The Hollanders and Zealanders are busy preparing a fleet, which is to break through the bridge and relieve Antwerp; should this attempt fail, they intend opening the dykes between Antwerp and Bergen, and flooding the country as far as Antwerp, so as to bring their fleet, in spite of the bridge, up to the walls of the town; this plan, however, must cause great suffering throughout the neighbourhood, and proves how obstinate they are; their own account is that they have no other course.
March 26, 1585.
[LETTER XLIX.]
People are becoming seriously alarmed. Suddenly and unexpectedly France finds herself on the brink of a great war; the King himself hardly knew of its approach before it burst upon him. Two months ago the Duke of Bouillon[232] wrote cautioning him to be on his guard, as the Guises were preparing for a campaign. People say he is for ever deploring his imprudence in disregarding this warning.
Nominally the chief mover in these disturbances is the Cardinal de Bourbon, but, if I am not very much mistaken, the real leaders are the three brothers—the Dukes of Guise and Mayenne, and the Cardinal de Lorraine, with their cousins the Duke of Aumale and the Marquis of Elbœuf; they have also on their side the Queen’s brother, the Duke of Mercœur, Governor of Brittany; there are besides in the ranks of the insurrection many gentlemen of less mark, with whose names I need not trouble your Majesty.
The reasons of offence are numerous, but the chief one is jealousy. For a long time the Guises have felt bitterly their position at the Court, where they do not hold the influence and station to which they consider themselves entitled.[233] Others are loaded with wealth and honours, while they are held of no account, and are left crippled by the debts, which they and their ancestors have saddled themselves with in the service of the State. The King, they complain, has picked out a couple of young fellows on whom he lavishes his affection and caresses, treating them like sons, squandering on them the public revenues, living with them in the closest intimacy, while the Guises are not merely kept at a distance, but are actually insulted by having the doors shut in their faces when they seek to enter into the royal presence.
Besides these causes for complaint, there is a notion, I fancy, which is not altogether groundless, that the sister of Navarre, the heir of his kingdom and extensive possessions, will marry the Duke of Epernon, who is generally supposed to have been appointed by the King Constable of France, and that the King, who is not at present favourably disposed towards Navarre, will be reconciled by this alliance, and support his claims to the succession. In all probability the object of the Guises is to put a stop to this arrangement, which would be most disastrous to their interests, as it is quite clear that, with Navarre or Condé on the throne, their influence in France would be obliterated.
The Cardinal de Bourbon[234] assumes the title of successor to the throne, and is indignant at the preference given to the claims of his nephew; he has thrown off his Cardinal’s robes and fancies himself so much in a soldier’s coat, that people think he must be childish. He is fully convinced that he owes it to the Apostolic See, to the faith he professes, to his family, and to himself, not to allow a Protestant to ascend the throne on the death of the King. He therefore considers himself the Chief of the League, and demands the first place in it. The Church, the Commonwealth, the convening[235] of the Estates, the security of the country, the safety of honest people, the common pleas of all revolutionists, are pressed into their service as a cloak for their designs.