dulgence was granted; but having once been tainted, he must die. Instead of being burned, he was therefore to be executed.52 Of the number of those who actually suffered in the Low Countries, we have no precise information;53 but Alva triumphantly boasted that, in the five or six years of his administration, he had put to death in cold blood more than eighteen thousand, besides a still greater number whom he had slain on the field of battle.54 This, even during his short tenure of power, would make about forty thousand victims; an estimate probably not far from the truth, since we know from other sources, that in one year more than eight thousand were either executed or burned.55 Such measures were the result of instructions issued by Philip, and formed a necessary part of his general scheme.56 The desire paramount in his mind, and to which he sacrificed all other considerations, was to put down the new creed, and to re-instate the old one. To this, even his immense ambition and his inordinate love of power were subordinate.

and calamities of France prove how wholesome it is to punish heretics with rigour." Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, vol. i. p. 171. The Spaniards deemed the Dutch guilty of a double crime; being rebels against God and the king : Rebeldes á Dios por la heregía, y a su Principe á quien debian obedecer." Mariana, Historia de España, vol. vii. p. 410. "Tratauan de secreto de quitar la obediencia á Dios y á su Principe." Vanderhammen's Don Filipe el Prudente Segundo deste Nombre, Madrid, 1632, p. 44 rev. Or, as Miñana phrases it, Philip "tenia los mismos enemigos que Dios." Continuacion de Mariana, vol. x. p. 139. 52 Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. p. 229. Watson's Philip II., pp. 51,

52, 177.

53 Mr. Motley, under the year 1566, says, "The Prince of Orange estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. He was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words." Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. i. pp. 424, 425.

54 Watson's Philip II., pp. 248, 249. Tapia (Civilizacion Española, vol. iii. p. 95) says, "quitó la vida á mas de diez y ocho mil protestantes con diversos géneros de suplicios." Compare Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. ii. p. 423, and Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 608.

55 Davies' History of Holland, vol. i. p. 567. Vanderhammen (Don Filipe el Prudente, Madrid, 1632, p. 52 rev.), with tranquil pleasure, assures us that muriessen mil y setecientas personas en pocos dias con fuego, y cuchillo en diuersos lugares."

cordel

56

66

El duque de Alba, obrando en conformidad á las instrucciones de su soberano, y apoyado en la aprobacion que merecian al rey todas sus medidas." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xiii. p. 221.

He aimed at the empire of Europe, because he longed to restore the authority of the Church.57 All his policy, all his negotiations, all his wars, pointed to this one end. Soon after his accession, he concluded an ignominious treaty with the Pope, that it might not be said that he bore arms against the head of the Christian world.58 And his last great enterprise, in some respects the most important of all, was to fit out, at an incredible cost, that famous Armada with which he hoped to humble England, and to nip the heresy of Europe in its bud, by depriving the Protestants of their principal support, and of the only asylum where they were sure to find safe and honourable refuge.59

Van

57 It was to restore the Catholic Church that he desired to obtain the empire of Europe." Davies' History of Holland, vol. ii. p. 329. "El protestó siempre que sus desinios en la guerra, y sus exercitos no se encaminauan á otra cosa, que al ensalçamiento de la Religion Christiana.' derhammen's Don Filipe el Prudente, p. 125. "El que aspiraba á someter todas las naciones de la tierra á su credo religioso." Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xv. p. 203. The bishop of Salamanca in 1563 openly boasted 66 que son roi ne s'étoit marié avec la reine d'Angleterre que pour ramener cette isle à l'obéissance de l'église." Continuation de Fleury, Histoire Ecclésiastique, vol. xxxiii. p. 331. Compare Ortiz, Compendio, vol. vi. p. 204. "Este casamiento no debió de tener otras miras que el de la religion."

