in the latter part of the operations, pronounces it one of the most memorable sieges of which the annals of Europe make mention. "Such had been the intrepidity of the governor and the courage of the garrison, that five thousand men kept sixty thousand at bay during twenty-four days of open trenches, during which the fire, both of artillery and small-arms, was incessant, and besiegers and besieged were alike standing to their guns day and night through the severities of a rude season, in the depth of winter. It is hard to say whether, in such circumstances, there is most to admire in the vigor and perseverance of the besiegers, or the devotion and constancy of the besieged. Both sides made the utmost efforts during the continuance of the operations. The besiegers opened up 14,000 fathoms of trenches. The artillery discharged 63,000 shots, and they took 5,000 men by capitulation. The Dutch lost 90 killed, 349 wounded, and 67 prisoners during the siege. But the losses of the besiegers were much more considerable: they amounted to 608 killed and 1,800 wounded."
The other forts, Lillo and Liefkenshock, were not evacuated, and the French proposed to operate against them; King Leopold declared himself satisfied to hold Limburg and Luxemburg against them, and so the French army retired across the frontier into its own country. The king of Holland refused to accept the situation, and declared that he would continue the war, but the blockade of the ports of his country by the combined fleets of France and England, and the consequent paralysis of Dutch commerce, were not long in bringing him to his senses. England and France informed him in the most emphatic terms that no interference with the march of Belgium towards independence would be permitted, and that at the first move he made in that direction the French army would be summoned back again and the consequences might be very serious for his kingdom. In
