The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1580-82 | Page 6

die of his own
accord."
It was insulting even to Philip's intelligence to insinuate that the Prince
would shrink before danger, or die of fear. Had Orange ever been
inclined to bombast, he might have answered the churchman's calumny,
as Caesar the soothsayer's warning:--
"-----------------Danger knows full well That Caesar is more dangerous
than he--"
and in truth, Philip had long trembled on his throne before the genius of
the man who had foiled Spain's boldest generals and wiliest statesmen.
The King, accepting the priest's advice, resolved to fulminate a ban
against the Prince, and to set a price upon his head. "It will be well,"
wrote Philip to Parma, "to offer thirty thousand crowns or so to any one
who will deliver him dead or alive. Thus the country may be rid of a
man so pernicious; or at any rate he will be held in perpetual fear, and
therefore prevented from executing leisurely his designs."

In accordance with these suggestions and these hopes, the famous ban
was accordingly drawn up, and dated on the 15th of March, 1580. It
was, however, not formally published in the Netherlands until the
month of June of the same year.
This edict will remain the most lasting monument to the memory of
Cardinal Granvelle. It will be read when all his other state-papers and
epistles--able as they incontestably are--shall have passed into oblivion.
No panegyric of friend, no palliating magnanimity of foe, can roll away
this rock of infamy from his tomb. It was by Cardinal Granvelle and by
Philip that a price was set upon the head of the foremost man of his age,
as if he had been a savage beast, and that admission into the ranks of
Spain's haughty nobility was made the additional bribe to tempt the
assassin.
The ban consisted of a preliminary narrative to justify the penalty with
which it was concluded. It referred to the favors conferred by Philip
and his father upon the Prince; to his-signal ingratitude and
dissimulation. It accused him of originating the Request, the image-
breaking, and the public preaching. It censured his marriage with an
abbess--even during the lifetime of his wife; alluded to his campaigns
against Alva, to his rebellion in Holland, and to the horrible massacres
committed by Spaniards in that province--the necessary consequences
of his treason. It accused him of introducing liberty of conscience, of
procuring his own appointment as Ruward, of violating the Ghent
treaty, of foiling the, efforts of Don John, and of frustrating the
counsels of the Cologne commissioners by his perpetual distrust. It
charged him with a newly-organized conspiracy, in the erection of the
Utrecht Union; and for these and similar crimes--set forth, with
involutions, slow, spiral, and cautious as the head and front of the
indictment was direct and deadly--it denounced the chastisement due to
the "wretched hypocrite" who had committed such offences.
"For these causes," concluded the ban, "we declare him traitor and
miscreant, enemy of ourselves and of the country. As such we banish
him perpetually from all our realms, forbidding all our subjects, of
whatever quality, to communicate with him openly or privately--to
administer to him victuals, drink, fire, or other necessaries. We allow
all to injure him in property or life. We expose the, said William
Nassau, as an enemy of the human-race--giving his property to all who

may; seize it. And if anyone of our subjects or any stranger should be
found sufficiently generous of heart to rid us of this pest, delivering
him to us, alive or dead, or taking his life, we will cause to be furnished
to him immediately after the deed shall have been done, the sum of
twenty-five thousand crowns; in gold. If he have committed any crime,
however heinous, we promise to pardon him; and if he be not already
noble, we will ennoble him for his valor."
Such was the celebrated ban against the Prince of Orange. It was
answered before the end of the year by the memorable "Apology of the
Prince of Orange" one of the moat startling documents in history. No
defiance was ever thundered forth in the face of a despot in more
terrible tones. It had become sufficiently manifest to the royal party that
the Prince was not to be purchased by "millions of money," or by
unlimited family advancement--not to be cajoled by flattery or offers of
illustrious friendship. It had been decided, therefore, to terrify him into
retreat, or to remove him by murder. The Government had been
thoroughly convinced that the only way to finish the revolt, was to
"finish Orange," according to the ancient advice of Antonio Perez. The
mask was thrown off. It had been decided to forbid the Prince bread,
water, fire, and shelter; to give his wealth to the fisc,