The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 21: 1573-74Motley, John Lothrop
History
The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 21: 1573-74
Motley, John Lothrop
Netherlands -- Church history; Netherlands -- History -- Eighty Years' War, 1568-1648
Day dawned, at length, after the feverish, night, and, the Admiral
prepared for the assault. Within the fortress reigned a death-like
stillness, which inspired a sickening suspicion. Had the city, indeed,
been carried in the night; had the massacre already commenced; had all
this labor and audacity been expended in vain? Suddenly a man was
descried, wading breast-high through the water from Lammen towards the
fleet, while at the same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his cap
from the summit of the fort. After a moment of doubt, the happy mystery
was solved. The Spaniards had fled, panic struck, during the darkness.
Their position would still have enabled them, with firmness, to frustrate
the enterprise of the patriots, but the hand of God, which had sent the
ocean and the tempest to the deliverance of Leyden, had struck her
enemies with terror likewise. The lights which had been seen moving
during the night were the lanterns of the retreating Spaniards, and the
boy who was now waving his triumphant signal from the battlements had
alone witnessed the spectacle. So confident was he in the conclusion to
which it led him, that he had volunteered at daybreak to go thither all
alone. The magistrates, fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment to
believe the truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. Valdez,
flying himself from Leyderdorp, had ordered Colonel Borgia to retire with
all his troops from Lammen. Thus, the Spaniards had retreated at the
very moment that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side of
the city for their entrance. The noise of the wall, as it fell, only
inspired them with fresh alarm for they believed that the citizens had
sallied forth in the darkness, to aid the advancing flood in the work of
destruction. All obstacles being now removed, the fleet of Boisot swept
by Lammen, and entered the city on the morning of the 3rd of October.
Leyden was relieved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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