Having uttered this pious exhortation in the ear of a man who needed no stimulant in the path of persecution, he proceeded to express his regrets that the judges and other officers were not taking in hand the chastisement of heresy with becoming vigor.

Yet, at that very moment Peter Titelmann was raging through Flanders, tearing whole families out of bed and burning them to ashes, with such utter disregard to all laws or forms as to provoke in the very next year a solemn protest from the four estates of Flanders; and Titelmann was but one of a dozen inquisitors.

Granvelle, however, could find little satisfaction in the exertions of subordinates so long as men in high station were remiss in their duties.  The Marquis Berghen, he informed Philip, showed but little disposition to put down heresy, in Valenciennes, while Montigny was equally remiss at Tournay.  They were often heard to say, to any who chose to listen, that it was not right to inflict the punishment of death for matters of religion.  This sentiment, uttered in that age of blood and fire, and crowning the memory of those unfortunate nobles with eternal honor, was denounced by the churchman as criminal, and deserving of castigation.  He intimated, moreover, that these pretences of clemency were mere hypocrisy, and that self-interest was at the bottom of their compassion.  “’Tis very black,” said he, “when interest governs; but these men are a in debt, so deeply that they owe their very souls.  They are seeking every means of escaping from their obligations, and are most desirous of creating general confusion.”  As to the Prince of Orange, the Cardinal asserted that he owed nine hundred thousand florins, and had hardly twenty-five thousand a-year clear income, while he spent ninety thousand, having counts; barons, and gentlemen in great numbers, in his household.  At this point, he suggested that it might be well to find employment for some of these grandees in Spain and other dominions of his Majesty, adding that perhaps Orange might accept the vice-royalty of Sicily.

Resuming the religious matter, a few weeks later, he expressed himself a little more cheerfully, “We have made so much outcry,” said he, “that at last Marquis Berghen has been forced to burn a couple of heretics at Valenciennes.  Thus, it is obvious,” moralized the Cardinal, “that if he were really willing to apply the remedy in that place, much progress might be made; but that we can do but little so long as he remains in the government of the provinces and refuses to assist us.”  In a subsequent letter, he again uttered com plaints against the Marquis and Montigny, who were evermore his scapegoats and bugbears.  Berghen will give us no aid, he wrote, despite of all the letters we send him.  He absents himself for private and political reasons.  Montigny has eaten meat in Lent, as the Bishop of Tournay informs me.  Both he and the Marquis say openly that it is not right to shed blood for matters of faith, so that the King can judge how much can be effected with such coadjutors.  Berghen avoids the persecution of heretics, wrote the Cardinal again, a month later, to Secretary Perez.  He has gone to Spa for his health, although those who saw him last say he is fat and hearty.