The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1574-84 | Page 6

Suis, and Arnold Sasbout.
The proceedings were opened at Breda upon the 3rd of March, 1575.
The royal commissioners took the initiative, requesting to be informed
what complaints the estates had to make, and offering to remove, if
possible, all grievances which they might be suffering. The states'
commissioners replied that they desired nothing, in the first place, but

an answer to the petition which they had already presented to the King.
This was the paper placed in the hands of Saint Aldegonde during the
informal negotiations of the preceding year. An answer was
accordingly given, but couched in such vague and general language as
to be quite without meaning. The estates then demanded a categorical
reply to the two principal demands in the petition, namely, the
departure of the foreign troops and the assembling of the states-general.
They, were asked what they understood by foreigners and by the
assembly of states-general. They replied that by foreigners they meant
those who were not natives, and particularly the Spaniards. By the
estates-general they meant the same body before which, in 1555,
Charles had resigned his sovereignty to Philip. The royal
commissioners made an extremely unsatisfactory answer, concluding
with a request that all cities, fortresses, and castles, then in the power of
the estates, together with all their artillery and vessels of war, should be
delivered to the King. The Roman Catholic worship, it was also
distinctly stated, was to be re-established at once exclusively
throughout the Netherlands; those of the Reformed religion receiving
permission, for that time only, to convert their property into cash within
a certain time, and to depart the country.
Orange and the estates made answer on the 21st March. It could not be
called hard, they said, to require the withdrawal of the Spanish troops,
for this had been granted in 1559, for less imperious reasons. The
estates had, indeed, themselves made use of foreigners, but those
foreigners had never been allowed to participate in the government.
With regard to the assembly of the states-general, that body had always
enjoyed the right of advising with the Sovereign on the condition of the
country, and on general measures of government. Now it was only
thought necessary to summon them, in order that they might give their
consent to the King's "requests." Touching the delivery of cities and
citadels, artillery and ships, the proposition was, pronounced to
resemble that made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable--that the
dogs should be delivered up, as a preliminary to a lasting peace. It was
unreasonable to request the Hollanders to abandon their religion or
their country. The reproach of heresy was unjust, for they still held to
the Catholic Apostolic Church, wishing only to purify, it of its abuses.
Moreover, it was certainly more cruel to expel a whole population than

to dismiss three or four thousand Spaniards who for seven long years
had been eating their fill at the expense of the provinces. It would be
impossible for the exiles to dispose of their property, for all would, by
the proposed measure, be sellers, while there would be no purchasers.
The royal plenipotentiaries, making answer to this communication
upon the 1st of April, signified a willingness that the Spanish soldiers
should depart, if the states would consent to disband their own foreign
troops. They were likewise in favor of assembling the states-general,
but could not permit any change in the religion of the country. His
Majesty had sworn to maintain the true worship at the moment of
assuming the sovereignty. The dissenters might, however, be allowed a
period of six months in which to leave the land, and eight or ten years
for the sale of their property. After the heretics had all departed, his
Majesty did not doubt that trade and manufactures would flourish again,
along with the old religion. As for the Spanish inquisition, there was
not, and there never had been, any intention of establishing it in the
Netherlands.
No doubt there was something specious in this paper. It appeared to
contain considerable concessions. The Prince and estates had claimed
the departure of the Spaniards. It was now promised that they should
depart. They had demanded the assembling of the states-general. It was
now promised that they should assemble. They had denounced the
inquisition. It was now averred that the Spanish inquisition was not to
be established.
Nevertheless, the commissioners of the Prince were not deceived by
such artifices. There was no parity between the cases of the Spanish
soldiery and of the troops in service of the estates. To assemble the
estates- general was idle, if they were to be forbidden the settlement of
the great question at issue. With regard to the Spanish inquisition, it
mattered little whether the slaughter-house were called Spanish or
Flemish,