370 ALVA doubtless to prevent the troops from any out- rages in lands through which lay their march. In three divisions they made their way over Mont Cenis, and through Savoy, Burgundy, and Lorraine, and without the least opposition entered the territory of the Netherlands. Great was the alarm in the disaffected provinces when it was learned that Alva was on his march. William of Orange, who was not to be deceived . by any show of clemency, had retired into ' Germany. The duke's interviews with the duchess of Parma, then regent of the Nether- lands, were brief and formal ; but in spite of courtly etiquette, neither could well conceal dislike of the other. Margaret, enraged at being superseded, soon took her departure, and Alva was left alone to fulfil his mission. Es- tablishing his headquarters at Brussels, he at once proceeded in his work of vengeance. The " Council of Troubles " was set up, to inquire into and punish all past offences ; and so merci- less were its labors, that it was styled by the populace the council of blood. Counts Egmont and Horn, the two idols of the people, who had been foremost in asserting the religious liberties of the Netherlands, but who were puilty of no treason, were beheaded in the great square of Brussels, June 5, 1568. The execution of other popular leaders imme- diately followed ; burnings at the stake and decapitation thenceforth were decreed by wholesale, and during the whole period of Alva's six years' administration in the Neth- erlands blood flowed like water. Through- out the land his name, and those of his terrible subordinates in the blood council, Hessels and Vargas, came to be feared and hated. The least suspicion of any person, however inno- cent, especially if he was rich, drew down the vengeance of the council ; for Alva had prom- ised before he left Spain to enrich the treasury of Philip by a golden river a yard deep, drawn from the confiscated wealth of heretics; he even named 500,000 ducats per annum as the sum. Military operations had begun before the fatal 5th of June. Count Louis of Nassau having invaded Friesland, Alva took measures to oppose him vigorously. At first the count met with some success, and at the battle of Heiligerlee defeated the Spaniards under the duke of Aremberg, who was killed. Alva was roused to fury at the news, and to expiate the loss of the duke beheaded 18 nobles besides hastening the execution of Egmont and Horn, and then left Brussels to meet the count in the field. An attempt to destroy the dikes and in- undate the country was frustrated by the ar- rival of Alva's forces, and at the battle of Jem- mingen he utterly routed Louis and destroyed his army. William of Orange persevered, and, mustering another army, sought in vain to bring Alva to an engagement. Twenty-nine times did the prince change his encampment, and as often did the Spanish forces hover in his rear. The duke's skill in the campaign of 1568 was a masterpiece of tactics ; he had no- thing to gain, the prince everything to hope for, by a battle. The country people of Brabant, the scene of this masterly inactivity, refused the prince supplies ; and Alva had caused the irons to be taken out of every mill, so that not a bushel of corn could be ground in the prov- ince. Frustrated in his hopes of a battle, Wil- liam was further dejected by the supineness of the country. Not a single city opened its gates to him ; he was forced to quit the Netherlands and disband his army soon after, while Alva erected a colossal bronze statue of himself in the citadel of Antwerp, and ordered a series of magnificent fetes to be celebrated at Brussels. He was soon engaged In a quarrel with Eliza- beth of England, who had seized in her ports $800,000 of Spanish funds. Alva retaliated by ordering the arrest of every Englishman in the Netherlands, and the seizure of all their prop- erty; and between the two angry spirits, Flemish prosperity was. well nigh annihilated. But the duke was disappointed in his hopes of forcing a golden stream to flow into the king's coffers ; with all his abilities as a soldier, he was a wretched financier ; and so far from sup- porting his army on the confiscations of the people, and supplying Philip with gold besides, as he boasted he would, during the six years of his rule twenty-five millions of money were sent to him from Spain, yet he left the Nether- lands without a dollar in the treasury. Among his odious schemes were a tax of the hundredth penny, or one per cent., on all property, real and personal, to be paid instantly and collected once ; a perpetual tax of the twentieth penny, or 5 per cent., on every transfer of real estate ; and a tax of the tenth penny, or 10 per cent., assessed upon every article of merchandise or personal property, to be paid as often as it should be sold. No sooner was this monstrous imposition declared than every one in the land excepting the duke himself perceived how ut- terly abortive and ridiculous a scheme it would prove. The towns rebelled, and examples by dozens were made of refractory citizens to no purpose. The king was petitioned, and finally, after all the severity of Alva, a temporary com- promise was effected, by which the towns were to pay $2,000,000 yearly for the two follow- ing years, that is, until the month of August, 1571. At length universal revolt was man- ifested. The shops were all closed ; " the brewers refused to brew, the bakers to bake, the tapsters to tap." Alva thereupon resolved to hang 18 of the tradesmen of Brus- sels at the doors of their own shops, without trial. This summary work was prevented, however, by the news of the capture of Briel by the "Water Beggars," adherents of the prince of Orange. The revolution and capture of Flushing soon followed, and the first half of the year 1572 was distinguished by a series of triumphs for the patriot party. The nation shook off* its fetters in one sudden bound of en- thusiasm, and Oudewater, Dort, Leyden, Gor- kum, Gouda, Horn, Alkmaar, Edam, and many
