It demanded that the privileges of the country should be
restored, and insisted on the recall of the Duke of Alva, whose
atrocities were vigorously described and condemned. Orange, as
stadtholder, was now acting as the King's representative in Holland,
and gave all his orders in Philip's name. He had recently turned
Calvinist, and in October publicly joined the Church at Dort. It was
reserved for the two greatest princes of the age to alleviate by their
apostasy, which, however, approached more nearly than the orthodoxy of
their adversaries, the spirit of true Christianity, the evils inflicted
on society by a consistent but bloody-minded and intolerant bigotry.
The siege of Alkmaar was one of the last acts under Alva's auspices in
the Netherlands, and formed a fitting termination to his career. He had
himself solicited to be recalled, and in December, 1573, he was
superseded by Don Luis de Requesens, Grand Commander of St. Jago. In
fact, Philip had found this war of extermination too expensive for his
exhausted treasury. Alva boasted on his journey back that he had caused
eighteen thousand six hundred Netherlanders to be executed. He was well
received by Philip, but soon after his return was imprisoned along with
his son, Don Frederick; the latter for having seduced a maid of honor,
his father for recommending him not to marry his victim.
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