The average cost of dyke-building was sixty florins the rod of twelve feet, or 84,000 florins the Dutch mile.

The total cost of the Zeeland dykes was estimated at 3,360,000 florins, besides the annual repairs.
But it was on the sea that the Netherlanders were really at home, and they always felt it in their power--as their last resource against foreign tyranny--to bury their land for ever in the ocean, and to seek a new country at the ends of the earth.

It has always been difficult to doom to political or personal slavery a nation accustomed to maritime pursuits.

Familiarity with the boundless expanse of ocean, and the habit of victoriously contending with the elements in their stormy strength, would seem to inspire a consciousness in mankind of human dignity and worth.

With the exception of Spain, the chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant.