to the league had worked in darkness,
as it were, like a band of secret conspirators. But they had now come
forward into the light of day, boldly presenting themselves before the
regent, and demanding redress of the wrongs under which the nation was
groaning. The people took heart, as they saw this broad aegis extended
over them to ward off the assaults of arbitrary power. Their hopes grew
stronger, as they became assured of the interposition of the regent and
the great lords in their favor; and they could hardly doubt that the
voice of the country, backed as it was by that of the government, would
make itself heard at Madrid, and that Philip would at length be
compelled to abandon a policy which menaced him with the loss of the
fairest of his provinces.--They had yet to learn the character of their
sovereign.

CHAPTER XI.

FREEDOM OF WORSHIP.

The Edicts suspended.--The Sectaries.--The Public Preachings.--Attempt
to suppress them.--Meeting at St. Trond.--Philip's Concessions.

1566.

On quitting Brussels, the confederates left there four of their number
as a sort of committee to watch over the interests of the league. The
greater part of the remainder, with Brederode at their head, took the
road to Antwerp. They were hardly established in their quarters in that
city, when the building was surrounded by thousands of the inhabitants,
eager to give their visitors a tumultuous welcome. Brederode came out on
the balcony, and, addressing the crowd, told them that he had come
there, at the hazard of his life, to rescue them from the miseries of
the Inquisition. He called on his audience to take him as their leader
in this glorious work; and as the doughty champion pledged them in a
goblet of wine which he had brought with him from the table, the mob
answered by such a general shout as was heard in the furthest corners of
the city.[756] Thus a relation was openly established between the
confederates and the people, who were to move forward together in the
great march of the revolution.

Soon after the departure of the confederates from Brussels, the regent
despatched an embassy to Madrid to acquaint the king with the recent
proceedings, and to urge his acquiescence in the reforms solicited by
the league. The envoys chosen were the baron de Montigny--who had taken
charge, it may be remembered, of a similar mission before--and the
marquis of Bergen, a nobleman of liberal principles, but who stood high
in the rega