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 hypnotized
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, colonization, 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!