But Philip was not contented with the
reestablishment of his ancient authority: he considered that provinces
so remote from the seat of government could not be ruled by a limited
prerogative; and that a prince who must entreat rather than command,
would necessarily, when he resided not among the people, feel every day
a diminution of his power and influence. He determined, therefore,
to lay hold of the late popular disorders as a pretence for entirely
abolishing the privileges of the Low Country provinces, and for ruling
them thenceforth with a military and arbitrary authority.
In the execution of this violent design, he employed a man who was a
proper instrument in the hands of such a tyrant. Ferdinand of Toledo,
duke of Alva, had been educated amidst arms; and having attained a
consummate knowledge in the military art, his habits led him to transfer
into all government the severe discipline of a camp, and to conceive
no measures between prince and subject but those of rigid command and
implicit obedience.
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