The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-01

have overlooked
The Grst chapter Of these volumes begins with
a frank acknowledgment that the coming Of the
Dutch to the coast Of North America introduced
an element OF variety that he's always been of
high interest and Importance. They were then
indisputably the foremost commercial people
in the world, and they seized upon q position
marked out by geography imperial centre
for trade. Mr.. Fiskc recognizes that many things
in American life are implicated In the fact that
New York is, virtually. the daughter Of Amsterdam.
We are reminded that TO us who speak English
the people OF the Netherlands are peculiarly inter
esting nearest cousins. OF all foreign
speech to-day. the Dutch comes closest TO ours
The chief divergence between the languages
ariscs from the effect of the Norman Conquest
upon England; II we had kept on saying chapman
instead OF merchant and d0dinbtte instead OF re-
MORSE the divergence would be very slight Mr..
Fiske points out that If we take the oldest speci
mems OF Flemish and Frisian and compare them
with the English OF King Alfred and tho Morse
that was spoken by the settlers Of Iceland, We
shall realize how close was the kinship thousand
years ago among the peoples on all the coasts OF
the German Ocean. The Teutonic conquerors
Of Britain with the Angles English Of Scheswick
for their right wing, and the Saxon tribe between
thp he nF hn Nnla
left wing made up OF Frisians from the regions
wher. long ,f,erw,rd in the twelfth century the
oce,n broke in and formed the Zuyder Tee or
Southern Sea All these invaders of Britain
learned to call ,hemsolvcs English in their new
bones where under various names their next
of kin invaded their coasts and ended by reinforc
ing their ranks, whether led by Guthorm the
Dsne n, nv Harold Of Norway or by William
tho Tornon or tbcse various cousins those
who snesk Du,ch arc our nearest kin. and their
historic interest fr us consists largely in the fact
that they NAV bo regarded MS that portion of our
r,cc which has remained upon III. continent OF
Eu,ons srd hss ,bus during fourteen centuries
hecr affected nv nolit,cal and military conditions
different from those which have sbaped the career
~ ,boi, ;r.uI.r hrc,h,cr From tho Netherlands
NAV n. LOANED eouc Of the WAYS in which English
bistorv NIGH, have been modified in the absence
of that siye, s,re,k NJ water which defed Farnese
md Bonan,-te Mr. Fiske goes on TO note that
looking .cross that marrow hit Of sea the English
have AWAY, epplied in A specjsl sense TO their
ne,t ~ Iii, tho mama "Dutch.- which means
.ncon,." or .folks" and ia the yernacular name
for The Who'll. Teutonic race awav I'D TO the high.
I,,ds NJ Austria md the Tyrol The t,wellers
in those mountain REGIONS however along with
IN. or..t.r n.rt ~ thu lorlend nopulation, wa
call NV Latin nam. "Germnns" as II Wa had
first LEANED about them Inv reading Caesars
commentaries One can sec how the popular nau,e
"Dutchl,nd- would naturally remain associated
esneci.,Iy with that str,o Of shore with which
our forefotbcrs had most 10 do For a century
after Henpist md Horsa. the green island which
thew ware oonouerinp was "Welshlaud.s or abode
NJ st,snp.ra vb,lo the "Dutcbland" or home
of the "folls" wos tho half sunken coast they had
left behind them
II ia in his second chapter that our author
considers mora In detail tho influence exeIted
bv tho Dutch upon England. He recalls the
fact that the Garlic, writer's on American history
were ant 10 ignore or mss over In silence the con-
tributions IN American civilization that have
been made nv other pcop,e than tho English
He would attribute this oversight 10 tho circun-
stance that our earliest historians were men of
New England whose attention was unduly occu.
MED with their own nelnhborhood OF the fact
At all events, there Ia no doubt The non Eng
llsb elements in our COMPOSITE civilization were
not so much denied as dlsreE arded like infintesi-
mals in algebra- An historian would not deny
in general that the settlement of New Neither
lands counted for something; nevertheless, his