“I have been forced to. I have conceded the supremacy of the seas to England, Downing had his answer to-day——”
William coloured swiftly.
“That acknowledges this country subject to the King of England,” he remarked quickly.
“It gives us, Prince, some chance.”
“Our deliverance lies in the sword,” said William shortly.
“Untried enthusiasm speaks there,” answered John de Witt not unkindly. “We are a people whose prosperity depends on peace. Our commerce is our glory and our wealth. We have shed enough blood in the past to defend it.… Now we are prosperous, rich, free, and powerful … to twenty-five years of peace we owe this.… A war would be disastrous … disastrous.”
“It is, I think, inevitable,” struck in the other.
John de Witt half smiled sadly.
“Does Your Highness question my statesmanship?”
William was silent a moment, evidently considering how he should shape his reply.