released from it. Yet the preparations for keeping him a
prisoner were on so extraordinary a scale, and imposed such a burden on
men of the highest rank in the kingdom, as seemed to argue that his
confinement was not to be long. It is a common saying,--as old as
Machiavelli,--that to a deposed prince the distance is not great from
the throne to the grave. Carlos, indeed, had never worn a crown. But
there seemed to be the same reasons as if he had, for abridging the term
of his imprisonment. All around the prince regarded him with distrust.
The king, his father, appeared to live, as we have seen, in greater
apprehension of him after his confinement, than before.[1524] "The
ministers, whom Carlos hated," says the nuncio, "knew well that it would
be their ruin, should he ever ascend the throne."[1525] Thus, while the
fears and the interests of all seemed to tend to his removal, we find
nothing in the character of Philip to counteract the tendency. For when
was he ever known to relax his grasp on the victim once within his
power, or to betray any feeling of compunction as to sweeping away an
obstacle from his path? One has only to call to mind the long
confinement, ending with the midnight execution, of Montigny, the open
assassination of the prince of Orange, the secret assassination of the
secretary Escovedo, the unrelenting persecution of Perez, his agent in
that murder, and his repeated attempts to despatch him also by the hand
of the bravo. These are passages in the history of Philip which yet
remain to be presented to the reader, and the knowledge of which is
necessary before we can penetrate into the depths of his dark and
unscrupulous character.

If it be thought that there is a wide difference between these deeds of
violence and the murder of a son, we must remember that, in affairs of
religion, Philip acted avowedly on the principle, that the end justifies
the means; that one of the crimes charged upon Carlos was defection from
the Faith; and that Philip had once replied to the piteous appeal of a
heretic whom they were dragging to the stake, "Were my son such a wretch
as thou art, I would myself carry the fagots to burn him!"[1526]

But in whatever light we are to regard the death of Carlos,--whether as
caused by violence, or by those insane excesses in which he was allowed
to plunge during his confinement,--in either event the responsibility,
to a great extent, must be allowed to rest on Philip, who, if he did