meeting of the representatives of the
Seven Provinces) came together at the Hague and most solemnly abjured
their "wicked king Philip" and themselves assumed the burden of
sovereignty which thus far had been invested in their "King by the Grace
of God."

This is a very important event in the history of the great struggle for
political liberty. It was a step which reached much further than the
uprising of the nobles which ended with the signing of the Magna Carta.
These good burghers said "Between a king and his subjects there is a
silent understanding that both sides shall perform certain services and
shall recognise certain definite duties. If either party fails to
live up to this contract, the other has the right to consider it
terminated." The American subjects of King George III in the year 1776
came to a similar conclusion. But they had three thousand miles of ocean
between themselves and their ruler and the Estates General took their
decision (which meant a slow death in case of defeat) within hearing of
the Spanish guns and although in constant fear of an avenging Spanish
fleet.

The stories about a mysterious Spanish fleet that was to conquer both
Holland and England, when Protestant Queen Elizabeth had succeeded
Catholic "Bloody Mary" was an old one. For years the sailors of the
waterfront had talked about it. In the eighties of the sixteenth
century, the rumour took a definite shape. According to pilots who had
been in Lisbon, all the Spanish and Portuguese wharves were building
ships. And in the southern Netherlands (in Belgium) the Duke of Parma
was collecting a large expeditionary force to be carried from Ostend to
London and Amsterdam as soon as the fleet should arrive.

In the year 1586 the Great Armada set sail for the north. But the
harbours of the Flemish coast were blockaded by a Dutch fleet and the
Channel was guarded by the English, and the Spaniards, accustomed to the
quieter seas of the south, did not know how to navigate in this squally
and bleak northern climate. What happened to the Armada once it was
attacked by ships and by storms I need not tell you. A few ships, by
sailing around Ireland, escaped to tell the terrible story of defeat.
The others perished and lie at the bottom of the North Sea.

Turn about is fair play. The British nod the Dutch Protestants now
carried the war into the territory of the enemy. Before the end of the
century, Houtman, with the help of a booklet written by L