Even had he been sent to the Netherlands in the full possession of his
faculties, he would have been no match in political combinations for his
powerful antagonists. Hoodwinked and fettered, suspected by his master,
baffled, bewildered, irritated by his adversary, what could he do but
plunge from one difficulty to another and oscillate between extravagant
menace, and desponding concession, until his hopes and life were wasted
quite away. His instructions came from Philip through Perez, and that
most profound dissembler, as we have seen, systematically deceived the
Governor, with the view of eliciting treasonable matters, Philip wishing,
if possible, to obtain proofs of Don John's secret designs against his
own crown. Thus every letter from Spain was filled with false
information and with lying persuasions. No doubt the Governor considered
himself entitled to wear a crown, and meant to win it, if not in Africa,
then in England, or wherever fate might look propitiously upon him.
He was of the stuff of which crusaders and dynasty founders had been
made, at a somewhat earlier epoch. Who could have conquered the holy
sepulchre, or wrested a crown from its lawful wearer, whether in Italy,
Muscovy, the Orient, or in the British Ultima Thule, more bravely
than this imperial bastard, this valiant and romantic adventurer?
Unfortunately, he came a few centuries too late. The days when dynasties
were founded, and European thrones appropriated by a few foreign
freebooters, had passed, and had not yet returned. He had come to the
Netherlands desirous of smoothing over difficulties and of making a
peaceful termination to that rebellion a steppingstone to his English
throne. He was doomed to a profound disappointment, a broken heart, and
a premature grave, instead of the glittering baubles which he pursued.
Already he found himself bitterly deceived in his hopes. The obstinate
Netherlanders would not love him, notwithstanding the good wishes he had
manifested. They would not even love the King of Spain, notwithstanding
the blessings which his Majesty was declared to have heaped upon them.