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Rise of the Dutch Republic, the — Volume 02: Introduction II by John Lothrop Motley
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to confirm a usurping family in its ill-gotten possessions. Renewed
aggressions upon the rights of others justified retaliation and invited
attack. Justice, prudence, firmness, wisdom of internal administration
were desirable in the son of Philip and the rival of Louis. These
attributes the gladiator lacked entirely. His career might have been a
brilliant one in the old days of chivalry. His image might have appeared
as imposing as the romantic forms of Baldwin Bras de Fer or Godfrey of
Bouillon, had he not been misplaced in history. Nevertheless, he
imagined himself governed by a profound policy. He had one dominant
idea, to make Burgundy a kingdom. From the moment when, with almost the
first standing army known to history, and with coffers well filled by his
cautious father's economy, he threw himself into the lists against the
crafty Louis, down to the day when he was found dead, naked, deserted,
and with his face frozen into a pool of blood and water, he faithfully
pursued this thought. His ducal cap was to be exchanged for a kingly
crown, while all the provinces which lay beneath the Mediterranean and
the North Sea, and between France and Germany, were to be united under
his sceptre. The Netherlands, with their wealth, had been already
appropriated, and their freedom crushed. Another land of liberty
remained; physically, the reverse of Holland, but stamped with the same
courageous nationality, the same ardent love of human rights.
Switzerland was to be conquered. Her eternal battlements of ice and
granite were to constitute the great bulwark of his realm. The world
knows well the result of the struggle between the lord of so many duchies
and earldoms, and the Alpine mountaineers. With all his boldness,
Charles was but an indifferent soldier. His only merit was physical
courage. He imagined himself a consummate commander, and, in
conversation with his jester, was fond of comparing himself to Hannibal.
"We are getting well Hannibalized to-day, my lord," said the bitter fool,
as they rode off together from the disastrous defeat of Gransen. Well
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