The Netherlands had waited long enough for assistance from other quarters.

Germany would not lift a finger in the cause; on the contrary, the whole of Germany, whether Protestant or Catholic, was either openly or covertly hostile.

It was madness to wait till assistance came to them from unseen sources.

It was time for them to assist themselves, and to take the best they could get; for when men were starving they could not afford to be dainty.

They might be bound, hand and foot, they might be overwhelmed a thousand times before they would receive succor from Germany, or from any land but France.