HOLLAND.

Holland is an European kingdom, formed in part of islands, but chiefly of that part of the Continent where the mouths of the Rhine are divided into several branches before it enters the German Ocean. This district is said to have owed the ancient name of Batavia, by which it was known to the Romans, to one Bato; but at what period he flourished is unknown; and the name is now scarcely used excepting amongst the poets of the district. By accounts collected from the works of Caesar and Tacitus, we learn that the ancient tribes who inhabited this portion of Europe had been able to maintain their independence in spite of the attempts made to subdue them by the Teutones, the Cimbri, and other nations, who had conquered the rest of what was then called Gaul. The Batavians, says the last of these historians, excelled all the other people on the Rhine in military spirit. When subdued by the Romans they paid their tribute in soldiers; and from them was formed a cavalry, which composed the most efficient part of the Roman armies. They astonished the Dacians by the dexterity and bravery with which, completely armed, they swam their horses across the Danube to attack those people; and for a long period they formed the guard of the Roman emperors. A body of Batavians accompanied Agricoa on his expedition into Britain, and were of great assistance in securing his conquests in the island.

Although the Romans at length overcame the Batavians, it was after a strenuous resistance. The last that submitted was the tribe of the Frisons, who inhabited the marshes. Drusus, the Roman commander, constructed a canal between the Rhine and the Zuyder Zee. and thus opened a way into the German Ocean to the Ems and the Weser, by which he was enabled to penetrate into the heart of Germany, and to subdue that country. During four centuries the Batavians formed part of the Roman legions; but amongst these, after the reign of the Emperor Honorius, their name is no longer to be found.

After that period the islands were overrun by the Franks; and the transactions relating to them have been mixed up with those of the adjoining Belgians. The Frieslanders, however, opposed and broke through the armies of the Franks, and made their appearance as a free, and in some measure a victorious people, on the left bank of the Rhine; and there, adhering to their ancient customs, upon which had been engrafted many of the principles introduced by the Romans, they long maintained their independence. These people had suffered the least from the invasion of foreigners, and retained through several centuries distinct traces of their ancient constitution, their national spirit, and their national manners.

In the fifth and sixth centuries the kingdom of the Franks, which had arisen out of the ruins of the Roman power, gradually extended itself, and in the seventh had subdued the last of the Batavian people, the long resisting Frisons. Under Charles Martel the last conquest was achieved, and a way opened by his sword for the introduction of the Christian religion.

When Charlemagne had obtained his‘extensive dominion, and the feudal system was introduced, and continued under his successors, the powerful vassals of the crown, to whom the lands were granted, by degrees acquired a sort of mitigated sovereignty; but being unable to maintain themselves without the assistance of their under feudatories, they were compelled, in order to secure their fidelity, to grant them advantageous conditions of tenure. The clergy, too, by pious usurpations or pious donations, became a powerful and independent corporate body. Thus, during the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, the whole of Belgium and of Batavia was split into several small dominions, the princes of which acknowledged a limited allegiance, some of them to the German empire, and others to the kings of the Franks. During this period Brabant, and afterwards Luxembourg, Limburg, and Gueldres, obtained the name of dukedoms; Flanders, Holland, Zealand, Hennegau, Artois, Namur, and Zutphen, were ranked as Graffscĥalñr, or countships. Utrecht was a bishopric, the prelate of which exercised civil authority also in Overyssel and Groningen. Amongst all these chiefs the Count of Flanders was the most powerful; and as, in 1383, that countship fell to the then more powerful house of Burgundy, the prince of that family, partly by intermarriages, partly by force, and partly by voluntary or purchased submission, obtained supreme authority over the whole of what became the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands.

This appears to have been the most flourishing period of these provinces. Agriculture was carried on with spirit, skill, and abundant results. Manufactures of linen, and especially of woollen goods, gave occupation to an increasing population; and foreign commerce was extensive and profitable. The commodities of India brought to the Italian cities were transmitted to Antwerp, Bruges, and some other places, where extensive depots were established for foreign and domestic goods, and where, at the periodical fairs, the merchants of the northern kingdoms of Europe resorted, and transacted their commercial affairs.

The government of the Dukes of Burgundy was tempered by the privileges enjoyed by the cities, and by the nobility who possessed the land; and, though contests frequently arose between the sovereign and the states, they rarely came to open hostilities. When disturbances occurred, they were not of such duration, or so extensive, as to interrupt in any great degree the rapid growth of general wealth and progressive improvement.

Charles the Bold, the last of the Dukes of Burgundy, lost his life in a battle with the cantons of Switzerland in 1477. His eldest daughter Maria married Maximilian, duke of Austria, and received the Netherlands as her portion; and her grandson, born at Ghent, afterwards Charles V., emperor of Germany, thus became sovereign of those countries and of the kingdom of Spain from the moment of his birth. Before the marriage of Maria, and also under Maximilian, when he had become emperor and guardian of his son, attempts were made to lessen the influence of the states. But these were powerfully resisted by some of the cities, and especially by Bruges, in 1487, and by Sluys about the same time. Bruges was sufficiently strong to resist the encroachments; but Maximilian, in despite of its privileges, blocked up the port of Sluys for ten years, which caused the foreign ships that before crowded to that place to repair to Antwerp and Amsterdam; and these cities from that period became the two principal seats of foreign commerce.

The Netherlands, at the end of the fifteenth century, became the great school for the fine arts. These had been introduced from Italy; and the artists of the Low Countries were soon successful rivals of their masters of Florence, Bologna, and Venice, in painting, in statuary, in architecture, and in engraving. The art of printing, if not invented, was first made known at Hacrlem, and was soon practised in other cities of the Netherland provinces.

At the accession of Charles V. the situation of the Netherlands became widely changed. Instead of a paternal government, the chief of which in a great measure depend [7:11:510]ed on the prosperity of these provinces, they were converted into a dependent, and, though rich and populous, an insignificant part of a large empire, to the promotion of whose greatness, whether for good or for evil to themselves, they must in future be almost wholly subservient.

Between the Flemings and the Spaniards an excessive distaste was mutually felt, which soon attained to the most inveterate hatred. This originated in the difference of genius, of manners, customs, and mode of government, and was quickly increased by the regret natural to a powerful people, such as those of the Netherlands deemed themselves, at being incorporated, and thereby almost swallowed up, by another nation. Steps were early taken by Charles, under the pretence of introducing unity in his territories, that had a tendency to undermine the privileges which the Netherland states had zealously defended and long maintained. Before his accession a legal tribunal had been established at Mechlin, to which appeals might be made from all the legal tribunals of the confederate states; and as none but natives were judges, and their decisions were guided by the ancient laws, it was looked up to with confidence, and considered as a security to their constitutions. This tribunal was, however, nullified by being placed under an imperial court, established at Brussels, several of the members of which were foreigners, and all of whom were dependent on the royal favour alone. This imperial court was naturally viewed with a jealous eye, and was ill adapted for the protection of those rights to which the people were attached.

The growing expenses of the hostile operations of Charles in other parts of his extended dominions, made his demands on his Netherland subjects much heavier. In spite of their ancient right of levying taxes, he imposed some that were new, and increased others. The history of this reign contains constant repetitions of subsidies required, which were at first rejected or deferred, but at length yielded, though with reluctance and discontent.

Another subject of murmuring was the introduction of foreign troops, that is, forces belonging to the other dominions of the emperor, as well as recruiting his armies in the Netherlands without the consent of the states; circumstances which, besides being contrary to the constitution, involved them in wars to which they were indifferent or repugnant, and which were injurious to their interest as a commercial people.

Charles felt that the commerce of his subjects could alone enable him to extract from them those pecuniary supplies which his general government needed; and so far he protected their manufactures and mercantile affairs, and in some cases even recalled edicts, at the requisition of his Flemish subjects, which he would have without hesitation enforced at Madrid. The most influential of all the causes which arose in the reign of Charles V. was the religious reformation which had commenced in Germany, had spread in France, and from both these countries had been introduced into the Netherlands, chiefly in the trading cities, and in them had gained numerous adherents. The full effect of this, and of the other causes which have been here noticed, did not appear until the abdication of the emperor had elevated his son Philip II. to the extensive dominions of his father.

The religious excitement gave some uneasiness to Charles, and measures were feebly applied to check the progress of the new opinions, to which, when not actuated by political views, he at one time seemed not to be strenuously inimical. Had the emperor been disposed to severity towards the professors of the Protestant tenets, any measure of that nature would have affected the interests of commerce, and have tended to diminish the revenues he drew from that source. The foreign merchants who had establishments, or frequented the fairs, in the Netherlands, brought with them from Germany, England, France, and other countries, the doctrines and the writings of the Protestants. These were diffused amongst the natives, and made a great impression; and any attempts to destroy their intercourse, or to punish them for their opinions, would have driven commerce, as it did a few years later under Philip II., to the other markets of Europe, where greater religious freedom was enjoyed.

