ded
with gentle but earnest eloquence the despondency and little faith of his
lieutenant and other adherents. He had not expected, he said, that they
would have so soon forgotten their manly courage. They seemed to consider
the whole fate of the country attached to the city of Harlem. He took God
to witness that--he had spared no pains, and would willingly have spared
no drop of his blood to save that devoted city. "But as, notwithstanding
our efforts," he continued, "it has pleased God Almighty to dispose of
Harlem according to His divine will, shall we, therefore, deny and deride
His holy word? Has the strong arm of the Lord thereby grown weaker? Has
his Church therefore come to caught? You ask if I have entered into a
firm treaty with any great king or potentate, to which I answer, that
before I ever took up the cause of the oppressed Christians in these
provinces, I had entered into a close alliance with the King of kings;
and I am firmly convinced that all who put their trust in Him shall be
saved by His almighty hand. The God of armies will raise up armies for us
to do battle with our enemies sad His own." In conclusion, he stated his
preparations for attacking the enemy by sea as well as by land, and
encouraged his lieutenant and the citizens of the northern quarter to
maintain a bold front before the advancing foe.

And now, with the dismantled and desolate Harlem before their eyes, a
prophetic phantom, perhaps, of their own imminent fate, did the handful
of people shut up within Alkmaar prepare for the worst. Their main hope
lay in the friendly sea. The vast sluices called the Zyp, through which
an inundation of the whole northern province could be very soon effected,
were but a few miles distant. By opening these gates, and by piercing a
few dykes, the ocean might be made to fight for them. To obtain this
result, however, the consent of the inhabitants was requisite, as the
destruction of all the standing crops would be inevitable. The city was
so closely invested, that it was a matter of life and death to venture
forth, and it was difficult, therefore, to find an envoy for this
hazardous mission. At last, a carpenter in the city, Peter Van der Mey by
name, undertook the adventure, and was entrusted with letters to Sonoy,
to the Prince of Orange, and to the leading personages, in several cities
of the province: These papers were enclosed in a hollow walking-staff,
carefully made fast at the top.

Affairs soon