The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-02-29

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS
FROM THE DEATH OF WILLIAM THE 81
LENT TO THE TWELVE YEARS TRUCE
1909. By John Lothrop Motley, ID. c. L.,
Corresponding Member of the Institute OF
France: Author of "The Rise of the Dutch
Republic" Vols. III. and " New York
harper and Brothers. Portland: sold by
Hall l.. Dayis)
Inc completion of such work as this OF
Mr. Motley Is an event of no slight import
anne in the literary world. 1t is the rich and
| ripe result OF many years of faithful and un-
tiring labor, such labor as only the historical
| student can even imagine. The ACQUISITION
OF four or five European languages; the ex-
| penditure OF much time and of small for
tune in visiting Spain, France, Holland, and
| Germany to explore various localities, and IT,
obtaining rare books, documents and manu-
scripts; the patient examination of heaps of
dusty archives and faded documents, written
in a variety of languages and often by men
SO much more used to the sword than the
pen as to make their records ineligible at
this day only with the most pains-taking ef-
fort; the careful comparison of authorities,
and the study of a host of contemporary
writer's whose works shed light on the life
and manners Of that time,-these constitute
part of the laborious preparations for such
work which cannot be even approximately
understood by the general reader who enjoys
their results.
The period which Mr.. Motley has chosen
to illustrate is as important as it is interest
ing. 1t is the era of the revival of free
thought in Europe. 1t saw the birth of those
principles and ideas which lie at the founda-
tion of the nobest institutions of to-day.
Moreover the story which we here read is
not merely the record of brave peoples
struggle against foreign despot; it is chap
ter OF the history of human liberty. In that
narrow and meagre territory, reclaimed with
difficulty from the dominion of the sea whose
| fiercely beating waves ever threatening to re-
ingulf it, these sturdy Netherlanders were
| fighting the battle of the whole human race.
| What they achieved was for the common
| good of all. Having come to disbeleye in
the mystery Of kinSciatt, in the divine spec
| ialty of few mere mortals to direct the
| worlds events and to dictate laws 10 their
fellow creatures, they were willing to fight to
| the last in defense of this bold position.
| They chose to ''live in an atmosphere of blood
and fire for generation after generation rath.
| er than finch. fIom their struggle with des
potism, for they knew that, cruel as the sea
it would swallow them at last in one common
destruction if they faltered or paused" The.
conquered, and their victory settled forever
the claim Of any right divine of earthly rul
ers over the consciences of men. 1t is fo
this reason, says Mr.. Motley, that the histo
| ry of this great conflict deserves to be deeply
| pondered by all who have the instinct of hu-
man freedom" The blood and tears whicl
| the Netherlanders caused to flow in theil
| own stormy days have turned to blessings fol
remotest times and ages.
| With the events narrated in the five pre-
ceding volumes of this work-for the dutch
Republic" and the "History of the Neither
lands must be regarded as substantially one
work-our readers are already familiar. The
| two volumes now before us carry the nara
| tive down from the time when the dagger OF
Jaques Clement put an end at once to the
life of Henry of Valois and the power of Cath
| arine de Medcis, to the acknowledgement of
the Republic and the conclusion of the twelve
years truce. This important period, reaching
| from 1890 to 1909, is closely crowded with
| great events. 1t includes the battle of Ivry
| the siege Of Paris, the second conversion OF
| Henry of Navarro, the sieges of Ostend ano
| Grave, the death of Elizabeth and the acces-
| cin of fHa cyIa, oo,l,v al
Prince Maurice of Nassau, the death of Philip
and, finally the beginning ofthe downfallo of that
colossal despotism which he had built up
The scene OF the struggle shifts now to Eng
land, now to France, now back again to the
Netherlands; the actors slightly vary as the
| interests of these countries blend with those
of the HollaDders but the true parties to the
| conflict remain unchanged. These are al
ways Spain, Philip and the Inquisition on
the one hand, and on the other the people Of
that little country, the champions of freedom
of conscience and of thought. The whole is
told in that clear, brilliant, vividIy descrip-
| tive and at times even dramatic style Tor
which the author is now so well known.
| Numerous spirited episodes enliven the
course of the regular narrative. One of the
most striking of these is the account of the
capture of the strong fortress of Breda, by
sixty-eight men who, packed like herrings in
the hold of small peat-boat, under the
blocks of turf, were foated into the town,
and obtaining access to the castle made
sudden assault on the garrison, overpower-
ing it before the alarm could be given. We
make brief extract from this account,
though its vividDess is marred by our inabil-
ity to find space for the whole. Owing to the
extreme cold and the ice in the river, fouI
or five days had been consumed in making
a voyage of few leagues, and the little
band of concealed Holanders were hal
frozen and half crippled by the wet, the cold
and the confinement when at last their yes
sci was dragged into the inner harbor and
made fast near the guard-house of the
castle:
And now a crowd of all sorts came on board
The winter nights had been long and fearfuly
cold, and there was also dearth of fuel botf
in town and fortress. a gang of laborers sci
to work discharging the turf from the vessel
with such rapidity that the departing iay.
light began TO shine in upon the prisoners
| iuuCu soOu0I thdH 1ncy WlSueu. moreover,
the thorough wetting, to which after all other
Inconvenience they had just been exposed
IN their narrow escape from laundering, had
set the whole party sneezing and coughing
Never was catarrh so sudden, SO universal or
SO ill-tmed Lieutenant Held, unable to con-
troll the violence of his cough, drew his dagger
and eagerly implored his next neighbor to
stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should
lead to the discovery of the whole party. But
the calm and wary skipper who stood on the
deck instantly commanded his companion to
work at the pump with as much clatter as
possible, assuring the persons present that the
hold was nearly full OF water BY this means
the noise of the coughing was effectually
drowned Most thoroughly did the bold boat
man deserve the title of daredevil, bestowed
By his more faint-hearted uncle. Calmly look
ing death in the face, he stood there quite at
his ease, exchanging jokes with his old ae-
quaintances, chaffering with the eager pur-
chasers of peat, shouting most noisy and un-
necessary and superhuous orders to the one
most, in short, to get rid of his customers and
TO keep enough of the turf on board to conceal
the conspirators.
AT last, when the case seemed almost des-
perate, he loudly declared that sufficient had
been unladen for that evening, and that it was
too dark and he too tired for further work. So
giving a handful of stivers among the work
men, he bade them go ashore az once and have
some beer and come next morning for the
rest of the cargo. Fortunately they accepted
his hosfdtable proposition and took their de-
parture. Only the servant of the captain OF
the guard fingered behind, complaining that
the turf was not as good as usual, and that his
master would never be satisfied with it.
q A 4 = II