Requesens was more than ever straitened for funds, wringing, with increasing difficulty, a slender subsidy, from time to time, out of the reluctant estates of Brabant, Flanders, and the other obedient provinces.  While he was still at Duiveland, the estates-general sent him a long remonstrance against the misconduct of the soldiery, in answer to his demand for supplies.  “Oh, these estates! these estates!” cried the Grand Commander, on receiving such vehement reproaches instead of his money; “may the Lord deliver me from these estates!” Meantime, the important siege of Zierickzee continued, and it was evident that the city must fall.  There was no money at the disposal of the Prince.  Count John, who was seriously embarrassed by reason of the great obligations in money which he, with the rest of his family, had incurred on behalf of the estates, had recently made application to the Prince for his influence towards procuring him relief.  He had forwarded an account of the great advances made by himself and his brethren in money, plate, furniture, and endorsements of various kinds, for which a partial reimbursement was almost indispensable to save him from serious difficulties.  The Prince, however, unable to procure him any assistance, had been obliged him once more to entreat him to display the generosity and the self-denial which the country had never found wanting at his hands or at those of his kindred.  The appeal had not been, in vain, but the Count was obviously not in a condition to effect anything more at that moment to relieve the financial distress of the states.  The exchequer was crippled.

[The contributions of Holland and Zealand for war expenses amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand florins monthly.  The pay of a captain was eighty florins monthly; that of a lieutenant, forty; that of a corporal, fifteen; that of a drummer, fifer, or Minister, twelve; that of a common soldier, seven and a half.  A captain had also one hundred and fifty florins each month to distribute among the most meritorious of his company.  Each soldier was likewise furnished with food; bedding, fire, light, and washing.—­Renom de France Ms, vol. ii. c. 46,]

Holland and Zealand were cut in twain by the occupation of Schouwen and the approaching fall of its capital.  Germany, England, France; all refused to stretch out their hands to save the heroic but exhaustless little provinces.  It was at this moment that a desperate but sublime resolution took possession of the Prince’s mind.  There seemed but one way left to exclude the Spaniards for ever from Holland and Zealand, and to rescue the inhabitants from impending ruin.  The Prince had long brooded over the scheme, and the hour seemed to have struck for its fulfilment.  His project was to collect all the vessels, of every description, which could be obtained throughout the Netherlands.  The whole population of the two provinces, men, women, and children, together with all the moveable property of the country, were then to be embarked on board this numerous fleet, and to seek a new home beyond the seas.  The windmills were then to be burned, the dykes pierced, the sluices opened in every direction, and the country restored for ever to the ocean, from which it had sprung.