6: Chapter VI (1612-14)
<< 5: Chapter V (1610-12) || 7: Chapter VII >>
Thus the 'Condominium' had been peaceably established.
Three or four years passed away in the course of which the evils of a
joint and undivided sovereignty of two rival houses over the same
territory could not fail to manifest themselves. Brandenburg, Calvinist
in religion, and for other reasons more intimately connected with and
more favoured by the States' government than his rival, gained ground in
the duchies. The Palatine of Neuburg, originally of Lutheran faith like
his father, soon manifested Catholic tendencies, which excited suspicion
in the Netherlands. These suspicions grew into certainties at the moment
when he espoused the sister of Maximilian of Bavaria and of the Elector
of Cologne. That this close connection with the very heads of the
Catholic League could bode no good to the cause of which the States-
General were the great promoters was self-evident. Very soon afterwards
the Palatine, a man of mature age and of considerable talents, openly
announced his conversion to the ancient church. Obviously the sympathies
of the States could not thenceforth fail to be on the side of
Brandenburg. The Elector's brother died and was succeeded in the
governorship of the Condeminium by the Elector's brother, a youth of
eighteen. He took up his abode in Cleve, leaving Dusseldorf to be the
sole residence of his co-stadholder.
Rivalry growing warmer, on account of this difference of religion,
between the respective partisans of Neuburg and Brandenburg, an attempt
was made in Dusseldorf by a sudden entirely unsuspected rising of the
Brandenburgers to drive their antagonist colleagues and their portion of
the garrison out of the city. It failed, but excited great anger. A
more successful effort was soon afterwards made in Julich; the Neuburgers
were driven out, and the Brandenburgers remained in sole possession of
the town and citadel, far the most important stronghold in the whole
territory. This was partly avenged by the Neuburgers, who gained
absolute control of Dusseldorf. Here were however no important
fortifications, the place being merely an agreeable palatial residence
and a thriving mart. The States-General, not concealing their
predilection for Brandenburg, but under pretext of guarding the peace
which they had done so much to establish, placed a garrison of 1400
infantry and a troop or two of horse in the citadel of Julich.
Dire was the anger not unjustly excited in Spain when the news of this
violation of neutrality reached that government. Julich, placed midway
between Liege and Cologne, and commanding those fertile plains which make
up the opulent duchy, seemed virtually converted into a province of the
detested heretical republic. The German gate of the Spanish Netherlands
was literally in the hands of its most formidable foe.
The Spaniards about the court of the Archduke did not dissemble their
rage. The seizure of Julich was a stain upon his reputation, they cried.
Was it not enough, they asked, for the United Provinces to have made a
truce to the manifest detriment and discredit of Spain, and to have
treated her during all the negotiation with such insolence? Were they
now to be permitted to invade neutral territory, to violate public faith,
to act under no responsibility save to their own will? What was left for
them to do except to set up a tribunal in Holland for giving laws to the
whole of Northern Europe? Arrogating to themselves absolute power over
the controverted states of Cleve, Julich, and the dependencies, they now
pretended to dispose of them at their pleasure in order at the end
insolently to take possession of them for themselves.
These were the egregious fruits of the truce, they said tauntingly to the
discomfited Archduke. It had caused a loss of reputation, the very soul
of empires, to the crown of Spain. And now, to conclude her abasement,
the troops in Flanders had been shaven down with such parsimony as to
make the monarch seem a shopkeeper, not a king. One would suppose the
obedient Netherlands to be in the heart of Spain rather than outlying
provinces surrounded by their deadliest enemies. The heretics had gained
possession of the government at Aix-la-Chapelle; they had converted the
insignificant town of Mulheim into a thriving and fortified town in
defiance of Cologne and to its manifest detriment, and in various other
ways they had insulted the Catholics throughout those regions. And who
could wonder at such insolence, seeing that the army in Flanders,
formerly the terror of heretics, had become since the truce so weak as to
be the laughing-stock of the United Provinces? If it was expensive to
maintain these armies in the obedient Netherlands, let there be economy
elsewhere, they urged.