Towards the close of his reign, Charles issued indeed some most severe laws against those who professed the new religion. These were in some cases applied with unfeeling cruelty, though they tended but little to diminish theprogressof the dissident principles. He had resolved, after the successful issue of his wars in Germany, to reduce his Netherland subjects to uniform obedience to the Roman Catholic religion, and for that purpose he designed to have introduced the Inquisition. The fear alone of that dreaded tribunal in Antwerp suspended immediately all commerce, and the most eminent foreigners made instant preparations to remove. There were neither buyers nor sellers to be seen, the value of the buildings was destroyed, and all the operative labourers were discharged. Money totally disappeared, and no taxes could be collected. At the earnest recommendation of the Duchess of Parma, as vice-regent, this edict was suspended. The common tribunals were directed to practise no molestation en the foreign merchants; and, instead of the Inquisition, a milder court, at least in name, was framed, and called the ecclesiastical tribunal. In the other provinces, however, much severity was beginning to be practised, not long before the abdication of Charles; but, severe as these were, the remembrance of them was speedily obliterated by the more savage cruelties practised under the reign of his son.

The reign of Charles was, upon the whole, beneficial to the United Netherland Provinces, and he left that division of his dominions in a most flourishing condition; so that for its extent it was by far the most considerable state in Europe. Their taxes were by no means heavy, though their trade was most extensive; and the mechanical genius and persevering industry of the inhabitants had rendered the Low Countries the workshop of Europe. When the emperor, at his solemn abdication, delivered over these provinces to the rule of his son, they are reported to have contained three hundred and fifty cities, and six thousand three hundred towns and large villages, besides numerous hamlets, farm-houses, and castles. These comprehended the four dukedoms of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and Guelderland; the seven countships of Artois, Hennegau, Flanders, Namur, Zutphen, Holland, and Zealand; the margravate of Antwerp; and the baronies of Friesland, Mechlin, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen. Statistical researches were not much practised at that period, and no accurate views can be obtained of the extent of the population; but there is good reason to conclude, that, though at present the Netherlands are the most densely peopled of any part of Europe, the numbers then were more than equal to what they are now. The seven provinces which afterwards formed the republic were probably less populous; but the other divisions, where manufactures were more generally carried on, were, from all accounts, proportionally more crowded. Philip II. ascended the throne on the abdication of his father in October 1555. He had been educated in Spain, and had.imbibed the retired and stately manners of,that country. He spoke no other language but Spanish, and, except the short time he had passed in England after his marriage with Queen Mary, he had scarcely ever left the peninsula. He was most zealously attached to the Roman Catholic religion, and not less so to the unrestricted exercise of arbitrary power. He was distrustful of those who administered public affairs, was nearly invisible to his subjects, and the few who had access to his presence were commonly disgusted both with his manners and with [7:11:511]the punctilious formalities with which their introduction was attended. He was deemed insensible to human sufferings, and was equivocating, if not insincere, in the replies he made to the petitions of his subjects.

He remained in the Netherlands from his accession in 1555 till August 1559, when he embarked for Spain, and never afterwards returned. The measures he introduced during his stay, his repulsive manners, and the humours he displayed at his departure, all tended to strengthen that aversion, mingled with suspicion, which had begun to manifest itself during the reign of his imperial predecessor.

The most obnoxious measures to the people were, first, a design to abolish several of the monastic establishments, in order that their estates might be converted into revenues for new bishoprics, the incumbents of which were to be the instruments of introducing the Inquisition into the provinces. That institution was held in such abhorrence, that it encountered every obstruction which could be opposed to it, both by the Catholics and the Protestants. It had met also, at the court of Rome, some obstacles which caused delay, so that the arrangement was not completed when the king departed for Spain. The second cause of complaint was the retention of foreign forces within the states. When the king came to the throne, a war was carried on with France; but the French having been signally defeated at the battle of St Quentin in 1557, a peace was, after long negotiations, completed at Chateau-Cambresis. The withdrawing of the troops, consisting both of the Spanish infantry and of some German auxiliaries, was eagerly looked for by all the inhabitants. The latter were disbanded and sent home, but the former were retained, and proved dreadfully oppressive to the country. Vander Vynckt, the faithful historian of Flanders, says, “the Spaniards were so elevated with their late successes against the French, that they thought the ransom or the pillage of the whole of the Netherlands would be an insufficient recompense for the actions they had performed. They lived at free quarters on the country, and trampled upon the people without pity.” In fact, receiving little or no pay, or that pay being much in arrears, they were of necessity instigated to all kinds of disorders, and led to practise the most abominable oppressions. The remonstrances of the states were coldly received, and though assurances were given that the grievance should be removed, and the period for it was fixed, it was delayed from time to time, and ultimately consented to in appearance only, as they remained on the frontiers, ready to re-enter when the ulterior measures which were in preparation should require their assistance. As one means of delaying the departure of these troops, two legions were proposed to be placed under the command of the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont, two of the most patriotic and popular of the nobility. But their integrity resisted the temptation; they declined the command, and this rendered the continuance of the troops the more obnoxious.

A third cause of complaint was, a violation of the ancient constitution of the states, by introducing into the higher executive and judicial offices persons of foreign birth. When Philip left the Netherlands, the government was conferred on the Duchess of Parma, a natural daughter of the Emperor Charles V. She was to be assisted by a council of state, composed of the Prince of Orange, the Counts Egmont and Horn, Granvelt bishop of Arras, Count Barlaimont, and Vigilius de Quichem. But by secret orders, but which soon transpired, a committee of this council, consisting of the three last named, was empowered in most cases to communicate alone with the duchess, and m all cases to decide on the advice which was to be given to her. Thus the Prince of Orange and the two counts were mere ciphers, and rarely attended the council. Barlaιmont was a mere creature of Granvelt, who attended only to the finances, of which he was chief, and was commonly absent when other affairs were under consideration; Vigilius was a man of profound scholastic learning, very politic, and very yielding; so that, in fact, the whole power was conceded to Granvelt. He was a native of France, and had distinguished himself by his learning, but more by his subservience to the rigour and the caprices of Philip. By these means, from the low condition of a parish priest, he was raised to the episcopal rank, and finally to the dignity of a cardinal. His being a foreigner was the pretext, but his arbitrary disposition and intolerant rigour the causes, of general aversion; and the firmest and most pointed representations of the assemblies of the several states were solely but unavailingly directed towards him. He alone conducted all affairs, and-to him the secret orders of the king were conveyed.

The three members of the council who had been named on account of the estimation in which they were held among the natives of the Netherlands, though they were utterly inefficient as members of the board, should not be passed over without short notices of their rank and character, on account of the vast interest which has been excited by the events they directed, and the fates they experienced.

William of Nassau, prince of Orange, was one of the greatest men of his own or any other age. He had in his youth been brought up in Germany, his native country, amongst Protestants, whose creed his father had adopted. Being of an illustrious house, he was early introduced to the Emperor Charles, whose favour and confidence he obtained, and he was employed by him in some most honourable commissions and embassies. He came to the possession of the family inheritance on the death of an uncle and a cousin, consisting of extensive estates in Burgundy and the Netherlands, and thus was by far the richest of all the nobles of the country. By his wealth he was enabled to live magnificently when ambassador in France and in England, and afterwards at home when governor of the provinces of Holland and Zealand. He was as highly estimated in foreign countries as in the Netherlands, and had formed numerous alliances and friendships in England and France, and others still more considerable in Germany. He was a man of penetration, courage, and resolution, with enlarged and accurate political views. His measures were maturely considered, but when once determined upon, nothing could shake them. In the greatest adversity’ he was firm and tranquil, and he possessed in his mind inexhaustible resources. He was remarkable for his taciturnity, from which circumstance he was sometimes distinguished by the name of William the Silent. An Italian proverb has appropriately described him, Tacendo parla, ραrlando incanta.

Lamoral count Egmont was also a nobleman of the first rank, of a family originating in Holland, some members of which had in former times been the sovereign Dukes of Guelderland. His mother, the heiress of the house of Luxembourg-Fiennes, had brought to the family of Egmont estates in Flanders of vast extent and riches. He was adored by the inhabitants of Flanders and Artois, of which provinces he was the governor, and was generally considered as the fittest person to have filled the dignity held by the Duchess of Parma. He was generous, frank, disinterested, and open hearted. He was besides a good general, possessing intrepid courage, and had distinguished himself in the war with France. He was less adroit than the Prince of Orange, and had lessorforesight, but he was as eminent in the field as the other was in the cabinet. These men were at one time rivals for power, but a common interest closely united them. Philip de Montmorenci, count Horn, was an admiral, and in his command of the naval forces had displayed the most intrepid courage, and had rendered great service to the Spanish government. He had been [7:11:512]governor of the provinces of Zutphen and Gueldres, and by the management of Granvelt had been suspended and sent into Spain, where he is said to have acquired a thorough knowledge of the operations intended against the liberties of his country, and communicated them to the Prince of Orange. He was reported also to have then had some intercourse with Don Carlos, the heir to the throne of Spain, who himself was supposed to feel differently on the affairs of the Netherlands from his father King Philip.

