When he was little more than a boy his country had been attacked by Lewis in ostentatious defiance of justice and public law, had been overrun, had been desolated, had been given up to every excess of rapacity, licentiousness, and cruelty.

The Dutch had in dismay humbled themselves before the conqueror, and had implored mercy.

They had been told in reply that, if they desired peace, they must resign their independence and do annual homage to the House of Bourbon.

The injured nation, driven to despair, had opened its dykes and had called in the sea as an ally against the French tyranny.

It was in the agony of that conflict, when peasants were flying in terror before the invaders, when hundreds of fair gardens and pleasure houses were buried beneath the waves, when the deliberations of the States were interrupted by the fainting and the loud weeping of ancient senators who could not bear the thought of surviving the freedom and glory of their native land, that William had been called to the head of affairs.