Life and Death of John of Barne

neveld-Maurice openly the Chieftain of the Contra-Remonstrants-Tumults about the Churches-"Orange or Spain" the Cry of Prince Mau

alvation under them. These epistles had brought much ridicule upon James, who was not amused by finding his theological discussions a laughing-stock. He was still more ince

East India Company, which was now powerful and prosperous beyond anything ever dreamt of before in the annals of commerce. That trading company had already founded an empire in the East. Fifty ships of war, fortresses guarded by 4000 pieces of artillery and 10,000 soldiers and sailors, obeyed the orders of a dozen private gentlemen at home seated in a back parlour around a green table. The profits of each trading voyage were enormous, and the shareholders were growing rich beyond their wildest imaginings. To no individual so much as to Holland's Advocate wa

n matter and in the redemption of the great mortgage had deepened into as terrible wrath as outraged bigotry and vanity could engender; all these elements made up a stormy atmosphere in which the strongest heart might have quailed. But Barneveld did not quail. Doubtless he loved power, and the more danger he found on every side the less inclined he was to succumb. But he honestly believed that the safety and prosperity of the country he had so long and faithfully served were identified with the policy which he was pursuing. Arrogant, overbearing, self-concentrated, accustomed to lead senates and to guide the councils and share the secrets of kings, familiar with and almost an actor in every event in the political history not only of his

the objections and the intrigues both of French and English representatives. He had come charged to the brim with the political spite of James against the Advocate, and provided too with more than seven vials of theological wrath. Such was the King's revenge for Barneveld's recent successes. The supporters in the Netherlands of the civil authori

ns in the cause of religion . . . . . If they shall be unhappily revived during your time, you shall no

to their wisdom and the power which belonged to them over churches and church servants. He had informed them of his having learned by experience that such questions could hardly be decided by the wranglings of theological professors, and that it was better to settle them by public authority and to forbid their being brought into

ite after the Advocate's heart, as James had f

tional Synod, as it were, at push of pike. "Besides the assistance," said he to Carleton, "which we would have you give to the true professors of the Gospel in your discourse and conferences, you may

accomplished diplomatist and scholar, ready with tongue and pen, caustic, censorious, prejudiced, and partial, he was soon foremost among the foes of

awn up by his sovereign with his own hand. Rarely has a king been more tedious, and he bestowed all his tediousness upon My Lords the States-General. Nothing could be more dismal than these discourses, except perhaps the contemporaneous and interminable ora

drouthy than those once famous disquisitions, and they shall be left to shrivel into the noth

nal and a political one, although the weapons with which it was fought

igour of his years, had now openly taken his place as the chieftain of the Contra-Remonstrants. The conflict between the civil and the milita

ided itself. But all history shows that the brilliant soldier of a republic is apt to have the advantage, in a struggle for popular affection and popular applause, over the statesman, however consummate. The general imagination is more excited by the triumphs of the field than by those of the tribune, and the man who has passed many years of life in commanding multitudes with necessarily despotic sway is often supposed to have g

y depended, or seemed to depend, the very existence of the nation. The labours of the statesman, on the contrary, had been comparatively secret. His noble orations and arguments had been spoken with closed doors to assemblies of colleagues-rather envoys than senators-were ne

opular sovereignty, but allowed the municipal corporations, by which their local affairs had been for centuries transacted, to unite in offering to foreign princes, one after another, the crown which they had torn from the head of the Spanish king. When none was found to accept the dangerous honour, they had acquiesced in the practical sovereignty of the States; but whether the States-General or the States-Provincial were the supreme authority had certainly

unwillingly had seen the occupation in which he had won so much glory taken from him by the Truce, might

kely to be the result of the overthrow of the ancient church. It is the essence of the Catholic Church to claim supremacy over and immunity fro

e oligarchy of Heaven a substitute for those democratic aspirations on earth which were effectually suppressed between the two millston

ften proved superior to both combined. But in the case now occupying our attention the cassock w

