re, the
stern policy of Philip. She proscribed, she persecuted, she
punished,--and that with an excess of rigor that does little honor to
her memory. It was too late. The distrust of Philip was not to be
removed by this tardy compliance with his wishes. A successor was
already appointed; and at the very moment when she flattered herself
that the tranquillity of the country and her own authority were
established on a permanent basis, the duke of Alva was on his march
across the mountains.

Yet it was fortunate for Margaret's reputation that she was succeeded in
the government by a man like Alva. The darkest spots on her
administration became light when brought into comparison with his reign
of terror. From this point of view it has been criticized by the writers
of her own time and those of later ages.[1048] And in this way,
probably, as the student who ponders the events of her history may
infer, a more favorable judgment has been passed upon her actions than
would be warranted by a calm and deliberate scrutiny.

CHAPTER III.

REIGN OF TERROR.

Numerous Arrests.--Trials and Executions.--Confiscations.--Orange
assembles an Army.--Battle of Heyligerlee.--Alva's Proceedings.

1568.

In the beginning of 1568, Philip, if we may trust the historians,
resorted to a very extraordinary measure for justifying to the world his
rigorous proceedings against the Netherlands. He submitted the case to
the Inquisition at Madrid; and that ghostly tribunal, after duly
considering the evidence derived from the information of the king and of
the inquisitors in the Netherlands, came to the following decision. All
who had been guilty of heresy, apostasy, or sedition, and all, moreover,
who, though professing themselves good Catholics, had offered no
resistance to these, were, with the exception of a few specified
individuals, thereby convicted of treason in the highest degree.[1049]

[Sidenote: NUMEROUS ARRESTS.]

This sweeping judgment was followed by a royal edict, dated on the same
day, the sixteenth of February, in which, after reciting the language of
the Inquisition, the whole nation, with the exception above stated, was
sentenced, without distinction of sex or age, to the penalties of
treason,--death and confiscation of property; and this, the decree went
on to say, "without any hope of grace whatever, that it might serve for
an example and a warning to all future time!"[1050]

It is difficult to give credit to a st