From India came gold and jewels. From other kingdoms came ostentation
and a long series of vain titles for the crown of Spain. Flanders was
its place of arms, its nursery of soldiers, its bulwark in Europe, and so
it should be preserved.
There was ground for these complaints. The army at the disposition of
the Archduke had been reduced to 8000 infantry and a handful of cavalry.
The peace establishment of the Republic amounted to 20,000 foot, 3000
horse, besides the French and English regiments.
So soon as the news of the occupation of Julich was officially
communicated to the Spanish cabinet, a subsidy of 400,000 crowns was at
once despatched to Brussels. Levies of Walloons and Germans were made
without delay by order of Archduke Albert and under guidance of Spinola,
so that by midsummer the army was swollen to 18,000 foot and 3000 horse.
With these the great Genoese captain took the field in the middle of
August. On the 22nd of that month the army was encamped on some plains
mid-way between Maestricht and Aachen. There was profound mystery both
at Brussels and at the Hague as to the objective point of these military
movements. Anticipating an attack upon Julich, the States had meantime
strengthened the garrison of that important place with 3000 infantry and
a regiment of horse. It seemed scarcely probable therefore that Spinola
would venture a foolhardy blow at a citadel so well fortified and
defended. Moreover, there was not only no declaration of war, but strict
orders had been given by each of the apparent belligerents to their
military commanders to abstain from all offensive movements against the
adversary. And now began one of the strangest series of warlike
evolution's that were ever recorded. Maurice at the head of an army of
14,000 foot and 3000 horse manoeuvred in the neighbourhood of his great
antagonist and professional rival without exchanging a blow. It was a
phantom campaign, the prophetic rehearsal of dreadful marches and tragic
histories yet to be, and which were to be enacted on that very stage and
on still wider ones during a whole generation of mankind. That cynical
commerce in human lives which was to become one of the chief branches of
human industry in the century had already begun.
Spinola, after hovering for a few days in the neighbourhood, descended
upon the Imperial city of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). This had been one of
the earliest towns in Germany to embrace the Reformed religion, and up to
the close of the sixteenth century the control of the magistracy had been
in the hands of the votaries of that creed. Subsequently the Catholics
had contrived to acquire and keep the municipal ascendency, secretly
supported by Archduke Albert, and much oppressing the Protestants with
imprisonments, fines, and banishment, until a new revolution which had
occurred in the year 1610, and which aroused the wrath of Spinola.
Certainly, according to the ideas of that day, it did not seem unnatural
in a city where a very large majority of the population were Protestants
that Protestants should have a majority in the town council. It seemed,
however, to those who surrounded the Archduke an outrage which could no
longer be tolerated, especially as a garrison of 600 Germans, supposed to
have formed part of the States' army, had recently been introduced into
the town. Aachen, lying mostly on an extended plain, had but very slight
fortifications, and it was commanded by a neighbouring range of hills.
It had no garrison but the 600 Germans. Spinola placed a battery or
two on the hills, and within three days the town surrendered. The
inhabitants expected a scene of carnage and pillage, but not a life was
lost. No injury whatever was inflicted on person or property, according
to the strict injunctions of the Archduke. The 600 Germans were driven
out, and 1200 other Germans then serving under Catholic banners were put
in their places to protect the Catholic minority, to whose keeping the
municipal government was now confided.
Spinola, then entering the territory of Cleve, took session of Orsoy, an
important place on the Rhine, besides Duren, Duisburg, Kaster,
Greevenbroek and Berchem. Leaving garrisons in these places, he razed
the fortifications of Mulheim, much to the joy of the Archbishop and his
faithful subjects of Cologne, then crossed the Rhine at Rheinberg, and
swooped down upon Wesel. This flourishing and prosperous city had
formerly belonged to the Duchy of Cleve. Placed at the junction of the
Rhine and Lippe and commanding both rivers, it had become both powerful
and Protestant, and had set itself up as a free Imperial city,
recognising its dukes no longer as sovereigns, but only as protectors.
