from foreign nations, what a crime you will commit against the. Lord
God, what a bloody yoke ye will impose forever upon yourselves and your
children, if you now seek for subterfuges; if you now prevent us from
taking the field with the troops which we have enlisted. On the other
hand, what inexpressible benefits you will confer on your country, if you
now help us to rescue that fatherland from the power of Spanish vultures
and wolves."

This and similar missives, circulated throughout the province of Holland,
produced a deep impression. In accordance with his suggestions, the
deputies from the nobility and from twelve cities of that province
assembled on the 15th July, at Dort. Strictly speaking, the estates or
government of Holland, the body which represented the whole people,
consisted of the nobler and six great cities. On this occasion, however,
Amsterdam being still in the power of the King, could send no deputies,
while, on the other hand, all the small towns were invited to send up
their representatives to the Congress. Eight accepted the proposal; the
rest declined to appoint delegates, partly from motives of economy,
partly from timidity.'

These estates were the legitimate representatives of the people, but
they had no legislative powers. The people had never pretended to
sovereignty, nor did they claim it now. The source from which the
government of the Netherlands was supposed to proceed was still the
divine mandate. Even now the estates silently conceded, as they had ever
done, the supreme legislative and executive functions to the land's
master. Upon Philip of Spain, as representative of Count Dirk the First
of Holland, had descended, through many tortuous channels, the divine
effluence originally supplied by Charles the Simple of France. That
supernatural power was not contested, but it was now ingeniously turned