5s On this treaty, the only humiliating one which he ever concluded, see Prescott's Philip II., vol. i. p. 104. His dying advice to his son was, Siempre estareis en la obediencia de la Santa Iglesia Romana, y del Sumo Pontifice, teniendole por vuestro Padre espiritual." Davila, Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero, Madrid, 1771, folio, lib. i. p. 29. According to another writer, "La ultima palabra que le salió con el espiritu, fue: Yo muero como Catolico Christiano en la Fe y obediencia de la Iglesia Romana, y respeto al Papa, como á quien trae en sus manos las llaues del Cielo, como a Principe de la Iglesia, y Teniente de Dios sobre el imperio de las almas.'” Vanderhammen, Don Filipe el Prudente, p. 124.

5 Elizabeth, uniting the three terrible qualities of heresy, power, and ability, was obnoxious to the Spaniards to an almost incredible degree, and there never was a more thoroughly national enterprise than the fitting out of the Armada against her. One or two passages from a grave historian, will illustrate the feelings with which she was regarded even after her death, and will assist the reader in forming an opinion respecting the state of the Spanish mind. "Isabel, 6 Jezabel, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, y la mayor perseguidora que ha tenido la sangre de Jesu-Christo y los hijos de la Iglesia." Davila, Historia de Felipe Tercero, p. 74. sucesos de fuera causaron admiracion; y el mayor y muy esperado de toda la Christiandad fue la muerte de Isabela, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, que hizo su nombre famoso con la infamia de su vida, y perseguir á la Iglesia, derramando la sangre de los Santos, que defendian la verdadera Religion Catolica, dexando registradas sus maldades en las historias públicas del mundo, pasando su alma á coger el desdichado fruto de su obstinada

Los

While Philip, following the course of his predecessors, was wasting the blood and treasure of Spain in order to propagate religious opinions, 60 the people, instead of rebelling against so monstrous a system, acquiesced in it, and cordially sanctioned it. Indeed, they not only sanctioned it, but they almost worshipped the man by whom it was enforced. There probably never lived a prince who, during so long a period, and amid so many vicissitudes of fortune, was adored by his subjects as Philip II. was. In evil report, and in good report, the Spaniards clung to him with unshaken loyalty. Their affection was not lessened, either by his reverses, or by his forbidding deportment, or by his cruelty, or by his grievous exactions. In spite of all, they loved him to the last. Such was his absurd arrogance, that he allowed none, not even the most powerful nobles, to address him, except on their knees, and, in return, he only spoke in half sentences, leaving them to guess the rest, and to fulfil his commands as best they might.61 And ready enough they were to obey his slightest wishes. A contemporary of Philip, struck by the universal homage which he received, says that the Spanish did "not merely love, not merely reverence, but absolutely adore him, and deem his commands so

soberbia en las penas del Infierno, donde conoce con el castigo perpetuo el engaño de su vida." pp. 83, 84.

60 One of the most eminent of living historians well says, "It was Philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of God against heretics." Motley's Dutch Republic, vol. ii. p. 155. “Philip lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of God." p. 285.

61 Personne vivante ne parloit à lui qu'à genoux, et disoit pour son excuse à cela qu'estant petit de corps, chacun eust paru plus eslevé que lui, outre qu'il sçavoit que les Espagnols estoient d'humeur si altiere et hautaine, qu'il estoit besoin qu'il les traittast de cette façon; et pour ce mesme ne se laissoit voir que peu souvent du peuple, n'y mesme des grands, sinon aux jours solemnels, et action necessaire, en cette façon; il faisoit ses commandemens à demy mot, et falloit que l'on devinast le reste, et que l'on ne manquast à bien accomplir toutes ses intentions; mesmes les gentilshommes de sa chambre, et autres qui approchoient plus près de sa personne, n'eussent osé parler devant luy s'il ne leur eust commandé, se tenant un tout seul à la fois près de la porte du lieu où il estoit, et demeurant nud teste incessamment, et appuyé contre une tapisserie, pour attendre et recevoir ses commandemens." Mémoires de Cheverny, pp. 352, 353, in Petitot's Collection des Mémoires, vol. xxxvi. Paris, 1823.

