sses on such
occasions. The Dutch historians state the loss of the royalists,
in killed, at upward of two thousand. Meteren, a good authority,
says the peasants buried two thousand two hundred and fifty;
while Bentivoglio, an Italian writer in the interest of Spain,
makes the number exactly half that amount. Grotius says that
the loss of the Dutch was four men killed. Bentivoglio states
it at one hundred. But, at either computation, it is clear that
the affair was a brilliant one on the part of Prince Maurice.

This was in its consequences a most disastrous affair to the
archduke. His army was disorganized, and his finances exhausted;
while the confidence of the states in their troops and their
general was considerably raised. But the taking of Amiens by
Portocarrero, one of the most enterprising of the Spanish captains,
gave a new turn to the failing fortunes of Albert. This gallant
officer, whose greatness of mind, according to some historians,
was much disproportioned to the smallness of his person, gained
possession of that important town by a well-conducted stratagem,
and maintained his conquest valiantly till he was killed in its
defence. Henry IV. made prodigious efforts to recover the place,
the chief bulwark on that side of France; and having forced
Montenegro, the worthy successor of Portocarrero, to capitulate,
granted him and his garrison most honorable conditions. Henry,
having secured Amiens against any new attack, returned to Paris
and made a triumphal entry into the city.

During this year Prince Maurice took a number of towns in rapid
succession; and the states, according to their custom, caused
various medals, in gold, silver, and copper, to be struck, to
commemorate the victories which had signalized their arms.

Philip II., feeling himself approaching the termination of his
long and agitating career, now wholly occupied himself in
negotiations for peace with France. Henry IV. desired it as
anxiously. The pope, Clement VIII., encouraged by his exhortations
this mutual inclination. The king of Poland sent ambassadors to
The Hague and to London, to induce the states and Queen Elizabeth
to become parties in a general pacification. These overtures
led to no conclusion; but the conferences between France and
Spain went on with apparent cordiality and great promptitude,
and a peace was concluded between these powers at Vervins, on
the 2d of May, 1598.

Shortly after the publication of this treaty, an