Emma Orczy

Leatherface Emma Orczy

Less than a month later, and tyranny is once more triumphant. Mons has capitulated, Orange has withdrawn his handful of mutinous troops into Holland, Valenciennes has beendestroyed and Mechlin--beautiful, gracious, august Mechlin--with her cathedrals and hertrade-halls, her ancient monuments of art and civilisation has been given over for threedays to the lust and rapine of Spanish soldiery!Three whole days! E'en now we think on those days and shudder--shudder at what weknow, at what the chroniclers have told us, the sacking of churches, the pillaging ofmonasteries, the massacre of peaceful, harmless citizens!Three whole days during which the worst demons that infest hell itself, the worstdemons that inspire the hideous passions of men--greed, revenge and cruelty--were letloose upon the stately city whose sole offence had been that she had for twenty-four hoursharboured Orange and his troops within her gates and closed them against the tyrant'ssoldiery!Less than a month and Orange is a fugitive, and all the bright hopes for the cause ofreligious and civil freedom are once more dashed to the ground. It seems as if God Himselfhath set His face against the holy cause! Mons has fallen and Mechlin is reduced to ashes, and over across the borders the King of France has caused ten thousand of his subjects tobe massacred--one holy day, the feast of St. Bartholomew--ten thousand of them!--justbecause their religious beliefs did not coincide with his own. The appalling news droveOrange and his small army to flight--he had reckoned on help from the King of France--instead of that promised help the news of the massacre of ten thousand Protestants!Catholic Europe was horror-stricken at the crime committed in the name of religion; but inthe Low Countries, Spanish tyranny had scored a victory--the ignoble Duke of Alvatriumphed and the cause of freedom in Flanders and Hainault and Brabant received a blowfrom which it did not again recover for over three hundred year