MAURICE, elector of Saxony, son of Henry Is Pieux, was born A. D. 1521. He was early remarkable for his courage, and during his whole life he was engaged in warlike pursuits. He served under the emperor Charles V. in the campaign of 1544 against France; and in the year following against the league of Smalkalde; with which, although a Protestant, he would have no manner of connexion. The emperor, as a reward for his services, in the year 1547, made him elector of Saxony, having deprived his cousin John Frederick of that electorate. Ambition had led him to second the views of Charles, in the hope of being elector, and ambition again detached him from that prince. In 1551 he entered into a league against the emperor, together with the elector of Brandenburg, the Count Palatine, the duke of Wirtemberg, and many other princes. This league, encouraged by the young and enterprising Henry II. of France, was more dangerous than that of Smalkalde. The pretext for the association was the deliverance of the landgrave of Hesse, whom the emperor kept prisoner. Maurice and the confederates marched, in 1552, to the defiles of Tyrol, and put to flight the Imperial troops who guarded them. The emperor and his brother Ferdinand narrowly escaped, and fled from the conquerors in great disorder. Charles having retired into Passau, where he had collected an army, brought the princes of the league to terms of accommodation. By the famous peace of Passau, which was finally ratified the 12th of August 1552, the emperor granted an amnesty without exception to all those who had carried arms against him from the year 1546. The Protestants not only obtained the free exercise of their religion, but they were admitted into the imperial chamber, from which they had been excluded since the victory of Mulberg.—Maurice soon after united himself with the emperor against the margrave of Brandenburg, who laid waste the German provinces. He engaged him in 1553, gain-
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Maurice ed the battle of Siverhausen, and died of the wounds he had received in the engagement two days after. He was one of the greatest protectors of the Lutherans in Germany, and a prince equally brave and politic. After he had profited by the spoils of John Frederick, the chief of the Protestants, he became himself the leader of the party, and by these means maintained the balance of power against the emperor in Germany.
Maurice de Nassau, prince of Orange, succeeded to the government of the Low Countries after the death of his father William, who was killed in 1584 by the fanatic Gerard. The young prince was then only eighteen years of age, but his courage and abilities were above his years. He was appointed captain general of the United Provinces, and he reared that edifice of liberty of which his father had laid the foundation. Breda submitted to him in 1593; Zutphen, Deventer, Hulle, Nimeguen, in 1591. He gained several important advantages in 1592, and in the year following he made himself master of Gertrudenburg. When he had performed these splendid services, he returned to the Low Countries by the way of Zeeland. His fleet was attacked by a dreadful tempest, in which he lost forty vessels, and he himself had very nearly perished. His death would have been considered by the Hollanders as a much greater calamity than the loss of their vessels. They watched over his safety with exceeding care. In 1594, one of his guards was accused of an intention to take away his life; and it was generally believed that he was bribed to this service by the enemies of the republic. He fell a sacrifice at Bruges, either to his own fanaticism or to the jealous anxiety of the friends of Maurice. The prince of Orange, increasing in reputation, defeated the troops of the archduke Albert in 1597, and drove the Spaniards entirely out of Holland. In 1600 he was obliged to raise the siege of Dunkirk; but he took ample vengeance on Albert, whom he again defeated in a pitched battle near Nieuport. Before the action, this great general sent back the ships which had brought his troops into Flanders: My brethren (said he to his army), we must conquer the enemy or drink up the waters of the sea. Determine for yourselves; I have determined I shall either conquer by your bravery, or I shall never survive the disgrace of being conquered by men in every respect our inferiors. This speech elevated the soldiers to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and the victory was complete. Rhinberg, Grave, and Ecluse, cities in Flanders, submitted to the conqueror the following year. Maurice, however, not only laboured for the commonwealth, but also for himself. He coveted the sovereignty of Holland, and was opposed in the prosecution of his design by the pensioner Barneveldt. The zeal and activity of this wife republican cost him his life. He was an Arminian; and at this time Maurice defended Gomar against Arminius.—Taking advantage of the general odium under which the Arminians lay, he found means to get Barneveldt condemned in 1619. His death, wholly owing to the cruel ambition of the prince of Orange, made a deep impression on the minds of the Hollanders. The truce with Spain being expired, Spinola laid siege to Breda in 1624, and in six months, by the proper direction of his great talents, though with great slaughter
of his troops, he took the place. The prince of Maurice, Orange, unsuccessful in every attempt to raise the siege, died of vexation in 1625, aged 55 years, with the reputation of the greatest warrior of his time.—“The life of this steadfast holder (says the abbe Raynal) was almost an uninterrupted series of battles, of sieges, and of victories. Of moderate abilities in every thing else, he shone conspicuous in his military capacity. His camp was the school of Europe; and those who received their military education in his armies augmented, perhaps, the glory of their master.—Like Montecuculi, he discovered inimitable skill in his marches and encampments; like Vauban, he possessed the talent of fortifying places, and of rendering them impregnable; like Eugene, the address of finding subsistence for great armies in countries barren by nature, or ravaged by war; like Vendome, the happy talent of calling forth, in the moment they became necessary, greater exertions from his soldiers than could reasonably be expected; like Condé, that infallible quickness of eye which decides the fortune of battles; like Charles XII. the art of rendering his troops almost invisible to cold, hunger, and fatigue; like Turenne, the secret of making war with the least possible expense of human blood.” The Chevalier Folard maintains, that Maurice was the greatest commander of infantry since the time of the Romans. He studied the military art of the ancients, and applied their rules with great exactness in the various occurrences of war. He not only took advantage of the inventions of others, but he enriched the science of war with several improvements. Telescopes were first used by him for a military purpose; and, besides a kind of gallery in conducting a siege, and the plan of blockading a strong place, which were of his invention, he greatly improved the whole art by his method of pushing an attack with great vigour, and of defending, for the greatest length of time, and in the best manner, a place besieged. In short, the many useful things which he practised or invented, placed him in the highest rank among men of a military character. On one occasion, a lady of quality asked him, Who was the first general of the age? Spinola (replied he) is the second. It was his constant practice, during sleep, to have two guards placed by his bedside, not only to defend him in case of danger, but to awake him if there should be the least occasion. The war betwixt Spain and Holland was never carried on with greater keenness and animosity than during his administration.—The Grand Signor, hearing of the vast torrents of blood shed in this contest, thought that a great empire must depend on the decision. The object of so many battles was pointed out to him on a map, and he said coldly, If it were my business, I would send my pioneers, and order them to cast this little corner of earth into the sea. Maurice, like many great men, was impatient under contradiction, and too much devoted to women. He was succeeded by Frederick Henry his brother.