With these three leaders were connected others of rank nearly equal, the whole of the inferior nobility, and a very large majority of the burghers, merchants, and manufacturers of the cities and towns; and in particular almost the whole of those people who were connected with maritime transactions, either as owners or navigators of vessels.

We return now to the causes of complaint which were made in the Netherlands. The fourth of them was, the omitting to call together the general assembly of the states. Though under the reign of the Emperor Charles the power of that body had been much curtailed, they were yet the organ of the opinions and feelings of the more respectable part of the nation. Their views and complaints were freely communicated to the government, and exercised influence on its decisions.» One of the last and most decisive instructions given by Philip to the Duchess of Parma, before his departure for Spain, forbade the assembling of this body.

The chief points upon which the subjects felt aggrieved are only here noticed, though there were many others, some of a minor and some of a local nature, all which, combined with the general disgust felt towards Spain and the Spanish monarch, tended to shake the authority of the king, by indisposing the civil tribunals from following up with zeal the ordonnances which from time to time were issued by the sovereign.

These complaints had at a very early period excited secret associations amongst the nobility and gentry which were in opposition to the extension of the severe penal laws. One of these associations was formed as early as 1556, by Martiner baron of St Aldegonde in Breda, a confidential friend of the Prince of Orange. He, with ten or twelve others of equal rank, drew up a declaration, then known by the name of the Compromise. It contained execrations against the Inquisition, which it painted in the most horrible colours. It accused foreigners of having seduced the king to refuse the abolition of his rigid ordonnances, that they might be enabled to gratify their ambition and their avarice; and it concluded with declaring, that they were united to assist the oppressed, to resist violence, and, above all things, never to submit to the establishment of the Inquisition. When this compromise had been signed at Breda, numerous copies of it were made and circulated throughout all the provinces, from Artois to Friesland. It was signed with avidity by all classes, from the highest nobility to the lowest artisans. This association at length became so extensive and bold as to determine on an application to the regent, for which purpose the leaders requested an audience, that they might lay their complaints before her. This request, after much hesitation and with some symptoms of alarm on the part of the government, was at length granted. The nobles assembled at Brussels, attended, according to the custom of the age, by their numerous followers, and, marching to the palace in a long train in regular order, were admitted to an audience. The address was read by Brederode count of Utrecht. It contained strong professions of obedience and loyalty, and asserted that the associates were innocent of the charge of which they had been calumniated, of having entered into engagements with foreign powers. In conclusion, a convocation of the states-general was requested, and in the mean time a provisional suspension of all inquisitorial measures and proclamations, until a reply could be received from the king, who was then in Spain. An equivocal reply was given, the substance of which was merely that more temperate measures would be pursued till the orders of the king were received.

This assembling of the nobles gave to the associates a name which was assumed and long continued as a mark of distinction. During the audience at the palace, the duchess appeared somewhat alarmed at the great number of persons which composed the deputation. Count Barlaimont, one of her suite, in order to calm her disquietude, whispered, but sufficiently loud to be heard by those who were nearest, that they were nothing more than un ramas de gueux, a crowd of beggars. On this being reported at a convivial meeting of the nobles, one of them, as a toast, gave vivent les gueux, which was received with acclamation, and the name afterwards adopted; and their clothing and ornaments were so worn as to exhibit emblems like those in use amongst conventual mendicants and other beggars, one of the most distinguishing of which was a sack thrown over the shoulders, on which was frequently painted the motto of the association, Fidèle au roi jusqu a la besace.

The exhibition of strength on the part of the associates led to a series of negotiations between the vice-regent and the party, which at length was terminated on the 23d of August 1566, by the duchess provisionally, till orders could be received from Spain, agreeing to suspend the introduction of the Inquisition, and in the mean time to submit her other measures to the revision of the states-general.

Even this kind of truce was only conceded in consequence of some tumultuous and outrageous assemblages, partly excited by the Protestant preachers, but of which they soon ceased to have any power of direction or control. The assemblies first collected by field preachers were composed of those who had imbibed the Protestant opinions, and were held on the frontiers of Liège, about St Trond. They were soon joined, out of curiosity, by numbers anxious to hear the new doctrines, but speedily afterwards by all the wandering tribes of outlaws, vagabonds, and plunderers; and at length they became so numerous that no resistance could be made to them in the open country, or even in the cities which were not fortified and well garrisoned. The Catholic writers of the period represent these assemblages as being composed principally pf the sectarians of Germany and the Calvinists of France, joined to the Anabaptists of Leyden and other parts of Holland. It seems evident, however, that these were very early outnumbered by others whose chief objects were plunder and destruction. Their first operations were to attack and rob the monasteries in the open country; they then seized on the churches, and destroyed all the images and other appendages of the Catholic worship, carrying away with them whatever was portable and valuable. The peaceable inhabitants appeared everywhere panic-struck, and the desolating power thus let loose was opposed by no obstacles; so that at length all the cities except Brussels were more or less subject to the depredators. Ypres, Tournay, Valenciennes, and Oudenarde suffered the most. At Antwerp the Prince of Orange suspended the destruction as long as he remained there, but after his removal the insurgents gained the superiority, and were enabled to destroy the images and ornaments of the cathedral, as well as those of the other churches and monasteries, in that city. This devastation was like a hurricane, and though the storm passed over in a short space of time, its effects were frightful, and its destructive operations extensive.

The duchess, though about to leave Brussels, and seek safety in Mons, was persuaded by her council to remain in the capital, where intimidations on one side, and pro-posais[7:11:513] to treat with the insurgents on the other, were urged with vehemence. To the latter she at length yielded, and authorized the Prince of Orange, with the Counts Elmont and Horn, to treat with the chiefs of the insurgents, who still continued in St Trond. This measure was so far successful for the time, that, after the provisional agreement already noticed, a treaty was concluded with tiie leaders at St Trond, and signed on the 25th of August. It was agreed that the preachers might continue their religious practices in the places where they actually did exercise them, that the people might attend them, but unarmed, and cause no trouble to the Catholics. The nobles were to renounce the confederation, and all were to lay down their arms, and assist in restoring and re-establishing the estates, the churches, the monasteries, and the hospitals that had been plundered, and indemnify those who had suffered.

A temporary lull was thus procured, though frequently interrupted by local explosions. All were waiting with impatience for intelligence from Madrid, whither couriers were immediately forwarded after the pacification, with despatches from the duchess to King Philip. The letters to Spain were expressed in the most melancholy strain. The duchess confessed that she had granted to the insurgents terms that were degrading to herself, and which she could not relate without shame and grief. She affirmed that she had long resisted, but, weakened by fever and sleepless nights, had at length yielded; that with anguish of mind and bodily pain, and the fear of greater evils, she had granted pardon to the rebels, and had acceded to their demands, but that she had done nothing in the name of the king, but only in her own; and that he might disavow and undo what she had done, as his majesty was no party to the acts. The despatch concluded with an earnest solicitation that his majesty would not delay his journey to the Low Countries till the spring, but come immediately to Brussels.

Philip received the despatches at Segovia, where he was confined by sickness; and though he read and remarked upon them, no answer was returned till he was enabled to remove to Madrid and assemble his council. In that council it was seen that the vice-regent had in no way committed his majesty, and the answers were dictated under· that assumption. Two despatches were drawn, one of them ostensible and the other secret. They are to be found at length in Strada, and the substance of them may be thus abridged. The first or public letter announced the birth of an infanta, and that the king had removed to Madrid to make the necessary preparations for his journey to Flanders; that a convocation of the states would be no remedy for the existing evils, but an injury to the honour and the conscience of the king; and that the best measure, in case of necessity, would be to repel force by force, in which circumstances she might securely count on the aid of the well disposed people. The secret despatch was more laconic. It enjoined attention to former orders, and to the public letter, on what related to the convocation of the states-general; and if any force was exercised towards the government, to trust to God and his providence, but to do nothing that should appear, either directly or indirectly, to have proceeded from the opinion of the king.

