GOMARUS Vs ARMINIUS in the History of Holland

Compilation By Eduardo Algeciras

The question of the free-will of man and its compatibility with Divine prescience, is one, which
readily presenting itself to the minds of those who devote themselves to metaphysical
speculations, has been debated by philosophers from the earliest ages. The controversy in the fifth
century of the Christian sera, between St. Augustin, bishop of Hippona, and his rival and opponent
Pelagius — of whom the former maintained that God had determined from all eternity to bestow
a regenerating grace upon some men, which being unable to resist, they are infallibly converted to
salvation, — and the latter, that if man is to be capable of virtue and vice his will must be left free,
wherefore although the Almighty giver of grace foreknows who will receive it, He does not
predestinate, — is familiar to all in the slightest degree conversant on such sub jects. The doctrine
of Pelagius continued to prevail in the East, where it had been generally received before the time
of St. Augustin, whose opinions, on the other hand, spread to a considerable extent among the
churches of the West. At the Reformation, Luther, himself a monk of the Augustin order,
supported the opinions of his patron on the subject of predestination ; opinions which in after-life
he somewhat modified, and which, opposed by Erasmus and Melancthon, were carried out to a
greater extent by his rival Calvin, who denied the possibility of falling off from grace. The disputes
which arose between the followers of Luther and Calvin upon the subject of the communion,
contributed probably in a great degree to induce the former to espouse opinions differing still
more widely than those of Luther himself, from such as were held by the disciples of Calvin with
regard to predestination.

found understanding and judgment, of a peaceable temper, learned, pious, and eloquent?. His
appointment was opposed by Gomarus, who filled the other chair of theology, on the ground of
the orthodoxy of his tenets being suspected on the subject of grace and free-will ; and it was
therefore agreed by the curators, that previously to his nomination, a public conference should be
held between him and Gomarus, in order that his opinions on this point might be ascertained. Of
this conference different accounts are given. By some it is said that Arminius boldly and explicitly
declared his opinions; by others, that he expressed himself in terms of condemnation of the
Pelagian published a thesis in contradiction of it, in which he insisted, " That it was determined by
the eternal reso lution of God, who are to be saved, and who to be given over to condemnation;
whence it followed, that some are drawn to the faith by the grace of God, and, being so drawn,
are, by the same grace, preserved from falling away from the faith; but that God had left the
greater part of mankind in the general corruption of human nature and of their own misdeeds;"
the one, thus measuring the rules of infinite justice by the finite standard of man; the other laying
it down as an axiom, that the Almighty did not foreknow unless he also theirs, since they made
him the author of his own salvation; and of refusing to give God the glory, where it was most due,
in the conversion of the heart of the sinner r. The ministers of the churches, as well as the pupils of
the two professors, soon began to espouse one side or the other, and tended to exasperate
disputes of which the subject was, for the most part, above their understanding; far surpassing, as
it usually happens in such cases, their principals themselves in zeal and animosity*. Both Arminius
and Gomarus, indeed, appear at first to have inclined towards mutual toleration. The curators of
the university having instituted an inquiry into the nature and state of the differences between the
professors of theology, they delivered a declaration, signed by their own hands, that there were in
fact more disputes among the students than could be wished, and which they employed all their
efforts to 1610 diminish, but that the points of controversy did not involve any fundamental
doctrine; and Gomarus was heard to complain, that though he desired to preserve peace, the
churches (so he termed the ministers) would not allow him to do so 8.

In a short time, however, the preservation of peace or moderation was rendered yet more
difficult. The controversy, carried on at first in Latin, and confined to the learned, was by degrees
brought before the ears x of the common people, and made the theme of declaration and
invective from the pulpit; and thus questions, which, involving the actions and attributes of the
Most High, should be touched upon but with awe and reverence by the holy and the wise, were
bandied about in the mouths of the ignorant, and became watchwords of vulgar clamour and
popular cabal. Besides these difficult and abstruse subjects, new matter of contention now arose
with respect to the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Confession of Faith of the Reformed churches,
which had been introduced into the Netherlands by a synod held at Dordrecht, in 1574, and were
regarded by the Gomarists as indispensable formularies of faith, while the Arminians maintained,
that their authority was infinitely below that of Scripture, and being framed by fallible men, they
could not serve as a rule of orthodoxy, for which the Scripture alone was competent. They were of
opinion, that it was requisite that both should be revised in a national synod, an assembly, that is,
of representatives from all the churches in the provinces; and that all questions arising thereupon
should be decided according to the authority of the Holy Scriptures alone. Their opponents, on the
contrary, insisted that these formularies should be received as incontrovertible, and that all
candidates for the ministry should be required to sign them previously to their admission4. The
States of Holland, finding the divisions daily increasing, and being appealed to for protection by
Arminius and his partisans, appointed a conference (1608) between the rival professors, to be held
at the Hague, before the supreme council of Holland and four ministers of the church. As the
result of this discussion, the supreme council reported to the States, in the presence of the
professors and ministers, that the disputants were agreed upon the fundamental doctrines of
Christianity, and might easily exercise mutual toleration as to the rest; whereupon the advocate,
Darneveldt, took occasion to recommend them to live in peace with each other, promising that
their differences should be reconciled in a national or provincial synod, and that, meanwhile, they
should take heed to advance no doctrines contrary to the Scripture or to the Catechism and
Confession. But Gomarus evinced at once how little he was now disposed to practise the
toleration enjoined by the council, or the forbearance advised by Barneveldt. Having obtained
permission to speak, he declared that the opinions of his brother professor were such as he should
fear to die in, and appear before the judgment-seat of God; adding (what afterwards proved but
too true a prophecy,) that the difference in their doctrine was sufficient, if not prevented, to set
province against province, church against church, town against town, and citizen against citizen
11.

But little of beneficial result having been obtained by this conference, the States again summoned
Arminius to appear before them at the Hague, to explain 1610 by word of mouth, as well as by
writing, the real nature of his tenets. He accordingly presented himself on the 31st of October,
(1608,) the day appointed, and, in a long discourse, laid open his sentiments upon free-will, grace,
and the other points in dispute, and maintained that the revision of the Catechism and Confession
was both proper and necessary. Hereupon Gomarus demanded permission, in like manner, to
deliver his opinions; which being granted, he in a vehement oration, brought forward several
personal accusations against Arminius, comparing him to Arius, and his friend and assistant
Uytenbogaard, to Eusebius. He had the misfortune not to please the States, who, conceiving that
the doctrine of inevitable necessity would, if adopted by the great bulk of the people, lead to the
most mischievous results, were mostly inclined towards the opinions of Arminius. They
disapproved also of the invectives of Gomarus against a man who had not once during his
discourse even mentioned his name, much less offered him any offence; and con side red that
which he reprehended in his conduct, as too trivial to render any justification necessary on the
part of the accused v. While the disputes were thus gradually increasing in virulence, the " class*"
of Alkmaar came to a reso lution to oblige all ministers of the church to sign a declaration, that the
Catechism and the Confession, in the XVI th article of which the doctrine of arbitrary election and
reprobation is expressly laid down, agreed in every particular with the word of God; and binding
themselves to oppose to the utmost all doctrines of a contrary tendency. Five ministers, refusing
to sign this declaration, were suspended from their functions, and excluded from the consistories.
The dispossessed ministers appealed for protection to the States of Holland, who, in answer to
their petition, demanded from the class a copy of the act of dismissal, and that, during the time
the deliberations were being held on the subject, the ministers should be restored to the exercise
of their office. The class, in answer, assumed a high and almost insolent tone; affirming that the
matter, being purely ecclesiastical, belonged to them alone, nor would they allow the authority
placed by God in their hands for the defence and government of the church, to be taken from
them at the will of any man w. In these haughty pretensions they were up held by the synod of
North Holland, which confirmed the dismissal of the recusant ministers; nor could all the
reiterated injunctions of the States effect their re-admission to their churches. The affair,
therefore, besides setting an example of successful resistance to the civil power, created a fresh
subject of contention, namely, as to whether the temporal sovereign had a right to interfere in
ecclesiastical matters; the Arminians, who were favoured by the governments of the towns, and
who required the support of the civil power, acknowledging its authority; the Gomarists, who
were in a vast majority in the consistories, classes, and synods, insisting that the ecclesiastical
government belonged solely and entirely to these bodiesx The obstinacy of the synod of North Holland
and 1610 the class of Alkmaar led the States to suspect that they were secretly encouraged by some higher
power; and feeling convinced, moreover, that a national synod, which both parties had hitherto called for as
a means of setting matters at rest, would, composed as it must be chiefly of Gomarists, rather tend to
exasperate animosities than reconcile the points in dispute, they made one more attempt to effect a
reconciliation between Gomarus and Arminius. The two professors were accordingly summoned to appear
before the assembly (1600), supported each by four ministers of the church. Here the same dogmas which
had formed the subject of the previous discussion were again debated, and with the more vehemence, as
the honour of the disputants was now concerned in carrying out their opinions to the extreme. The con
references were terminated by the sickness of Arminius, who died shortly after, declaring in his last hour,
that he had never taught any doctrine but such as, after careful examination, he found to be fully consonant
to Scripture y. But the discords to which he had so unfortunately, and perhaps so unwittingly, given rise,
were far from being buried with him. The classes and consistories of many of the districts and towns now
began to insist upon the signature of the Catechism and Confession by all the ministers; and the pulpits
resounded with invectives against the Arminians, who were accused of introducing novel and heretical
opinions into the church ; of aiming at a change in the national religion, and of labouring to excite
disturbances. With a view of clearing themselves from these imputations, and of obtaining the protection of
the civil authorities, they presented to the States a remonstrance, drawn up by Uytenbogaard, in which,
after complaining of the treatment they received from their opponents, and demanding a revision of the
Catechism and Confession, they reprobated the opinion that God had, by an eternal decree, predestinated
men, not created, much less guilty, some to eternal life and others to everlasting destruction, without
regard to their virtues or crimes, and merely to evince his mercy and justice, or, as others say, his wisdom
and absolute power ; and more particularly the supralapsarian doctrine, that man was so predestined not
only before his fall, but before his creation ; and that therefore Christ died, not for mankind in general, but
only for the elect, who are comparatively few in number. They then proceeded to expose their belief on the
five points, afterwards so well known as " the five articles of the Arminians :" first, that God had resolved
from the beginning to elect into eternal life those who through his grace believed in Jesus Christ, and
continued stedfast in the faith ; and, on the contrary, had resolved to leave the obstinate and unbelieving to
eternal damnation; secondly, that Christ had died for the whole world, and obtained for all remission of sins
and reconciliation with God, of which, nevertheless, the faithful only are made partakers ; thirdly, that man
cannot have a saving faith by his own free will, since while in a state of sin he cannot think or do good, but it
is necessary that the grace of God, through Christ, should regenerate and renew the understanding and
affections; fourthly, that this grace is the beginning, continuance, and end of salvation, and that all good
works proceed from it, but that it is not irresistible ; fifthly, that although the faithful receive by grace
sufficient strength to resist Satan, sin, the world, and the flesh, yet man can by his own act fall away from
this state 1610 of grace. The presentation of this memorial obtained for the Arminians the name of
Remonstrants, by which they were constantly afterwards distinguished; their opponents being, from a
remonstrance they presented against the toleration of these five articles, termed Contra-Remonstrants*.
Meanwhile, the curators of Leyden had filled the chair of theology, left vacant by the death of Arminius, with
the learned Conrad Vorstius. This appointment, which was preceded by the withdrawal of Gomarus into
France, called up a new and powerful athlete Into the arena of polemical strife. King James I. of England^ to
whom Vorstius had given great occasion of scandal by the publication of a treatise " De Deo," in which he
introduced some new and extraordinary opinions concerning the nature and essence of the Deity,
immediately on hearing of his appointment, commanded his ambassador, Winwood, to press the States-
General not only for his removal from the professorship, but even his banishment from the provinces. He
supported the representations of his ambassador by letters to the States, of a similar purport, wherein he
spoke of Vorstius as an arch heretic, pest, and monster of blasphemy, whose book deserved the flames, and
his person severe chastisement, declaring that he ought to be banished, if not burned. He even more than
hinted that Peter Bertius, the author of a treatise called the "Apostasy of the Saints," should be associated
with Vorstius in the crown of martyrdom; affirming that the title of the book alone rendered the author
a.
worthy of the flames But however agreeable such a mode of settling matters might be to the temper of
him who advised, it reminded the States somewhat too strongly of past occurrences to find much favour in
their eyes. Win- wood was for some time unable to prevail with them to banish Vorstius, or even to remove
him from Leyden, a proof of contumacy which excited the violent indignation of James, and is remarkable as
having being the occasion of the first and last ebullition of valour he was ever known to betray. He
threatened not only to "write " but to " fight " against the States, rather than Vorstius should be suffered to
rest at Leyden ; and that if they persisted in their refusal, it remained for him to choose whether he would in
revenge " use the pen or the sword b." The demand of the king was strongly opposed in the States by
Barneveldt, and as earnestly supported by Prince Maurice, whose conduct in this instance, so greatly
conciliated James's goodwill, that, forgetting the insulting expressions which the prince had used towards
him at the time of the truce, when he scrupled not to cast some imputations on the personal courage of the
English monarch6, he invested him with the order of the Garter, and henceforward sided with his party on
all occasions against that of Barneveldt. At length the States, on James's complaining that their protection of
Vorstius was an infraction of the truce, which he said was founded solely on the support and preservation of
the pure reformed religion, fearful of offending so powerful an ally, consented that Vorstius should retire to
the Hague or some other town in Holland, and obtained the appointment of Simon Bishop or Episcopius in
d
his room .

