d beloved, and died lamented, by the Flemings; while Philip's
course, from the very first, had encountered only odium and opposition.
A little reflection will show us the reasons of these different results.

Both Charles and Philip came forward as the great champions of
Catholicism. But the emperor's zeal was so far tempered by reason, that
it could accommodate itself to circumstances. He showed this on more
than one occasion, both in Germany and in Flanders. Philip, on the other
hand, admitted of no compromise. He was the inexorable foe of heresy.
Persecution was his only remedy, and the Inquisition the weapon on which
he relied. His first act on setting foot on his native shore was to
assist at an _auto da fe_. This proclaimed his purpose to the world, and
associated his name indelibly with that of the terrible tribunal.

The free people of the Netherlands felt the same dread of the
Inquisition that a free and enlightened people of our own day might be
supposed to feel. They looked with gloomy apprehension to the
unspeakable misery it was to bring to their firesides, and the
desolation and ruin to their country. Everything that could in any way
be connected with it took the dismal coloring of their fears. The edicts
of Charles the Fifth, written in blood, became yet more formidable, as
declaring the penalties to be inflicted by this tribunal. Even the
erection of the bishoprics, so necessary a measure, was regarded with
distrust on account of the inquisitorial powers which of old were vested
in the bishops, thus seeming to give additional strength to the arm of
persecution. The popular feeling was nourished by every new convert to
the Protestant faith, as well as by those who, from views of their own,
were willing to fan the flame of rebellion.

Another reason why Philip's policy met with greater opposition than that
of his predecessor was the change in the condition of the people
themselves. Under the general relaxation of the law, or rather of its
execution, in the latter days of Charles the Fifth, the number of the
Reformers had greatly multiplied. Calvinism predominated in Luxemburg,
Artois, Flanders, and the states lying nearest to France. Holland,
Zealand, and the North, were the chosen abode of the Anabaptists. The
Lutherans swarmed in the districts bordering on Germany; while Antwerp,
the commercial capital of Brabant, and the great mart of all nations,
was filled with sectaries of every description. Even the