So fervent was it in the practice of the Reformed religion that it was
called the Rhenish Geneva, the cradle of German Calvinism. So important
was its preservation considered to the cause of Protestantism that the
States-General had urged its authorities to accept from them a garrison.
They refused. Had they complied, the city would have been saved, because
it was the rule in this extraordinary campaign that the belligerents made
war not upon each other, nor in each others territory, but against
neutrals and upon neutral soil. The Catholic forces under Spinola or his
lieutenants, meeting occasionally and accidentally with the Protestants
under Maurice or his generals, exchanged no cannon shots or buffets, but
only acts of courtesy; falling away each before the other, and each
ceding to the other with extreme politeness the possession of towns which
one had preceded the other in besieging.
The citizens of Wesel were amazed at being attacked, considering
themselves as Imperial burghers. They regretted too late that they had
refused a garrison from Maurice, which would have prevented Spinola from
assailing them. They had now nothing for it but to surrender, which they
did within three days. The principal condition of the capitulation was
that when Julich should be given up by the States Wesel should be
restored to its former position. Spinola then took and garrisoned the
city of Xanten, but went no further. Having weakened his army
sufficiently by the garrisons taken from it for the cities captured by
him, he declined to make any demonstration upon the neighbouring and
important towns of Emmerich and Rees. The Catholic commander falling
back, the Protestant moved forward. Maurice seized both Emmerich and
Rees, and placed garrisons within them, besides occupying Goch,
Kranenburg, Gennip, and various places in the County of Mark. This
closed the amicable campaign.
Spinola established himself and his forces near Wesel. The Prince
encamped near Rees. The two armies were within two hours' march of each
other. The Duke of Neuburg--for the Palatine had now succeeded on his
father's death to the ancestral dukedom and to his share of the
Condominium of the debateable provinces--now joined Spinola with an army
of 4000 foot and 400 horse. The young Prince of Brandenburg came to
Maurice with 800 cavalry and an infantry regiment of the Elector-
Palatine.
Negotiations destined to be as spectral and fleeting as the campaign had
been illusory now began. The whole Protestant world was aflame with
indignation at the loss of Wesel. The States' government had already
proposed to deposit Julich in the hands of a neutral power if the
Archduke would abstain from military movements. But Albert, proud of
his achievements in Aachen, refused to pause in his career. Let them
make the deposit first, he said.
Both belligerents, being now satiated with such military glory as could
flow from the capture of defenceless cities belonging to neutrals, agreed
to hold conferences at Xanten. To this town, in the Duchy of Cleve, and
midway between the rival camps, came Sir Henry Wotton and Sir Dudley
Carleton, ambassadors of Great Britain; de Refuge and de Russy, the
special and the resident ambassador of France at the Hague; Chancellor
Peter Pecquius and Counsellor Visser, to represent the Archdukes; seven
deputies from the United Provinces, three from the Elector of Cologne,
three from Brandenburg, three from Neuburg, and two from the Elector-
Palatine, as representative of the Protestant League.
In the earlier conferences the envoys of the Archduke and of the Elector
of Cologne were left out, but they were informed daily of each step in
the negotiation. The most important point at starting was thought to be
to get rid of the 'Condominium.' There could be no harmony nor peace in
joint possession. The whole territory should be cut provisionally in
halves, and each possessory prince rule exclusively within the portion
assigned to him. There might also be an exchange of domain between the
two every six months. As for Wesel and Julich, they could remain
respectively in the hands then holding them, or the fortifications of
Julich might be dismantled and Wesel restored to the status quo. The
latter alternative would have best suited the States, who were growing
daily more irritated at seeing Wesel, that Protestant stronghold, with an
exclusively Calvinistic population, in the hands of Catholics.
