Ostend was the only place on the coast of Flanders held by the Dutch, and as soon as the archduke could get a sufficient force together he laid siege to it. It was only a fishing village of three thousand inhabitants, but as it formed a base from which expeditions could be sent to any part of Flanders, it was an important position. Its siege was one of the most memorable events of the long war, for it lasted over three years, from the 5th of July 1601 to the 20th of September 1604. Being open to Dutch shipping, reinforcements of men and supplies of provisions were constantly thrown in, while on the other side every soldier that the archduke Albert could engage was employed in the siege. During those three years more than a hundred thousand men lost their lives by pestilence or in the attack or defence of that village. The struggle would have continued even longer, had it not been that a Genoese volunteer of immense wealth and a perfect genius for war offered his services and his money to Philippe III on condition of having the supreme command of the army in Flanders, which offer had been accepted. In October 1603 the marquis Ambrose Spinola took command at Ostend, and he it was who brought the siege to a conclusion. He gained possession of heaps of rubbish, but not a single building intact, and when the garrison retired with the remnant of the fishing population, only one man and one woman remained where Ostend had been.
In the meantime Maurits took advantage of the archduke’s whole attention being occupied with Ostend to recover Grave, which surrendered to him after a siege lasting from the 18th of July to the 18th of September 1602, and Sluis—a much more important place than Ostend—which fell into his hands by capitulation on the 18th of August 1604.
Action of James I of England.
The death of Queen Elizabeth on the 24th of March 1603 was a great loss to the republic. She had always realised that the Dutch cause against Spain was England’s cause also, and though she had not given much assistance of late, she had afforded some, and down to the fall of Ostend a considerable number of Englishmen fought and fell side by side with the sturdy republicans. Her successor, James I, was without her ability. Soon after his accession he promised indeed to follow her policy, but very shortly a project of alliance between the royal houses of Spain and England took possession of his mind, and then he adopted the opposite course. On the 30th of July 1603 at Hampton Court he signed a treaty of alliance with Henry IV of France for the defence of the United Provinces against Spain, and in the following year, 1604, he entered into a treaty of perpetual peace and alliance with Philippe III of Spain and the archduke and archduchess Albert and Isabella,[30] in which he abandoned the Dutch cause. Thereafter his subjects were strictly prohibited from aiding the enemies of Spain in any manner whatever. He kept possession of the cautionary towns until June 1616, when a compromise was made regarding the debt, and they were restored to the republic.
No military event of any importance occurred after this until Spinola’s sudden dash upon the eastern border, and the surrender to him of Grol or Groenlo in Gelderland on the 14th of August 1606. Spinola’s funds were now exhausted, and as means for carrying on the war could not be raised either in the Belgic provinces or in Spain, hostilities on land practically ceased.
IV.
The War on the Sea between Spain and the Netherlands.
Historical Sketches.
It was on the ocean that the Dutch were carrying on the war, and that with marvellous success, for they were already beginning to drive the Portuguese from their most valuable possessions in the eastern seas and to found for themselves a vast colonial realm.
During the early years of the war trade was carried on between them and the Spaniards just as in times of peace. The Hollanders and Zeelanders indeed regarded Philippe’s subjects in Spain and Italy as their best customers, and relied upon the profit on commerce with them for means to carry on the war. On various occasions the king tried to check this trade, and the English were loud in denouncing it, still it went on, though always diminishing in bulk, until 1598, when an edict was issued by Philippe declaring all Dutch ships found in his ports confiscated and their crews prisoners.
For some time this had been foreseen, and the merchants of Amsterdam and Middelburg were intent upon seeking new markets to replace the old ones that would be lost. They were of opinion that a short passage to China might be found by way of the sea north of Europe and Asia, and a man thoroughly qualified to make the effort to look for it was soon found in the person of Willem Barendszoon, a seaman of great courage, patience, and skill. On the 5th of June 1594 Barendszoon sailed from Texel with three ships fitted out respectively by the cities of Amsterdam and Enkhuizen and the province of Zeeland. He was also provided with a yacht to explore in advance of the larger vessels. With him as supercargo of the Enkhuizen ship was Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, of whom much will presently be said. Barendszoon sailed north of Nova Zembla with the Amsterdam ship and the yacht, while the other two vessels tried to pass through the Waigats between Nova Zembla and the mainland. But ice blocked the passage of them all, and they were obliged to return unsuccessful to Amsterdam, where they arrived on the 16th of September.[31]