e who dwelt in the seaports, began to take
measures for avoiding these evils by emigration. They sought refuge in
Protestant states, and especially in England, where no less than thirty
thousand, we are told by a contemporary, took shelter under the sceptre
of Elizabeth.[703] They swarmed in the cities of London and Sandwich,
and the politic queen assigned them also the seaport of Norwich as their
residence. Thus Flemish industry was transferred to English soil. The
course of trade between the two nations now underwent a change. The silk
and woollen stuffs, which had formerly been sent from Flanders to
England, became the staple of a large export-trade from England to
Flanders. "The Low Countries," writes the correspondent of Granvelle,
"are the Indies of the English, who make war on our purses, as the
French, some years since, made war on our towns."[704]

Some of the Flemish provinces, instead of giving way to despondency,
appealed sturdily to their charters, to rescue them from the arbitrary
measures of the crown. The principal towns of Brabant, with Antwerp at
their head, intrenched themselves behind their _Joyeuse Entree_. The
question was brought before the council; a decree was given in favor of
the applicants, and ratified by the regent; and the free soil of Brabant
was no longer polluted by the presence of the Inquisition.[705]

The gloom now became deeper round the throne of the regent. Of all in
the Netherlands, the person least to be envied was the one who ruled
over them. Weaned from her attachment to Granvelle by the influence of
the lords, Margaret now found herself compelled to resume the arbitrary
policy which she disapproved, and to forfeit the support of the very
party to which of late she had given all her confidence. The lords in
the council withdrew from her, the magistrates in the provinces thwarted
her, and large masses of the population were arrayed in actual
resistance against the government. It may seem strange that it was not
till the spring of 1566 that she received positive tidings of the
existence of the league, when she was informed of it by Egmont, and some
others of the council of state.[706] As usual, the rumor went beyond the
truth. Twenty or thirty thousand men were said to be in arms, and half
that number to be prepared to march on Brussels, and seize the person of
the regent, unless she complied with their demands.[707]

For a moment Margaret thought of taking refuge in the citade