sacred, that they could not be violated without offence to God." 62

That a man like Philip II., who never possessed a friend, and whose usual demeanour was of the most repulsive kind, a harsh master, a brutal parent, a bloody and remorseless ruler,-that he should be thus reverenced by a nation among whom he lived, and who had their eyes constantly on his actions; that this should have happened, is surely one of the most surprising, and, at first sight, one of the most inexplicable facts in modern history. Here we have a king who, though afflicted by every quality most calculated to excite terror and disgust, is loved far more than he is feared, and is the idol of a very great people during a very long reign. This is so remarkable as to deserve our serious attention; and in order to clear up the difficulty, it will be necessary to inquire into the causes of that spirit of loyalty which, during several centuries, has distinguished the Spaniards above every other European people.

One of the leading causes was undoubtedly the immense influence possessed by the clergy. For, the maxims inculcated by that powerful body have a natural tendency to make the people reverence their princes more than they would otherwise do. And that there is a real and practical connexion between loyalty and

These are the words of Contarini, as given in Ranke's Ottoman and Spanish Empires, London, 1843, p. 33. Sismondi, though unacquainted with this passage, observes in his Literature of the South of Europe, vol. ii. p. 273, London, 1846, that Philip, though "little entitled to praise, has yet been always regarded with enthusiasm by the Spaniards." About half a century after his death, Sommerdyck visited Spain, and in his curious account of that country he tells us that Philip was called "le Salomon de son siècle." Aarsens de Sommerdyck, Voyage d'Espagne, Paris, 1665, 4to, pp. 63, 95. See also Yañez, Memorias para la Historia de Felipe III., Madrid, 1723, p. 294. "El gran Felipe, aquel Sabio Salomon." Another writer likens him to Numa. "Hacia grandes progresos la piedad, á la qual se dedicaba tanto el Rey Don Felipe, que parecia su reynado en España lo que en Roma el de Numa, despues de Rómulo." Miñana, Continuacion de Mariana, vol. ix. p. 241. When he died, "celebradas sus exêquias entre lágrimas y gemidos." vol. x. pp. 259, 260. We further learn from Vanderhammen's Filipe Segundo, Madrid, 1632, p. 120 rev., that the people ascribed to him "una grandeza adorable, y alguna cosa mas que las ordinarias á los demas hombres."

superstition, appears from the historical fact that the two feelings have nearly always flourished together and decayed together. Indeed, this is what we should expect on mere speculative grounds, seeing that both feelings are the product of those habits of veneration which make men submissive in their conduct and credulous in their belief.63 Experience, therefore, as well as reason, points to this as a general law of the mind, which, in its operation, may be occasionally disturbed, but which holds good in a large majority of cases. Probably the only instance in which the principle fails is, when a despotic government so misunderstands its own interests as to offend the clergy, and separate itself from them. Whenever this is done, a struggle will arise between loyalty and superstition; the first being upheld by the political classes, the other by the spiritual classes. Such a warfare was exhibited in Scotland; but history does not afford many examples of it, and certainly it never took place in Spain, where, on the contrary, several circumstances occurred to cement the union between the Crown and the Church, and to accustom the people to look up to both with almost equal reverence.

By far the most important of these circumstances was the great Arab invasion, which drove the Christians. into a corner of Spain, and reduced them to such extremities, that nothing but the strictest discipline and the most unhesitating obedience to their leaders, could have enabled them to make head against their enemies. Loyalty to their princes became not merely expedient, but necessary; for if the Spaniards had been disunited, they would, in the face of the fearful odds against which they fought, have had no chance of preserving their national existence. The long war which ensued, being both political and religious, caused an intimate alliance between the political and religious classes, since the

63 "Habits of reverence, which, if carried into religion, cause superstition, and if carried into politics, cause despotism." ~Buckle's History of Civilization, vol. i. p. 616.