tained, to be openly resisted. He positively denied the connection
imputed to him with the confederates; declaring that, far from
countenancing the league, he had always lamented its existence, and
discouraged all within his reach from joining it. In reply to the charge
of not having dismissed Backerzele after it was known that he had joined
the confederates, he excused himself by alleging the good services which
his secretary had rendered the government, more especially in repressing
the disorders of the iconoclasts. On the whole, his answers seem to have
been given in good faith, and convey the impression--probably not far
from the truth--of one who, while he did not approve of the policy of
the crown, and thought, indeed, some of its measures impracticable, had
no design to overturn the government.[1124]

[Sidenote: DEFENCE OF THE PRISONERS.]

The attorney-general next prepared his accusation of Count Hoorne,
consisting of sixty-three separate charges. They were of much the same
import with those brought against Egmont. The bold, impatient temper of
the admiral made him particularly open to the assault of his enemies.
He was still more peremptory than his friend in his refusal to
relinquish his rights as a knight of the Golden Fleece, and appear
before the tribunal of Alva. When prevailed on to waive his scruples,
his defence was couched in language so direct and manly as at once
engages our confidence. "Unskilled as I am in this sort of business," he
remarks, "and without the aid of counsel to guide me, if I have fallen
into errors, they must be imputed, not to intention, but to the want of
experience.... I can only beseech those who shall read my defence to
believe that it has been made sincerely and in all truth, as becomes a
gentleman of honorable descent."[1125]

By the remonstrances of the prisoners and their friends, the duke was at
length prevailed on to allow them counsel. Each of the two lords
obtained the services of five of the most eminent jurists of the
country; who, to their credit, seem not to have shrunk from a duty
which, if not attended with actual danger, certainly did not lie in the
road to preferment.[1126]

The counsel of the two lords lost no time in preparing the defence of
their clients, taking up each charge brought against them by the
attorney-general, and minutely replying to it. Their defence was
substantially the same with that which had been set up by the prisoners
themselves, thou