Page:Kickerbocker Feb 1833 vol 1 no 2.djvu/11

The appeal made to old Dutch courage and loyalty, will not be made in vain. The honors shewn by royal decree and popular enthusiasm to the memory of the gallant Lieutenant Van Spyk, who in the combat of October, 1830, of the citadel and fleet with the town of Antwerp, blew up himself and his vessel rather than surrender to the Belgians, are well calculated to quicken the ardor and confirm the resolution of those to whom the defence of the citadel is entrusted. The historical honors too, which in all ages and in all countries await the garrisons of besieged towns, who prefer every alternative of suffering, danger, and death, to the ignominious safety which submission might purchase, will all be remembered on this occasion; and the memorable answer of Palafox, from amidst the almost ruined battlements of the obstinately defended Saragossa—"war, war, to the knife"—will find an echo on this occasion in many a Dutch heart—and so it should be—so we hope it will be. There is a natural and honest instinct in the human breast, which prompts it to espouse the weaker cause. If Belgium had been left to settle her quarrel with Holland by the might of her own right arm, we could have looked unmoved upon the spectacle; but when she invokes or assents to the interposition of her mighty neighbors, France and England; and when an old, free, industrious, and peaceful people, like the Dutch, are summarily required to yield what they believe to be their rights, or to encounter the roused and united vengeance of the masters of the land and of the sea, we sympathize with, and are irresistibly led to put up our vows for, the gallantry and steadfast faith in a just cause, which dare encounter such fearful odds.

But the citadel of Antwerp must fall. However resolute and able the commander—however true, faithful, and brave the garrison—it is certain in the present advanced state of the art of war, that a place which can be approached, must eventually be reduced; and the precise number of hours almost and lives, which its reduction will cost, can be accurately estimated. The flag of Holland then, in any event, will be struck; but the past history of General Chassé, should he persist in the defence, can be little relied on for any thing, if it do not afford a pledge that it will only be amidst the ruins of his fortress, and the slaughtered bodies of its defenders, that the flag of his country will sink. Overwhelmed he may be—subdued never—and the noble soldier's career of half a century, could surely find no more glorious or honorable close, than amidst