CONCERNING THE INTEREST WHICH DANIEL THE ELDER TOOK IN THE DUTCH WAR,
AND MORE ESPECIALLY IN THE SIEGE AND PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERY OF LEYDEN.
Glory to Thee in thine omnipotence,
O Lord who art our shield and our defence,
And dost dispense,
As seemeth best to thine unerring will,
(Which passeth mortal sense)
The lot of Victory still;
Edging sometimes with might the sword unjust;
And bowing to the dust,
The rightful cause, that so such seeming ill
May thine appointed purposes fulfil;
Sometimes, as in this late auspicious hour
For which our hymns we raise,
Making the wicked feel thy present power;
Glory to thee and praise,
Almighty God, by whom our strength was given!
Glory to Thee, O Lord of Earth and Heaven!
SOUTHEY.
There were two portions of history with which the elder Daniel was
better acquainted than most men,—that of Edward the Third's reign, and
that of the Wars in the Netherlands down to the year 1608. Upon both
subjects he was _homo unius libri_; such a man is proverbially
formidable at his own weapon; and the book with which Johnson
immortalized Osborne the bookseller, by knocking him down with it, was
not a more formidable folio than either of those from which Daniel
derived this knowledge.
Now of all the events in the wars of the Low Countries, there was none
which had so strongly affected his imagination as the siege of Leyden.
The patient fortitude of the besieged, and their deliverance, less by
the exertions of man, (though no human exertions were omitted), than
by the special mercy of Him whom the elements obey, and in whom they
had put their trust, were in the strong and pious mind of Daniel,
things of more touching interest than the tragedy of Haarlem, or the
wonders of military science and of courage displayed at the siege of
Antwerp. Who indeed could forget the fierce answer of the Leydeners
when they were, for the last time, summoned to surrender, that the men
of Leyden would never surrender while they had one arm left to eat,
and another to fight with! And the not less terrible reply of the
Burgemeester Pieter Adriaanzoon Vander Werf, to some of the townsmen
when they represented to him the extremity of famine to which they
were reduced; “I have sworn to defend this city,” he made answer, “and
by God's help I mean to keep that oath! but if my death can help ye
men, here is my body! cut it in pieces, and share it among ye as far
as it will go.” And who without partaking in the hopes and fears of
the contest, almost as if it were still at issue, can peruse the
details of that _amphibious_ battle (if such an expression may be
allowed) upon the inundated country, when, in the extremity of their
distress, and at a time when the Spaniards said that it was as
impossible for the Hollanders to save Leyden from their power, as it
was for them to pluck the stars from heaven, “a great south wind,
which they might truly say came from the grace of God,” set in with
such a spring tide, that in the course of eight and forty hours, the
inundation rose half a foot, thus rendering the fields just passable
for the flat-bottomed boats which had been provided for that service!
A naval battle, among the trees; where the besieged, though it was
fought within two miles of their walls, could see nothing because of
the foliage; and amid such a labyrinth of dykes, ditches, rivers and
fortifications, that when the besiegers retired from their palisades
and sconces, the conquerors were not aware of their own success, nor
the besieged of their deliverance!
“In this delivery,” says the historian, “and in every particular of
the enterprise, doubtless all must be attributed to the mere
providence of God, neither can man challenge any glory therein; for
without a miracle all the endeavours of the Protestants had been as
wind. But God who is always good, would not give way to the cruelties
wherewith the Spaniards threatened this town, with all the insolencies
whereof they make profession in the taking of towns (although they be
by composition) without any respect of humanity or honesty. And there
is not any man but will confess with me, if he be not some atheist, or
epicure, (who maintain that all things come by chance,) that this
delivery is a work which belongs only unto God. For if the Spaniards
had battered the town but with four cannons only, they had carried it,
the people being so weakened with famine, as they could not endure any
longer: besides a part of them were ill affected, and very many of
their best men were dead of the plague. And for another testimony that
it was God only who wrought, the town was no sooner delivered, but the
wind which was south-west, and had driven the water out of the sea
into the country, turned to north-east, and did drive it back again
into the sea, as if the south-west wind had blown those three days
only to that effect; wherefore they might well say that both the winds
and the sea had fought for the town of Leyden. And as for the
resolution of the States of Holland to drown the country, and to do
that which they and their Prince, together with all the commanders,
captains and soldiers of the army shewed in this sea-course, together
with the constancy and resolution of the besieged to defend
themselves, notwithstanding so many miseries which they suffered, and
so many promises and threats which were made unto them, all in like
sort proceeded from a divine instinct.”
In the spirit of thoughtful feeling that this passage breathes, was
the whole history of that tremendous struggle perused by the elder
Daniel; and Daniel the son was so deeply imbued with the same feeling,
that if he had lived till the time of the Peninsular War, he would
have looked upon the condition to which Spain was reduced, as a
consequence of its former tyranny, and as an awful proof how surely,
soon or late, the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children.
Oh that all history were regarded in this spirit! “Even such as are in
faith most strong, of zeal most ardent, should not,” says one of the
best and wisest of Theologians, “much mispend their time in comparing
the degenerate fictions, or historical relations of times ancient or
modern, with the everlasting truth. For though this method could not
add much increase either to their faith or zeal, yet would it
doubtless much avail for working placid and mild affections. The very
penmen of Sacred Writ themselves were taught patience, and instructed
in the ways of God's providence, by their experience of such events as
the course of time is never barren of; not always related by canonical
authors, nor immediately testified by the Spirit; but oftimes believed
upon a moral certainty, or such a resolution of circumstances
concurrent into the first cause or disposer of all affairs as we might
make of modern accidents, were we otherwise partakers of the Spirit,
or would we mind heavenly matters as much as earthly.”