It was the policy of the court of Spain at this period to keep every thing in the Netherlands in a state of total suspense. For this purpose rumours were spread of the king’s intended journey. The time was fixed, the preparations were made, the route was determined, and the attendants were named. It was however only a kind of grimace, though, to give it more the .appearance of reality, application was made to the king of France for permission to pass, and also the Duke of Savoy was consulted respecting the fittest passageover the Alps, in case the king should proceed to Italy by sea. These measures satisfied almost the whole of the inhabitants that their sovereign would speedily appear amongst them. The Prince of Orange alone was not deceived. He had emissaries of talent in Madrid, in Rome, and in Vienna, and indeed wherever important intelligence could be obtained. In 1565 Catherine de’ Medicis, with her son Charles IX., had a meeting at Bayonne, to which King Philip and his queen, a daughter of Medicis, were to have repaired. The king, however, did not join them, but the queen did. It was represented as a mere family party, at which the ambassadors of other states were not expected to attend. At the meeting the females concocted a treaty between the two kings, which was to be kept secret from all but themselves. It engaged to extirpate all heresy and heretics, not only from their own dominions, but from all the other parts of Europe in which Protestantism had already been embraced. The secret was well kept, and the meeting was attributed to some projected family marriages, which Philip represented to his ministers as a matter which would be best arranged by the females. Walsingham, the ambassador at Paris of Queen Elizabeth, within little more than a year gained the particulars of the treaty, and communicated them to his court, and thence the knowledge of it was conveyed to the Prince of Orange, who maintained the most profound secrecy till the most useful moment for its being made known had arrived.

It was generally believed that the prince had the most complete knowledge of what passed in the cabinet of King Philip, though it is now unknown if, as some suspected, he had the intelligence from his son Don Carlos, or, as others imagined, from one of his secretaries. It is said, that from his perfect knowledge of the transactions and opinions of the French court, and of what had passed at Bayonne, he had predicted the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, and had informed the Admiral de Coligny of the plot, putting him on his guard against the caresses and the treachery of the court, but which, unfortunately for the illustrious victim, did not save him from the miserable fate which he at length suffered. The Prince of Orange was possessed of large estates in Germany, and, by blood as well as by marriage, was closely connected with many of the smaller sovereigns of that country, who had embraced and introduced into their dominions the doctrine and the worship of the Protestants. Even the emperor, though a firm adherent of the Roman Catholic church, was in some measure influenced by him. He was induced to write to King Philip, expressing his good will, but pointed out to him that he was engaged in a war with the Turks, that a great part of Germany interested itself in the fate of the Netherlands, and that those who had adopted the confession of Augsburg would never allow the inhabitants of these provinces to be oppressed. He therefore recommended a negotiation with Orange, Egmont, and Horn, and offered his mediation to accommodate the differences. The court of Spain rejected this interference between the king and his Flemish subjects; but the knowledge of this correspondence served to strengthen the purpose of the Prince of Orange, who soon became acquainted with it, to adopt the precautionary measures which his situation required.

The Prince of Orange having learned, by his emissaries at the court of Madrid, that the preparations for the king’s journey to the Netherlands were merely adopted to quiet and mislead the public, and that, on the contrary, it had been determined to pursue the most rigid measures, and intrust them to the Duke of Alba, determined on his course of action. He immediately resigned all the offices he held in the Netherlands, and withdrew himself and his family to his territories in the duchy of Nassau in Germany.

The Duke of Alba was reputed in that age to be cruel, crafty, proud, and avaricious; and his name was held in abhorrence throughout the Netherlands. Although it was resolved that he should have the sole power, yet the pur [7:11:514] pose was concealed even from the regent herself. Philip continued to assure her that he was resolved to come as soon as possible, and that the Duke of Alba only preceded him, to smooth the way, and so arrange affairs that he might on his arrival the more easily restore tranquillity; that in the mean time the duke would command the army, and attend to the fortifications, and the security of the country, but still in subordination to the authority of her highness. The knowledge of this appointment could not be long kept secret, and its disclosure produced universal consternation. The great nobles, such as the Prince of Orange, the Counts Calembourg, de Bergh, Brederode, and others, had early sold parts of their estates, and raised money by mortgages on the other portions of them. All that could, prepared for their removal. The inferior nobility, the rich merchants of Antwerp, the wealthy burghers of all the cities, resolved to expatriate themselves and their families. Soon after the mission of Alba was publicly made known, the duchess wrote to the king to say, that already more than one hundred thousand persons had abandoned their domicils and their country. The Low Countries were at that period at the height of prosperity. The cities were opulent and contiguous, the towns, villages, and hamlets, resembled the cities of other countries, and almost touched each other. It was most densely peopled, and so cultivated that no waste land was to be seen. The commerce was active, and the inhabitants, from industry, were easy in their circumstances, well fed and well clothed. They were the objects of envy to strangers, and viewed with peculiar jealousy by the Spaniards, who saw their condition, and compared it with that of their own country.

The emigrations caused by the first intelligence of the approach of Alba alarmed the duchess, who issued edicts designed to tranquillise the people, and these had some effect; but they were disavowed by orders of the king, and some who had been induced to return were subsequently the victims of their confidence. Afterwards, when the severities of Alba began to be exercised, the emigrations were increased; and though orders were issued to prevent it, and intrusted to the Spanish troops to execute, they came too late. A great number of families had expatriated themselves, and taken with them whatever of their property they could save. Those who were left were chiefly artisans, who could find no employment when their masters had forsaken them, and were thus compelled to seek the means of subsistence elsewhere. A great part of such as were capable of bearing arms joined the Prince of Orange, or enlisted in the armies which the princes of Germany created. Others of them sought an asylum in the imperial cities, and there exercised their trades. Some threw themselves into the Walloon country and into. Picardy, for the interior of France was then in greater commotion than even Flanders itself.

The greatest removals however were to England, where, by the orders of Elizabeth, all the ports were open to them, where their property was protected, and where they introduced new fabrics of various kinds, and established those manufactures which have become in process of time the foundation of the commerce and the wealth of our country.

The Duke of Alba, in 1567, embarked with his army at Barcelona, and landed at Genoa. After some stay at Milan, he passed the Alps by Mount Cenis, and proceeded to Franche Comte by the frontiers of Burgundy and Lorraine, and arrived in the beginning of August at Luxembourg, whence he proceeded to Brussels, and entered that city on the 22d of the same month. At his first appearance his conduct convinced the duchess that he was come to exercise supreme power, and in a short time she withdrew from the government. He conducted himself in a most caressing manner to Horn and Egmont, consulted them on military subjects, and especially in constructing fortresses at Valenciennes, Antwerp, and Groningen; but suddenly at the council arrested them, consigned them to separate prisons, seized all their papers, and obtained possession of their money, jewels, and other valuable effects.

When the duchess had quitted Flanders, Alba proceeded with his more violent measures. In January 1568 he erected a judicial tribunal, well known in the annals of the country by the Flemish name of Ploet-Paet, or sanguinary council. Alba was himself president, and Vargas, a Spaniard, vice-president. The other members were neither of the privy council nor of the council of Brabant, but, with the exception of two persons who never took their seats, consisted of individuals on whose concurrence Alba could securely rely.

This tribunal commenced by citing before it all the nobles and the citizens, whether absent or present, whether living or dead, who had signed the compromise, such as the Prince of Orange, the Counts of Nassau his brothers, the Counts Hooghstracte, Calembourg, and Brederode, and even the Marquis of Berghes, who was deceased. The Prince of Orange, who had decided on his part, replied in terms of defiance. He asserted that he was a member of the German empire, and as such answerable before none other than the emperor himself; and that, as one of the Spanish order of the golden fleece, he could only be judged by the king when holding a chapter of that order. The others made replies rejecting the authority of the new tribunal, and avowed their junction with the forces which the Prince of Orange was collecting.

The citations were numerous, but the most detailed account is that preserved at Ghent. One hundred and fifty persons, consisting of nobles, patricians, and burghers, were summoned on fixed days to appear at Brussels. Of that number only eighteen presented themselves, the others having emigrated or being concealed. These, conscious of their innocence, were allowed to defend themselves before the tribunal, and were then bound two and two together, and thus marched to prison. The process was not long deferred; they were condemned to death, and perished on the scaffold, some by the sword, others by the halter, according to their respective ranks. Numerous other prosecutions, which terniinated in death and confiscations, were carried on towards persons in Ghent; and if the number executed in the whole of the country were in the same proportion to those in that city, it may be true which Alba is said to have boasted on his return to Spain, that more than eight thousand persons had perished on the scaffold during his government of the Netherlands.

The executions of the Counts Egmont and Horn were deferred till June, when, by a process not to be justified by any law, they were condemned to suffer death. They were brought from their confinement in the prison of Ghent, surrounded by two thousand Spanish troops, and decapitated in the Place de Sablons, at Brussels, on the 5th of June 1568. The illegality of these executions was loudly complained of, and produced a great effect over the whole of Europe. Even the emperor and the other Catholic princes loudly condemned the proceeding, whilst many of the Protestant princes were induced by it to lend their aid to the confederation which the Prince of Orange was forming to avenge his friends, and to rescue the country from the miseries it endured.

The army which Alba brought with him from Spain, with some additions on the way, amounted to 20,000 men, one half of which consisted of Spanish infantry, who were in that day considered as the best troops in Europe. They were well disciplined and well commanded, but were much disposed to mutiny, especially when, as was often the case, their pay was in arrear; and this disposition was afterwards often displayed in the most critical circumstances, to the [7:11:515] great injury of the service in which they were employed. The desolation of the provinces, and the horrid cruelties which had been perpetrated, at length gave birth to that ruinous and obstinate civil war, which continued so long that none of those who commenced it lived to see its termination.