Divisions now began to spread rapidly and widely. 1611 At Rotterdam, a Contra-Remonstrant preacher,
Cornelius Geselius, himself refused to partake of the communion, and endeavoured to persuade the people
from the pulpit, that they could not with a free conscience partake of it, with those who held the opinions of
Arminius. The magistrates, having in vain exhorted him to moderation, and to abstain from creating a schism
in the church, forbad him to exercise the ministerial functions within their jurisdiction; upon which Geselius
and his followers, styling themselves " the persecuted church," began to hold their meetings in the villages
of the neighbourhood. This contempt of their authority provoked the magistrates to banish him the city,
when, refusing to obey, he was forcibly 1612 expelled by the schout, the Remonstrants thus first using
against their opponents the coercive force of the civil power, of which they afterwards so bitterly com
plained when turned against themselves. Nor was this the only instance in which they evinced that it was
rather the want of power than of will that pre vented their displaying a spirit of persecution similar to that
which animated their adversaries. A burgher of Rotterdam having observed that he would " as life be
married by a pig as a Remonstrant minister," he was deprived of his burgess-ship for a year, and for bidden
ever again to exercise his trade, which was that of a broker. On one occasion also, a printer of Schiedam put
into the lottery a ticket, on which was written some doggrel lines in disparagement of the conduct of the
magistrates, in regard to the Contra- Remonstrants ; and, in consequence, his drawing was declared forfeit,
e
and himself condemned to imprisonment upon bread and water for fourteen days .

