These words of Emerson's express exactly the thought of this cartoon.
The Netherlands is a country that has been slowly won from the ocean;
the cruel sea has always been its enemy, at first completely triumphant,
then gradually resisted and driven forth by the enterprise and toil of
men; but it is always an enemy to be dreaded. Its inroads have to be
guarded against by great dykes and by the never-ceasing care and
industry of the nation. Now and again the floods come, and people barely
escape in boats from the waters. Yet time and again the enemy has been
the best friend of the Netherlands. This enemy has saved them from the
domination of Spain, and now, as the refugees on the floods of last
winter are escaping from the jaws of death they feel that the water
which is now an enemy (_vijand_), may to-morrow be a friend (_vriend_);
for an invasion by the Germans, that ever-dreaded danger to all
patriotic Dutchmen, can be guarded against only by the friendly help of
the ocean which can be invoked in case of need to save its own people.
It was only in the last resort that William the Silent consented to let
in the sea. He resisted the Spaniards as long as he could, and only when
all possible chance of further resistance was at an end did he have
recourse to the sea as the last friend. He saved the country by allowing
the German Ocean to destroy it. In this cartoon the people in the boats
regard the sea as their enemy; but an invasion by German armies could
not be resisted except with the help of the friendly sea, whose voice is
the voice of Freedom.