When the Prince of Orange retired into Germany, he had wished to have collected a force which might have harassed the army of Alba during the march from Italy to the Netherlands; but the princes of Germany were not so alarmed at the prospect of the danger which threatened them, as to assist him to such an extent as he deemed necessary for his purpose, and Alba with his army entered without molestation. The prince had time in his retirement to form his plans deliberately, to calculate on future probabilities, and to be ready to act when the moment for action should arrive. The first cruelties of Alba made a deep impression on all the Protestant princes of Germany, and this impression Orange was skilful enough to turn to his advantage. By the deaths of Horn and Egmont such indignation and resolution were excited in them, that they offered to Orange their wishes, their councils, their troops, and, what is almost incredible, their treasures. Amongst the most prominent of these was the Prince Palatine, with whom the Prince of Orange held a secret meeting at Strasburg, at which some of the leaders of the Huguenots in France were present. Even the Catholic princes were so inflamed at the treatment of Horn and Egmont, that, if they did not assist, they did nothing to impede Orange in his negotiations. The assistance thus obtained, with the aid of a pecuniary nature from Queen Elizabeth of England, and recruits from the Protestants of France, enabled Orange to take the field.

The prince was straitened for money; and his army, though numerous, was badly composed. The Germans and the French were new levies, hastily raised, eager for booty, and in general ill disciplined. Though they were not subject to his sole command, he could not safely disgust them, nor could he allow them to plunder. He knew, too, that at the end of the campaign these succours would quit him, because he was not in a situation to maintain so numerous a body. The greater part of the fugitives from Flanders were destitute, and the prince foresaw that these must soon become a charge which he would be unable to bear.

With forces of such motley composition, Orange determined on a hold and sudden attempt to enter the country on one side or the other, and to sound the tocsin over the whole of the Netherlands. On this plan he formed four bodies, to enter the country at different points. The first of them was to penetrate on the side of Liège, and to enter Gueldres. It was commanded by Count Hooghstracte, the only nobleman of distinguished rank who had been so fortunate as to escape from the fangs of the Duke of Alba. The second corps consisted of the French Huguenots, commanded by De Cocqueville, and they entered into Artois. Neither of these corps were strong, nor do they appear during the whole campaign to have effected any other object than, by skirmishing, to have distracted the attention of the enemy, and thus kept him from strengthening the more important points. The third corps was better composed and more’numerous. It was commanded by Prince Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of Orange. It commenced the war by entering Friesland, where he was opposed by the king’s army under the Count Arenburg, whose force was augmented by Spanish infantry and cavalry. When in presence of the enemy, he was forced to give battle, by the taunts of the Spaniards, who accused him, from his being a Fleming, of favouring the party of Orange. He led his troops to the combat, and fell in the attack. His army was completely defeated and dispersed, with the loss of its cannon, baggage, and a large sum of money which was destined to pay his troops, as well as others then in Groningen. The Frisian peasantry put to death the fugitive Spaniards; but the Germans and Flemings, who were mixed with them, were either liberated or joined the victorious troops.

The Duke of Alba was at Brussels when this disastrous event happened; and instantly, after venting his rage by numerous judicial assassinations, he repaired, with what troops he could collect, to Groningen, where he was joined by the garrison of that city. The troops of Prince Louis amounted to 12,000 or 14,000 men, and that of Alba was nearly of equal number; but the army of the latter was well trained and well disciplined, whereas that of the former was a mass of strangers, difficult to restrain, with little experience and less discipline, disposed to mutiny for want of their pay, and ready to desert their colours after any reverse. Prince Louis found it necessary to retreat from Winschotten, where he had gained his victory, and remove into the German province of East Friesland. He took up a position defended on one side by the river Ems, and on the other by that bay of the Zuyder Zee called the Dollart, and having at his back the city of Embden. He threw up intrenchments mounted with cannon in his front, and with better disciplined troops might have maintained himself till his brother the prince, who was advancing with a numerous force, could arrive to his relief. Alba pressed eagerly forward, and, at his approach, the troops of Nassau broke out into mutiny; and though it was partially quelled, a body of auxiliary troops who had joined it from Oldenburg, instead of waiting the attack within the lines, rushed out without orders, and threw themselves upon the Spaniards, by whom they were cut to pieces, and the opening thus made was entered by the enemy. The route became complete, and the Spaniards were amply revenged for the late disaster at Winschotten. Many of Nassau’s troops were killed, more were drowned in the Ems, the cannon, colours, and baggage were captured, and the prince with a few of his followers threw themselves into the city of Embden, whence, from their knowledge of the country, they succeeded in making good their retreat.

Whilst these transactions were passing on the eastern side, the Prince of Orange had been collecting his fourth and principal army on the western side, and mustered, about Aix-la-Chapelle and Liège, a body of nearly 28,000 men, which in that age was a large army. Being much superior in number to the army under Alba, the Prince of Orange was desirous of a battle, and made all possible attempts to bring it on. But the Duke of Alba, knowing the nature of his enemy’s forces, and that it was beyond his power to keep together so large a body from one season to another, acted purely on the defensive. This course he adhered to with firmness, though often urged by his officers and troops to lead them to battle. The campaign was thus passed with no other operations than occasional skirmishes or advances and retreats. The prince was compelled to dismiss the greater part of his forces, and to retire, with the few left to him, into winter quarters, when Alba did the same, and both were actively employed during the winter in the necessary preparations for the following spring.

The events which caused and accompanied the commencement of the troubles in the Netherlands have been related in a more circumstantial and detailed manner than our limits will allow to the subsequent proceedings. After the first indecisive campaign, there was a kind of suspension of hostilities, from the exhaustion of the opposing parties. Alba was employed in extorting money from the public bodies, and from individuals, to an unheard-of extent, and with intolerable severity. One demand was [7:11:516]called the tenth denier, by which one tenth of the amount of all sales were to be paid; a tax which served to impoverish the country, to suspend all industry in trade, and which ultimately tended to exasperate the inhabitants, and throw them into the arms of the insurgent party. The Prince of Orange, on the other hand, was occupied in negotiating treaties with the German princes, who assured him of succours both of troops and treasures. He also visited France, where Admiral Coligny, the chief of the Protestant party, after promising his aid, suggested to him the idea of creating a naval force. This was instantly adopted, and a party of sailors, of those called Gueux-marins, seized upon Briel, a town on the island of Hoorn, by which they secured an asylum for the shipping, and whence they gradually extended their conquests to the other towns and cities which command the entrance to the ocean, and secure those places from naval attack. This was the first step in the formation of that naval power by which the Hollanders became ultimately enabled to secure their independence. Seamen from all parts flocked to the maritime towns as rapidly as they declared for the Prince of Orange; and in Dort, Flushing, Rotterdam, and, indeed, all the places where there were no Spanish garrisons, they joined the prince. Fleets were equipped, which seized on all the Spanish vessels they met with, even in the British Channel, and kept open a communication with the ports of England, whence, by the proceeds of the captures, they could procure stores, arms, and ammunition, to carry on their warlike operations. The growth of the naval power was so rapid, that within three months after the capture of Flushing, no less than one hundred and fifty sail of armed vessels, well manned and equipped, were despatched from that place alone. The canals and rivers which intersect the country were filled with barges and gun-boats, which landed at the Spanish posts, and carried away arms and other effects from the very gates of Ghent and Bruges. .

Alba, who was busied in extorting the tenth penny, looked with contempt on the seizure of Briel; but soon awoke to the consequences, and began to draŵ together his troops to punish the Gueux-marins. His attention was, however, too powerfully drawn to another quarter, and they were left without molestation. The Prince of Orange, the moment he knew himself secure of the naval asylum, began his land operations. At the head of 20,000 men he entered Gueldres, seized Rnremond, Tongres, St Trond, and Tirlemont, and entered Louvain by treaty, where he rested. His brother Louis, aided by 7000 French Protestants, chiefly cavalry, entered Hainault, and surprised the important city of Mons. Another corps under Count de Bergh entered the province of Overyssel, and seized Zutphen, Gorcum, and some smaller places. Alba was alarmed at these events, but, more at the apprehension that it was not merely the French Protestants, but the French king, who had become the ally of Orange. He turned his attention, first of all, to the recapture of Mons, and after a siege of three months took it on capitulation, a division of the main army which was proceeding to raise the siege having been defeated. After the capture of Mons, Alba collected his forces, and led them to attack the city of Haerlem, in the province of Holland, as preparatory to the conquest of the other maritime positions. That place, defended chiefly by its citizens, made a noble resistance; but after a siege of seven months, in which the exertions and the sufferings of the inhabitants appear almost incredible, it surrendered, and was delivered over to the vengeance of the irritated and unfeeling Spaniards. In this siege, carried on in an aquatic district, and in the winter months, the besiegers suffered severely, especially as they were ill supplied with provisions. Their sufferings and their want of pay caused a mutiny after the capture, which paralyzed for a time the operations of Alba, whilst the Prince of Orange was carrying on the siege of Middleburg in Zealand, which was ably defended, and only surrendered after a siege of two years duration. The states of Holland and of Zealand had been assembled at Dort, where, notwithstanding the republican jealousy which prevailed, powers almost unlimited were conferred on the Prince of Orange, and a kind of government constructed to manage the affairs of these two provinces.