The Remonstrants, who had viewed the course lately adopted by the King of England with feelings of
disappointment and dissatisfaction, were somewhat astonished at the contents of u letter which he now
wrote to the States-General, advising that the ministers should be inhibited from handling the disputed
doctrines in the pulpit, or before the common people, and affirming that, having carefully examined the
arguments on both sides, he found the tenets of neither party incompatible with the Christian faith or with
the salvation of souls. It was generally believed, though without foundation, that the king was in this
instance influenced by the representations made to him by the celebrated Hugo de Groot, or Grotius,
pensionary of Rotterdam, who was now on an embassy at the court of Great Britain*, for the purpose of
arranging some disputes between the English and Dutch East India companies. Following such whole some
advice, the States redoubled their efforts to restore peace, which were however foiled by an insignificant
agent. Sy brand Lubbertus, professor of theology at the college of Franeker, published at this time a book
against Vorstius, in the dedication of which to George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury, he anathematized
the States of Holland, and the curators of Leyden, as epicureans and libertines, abettors of error and heresy,
and followers of the doctrines of Socinus ; an accusation as utterly untrue, as it was ill-timed and malignant.
Lubbertus found a mighty antagonist in Grotius, who answered him in a work entitled "The Piety of the
States of Holland and West Friezland," wherein the question of the authority of the civil sovereign in
ecclesiastical matters is treated in a style and manner worthy of his highest reputation f. But these
publications served no other purpose than to 1613 increase the mutual acrimony of the disputants. The
Contra-Remonstrants loaded their adversaries with calumnies from the pulpit, accusing them of holding
communication with Spaniards and Jesuits, and preached, that it was impossible to preserve Christian peace
with them. Not discouraged, however, the 1614 States of Holland issued an ordinance, entitled, " Re
solution for the Peace of the Church," which, framed with sedulous care by Grotius (deputy of Rotterdam to
the States), and every word weighed with exactness so as to avoid giving offence to either party, repudiated
alike the doctrine that God has created men for the mere purpose of delivering them over to damnation, or
that man is able of his own free-will, and without previous regeneration by the grace of God, to embrace the
faith ; and commanded that both parties should abstain from molesting each other for either of these
opinions ; a document well calculated certainly to satisfy both, since if some of the articles appeared to tend
to the doctrines of the Remonstrants, others might be interpreted wholly in favour of their opponents. It
was, in fact, highly approved of by the Archbishop of Canterbury, King James, and other theologians in
England; and even by many of the Contra-Remonstrants in Holland?. But this, like all the similar measures
which had preceded it, proved ineffectual; and the seat of government now became a prey to the cabals
which agitated the rest of the country. A young preacher, Henry Roseus, formerly inclined to the tenets of
Arminius, had of late changed his opinions, and begun to inveigh against the preachers of that sect,
particularly Uytenbogaard, minister of the French church at the Hague, and to indulge in violent instead of
retorting accusation for accusation and insult for insult, contented himself with simply giving 161 6 an
exposition of his opinions; in vain, that the Consistory decided that they should speak on the controverted
points with discretion, and that those of different sentiments were not to disquiet each other, or violate the
rules of Christian charity ; Roseus re fused to attend the ministry of his colleague or receive the communion
from his hand, and many others followed his example by absenting themselves from the church. The States
having laid on Roseus repeated injunctions to abstain from thus creating a schism, forbad him the pulpit till
further orders. This was exactly what he desired. Assuming the air of a persecuted member of the church, he
with his partisans opened a conventicle at Ryswick. His conduct induced Barneveldt to adopt the imprudent
measure of applying to Prince Maurice for his assistance to support the authority of the States ; a false and
fatal step, of which he himself was one of the first to experience the deplorable consequences. Hitherto the
contest, however virulent, had been wholly ecclesiastical, the interference of the States being exercised
solely with a view to reconcile the adverse parties; personal rivalries and political animosities were yet
wanting to give bitterness to polemical dissensions, and rancour to religious hatred. These passions were
henceforward called into unrestrained action, and in their struggle shook the constitution of the State to its
very foundation. The ill-will which Prince Maurice had conceived against Barneveldt at the time of the truce
with Spain, — a measure carried by the latter in direct opposition 1616 to his wishes and interests, — had
been since rather increased than abated by his jealousy of the influence which Barneveldt preserved in the
States, in the body of representative nobility, among whom were two of his sons-in-law, and in the
governments of most of the towns, where, from the personal attachment borne him, the individuals
nominated to the principal offices were generally from among his friends and supporters. To these causes of
dislike was added another, which though circumstantially adduced by Du Maurier, and repeated by after
historians*, appears somewhat doubtful. This author, valuable as throwing much light upon the transactions
of this period, and the characters of the principal personages who appear in them, but whose relations are
to be received with caution, affirms, that he was told by his father, then ambassador from the court of
France to the States, that the Princess Dowager of Orange had imparted to him in great confidence a
scheme formed by Prince Maurice for raising himself to the sovereignty, to which he had gained her consent
by representing, that as he himself had no children the succession would devolve on her son Frederic Henry,
[and had commissioned her to sound Barneveldt on the subject. Barneveldt, protesting that he had nothing
so much at heart as the aggrandizement of the house of Nassau, yet used such unanswerable arguments to
prove that Maurice, even could he obtain the sovereignty he desired, would thereby only prepare the way
for his own ruin, that she entirely changed her opinion. She accordingly conjured her step-son not to persist
in a design which 1616 would ultimately prove of infinite prejudice to him; a remonstrance which he
received with undisguised coldness and displeasure'. Du Maurier says, in another place, (p. 296,) that this
proposal was made subsequently to the negotiations for the truce; but it seems hardly probable that
Maurice, being then at open variance with Barueveldt, should have so far committed himself as to disclose
to him a purpose, of which the slightest hint would, if published, have been sufficient to ruin his authority in
the Provinces, and to deprive him of the friendship of the allies, who would be dis gusted at beholding the
monarchical power wrested from the legitimate sovereign to be usurped by his rebellious subject; besides
the umbrage they might take at beholding such an one assume to rank with themselves. It is scarcely to be
supposed either that Barneveldt, at his subsequent trial, when his imputing to Prince Maurice the design of
usurping the sovereignty was made one of the principal articles of accusation against him, should, from an
overstrained delicacy towards the princess dowager, have forborne to plead so strong an argument in his
own justification. The supposition that Du Maurier is in error in this particular is confirmed by the fact, that
neither before the death of Barueveldt, nor after, when, by that event, and the banishment of the heads of
the Remonstrant party every obstacle to his purpose was removed, did Prince Maurice make any attempt,
either secret or overt, to possess himself of the sovereignty at which he M7as accused of aiming. However
this may be, many reasons besides personal animosity prompted Maurice to espouse with eagerness the
party opposed to Barneveldt, among which, not the least was the circumstance that all, except a
comparatively small number, of the ministers 1616 of the Reformed church, who had from the first been his
most zealous partisans, were hostile to the tenets of Arminius, which were favoured generally by the
governments of the towns*. He had as yet, however, taken no ostensible share in the proceedings. His real
opinions, indeed, were, as it was supposed, rendered sufficiently evident by his co-operation with the King
of England, in the persecution of Vorstius, — by an appointment he made of magistrates upon a change of
the government at Alkmaar, when he had nominated all the new members from among the Contra-Remon
strant party, — and by the open defiance of the authority of the States, on the part of the consistories and
classes, which it was suspected they would scarcely have ventured to offer, without a confidence in his
secret support; but he had continued to attend the ministry of the Remonstrant preacher Uytenbogaard,
who had been for many years on terms of intimate friendship with him, and openly and constantly
professed neutrality between the parties, declaring on all occasions that he had nothing to do with such
subjects. He made a similar answer to the present application of Barneveldt, but a short time after, being
solicited by the Councils of State and Finance of Holland to afford his advice in the present exigencies, he
fully discovered his favourable feelings towards the Contra-Remonstrants by reading 1616 out of the
register-book the oath he had taken in 1586, whereby he and the States mutually bound themselves to
defend to the last drop of their blood the Reformed religion (which the Contra-Remonstrants continually
protested was in danger, from the doctrines preached by the Arminians), the first ground of revolt from
Spain, and for which his father lost his life ; and this oath, he said, he was determined to keep whilst he
lived. This act appears to have been the result of a conference with the English ambassador, Sir Dudley
Carleton*, who had now replaced Winwood at the Hague, and who following but too closely the instructions
he had received from his sovereign to watch over the interests of the Reformed religion in the Provinces,
espoused the party of the Contra-Remonstrants, with a zeal and passion better befitting a disputant of the
k
schools, than the minister of a great and enlightened nation . As Barneveldt had, by this error, roused into
activity one powerful foe, so did he, by his dexterity and zeal in the service of his country, unconsciously
embitter the animosity of another. A negotiation of marriage at this time pending between Charles, eldest
surviving son of the King of England, and the Infanta of Spain, of which Barneveldt had obtained the know
ledge, inspired the States with a vivid anxiety lest James should purchase an alliance he had so long and so
ardently coveted by the surrender of the cautionary towns, Briel, Flushing, and Rammekens; and it became,
therefore, highly desirable to satisfy the king, if possible, and deliver these towns from their perilous
dependence on a foreign power. The debt for which they had been originally pledged had been settled in
1608*, at some- 1616 thing more than 800,000/., and of this about 600,00<W. now remained ; a sum which
the States, at the present time, would have found great difficulty in raising. Their object was, therefore, that
the advances should appear to be made principally on the king's side, and that the States, by affecting
indifference to that which they most desired, might be enabled to bring him to more moderate terms.
Circumstances were at this juncture especially favourable; the garrisons of the towns, being left unpaid,
were clamorous for their arrears, and James, having to supply his own lavish expenditure, and the rapacity
of his new and needy favourite Villiers, was reduced, by the refusal of his parliament to grant supplies, to a
state of extreme necessity. His situation, as well as every transaction that occurred at his court, was
perfectly well known at the Hague, and Caron, the States' resident in London, was instructed by Barneveldt
to suggest, as if from himself, that he had no doubt the States would use their utmost endeavours to
liquidate the debt, if his Majesty should be desirous of relieving himself of the charge of the cautionary
towns. The bait was eagerly seized by the greedy monarch. ^He appointed some members of the Privy
Council to treat of the surrender, for which Caron offered an immediate payment of 250,000/., which after
some discussion was accepted. The money was paid without delay, and in the June of this year, the garrisons
were withdrawn from Briel, Flushing, and Bammekens, the troops with their commander, Lord Lisle, being
l
incorporated with the States' army . This transaction, which excited deep murmurs among all classes of
men in England, was looked upon by foreign nations with astonishment, not unmingled with contempt; in
the French court particularly, it was observed that the King of France had for years lavished vast sums,
without success, to bring the Provinces to a state of dependence similar to that which the cautionary towns
created, and which England now voluntarily relinquished1". The effect of such observations was to inspire
James with a notion that he had been outwitted in this instance by Barneveldt, and, destitute of sufficient
magnanimity to appreciate tho patriotic motives of that great statesman, he ever afterwards harboured a
dislike towards him, which he scrupled not to display in acts of vindictive hos tility0. Notwithstanding that
the open avowal of Prince Maurice's sentiments, rendered obedience to any decree promulgated by the
States of Holland less probable than before, they issued another, similar to the former in its conciliatory
tendency, purporting that the different opinions on the five points should be tolerated, and that the two
parties should continue in communion with each other, under pain of being treated as disturbers of the
public peace. But this beneficial resolution, not having passed unanimously in the States, was not invested
with the force of a legal measure, and several towns, Amsterdam especially, refused to publish it. The
majority of the States, therefore, sent thither an embassy, headed by Grotius, who, in a long and eloquent
oration to the Great Council, strenuously urged its adoption. It was, however, rejected* by a majority of two
or three votes only, and thus this important city threw its decisive weight into the scale of the Contra-
Remonstrants0. From this period the 1616 Remonstrants in those towns where they were weakest, and the
Contra-Remonstrants where they were in a like situation, began universally to secede from the churches,
and to hold separate conventicles ; the latter presenting complaints to the States, as from the " afflicted
church,"' and alleging that their consciences were not in peace by reason of the doctrines preached by the
Remonstrants. At the Hague, those persons who were accustomed to attend the ministry of Roseus,
declared themselves deprived of the word of God ; and though there were two Contra-Remonstrant
preachers still remaining, demanded that the great church should be surrendered to them. On the refusal of
the States to 1617 comply with their request, they seized on a building called the cloister church, and
established a separate service therein ; a proceeding of which Prince Maurice testified his approbation, by
repairing thither on the second Sunday after, with William of Nassau, stadt-holder of Friezland, and a long
retinue. The Princess Dowager, and Prince Frederic Hen*y, however, continued to attend the ministry of
Uytenbogaard p. But the Remonstrants at Amsterdam, less ably supported, were not quite so fortunate in
the issue of a similar attempt. They had hired a large warehouse, where they assembled for the
performance of divine service, to the number of 1800; but scarcely had the minister commenced his
sermon, when an Englishman, a Contra-Remonstrant, rose and exclaimed with a loud voice, " O Amsterdam,
Amsterdam ! you who used to wear the crown, to what are you come!" At this signal, the populace, who had
collected in a mob outside, began to throw stones, and soon demolished the windows; they then rushed
towards the preacher, with 1617 the design of dragging him from the pulpit, and aimed at him some heavy
blows, which were warded off by the women, who surrounded and defended him with their stools. The
door, which formed the only entrance, was then nailed together as if for the purpose of setting fire to the
building; but the Remonstrants within, being in sufficient force to break it down, effected their escape. The
preacher was escorted from the pulpit by his wife and some of his friends, but was no sooner recognised by
the mob, than he was assailed with showers of mud, stones, and dirty water. He at length took refuge in the
house of a brewer, and thus escaped the fury of his pursuers, who had resolved upon stoning him to death.
They then plundered the building of every article it contained, and even stripped the tiles and lead from the
