The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-20
THE CONDITION OF HOLLAND.
People Dissatisfied With Queen VII.
 hefmina.

London Chronicle.
 Five years ago Queen wilhelmina was crowned at Amsterdam amid fer vent demonstrations of a popular en- thusiasm astounding to those who un- 1 til then had regarded the Dutch as the most reserved and phelgmatic among nations. The golden-haired daughter given to the King in his old age, like the princess in a fairy tale, fired the dunest imagination. For was not the child the sole descendant of that great hero who had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap" and who sleeps in his mausoleum of black mar ble in the dim old Cathedral of Delft7 To turn for a moment to the past is to comprehend the deep-seated vitality of Dutch patriotism. 1t was but natural that "the last bud of the tree of Or ange" should be thus beloved, and that her subjects should draw fond paral- le1s between her situation and that of the great Queen Empress whose mag nificent jubilee all the world had watched in 1897.
 A certain similarity of circumstances was hailed as an suspicious omen. The sullen mutterings of the Socialists were drowned in the shouts of the loy- al multitude. Even the dark and sim ister warning of the assassination of
 
 mitted to check the universal rejoic- ings. At that time England was re- garded by Holland with something all most approaching affection. The lam guage was fashionable, and at court largely replaced French, while the English style of living and even Eng fish modes of dress were constantly adopted. Then came the South Afri- l can war and volte-face In public opin- Cos fA A@AA | teresting to recall the vituperations of the Dutch press, striving by shrill de- | nunciation to atone for its utter insig- nificance, or the incivilities and even 1 insults with which travellers were con- | tinually met. It was reasonable that the Dutch should side with the Boers, but they would have been well advised | to have done so in a less rancorous spirit of partisanship. They are now awaking to the fact, for the compara- | tive absence of English tourists has affected the prosperity of the hotel keepers, and certain lucrative trades have materially EAffered. War fever | has now dwindled down to a concen- | trated hatred of MT. Chamberlain. based on a trembling certainty that | protection in England would spell ruin l for many a Dutch farmer by increas- ing the cost of dairy produce in Eng ldnu anu SCOLiduu
 The land of fat green fields and gray | waters is not as self-satisfed as was the case in 1898. The strikes last May, | although suppressed promptly, had se- rious causes and a marked effect. The | last obscrvant traveller. whether he comes in contact with the court officials or with the man in the street, will per- ceive that Queen Wilhelmina is no longer the idol of her people. Her marriage. is never as violently unpop- ular as was represented by some Eng fish correspondents. is not regarded as an unqualified success. Prince Hend- rick's pronounced dislike for the title of Prince Consort is variously inter- preted, for by his own express desire he Is now styled Prince of the Nether- lands. He is somewhat unfortunate In not possessing the winning manner so valuable in his difficult position, and although his indifference to ceremony commends him to his immediate associ- ates, he is a still a stranger In a land very definitely adverse to anything Ger man.
 When the royal pair recently opened Parliament at The Hague, even the ap- pearance of the golden coach, which was a national coronation gift, did not