erto been requited. He complained
bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars;
reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous
mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three
hundred persons at the surrender of Haarlem, besides a few additional
burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of
affection. He promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all
this ingratitude in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreck
upon Alkmaar. Already he gloated in anticipation over the havoc which
would soon be let loose within those walls. Such ravings, if invented
by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding,
authentically, from his own, they still appear almost too exaggerated
for belief. 'If I take Alkmaar,' he wrote to Philip, 'I am resolved
not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every
throat. Since the example of Harlem has proved of no use, _perhaps
an example of cruelty_ will bring the other cities to their senses,'
He took occasion also to read a lecture to the party of conciliation
in Madrid, whose counsels, as he believed, his sovereign was beginning
to heed. Nothing, he maintained, could be more senseless than the idea
of pardon and clemency. This had been sufficiently proved by recent
events. It was easy for people at a distance to talk about gentleness;
but those upon the spot knew better. _Gentleness had produced nothing_,
so far; violence alone could succeed in future. 'Let your Majesty,' he
said, 'be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can
be done with these people. Already have matters reached such a point
that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated
clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge their mistake. They
are of opinion _that not a living soul should be left in Alkmaar,
but that every individual should be put to the sword_.'...

"Affairs soon approached a crisis within the beleaguered city. Daily
skirmishes, without decisive result, had taken place outside the
walls. At last, on the 18th of September, after a steady cannonade
of nearly twelve hours, Don Frederic at three in the afternoon,
ordered an assault. Notwithstanding his seven months' experience at
Haarlem, he still believed it certain that he should carry Alkmaar
by storm. The attack took place at once upon the Frisian gate,
and upon the red tower on the opposite