roof. On a complaint being made of this outrage to the magistrates, they refused to punish the rioters,
observing, that the fault lay with the Remonstrants, who had no business to assemble. Finding that they
might carry on their doings with impunity, the populace, on the next Sunday, collected in troops of from 50
to 200 together, beating upon half barrels by way of kettle-drums, and after parading the streets in this
manner for some time, stopped before the house of Rembert Bishop, a wealthy merchant of the city, a
zealous Remonstrant, and the brother of the Simon Bishop, or Episcopius, who will shortly come under our
notice. Upon a cry being given of "Here the Remonstrants preach," the mob began instantly to tear down
the bell, batter the door with large beams, and break the windows. Bishop in vain reiterated his assertions
that none but his own family were within^ and offered to admit two or three of the ringleaders to satisfy
themselves of the fact. They persisted in forcing their way in, when Bishop, snatching up a warming-pan, the
only weapon at hand, 1617 dealt about him some sturdy blows, and thus kept the multitude at bay while he
sent to the schout for assistance, which there was some difficulty in procuring. At length the schout
appeared, when the violence in some measure decreased; but at the end of about half an hour he went
away, alleging that he had no orders to remain there all day. The house, thus delivered a prey to the fury of
the mob, was ransacked from garret to cellar, the value of the plunder being estimated at 5000 guilders.
Rembert and his family happily escaped in safety through the back entrance. The next day the rioters
showed some disposition for further violence, having pointed out two or three of the best houses as
belonging to Arminians; but on the threat of some of the merchants that they would leave the city unless
measures were taken for their protection, a troop of soldiers was stationed to guard the dwellings of the
principal Remonstrants, which soon restored quiet. It was remarkable that the clergy, though continually
inveighing against the dances, dress, and festivals of the youth of both sexes, expressed not the slightest
disapprobation of these outrages. Similar disorders occurred in other places ; but Prince Maurice,
notwithstanding that he took so active a part on the side of the Contra-Remonstrants, whom, as he said, he
looked upon as the old Reformers, and the people who had raised his father to his dignity, scrupled not to
reply to the repeated entreaties of Barneveldt, that he would support the States in their endeavours to
suppress these tumults, that he was resolved to remain neutral in the quarrel ; he even forbad the troops to
q
assist the magistrates in quelling any disturbance arising from religious causes . This prohibition gave rise to
a suspicion in the minds of the chiefs of the Remonstrant party, Barne- veldt, Grotius, and Rombold
Hoogerbeets, pensionary of Lcyden, that a design existed, under cover of these popular tumults, to change
the governments of the towns ; in which case the schuttery or burgher guards, many of whom favoured the
Contra-Remonstrants, were not to be depended on for their defence. A decree was therefore issued by the
majority in the States of Holland, for the levy of " Waardgelders ;" troops, namely, who were paid a small
sum by the municipal government of a town, to hold themselves in readiness to defend that town when
called on. This resolution, which was termed by the Contra-Remonstrants the " Severe Edict," and was
protested against by the five towns of Amsterdam, Enkhuyzen, Edam, Purmerend, and Dordrecht, has been
lauded by the writers of the Remonstrant party as a measure equally politic, justifiable, and necessary. It
scarcely deserves, however, to be spoken of in such terms of commendation'. The right of the municipal
governments, indeed, to raise Waardgelders for the defence and protection of the towns when occasion
required, was indubitable; that of Amsterdam had done so at the time of the Anabaptist riots, as well as
others in frequent in stances ; but whether this right were now exercised in a manner either judicious or
patriotic, is a wholly different question. It was a display, or rather an attempt at a display, of force, such as
to justify the adoption of the like measures on the part of their adversaries, in which case, as immeasurably
inferior in numbers and strength, they must inevitably succumb ; the Waardgelders, moreover, were
accustomed to be raised in times of tumult, or danger from foreign invasion, to assist the schuttery when
insufficient; but it 161 7 was never contemplated by the spirit of the constitution, that the former should be
levied either to supersede or act in opposition to the latter ; if the two parties were not to come to a trial of
strength, their levy was worse than useless ; if they were, the different bodies of municipal troops must be
arrayed in hostility against each other, the arm of citizen must be lifted against citizen, of brother against
brother, and civil war must have been the result. But the errors of the Remonstrant party sink into
insignificance, when compared with the excesses and outrages committed by their more powerful
opponents. Prince Maurice either was, or affected to be, fully persuaded that the levy of the new troops was
proposed for no other purpose than to annihilate his authority both with the army and in the state, and
constantly spoke of it in public as an act of open rebellion. He now only waited for a favourable opportunity
for bringing matters to an issue by force; an occasion for which soon presented itself. The consistory of Briel,
having presented a requisition to the Court of Holland, in which they made use of the inde cent menace,
that " it would soon be seen who had the strongest arm," inspired the magistrates (Remonstrants) with the
fear that some violence was intended, and they accordingly determined upon taking active measures to
preserve the peace. But while the question was debated, as to whether it were most advisable to raise fresh
troops for this purpose, or to receive some companies from the States, who should take an oath of fidelity
to themselves, Maurice pre vented their design by setting out from the Hague by night, and without
informing the Council of State, at the head of two regiments of infantry, whom he introduced into the town
in spite of the remonstrances of the magistrates, and even refused to permit the soldiers to take the usual
oath of fidelity to them. The Council of State, though favourably inclined to Prince Mau rice, learnt the news
of his departure with extreme dissatisfaction; since it had never been the custom of the stadtholders to quit
the Hague without taking leave of the Council, or the States, or to change the garrisons of the towns without
their permission. As a cover to this unprecedented act, a report was industriously spread, that Barneveldt
was engaged in a conspiracy to deliver Briel into the hands of the Spaniards; and that a part of the town of
Flushing also was left exposed for the purpose of affording them admittance. This report, though instantly
rejected as absurd by all men of discrimination, served to exasperate not a little the popular clamour against
the advocate, who was at this time at Utrecht, detained by sickness, or, as it is said, employed in forwarding
s
the levy of the Waard-gelders . From the period of the open accession of Prince Maurice, the party of the
Contra-Remonstrants had been daily gaining ground; libels upon the nobles, States, and municipal
governments of the province of Holland poured in on all sides; Barneveldt in particular was cruelly attacked;
and the wide-spread mischief was still further inflamed by the officious intermeddling of King James. The
question of assembling a national synod had now, to a great degree, superseded the other points in dispute,
the Contra-Remonstrants pertinaciously insisting on the assembly, their adversaries as earnestly opposing it.
With this fact James was fully acquainted; and he now sent a letter to the States- General, couched in terms
of strong recommendation of the measure, upon which that body was no less 1617 divided than the country
in general*. Of the provinces, Zealand, Friezland, and Groningen were en tirely Contra-Remonstrant; in
Guelderland and Overys- sel the number of Remonstrants was estimated in the proportion of one-third, and
in Holland about two- thirds, the province of Utrecht being entirely favourable to them«. The three first
accordingly insisted upon the convocation of a national synod, to which they urged the States of Holland, as
the only means of healing the present dissensions. But the latter, well aware that the majority in such a
synod must necessarily be Contra-Remonstrant, expressed their unwillingness that any law should be
prescribed to them in religious matters; a proceeding which they conceived derogatory to the dignity of the
province, it having been established as well by the Pacification of Ghent in 1576, as by the Union of Utrecht,
that each province should have the entire regulation of its own affairs as concerned religion. They were,
therefore, equally urgent for the holding of either a provincial or general synod, the latter of which should
represent the whole of the Reformed church of Europe; and pro tested that a national synod would be
illegal unless agreed upon unanimously by the States-General v. Regardless of this protest, however, in
which Utrecht and Overyssel joined, the remaining five provinces came to a decision that a national synod
should be convoked, and even began to arrange preliminaries to that effect. They would scarcely have
ventured to act thus in open hostility to Holland, had that province been at unity within itself; but the towns
of Amsterdam, Edam, Eukhuyzen, and Purmerend, not only opposed every resolution adopted by the
majority, but even went so far on this occasion as to enter a counter- protest; a proceeding wholly
unconstitutional and, as yet, unexampled in the States-General, where individual members had no right to
deliver their opinions, the vote of the whole province only being given. In fine, a national synod Was
appointed to be held at Dordrecht, and letters were drawn up to the Kings of England and France, to the
Count Palatine, and other princes, requesting them to send delegates thither from the churches in their
dominions. At the reading of these letters, the deputies of the three opposing pro vinces rose and left the
assembly. The sending them was, however, delayed till the January of the next year, in the hope of bringing
over the recusant members to give their consent w. The arguments of the King of England in favour of a
national synod, were powerfully supported by his ambassador Carleton, who, in a long oration to the States-
General, reprobated, in no very measured terms, the means adopted by the States of Holland to procure a
toleration of the Remonstrants. This called forth a defence of the States by one Taurinus, in the shape of a
pamphlet, entitled the " Balance," in which the am bassador and his harangue Avere so roughly handled, as
to excite the anger of Carleton to an incontrollable degree; his complaints to his own court of the insults
offered him therein were unceasing; and by his reiterated and vehement importunities, he at length induced
the four Contra- Remonstrant provinces to condemn the publication as a libel, and to offer a reward of 1000
livres for the discovery of the author, who had published it without his name. As this edict was opposed by
the other three, it served to add fresh fuel to the fire of discord*. The French ambassador Dii Maurier, on
the contrary, whom his affection towards Barne- veldt, no less than the instructions of his master, prompted
to espouse the side of the Remonstrants, delivered an address to the States-General, earnestly exhorting
them to the immediate adoption of measures of pacification and toleration*; measures which the weaker
party always so strongly insist on, and which they are so seldom found to practise when by a change of
circumstances they become the stronger. But the words of reconciliation and peace in the present infuriated
state of men's passions were as the dripping of the rock upon the foaming torrent. Every town, every village,
nearly every house, was in a state of distraction. The burghers of Leyden, hearing that Prince Maurice had
again quitted the Hague by night, with the purpose of visiting their town among others of the Remonstrant
party, made preparations of hostility, as if against the invasion of a foreign enemy. Without attempting an
entry, however, he passed on to Delft and Schiedam, where he effected the dispersion of the new levies.
Maurice had now come to the conviction, confirmed by the ill success he had met with in a tour he made
through the towns of Holland, for the purpose of obtaining their consent to the assembly of the national
synod, (a measure which he affected warmly to advocate in order to gain the favour of the clergy,) that the
destruction of Barneveldt, which since the levy of the Waardgelders he had resolved on accomplishing,
could not be effected so long as he was supported by the municipal governments. He had lately become
1618 Prince of Orange by the death of his elder brother, who left him heir to all his rich possessions, and the
augmentation of wealth and influence he thus obtained gave him additional courage to venture upon the
extraordinary measure of changing the members of these bodies; a measure which had ever been regarded
as an unwarrantable stretch of power even in the most arbitrary counts ; but which, in a mere dependant
and minister of the deputies of those very governments, was an act of such lawless usurpation as few
suspected he could possibly have contemplated. Not bold enough, however, to commence the execution of
his scheme in Holland, where the influence of Barneveldt was still very great, he made trial of his strength
first at Nimeguen, at which town he had reserved to himself the right of changing the senate during the war.
Of this right, though it was objected that it did not hold good while in a state of truce, he now availed
himself to depose three members who favoured the Remonstrants. The dispossessed magistrates, deeming
probably the States of their own province not sufficiently powerful to protect them, "threw themselves into
the arms of the States of Holland," whose inter cession they besought, that they might be restored to their
rights. In compliance with their request, the States of Holland wrote to this effect to those of Guelderland,
but found their application forestalled by the Prince of Orange, who had already presented himself before
the States of Guelderland and obtained their thanks for his acts at Nimeguen. After this propitious
commencement Maurice proceeded to De- venter, where the States of Overyssel were assembled, to whom
he artfully represented, that the proposed national synod might be of great benefit in healing the present
dissensions, and could not by any possibility be productive of evil, since its decrees would be of none effect,
till ratified by the States of each province. 1618 The deputies fell into the snare, and gave their con sent to
the synod under certain restrictions. Thus Utrecht and Holland were left alone in their opposition, and of the
latter, the town of Schiedam had now fallen off to the party of the Contra-Remonstrants2. Meanwhile,
libels, lampoons, and pasquinades, each one more malignant and scurrilous than the foregoing, continued to
pour on the devoted head of Barneveldt. Nor was the Prince of Orange himself less active than his partisans
in heaping him with obloquy. He en deavoured to impress the Count of Culemburg with the belief that
Barneveldt's party was endeavouring to bring the provinces again under the dominion of Spain ; and on the
count's demanding some proof of his assertion, he replied, that it was not yet time, since it was necessary
first to make an example of some of the traitors. It is probable that Barneveldt might, as he had hitherto
done, have treated these unworthy insinuations against him with silent contempt, had not the Princess
Dowager of Orange, by whom he was highly esteemed, communicated to him, that he was suspected by
many persons of having received money from Spain, in consequence of the reiterated ass eve rations of the
prince that such was the fact, and that proofs of it existed in Brussels. By her advice, the advocate published
a letter addressed to the Prince of Orange, in which he entered into a long and able justification of his
conduct and motives. He likewise presented a remonstrance to the same effect to the States of Holland,
who manifested their approbation of its contents, and subsequently declared an answer to it, which was
published anonymously, a calumnious and defamatory libel, offering 500 guilders for the discovery of the
author. They likewise took Barneveldt under their special protection; a resolution which was occasioned
probably by a report now current of a threat used by the Prince of Orange, that he " would crush Barneveldt
and his party to the dust8." The States followed up this resolution by a remonstrance to the prince, calling
upon him as stadtholder of the province to assist in defending its privileges; which, however, remained
unheeded, or served but to exasperate his already bitter animosity against them. Still less did it contribute
to deter the States-General from issuing the letters of convocation to the national synod at Dordrecht,
which town, as the States of Holland justly objected, lay wholly under their jurisdiction, and the summoning
