It was now certain that an act of amnesty was in contemplation by the King.  Viglius had furnished several plans, which, however, had been so much disfigured by the numerous exceptions suggested by Alva, that the President could scarce recognize his work.  Granvelle, too, had frequently urged the pardon on the attention of Philip.  The Cardinal was too astute not to perceive that the time had arrived when a continued severity could only defeat its own work.  He felt that the country could not be rendered more abject, the spirit of patriotism more apparently extinct.  A show of clemency, which would now cost nothing, and would mean nothing, might be more effective than this profuse and wanton bloodshed.

He saw plainly that the brutality of Alva had already overshot the mark.  Too politic, however, openly to reprove so powerful a functionary, he continued to speak of him and of his administration to Philip in terms of exalted eulogy.  He was a “sage seignior,” a prudent governor, one on whom his Majesty could entirely repose.  He was a man of long experience, trained all his life to affairs, and perfectly capable of giving a good account of everything to which he turned his hands.  He admitted, however, to other correspondents, that the administration of the sage seignior, on whom his Majesty could so implicitly rely, had at last “brought that provinces into a deplorable condition.”

Four different forms of pardon had been sent from Madrid, toward the close of 1569.  From these four the Duke was to select one, and carefully to destroy the other three.  It was not, however, till July of the following year that the choice was made, and the Viceroy in readiness to announce the pardon.  On the 14th of that month a great festival was held at Antwerp, for the purpose of solemnly proclaiming the long expected amnesty.  In the morning, the Duke, accompanied by a brilliant staff, and by a long procession of clergy in their gorgeous robes, paraded through the streets of the commercial capital, to offer up prayers and hear mass in the cathedral.  The Bishop of Arras then began a sermon upon the blessings of mercy, with a running commentary upon the royal clemency about to be exhibited.  In the very outset, however, of his discourse, he was seized with convulsions, which required his removal from the pulpit; an incident which was not considered of felicitous augury.  In the afternoon, the Duke with his suite appeared upon the square in front of the Town House.  Here a large scaffolding or theatre had been erected.  The platform and the steps which led to it were covered with scarlet cloth.  A throne, covered with cloth of gold, was arranged in the most elevated position for the Duke.  On the steps immediately below him were placed two of the most beautiful women in Antwerp, clad in allegorical garments to represent righteousness and peace.  The staircase and platform were lined with officers, the square was beset with troops, and filled to its utmost verge with an expectant crowd