burghers of the city. Moreover, the
magistracy was set aside and the government of Alva repudiated without
shedding one drop of blood, without a single wrong to person or property.
By the same spontaneous movement, nearly all the important cities of
Holland and Zealand raised the standard of him in whom they recognized
their deliverer. The revolution was accomplished under nearly similar
circumstances everywhere. With one fierce bound of enthusiasm the nation
shook off its chain. Oudewater, Dort, Harlem, Leyden, Gorcum,
Loewenstein, Gouda, Medenblik, Horn, Alkmaar, Edam, Monnikendam,
Purmerende, as well as Flushing, Veer, and Enkbuizen, all ranged
themselves under the government of Orange, as lawful stadholder for the
King.

Nor was it in Holland and Zealand alone that the beacon fires of freedom
were lighted. City after city in Gelderland, Overyssel, and the See of
Utrecht; all the important towns of Friesland, some sooner, some later,
some without a struggle, some after a short siege, some with resistance
by the functionaries of government, some by amicable compromise, accepted
the garrisons of the Prince, and formally recognized his authority. Out
of the chaos which a long and preternatural tyranny had produced, the
first struggling elements of a new and a better world began to appear. It
were superfluous to narrate the details which marked the sudden
restoration of liberty in these various groups of cities. Traits of
generosity marked the change of government in some, circumstances of
ferocity, disfigured the revolution in others. The island of Walcheren,
equally divided as it was between the two parties, was the scene of much
truculent and diabolical warfare. It is difficult to say whether the
mutual hatred of race or the animosity of religious difference proved the
deadlier venom. The combats were perpetual and sanguinary, the prisoners
on both sides instantly executed. On more than one occasion; men were
seen assisting to hang with their own hands and in cold blood their own
brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks. When the
captives were too many to be hanged, they were tied back to back, two and
two, and thus hurled into the sea. The islanders found a fierce pleasure
in these acts of cruelty. A Spaniard had ceased to be human in their
eyes. On one occasion, a surgeon at Veer cut the heart from a Spanish
prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow; and invited the townsmen to come
and fasten their