a synod there without their permission, was a direct violation of the rights of sovereignty of the province.
They returned unopened the summons of the States-General, and sent a letter to those foreign princes who
b
had received a similar missive, representing to them the state of the case . It soon became evident how
useless, as well as impolitic, had been the levy of the Waardgelders, of whom, indeed, the number
amounted altogether to no more than 1800. The prince, and deputies of the Contra-Remonstrant provinces
in the States-General, having received information that a party in the States of Utrecht were become
somewhat weary of the expense of maintaining these troops, dispatched deputies thither, commissioned to
propose to the States that they should be disbanded. Hereupon, the States of Holland on their part sent
deputies to recommend the States of Utrecht on no account to consent to the dismissal of the
Waardgeklers, and to promise 1018 them their assistance in case of need ; they likewise commanded Sir
John Ogle, governor of the garrison of Utrecht, and the troops stationed there, who formed part of the
quota furnished by Holland, to. obey no orders but those of the States of Utrecht, or of the deputies of the
States of Holland, their paymasters, under pain of cassations Desirous, however, of coming if possible to an
amicable arrangement, the Holland deputies, before their departure from the Hague, proposed to the
States-General to procure the dismissal of the Waardgelders, upon a promise from them to protect the
governments of the towns of Holland and Utrecht against any tumult arising from what cause soever. The
States declined enter ing into any positive engagement of the sort, and the deputies therefore proceeded to
Utrecht, whither they were immediately followed by the Prince of Orange with the Lord of Vooght, as
deputy from Guelderland, Mannemaker from Zealand, and Zwartzemburg from Friezland. On his arrival,
Maurice demanded of the States that they should disband the Waardgelders, and give their consent to a
national synod, declaring at the same time, that he would as little permit the Remonstrants to be oppressed
as their opponents, and that he would be a father and protector of the one sect as well as the other. But the
States of Utrecht, little inclined to trust to professions, of the hollow nature of which they were well aware,
answered, that in the matter of the levy of Waardgelders, they had done nothing but what they had a
perfect right to do, and what was necessary for their own security ; and with regard to the synod, they were,
by the Union of Utrecht, sovereigns in their own province in religious matters, nor could any national synod
be legal without the unanimous consent of the provinces'1. They de livered their sentiments thus boldly, in
the full confidence, entertained by Barneveldt and Grotius as well as themselves, that the Prince of Orange
would not venture to resort to actual force, well knowing that he had no authority from the States to that
effect. But they soon discovered the error they had fallen into, in supposing that the prince would stop short
of anything necessary to accomplish his object. While these useless negotiations were pending, Maurice had
occupied the principal avenues of the town with the garrisons drawn from the places in the vicinity, and
some companies of troops entirely at his devotion. He then, with the deputies of the States-General and a
long train of officers, repaired to the market-place, where half a company of Waardgelders were keeping
guard, and desired them to summon the remainder. On their appearance he ordered them to lay down their
arms, and released them from their oath and service, a command which they instantly obeyed.. Five more
companies were then assembled by beat of drum and disbanded in a similar manner; the whole of this
singular transaction being carried on in profound quiet. At the conclusion, some members of the States of
Utrecht, who either secretly favoured the prince, or who, seeing the turn affairs were taking, thought it best
to provide for their own welfare by a timely submission, addressed to him a vote of thanks, and besought
him to take such measures as he should think advisable for the security of the town and province. The rest,
either overwhelmed with dismay, or, perceiving the uselessness of resistance, allowed him, without
opposition, to make an entire change in the 1618 constitution of the town. The members of the
government, whose offices were hitherto annual and elective, he now appointed for life ; retaining those
only, who had signalized themselves by their zeal as Contra- Eemonstrants. This was followed by the
dismissal of Ledemburg, secretary to the States of the province, and by alterations in the bodies of the
ecclesiastics and nobility as members of the States; the Remonstrants also were obliged by the new
government of the town to surrender the cathedral to their adversaries 6. Having thus arranged the affairs
of Utrecht, both ecclesiastical and civil, entirely according to his plea sure, Maurice returned to the Hague,
when the Contra- Remonstrant deputies in the States-General, carried away by the heat of religious
fanaticism and political contest, so far lost sight of all principles of prudence and patriotism, as to present
their thanks to him, for an act of arbitrary violence, such as Alva himself had never dared to commit, and by
which their constitution and privileges became, in fact, dependent on his will. The councils of the towns of
Holland, also, warned by the example of Utrecht, upon receiving an ordinance from the States-General,
commanding the officers and troops of the new levies to renounce the oath they had taken to the municipal
governments, and to lay down their arms under pain of being treated as rebels, one and all consented to
disband the obnoxious troops; some slight difficulties only occurring at Leyden. The council of Rotterdam,
f
following the advice of their pensionary Grotius, had anticipated the ordinance by a few days . After the
dismissal of the Waardgelders, the question of the national synod was once more agitated in the States-
General. The deputies of the Remonstrant towns of Holland, finding further opposition hopeless, and fearful
lest the example of such a measure being adopted by the majority, should be drawn into a precedent, had,
with the exception of Gouda, resolved upon no longer withholding their consent?, when an event happened,
which struck most men with astonishment, and overwhelmed the unfortunate Remonstrants with confusion
and dismay. This was the arrest and imprisonment of Barneveldt, Grotius, and Hoogerbeets, pensionary of
Leyden. The bitter enmity existing between Barneveldt and the Prince of Orange, rendered this measure, as
regarded him, not difficult to account for; but with respect to Grotius and Hooger beets it was totally
inexplicable, since the former had been but a few months employed in public affairs, and the latter had not
made himself by any means conspicuous in the late transactions; nor did there appear any reason why the
penalty of acts in which so many had participated should be visited upon them alone, unless, indeed, it were
to be found in the envy, which their superior talents and eloquence, and the favour they enjoyed with the
governments of the towns, excited. It is said, that Barneveldt had already, received warning of the existence
of a design of this nature, but had contented himself with thanking those who gave him the information,
without taking any. precautions for his own security; and had firmly resisted the entreaties of his friends,
that he would withdraw to some fortified place on which he might depend, declaring that he would abide
the issue of events at the Hague, where he had so long faithfully served his masters, rather than bring any
town into 1618 trouble on his account. Early on the morning of his ^Q' arrest, Uytembogaart, going into his
cabinet, found him, instead of being occupied as usual in writing or giving directions, seated with his back
towards the table in an attitude of deep dejection. He endea voured to console him by recalling to his mind
the example of the many eminent men of all ages, who having done the greatest services to their country
had met with no other reward than ingratitude. At the conclusion of this interview, he pressed the hand of
his aged friend, with a presentiment of evil for which he was unable to account. It was for the last time.
Within an hour after his departure, Barneveldt proceeded to the Assembly of the States of Holland, when, as
he was about to enter, a messenger informed him that the prince desired to speak with him. He accordingly
went into the chamber where they were accustomed to hold their conferences, and was immediately
arrested by Nythof, lieutenant of the prince's body guard, in the name of the States-General. The same
pretence was used towards Grotius and Hoogerbeets, who were in like manner seized and conducted to
separate apartments, each in ignorance of what had happened to the others. To these was afterwards
added Ledemburg, secretary of the States of Utrecht*. Uytembogaart fortunately effected his escape to
Antwerp, where he continued during the remainder of the truc eh. Although the arrest had been made in
the name of the States-General, it had never been proposed in that assembly, but was resolved on by those
members only who had accompanied Maurice to Utrecht, and executed by order of the prince himself; and
thus a measure of such vital importance to the liberty and security of the subject, was carried into effect by
private persons, wholly destitute of the requisite authority, and who had themselves become amen able to
the laws by disbanding the Waardgelders at Utrecht, in opposition to the authority, and in violation of the
sovereignty of the States of that province. Barneveldt, moreover, was under the especial protection of the
States of Holland; and the two others as pensionaries of Rotterdam and Leyden were under the jurisdiction
of those towns, or the court of Holland only; nor could they be legally arrested at all, unless " flagrante
delicto," without a previous complaint made to the municipal governments'. Violent and arbitrary as the
arrest was, however, the States-General signified their approval of it, the deputies of Holland alone
remaining mute Avith grief and amazement, — and made the report in corresponding terms to the States of
Holland. These unhesitatingly expressed their sur prise that a matter of such importance should have been
resolved on, and executed without their consent, or even knowledge; demanded in strong terms satisfaction
for the injury they had sustained by a proceeding so derogatory to the privileges and liberty of the province;
and adopting a political fiction, under cover of which they hoped, perhaps, that the Prince of Orange might
be induced to retrace with honour the unjustifiable steps he had taken, they petitioned him to unite with
them in defence of the rights of the province, which he had been the foremost to violate, and to pro cure
the release of the prisoners, who had been arrested for no other cause than to gratify his personal jealousy
1618 and revenge. But again was the resolution of the States rendered destitute of force by disunion among
themselves. The deputies of the six Contra-Remonstrant towns, although they avoided the invidious course
of opposing it, protested that they had no authority from their principals to decide on so import ant a
question. The remonstrance of the majority, accordingly, had but little weight with the prince, who replied,
that what had been done was by the command of the States-General, with whom the province of Holland
must arrange the matter of their jurisdiction. Similar applications from Rotterdam and Leyden met with a
like reception. The sons-in-law of Barneveldt, the Lords of Van der Myle, and Veenhuyzen, with his son, the
Sieur de Groeneveldt, having besought the prince, that their father, in consideration of his age and infirmity,
might be allowed his own house as a prison, he threw this likewise upon the States-General, saying, that it
was their business alone. He added, that their father should suffer no more harm than himself; but
Veenhuyzen attempting to excuse the prisoner for having opposed the occupation of the cloister-church at
the Hague by the Contra-Remonstrants, Maurice fell into a transport of passion, exclaiming, "that if anyone
would say a word against the cloister- church, his own feet should not carry him from thence." On the same
evening an attempt was made to rescue the prisoners by the Lords of Schagen and Asperen, the principal
members of the body of nobility; they were seized and disarmed, but released with a reprimand upon
finding sureties J. Notwithstanding the ill success of their last remonstrance, the majority of the States of
Holland were none the less firm in the protection of their ministers. " If," they said, " the prisoners are
accused of creating domestic disturbances, the cognizance of the crime belongs solely to Holland ; if of a
treasonable correspondence with Spain, the offence is committed equally against the allies. Let them then
be tried before all the provinces, with the ambassadors of France and England; and, should they be found
guilty, punished without mercyk." Their pertinacity convinced the enemies of Barueveldt, that so long as the
deputies chosen by the present municipal governments remained in the States, their projects of vengeance
would be, if not wholly defeated, perpetually thwarted and delayed. They therefore urged the Prince of
Orange to employ the time afforded by the prorogation of the States in the completion of the desirable and
necessary work he had begun in Guelderland and Utrecht, by deposing all the magistrates in the towns of
Holland who were suspected of attachment to the advocate, and substituting such persons as would prove
subservient to the ruling party1*. In pursuance of their advice, he repaired at the head of his body-guard of
300 troops, first to Schoonhaven, where he discharged the magistrates from their oaths, and deposed all
those members of the Great Council who had recommended toleration in religious matters, filling their
places with the most violent of the Contra-Remonstrants ; admitting at the same time the illegality of the
act, by a protestation he thought it necessary to make, that it was done without prejudice to the privileges
of the town. From thence he proceeded to effect a similar change in Briel, Delft, and other places, which, the
garrisons being favourable to him, offered not the slightest resistance. At Hoorn, however, a town
remarkable at all times for the strenuous defence of its privileges, and where, on the present occasion, the
government and schuttery were united in sentiment, Maurice encountered con siderable difficulty, and
even no slight danger. On intelligence of his approach, the Great Council, after some debates as to what
course was to be taken in this emergency, determined upon sending deputies to request the prince that, in
order to avoid tumults, he would not enter the gates with such a number of troops as to give umbrage to
the inhabitants. But, unfortunately, so much time had been lost in the previous discussions, that Maurice
had already arrived close to the gate s* when he was met by the deputies of the council. He affected,
therefore, to regard their application as ill-judged, and unseasonable in the highest degree, and replied, that
if the people of Hoorn would not admit him, he would go another way, and see what was to be done
aftenoards; but that, as to his retinue, he would not diminish it by a single page. After some demur, it was
resolved to allow him to enter with all his followers. The gate being opened, he advanced between two lines
of schuttery, drawn up in arms on each side of the street, and was conducted to his hotel, where he was
feasted with great magnificence, and an appearance of friendly feeling maintained on both sides. The
schuttery, however, continued under arms the whole night, in the different stations of the town, and in such
a state of excitement, that a single word from the burgomaster, or a stroke of the town bell, would have
proved the signal for the attack of the prince's troops; a result greatly dreaded by Maurice himself, who
refused to retire to rest, and manifested the most unequivocal symptoms of alarm. The next morning he
asked the captains of the schuttery why they kept such strict watch, since he had given them no cause of
mistrust. They appealed to the burgo masters, and they again to the Great Council, which, having
assembled, addressed to the prince a petition, that he would not violate the privileges of the town by
displacing the present government, a measure which must inevitably occasion great contention and dis
orders; but rather, if he were determined to make a change, to add to their number some persons who
should be agreeable to him. To this proposal Maurice gave a seeming consent, desiring that the council
would first gratify him by disarming the schuttery. His request was complied with; but, on a renewal of the
petition, he refused to perform his part of the agreement, alleging that he had not yet made up his mind on
the subject. It soon appeared with what view he took so much time for consideration. During the three days'
delay he thus obtained, he introduced several companies of troops from Friezland within the walls, and then
sent to inform the council that he would give them an answer at the guildhall. Repairing thither,
accompanied by a large body of troops, who drew up in the form of a crescent in the market-place, he at
once deposed the whole council, eight of whom he re-appointed, and filled the places of the rest with