open fights with knives, bludgeons, and brickbats; preachers and magistrates being often too glad to escape with a whole skin. One can hardly be ingenuous enough to consider all this dirk

arty warfare in the Lower Empire than the greens and blues of predestination in th

ge doth make a jealousy of affecting a party under the pretence of supporting one side, and that the States fear his ends and aims, knowing his power with the men of war; and tha

ntra-Remonstrants had now got a good cry-a

and that of Spain, and the two chiefs of the Spanish faction are tho

panish partisanship on the Advocate. If the venerable patriot who had been fighting Spain, sometimes on the battle-field and always in the council, ever since he came to man's estate, could be imagined even in a dream capable of being bought with Spanish gold to betray his country, who in the ranks of the Remonstrant party could be safe from such accusations? Each party accused the other of designs for altering or su

r the two words rhyme in Netherlandish, which is the case in no other

King James thoroughly approved of all these proceedings. At that very instant such of his own subjects as had seceded from the Established Church to hold conventicles in barns and breweries and backshops in London were hunted by him with bishops' pursuivants and other beagles like vilest criminals, thrown into prison to rot, or suffered to escape from their Fatherland into the trans-Atlantic wilderness, there to battle with wild beasts and savages, and to die without

y destined to triumph throughout the country. James could safely sympathize therefore in Holland with what he most loathed in England, and could at the same time feed fat

ed views in religious matters, not to force that party into a rebellious attitude dangerous to the state. We have seen how nearly a mutiny in the important city of Utrecht, set on foot by certain Romanist conspirators in the y

ticular, were many sects and religions of which, according to his expression, "the healthiest and the r

red more odium at home than from any other cause. Of course he was a Papist in disguise, ready to sell his country to Spain, because he was willing that more than half the population of the country should be allowed to worship God according to their conscience. Surely it would be wrong to judge the condition of things at that epoch by the lig

lled, he said, in England. If these should be at variance with each other, he argued, the Papists would be the strongest of all. "To prevent this inconvenience," he said, "the States were endeavouring to settle some certain form of government in the Church; which being composed of divers persecuted churches such as in

n Holland was a very different thing from a Puritan in England. In England he was a noxious vermin, to be hunted with dogs. In the Netherlands he w

d by the city magistrates that two of their persuasion, La Motte and La Faille, preached regularly in the Great Church, and that Rosaeus had been silenced only bec

he nobles resident in the capital. They sent for Maurice and asked his opinion as to the alarming situation of affairs. He called for the register-books of the States of Holland, and turnin

pport the Reformed religion till th

ep," said the Stadholde

ce in dogma had not arisen, and as the large majority of the people at the Hague, including nearly all those of rank and substance, were of the Remonstrant persuasion, they naturally found it not agreeable to be sent out of the church by a small minority. But Maurice

created one child for damnation and another for salvat

ny one preach that?"

conviction," said the other. And he proceed

doctrine, is there anything strange in i

ed his amazement and

and who to be damned; and does He create men for any other e

le out of which it was not probable that either the

id Barneveld at last, br

rsons come together. Let the Synod assemble and dec

n counts of Holland, and seated on their old chair of state. He recommended them to use caution and moderation for the present, and to go next S

John Uytenbogaert. Those two eloquent, learned, and most pugnacious divines were the respective champions in the pulpit of the opposing parties, a

arrels. And the schism rests actually between Uytenbogaert and Rosaeus, whose private emulation and envy (both being much applauded and followed) doth no good towards

eus and his congregation should have the use of what was calle

and the city magistracy had personally affronted him by the obstacles they had interposed to the pu

the Commonwealth for the Advocate and the Stadholder. Some impartial persons believed that there would be no peace until both were got rid of. "There are many words among th

ority. Meantime the States of Holland met in

ich had waited upon him the day before had reported him as in favour of moderate rather th

outly oppose

lland of advice from a stadholder, from t

come. The deliberations were moderate but inconclusive. He appeared a

reachers and to insist on a separation was fast driving the state to perdition. They warmly recommended mutual toleration and harmony. Grotius exh

