The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1582-84 | Page 9

I shall follow the counsel you have
uniformly given me, since I know it comes from one who has always
loved me. Therefore I beg that you will kindly bring it to pass, that I
may obtain some decision, and that no injury may be inflicted upon my
people. Otherwise the land shall pay for it dearly."
To these appeals, neither the Prince nor the authorities of Antwerp
answered immediately in their own names. A general consultation was,
however, immediately held with the estates-general, and an answer
forthwith despatched to the Duke by the hands of his envoys. It was
agreed to liberate the prisoners, to restore the furniture, and to send a
special deputation for the purpose of making further arrangements with
the Duke by word of mouth, and for this deputation his Highness was
requested to furnish a safe conduct.
Anjou was overjoyed when he received this amicable communication.
Relieved for a time from his fears as to the result of his crime, he
already assumed a higher ground. He not only spoke to the states in a
paternal tone, which was sufficiently ludicrous, but he had actually the
coolness to assure them of his forgiveness. "He felt hurt," he said, "that
they should deem a safe conduct necessary for the deputation which
they proposed to send. If they thought that he had reason on account of
the past, to feel offended, he begged them to believe that he had

forgotten it all, and that he had buried the past in its ashes, even as if it
had never been." He furthermore begged them--and this seemed the
greatest insult of all--"in future to trust to his word, and to believe that
if any thing should be attempted to their disadvantage, he would be the
very first to offer himself for their protection."
It will be observed that in his first letters the Duke had not affected to
deny his agency in the outrage--an agency so flagrant that all
subterfuge seemed superfluous. He in fact avowed that the attempt had
been made by his command, but sought to palliate the crime on the
ground that it had been the result of the ill-treatment which he had
experienced from the states. "The affronts which I have received," said
he, both to the magistrates of Antwerp and to Orange, "have
engendered the present calamity." So also, in a letter written at the
same time to his brother, Henry the Third, he observed that "the
indignities which were put upon him, and the manifest intention of the
states to make a Matthias of him, had been the cause of the
catastrophe."
He now, however, ventured a step farther. Presuming upon the
indulgence which he had already experienced; and bravely assuming
the tone of injured innocence, he ascribed the enterprise partly to
accident, and partly to the insubordination of his troops. This was the
ground which he adopted in his interviews with the states'
commissioners. So also, in a letter addressed to Van der Tympel,
commandant of Brussels, in which he begged for supplies for his troops,
he described the recent invasion of Antwerp as entirely unexpected by
himself, and beyond his control. He had been intending, he said, to
leave the city and to join his army. A tumult had accidentally arisen
between his soldiers and the guard at the gate. Other troops rushing in
from without, had joined in the affray, so that to, his great sorrow, an
extensive disorder had arisen. He manifested the same Christian
inclination to forgive, however, which he had before exhibited. He
observed that "good men would never grow cold in his regard, or find
his affection diminished." He assured Van der Tympel, in particular, of
his ancient goodwill, as he knew him to be a lover of the common weal.
In his original communications he had been both cringing and
threatening but, at least, he had not denied truths which were plain as
daylight. His new position considerably damaged his cause. This

forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor was a little more than the
states could bear, disposed as they felt, from policy, to be indulgent,
and to smooth over the crime as gently as possible. The negotiations
were interrupted, and the authorities of Antwerp published a brief and
spirited defence of their own conduct. They denied that any affront or
want of respect on their part could have provoked the outrage of which
the Duke had been guilty. They severely handled his self-contradiction,
in ascribing originally the recent attempt to his just vengeance for past
injuries, and in afterwards imputing it to accident or sudden mutiny,
while they cited the simultaneous attempts at Bruges, Denremonde,
Alost, Digmuyde, Newport, Ostend, Vilvoorde, and Dunkirk, as a
series of damning proofs of a deliberate design.
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