the combat began he held a council of war, and addressed the officers in an energetic speech, in which he displayed the imperative call on their valor to conquer or die in the approaching conflict.  He led on to the action in his own ship; and, to the astonishment of both fleets, he bore right down against the enormous galleon in which the flag of the Spanish admiral-in-chief was hoisted.  D’Avila could scarcely believe the evidence of his eyes at this audacity:  he at first burst into laughter at the notion; but as Heemskirk approached, he cut his cables and attempted to escape under the shelter of the town.  The heroic Dutchman pursued him through the whole of the Spanish fleet, and soon forced him to action.  At the second broadside Heemskirk had his left leg carried off by a cannon-ball, and he almost instantly died, exhorting his crew to seek for consolation in the defeat of the enemy.  Verhoef, the captain of the ship, concealed the admiral’s death; and the whole fleet continued the action with a valor worthy the spirit in which it was commenced.  The victory was soon decided:  four of the Spanish galleons were sunk or burned, the remainder fled; and the citizens of Cadiz trembled with the apprehension of sack and pillage.  But the death of Heemskirk, when made known to the surviving victors, seemed completely to paralyze them.  They attempted nothing further; but sailing back to Holland with the body of their lamented chief, thus paid a greater tribute to his importance than was to be found in the mausoleum erected to his memory in the city of Amsterdam.

[Illustration:  WILLIAM THE SILENT OF ORANGE.]

The news of this battle reaching Brussels before it was known in Holland, contributed not a little to quicken the anxiety of the archdukes for peace.  The king of Spain, worn out by the war which drained his treasury, had for some time ardently desired it.  The Portuguese made loud complaints of the ruin that threatened their trade and their East Indian colonies.  The Spanish ministers were fatigued with the apparently interminable contest which baffled all their calculations.  Spinola, even, in the midst of his brilliant career, found himself so overwhelmed with debts and so oppressed by the reproaches of the numerous creditors who were ruined by his default of payment, that he joined in the general demand for repose.  In the month of May, 1607, proposals were made by the archdukes, in compliance with the general desire; and their two plenipotentiaries, Van Wittenhorst and Gevaerts, repaired to The Hague.

Public opinion in the United Provinces was divided on this important question.  An instinctive hatred against the Spaniards, and long habits of warfare, influenced the great mass of the people to consider any overture for peace as some wily artifice aimed at their religion and liberty.  War seemed to open inexhaustible sources of wealth; while peace seemed to threaten the extinction of the courage which was now as much a habit as war appeared to be a want.