Hemart came boldly to meet him. "The honest man came to me at Bommel,"
said Leicester, and he assured the government that it was in the hope of
persuading the magistrates of that and other towns to imitate his own
treachery.

But the magistrates straightway delivered the culprit to the governor-
general, who immediately placed him under arrest. A court-martial was
summoned, 26th of June, at Utrecht, consisting of Hohenlo, Essex, and
other distinguished officers. They found that the conduct of the
prisoner merited death, but left it to the Earl to decide whether various
extenuating circumstances did not justify a pardon. Hohenlo and Norris
exerted themselves to procure a mitigation of the young man's sentence,
and they excited thereby the governor's deep indignation. Norris,
according to Leicester, was in love with the culprit's aunt, and was
therefore especially desirous of saving his life. Moreover, much use was
made of the discredit which had been thrown by the Queen on the Earl's
authority, and it was openly maintained, that, being no longer governor-
general, he had no authority to order execution upon a Netherland
officer.

The favourable circumstances urged in the case, were, that Hemart was a
young man, without experience in military matters, and that he had been
overcome by the supplications and outcries of the women, panic-struck
after the first assault. There were no direct proofs of treachery, or
even of personal cowardice. He begged hard for a pardon, not on account
of his life, but for the sake of his reputation. He earnestly implored
permission to serve under the Queen of England, as a private soldier,
without pay, on land or sea, for as many years as she should specify, and
to be selected for the most dangerous employments, in order that, before
he died, he might wipe out the disgrace, which, through his fault, in an