as possible on the Vecht. The Utrecht line once carried, Brunswick would act according to circumstances; and obviously such a success, even in face of the expected opposition, ought of itself prove sufficient to enforce submission to the Stadtholder. For public opinion was known to be divided even in Holland, except, perhaps, in one or two of the larger towns; though how greatly does not appear to have been known either to the prince or the Prussians.
The plan of defence prepared on the other side, as it may still be found in the orders of the day by Count Salm, who had been appointed to command for Holland, was simple enough. It consisted chiefly in directing that whatever part of the line was threatened should be reinforced at once; that the inundating means at command should be freely used wherever necessary; that the militia should "as far as possible" take up their quarters with the regulars; and in short, as the count summed his instructions up, that every effort should be used to prolong the conflict "until the damp of autumn turns the ground into a swamp, and compels the enemy, whose men and horses alike will then suffer from sickness, to close this campaign without touching the boundaries of our own Holland at all." All these fine words meant very little, however, in reality. For the dejected Orange party within Holland had lifted up its head again when the certainty was heralded of the approach of the Stadtholder with his formidable escort. Doubt and dissension prevailed at every important part of the line, and observing how rapidly the difficulties of his task, increased, Count Salm himself, as will presently appear, had made up his mind that it was a hopeless case, and resolved to throw it up as soon as this could be done with safety. At the present moment it was too late to draw back from the charge he had accepted, and any proposal to treat would have been met with the cry of treason.
Early on the morning of September 13th, the Prussian divisions, each in a separate column, headed by small detachments of riflemen and hussars, crossed the Dutch border on their respective roads. The weather at first was fine, though after the first three days it changed, and the rains began which are so common in a Dutch autumn, and made every movement somewhat slow and difficult. The left column however, with which was the duke himself, and which was kept according to his plan slightly in advance of the others, had made its way by the 16th to the vicinity of Gorkum, and summoned that place, the east front of which had been watched up to the arrival of the Prussians by a small body of Orange troops detached to keep the garrison from reconnoitring or obstructing the advance. The defenders at first refused to treat when summoned early on the 17th, and even drove off by threats and shots the Prussian officer who strove to parley with them; so that for the moment Brunswick had reason to expect energetic resistance here at any rate, where good information from Orange partisans had told him that twelve hundred Dutch troops lay not many hours before. He happened to be absent with his main body when the advanced guard, according to orders, opened fire later in the morning on the place with a battery of howitzers, rather to test the enemy's intention to resist than with any hope of beating down the heavy guns at the command of the garrison, should they choose to use them. Not a dozen shells had been fired, when a white flag was suddenly hoisted, the gate was opened, and a staff-officer rode out authorized to treat for terms. Colonel Romberg, who commanded the Prussians, could hardly believe his own good fortune; but had the readiness of wit, as he perceived there must be strong cause for this sudden abandonment of the defence, to insist on an absolute and immediate surrender to his detachment, which was presently acceded to by the commandant from within! And on entering the place the Prussians soon discovered that there was good cause for the change of mind on the latter's part; for the garrison, refusing to obey orders since the time that the enemy appeared, had been deserting all the morning in the opposite direction in every boat they could lay hands on; and but ninety men were left or had voluntarily remained to give themselves up as prisoners of war.
Brunswick, hearing the cessation of firing, had by this time ridden up and heard of his success. But so difficult was the communication between the Prussian columns, or so poor (as we are more disposed to believe) the means of intelligence at the command of their staff, that the true cause of this strange conduct on the part of the Dutch soldiers remained unknown to him for many hours afterwards; though the fugitives who had thus begun to abandon Gorkum from daybreak had only mutinied after discussing news which was freely circulated among them the night
