Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/68

 him ‘Father William! Our Deliverer! Our Protector!’ The Prince looked anxious and distressed, and made no response to the rapturous shouts of welcome.”

“My father,” said Hilvardine, “rode beside the Prince, and he said His Excellency spoke but once, and that was when the watchword of the confederate nobles, ‘Vivent les Gueulx,’ was raised. ‘This idle cry,’ said the Prince, ‘must be stopped. I cannot have it. The people will rue it some day!’”

“I think the wonderful power and magnetism of the Prince,” said Madam Chenoweth, “was signally shown in the way he controlled that enthusiastic crowd. When they saw that he was not fond of noisy demonstration they quietly dispersed and went to their homes. Still it seems to me, after all, that we are relying altogether too much on the influence of one man, and that man not even a publicly avowed Protestant.”

“Do you not remember, wife,” said the doctor, “that God saved the children of Israel, not through a committee, but by a man? The Netherlanders will never be delivered from their troubles by means of a confederation of nobles, or by a synod of reformed pastors, but by a man. I firmly believe that William of Orange is the man God has selected for this purpose. Let us pray that the nation may recognize their leader, and submit to his guidance.”