We have thus sketched the outline of events from the end of the year 1568 till the end of 1573, at which time the court of Spain had recalled Alba, who departed with enormous wealth, and the curses of all classes of the people, in January 1574. He was succeeded in the government by Don Louis de Zuniga of Requesens, but generally called by the latter name. When Requesens assumed the government, he found the affairs of it, in those parts still under the Spanish power, in a dreadful state of derangement. The people were universally disgusted, the army in a state of mutiny, and the finances absolutely exhausted. Though intrusted to adopt a milder, system of government, and actually issuing an amnesty, he could not overcome the deep hatred to his country which the Flemings had conceived. He naturally followed the military plan which had been traced out by his predecessor. The Prince of Orange had carried on the siege of Middleburg nearly two years, and Requesens resolved to attempt its relief. His naval forces were collected, and a battle ensued, in which the Spanish fleet was defeated, and most of the ships taken, burned, or sunk. This occurred on the 19th of January 1574, and was followed by the capitulation of the city on the 19th of February. The garrison, the ecclesiastics, and such of the burghers as wished it, were allowed to proceed to Flanders. This treaty was the commencement of a milder treatment of prisoners on both sides, and henceforward the contest assumed a more humane form. The capture of Middleburg was important, as it decided the fate of the province of Zealand, which wħs soon rendered unassailable by the Spaniards, whose naval force was far inferior to that of the Prince of Orange. Requesens sent a corps of his army to attack a force under the command of Prince FIenry of Nassau, over whom a victory was gained, on the 14th of April, near Nimeguen; but a mutiny immediately broke out amongst the Spaniards, and rendered the success of no value. When the mutinous spirit was somewhat allayed, the Spaniards besieged Alckmaer, but were received by the inhabitants with such resolution that they 7 gave up the attack and concentrated their forces to besiege the city of Leyden. It was carried on with great vigour, and defended with skill and bravery; and after the besieged had for nearly six months endured all the horrors of famine and disease, by cutting some dikes the Spanish camp was covered with water, more than a thousand of the assailants were drowned, and on the 3d of October the siege was abandoned. This secured to the party of Orange the freedom of the province of Holland, as the capture of Middleburg had done that of Zealand. The Spaniards were thus expelled from every part of those states except the city of Amsterdam, of which they did not quit possession till four years afterwards.

After defeat or after victory the Spanish troops were equally accustomed to mutiny. The repulse before Leyden begot this spirit, which displayed itself by deposing their commander Don Sancho de Avila. They chose one of their own number as a leader, and carrying with them Don Sancho, bound hand and foot, proceeded towards Utrecht, where by plunder they boasted they would pay themselves the arrears owing to them, and they committed the greatest excesses on the small towns which they were able to seize upon. At length some money was paid to them, [7:11:517]the mutiny was appeased, and Requesens led them to make attacks on some of those islands which compose the state of Zealand. These were all repulsed by Prince Louis; and Requesens, who had superintended the operations in person, at length abandoned all attempts. He was called to Brussels by a mutiny of the Spanish cavalry in that city; but on the day of his arrival he was attacked by a fever, which in a short time terminated in his death.

* This brings the events down to the end of the year 1575, at which period an attempt at conciliation was made by the emperor of Germany. A congress was held at Breda, where an ambassador from his imperial majesty, the two brothers of the Prince of Orange, the pensioner of Holland, deputies from Zealand and Gueldres, and two ministers of the king of Spain, met; but nothing was agreed on, after three months spent in negotiation, as the preliminary question of religion could not be settled. The king would only admit of the Catholic faith, and the opposing parties as resolutely maintained that of the reformed church.

In 1576 the Prince of Orange succeeded in the plan he had long formed, of forming such a union between the two states of Holland and Zealand as should concentrate their efforts for the common defence, by placing in his hands, under the name of regent for the king, the whole executive power. This arrangement, concluded in April, was announced to all the cities, and accepted by them; and the prince having taken the oath of fidelity to the privileges of the states, assumed the government, and arranged the administration with judgment, despatch, and economy.

At the same time, within the provinces still belonging to Spain, the death of the governor created the greatest confusion and disturbance. The council of state, consisting chiefly of Flemings, assumed the administration, and, as soon as an answer to their communications could be received from Madrid, were confirmed in that power, but only ad interim, until Don Juan of Austria, w ho was named governor, should arrive. Though composed of only nine or ten members, this council soon became divided into factions, which thwarted each other; they were without pecuniary resources, and could take no measures to remove the difficulty. The consequence of this was, that the Spanish troops, being unpaid, broke into furious mutinies, and, with the pride of their nation, rejected the authority of the council, deposed their officers, chose one of their own number, who was called Eletto, indulged everywhere in the most unlimited plunder, and committed the most atrocious barbarities. The movements made by these troops alarmed all the inhabitants of the cities, so that even in Brussels itself the council could scarcely have been in safety without yielding to the impulse of indignation which was displayed by all orders of the citizens. The mutinous troops had taken by storm the fortified city of Alost, between Ghent and Brussels, when the council, on the 29th of July, issued a placard denouncing the Spaniards as rebels to their king and the country. They were depicted as mutinous traitors, and the people of the Netherlands were called upon to exterminate them wherever they were to be found; they were also forbidden to supply them with provisions, and commanded to remove out of their way all money and other valuable effects.

The insurgent army at Alost alarmed the city of Ghent, where the inhabitants had armed themselves; but the castle which commanded the town was held by some Spanish troops, who were in connection with the mutinous army. It was of importance to take the castle; and a party in that place, where the Prince of Orange had numerous secret friends, made application to him for assistance. He, who had foreseen the event and was prepared to meet it, despatched from Zealand eight bodies of infantry, amounting to about 3000 men, with seventeen pieces of artillery, under the command of Colonel Temple, an English officer in the service of the states, who entered the city on the 26th of September, and having formed the siege of the castle, caused it to surrender on the 11th of November.

The possession of Ghent was the signal for a general movement amongst the Flemings. In spite of the orders of the king positively forbidding it, the states assembled in each province, and the feeble and divided council gave way before them; and thus the power was vested in a body, who confined some, displaced others, of the council, and changed the government into that republican form which the seven provinces that ultimately obtained their independence afterwards adopted. The king’s name was used, but his power was for the time abolished. The new government sent its envoys to the several courts to implore assistance. The emperor and some other princes answered with cordiality, and offered their mediation to effect a general pacification. The king of France (Henry HI.) spoke plainly, and showed good will, but said that his opponents, the Leaguists, supported by the pope and the king of Spain, had so embarrassed his affairs as to deprive him of the power of rendering them any assistance. Queen Elizabeth of England received the envoy, Baron Sweveg-hau, with much distinction. She granted to the states a loan of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, of which forty thousand were immediately paid in uncoined silver, and the remainder was made payable at Brussels by her ambassador. The cities of Ghent, Bruges, and Nieuport were securities for the money; and the states agreed neither to make truce nor peace with Spain without England being comprehended in it. The other conditions were, that the English merchants should be restored to the privileges which they had enjoyed before the troubles, and that the subjects of England who had been banished should not be protected within the territories of the states.

A treaty was soon concluded at Ghent, and ratified at Brussels, between the states on one part, and the Prince of Orange in the name of the states of Holland and Zealand on the other. The chief stipulations were, that the contracting parties should unite to drive all Spaniards from their countries, and then assemble as in states-general before 1555, to regulate the affairs of religion, of the fortresses, and the ships of war; that no attempts should be made against the Catholic religion; that all the ordonnances issued by the Duke of Alba should be suspended till they were confirmed by the states; and that in the mean time the Prince of Orange should retain his power as stadtholder of Holland and Zealand. This treaty was signed in the name of the king, and in a short time was acceded to by those other provinces not represented in the states assembled at Brussels.

