HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year’s Truce—­1609

By John Lothrop Motley

History United Netherlands, Volume 62, 1590

CHAPTER XXIII.

Philip’s scheme of aggrandizement—­Projected invasion of France—­ Internal condition of France—­Character of Henry of Navarre—­ Preparation for action—­Battle of Ivry—­Victory of the French king over the League—­Reluctance of the King to attack the French capital—­Siege of Paris—­The pope indisposed towards the League—­ Extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics—­Influence of the priests—­Extremities of the siege—­Attempted negotiation—­State of Philip’s army—­Difficult position of Farnese—­March of the allies to the relief of Paris—­Lagny taken and the city relieved—­Desertion of the king’s army—­Siege of Corbeil—­Death of Pope Sixtus V.—­ Re-capture of Lagny and Corbeil—­Return of Parma to the Netherlands —­Result of the expedition.

The scene of the narrative shifts to France.  The history of the United Netherlands at this epoch is a world-history.  Were it not so, it would have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really capable of affording.  The battle of liberty against despotism was now fought in the hop-fields of Brabant or the polders of Friesland, now in the:  narrow seas which encircle England, and now on the sunny plains of Dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of Brittany, or along the high roads and rivers which lead to the gates of Paris.  But everywhere a noiseless, secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an instant’s pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders, pikemen and carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields and amid a din of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the regular hum of human industry.  For nearly a generation of mankind, Germans and Hollanders, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Spaniards and Italians seemed to be born into the world mainly to fight for or against a system of universal monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet old man who passed his days at a writing desk in a remote corner of Europe.  It must be confessed that Philip ii. gave the world work enough.  Whether—­had the peoples governed themselves—­their energies might not have been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole have produced more of good to the human race than came of all this blood and awoke, may be questioned.

But the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme of the Church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind which awakening reason was inclined to dispute.  Countries and nations being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a few favoured individuals—­provided always that those individuals were obedient to the chief-priest—­it had now become right and proper for the Spanish monarch to annex Scotland, England, and France to the very considerable possessions which were already his own.  Scotland he claimed by virtue of the expressed wish of Mary to the exclusion of her heretic son.