History of the United Netherlands, 1595-96Motley, John Lothrop
History
History of the United Netherlands, 1595-96
Motley, John Lothrop
Netherlands -- History -- Eighty Years' War, 1568-1648
The cardinal applied himself to the task on his first arrival, but was
soon obliged to report that he could make but little progress in the
negotiation.
The king thought, too, that Heraugiere, who had commanded the memorable
expedition against Breda, and who was now governor of that stronghold,
might be purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal to make
use of the Prince of Orange in the negotiations to be made for that
purpose. The cardinal, in effect, received an offer from Heraugiere in
the course of a few months not only to surrender Breda, without previous
recompense, but likewise to place Gertruydenberg, the governor of which
city was his relative, in the king's possession. But the cardinal was
afraid of a trick, for Heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was
brave, and there can be little doubt that the Netherlander was only
disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general.
And thus the son of William the Silent made his reappearance in the
streets of Brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in
the procession of the new viceroy. The cardinal-archduke came next, with
Fuentes riding at his left hand. That vigorous soldier and politician
soon afterwards left the Netherlands to assume the government of Milan.
There was a correspondence between the Prince of Orange and the States-
General, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves
towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him
plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in
the United Provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their
passports, possible. They were quite aware of the uses to which the king
was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the
great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the
threshold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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