persons of no account, some of whom were not even burghers, and all held in such contempt that he was
obliged to leave a garrison of 900 soldiers to protect 1618 them from the indignation of the people111. On
the re-assembling of the States of Holland, it appeared how powerfully the party of the prince was
augmented by the appointment of new deputies from those towns in which the governments had been
changed. The report of his doings was received with immediate and unanimous approbation, except by
Gouda, Leyden, Haarlem, and Rotterdam, which had not yet undergone a similar revolution; and it was left
to his discretion as to what measures were to be pursued in regard to those towns, the States promising to
support him in effecting any change which he might think necessary. They likewise consented to place on
their records, that all his acts had been done in no other view than to procure peace and repose to the
country, and without consideration of his private interests, or prejudice to the privileges of the provinces
and towns". The governments of Haarlem, Leyden, and Rotterdam, soon after shared a like fate with the
rest, and Amsterdam itself, which, though conspicuous on the side of the Contra-Remonstrants, had only
been so in consequence of a small majority in the council, underwent a similar change. One of the deposed
members, Cornelius Hooft, who had been thirty-six years in the council, ventured to represent that a
difference of opinion between two parties had never yet been considered a valid reason for effecting the
ruin of the weaker; to which argument the prince satisfied himself with replying, " Grandsire (a term of
endearment common in Holland), it must be so for the present ; the good of the country requires it." He re-
established twenty-nine persons in the government, most of whom were favourable to him, appointing
seven new ones in the place of the most obnoxious Remonstrant members. The States afterwards passed a
resolution, that the deposition of the magistrates and councillors was without prejudice to their honour or
reputation ; thus tacitly condemning this arbitrary and oppressive proceeding against men who had filled
o
their offices for so long a period without having done any act derogatory to either . On intelligence of the
arrest of Barneveldt, LouisXIII. of France commanded Boisisse, his ambassador extraordinary to the States-
General, in conjunction with Du Maurier, to use his utmost efforts towards preventing them, if possible,
from proceeding to extremities against the prisoners, and to offer his mediation in appeasing the present
discontents. The States made answer, that the country was in no such danger as had been falsely
represented to the king; that the Prince of Orange had, by mild measures, and without tumult or bloodshed,
remedied the disorders that had arisen in the civil constitution, and that those which infected the church
would be appeased by the synod which was shortly to be held at Dordrecht?. This measure had since the
consent of Holland encountered no further difficulty. As a preliminary, it was necessary that provincial
synods should be held, for the purpose of appointing delegates to the as sembly, which was fixed for the 8th
of November. To secure the majority in these synods, was a measure of vital importance to the Contra-
Remonstrants, and they accordingly employed every means they could devise to this end. In the classes
(from which the delegates to the provincial synods are chosen) where they M'ere inferior in number to their
opponents, they declared that their consciences would not permit the 1618 continuance of communion with
them, and, forming a separate class, sent their own delegates, by which means the number on both sides
was equal ; but in those classes where they had a majority, they continued united with the Remonstrants,
whom they outvoted, and were thus enabled to nominate all the delegates from their own party. The result
of this contrivance was, that, in the provincial synods, none but Contra-Remonstrants were chosen as
delegates to the national synod, except in that of Utrecht, which being chiefly Remonstrant, the Contra-
Remonstrants pursued the same plan of separation as in the classes of the other provinces, each party
sending two ministers and one elderq. The foreign churches who had been invited to commission delegates
to the synod, all complied with the request, except the Reformed church of France, whose delegates were
forbidden by the king to repair thither. At the head of those appointed by King James, was George Carleton,
bishop of Llandaff; with him were associated Joseph Hall, dean of Worcester, John Davenant, professor of
theology at Queen's College, Cambridge, Samuel Ward, archdeacon of Taunton, and Walter Balcancall, sent
by the king in the name of the Scottish church. On their arrival, they declared that their sovereign had
commanded them what to do, and how to act in the synod. Though as yet it had been unheard of in the
provinces, that ecclesiastics were to appear in a synod, charged with instructions from the civil power, the
native delegates passed over the circumstance without remark, either in deference to James's qualifications
as a theologian, or convinced that his ministers would not fail to favour on all occasions the Contra-
Remonstrants r. On the 13th of November, this renowned assembly held its first meeting at Dordrecht, in
the house called the " Doel," a building and yard set apart in the Dutch » towns for the military exercises of
the schuttery. The number of ecclesiastical delegates from the provinces amounted to thirty-eight ministers,
twenty elders, and five professors of theology; to these were added eighteen " political commissioners," or
deputies from the States- General. The whole number of delegates sent by the different foreign churches
were twenty-eight, so that the native members, being in considerable majority, were enabled to outvote
them whenever it might be found expedient. The head of the room on the right was occupied by the
political commissioners, opposite to whom sat the English delegates, the next place, appropriated to the
delegates of the French Reformed church, being left vacant; the third place was occupied by the ministers
from the Palatinate; after whom came those from Hesse, Switzerland, Geneva, Bremen, and Emden, in
succession; next to the political commissioners sate the native professors of theology, and the ministers and
elders delegated from the provincial synods, each taking precedence according to the rank of their province.
The sessions were held in public, unless when the doors were closed by the express command of the
president, and usually attended by a vast concourse of spectators; latterly, even women, attracted by
motives of curiosity, resorted thither in great numbers. The proceedings commenced with a prayer in Latin,
in which language only they were carried on, for the benefit of the foreign members, but very little to the
edification of the political commissioners, some of whom understood little or nothing of what passed*; 1618
their secretary, Daniel Heinsius, on the other hand, though a renowned and elegant scholar, was profoundly
ignorant on theological subjects. He was, however, well as the president, John Bogerman, a zealous Contra-
s
Remonstrant. The first three sittings were occupied with reading the credentials of the different members .
The Remonstrants, on the opening of the synod, demanded that they might send deputies under a safe
conduct, to be present as parties, who should be per mitted to defend their opinions in any manner they
thought best. The political commissioners, however, determined that they could not-recognise any other
body in the Netherland church than that which was represented by the synod, and that the Remonstrants
were to be heard in no other way than in answer to a citation issued to those among them whom the
assembly itself should choose. The synod accordingly issued citations to thirteen ministers of that party*.
During the time that intervened before the cited parties could appear, the question was discussed of a new
and accurate translation of the Bible into the Dutch language ; work begun in pursuance of an order of the
States in 1594, by Philip van Marnix, lord of St. Aldegonde, who died before it was finished. Six theologians
of 6 *" eminent learning were now appointed to this task, who applied themselves to its execution with
sedulous care and diligence, and their version has accordingly been held in high esteem by posterity. The
instruction of youth in the catechism, the baptism of children born in the Indian settlements of Pagan
parents, which it was decided should not be administered to infants; the preparation of candidates for the
ministry; and the means of correcting the abuses of the press, were the subjects which afterwards occupied
the attention of the synod, till the appearance of the Remonstrants in the twenty-second session v. Their
leader was the learned Simon Bishop or Episcopius, who in a long and Sess. eloquent harangue, delivered in
Latin, and, it is said, 23 with such admirable expression of gesture and language, as to draw tears from the
eyes of his bitterest opponents, imputed the dissensions that had arisen in the church to three principal
causes; first, that the Remonstrants had openly opposed those theologians who put forth their abominable
opinions on the subject of predestination as the doctrines of the church; secondly, that they had
disapproved of the schisms that were made on account of these subjects; and thirdly, that they had blamed
the intolerance of those who anathematized as heresy the smallest difference of opinion on doctrines not
essential to salvation. The president, having sharply reprimanded Episcopius for presuming to speak without
waiting for the permission of the assembly, then read aloud the form of the oath to be administered to the
members, to the effect that they would follow the word of God as the only rule whereby to judge of the five
disputed articles and other matters; and would propose nothing but what was conducive to the glory of
God, the tranquillity of the church, and the conservation of the pure doctrine, This oath was strongly
suspected by the Remonstrants 1618 to have been purposely delayed till so late a period of the proceedings,
in order, by means of it, to get rid of the two Remonstrant delegates of Utrecht, whom it would have been
invidious to expel at the commence ment; a suspicion the justice of which was confirmed by the fact, that
the oath was not administered to these members, who were constrained to relinquish their place as judges,
and appear among those cited w. Though protesting against the competency of the synod Seas. to judge
them, as composed entirely of their adversaries, by whom they had already been condemned, the
Remonstrants delivered their opinions on the first of Seas. the five articles, and subsequently on the other
four. ^*° The synod then demanded a like declaration on the subject of the Heidelberg Catechism and the
Nether- land Confession of Faith, which a term of four days was given them to prepare. This being delivered,
the Sess. synod, before proceeding to the discussion of the five articles, required the Remonstrants to
engage that they would remain satisfied with the explicit delivery of the opinions they held, without any
observation on such as they rejected, particularly on the doctrine of reprobation; and that they would be
silent on this subject when the synod was of opinion that sufficient had been said. But to this restriction they
positively declined to submit; justly objecting, that the synod would be thus enabled to impose silence upon
them, to the irreparable prejudice of their cause, whenever their arguments were found unanswerable.
They refused with equal pertinacity to confine themselves to simple and categorical answers to such
questions as the synod might propose to them individually; or to give them in any other mode than by
writing, or by the mouth of the most able of their members, after having been duly submitted to the
approbation of the whole; alleging as a reason (and not an unfounded one), that nothing would be easier
than to entangle them by subtle questions in apparent contradictions, or into a supposed admission of
opinions very different from those they really held. After many discussions, carried on with more
vehemence and acrimony than was well befitting so reverend an assembly, the matters were referred to the
States-General, who passed a resolution, approving of all the acts of the synod, and commanding the cited
to submit to its decrees, and to answer all such questions as it should propose, on pain of ecclesiastical and
civil punishment; and if they persisted in their disobedience, they should be judged of by their writings, and
the explanations they had given of them, whether, by word of mouth, or otherwise, in this and the
provincial synods; they were likewise forbidden to leave Dordrecht without permission from the political
com missioners. This resolution was accordingly read to Sess. the Remonstrants*. But, undismayed by
finding the 46 States-General, as well as every member of the august assembly before which they appeared,
arrayed against them, Episcopius and his brethren continued to defend their cause with that undaunted
resolution and energy which in no single instance deserted them during the whole of these disheartening
proceedings*. To the admonitions of the president, that they should submit 1618 to the ordinance of the
States, Episcopius answered, that having duly examined the subject in the fear of the Lord, and prayed
earnestly to him, he could not resolve to act in any other manner than he had done. Each individual replied
to the same purports The discussions on these points were prolonged from the forty-sixth to the fifty-
seventh session, when the Remonstrants delivered in writing ail exposition of their opinions, and those of
their adversaries, on the first of the five articles, and a declaration of the continuance of their determination
to give their answers in no other manner than that which they had originally proposed. This document
having been read in the assembly, the Remonstrants were asked singly whether they were resolved to
persist in adhering to its contents, and on their replying in the affirmative, the president Bogerman
commenced an oration, in the course of which he animadverted with more heat than dignity on the
artifices, subterfuges, and falsehoods exhibited by the Remonstrants in return for the equity, forbearance,
and patience with which they had been treated by the assembly ; he declared, that as they had begun in the
spirit of fraud and obstinacy, so they had ended; that they were unworthy to hold conference with the
venerable synod, which, as soon as it was relieved of their presence, would proceed to the examination of
their doctrine by their writings; and would make known to the whole world their stubbornness and
arrogance; nor would the synod be found wanting in spiritual arms 1619 wherewith to chastise them with
due severity. He concluded his harangue by saying to them in an imperious tone, " You are dismissed, go
out.'' "On these matters," replied Episcopius, " we shall keep silence before our Redeemer; and God be
judge between the synod and us, of the artifices, subterfuges, and false^ hoods wherewith we stand
accused. ' As they departed, they were commanded anew, not to quit the city without the permission of the
political commissioners2. The expulsion of the Remonstrants, in which act not a third of the synod had
participated, was approved of by a decree of the States-General; but to the foreign members, most of whom
had voted in favour of the delivery of the answers in writing and in regular order, as proposed by Episcopius,
it appeared a mode of getting rid of them anything rather than judicious or dignified. Carleton, who on this
point possesses all the weight of an unwilling witness, was of opinion, that although the Remonstrants had
well deserved the affront, the place and institution of the assembly required a different course of conduct;
while Hales, from whom he received the account of the transaction, spoke of it in terms of unqualified
disapprobation8. The conferences, which had every appearance of being interminable, thus abruptly ended,
the synod proceeded to the examination of the five articles, when it soon appeared how little the
theologians themselves were agreed on those abstruse and unfathomable sub jects, on which they
condemned their brethren for not entertaining an exact correspondence in opinion. When the second
article of the Remonstrants was brought under consideration, a discussion arose between Matthew
Martinius, delegate of the church of Bremen, 1619 and Gomarus, upon the question, in what manner Christ
was the foundation of salvation; the former maintain ing that he was the original cause; the latter, that the
Father, having resolved on the salvation of a portion of mankind, had chosen the Son as the atonement; and
that therefore the Son was the effector only and not the author of salvation. This controversy was carried on
with such indecent violence by Gomarus, as to provoke the Bishop of Llandaff, who had throughout
distinguished himself by his impartial and conciliatory conduct, to complain, that an assembly destined for
edification was made a scene of discord; an observation which called forth a sharp and somewhat insulting
reply from Gomarus. To this the bishop returned no answer, when the president declared, that Gomarus
had spoken, not against persons, but opinions, and did not deserve censure. A letter from Carleton,
