xlii 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



insurrectionary conflict with Belgium, this in- 

 trepid seaman, perceiving that all was lost, and 

 that he could no longer command his vessel 

 under his own national colours, he determined 

 to blow it up and perish in the wreck. He 

 disclosed his resolution to the crew, and told 

 them to retire from danger when he should give 

 the signal. Having invited as many Belgians 

 as possible on board his devoted man-of-war, he 

 made the promised signal to his men, and then 

 went down below. There he struck a light, 

 and applied it to the train which he had already 

 prepared. In an instant the man-of-war blew 

 up, and Van Spek and his enemies perished in 

 the ruins. However pagan history may sanction 

 dismal facts like this, Christianity shudders at 

 the very thought of them. Whilst we admire the 

 determined courage of the Dutch commander, 

 we lament that his patriotism should be stained 

 by the commission of so foul a deed. 



Now that so many of our own swamps have 

 been drained, and their winged inhabitants 

 forced to disappear through hunger, or have 

 fallen before the gun of the insatiate fowler, we 

 must go to the morasses of Holland, if we wish 

 to improve our knowledge of water-fowl in 



