"The despotic conduct of Granvelle, and the attempt on his part to introduce the Inquisition, by order of his royal master, excited the most desperate opposition. The people organized under the lead of the Prince of Orange, and Egmont and Horn, and an insurrection broke out in Flanders, in 1566. These Protestant rebels have been styled iconoclasts, or image-breakers, for they broke into the churches, overturned the images, defaced the valuable paintings, and otherwise injured the church property.
"The famous Cathedral of Notre Dame, which you can see from the deck of the ship, was ravaged by the mob. The statues of Christ, the Virgin, and the Saints were hurled from their pedestals; the rich paintings, the choicest works of Flemish art, were cut to pieces; the organs were torn down, the altars overturned, and the gold and silver vessels used in the mass were carried off. For three days these tumultuous proceedings continued, and were suppressed only when the fury of the mob had ceased, by the Knights of the Golden Fleece, of which the Prince of Orange was a member. The career of this remarkable man is closely identified with the history of the Netherlands during this period. He was opposed to the violence of the mob, not only from prudential motives, but because his own religious views were not yet in sympathy with the Protestant reformers, though he afterwards fully embraced their doctrines.
"The patriots of the Low Countries were, in the beginning of these troubles, both Catholic and Protestant; but the sacrilegious conduct of the mob detached the former from the cause, and as the Catholics were more numerous in the southern than in the northern provinces, they finally turned the scale in favor of Philip II. in their own section, while the people of Holland established their independence.
"Philip then sent the savage and relentless Duke of Alva to suppress the new religion in the Netherlands. Egmont and Horn were beheaded at Brussels, and the Prince of Orange retired into Germany, appealing to the Protestant princes for assistance. With an army he had raised in Germany, and with money obtained there and of Queen Elizabeth of England, he marched into the Netherlands, and called his people to arms. A long and terrible war ensued, in which the Dutch suffered up to the limit of human endurance, and displayed a heroism which is without parallel in the history of the nations.
"The Prince of Orange was created Stadtholder; almost unlimited powers were conferred upon him, and for years he struggled against the most stupendous obstacles. The Dutch, being a maritime people, established a navy, which inflicted many heavy blows upon the Spanish power. The severity of Alva so goaded the Netherlanders that the whole country was in arms against him. He failed to reduce them to subjection, and was recalled. His next two eminent successors died of fever, and the Duke of Parma was then sent as regent of Philip. In 1579 the northern provinces declared their independence, and established the Dutch Republic, or the Seven United Provinces, of which the Prince of Orange was stadtholder.
"Philip was so incensed at the success of the Prince of Orange that he offered a large reward to any one who would take his life, and a fanatical Burgundian shot him at Delft, in 1584. With this event Mr. Motley closes his History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic.
"Belgium adhered to Spain, or, rather, the Duke of Parma succeeded in reducing it to subjection after the murder of the stadtholder. In 1598 Philip gave the Flemish provinces to his daughter Isabella. But on her death without children, the country again reverted to Spain. After more than a century of strife, including the Thirty Years' War, the repeated quarrels between England and Spain, and France and Spain, and the War of the Spanish Succession, during which period the Low Countries were often the battle-ground, Belgium passed into the hands of the Austrians.
"In settling up the disastrous strife of the century, the treaty-making powers had given several of the Belgian fortresses to Holland, in order to check the ambition of France, and the Dutch closed the Scheldt. After an interval of peace under Maria Theresa of Austria, her son, Joseph II., attempted to break through portions of the treaties, and obliged the troops of Holland to evacuate his territory, but he could not open the river. He was rash in his proceedings, and a rebellion was organized against him.
"About this time commenced the French Revolution, whose influence extended to the Low Countries, and in 1789 the Austrian garrison at Brussels was forced to surrender. But the people were not united, and their dissensions enabled the Austrians to regain their power. The French Directory sent an army to assist the Belgians, the Austrians were driven from the country, and Belgium was incorporated with France.
"Napoleon, while he controlled the destinies of France, devoted much attention to the Flemish provinces, and especially to the city of Antwerp. When you go on shore you will see immense docks and fortifications built by him. He intended to make it a great naval station, and it would have been of vast importance to him in carrying out his plans for the invasion of England. The works on the opposite side of the river, called 'Tête de Flandre,' were the beginning of an immense military town. During this period England was almost continually at war with France, and several expeditions were sent against Holland and Belgium.