The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-28

than was 'EiizaGcth or, Henry. w, wac
Incapable of the cynical, impcriousness Of
the T IT sSo 9 3UiiS sS Sr al III lie C ws. for sSi
I, make 4 choice r sStwf fSm, th9 Vatican and
Of tho toughest, purest-henrted, most dcfcnsihlo
section offhe Ncthcrlnnd peoples. albeit far tho
smaller, poorer, and moro modest section. lie
professed It; and his choice has, been ratified
by their history from his day to the day Of VIII
holmina, the present girl.Queen of Holland.
Lutheran by family, William tho Silent was
brought up a Catholic, and died, rs We have
said, q Calvinist. Personally q devout man.
no profcssed In succession, oil the three
great forms CT Christian bollef, while
steadily opposing all that was extreme
and all that was violent in each. ID
was In vain. however. for him. in writing,
in speech and In act, to labor for mutual toll
Grafton. Christian fellowship and national
union, things of which he alone, In that age,
had conceived tho beauty and the force. THE
difference he would 60 on repeating, In
his large and. perhaps, too philosophio way,
1.-The difference Is not enough to keep you
apart" 1t turned out to be enough. and more
than enough. In this matter, his error was
that his vision Of spiritual fellowship In man.
kind, n vision which was open to him alone
among tho men of thought and the mon of ao'
ton in his age. blinded him moro than q staten.
man should be blinded to the theological bigo-
tries in the midst Of which his work was cast.
With all his profound insight. he did not quite
understand that tho Netherlands formed NOT
one nation. ono religion and one race. but two,
and even moro; and the differences In these
things go deeper down than the most obvious
claims of safety, prosperity and peace. But,
though he battled in vain to make these
nations one. he and his, In. the end. did make
HALL pI a ttnt ~ tHla and erno aud n
Belgium to become, at last. both prosperous
and contonted. 1t is true. as we have said, that
which he struggled for twenty. years against
hope and against fate. and which he had seen
it is true that this greater union died with him.,
and it was dying OF itself in the last years of hig
lie. But the lesser and d, more vigorous union Of
tourishcd beyond his utmost dreams, till for 9
time, It grew to be an empire. The murder Of
may. ,Eiizabeth's English assnts wrote
hardened their stomachs to hold out as long 40
they ", haze any means me Of defence " had ami.
%s}' sq tesG s1sh a sFGffi n ftfhs sm. Of 'o to- ds:
fend their liberties to the last r~action Of
On the very day Of the murder the Estates of
Holland resolved ITO maintain the good cause.
t Titih Gods oId help to the M ut ermost;r They kept
cessive Princes OF Orange, and Stockholders Of
Holland. they carried on n successful struggle
for some siXty-four years more.
This decisive battle for national independence
was not. in truth, the earliest, ( r the fight Of
the Swiss for liberty had been earlier, but it was
the most prolonged and the most desperate OF
all the revolutions whereof it was tho prelude.
1t was the first example on a great scale. in tho
Iia an alien onmressor and fomr o. a pe9pie uc,S-
monwealth in the teeth OF a mighty dcspotism.
II directly inspired the revolution In England of
the seventeenth century. as also that in Amcr-
fca of the eighteenth century; and, by its intel.
lectual influences. it indirectly contributed TO tho
revolution in France. In the lifetime of Father
William's' youngest son and successor. Holland
became the home OF spiritual and political free.
dom, an asylum wherein We're nur;urcd seeds of
priceless value to tho civilization. policy. and
thought of Europe, 1t is a consideration OF this
statesman whose wholcIlcareer was an almost
unbroken chain of humiliation, failure, and
defeat. must yet be deemed to have conferred
immortal services on succeeding generations.