tient at last and clappe

this good sword I will defend the religion which my father planted in thes

plea that William the Silent would have been likely to employ on such an occasion, nor would it have been easy to prove that the Reformed religion had been "planted" by one

e in presence of civil assemblies there

great war two whales had been washed ashore in the Scheldt. Although some free-thinking people were inclined to ascribe the phenomenon to a prevalence of strong westerly gales, while others found proof in it of a superabundance of those creatures in the Polar seas,

f the principal streets of the town, now used as a cannon-foundry. The Prince personally superintended the preparations for getting ready this place of worship, which was thenceforth called

bly to accept as a boon from the civil authority what they claimed as an indefeas

o communion-table, hardly any sacramental furniture, but a pulpit was extemporized. Rosaeus preached in triumph to an

of secular oaks and beeches-swarming with fallow-deer and alive with the notes of singing birds-by which the Hague, almost from time immemorial, has been embowered. The ancient cloisterhouse and church now re

rchased by him from the representatives of the Arenberg family, surrounded by shrubberies and flower-

about, with piles of cannon-ball which there had not been time to remove, were hardly less belligerent and threatening of aspect than the stern faces of the crowd occupied in thoroughly preparing the house for its solemn destination. It was determined that there should be accommodation on the next Sunday for

oposition for a National Synod. To oppose that measure publicly in the very face of the Stadholder, who now considered himself as the Synod personified, seemed to him flat blasphemy. Coming out of the church with his step-mother,

f officers of his household and members of his staff. It was an imposing demonstration and meant for one. As the martial stadholder at the head of his brilliant cavalcade rode forth across the drawbridge from the Inner Court of the old moated palace-where the ancient sovereign Dirks and Florences of Holland had so long ruled

the doors vainly attempting to gain admission into the overflowing aisles; while the Great Church was left comparatively empty, a few hundred

me civic ruler, or to accept an unequal struggle in which he might utterly succumb. But his iron nature would break sooner than bend. In the first transports of his indignation he is said to have vowed vengeance against the immediate instruments by which the Cloister Church had, as he conceived, been surreptitiou

to have their heads cut off at once by warrant from the chief tribunal without any previous warning, and then to summon all the citizens at dawn of day, by ringing of bells and firing of cannon, to gaze on the ghastly spectacle, and teach them to what fate this pestilential schism and revolt against authority had bro

president of the chief court. His attempt was foiled however by the stern opposition of two Zealand members of the court, who managed to bring up from a bed of s

having conceived or even heard of the scheme. That men could go about looking each other in the face and rehearsing such gibberish would se

Barneveld had not only beheaded but roasted alive, and fed the dogs and cats upon the attorney, the a

ibly usurp. Such a course would, in his opinion, lead directly to an unconstitutional and violent subversion of the sovereign rights of each province, to the advantage of the central government. A religious creed would be forced upon Holland and perhaps upon two other provinces which was repugnant to a considerable majority of the people. And this would be done by a majority vote of the States-General, on a matter over which, by the 13th Article of the fundamental compact-the Union of Utrecht-the States-General had no control, each province having reserved the disposition of religious affairs to itself. For let it never be forgotten that the Union of the Netherlands was a compact, a treaty, an agree

as composed should protect their liberties and privileges, the sum of which in his opinion made up the sovereignty of the province he served, and that they should pr

esolution which was destined to become famous. A majorit

cting with the sovereignty and laws of Holland. They had thought good to set forth in public print their views as to religious worship, and to take measures to prevent all deeds of violence against persons and property. To this end the regents of cities were authorized in case of need, until otherwise ordained, to enrol men-a

nce Maurice, the Princess-Widow, and Prince Henry, r

but still it was drawn. The States of Holland were declared sovereign and supreme. The National Synod was peremptorily rejected. Any decision of the supreme courts of the Union in r

s aid in carrying out a law which was aimed directly at his head; to request his help for those who

m Prince Maurice as their military superior to refuse any summons to act in matters proceeding from the religious question. The Prince, who had chief authority over all th

