Bijlage 43 vervolg)
until the jubilation of the new dawn they are not spared even this last bitterness
of having to keep their flame of hope alive in the deadly silence of a night whence
no voice, no ray of light shall come.
It is because Holland's voice must not, nay, may not be allowed to remain
strangled in these days of fearful trial for my people that I have taken the supreme
decision to transfer the symbol of My Nation, as it is embodied in My Person and
My Government, where it can continue to function as a living and vocal voice.
At this time of universal suffering I will not speak of the racking heart-searchings
which the taking of this decision has cost one who, only little more than a year
ago, was stirred to her very depths by the generous devotion of a warm-hearted
people celebrating the jubilee of a Queen and a woman who for forty years has
tried to serve Her Nation, as she tried to serve it on that day of fateful decisions
and will try to serve it to her last breath.
I will only spreak of the reasons that finally moved me to decide as I did. For
there were cold and weighty reasons militating against the natural sentiment that
prompted me and my family to stay and suffer what my unhappy people were
called upon to suffer.
Plans found on the invader on the first day of his wanton assault, confirmed by
the action of the airborne troops, soon made it clear that his first objective was to
capture the Royal Family and the Government, thus to paralyse the country by
depriving it of all leadership and legally constituted authority.
When, soon afterwards, the likelihood had to be faced that the treacherous
methods employed by the enemy would succeed in finally undermining the gallant
resistance of the Dutch forces, the decision could no longer be postponed.
If authority, obeying impulsive sentiment, were to stay for indeed those who,
like us, have lived such days know that it is not concern for personal life or liberty
which supplies the driving motive - the voice of Holland, the very symbol of
Holland, would have vanished from the earth.
These would be a memory, perhaps quickly fading in these worldshaking times
where yesterday's memory is to-day's oblivion. Unrelieved black silence would
have settled on that once happy land whose people would not even have the hope-
giving thought of a Queen and a Government fighting for their ultimate resur
rection, where fighting was still possible.
But there was more. Holland proper may have been lost for the time being, but
when these crucial decisions had to be taken one province in the south still show
ed hope of being able to hold out for some time.
My Navy, with its proud traditions remained intact, ready to join battle wher
ever needed, and, most important of all, an Empire scattered over the surface
of the globe and counting sixty-five million inhabitants remained free, part and
parcel of that nation of free men that will not and cannot perish from the earth.
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