was, however, a danger that if she would not support the United Provinces France might step in; that was to be avoided. She determined to give help, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert landed at Flushing on 9 July 1572 (Wright, i. 425) with a force of volunteers better furnished than ordinarily with arms and money, though the expedition seems to have been fitted out at the expense of the merchants of London. The force was allowed to join the insurgents. Shortly after this Elizabeth had made up her differences with Philip, the dispute about the treasure seized in 1568 had been settled, and in November Sir Humphrey was recalled. Next year Alva was succeeded in the government of the Netherlands by Requesens, and Elizabeth I undertook to act as peacemaker between; Philip II and the provinces. The Prince of Orange refused to entertain the proposals she made, but when all hope of aid from the French Huguenots disappeared he prevailed upon the States to offer the sovereignty of the Netherlands to Elizabeth herself, as the lineal descendant of Philippa of Hainault, and so the representative of the ancient sovereigns of the land. She appeared to hesitate; finally she refused the tempting offer. Requesens died in Julv 1575. For seventeen months the provinces were left to be governed by the council of state. Practically there was anarchy. The Spanish troops were left unpaid; they made requisitions upon the miserable people, and plundered town after town with remorseless atrocities. On 3 Nov. they sacked Antwerp. Almost the wealthiest city in Europe was given over to fire and pillage. On that same day a new governor arrived in Luxemburg, Don Juan of Austria, a natural brother of Philip II, and the hero of the battle of Lepanto. He began by dismissing the Spanish army, and ratified the pacification of Ghent; but it was plain that the Netherlands could not be ruled except by the sword. The Spanish and Italian troops returned, and the old horrors began again. In March 1578 Sir John Norris was allowed to cross over to join the Prince of Orange with two thousand men, but again they were mere volunteers; the queen would not commit herself, or contribute to the expense. On 1 Oct. Don Juan died suddenly, and was succeeded by the Duke of Parma, son of the regent Margaret. Dut Don Juan's mission was not in vain, for it was he who succeeded in dissociating the ten southern provinces from the seven Dutch provinces in the north. The former became united again to Spain, and constitute the modern kingdom of Belgium; the latter, the protestant provinces, now make up the kingdom of Holland.
We have seen that very early in her reign Elizabeth had prohibited under the severest penalties the saving of the mass in public or private, and had made it compulsory for all her subjects to attend the English service in the churches. The Statute of Uniformity came into force on 24 June 1559, but it was allowed to remain for the most part inoperative. The immediate effect, however, was to drive a large number of men of learning and ability into exile, and to strip the university of Oxford of its most brilliant scholars. A colony of them settled at Louvain, and soon set themselves to work to write pungent attacks upon the protestant doctrines and exasperating treatises in the vernacular in defence of the catholic dogmas. These were printed in Flanders, and were sent over to England as opportunity served, much to the annoyance of the queen and the bishops whom she had appointed. In 1563 an act was passed to restrain 'the licentious boldness' of those who of late had presumed to maintain the authority of the bishop of Rome; and the doing, so by word or writing was to incur the penalties of præmunire; a repetition of the offence was to be visited by forfeiture and death, as in cases of high treason. It was the puritan parliament that had tried to force the queen's hand by passing this law; but Elizabeth had no intention of pressing it, and in fact it remained almost a dead letter for some years. But as time went on the catholic exiles began to feel that they were getting less and less in touch with the great mass of the catholics at home, and that as the old priests of Queen Mary's days, who had been schooled in the old faith, and ritual, died off, the rising generation would gradually become habituated to the new worship and acquiesce in the new theology. It seemed to them of vital importance that England should be supplied with catholic priests who should fill the places of those who died off, and if possible that their numbers should be increased. In 1501 Philip II had founded a university at Douay in Artois, the original object being to discourage young men in the Netherlands from seeking education in France by providing them with as good education at home. The first chancellor was Dr. Richard Smith, a former fellow of Merton and regius professor of divinity at Oxford, one of the refugees. The appointment was significant. But much more significant was the foundation of the English college in the university by William Allen, subsequently known as Cardinal Allen, fellow of Oriel [see Allen, William]. The avowed object of this foundation was to educate young Englishmen for the priesthood, who should be pledged to return to
