The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1569-70 | Page 4

sufficient strength remaining to bear the
weight after it had been imposed. It was certain, moreover, that the new
system would create a more general outcry than any which had been
elicited even by the religious persecution. There were many inhabitants
who were earnest and sincere Catholics, and who therefore considered

themselves safe from the hangman's hands, while there were none who
could hope to escape the gripe of the new tax-gatherers. Yet the
Governor was not the man to be daunted by the probable unpopularity
of the measure. Courage he possessed in more than mortal proportion.
He seemed to have set himself to the task of ascertaining the exact
capacity of the country for wretchedness. He was resolved accurately to
gauge its width and its depth; to know how much of physical and moral
misery might be accumulated within its limits, before it should be full
to overflowing. Every man, woman, and child in the country had been
solemnly condemned to death; and arbitrary executions, in pursuance
of that sentence, had been daily taking place. Millions of property had
been confiscated; while the most fortunate and industrious, as well as
the bravest of the Netherlanders, were wandering penniless in distant
lands. Still the blows, however recklessly distributed, had not struck
every head. The inhabitants had been decimated, not annihilated, and
the productive energy of the country, which for centuries had possessed
so much vitality, was even yet not totally extinct. In the wreck of their
social happiness, in the utter overthrow of their political freedom, they
had still preserved the shadow, at least, of one great bulwark against
despotism. The king could impose no tax.
The "Joyeuse Entree" of Brabant, as well as the constitutions of
Flanders, Holland, Utrecht, and all the other provinces, expressly
prescribed the manner in which the requisite funds for government
should be raised. The sovereign or his stadholder was to appear before
the estates in person, and make his request for money. It was for the
estates, after consultation with their constituents, to decide whether or
not this petition (Bede) should be granted, and should a single branch
decline compliance, the monarch was to wait with patience for a more
favorable moment. Such had been the regular practice in the
Netherlands, nor had the reigning houses often had occasion to accuse
the estates of parsimony. It was, however, not wonderful that the Duke
of Alva should be impatient at the continued existence of this
provincial privilege. A country of condemned criminals, a nation
whose universal neck might at any moment be laid upon the block
without ceremony, seemed hardly fit to hold the purse-strings, and to
dispense alms to its monarch. The Viceroy was impatient at this
arrogant vestige of constitutional liberty. Moreover, although he had

taken from the Netherlanders nearly all the attributes of freemen, he
was unwilling that they should enjoy the principal privilege of slaves,
that of being fed and guarded at their master's expense. He had
therefore summoned a general assembly of the provincial estates in
Brussels, and on the 20th of March, 1569, had caused the following
decrees to be laid before them.
A tax of the hundredth penny, or one per cent., was laid upon all
property, real and personal, to be collected instantly. This impost,
however, was not perpetual, but only to be paid once, unless, of course,
it should suit the same arbitrary power by which it was assessed to
require it a second time.
A tax of the twentieth penny; or five per cent., was laid upon every
transfer of real estate. This imposition was perpetual.
Thirdly, a tag of the tenth penny, or ten per cent., was assessed upon
every article of merchandise or personal-property, to be paid as often as
it should be sold. This tax was likewise to be perpetual.
The consternation in the assembly when these enormous propositions
were heard, can be easily imagined. People may differ about religious
dogmas. In the most bigoted persecutions there will always be many
who, from conscientious although misguided motives, heartily espouse
the cause of the bigot. Moreover, although resistance to tyranny in
matters of faith, is always the most ardent of struggles, and is supported
by the most sublime principle in our nature, yet all men are not of the
sterner stuff of which martyrs are fashioned. In questions relating to the
world above; many may be seduced from their convictions by interest,
or forced into apostasy by violence. Human nature is often malleable or
fusible, where religious interests are concerned, but in affairs material
and financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous.
The interests of commerce and manufacture, when brought into conflict
with those of religion, had often proved victorious in the Netherlands.
This new measure, however--this arbitrary and most prodigious system
of