provisions of the Concept of Harmony his name was not to be proposed as captain-general until he had reached the age of twenty-two.  But in the wave of feeling which swept over the country the paper barrier was dashed aside.  In the Estates of Holland, which De Witt had so long controlled, and despite his strong opposition, the proposal to confer the post on William for one year was carried.  All that the council-pensionary could effect was to surround the exercise of the office with so many restrictions as to deprive the prince of any real authority.  These restrictions did not, however, meet the approval of the other provinces, and William himself refused to accept them.  De Witt had to give way.  William was appointed captain-general for one year (February 25, 1672).  It appeared to be an absolutely hopeless task that this utterly inexperienced young man had to face.  But the mere fact that once more a Prince of Orange was in command gave new hope.  It was a name to conjure with; and the holder of it, young as he was and with no previous military training, faced his task with the calm confidence which comes from conscious power and an inherited aptitude for the leadership of men.

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CHAPTER XVII

WAR WITH FRANCE AND ENGLAND.  WILLIAM III, STADHOLDER.  MURDER OF THE BROTHERS DE WITT, 1672

The advance of the French armies and those of Muenster and Cologne to attack the eastern frontier of the United Provinces met with little serious resistance.  Fortress after fortress fell; the line of the Yssel was abandoned.  Soon the whole of Gelderland, Overyssel, Drente and Utrecht were in the possession of the enemy.  Even the castle of Muiden, but ten miles from Amsterdam, was only saved from capture at the last moment by Joan Maurice throwing himself with a small force within the walls.  The Prince of Orange had no alternative but to fall back behind the famous waterline of Holland.  He had at his disposal, after leaving garrisons in the fortresses, barely 4000 men as a field-force.  With some difficulty the people were persuaded to allow the dykes to be cut, as in the height of the struggle against Spain, and the country to be submerged.  Once more behind this expanse of flood, stretching like a gigantic moat from Muiden on the Zuyder Zee to Gorkum on the Maas, Holland alone remained as the last refuge of national resistance to an overwhelming foe.  True the islands of Zeeland and Friesland were yet untouched by invasion, but had Holland succumbed to the French armies their resistance would have availed little.  At the end of June the aspect of affairs looked very black, and despite the courageous attitude of the young captain-general, and the ceaseless energy with which the council-pensionary worked for the equipment of an adequate fleet, and the provision of ways and means and stores, there seemed to be no ray of hope.  Men’s hearts failed them for fear, and a panic of despair filled the land.