was the more necessary because Egmont's advocate had
been making great trouble with these privileges, and had been
protesting at every step of the proceedings. In what manner the learned
President argued these troublesome statutes out of the way, has
nowhere appeared; but he completely reinstated himself in favor, and
the King wrote to thank him for his legal exertions.
It was now boldly declared that the statutes of the Fleece did not extend

to such crimes as those with which the prisoner were charged. Alva,
moreover, received an especial patent, ante-dated eight or nine months,
by which Philip empowered him to proceed against all persons
implicated in the troubles, and particularly against Knights of the
Golden Fleece.
It is superfluous to observe that these were merely the arbitrary acts of
a despot. It is hardly necessary to criticise such proceedings. The
execution of the nobles had been settled before Alva left Spain. As they
were inhabitants of a constitutional country, it was necessary to stride
over the constitution. As they were Knights of the Fleece, it was
necessary to set aside the statutes of the Order. The Netherland
constitutions seemed so entirely annihilated already, that they could
hardly be considered obstacles; but the Order of the Fleece was an
august little republic of which Philip was the hereditary chief, of which
emperors, kings, and great seigniors were the citizens. Tyranny might
be embarrassed by such subtle and golden filaments as these, even
while it crashed through municipal charters as if they had been reeds
and bulrushes. Nevertheless, the King's course was taken. Although the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of the Order expressly
provided for the trial and punishment of brethren who had been guilty
of rebellion, heresy, or treason; and although the eleventh chapter;
perpetual and immutable, of additions to that constitution by the
Emperor Charles, conferred on the Order exclusive jurisdiction over all
crimes whatever committed by the knights, yet it was coolly
proclaimed by Alva, that the crimes for which the Admiral and Egmont
had been arrested, were beyond the powers of the tribunal.
So much for the plea to the jurisdiction. It is hardly worth while to look
any further into proceedings which were initiated and brought to a
conclusion in the manner already narrated. Nevertheless, as they were
called a process, a single glance at the interior of that mass of
documents can hardly be superfluous.
The declaration against Count Horn; upon which, supported by
invisible witnesses, he was condemned, was in the nature of a narrative.
It consisted in a rehearsal of circumstances, some true and some
fictitious, with five inferences. These five inferences amounted to five
crimes-- high treason, rebellion, conspiracy, misprision of treason, and
breach of trust. The proof of these crimes was evolved, in a dim and

misty manner, out of a purposely confused recital. No events, however,
were recapitulated which have not been described in the course of this
history. Setting out with a general statement, that the Admiral, the
Prince of Orange, Count Egmont, and other lords had organized a plot
to expel his Majesty from the Netherlands, and to divide the provinces
among themselves; the declaration afterwards proceeded to particulars.
Ten of its sixty-three articles were occupied with the Cardinal
Granvelle, who, by an absurd affectation, was never directly named,
but called "a certain personage--a principal personage--a grand
personage, of his Majesty's state council." None of the offences
committed against him were forgotten: the 11th of March letter, the
fool's-cap, the livery, were reproduced in the most violent colors, and
the cabal against the minister was quietly assumed to constitute treason
against the monarch.
The Admiral, it was further charged, had advised and consented to the
fusion of the finance and privy councils with that of state, a measure
which was clearly treasonable. He had, moreover, held interviews with
the Prince of Orange, with Egmont, and other nobles, at Breda and at
Hoogstraaten, at which meetings the confederacy and the petition had
been engendered. That petition had been the cause of all the evils which
had swept the land. "It had scandalously injured the King, by affirming
that the inquisition was a tyranny to humanity, which was an infamous
and unworthy proposition." The confederacy, with his knowledge and
countenance, had enrolled 30,000 men. He had done nothing, any more
than Orange or Egmont, to prevent the presentation of the petition. In
the consultation at the state-council which ensued, both he and the
Prince were for leaving Brussels at once, while Count Egmont
expressed an intention of going to Aix to drink the waters. Yet Count
Egmont's appearance (proceeded this