The Hollanders and Zealanders, under their heroic leader, had well nigh accomplished both tasks, so far as those little provinces were concerned.  Never had a contest, however, seemed more hopeless at its commencement.  Cast a glance at the map.  Look at Holland—­not the Republic, with its sister provinces beyond the Zuyder Zee—­but Holland only, with the Zealand archipelago.  Look at that narrow tongue of half-submerged earth.  Who could suppose that upon that slender sand-bank, one hundred and twenty miles in length, and varying in breadth from four miles to forty, one man, backed by the population of a handful of cities, could do battle nine years long with the master of two worlds, the “Dominator Of Asia, Africa, and America”—­the despot of the fairest realms of Europe—­and conquer him at last.  Nor was William even entirely master of that narrow shoal where clung the survivors of a great national shipwreck.  North and South Holland were cut in two by the loss of Harlem, while the enemy was in possession of the natural capital of the little country, Amsterdam.  The Prince affirmed that the cause had suffered more from the disloyalty of Amsterdam than from all the efforts of the enemy.

Moreover, the country was in a most desolate condition.  It was almost literally a sinking ship.  The destruction of the bulwarks against the ocean had been so extensive, in consequence of the voluntary inundations which have been described in previous pages, and by reason of the general neglect which more vital occupations had necessitated, that an enormous outlay, both of labor and money, was now indispensable to save the physical existence of the country.  The labor and the money, notwithstanding the crippled and impoverished condition of the nation, were, however, freely contributed; a wonderful example of energy and patient heroism was again exhibited.  The dykes which had been swept away in every direction were renewed at a vast expense.  Moreover, the country, in the course of recent events, had become almost swept bare of its cattle, and it was necessary to pass a law forbidding, for a considerable period, the slaughter of any animals, “oxen, cows, calves, sheep, or poultry.”  It was, unfortunately, not possible to provide by law against that extermination of the human population which had been decreed by Philip and the Pope.

Such was the physical and moral condition of the provinces of Holland and Zealand.  The political constitution of both assumed, at this epoch, a somewhat altered aspect.  The union between the two states; effected in June, 1575, required improvement.  The administration of justice, the conflicts of laws, and more particularly the levying of monies and troops in equitable proportions, had not been adjusted with perfect smoothness.  The estates of the two provinces, assembled in congress at Delft, concluded, therefore, a new act of union, which was duly signed upon the 25th of April, 1576.  Those estates, consisting of the knights and nobles