s sent to the archduke with a
courteous letter, in which, however, a categorical explanation was
demanded as to a statement in circulation that Albert had decided to give
the soldiers of the republic no quarter.

No answer being immediately returned, Maurice ordered the five hundred
prisoners to be hanged or drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and
this horrible decree appears from official documents to be consistent
with the military usages of the period. The arrival of the letter from
the cardinal-archduke, who levied the money for the ransom on the
villagers of Brabant, prevented, however, the execution of the menace,
which could hardly have been seriously intended.

Within a week from the time of his departure from the Hague to engage in
this daring adventure, the stadholder had returned to that little
capital, having achieved a complete success. The enthusiastic
demonstrations throughout the land on account of so signal a victory can
easily be imagined. Nothing like this had ever before been recorded in
the archives of the young commonwealth. There had been glorious defences
of beleaguered cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and
self-sacrifice had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long
as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a victory won in the
open field over the most famous legions of Spain and against overwhelming
numbers, was an achievement entirely without example. It is beyond all
doubt that the force under Varax was at least four times as large as that
portion of the States' army which alone was engaged; for Maurice had not
a foot-soldier on the field until the battle was over, save the handful
of musketeers who had followed Vere and Bax at the beginning of the
action.

Therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a much more attentive
consideration than it might deserve, regarded purely as a military
exploit. To the military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon
an obscure Brabantine heath between a party of Dutch carabineers and
Spanish pikemen, may seem of little account--a subject fitted by
picturesque costume and animated action for the pencil of a Wouvermanns
or a Terburg, but conveying little instruction. As illustrating a period
of transition in which heavy armoured troopers--each one a human
iron-clad fortress moving at speed and furnished with the most formidable
portable artillery then known--could overcome the resistance of almost
any number