Whilst these transactions were in progress, the Spanish troops, though diminished in number by their own excesses and the vengeance of the country people, continued in the same mutinous condition. One division of them took Maestricht by storm, and there perpetrated the most abominable injuries to persons and property. Two other divisions, one from Alost and the other from Zealand, united to seize on the rich city of Antwerp; and with them joined the portion of the garrison of the citadel of Antwerp which had cut its way through the besieging army. The citadel was in possession of the Spaniards; and as soon as the rest of the mutineers had been received into it, they stormed the city, which, though bravely defended, was ultimately overcome, a great part of it being burned in the conflict, and what remained, as well as the persons of the inhabitants, became a prey to the infuriated and merciless mutineers. Destruction was thus inflicted on the most flourishing commercial city of Europe, from the effects of which it has never since recovered. The destruction of that city was, however, one of the causes, and not an in [7:11:518]considerable one, of the rapid progress in foreign commerce which was made in Holland during the subsequent prosecution of the long protracted war, and supplied much of the pecuniary means by which that war was maintained. Don Juan of Austria, who had been appointed to the government of the Netherlands on the death of Requesens, was a natural son of the Emperor Charles V. who had ordered him to be educated in secrecy, but suitably, according to a respectable station in life. The history of his birth had been concealed from him until he had arrived at maturity, when King Philip himself unexpectedly revealed it, and acknowledged him as his brother. At an early age he had been employed against the Moors of Granada, and had by his successful exertions gained great applause; but the chief ground of his high reputation arose from the naval victory of Lepanto gained over the Turks, when he commanded the united fleets of the Christian world.

When nominated to the command he was residing at Milan, but instantly departed from thence to Spain, where he received his instructions from the king-He was directed to treat the Netherlands with great mildness at first, but to commit himself to nothing definitive, and on no account to give up any of that unlimited power which the king was firmly resolved to exercise. It was commonly believed that the king gave him an assurance, if he succeeded in restoring the Netherlands to submission, that he should be supplied with forces to land in England, where he should release Mary Stuart from her prison, place her on the throne of Elizabeth, and by a marriage with her become monarch of the British islands. Don Juan rode post through France, at that time in a state of confusion, in the disguise of a servant to one of the nobles who accompanied him, and at length reached Luxembourg on the day on which the mutinous army of the Spaniards had stormed the city of Antwerp. On his arrival there, the disastrous state of the affairs of Spain, which has already been described, seems to have left him no other alternative, after announcing his arrival to the states, than that of acquiescence in the decisions of that body, conjointly with the Prince of Orange. He accordingly gave his assent to the pacification of Ghent, and to that article of it which stipulated the removal of all foreign troops from the country of the Netherlands. Some confidence was thus gained with the states-general, but none with the Prince of Orange, with whom Don Juan had opened a correspondence of an apparently amicable and confidential nature. The troops were in appearance disbanded, or marched away. The Spaniards moved slowly towards Italy, from whence they could be recruited. Some of the auxiliaries were said to have been lent to the Leaguists in France, so as to be within call when needed. In a few months, which were passed in conciliatory measures, Don Juan, rather by fraud than by force, obtained possession of the strong castle of Namur, in the month of July, and established his court in that city, where he soon began to collect troops. This caused an alarm in the states, and they also began to collect their forces. The Prince of Orange was invited to repair to Brussels, in order to concert with the states the measures requisite for the defence of their freedom. Negotiations were begun with insincerity on all sides, for neither could trust to the assurances and engagements of the other. The Prince of Orange, who had entered Brussels on the 23d of September, was consulted on these negotiations, and was in some sense a party to them; though he foresaw, from the very moment of Don Juan’s arrival, that no secure treaty could be formed, and that the sword must decide the issue. The states, at the suggestion of the Prince of Orange, had decreed the demolition of those fortresses which commanded the cities, especially those of Antwerp, Ghent, Utrecht, Groningen, and Lisle. This was the signal for hostilities. Don Juan had recalled the troops on the march for Italy, and those lent to the party of the League in France. The Prince of Parma brought other reinforcements; and thus Don Juan found himself at the head of an army of nearly 20,000 at the end of the year. The army of the states consisted of nearly equal numbers. They were, however, inferior in discipline and in good officers to the forces opposed to them. The two armies were in presence of each other in December. The army of the Spaniards had been so secretly collected, that the states believed that their own troops much outnumbered them, and from this impression gave orders for the attack. On the 31st of January a bloody conflict took place at Gembloux, near to Namur, in which the Spanish force was victorious. The army of the states suffered very severely; their general, Goignics, with many of his men, were made prisoners, and the remnant retreated towards Brussels. The Prince of Orange and states removed from thence to Antwerp. Don Juan, instead of pursuing them, followed up his success by capturing the smaller fortified towns. In the course of the year 1778, he had taken Louvain, Tirlemont, Bovines, Diest, Nivelles, and some smaller places. These conquests were effected by detachments, whilst his main body was encamped near Namur. But he was taken ill in September, and died on the 1st of October 1578. The cause was probably a pestilential fever, but, according to the custom of that age, was most commonly attributed to poison. On his death-bed Don Juan nominated as his successor his nephew the Duke of Parma, who had recently joined him. He was a young man of highly-estimated talent, the son of that duchess who had long been the regent of the Netherlands, and under whom the troubles had commenced.

When the Prince of Orange had retired to Antwerp, he clearly perceived that, from the nature of the country, and the confidence placed in him by the people, he could preserve a secure asylum for liberty in Holland. His means did not extend to the other provinces of the Netherlands with the same commanding effect. He therefore turned his chief attention to that which, with a concentration of his means and exertions, could with most probability of success be attained.

As the ten provinces were at length all brought under subjection to Spain, and finally were transferred to the house of Austria, the transactions relating to them do not appropriately belong to the history of Holland, and will therefore be only so far noticed here as regards their connection with that country.

It was the policy of the Prince of Orange to keep alive the spirit of opposition which still existed in Flanders, because it gave employment to the troops of the Duke of Parma, and time to the inhabitants of the United Independent Provinces to prepare for that firm defence which must be the ônly means of securing their ultimate independence. Those states also gained much in another view. Holland was a secure asylum, and the inhabitants of the other ten provinces found refuge there, when neither tranquillity nor security could be enjoyed at home. At this period, many of the richest of the traders once more removed their families and their property to the cities and towns of Holland and Zealand. The ruins of the commerce of Antwerp were collected in Holland and Amsterdam, though the last place, from which the Spaniards had been driven out in 1578, received the greater share of it.

Whilst Flanders was torn to pieces by the contest between the troops of the Duke of Parma and those raised by the states, the United Provinces assumed in their temporary tranquillity a more imposing aspect. The important province of Utrecht joined the party of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland. The war had been carried on [7:11:519]against the king of Spain without explicitly renouncing allegiance to him. But after the accession of Utrecht, the declaration of their independence of the authority of that monarch was promulgated. This gave confidence to the inhabitants, and admitted them to treat as sovereign states with any of the other governments of Europe. To these four provinces the three small ones of Zutphen, Overyssel, and Groningen were added, and thus formed a compact and easily defended district. They assumed for their arms a bundle of seven arrows, with the motto, Concordia res parvae crescunt, discordia maximae dilabantur.

We pass over the endeavours made to establish the Duke of Anjou, brother of the king of France, as the governor, the wars subsequent upon it, and the attempts made to assassinate the Prince of Orange, because they belong rather to the history of Flanders than to that of Holland. It may, however, be proper to remark, that in the intercourse between that duke and the prince, the latter favoured the pretensions of the former; but he seems to have done it without any prospect, perhaps without any hope, that it would do more than operate as a diversion, in favour of the seven United Provinces, to whom his chief regards were always directed.

From the death of Don Juan of Austria, at the end of the year 1578, to July 1584, the state of Flanders arrested all the efforts which Spain could make to attack Holland; and the inhabitants availed themselves of it to extend their commerce, to increase their ships, to economize their resources, to accumulate warlike stores, and to organize and discipline the whole of the male population. Spain was too much engaged with other objects to direct any strenuous operations against Holland, calculating that if she could subdue the ten larger and more populous provinces, the submission of the other seven would either necessarily follow, or might be easily enforced. Besides, she was at that time making preparations for the enormous naval force called the Armada, with which she calculated on conquering England, and thought that by that achievement Holland would fall under her power.

The intense personal hatred which existed between Philip of Spain and the Prince of Orange gave birth to the most virulent and threatening manifestoes, which were printed, diffused, and read throughout Europe; and the king even made it generally known, that whoever should succeed in assassinating the prince, should receive a reward of 80,000 ducats, be made a commander of the order of St Jago, and obtain patents of nobility. These offers, stimulated also by religious fanaticism, induced many individuals to arm themselves for the horrid deed. One of them, Geerardt, a Burgundian, gained access to the prince by means of letters from Count Mansfeldt, and, as he was passing from his dinner table to another apartment, shot him with a pistol concealed under his cloak, which discharged three balls into the breast of his victim. The prince fell, exclaiming, “I am wounded. Lord, have mercy on me, and on this poor people !” He then immediately expired. The assassin was taken and executed. The reċompense for the detestable deed was subsequently made to his family; for, in the register of the court of Madrid of the 4th March 1589, patents of nobility are entered as conferred on his brothers and sisters, who are described as bearing that relation to Geerardt, a tyrannicide.

This tragical event occurred on the 10th of July 1584, at Delft, where the states of the seven provinces were then assembled. It inspired courage rather than despair among the patriots of Holland. The eldest son of the prince was a prisoner in Madrid, where he had been detained from the commencement of the troubles. His son Prince Maurice was instantly invested with all the power of his patent, though only eighteen years of age; and Count Ho henlohe was appointed with the character of his lieutenant.

