1605 - Resumed Campaigns
In the year 1605, both the Dutch and the Belgians, the former under Prince Maurice, and the latter under Spinola, took the field. The prince projected the surprise of Antwerp; but the vigilance of Spinola anticipated his intention. Spinola then invaded the province of Overyssel, and took some of the smaller towns. Maurice flew to the relief of the province; and by his tactics obliged Spinola to retire to the Rhine, where he awaited at. Roeroord the attack of the Dutch. A battle was there fought, in which the fortune of the day more than once varied. At length Maurice desisted, and the Spaniards had the honor of the victory ; but the loss on both sides was nearly equal, and few or no prisoners were taken.
In the mean time, the Dutch had gained a naval victory of much importance. A squadron of ships commanded by Hautain, admiral of Zealand, attacked a superior force of Spanish vessels close to Doyer, and defeated them with considerable loss. The victory was, however, sullied by an act of great barbarity ; kindled or kept alive in the united states by the dubious act that all the soldiers found on board the captured ships were tied two and two, and thrown into the sea. Some few extricated themselves, and by swimming reached the shore ; and others were picked up by the English boats, the crews of which witnessed the scene, and hastened to the relief of the sufferers.
The military forces of the Catholic states had been abundantly supplied with pecuniary resources from the treasures of Spain. But Philip III, who had succeeded to the throne of that kingdom, found difficulties arise respecting the supplies. He wanted that economical arrangement in his finances which had been one of the peculiar features of the late king; he was embarrassed with troubles in Portugal, which showed strong dispositions to throw off the yoke of the Spanish government; and he had been prevented from drawing resources from his dominions in both the Indies, by the interruptions which the Dutch navy had caused in all parts of the world, and by the capture or destruction of some of his ships returning with the treasures of Mexico and Peru.
Discontents had been created in the Catholic Netherlands, excited by suspicion of the design of Spain to place those states again under her immediate government. In one of his public rescripts, Philip had described the people of the Netherlands as his beloved subjects. This caused great agitation in the states, as they had imagined that the cession of the sovereignty to the archduke had made them an independent kingdom. The debts of the states had also accumulated to a large amount, and there was no prospect of discharging them as long as the war with the Hollanders should continue. Even the general, Spinola, had so encumbered himself with personal obligations to further the public service, that he gave a lead to the feeling generally entertained in favor of peace.
In this state of affairs, proposals were made by the archduke in May 1607, to enter into negotiations for a peace; and two plenipotentiaries having been dispatched from Brussels, repaired to the Hague. But public opinion in the Dutch states was much divided on this important question. An instinctive hatred against the Spaniards, and long habits of warfare, led the great mass of the people to consider any overture of peace as some wily artifice aimed at their religion and liberty. War seemed to have opened to them inexhaustible sources of wealth ; while peace appeared to threaten the extinction of the trade, which was now as much a habit as war appeared to be a want.
This reasoning was particularly convincing to Prince Maurice, whose fame, with a large portion of his authority and revenues, depended on the continuance of hostilities. It was also strongly relied on, and supported in Zealand, and in the chief towns, which dreaded the rivalry of Antwerp. Those who bore the burden of the war saw it, however, under a different aspect. They feared that the present state of things would lead to their conquest by the enemy, or to the ruin of their liberty by the growing power of Prince Maurice; and they hoped that peace would consolidate the republic, and cause the reduction of the debt, which already amounted to twenty-six millions of florins. This party was headed by Barnevelt, whose wisdom has been established by the issue.
The wish of that great man was for a suspension of arms, in order that opposition might subside, and the interests of the contending parties might be calmly discussed ; and he managed so as to gain a reluctant acquiescence to his views from the Prince of Orange and his partisans. The united provinces positively refused to admit even the commencement of a negotiation until the archduke made a distinct recognition of their independence, and an ambassador was appointed with instructions to require this important admission. Some delay was occasioned by the tone of the Belgian authorities. These were, however, at length surmounted, and the independence of the states admitted in explicit terms, upon which a suspension of arms was agreed to for eight months.
During this term of suspension the negotiation had nearly been suddenly broken off by the plenipotentiary of the archduke having attempted to bribe Aarsens, the greflier of the states-general. He was a monk, named Neyen, a native of Antwerp, and had several times passed between Brussels and the Hague, and had held private interviews with Maurice and Barnevelt. He took an opportunity to present Aarsens with a diamond of great value, and a bond of the archduke for 50,000 crowns, which was accepted and communicated to Prince Maurice, who, still anxious to prevent peace, hoped the rumor of this attempt would excite distrust, and break off the negotiation. But Barnevelt obtained the diamond and bond, and in the assembly handed them to one Verreiken, who had assisted Neyen, and read him a lecture of true republican severity. Verreiken was overwhelmed with shame, and Neyen was dismissed from the embassy; but, after this delay, the negotiation proceeded, in spite of the opposition of Prince Maurice and his adherents.
The assembly of ambassadors met at the Hague in January 1608, and though the plenipotentiaries of the archduke and of the Dutch states were the principal negotiators, yet the kings of England, France, and Spain had each their ministers, who interfered in the negotiations, and thereby created various obstacles, and many delays. The main points for discussion, on which depended the decision for peace or for war, were those which concerned religion, and the demand on the part of Spain, that the united provinces should renounce all claims to the navigation of the Indian Seas. Philip required for the Catholics of the united states the free exercise of their .religion; but it was opposed by the states-general, and the archduke, seeing the impossibility of carrying that point, sent his confessor Briznella to Spain.
This dominican was furnished with the written opinions of several theologians, that the king might conscientiously pass over the article of religion; and he was the more successful with Philip, as his minister, the Duke of Lerma, was resolved to bring about peace at any price. The conferences at the Hague were thus little impeded, though they advanced slowly till the month of August, when it was announced that the king of Spain had abandoned the question concerning religion ; but it was with the certainty that his moderation would be recompensed by ample concessions in regard to the India trade, on which he was inexorable. This article became the rock upon which the whole negotiation eventually split.
The court of Spain on the one hand, and the states-general on the other, inflexibly maintained their opposing claims. The other ambassadors employed every possible expedient to shake the determination of the Dutch; but the influence of the East India Company, of the islands of Zealand, and of the city of Amsterdam, prevailed over all. Reports of the avowal, on the part of the king of Spain, that he would never renounce his title to the sovereignty of the united provinces, unless they abandoned the Indian navigation, and granted the free exercise of religion, threw the whole diplomatic corps into confusion ; and, on the 25th of August, the states-general announced to the Marquis of Spinola, and the other ambassadors, that the congress was dissolved, and all hopes of peace abandoned.
