[1135] Ibid., p. 252.—By a decree passed on the eighteenth of May, Egmont had been already excluded from any further right to bring evidence in his defence. The documents connected with this matter are given by Foppens, Ibid., tom. I. pp. 90-103.
[1136] Among the documents analyzed by Gachard is one exhibiting the revenues of the great lords of the Low Countries, whose estates were confiscated. No one except the prince of Orange had an income nearly so great as that of Egmont, amounting to 63,000 florins. He had a palace at Brussels, and other residences at Mechlin, Ghent, Bruges, Arras, and the Hague.
The revenues of Count Hoorne amounted to about 8,500 florins. Count Culemborg, whose hotel was the place of rendezvous for the Gueux, had a yearly income exceeding 31,000 florins. William's revenues, far greater than either, rose above 152,000. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 116.
[1137] Supplément à Strada, tom. I. pp. 252-257.
[1138] In a letter dated January 6, 1568, Alva tells the king that Viglius, after examining into the affair, finds the evidence so clear on the point, that nothing more could be desired. Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II. p. 4.
[1139] For the facts connected with the constitution of the Toison d'Or, I am indebted to a Dutch work, now in course of publication in Amsterdam (Algemeene Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, van de vroegste tijden tot op heden, door Dr. J. P. Arend). This work, which is designed to cover the whole history of the Netherlands, may claim the merits of a thoroughness rare in this age of rapid bookmaking, and of a candor rare in any age. In my own ignorance of the Dutch, I must acknowledge my obligations to a friend for enabling me to read it. I must further add, that for the loan of the work I am indebted to the courtesy of B. Homer Dixon, Esq., Consul for the Netherlands in Boston.
[1140] M. de Bavay has devoted seventy pages or more of his publication to affidavits of witnesses in behalf of the prosecution. (Procès du Comte d'Egmont, pp. 267-322.) But their testimony bears almost exclusively on the subject of Egmont's dealings with the sectaries,—scarcely warranting the Flemish editor's assertion in his preface, that he has been able to furnish "all the elements of the conviction of the accused by the duke of Alva."
M. de Bavay's work is one of the good fruits of that patriotic zeal which animates the Belgian scholars of our time for the illustration of their national history. It was given to the public only the last year, after the present chapter had been written. In addition to what is contained in former publications, it furnishes us with complete copies of the defence of Egmont, as prepared both by himself and his counsel, and with the affidavits above noticed of witnesses on the part of the government. It has supplied me, therefore, with valuable materials, whether for the correction or the corroboration of my previous conclusions.
[1141] The resistance, to which those who signed the Compromise were pledged, was to the Inquisition, in case of its attempt to arrest any member of their body. Ante, Book II.
[1142] By the famous statute, in particular, of Edward the Third, the basis of all subsequent legislation on the subject. Some reflections, both on this law and the laws which subsequently modified it, made with the usual acuteness of their author, may be found in the fifteenth chapter of Hallam's Constitutional History of England.