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Amsterdam, The Netherlands; An address by King William III,
Peace in Europe is becoming a reality. This war which has for so many years plagued the Dutch people is finally in its death bed. Our country's vigilance, and the readiness of our fine men on the ground has kept the armies of our enemies from infringing upon our sovereign soil. The foreign ships which have for years bombarded our shores, prodding our country for weakness, have gone home empty-handed. There is no weakness to be found in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for from the canals of Bruges to the fields of Groningen, there is not a single coward drawing breath. Our people are resilient, are proud, and are eager to defend their homeland from all those foreign enemies who look upon our lands and our unity with greed and ill intent.
"Je maintiendrai"—I will maintain. All of you, the Dutch people, have more than lived up to the words of your kingdom. Dutch sovereignty and Dutch unity have been maintained in this war, and the suffering of our people as the enemy's ships blasted our cities with cannons has served to sharpen the blade of our country's determination toward the maintenance of those same principles. But, just as we are vigilant to defend our borders at home, we must be vigilant in participating in the defence of our allies abroad. Our partners in the Eighth Coalition, the Russian Empire and Kingdom of Prussia, act in the defence of the Russian homeland with their actions against the nations of the Orient. It is our duty as members of that coalition to be vigilant in the defence of our partners therein, until such a time as a final and lasting peace is achieved. For this reason, though our brothers that have laid wait on our country's borders may make home and rest, our nation's dedicated sovereign military cannot be permitted the same luxury. Soon, it may be that the engines of our war-tempered iron fleet shall carry our nation's finest to the seas of the Orient, where they shall smite those who so opportunistically sought to take advantage of Russian lives fighting for Dutch unity in the west, so as to seize from them their east. We have suffered war, countrymen. Now, if the nations of the Orient choose not to relent, and instead to escalate their war of aggression, we shall make our enemies suffer the same.