One last resource was left to the besieged; that which had formerly been resorted to at Leyden, and by which the place was saved.  To enable them to inundate the immense plain which stretched between Lillo and Strabrock up to the walls of Antwerp, it was necessary to cut through the dike which defended it against the irruptions of the eastern Scheldt.  This plain was traversed by a high and wide counter-dike, called the dike of Couvestien; and Alexander, knowing its importance, had early taken possession of and strongly defended it by several forts.  Two attacks were made by the garrison of Antwerp on this important construction; the latter of which led to one of the most desperate encounters of the war.  The prince, seeing that on the results of this day depended the whole consequences of his labors, fought with a valor that even he had never before displayed, and he was finally victorious.  The confederates were forced to abandon the attack, leaving three thousand dead upon the dike or at its base; and the Spaniards lost full eight hundred men.

One more fruitless attempt was made to destroy the bridge and raise the siege, by means of an enormous vessel bearing the presumptuous title of The End of the War.  But this floating citadel ran aground, without producing any effect; and the gallant governor of Antwerp, the celebrated Philip de Saint Aldegonde, was forced to capitulate on the 16th of August, after a siege of fourteen months.  The reduction of Antwerp was considered a miracle of perseverance and courage.  The prince of Parma was elevated by his success to the highest pinnacle of renown; and Philip, on receiving the news, displayed a burst of joy such as rarely varied his cold and gloomy reserve.

Even while the fate of Antwerp was undecided, the United Provinces, seeing that they were still too weak to resist alone the undivided force of the Spanish monarchy, had opened negotiations with France and England at once, in the hope of gaining one or the other for an ally and protector.  Henry III. gave a most honorable reception to the ambassadors sent to his court, and was evidently disposed to accept their offers, had not the distracted state of his own country, still torn by civil war, quite disabled him from any effective co-operation.  The deputies sent to England were also well received.  Elizabeth listened to the proposals of the states, sent them an ambassador in return, and held out the most flattering hopes of succor.  But her cautious policy would not suffer her to accept the sovereignty; and she declared that she would in nowise interfere with the negotiations, which might end in its being accepted by the king of France.  She gave prompt evidence of her sincerity by an advance of considerable sums of money, and by sending to Holland a body of six thousand troops, under the command of her favorite, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester; and as security for the repayment of her loan, the towns of Flushing and Brille, and the castle of Rammekins, were given up to her.