p Resolve, for they were almost to a man Contra-Remonstrants. It was therefore determined to enlist what were called "Waartgelders;" soldi

of course by a solemn protest from Amster

ly interrupted the oration of Barneveld, saying that although these might be his views, they were not to be held by his Excellency as the opinions of all. The Advocate, angry at the interruption, answered him sternly, and a violent altercation, not unmixed with personalities, arose. Maurice, who kept his temper admirably on this occasion, interfered between the two and had much difficulty in quieting the dispute. He then observed that when he took the oath as stadholder these unfortunate differences had not arisen, but all had been good friends together. This was perfectly true, but he could have

Carleton observed, men had been disputing 'pro aris'

m the more because they happened to be true. It was also charged that he was pursuing his Leicestrian designs and meant to make himself, by such steps, sovereign of the country. The name of Leicester being a byword of reproach ever since that baffled noble had a generation before left the Provinces in disgrace, it was a matter of course that such comparisons were excessively exasperating. It was fresh enough too in men's memory that the Earl in his Netherland career had affe

d the "Sharp Resolution," and should desist from the new oaths required from the soldiery. Barneveld, firm as a rock, met these bitter denunciations. Speaking in the name of Holland, he repelled the idea that the sovereign States of that

n always influenced by a desire to serve his country and maintain the Reformed rel

retired from the Assembly with

pation of the principal towns of Holland, such as Leyden

nce by the Remonstrant magistracy, it was found necessary to erect a stockade about

palisade of oaken planks, strengthened by rows of iron bars with barbed prongs: The entrenchment was called by the populace the Arminian Fort, and the iron spear heads were baptized Barneveld's teeth. Cannon were planted at intervals along the works, and

in possessing two such great leading minds. No two men could be more patriotic than both

ies, and malice itself must confess that man never hath done more faithful and powerful service to hi

in that province departed for change of air to Utrecht. His failing health was assigned as the pretext for th

ny effort of his own within his control, he quietly slipped down the river Meuse on the night of the 29th September, accompanied by his brother Frederic Henrys and before six o'clock next morning had introduced a couple of companies of trustworthy troops into Brielle, had summoned t

wo having been shot and a soldier stoned to death in the streets, but the Stadholder deemed it unwise to precipitate matters. Feeling himself, with his surpassing military knowledge and with a large majority of the nation at his back, so completely master of the situation, he preferred waiting on events. And there is no doubt that he was proving himself a consummate pol

e evidence that the "Sharp Resolution" had judged rightly in reck

t to be obeyed, but set aside. Amsterdam, and the three or f

e "would no longer be present on a bench where men disputed the authority of

nunciation of what the States' right

aid Mauric

and as sovereign; but we might at lea

h, decided to leave the tribunal altogether, and to resume the post whi

he following year. The measure was carried by a strict party vote and by a majority of one. The representatives of each province voting as one, there were four in favour of to three against the Sy

lland, the five cities often nam

rity of the States of Holland refused to be bound by a majority of the provincial assembly.

n that in the municipal governments a majority had always governed, and that a majority vote in the provinc

preposterous proceeding than thus to cram a religious creed down the throats of half the population of

reserving especially the disposition over religious matters to each provi

p in the general assembly, the representatives of the three states left the chambe

ion of the majority, it would be possible, so thought the clergyman, for the great statesman so to handle matters

the rights of the land," said the

e proved more adroit than the stony opp

olicy. His character and his personal pride, the dignity of opinio

rsonal government chose to look upon the Advocate's party as a faction inspired with an en

sy was playing the part which that master passion will ever play in all the affairs of life. But there c

of pride. "He doth no whit spare himself in pains nor faint in his resolution," said the Envoy, "wherein notwithstanding he will in all appearance succumb ere afore long, having the disadvantages of a weak bod

the royal text, delivered in full assembly by his ambassador soon after the reception of the letter, was more than usually didactic, offensive, and ignorant. Sir Dudley never omitted an opportunity of imparting instruction to the States-General as to the nature of their constitution and the ess

