in which, however, the Dutchmen were cut off nearly to a man in their retreat. Finally, however, this place and Naarden, on which it depended, fell into Prussian hands quietly enough on September 27th. The governor, General Ryssel, having heard that Amsterdam was itself treating for terms, and received private authority to deliver up his trust to the Prussians if he chose to do so, declined the responsibility of carrying out the order in person, and took his way secretly to Brussels, making over his charge to the senior colonel. This officer in his turn being doubtful how to act, and the water passage being open to him, started off soon afterwards for Amsterdam to demand definite instructions; and his temporary successor, receiving a few hours later a fresh summons from Lottum, solved the dilemma effectually by admitting the Prussians without further parley. This was early on September 27th, and from that hour all further resistance to their arms was necessarily confined to the immediate neighbourhood of Amsterdam; for that city found itself by this time isolated in its resistance.
Those who imagine that a proud tradition of freedom preserved inviolate by their forefathers' arms is the sure promise that succeeding generations will emulate their deeds, would do well to study in more detail than we can here give to them, the events that had passed elsewhere during the short campaign on the Vecht just narrated. In truth the burghers of Dordrecht, Delft, and Schiedam had talked as loudly but a few weeks before of readiness to die in the breach if necessary, as ever did their stout-hearted ancestors. But either some genuine doubt of the justice of their own recent conduct towards the house of Orange; or the want of any religious motive to steel their feelings to endurance; or, what seems more probable still, the knowledge that the French supports, on which they had relied, had abandoned them, made resistance an unprofitable sacrifice when once the foe was known to have fairly entered Holland. The towns we have mentioned, with others less important, vied with each other in the haste and readiness of their submission. Rotterdam itself, where the municipality had gathered in arms in the market-place on hearing that the States at the Hague were preparing to yield, and had promised their fellow-citizens magniloquently enough to defend the place to extremity, surrendered without firing a shot at the summons of a lieutenant of hussars, when once the Prussians were known to be near. The Hague itself alone was spared foreign occupation, as a special favour to the deputies who had now assembled there in haste to pass a vote in favour of the Stadtholder; and by September 23rd, Brunswick could feel that his flanks and rear were sufficiently secure to permit of his advancing against his final object, Amsterdam, with Knobelsdorffs division, presently supported by Lottum's from the Vecht. Reconnoissances had already been pushed almost within sight of the city; and on the 21st the remnants of Salm's own regiment of dragoons had been driven by the Prussian hussars through the village of Amstelveen, six miles to the south of it, after a skirmish of some severity, the only military affair worth mention in this part of the operations. On the 16th, when the duke was preparing to gather his somewhat scattered troops on a semicircular front facing the city from the south and east, its two land sides, he was suddenly met by a deputation from the municipality asking a truce.
The duke had little objection to grant the favour so often sought in war by the weaker party, and here an almost sure sign that his adversaries were disheartened. His advices had told him that the position in front of him, running through Amstelveen and covering Amsterdam, was strong in itself, and that its defences, well furnished with artillery, were held by the six regular battalions which remained to the patriots, aided by a strong body of militia, probably all that the city could muster. The municipality had therefore little to gain by delay, except so far as it might lie in the hope of conciliating the Prince of Orange; and Brunswick granted the request, reminding the embassy that it was for the princess, now with her husband at the Hague, that he came to demand redress; and that he therefore reserved to himself the right of resuming hostilities if the proposals they bore, with which it was not his business to interfere should fail instantly to satisfy her. Accordingly, a temporary armistice was signed forthwith, the conditions being that no further works should be thrown up or inundations made, and that it should not interfere with the surrender of Naarden, which was hourly expected. The advantage of this truce was, in fact, entirely on the Prussian side. The duke, however, took care to use the next four days in closing up his troops for their final work, and reconnoitring the Haarlem Lake, the
