The position of Holland and Denmark is one of excruciating anxiety to
the citizens of those countries. They know that the Allies are fighting
the battle of their own political existence, but they are so hypnotised
with well-founded terror of the implacable tyrant on their flank that
they are not only bound to neutrality, but are afraid to express their
sympathies too plainly. Dutch editors have been admonished and punished
under pressure from Berlin; the brilliant artist of these cartoons is
in danger on his native soil. A leading German newspaper has lately
announced that “we will make Holland pay with interest for these
insults after the war.” A German victory would inevitably be followed
in a few years by the disappearance from the map of this gallant and
interesting little nation, our plucky rival in time past, our honoured
friend to-day. No nation has established a stronger claim to maintain
its independence, whether we consider the heroic and successful
struggles of the Dutch for religious and political liberty, their
triumphs in discovery, colonisation, and naval warfare, their unique
contributions to art, or the manly and vigorous character of their
people. It is needless to say that we have no designs upon any Dutch
colony!