stisement. The Duke,
controlling himself a little, apologized for this allusion to
chastisement, a menace which he disclaimed having intended with reference
to councillors whom he had always commended to the King, and of whom his
Majesty had so high an opinion. At a subsequent meeting the Duke took
Viglius aside, and assured him that he was quite of his own way of
thinking. For certain reasons, however, he expressed himself as unwilling
that the rest of the council should be aware of the change in his views.
He wished, he said, to dissemble. The astute President, for a moment,
could not imagine the Governor's drift. He afterwards perceived that the
object of this little piece of deception had been to close his mouth. The
Duke obviously conjectured that the President, lulled into security, by
this secret assurance, would be silent; that the other councillors,
believing the President to have adopted the Governor's views, would alter
their opinions; and that the opposition of the estates, thus losing its
support in the council, would likewise very soon be abandoned. The
President, however, was not to be entrapped by this falsehood. He
resolutely maintained his hostility to the tax, depending for his
security on the royal opinion, the popular feeling, and the judgment of
his colleagues.

The daily meetings of the board were almost entirely occupied by this
single subject. Although since the arrival of Alva the Council of Blood
had usurped nearly all the functions of the state and finance-councils,
yet there now seemed a disposition on the part of Alva to seek the
countenance, even while he spurned the authority, of other functionaries.
He found, however, neither sympathy nor obedience. The President stoutly
told him that he was endeavouring to swim against the stream, that the
tax was offensive to the people, and that the voice of the people was the
voice of God. On the last day of July, however, the Duke issued an edict,
by which summary collection of the tenth and twentieth pence was ordered.
The whole country was immediately in uproar. The estates of every
province, the assemblies of every city, met and remonstrated. The
merchants suspended all business, the petty dealers shut up their shops.
The people congregated together in masses, vowing resistance to the
illegal and cruel impost. Not a farthing was collected. The "seven stiver
people", spies of government, who for that paltry daily stipend were
employed to listen fo