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fol.124r
Later Addition: Belgia 1591 3 April to my L. Treasurer
Later Addition: Belgia: 1591: April
May it please your good L. by Sir John Norris report & by such former lettres as I have writen to your L. wherof one was of the 18 & an other of the 13 of the last, I trust you are advertized of the States resolution, to the moste of those matters that sundry times before you required mee to urge, & now again by the last of the 21 of marche which I have lately receaved. With much a doe & more to satisfie her Majesty then for any willingnes otherwise they have yeelded heer to send 2 companies of their owne entertainment to the Gouvernor of Ostend, which yet they affirme to be wholy suparfluous & will condition with the gouvernor that they may be retorned when the forces of the Contrey shallbee redy for the field. How much they have bin moved alredy & wilbee furder grieved, that the contributions of those partes shold bee otherwise disposed then they them selves shall think requesit, your L. will consider by that which my former hath signified unto you. For my self I will conforme my endevours to her Highnes good pleasure, but I see before hand by that forme of proceeding which they use in other actions, that they will never and by the spetiall dislike which they shewe in this matter, that they will never bee but Jalous, unquiet & complaining, till they have the managing of theyr owne, aswell in Ostend as in every other towne that partaineth to theyr goverment. And though in substance the meaning of her Majesty be no other then theyrs, not to prejudice their righte but to take the best & safest way to benefit theyr estate, yet of a naturall imparfection they are merveilously wedded to outward formes of proceeding & to a precise observance of the orders of the contrey, & from them they will not vary for any manner of parsuasion. Your L. will vouchsafe to consider of this matter & to give mee some notice of her Majesties pleasure, which I follow heer & furder as much as I am able. Astouching the project which your L. sent hether for disswading this people from the offers of peace if it be your desire to have it published abroad, heer is no man I am certain that will willingly print it without the privity of the States, and the States fol.124vLater Addition: Belgia: 1591: April
there is no dout, will alwaies suspect it to come from her Majestie. And whether it be expedient that it should be so surmised or that the motion of peace which is wholy quailed of yt self should now again be stirred to frame an answere unto it & the people occasyoned to dispute yt to & fro, & to construe the sufficiency of the reasons or both sides, I submit my self therin to your L. opinion, being redy for any thing that you shall resolve.but otherwise of my self I should hold yt sufficient, to keep matter enough in store, & when the time is fitt for yt, to concurr with the states in delivering yt abroad. The lettre heerwith which I send unto my LL. of her Majesties councell is to signify unto them how I speed about the dets which ar owing from the States unto the L. Wilughby & in the sollicitacion of those matters I found a meet opportunity for that they were buisied in the affaires of the Admiralty to present such matter unto them as I was lately willed by her Majesty for the setting forth of their shippes to enconter those of Donkerk Newport & Graveling & such other preparations as is made of the Liguers, To my motion therin & to the L. Willughbies causes they have made me the answere which I sent unto your L. & besech you to imparte to her Highnes & the LL. And to the end your L. might receave a parfect specificacion of the strength of al theyr shipping, that is continually maintained for the franchise of the sea aswell of I have sent you a list of them all, aswell of those that ar appointed to gard the rest of Flandres, as all other plans which upon my instance to the states was delivered unto mee by the Councel of the Admiralty. For the dets that ar claymed by the L. Willughby, although they know for certain & I was willed by the LL. to signify so much that his L. is an earnest sutor for lettres of reprisall that accordingly as his owne goodes are heer detained by waie of arrest, so his L. might have leave for the recovery of such sommes as are dew unto him from the States to staie the goodes wheresoever of any subject of these contreys: yet they saie that such a course was nev[er] put in practise neither by her Majesty nor by any [other] Prince for a private mans cause against theyr pub[lic] state. And consydering the dangr of the consequ[ence in] that proceeding, & theyr infinit consumptions by [reason of] fol.125vLater Addition: Belgia: 1591: April
these warres, they hope her Majesty in this matter will shew no such example for other princes to imitat. We have certain intelligence, that 800 of the mutined souldiers of Diest in Brabant have made an incursion into the Land of Liege, and taken & spoiled the Towne of Huie a strong place upon the Maes, upon the mid waie upon the river between Namurs & the Towne of Liege. Ther is joyned unto it a castel of good strength, with a garrison of souldiers, which forced presently the Spaniard to forsake the place. withall the country people raised on the suddain such forces of horse & foote as they cutt of all the passages between that & Diest & forced the ennemy into Hannuyn, which shold seem by the advertisement given, to bee an open village towardes Brabant, in which place when the lettre was written they were kept as beseiged without hope to escape. In the mean season it is sayd, that the mutins of Herentals sent a renforcement of other troupes into Diest. Count Maurice is gon into Zeland intending presently to draw such troupes awaie from thence as may be spared for the field. Sir Francis Vere is departed for Disbourgh, with commission from the Councel to Joyne with Count Oversteyn, & to employ the forces of those quarters to beat the ennemy from his worke, who, as wee are informed, have begun a fortification on this side the Issel over against Deventer. & T but hath not yet assembled above 600 men. & thus I take my humble leave. From the Hage. 3 April. Anno 1591.