however, testifying his displeasure at the manner in which the bishop had been treated, caused Bogermans
to adopt a milder tone, and to exhort the members from giving any offence to each other. Martinius was
induced to give such an explanation of his opinions as should render them more palatable to Gomarus and
his party; yet he was heard to observe, that "he had seen in that synod some things divine, some things
human, and some things diabolical b." The synod, in order to appease the dissatisfaction of the foreign
members at the manner in which the Remonstrants had been treated, gave the latter permission to transmit
in writing any explanations of their opinions or answers to those of their opponents they might choose; a
liberty of which, though the time granted them was extremely short, they availed themselves to such an
unlimited extent, as to draw forth grievous complaints from the political commissioners, who observed, that
if they were to examine all the writings of the Remonstrants, the synod must sit for twelve years. The
perusal of these writings and the discussions thereupon, occupied the synod till the 102nd session, when the
judgments of the different members were delivered with closed doors, the dele gates of the foreign
churches first, and afterwards those of the native churches in succession. The president. then returned
thanks for the conformity of all the 125 members, (though such was not strictly the fact, many excepting
against the' supralapsarian doctrines of Gomarus,) and proposed that the canons which he himself had
drawn up should be examined by the synod, and either rejected or approved of categorically ; a proposition
which excited some murmurs in the assembly, the majority of the members being displeased that the whole
direction of the matter should rest in the hands of the president, and some of the provincial theologians
who were devoted to him, while the foreign members appeared to have been summoned for no other
purpose than to approve of their acts. After an angry and bitter contestation, in which Gomarus and Sibrand
Lubbertus (the same whose calumnies against the States of Holland Grotius had answered in his work "De
Pietate, &c.") rendered themselves peculiarly conspicuous, it was resolved, that some foreign as well as
native theologians should be appointed to draw up the canons; which were accord ingly completed by the
Bishop of LJandaff, with two more foreign and six provincial members, joined to the president and his
c
assessors . The canons, consisting of the refutation and con- 1619 damnation of the opinions of the
Remonstrants on the five articles, and an exposition of the doctrines held to be orthodox by the synod, laid
down, " that God has pre-ordained, by an eternal and immutable decree, before the creation of the world,
upon whom he will bestow the free gift of his grace ; that the atonement of Christ, though sufficient for all
the world, is efficacious only for the elect ; that conversion is not effected by any effort of man, but by the
free grace of God given to those only whom he has chosen from all eternity ; and that it is impossible for the
d
elect to fall away from this grace ." The canons having been read and approved of, the 137th and 138th
sessions were occupied in passing judgment on the persons of the Remonstrants who had been cited. They
were pronounced innovators, and disturbers of the church and nation ; obstinate and rebellious; leaders of
faction, teachers of false doc trine, and workers of schism ; and deprived of their offices, both ecclesiastical
and academical, till such time as they had satisfied the churches with evident signs of repentance ; which
sentence was subsequently confirmed by a decree of the States-General. "God will require of you," was the
striking apostrophe of Episcopius, when the sentence was read to them by the political commissioners, " an
account of your con duct at the great day of his judgment. There you and the whole synod will appear. May
e
you never meet with a judge such as the synod has been to us ." The synod next proceeded to the
examination of the Heidelberg Catechism, and Confession of Faith or the Netherland church, which were
approved and ratified in every particular; after which, sentence of condemnation was passed upon Vorstius
and his doctrine: the former being declared unfit to serve the office of preacher and minister in the
Reformed church; the latter, impious, blasphemous, and such as should be rooted out with abhorrence. He
was banished from the United Provinces on pain of death. The business. of the synod being thus ended, the
canons and the *°3 sentence against the Remonstrants were read aloud in the principal church of
Dordrecht, amid an immense confluence of spectators ; after which a thanksgiving was delivered by
Bogerman, with a benediction on the several members of the synod, the civil authorities, especially the
Prince of Orange, whom he termed the defender of liberty and the true religion, the King of Great Britain,
and the other princes who had sent their delegates. In the 154th session, the president of the political
commissioners and the president Johannes Bogerman returned thanks in the name of the synod and States-
General to the foreign members, who took leave of the assembly, with mutual embraces, and, it is said, not
without tearsf*. After their departure, the provincial members proceeded to arrange the affairs of the
churches in the United Provinces, when it was decreed, that those ministers who would not renounce the
opinions of the Remonstrants should be deprived of 1619 their office, and that all candidates for the
ministry, and schoolmasters, should be required to subscribe to the Catechism, Confession of Faith, and the
canons of the synods*. Thus terminated this celebrated synod with the 180th session, after having been
assembled more than seven months, at a cost to the state of 1,000,000 of guilders11"^; and which, by some,
has been looked up to with reverence as an assembly of learned and pious divines, whose decrees were
inferior in purity and excellence of doctrine only to Scripture itself; while by others it has been regarded as a
meeting of bigoted polemics, whose proceedings aimed rather at the dis comfiture and mortification of their
antagonists than the discovery and promulgation of truth. Without subscribing to either of these opinions,
we may observe that, exhibiting little of the Christian spirit of forbearance, the synod proposed no one
single measure of toleration or of conciliation, nor devised any other mode of putting an end to the divisions
of the church, than the entire oppression of the weaker party; and that, instead of tending to unite the
different sects upon the common doctrines of the Reformation, it promulgated opinions of such an extreme
tendency, as to cause a still wider alienation between the Lutherans and Calvinists ; an alienation of which
the consequences were, perhaps, more severely felt in the course of after events than is commonly
supposed. The resolute spirit displayed by the Remonstrants at the synod contributed, with some
disturbances which occurred at Alkmaar and Hoorn, to exercise a sinister influence on the destiny of the
prisoners of state, the career of one of whom was now drawing fast to a close1. From the period of their
arrest they had, contrary to the provisions of the law of Holland, whereby persons accused of a capital crime
are to be tried within six weeks of their arrest, been detained three months without examination, in order
that the change of the deputies of Holland, both in the States of that province and the States-General, might
ensure an appointment of judges by the latter entirely adverse to them. During this time Barneveldt, now
past seventy years of age, had been closely confined in the room which had served as a prison for the
Spanish commander, Mendoza, after the battle of Nieuport; and, besides being subjected to every petty
indignity that malice could invent, was debarred the sight of his wife and children, and deprived of the use
of pen, ink, and paper, as were also the other two captives. Their friends, however, found means to supply
them secretly with these materials, and by various ingenious devices to transmit to them constant
intelligence of everything that occurred k. On the assembly of the newly-organized States of Holland, they
allowed the States-General and Prince of Orange to usurp, without opposition, that authority over the
prisoners which belonged to themselves alone ; and these, Avith equally little scruple, superseded the
ordinary courts of justice by the institution of a com- 1619 mission of inquiry, of which, besides the
attorneys- general of Utrecht and Guelderland, Peter Leeuwen and Lawrence Sylla, most of the members
had been deputies to Utrecht on the occasion of the disbanding of the Waardgelders, and the whole had
rendered themselves conspicuous by their implacable hostility to Barneveldt in particular. These persons
exercised their functions with an injustice and severity unequalled even in the trials of the Counts of
Egmond and Hoorn, under the government of Alva. Barneveldt was subjected to twenty-three examinations,
during which he was neither allowed to take down the questions in writing, to make memoranda of his
answers, or to refer to notes; the interrogatories were not confined to any definite period, but extended
over his whole public life, no effort being spared to involve him in those contra dictions which, from decay of
memory, or confusion of dates, might easily occur. Ledemberg, secretary of the States of Utrecht, was so
terrified by the menaces of torture which they used, that, dreading lest he might be forced by such means to
make any admission detrimental to his friends, he committed suicide in prison1. As the commission was not
invested with judicial powers, the States-General, after the conclusion of the examinations, appointed
twenty-four judges, half the number only being Hollanders, an appointment illegal alike in its origin and
constitution. It was made by the States-General, who had no jurisdiction in the province of Holland, — a fact
which they themselves admitted, by declaring that it was without prejudice to the rights of the province in
future : it was in direct contravention of the privileges of Rotterdam and Leyden, both of which towns
possessed the high juris diction by virtue of ancient charters, and before whose courts alone Grotius and
Hoogerbeets, their pensionaries, were amenable. The court was illegal in its constitution, because half of the
number not being Hollanders, were incapable of sitting in judgment upon a Hollander ; because the crime of
the prisoners being the defence of the rights of the province of Holland against the States-General, the latter
had become judges and parties in their own cause ; because the judges had already, in fact, condemned the
prisoners, most of them having taken an active part in the anterior proceedings against them ; and lastly,
because a bitter personal animosity existed between Barneveldt and three among them, Francis Aersens,
lord of Sommelsdyk, Hugh Muys, sheriff of Dordrecht, and Regnier Pamv, burgomaster of Amsterdam, two
of them having likewise been members of the commission of inquiry, an employment utterly incompatible
with that of judge. The competency of the court to try them was, of course, denied by the three prisoners ;
but, as one of the judges, Lawrence Sylla, observed, it was but lost labour™. By this court, Barneveldt was,
after forty-eight interrogatories, found guilty, and condemned to death upon the following accusations : —
that he had disturbed the peace of religion, and maintained the exorbitant and pernicious maxim, that the
sovereignty belonged to each province over its own ecclesiastical matters ; that he had dictated the protest
of Holland, Utrecht, and Overyssel against the acts of the States-General; that he had opposed the
application of any remedies to the disorders in the Church and State; that he had given instructions to the
foreign ambassadors, without 1619 the sanction or knowledge of the Generality ; that he had written, in the
name of the States of Holland, to the King of France, asserting that the title of States- General had been
usurped by the majority of that body in the summons to the national synod, and requesting that his Majesty
would be pleased not to permit any of his subjects to be present at that assembly ; that he had
surreptitiously obtained a letter from the King of England*, which he delivered to the States-General ; that
he had intruded into the church heterodox preachers, and into the governments of the towns those persons
who, he conceived, would be likely to forward the views of his own faction ; that he had fomented divisions
in the church by the encouragement he had given to separate assemblies and conventicles, and had never
endeavoured to prevent the execution of the rigorous edicts against the followers of the true religion; that
he had encouraged disunion and disorders in the provinces, placing himself at the head of a faction, and
had held separate assemblies of deputies from eight of the towns of Holland devoted to his interests ; that
in these assemblies the " severe edict" was resolved on, whereby the authority of the ordinary courts of
justice was suspended, and the governments of the towns encouraged in their disobedience towards them :
and that by them, also, the order was given to the troops in the pay of Holland at Utrecht, to obey the States
of Holland, to the exclusion of the States-General and the Prince of Orange ; that he was one of the principal
promoters of the levy of the Waardgelders, and that the States of Utrecht had acted by his advice in refusing
to disband these troops at the desire of the States-General ; that he had degraded the character of the
Prince of Orange by his calumnies, accusing him of aiming at the sove reignty of the provinces, and had
warned the inhabitants of Leyden to be on their guard at the approach of his excellency, in consequence of
which the Waard-gelders and schuttery were placed under arms as if to repel the invasion of an enemy ;
that he had attempted to seduce the regular troops from their allegiance to the States-General ; that he had
revealed secrets of state, and rejected, without the knowledge of the States-General, a certain notable
alliance proposed, which was of the greatest importance to the republic*; that he had received divers large
sums of money from foreign princes, without giving due information thereof; that by his plots and
machinations he had well-nigh caused a massacre in Utrecht, and had placed the person of the prince in
danger ; and that he had squandered the finances of the country, and created general distrust among the
inhabitants and allies of the provinces". With respect to some of these charges, such as placing himself at
the head of a faction, introducing his friends into public offices and the like, it will be observed, that similar
imputations may be made at any time against any distinguished member of a party in a free state, and
certainly could never form the ground of a criminal accusation. The " exorbitant and pernicious maxim," that
each province retained its sovereignty with regard to religious matters, was a principle acted between the
Reformed provinces of Holland and Zealand, and the Catholic ones of Brabant and Flanders, never could
have been effected, and which was expressly laid down in the exposition of the thirteenth article of the
Union of Utrecht. The charge of accepting presents from foreign princes, was borne out only by the
circumstance of Barneveldt having received from the King of France, at the time of the truce, the sum of
20,000 guilders, in fulfilment of an engagement made by Henry IV., in the year 1591, for some service which
he had done during his embassy at Nantes, in improving the king's finances0. The levy of Waardgelders and
other acts complained of, had been done under the authority and sanction of the States of Holland, whose
interests Bameveldt, as their advocate, was bound to defend against all the world, and even against the
States-General themselves. If it could be proved that he had, by his pernicious advice, misled the States of
Holland, it was for them to dis miss him from his office, and punish him in any manner they thought fit; but if
the States-General had a right to interfere at all, they should have proceeded against the States of Holland,
and not against their minister, who was bound to obey their orders. The only capital charge, that of
entertaining a correspondence with Spain, which before his trial had been so long and so vehemently
insisted on by his enemies, was entirely abandoned. This accusation the Court of Inquiry had taken the
utmost pains to prove, even go so far as to use alternate threats and promises to Grotius, in order to force
him to say something in confirmation of it, but had wholly failed. The States-General, aware of the doubt
that the entire innocence of the prisoner on the principal charge would tend to throw on his guilt with
respect to the whole — which, moreover, had he been guilty and responsible for all the acts contained
therein, would, neither separately nor together, have constituted treason — issued a manifesto to the
several provinces, declaring that many other crimes were laid to his charge, which could not be proved
without stricter examination, such as the great age of the prisoner rendered unadvisable ; by which was
understood the application of the torturer. It is somewhat difficult to imagine why the same consideration
for his age, which prevented the judges from adopting measures to prove his crime, should not have
prevailed to deter them from condemning him without proof.

