which the absence of the sovereign had hitherto caused
to the Low Countries. The Catholic religion was
declared that of the state, in its full integrity.
The provinces were guaranteed against dismemberment.
The archdukes, by which title the joint sovereigns
were designated without any distinction of sex, were
secured in the possession, with right of succession
to their children; and a provision was added, that
in default of posterity their possessions should revert
to the Spanish crown. The infanta Isabella soon
sent her procuration to the archduke, her affianced
husband, giving him full power and authority to take
possession of the ceded dominions in her name as in
his own; and Albert was inaugurated with great pomp
at Brussels, on the 22d of August. Having put
everything in order for the regulation of the government
during his absence, he set out for Spain for the purpose
of accomplishing his spousals, and bringing back his
bride to the chief seat of their joint power.
But before his departure he wrote to the various states
of the republic, and to Prince Maurice himself, strongly
recommending submission and reconciliation. These
letters received no answer; a new plot against the
life of Prince Maurice, by a wretched individual named
Peter Pann, having aroused the indignation of the
country, and determined it to treat with suspicion
and contempt every insidious proposition from the
tyranny it defied.
Albert placed his uncle, the cardinal Andrew of Austria,
at the head of the temporary government, and set out
on his journey; taking the little town of Halle in
his route, and placing at the altar of the Virgin,
who is there held in particular honor, his cardinal’s
hat as a token of his veneration. He had not made
much progress when he received accounts of the demise
of Philip II., who died, after long suffering, and
with great resignation, on the 13th of September,
1598, at the age of seventy-two. Albert was several
months on his journey through Germany; and the ceremonials
of his union with the infanta did not take place till
the 18th of April, 1599, when it was finally solemnized
in the city of Valencia in Spain.
This transaction, by which the Netherlands were positively
erected into a separate sovereignty, seems naturally
to make the limits of another epoch in their history.
It completely decided the division between the northern
and southern provinces, which, although it had virtually
taken place long previous to this period, could scarcely
be considered as formally consummated until now.
Here then we shall pause anew, and take a rapid review
of the social state of the Netherlands during the
last half century, which was beyond all doubt the
most important period of their history, from the earliest
times till the present.