THE CONFLICT IN THE NETHERLANDS.
DESCRIPTION OF HOLLAND--A LAND OF REFUGE--TYRANNY OF ALVA--THE STRUGGLE
FOR INDEPENDENCE--SIEGE OF LEYDEN--THE COUNTRY SUBMERGED--FAMINE IN THE
CITY--SPEECH OF THE MAYOR--HEROIC CONDUCT--TRUST IN GOD--STORM RAISES
THE WATERS--SPANIARDS RETREAT--LEYDEN IS SAVED--THANKSGIVING--WATERS
RETIRE.
In a previous chapter have been described the circumstances which led
to the colonization of Acadia and New England.
While these events were transpiring in old England and New England,
others of scarcely less importance were occurring in Holland, or the
Netherlands, as it is frequently called, and in its colony of New
Netherlands. It is a fact too frequently forgotten, that at least three
of the thirteen original states were colonized by Holland. It is true
Pennsylvania and Delaware received a few colonists from Sweden and
Finland, who had settled there to escape religious persecution; but
their dominions in the new world were not of long duration. To Holland
and England belong the chief glory of colonizing the lands embraced in
the United Colonies of 1776. The country now embraced in the states
of New York, New Jersey and {136} Delaware, received the name of New
Netherlands, and like the inhabitants of New England, they were for the
most part a religious people.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Holland had been the
refuge of exiles from many lands. When John Huss and Jerome of Prague
fell under papal vengeance, many of their followers there found a home.
When the fury of persecution was raging against the Waldenses, many of
them fled to Holland for protection. After the terrible massacre of the
French protestants or Huguenots, as they were called, in 1572, many of
them took refuge in the Netherlands. This liberty-loving population
was the cause of that deadly hatred manifested toward them by the Duke
of Alva. This insatiate monster, during his brief administration,
caused more than eighteen thousand persons to perish by the hand of the
executioner. His cruelties at length aroused the indignation of the
people, and brought about those notable events so well described by the
historian, Motley, in his _Rise of the Dutch Republic_. This contest
was one of the most memorable in the history of the human race, for in
it was clearly shown the wonderful providence of God.
Holland, as is well known, is a low, flat country, so low, in fact,
that the inhabitants have been obliged to build dykes, or embankments
of earth, along the coast, in order to protect the country from the
waters of the ocean during high tides and storms. Were it not for this
precaution, Holland would frequently present the appearance of a vast,
shallow bay or lake, thickly studded with orchards dwellings and cities
half submerged in the water.
At this time Holland was under the dominion of Spain. The tyranny of
Alva, the governor, provoked the people to resistance, and King Philip
sent an army from Spain to enforce submission. Rather than longer
endure this oppression, the brave Hollanders resolved to achieve their
independence or perish in the attempt. The fortifications of their
country were few, but, in one respect, they held the keys of the ocean.
They opened the flood-gates of the dykes and prepared to submerge the
country when the first storm should come. Meanwhile the Spaniards were
besieging Leyden, and if that city fell, the {137} conquest of the
country would inevitably follow. The Hollanders well knew that the
ocean would damage their fields and destroy their growing crops, but
they preferred the chances of starvation to an indiscriminate massacre.
Leyden was situated twenty miles inland. It was impossible to bring
Leyden to the ocean. They prayed that God would aid their efforts to
bring the ocean to Leyden. Meantime the besieged city was at its last
gasp. At the dawn of each day the brave defenders turned their eyes
toward the vanes of the church steeples, that they might ascertain the
direction of the wind. So long as an easterly wind prevailed, they felt
that they must look in vain for the welcome ocean. Yet, while thus
patiently waiting, they were literally starving. Such was the condition
of Leyden on the 11th of September, 1574. The commander of the Dutch
fleet, Admiral Boisot, had constructed a number of flat boats, by which
he hoped to be able to bring provisions and munitions of war to the
besieged city. But a week elapsed after the opening of the dykes, and
no storm nor high tide had come to force the ocean inland. The flotilla
of boats now lay motionless in shallow water, having accomplished less
than two miles. Everything wore a gloomy aspect; still the hearts of
the patriots were lifted to God in prayer. On the 18th the wind shifted
to the north-west, and for three days blew a gale. The waters rose
rapidly, and before the second was closed, the flat boats were again
afloat. Onward the boats flew before the breeze, and soon arrived at
the villages of Zoetermeer and Benthuyzen. A strong force of Spaniards
were stationed at each place, but they were astonished to see these
brave and liberty-loving men, sailing on a sea, where a few hours
before, was dry and solid land. Some of their officers even asked in
amazement, "was it true that God and the elements were going to fight
against them?" Few things are more appalling to the imagination than
the rising ocean tide, when man feels himself within its power. The
Spanish soldiers saw the waters deepening and closing around them,
and, as it were, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on the
waves rode a flotilla, manned by a liberty-loving and determined race,
whose courage was known throughout the world. No wonder the Spaniards
were seized with a panic and fled precipitately. {138} Behind them came
the roaring tide; and thousands sank beneath the deepening flood. In
a few hours the flotilla had arrived at North Aa, from whence Admiral
Boiset sent, on September 28th, a carrier pigeon with a letter of
encouragement to the famished inhabitants of Leyden.
