But it was not to be.

It is possible that he should be reckoned in the number of those whose manner of death sets the seal to a life-work of continuous self-sacrifice.

The title of "Father of his Country," which was affectionately given to him by Hollanders of every class, was never more deservedly bestowed, for it was in the Holland that his exertions had freed and that he had made the impregnable fortress of the resistance to Spain that he ever felt more at home than anywhere else.

It was in the midst of his own people that he laid down the life that had been consecrated to their cause.

As a general he had never been successful.