The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1576-77 | Page 5

and seventy-four slaves (Documentos Ineditos, iii. 229).
Alexander of Parma received thirty slaves; Requesens thirty. To each
general of infantry was assigned six slaves; to each colonel four; to
each ship's captain one. The number of "slaves in chains" (esclavos de

cadena) allotted to Philip was thirty-six hundred (Documentoa Ineditos,
257). Seven thousand two hundred Turkish slaves, therefore, at least,
were divided among Christians. This number of wretches, who were
not fortunate enough to die with their twenty- five thousand comrades,
must be set off against the twelve thousand Christian slaves liberated,
in the general settlement of the account with Humanity.]
But whatever the cause of the victory, its consequence was to spread
the name and fame of Don John of Austria throughout the world. Alva
wrote, with enthusiasm, to congratulate him; pronouncing the victory
the most brilliant one ever achieved by Christians, and Don John the
greatest general since the death of Julius Caesar. At the same time, with
a sarcastic fling at the erection of the Escorial, he advised Philip to
improve this new success in some more practical way than by building
a house for the Lord and a sepulchre for the dead. "If," said the Duke,
"the conquests of Spain be extended in consequence of this triumph,
then, indeed, will the Cherubim and Seraphim sing glory to God." A
courier, despatched post haste to Spain, bore the glorious news,
together with the, sacred, standard of the Prophet, the holy of holies,
inscribed with the name of Allah twenty-eight thousand nine hundred
times, always kept in Mecca during peace, and never since the conquest
of Constantinople lost in battle before. The King was at vespers in the
Escorial. Entering the sacred precincts, breathless, travel-stained,
excited, the messenger found Philip impassible as marble to the
wondrous news. Not a muscle of the royal visage was moved, not a
syllable escaped the royal lips, save a brief order to the clergy to
continue the interrupted vespers. When the service had been
methodically concluded, the King made known the intelligence and
requested a Te Deum.
The youthful commander-in-chief obtained more than his full mead of
glory. No doubt he had fought with brilliant courage, yet in so close
and murderous a conflict, the valor of no single individual could decide
the day, and the result was due to the combined determination of all.
Had Don John remained at Naples, the issue might have easily been the
same. Barbarigo, who sealed the victory with his blood; Colonna, who
celebrated a solemn triumph on his return to Rome; Parma, Doria,
Giustiniani, Venieri, might each as well have claimed a monopoly of
the glory, had not the Pope, at Philip's entreaty, conferred the baton of

command upon Don John. The meagre result of the contest is as
notorious as the victory. While Constantinople was quivering with
apprehension, the rival generals were already wrangling with animosity.
Had the Christian fleet advanced, every soul would have fled from the
capital, but Providence had ordained otherwise, and Don John sailed
westwardly with his ships. He made a descent on the Barbary coast,
captured Tunis, destroyed Biserta, and brought King Amidas and his
two sons prisoners to Italy. Ordered by Philip to dismantle the
fortifications of Tunis, he replied by repairing them thoroughly, and by
placing a strong garrison within the citadel. Intoxicated with his glory,
the young adventurer already demanded a crown, and the Pope was
disposed to proclaim him King of Tunis, for the Queen of the Lybian
seas was to be the capital of his Empire, the new Carthage which he
already dreamed.
Philip thought it time to interfere, for he felt that his own crown might
be insecure, with such a restless and ambitious spirit indulging in
possible and impossible chimeras. He removed John de Soto, who had
been Don John's chief councillor and emissary to the Pope, and
substituted in his place the celebrated and ill-starred Escovedo. The
new secretary, however, entered as heartily but secretly into all these
romantic schemes. Disappointed of the Empire which he had
contemplated on the edge of the African desert, the champion of the
Cross turned to the cold islands of the northern seas. There sighed, in
captivity, the beauteous Mary of Scotland, victim of the heretic
Elizabeth. His susceptibility to the charms of beauty--a characteristic as
celebrated as his courage--was excited, his chivalry aroused. What
holier triumph for the conqueror of the Saracens than the subjugation of
these northern infidels? He would dethrone the proud Elizabeth; he
would liberate and espouse the Queen of Scots, and together they
would reign over, the two united realms. All that the Pope could do
with bulls and blessings, letters of excommunication, and patents of
investiture, he did with his whole heart. Don John was at liberty to be
King of