In 1637 in the history of Holland, It was in this year that the singular mania, " Tuli- pomania," as it was
afterwards termed, the offspring of wealth and luxury, became prevalent among the Dutch, especially in the
province of Holland. The price of tulips suddenly rose to an incredible height, the most esteemed varying
from 2600 guilders to 150 for a single root. Large fortunes were acquired by speculations on this article,
which, in Amsterdam alone, involved, it is said, no less a sum than 10,000,000 of guilders. Persons of all
ranks, sexes, and ages, neglected their ordinary avocations to amuse themselves with this novel species of
gambling; but as those who purchased were often of slender means and unable to fulfil their engagements,
the speculation became so unsafe that men lost their confidence in it, and in course of time it died away of
itself). The Hollanders, though still retaining their passion for tulips, have since been able to restrain it within
more reasonable bounds. However we may condemn this idle traffic, and however well deserved the
ridicule it has incurred, it is still gratifying to reflect in what a state of ease and prosperity, how free from
care and light-hearted a people must be, who could find opportunity and inclination to devote their
attention to such agreeable trifles. The mania did not extend to the Spanish Netherlands.

………………………………………………………………………….

Notes

p. Brandt Hist, der Ref., boek xviii., bl. 43; Prefatio ad Acta Synodi Dor.drecb.tis;

q.Brandt Hist., &c., deel ii., boek xviii., bl. 48 ; Prefatio ad Acta,

r. Brandt Hist., deel ii., boek xviii., W. 53, 54. * The terms of reprehension in which this controversy, and the mode in which it was carried on, is hereafter spoken of,

must not be understood as tending to advance for a moment the position, that men are to regard religious questions with the same cold indifference that they would a

philosophical thesis ; or that they are not to feel strongly on subjects on which they are accustomed to think deeply ; but to deprecate the indulgence of a spirit of

intolerance and bitterness towards those whose opinions do not exactly coincide with their own, concerning the more abstruse dogmas of religion, upon which the

great bulk of mankind are incompetent to form any opinion at all, and must be content to receive the impressions (themselves imperfect) of the wiser, more learned,

and more reflective portion; and which the Almighty himself has been pleased to envelope in obscurity to check our presumptuous desire " to be.
s. Brandt, dcel ii., bock xviii., bl. 61.

t. Brandt Hist., decl ii., boek xviii., bl. 66, et seq. " Idem, bl. 83.

v. Brandt, dcel ii., boek xviii., bl. 86 ; Le Clcrc Hist, des Prov. Unies, torn, i., p. 273. * A "Class" was a meeting of the ministers, deacons, and elders of the churches of a

town or district, those of a single church being termed " Consistories." There were fifteen classes in Holland ; the assembly of deputies from all the classes formed a

synod, of which, one was held in North, another in South Holland,

• Brandt, deol ii., boek xviii., bl. 86. * Idem, bl. 90. Le Clerc Hist, dca Prov, Unies, torn, i., p. 2"4.

* Idem, bl. 90. Le Clerc Hist, dca Prov, Unies, torn, i., p. 2"4.

y Brandt, deel ii., boek xviii., 1>1. 103.

z. Brandt Hist., deel ii., boek xix., bl. 126—130.

a. Winwood'8 Memorial, vol. iii., p. 317—320. Brandt Hist., b, xx., bl. 105.

b Letter of Sir J. More to Sir R. Winwood, Mem., vol. Hi., p. 331.

c Winwood's Mem., vol. ii., p. 453, et sey.

d." Idem, vol. iii., p. 339, 348.

e Le Clerc, torn, i., p. 290. Brandt, deel ii., boek xxi., bl. 245. VOL. II.

f Eee Note B. at end of vol.

g Letter of Casaubon to Gvotius, Mar, 1614. Leeven van do Groot, bl. 63.

h Letters of Sir DudL-y Carleton, p. 14.

* See Le Clerc, Hist, des Provinces Unies, torn, i., p. 297. Wagenaar, Vaterlandsche Historic, deel x., bl. 248. Cerisier, Tableau Ge'nerale des Provinces Unies, torn, y., p.

199.

1 Mem. de Du Maurier, p. 303, et aeq.

* The clergy of the Provinces, composed chiefly of persons from the poorer and inferior classes of the people, were yet, from the wide exten sion of education, often

possessed of admirable learning and eloquence, and their influence with the people was proportionally great. Envious of the wealth and consideration enjoyed by the

gentry and merchants, from whose society they were, to a certain extent, excluded by their birth and poverty, and jealous that no share of political power was allowed

to them, they placed themselves in perpetual and active oppo sition to the States and municipal governments, and were zealous partisans of the stadtholders, from

whom they received, on all occa sions, countenance and support.

k Sir Dudley Carleton's Letters, p. 87, 88.

* According to Carleton's own expression, he had "speech of him during the debate, and gave him the best comfort he could, in support of the good cause, which he

found needful in so strong an opposition." — Ubi eup.

1 Winwood's Memorial, torn, ii., p. 351. Carleton's Letters, p. 28 — 31. Aitzema, Suaken van Staat en Oorlog, deel i., bl. 24.

* Vid. chap, iv., p. 416.m° Carleton's Letters, p, 37.

o Leeven van de Groot, bl. 71, ft seq

p Le Clerc, torn, i., p, 315.

q Brandt, Hist., deel ii., boek xxvi., bl. 484 — i86, 496—499. Waar- achtige Historic ran J. Oldenbarneveldt, p. 250.

r Grotius Vertmtwoordinge, cap. 9. Loeven van J. Oldcnb., p. 69.

s Le Clerc, torn. i., p. 324. Carleton's Letters, p. 96.

t Carleton's Letters, p. 123.

u Idem, p. 89.

v Leeven van J. Oldenb., p. 231.

w Lc Clerc, toin. i., p. 324.

x Carleton's Letters, passim. Le Clcrc, torn, i.,

y. 326. ' Braudt, Hist., deel ii., bwk xxviii., bl. 643.

z Brandt, Hist., boek xxviii., bl. CC6, 709, 71P.

a Brandt, Hist., deel ii., boek xxix., bl. 744—750. Waarachtige Hist. &c., p. 130, et seq. 211. b Brandt, deel ii., boek XXJT., bl. 802, 803,

c Leeven van J. Oldenb., p. 89. d Leeven van de Groot, bl. 122, 123. Brandt, deel ii., boek xxx., bl, 810, 811.

e Brandt, deel ii., boek xxx., bl. 809, 820. Carleton's Letters, p. 274. f Brandt, deal ii., boek xxx., bl. 826. Leeven van de Groot, bl. 132.

g Leeven van de Groot, bl. 236. Waarachtige Historic, &c., bl. 219, 221.

h Brandt, boek xxxi., bl. 841, 842. Scevcn van J. Olbenbar., p. 92.

* It was supposed by many persons, that the ambassador Carleton was a party to thia transaction, from the circumstance of his having arrived at the Hague the

evening before from England, and having continued till a late hour of the night in conversation with the Prince of Orange.

1 Vid, vol. i., chap, ii., p. 93.

J Brandt, dcel ii., boek xxxi., LI. C44, 845. Caileton's Letters, p. 279.

k Brandt, deel ii., boek xxxi., bl. 84". 1 Carleton's Letters, p. 189.

m Velius Hoorn, boek v., bl. 30C — 007. n Resol. der Steat., Oct. 19, 1018.

0 Brandt, deel ii., boek xxxi., bl. 868, 869. » Idem, bl. 877—879.

q Brandt, deel ii., boek xxxi., bl. 894. Prsfatio ad Acta Syn..Dprd. See also Address of Episcopius to the Synod, Brandt, deel iii., boek xxxiv., bl. 121.

' Branlt, det.1 iii., boek xxxiii., p. 5, 9.

Herteveldt, of Utrecht, being asked how he managed, replied, that he learned a little as he went on ; sometimes understood a word from hearing it frequently

repeated, sometimes looked for a word or two in a dictionary he carried with him. Brandt, deel iii., boek xxxiii., bl. 24. Others, however, were men of talent and

extensive learning.

v Acta Synodi, pa. i., p. 21, 31, 48, 51, 52, 63.

* Acta Synodi, pa. i., p. 113, 116, 123, 124, 125, 129, 132, 163. Brandt, deel iii., boek xxxv., bl. 169,203, 220; boek xxxvi., bl. 233— 244. * It was not only the ill will of

the States and synod they had to endure. The popular feeling in Dordrecht, excited by the sermons preached every Sunday and Thursday by one of the members of the

synod, was so virulent against them, that they could scarcely appear in

« Brandt, dee! iii., boek xxxvi., bl. 296 — 299. Acta Synodi, pa. 5., p. 186—188. • • Idem, p. 191. Brandt, deel iii., boek xxxvi., bl. 300. Carleton's Letters.

d Acta Synodi, pa. i.,p. 241, 251, 256, 265. e Idem, 270. Brandt, deal iii., bock XL., bl. 660, boek XL!., 608.

' Acta Synodi, pa. i., p. 320, 327. Brandt, deel iii., boek xij., bl, 600—602, 610—614.

* Brandt, deel iii., boek xiii., bl. 626 — 642. k Idem, 662. * It is a source of extreme regret to me, that all my efforts to procure Baudart's " Memorite Ecclesiasticarum,

&c.," or Uytenbogaard's " Origo et Progressus Controversiarurn, &c.," have been unavailing. If anything could compensate for the loss of a contemporary historian, it

would be the judgment and liberality with which Brandt has drawn from both these sources. t The Bishop of Llandaff received eighty guilders, or about 81., per day;

the other English theologians twenty guilders each, and the native theologians only four, — Brandt, deel iii., boek xiAi., bl. 660.

1 Carleton's Letters, p. 357. k Leeven van J. Olden., bl. 106, 109. Leeven van de Groot, LI. 16G. '

1 Leevcn van J. Olden., bl. 107. Leeven van de Groot, bl. 151. Brandt, deel ii., boek xxxi., bl. 875.

Verantwoordinje van H. de Groot, cap. J, 12 et seq. Lceven van deGroot,bl. 177.

* Alluding to that which James had addressed to the States in 1613, wherein he advised that the ministers should be prevented from touching on the disputed

doctrines in the pulpit.

" Leeven van J. Olden., bl. 263—280.

* It was never ascertained what alliance was alluded to in this accusation.

" Waarachtige Historic, bl. 346.

p Waavachtige Historie, bl. 466, 467.

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