As time passed on, the mortality in the city became frightful. Mothers
dropped dead in the streets with their dead children in their arms. A
terrible plague, engendered by hardships and famine, was sweeping away
the people like grass before the scythe. From six to eight thousand
human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet the people resolutely
held out--women and men mutually encouraging each other to resist the
entrance of the foreign foe--an evil more horrible than pest or famine.
The heroism of the Hollanders towered to sublimity. True a few of the
faint-hearted one day assailed the mayor of Leyden, the heroic Adrian
Van der Werf, with threats and reproaches as he passed through the
streets. He stepped to one side and mounted the steps of the church
of St. Pancras. There he stood, a tall, haggard, imposing figure,
with dark visage, and a tranquil, but commanding eye. He waved his
broad-brimmed hat for silence, and then exclaimed: "What would ye, my
friends? Why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender
the city to the Spaniards?--a fate more horrible than the agony which
she now endures. I tell you, I have made an oath to hold the city, and
may God give me strength to keep my oath! I can die but once; whether
by your hands, the enemy's, or by the hand of God. My own fate is
indifferent to me, not so that of the city entrusted to my care. I know
that we shall starve if not soon relieved; but starvation is preferable
to the dishonored death which is our only alternative. Your menaces
move me not; my life is at your disposal, here is my sword, plunge it
into my breast, and divide my flesh among you. Take my body to appease
your hunger, but expect no surrender, so long as I remain alive."
The words of the firm, old mayor, inspired a new courage in the hearts
of those who heard him, and a shout of applause and defiance arose
from the famishing, but enthusiastic crowd. After exchanging new vows
of fidelity with their magistrate, {139} they left the place and again
ascended tower and battlement to watch for the coming fleet.
From the ramparts they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. "Ye call
us rat-eaters and dog-eaters," they cried, "and it is true. So long
then, as ye hear dog bark, or cat mew, within the walls of the city,
ye may know that it still holds out. And when all has perished but
ourselves, be sure that we will each devour our left arms, retaining
our right to defend our women, our liberty and our religion, against
the foreign tyrant. Should God, in His providence, deny us all relief,
even then will we maintain ourselves against your entrance. When the
last hour has come, with our own hands we will set fire to the city and
perish, men, women and children, together in the flames, rather than
suffer our homes to be polluted and our liberties to be crushed."
The Spaniards shouted back derisively: "As well can the prince of
Orange pluck down the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the
walls of Leyden for your relief." But they had forgotten that "prayer
moves the arm that moves the world;" that He, whom the winds and seas
obey, and who holds the tempests as in the hollow of his hand, had
heard the cry of that patient and persecuted people, and was sending
the darkness and the storm, to sweep away their enemies as with the
besom of destruction.
When the stoutest hearts began to fail, the tempest came again to
their relief. A violent gale, on the night of the 1st of October, came
storming from the north-west, shifting after a few hours, and then
blowing still more violently from the south-west. The waters of the
North sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coast, and then
dashed furiously land-ward. The waters rose higher than ever before
known, and swept with unobstructed fury across the ruined dykes. The
fleet of flat-boats at North Aa, was no longer stranded. At midnight,
amidst the storm and darkness, Admiral Boisot gave orders to advance.
A few sentinels challenged them as they swept by the village of
Zoeterwoude. The answer was a flash from Boisot's cannon, lighting the
dark, wild waste of waters. Then came a fierce naval midnight battle.
It was a strange spectacle among the branches of those quiet orchards
and {140} chimney stacks of half submerged farm-houses. Swiftly the
fleet sailed on over the waters between Zoeterwoude and Zwieten. As
they approached shallows the sailors dashed into the sea and literally
shouldered the vessels through. These forts and that of Lammen might
have proved serious obstacles, had not the panic, which had hitherto
driven their foes before the advancing patriots, come again to their
relief.
A long procession of lights was seen to flit across the black face of
the waters, in the dead of night. The Spaniards had fled precipitately
along a road which led in a westerly direction toward the Hague. Their
narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, and hundreds sank in
the constantly deepening flood, to rise no more.
The morning dawned, but all was calm and still around the city of
Leyden. The hand of God which had sent the ocean and the tempest for
her deliverance, had likewise struck her enemies with terror. The
lights which had been seen during the night, were lanterns of the
retreating Spaniards. The succoring fleet sailed victoriously into
the city on the morning of the 3rd of October, 1574. Bread was freely
given to the poor creatures, who for months had tasted no wholesome
human food. When the admiral stepped on shore a procession was formed
consisting of citizens, sailors, soldiers, women and children. They
repaired to the great cathedral; and they who had been firm in their
resistance to an earthly tyrant, now bowed in humble gratitude before
the King of kings. After prayers the whole, vast congregation, joined
in the thanksgiving hymn. Thousands of voices raised the song, but few
were able to carry it to its conclusion, for the universal emotion,
deepened by the music, became too full for utterance. The hymn was
abruptly suspended while the multitude wept like children.
"On the following day, the 4th of October, the wind shifted to the
north-east, and again blew a tempest. It was as if the waters, having
now done their work, had been rolled back to the ocean by an Omnipotent
hand, for in the course of a few days the land was bare again, and the
work of reconstructing the dykes commenced."
{141} From this terrible ordeal came out many illustrious characters.
Its results tended to civil and religious liberty, as well as the
great principle of federal union which has since been carried out to
such a wonderful extent. These principles the Dutch emigrants brought
with them; and when a few years afterwards their settlements fell into
the hands of the English they were already assimilated to the ideas
prevailing in the New England colonies.