The Spanish ambassador at Brussels remonstrated, however, at the thought
of restoring his precious conquest, obtained without loss of time, money,
or blood, into the hands of heretics, at least before consultation with
the government at Madrid and without full consent of the King.
"How important to your Majesty's affairs in Flanders," wrote Guadaleste
to Philip, "is the acquisition of Wesel may be seen by the manifest grief
of your enemies. They see with immense displeasure your royal ensigns
planted on the most important place on the Rhine, and one which would
become the chief military station for all the armies of Flanders to
assemble in at any moment.
"As no acquisition could therefore be greater, so your Majesty should
never be deprived of it without thorough consideration of the case. The
Archduke fears, and so do his ministers, that if we refuse to restore
Wesel, the United Provinces would break the truce. For my part I
believe, and there are many who agree with me, that they would on the
contrary be more inclined to stand by the truce, hoping to obtain by
negotiation that which it must be obvious to them they cannot hope to
capture by force. But let Wesel be at once restored. Let that be done
which is so much desired by the United Provinces and other great enemies
and rivals of your Majesty, and what security will there be that the same
Provinces will not again attempt the same invasion? Is not the example
of Julich fresh? And how much more important is Wesel! Julich was after
all not situate on their frontiers, while Wesel lies at their principal
gates. Your Majesty now sees the good and upright intentions of those
Provinces and their friends. They have made a settlement between
Brandenburg and Neuburg, not in order to breed concord but confusion
between those two, not tranquillity for the country, but greater
turbulence than ever before. Nor have they done this with any other
thought than that the United Provinces might find new opportunities to
derive the same profit from fresh tumults as they have already done so
shamelessly from those which are past. After all I don't say that Wesel
should never be restored, if circumstances require it, and if your
Majesty, approving the Treaty of Xanten, should sanction the measure.
But such a result should be reached only after full consultation with
your Majesty, to whose glorious military exploits these splendid results
are chiefly owing."
The treaty finally decided upon rejected the principle of alternate
possession, and established a permanent division of the territory in
dispute between Brandenburg and Neuburg.
The two portions were to be made as equal as possible, and lots were to
be thrown or drawn by the two princes for the first choice. To the one
side were assigned the Duchy of Cleve, the County of Mark, and the
Seigniories of Ravensberg and Ravenstein, with some other baronies and
feuds in Brabant and Flanders; to the other the Duchies of Julich and
Berg with their dependencies. Each prince was to reside exclusively
within the territory assigned to him by lot. The troops introduced by
either party were to be withdrawn, fortifications made since the
preceding month of May to be razed, and all persons who had been
expelled, or who had emigrated, to be restored to their offices,
property, or benefices. It was also stipulated that no place within the
whole debateable territory should be put in the hands of a third power.
These articles were signed by the ambassadors of France and England, by
the deputies of the Elector-Palatine and of the United Provinces, all
binding their superiors to the execution of the treaty. The arrangement
was supposed to refer to the previous conventions between those two
crowns, with the Republic, and the Protestant princes and powers. Count
Zollern, whom we have seen bearing himself so arrogantly as envoy from
the Emperor Rudolph to Henry IV., was now despatched by Matthias on as
fruitless a mission to the congress at Xanten, and did his best to
prevent the signature of the treaty, except with full concurrence of the
Imperial government. He likewise renewed the frivolous proposition that
the Emperor should hold all the provinces in sequestration until the
question of rightful sovereignty should be decided. The "proud and
haggard" ambassador was not more successful in this than in the
diplomatic task previously entrusted to him, and he then went to
Brussels, there to renew his remonstrances, menaces, and intrigues.
For the treaty thus elaborately constructed, and in appearance a
triumphant settlement of questions so complicated and so burning as to
threaten to set Christendom at any moment in a blaze, was destined to an
impotent and most unsatisfactory conclusion.
The signatures were more easily obtained than the ratifications.
