Preparations were at once made to levy troops and wage war against Philip’s forces in the Netherlands.  Then followed the long, ghastly struggle between the armies raised by the Prince of Orange and his brother, Count Louis of Nassau, who lost his life mysteriously at the battle of Mons, and those of Alva and the other governors-general who succeeded him—­Don Louis de Requesens, the “Grand Commander,” Don John of Austria, the hero of Lepanto, and Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.  The records of butcheries and martyrdoms, including those during the sack and burning of Antwerp by the mutinous Spanish soldiery, are only relieved by the heroic exploits of the patriotic armies and burghers in the memorable defences of Haarlem, Leyden, Alkmaar, and Mons. At one time it seemed that the Prince of Orange and his forces were about to secure a complete triumph; but the news of the massacre of St. Bartholomew in Paris brought depression to the patriotic army and corresponding spirit to the Spanish armies, and the gleam faded.  The most extraordinary feature of Alva’s civil administration were his fiscal decrees, which imposed taxes that utterly destroyed the trade and manufactures of the country.

There were endless negotiations inspired by the States-General, the German Emperor, and the governments of France and England to secure peace and a settlement of the Netherlands affairs, but these, owing mostly to insincere diplomacy, were ineffective.

V.—­The Union of the Provinces

In the meantime, the union of Holland and Zealand had been accomplished, with the Prince of Orange as sovereign.  The representatives of various provinces thereafter met with deputies from Holland and Zealand in Utrecht in January, 1579, and agreed to a treaty of union which was ever after regarded as the foundation of the Netherlands Republic.  The contracting provinces agreed to remain eternally united, while each was to retain its particular privileges, liberties, customs, and laws.  All the provinces were to unite to defend each other with life, goods, and blood against all forces brought against them in the king’s name, and against all foreign potentates.  The treaty also provided for religious peace and toleration.  The Union of Utrecht was the foundation of the Netherlands Republic, which lasted two centuries.

For two years there were a series of desultory military operations and abortive negotiations for peace, including an attempt—­which failed—­to purchase the Prince of Orange.  The assembly of the united provinces met at The Hague on July 26, 1581, and solemnly declared their independence of Philip and renounced their allegiance for ever.  This act, however, left the country divided into three portions—­the Walloon or reconciled provinces; the united provinces under Anjou; and the northern provinces under Orange.

Early in February, 1582, the Duke of Anjou arrived in the Netherlands from England with a considerable train.  The articles of the treaty under which he was elected sovereign as Duke of Brabant made as stringent and as sensible a constitutional compact as could be desired by any Netherland patriot.  Taken in connection with the ancient charters, which they expressly upheld, they left to the new sovereign no vestige of arbitrary power.  He was the hereditary president of a representative republic.