Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1885 — Holland and Its Safeguards. [ARTICLE]

Holland and Its Safeguards.

The people of Holland are defended from invasion in a singular manner, which could not be employed in any country not similarly situated. Other nations, when they are threatened'With attacks frpm without, mobilize their armies; in Holland, this year, the order is given for the “mobilization of the waters." When this operation is effected, a water-line .from five to ten miles wide and some sixty miles long will be -created, directly barring the advance of an invader coming from the East. Above the surface of this inundation nothing will be visible but a few narrow roads raised on embankments, enfiladed by fortifications bristling with cannon. The water, for the most part, will be only a few inches deep, so shat it will not be navigable by hostile gun vessels or flotillas; while deep trenches cut in the ground below will frustrate any attempt to wade through the inundation. The contingency of an invasion taking place in the winter, when the waters might be frozen over, is ingeniously provided for. The depth qf the inundation will then be increased, and the waters allowed to freeze on the surface. The water below will afterward be drained off, leaving the crust of ice suspended and ready to break in under the weight of the first troops who attempt to cross it.