Execution was surrounded with insurmountable difficulties which in
negotiation had been lightly skipped over at the stroke of a pen.
At the very first step, that of military evacuation, there was a stumble.
Maurice and Spinola were expected to withdraw their forces, and to
undertake to bring in no troops in the future, and to make no invasion of
the disputed territory.
But Spinola construed this undertaking as absolute; the Prince as only
binding in consequence of, with reference to, and for the duration of;
the Treaty of Xanten. The ambassadors and other commissioners, disgusted
with the long controversy which ensued, were making up their minds to
depart when a courier arrived from Spain, bringing not a ratification but
strict prohibition of the treaty. The articles were not to be executed,
no change whatever was to be made, and, above all, Wesel was not to be
restored without fresh negotiations with Philip, followed by his explicit
concurrence.
Thus the whole great negotiation began to dissolve into a shadowy,
unsatisfactory pageant. The solid barriers which were to imprison the
vast threatening elements of religious animosity and dynastic hatreds,
and to secure a peaceful future for Christendom, melted into films of
gossamer, and the great war of demons, no longer to be quelled by the
commonplaces of diplomatic exorcism, revealed its close approach. The
prospects of Europe grew blacker than ever.
The ambassadors, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, all took their
departure from Xanten, and the treaty remained rather a by-word than a
solution or even a suggestion.
"The accord could not be prevented," wrote Archduke Albert to Philip,
"because it depended alone on the will of the signers. Nor can the
promise to restore Wesel be violated, should Julich be restored. Who can
doubt that such contravention would arouse great jealousies in France,
England, the United Provinces, and all the members of the heretic League
of Germany? Who can dispute that those interested ought to procure the
execution of the treaty? Suspicions will not remain suspicions, but they
light up the flames of public evil and disturbance. Either your Majesty
wishes to maintain the truce, in which case Wesel must be restored, or to
break the truce, a result which is certain if Wesel be retained. But the
reasons which induced your Majesty to lay down your arms remain the same
as ever. Our affairs are not looking better, nor is the requisition of
Wesel of so great importance as to justify our involving Flanders in a
new and more atrocious war than that which has so lately been suspended.
The restitution is due to the tribunal of public faith. It is a great
advantage when actions done for the sole end of justice are united to
that of utility. Consider the great successes we have had. How well the
affairs of Aachen and Mulbeim have been arranged; those of the Duke of
Neuburg how completely re-established. The Catholic cause, always
identical with that of the House of Austria, remains in great superiority
to the cause of the heretics. We should use these advantages well, and
to do so we should not immaturely pursue greater ones. Fortune changes,
flies when we most depend on her, and delights in making her chief sport
of the highest quality of mortals."
Thus wrote the Archduke sensibly, honourably from his point of view, and
with an intelligent regard to the interests of Spain and the Catholic
cause. After months of delay came conditional consent from Madrid to the
conventions, but with express condition that there should be absolute
undertaking on the part of the United Provinces never to send or maintain
troops in the duchies. Tedious and futile correspondence followed
between Brussels, the Hague, London, Paris. But the difficulties grew
every moment. It was a Penelope's web of negotiation, said one of the
envoys. Amid pertinacious and wire-drawn subtleties, every trace of
practical business vanished. Neuburg departed to look after his
patrimonial estates; leaving his interests in the duchies to be watched
over by the Archduke. Even Count Zollern, after six months of wrangling
in Brussels, took his departure. Prince Maurice distributed his army in
various places within the debateable land, and Spinola did the same,
leaving a garrison of 3000 foot and 300 horse in the important city of
Wesel. The town and citadel of Julich were as firmly held by Maurice for
the Protestant cause. Thus the duchies were jointly occupied by the
forces of Catholicism and Protestantism, while nominally possessed and
administered by the princes of Brandenburg and Neuburg. And so they
were destined to remain until that Thirty Years' War, now so near its
outbreak, should sweep over the earth, and bring its fiery solution at
last to all these great debates.
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