death of Mary, it had passed under the undisputed control of the
Protestant noblemen. He dreamed of securing for his family the crown of
France, even after Henry, with free consent of the Pope, had made his
triumphal entry into Paris. He asserted complete and entire sovereignty
over the Netherlands, even after Prince Maurice had won back from him
the last square foot of Dutch territory. Such obstinacy as this can
only be called fatuity. If Philip had lived in Pagan times, he would
doubtless, like Caligula, have demanded recognition of his own divinity.

The miserable condition of the Spanish people under this terrible reign,
and the causes of their subsequent degeneracy, have been well treated by
Mr. Motley. The causes of the failure of Spanish civilization are partly
social and partly economical; and they had been operating for eight
hundred years when Philip succeeded to the throne. The Moorish conquest
in 711 had practically isolated Spain from the rest of Europe. In the
Crusades she took no part, and reaped none of the signal advantages
resulting from that great movement. Her whole energies were directed
toward throwing off the yoke of her civilized but "unbelieving"
oppressors. For a longer time than has now elapsed since the Norman
Conquest of England, the entire Gothic population of Spain was engaged
in unceasing religious and patriotic warfare. The unlimited power thus
acquired by an unscrupulous clergy, and the spirit of uncompromising
bigotry thus imparted to the whole nation, are in this way readily
accounted for. But in spite of this, the affairs of Spain at the
accession of Charles V. were not in an unpromising condition. The
Spanish Visigoths had been the least barbarous of the Teutonic
settlers within the limits of the Empire; their civil institutions were
excellent; their cities had obtained municipal liberties at an earlier
date than those of England; and their Parliaments indulged in a liberty
of speech which would have seemed extravagant even to De Montfort. So
late as the time of Ferdinand, the Spaniards were still justly proud of
their freedom; and the chivalrous ambition which inspired the marvellous
expedition of Cortes to Mexico, and covered the soil of Italy with
Spanish armies, was probably in the main a healthy one. But the forces
of Spanish freedom were united at too late an epoch; in 1492, the power
of despotism was already in the ascendant. In England the case was
different. The barons were