Apart from this hope, however, there was little encouragement to be
derived from anything positively known of the new functionary, or the
policy which he was to represent. Don Luis de Requesens and Cuniga,
Grand Commander of Castile and late Governor of Milan, was a man of
mediocre abilities, who possessed a reputation for moderation and
sagacity which he hardly deserved. His military prowess had been chiefly
displayed in the bloody and barren battle of Lepanto, where his conduct
and counsel were supposed to have contributed, in some measure, to the
victorious result. His administration at Milan had been characterized
as firm and moderate. Nevertheless, his character was regarded with
anything but favorable eyes in the Netherlands. Men told each other of
his broken faith to the Moors in Granada, and of his unpopularity in
Milan, where, notwithstanding his boasted moderation, he had, in reality,
so oppressed the people as to gain their deadly hatred. They complained,
too, that it was an insult to send, as Governor-General of the provinces,
not a prince of the blood, as used to be the case, but a simple
"gentleman of cloak and sword."

Any person, however, who represented the royal authority in the provinces
was under historical disadvantage. He was literally no more than an
actor, hardly even that. It was Philip's policy and pride to direct all
the machinery of his extensive empire, and to pull every string himself.
His puppets, however magnificently attired, moved only in obedience to
his impulse, and spoke no syllable but with his voice. Upon the table in
his cabinet was arranged all the business of his various realms, even to
the most minute particulars.

Plans, petty or vast, affecting the interests of empires and ages,
or bounded within the narrow limits of trivial and evanescent detail,
encumbered his memory and consumed his time. His ambition to do all the