Spanish triumph in the
Netherlands.

The important town of Flushing, on the Isle of Walcheren, was first to
vibrate with the patriotic impulse given by the success at Brill. The
Seigneur de Herpt, a warm partisan of Orange, excited the burghers
assembled in the market-place to drive the small remnant of the Spanish
garrison from the city. A little later upon the same day a considerable
reinforcement arrived before the walls. The Duke had determined, although
too late, to complete the fortress which had been commenced long before
to control the possession of this important position at the mouth of the
western Scheld. The troops who were to resume this too long intermitted
work arrived just in time to witness the expulsion of their comrades. De
Herpt easily persuaded the burghers that the die was cast, and that their
only hope lay in a resolute resistance. The people warmly acquiesced,
while a half-drunken, half-wined fellow in the crowd valiantly proposed,
in consideration of a pot of beer, to ascend the ramparts and to
discharge a couple of pieces of artillery at the Spanish ships. The offer
was accepted, and the vagabond merrily mounting the height, discharged
the guns. Strange to relate, the shot thus fired by a lunatic's hand put
the invading ships to flight. A sudden panic seized the Spaniards, the
whole fleet stood away at once in the direction of Middelburg, and were
soon out of sight.

The next day, however, Antony of Bourgoyne, governor under Alva for the
Island of Walcheren, made his appearance in Flushing. Having a high
opinion of his own oratorical powers, he came with the intention of
winning back with his rhetoric a city which the Spaniards had thus far
been unable to recover with their cannon. The great bell was rung, the
whole population assembled in the marketplace, and Antony, from the steps
of the town-house, delivered a long oration, assuring the burghers, among
other asseverations, that the King, who was the best natured prince in
all Christendom, would forget and forgive their offences if they returned
honestly to their duties.

The effect of the Governor's eloquence was much diminished, however, by
the interlocutory remarks, of De Herpt and a group of his adherents. They
reminded the people of the King's good nature, of his readiness to forget
and to forgive, as exemplified by the fate of Horn and Egmont, of Berghen
and Montigny, and by the daily and almost hourly decrees of the Blood
Council.