Recently these forts were all armed with modern guns, and the capital, Amsterdam, was also fortified in a modern and efficient manner.
But this does not mean that the defence of the country would be carried out without much trouble; on the contrary, if Holland went to war, the forts would offer a temporary resistance against the gigantic modern artillery, and then the sluices would be opened and the whole of the country, with the exception of a few eastern provinces, would be covered by the water of the Zuyder Zee, the level of which, as everybody knows, is higher than the level of Holland. The towns and villages would be kept out of water by means of a system of strategic dykes, and the country would probably resist for a long period.
But what an enormous price Holland would have to pay! The century-long work which has transformed a sea-bed into the productive, modern Holland would be completely wasted. For years and years to come the industrial life of Holland would be spoiled, and it is almost certain that the little kingdom, instead of being one of the richest, would become one of the poorest countries on earth.
This is certainly one of the many reasons why Holland does all she possibly can to remain neutral.
Up to the present she has succeeded in the difficult task, thanks not only to the action of her Government, but also to the behaviour of her subjects.
When you speak to a Dutchman who happens to have been near the frontier and to have spoken to Belgian refugees, he may let himself go and use a bitter phrase against Germany, but he will suddenly stop with the sentence: "Of course, I am a neutral, and this does not really concern me."
It is wonderful to see how the single individual understands the fragility of his country, which reminds one of the earthenware pitcher travelling with the bronze vase. Even when he had to suffer personally from German manners (and many inhabitants of Holland trading with Belgium were treated in the most disgusting way), the Dutchman will generally add, as a sort of excuse, after relating his adventures: "But, of course, they are at war, and probably one cannot help doing such things even to neutrals when one's country is at war."
* * *
If Holland is "the most neutral of neutral States," it does not mean that the war is not felt financially in the country. In Amsterdam a member of the Chamber of Commerce told me that Holland's trade since the war began has been reduced gradually by more than 65 per cent., and that this figure is continually mounting higher.
Moreover, the refugees from Belgium who have found asylum in the western provinces cost the nation a fair amount of money, not to consider the expense of the fully-mobilised army's upkeep and the high prices paid for the hurried fortification works carried out since the beginning of the war.