overthrow of their political freedom, they had still preserved the
shadow, at least, of one great bulwark against despotism. The king could
impose no tax.

The "Joyeuse Entree" of Brabant, as well as the constitutions of
Flanders, Holland, Utrecht, and all the other provinces, expressly
prescribed the manner in which the requisite funds for government should
be raised. The sovereign or his stadholder was to appear before the
estates in person, and make his request for money. It was for the
estates, after consultation with their constituents, to decide whether or
not this petition (Bede) should be granted, and should a single branch
decline compliance, the monarch was to wait with patience for a more
favorable moment. Such had been the regular practice in the Netherlands,
nor had the reigning houses often had occasion to accuse the estates of
parsimony. It was, however, not wonderful that the Duke of Alva should
be impatient at the continued existence of this provincial privilege.
A country of condemned criminals, a nation whose universal neck might
at any moment be laid upon the block without ceremony, seemed hardly fit
to hold the purse-strings, and to dispense alms to its monarch. The
Viceroy was impatient at this arrogant vestige of constitutional liberty.
Moreover, although he had taken from the Netherlanders nearly all the
attributes of freemen, he was unwilling that they should enjoy the
principal privilege of slaves, that of being fed and guarded at their
master's expense. He had therefore summoned a general assembly of the
provincial estates in Brussels, and on the 20th of March, 1569, had
caused the following decrees to be laid before them.

A tax of the hundredth penny, or one per cent., was laid upon all
property, real and personal, to be collected instantly. This impost,
however, was not perpetual, but only to be paid once, unless, of course,