For the facts connected with the
doings of Sir Francis Vere and the British contingent in Holland,
I have depended much upon the excellent work by Mr. Clement Markham
entitled the Fighting Veres. In this full justice is done to the
great English general and his followers, and it is conclusively
shown that some statements to the disparagement of Sir Francis
Vere by Mr. Motley are founded upon a misconception of the facts.
Sir Francis Vere was, in the general opinion of the time, one of
the greatest commanders of the age, and more, perhaps, than any
other man with the exception of the Prince of Orange contributed
to the successful issue of the struggle of Holland to throw off
the yoke of Spain.
Yours sincerely,
G.A. HENTY
CHAPTER I
AN EXCURSION
"And we beseech Thee, 0 Lord, to give help and succour to Thy servants
the people of Holland, and to deliver them from the cruelties and
persecutions of their wicked oppressors; and grant Thy blessing,
we pray Thee, upon the arms of our soldiers now embarking to aid
them in their extremity."
These were the words with which the Rev. John Vickars, rector of
Hedingham, concluded the family prayers on the morning of December
6th, 1585.
For twenty years the first portion of this prayer had been repeated
daily by him, as it had been in tens of thousands of English
households; for since the people of the Netherlands first rose
against the Spanish yoke the hearts of the Protestants of England
had beat warmly in their cause, and they had by turns been moved
to admiration at the indomitable courage with which the Dutch
struggled for independence against the might of the greatest power
in Europe, and to horror and indignation at the pitiless cruelty
and wholesale massacres by which the Spaniards had striven to stamp
out resistance.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25