"I know not," said Gaultherus, "whether the calamity of the Netherlands, or the more than bestial stupidity of the Germans, be most deplorable.

To the insane contests on theological abstractions we owe it that many are ready to breathe blood and slaughter against their own brethren.

The hatred of the Lutherans has reached that point that they can rather tolerate Papists than ourselves." In England, there was much sympathy for the provinces and there--although the form of government was still arbitrary--the instincts for civil and religious freedom, which have ever characterized the Anglo-Saxon race, were not to be repressed.

Upon many a battle-field for liberty in the Netherlands, "men whose limbs were made in England" were found contending for the right.

The blood and treasure of Englishmen flowed freely in the cause of their relatives by religion and race, but these were the efforts of individuals.