eted. They had been made use of, he said, to authorize the very error against which they had been directed. They had been held to intend the very contrary of what they did

erned, there was nothing vague in his recommendation of a National Synod. To this the opposition of Barneveld was determined not upon religious but

oration, wearisome as a fast-day sermon after the third turn of the hour

which is both beginning and end. It is the truth of God's word and its maintenance that is the bond of our common cause. Reasons of state invite us as friends and neighbou

f religion but one, and by silencing all religious discussion. Peter Titelman and Philip II. could not have devised a more pithy f

eligious matters only distract the union of the Church which makes profession of this unique truth. If it be permitted to one man to publish the writings and fantasies of a sick spirit and for another moved by Christian zeal to reduce

d the Ambassador, as not only to inveigh against the eternal power of G

hat within its borders there was religious toleration. He had distinctly averred that in

sentence of death nor other corporal punishment, so that in order to attract to himself a great following of birds of the name feather he p

s toleration and impunity of heresy from spreading among "the common people, so subject by their natures to embrace new opinions," he advise

. It is needless to say that it was the work of the Advocate, and that it was in conformity with the o

longed to each one of the seven sovereign provinces, each recognizing no superior within its own sphere, w

ity and protection of the legal government of these Provinces in all purity, and in conformity with the Holy Scriptures, to the good peop

nd the other at least until with full knowledge of the subject the States might otherwise ordain. They had been the more moved to this because his Maje

hurch and State and the necessity of one church were deemed matters of course, it was much to secure subordination of the priesthood to the magistracy, while to enjoin on preachers abstention from a single exciting cause of quarrel, on the ground that there was more than one path to salvation, and that mu

ation of important places in the duchies. They had seen the bitter spirit manifested by the Spaniards in the demolition of the churches and houses of Mulheim and other places. "While the affair remained in its present terms of utter uncertainty their Mightinesses," said the States-General, "find it most objectionable to forsak

duly furnished to him by the King, upon the necessity of the National Synod, the comparative merits of Arm

Grotius and Hoogerbeets knew something

and so his envoy endeavour

Spain-the cause of the Utrecht Union-was not begun about religion but on account of the violation of liberties, chartered ri

blasphemous, so insulting to the Majesty of England, so entirely seditious, that James, not satisfied with inditing a rejoinder, insisted through Carleton that a reward should be offered by the States

nism," so Carleton informed his sovereign. He appears to have inherited his audacity through his pedigree, descending, as it was ludicrously enough asserted he did, from a chief of the Caninefates, the ancient in

es-General who opposed the decree was still more diverting. It was "Grotius, the Pensi

s, and few individuals to whom the name of that petulant youth is unknown; but how

ver, and the offer of course help

er against a rival; especially when one can find no crime in 'The Balan

, "having always before been a stranger to my house, he has made me the day before the publication thereof a complimentary visit, alth

onstrant preacher of Utrecht, named Jacobus Taurinus; one of those who had be

synod first and, should that not succeed in adjusting the differences of church government, then the convocation of a general or oecumenical synod. They resisted the National Synod because, in their view, the Provinces were not a nation. A league of seven sovereign and independent Mates was all that legally existed in the Netherlands. It was a

int of view, could not have been indited. The Imperial "we" breathing like a mor

however it might be proved by the sword, that the Netherlands constituted a nation, and that a convocatio

rt save Barneveld alone. For groping however dimly and hesitatingly towards the idea of religious liberty, of general toleration, he was denounced as a Papist, an atheist, a traitor, a miscreant, by the fanatics for the sacerdotal and personal power. Yet it was a pity that he could never contemplate the possibility of his country's throwing off the swaddling clothes of provincialism which had wrapped its infancy. Doubtless history, law, tradition, and usage pointed to the independent sovereignty of each province. Yet the period of the Truce was precisely the time when a more generous constitution, a national incorporation might have been construc

on meant an exclusive self-governed Church enthroned above the State, responsible to no civi