The Dutch attempted to enter into negotiations with those powerful princes who were hostile to Spain. The application to France was made at a time when the power of the confederation of the League was so formidable as to preclude the prospect of any aid. Henry III. received the deputies with respect, but recommended them to make application to Elizabeth of England. Offers were made to her of the sovereignty of the Netherlands, which she declined; but she made a treaty stipulating to furnish six thousand troops to be maintained by her, and was to have Flushing, the Brill, and the castle of Rammekins, as pledges. Leicester, her favourite, was appointed to the command, and was to have concurrent power with two members chosen by the states in all military affairs, but was not to intermeddle in the civil transactions.

The imprudence or ambition of Leicester gave much umbrage to the states, and his presence became rather injurious than beneficial to them. The threatening danger from the Spanish Armada, and some degree of disapproval of the conduct of Leicester, induced the queen to recall him and the greater part of the force. The conduct of Leicester had produced the loss of Zutphen and Deventer; but, after the defeat of the Armada, fresh troops were sent from England, and these having drawn the Spaniards towards Ostend, in which was an English garrison, Prince Maurice was enabled to recapture those places. The celebrated siege of Antwerp, though scarcely an operation in which the Dutch were engaged, may be here noticed. It was a long and heavy labour of seven months, carried on by the Duke of Parma in person. During its progress the most extraordinary bravery and skill was displayed by the assailants and the defenders; but the place finally surrendered, and the remains of its commerce were transferred to Amsterdam. After the recapture of Zutphen and Deventer, Prince Maurice, whose forces had been recruited, threatened Dunkirk and Nieuport, and, after a short but vigorous bombardment, captured the important city of Nimeguen, and other towns in that quarter; and these operations closed the campaign of 1592. The Duke of Parma had advanced with an army into France, and left the management of the war in the Netherlands to Count Mansfeldt.

In the beginning of 1593, Mansfeldt issued edicts forbidding all communication with the revolted and now de facto independent provinces, and declaring that no quarter would be given to any who did not join him. Such threats were however of no avail, for Prince Maurice having collected his forces, attacked the strong city of Gertruydenburg; and though Mansfeldt, at the head of 12,000 foot and 3000 horse, attempted to raise the siege, he was foiled. The place surrendered on the 23d of June, after suffering the extreme of famine.

The Spaniards were still in possession of the city of Groningen, where Verdugo, an Italian, commanded. The chief operations of the year 1594 were in that quarter. Much time was passed in able manoeuvres between Prince Maurice and that general. But the prince having succeeded in cutting off the communication between Groningen and Germany, that city was compelled to surrender in July. The many repulses which the Spaniards had received, and the want of pay, produced a mutiny, and the soldiers threatened to indemnify themselves by the plunder of Brussels, and other towns in the ten provinces under the crown of Spain. The mutineers were in communication with Prince Maurice, but he declined taking them into his service, though the mutiny was turned by him to the benefit of his country.

In the year 1595 a general discontent against their Spanish masters spread itself in the ancient provinces. It [7:11:520]was fomented by the Flemish nobility, who, in an assembly convened at Brussels, demanded peace. This affair turned out advantageous to the seven provinces, where Prince Maurice and the states-general were occupied in negotiations both with England and with France, with both of which countries treaties were concluded, in which the Hollanders engaged to supply them with naval forces, some of which assisted Sir Walter Raleigh in his successful attack upon Cadiz.

Philip of Spain, now advanced in years, having become disgusted with the cares of government, his Flemish provinces were placed under the management of,the Archduke Albert of Austria. He had under his command an army of 30,000 men, with which he. took Calais, and then rather turned his forces towards France than towards the new republicans. The Dutch had by this time grown up into a great naval power. They are said to have had on board of their shipping more than 70,000 seamen. The bloody wars in which they had been engaged seemed to have increased their wealth and their spirit of commercial enterprise. Even their enemy. Philip connived at their carrying on a very beneficial trade, with his subjects in Spain and Portugal, whilst their cruisers covered the seas, and made numerous captures of the trading ships of those very subjects.

The earnest desire to attain naval, superiority which animated the Dutch, was accompanied with a correspondent neglect of their land forces. The arms of France, however, acted as a diversion in their favour, and enabled Prince Maurice in 1597 to defeat .one of Albert’s generals, and, in consequence thereof, to capture Turnhout, near Antwerp; and in the end of the year, several other towns in that quarter submitted to the states-general. In the same year, negotiations for peace were attempted, under the mediation of the emperor of Germany and the king of Denmark; but the states refused to treat till the king of Spain should acknowledge their independence. The peace of Vervins was concluded between Spain and Henry IV. of France, to the great disgust of Elizabeth and of the United States, who thereby were brought into more intimate alliance.

The commerce of the states was now much augmented. One of their citizens, Balthasar Monchuen, besides trading extensively to India, formed settlements upon the coast of Africa and upon the island of St Thomas. Other merchants sent their ships to the South Seas, through the Straits of Magellan, in the hope of discovering a passage to Japan and China. Companies were formed which sent large ships to the East and West Indies. The trade in the Mediterranean was extensive and lucrative; but, above all, their fisheries on the coasts of England became a mine of wealth.

Though with inadequate force, Prince Maurice, in the winter of 1599, surprised Emmerich on the Rhine, and projected the transference of the seat of war to Germany; whilst Mendoza, the Spanish general, was opposed to him, and invested Bommel; and, though an indecisive battle was fought, Maurice delivered that fortress from the besiegers, and secured his own conquest. After this, partyspirit appeared in Holland, with sufficient fervour to lead to the reduction of the army; but, fortunately for that country, the Spanish troops were so mutinously disposed, that they were unable to take advantage of this diminution.

About the cud of 1600, the states were roused to make greater land preparations, and their army under Prince Maurice, in conjunction with an auxiliary English force under Sir Francis Vere, gained the decisive victory of Nieuport, in which the Spaniards lost 5000 men, whilst the loss of the allied army did not exceed 1500, of whom 800 were English. Though Nieuport was invested, Maurice was compelled to raise the siege, when the armies went into winter-quarters. About the end of 1601, some attempts at negotiations for peace were made, but, like those of the former years, they were soon suspended.

The chief military event of the three following years was the siege of Ostend, in which Vcre had at first the command; but in the course of the long operations he was .relieved, and joined the prince with his troops, who were replaced by the soldiers of the states. The whole attention of Europe was engrossed by the great display of military art in, and before Ostend. Spinola the Spanish general was one of the first of the military geniuses of that age, and Vandernoot, who defended the place, was his equal. With an immense loss of life and expenditure of money, after a siege of more than three years’ duration, l the place was surrendered by capitulation on the 20th of September 1604.

The death of Queen Elizabeth in March 1603, and the accession of James to the throne of England, gave a new turn to affairs. The temper of that monarch was decidedly pacific, and though at first he in some degree adhered to the alliance with the states, his assistance was small, and in some of the transactions rather adverse. The war was continued between the armies commanded on one side by Prince Maurice and on the other by Spinola, but both were so cramped in their operations by the parsimony or the poverty of their respective governments, that no decisive event occurred. The naval war was more effective. The fleets of Spain from the East and West Indies were intercepted by the Dutch. Tremendous conflicts were carried on, by which some of the vessels loaded with treasure from the .New World fell into the hands of the republicans; buta much larger portion of the vessels which contained it were either burned or sunk. The failure of remittances so impoverished the king of Spain that he became disposed to treat for peace. The negotiation began in the early part of the year 1607. At first the required acknowledgment of independence suspended it, but in the month of April 1607 Spain gave way, and a suspension of arms for eight months was agreed upon, without any communication of it having been made to the kings either of England or of France. When the eight months had expired, no treaty had been concluded; and, though no hostile movements were made by land, the captures of the Dutch at sea were continued during the prosecution of the treaty. At length a truce for twelve years was agreed to in April 1609. A general amnesty on both sides was stipulated, and a freedom of trade by sea and land, including both the Indies, was agreed to.

This treaty, though only concluded for a fixed period, was yet a termination of the war as between the king of Spain and the seven United Provinces. The states had no sooner attained peace and independence, than they intermeddled with the affairs of the other sovereign states of Europe, and became involved in hostilities with Germany, in which Prince Maurice, on a disputed succession to the duchies of Cleves and Juliers, took the latter city, and garrisoned it. But the Germans having soon afterwards taken Wesel, a termination was put to the contest by the mediation of England and France.

Almost as soon as the states had concluded a general peace, internal dissensions arose. These were maintained by the nature of their constitution, which conferred on each individual state an independent sovereign authority. The first occasion arose from a theological difference of opinion on a topic, of all others, the most inscrutable by the human faculties. The Protestants had imbibed their opinions from Calvin, and had generally adopted his doctrine of predestination. The professors of the universities had advocated that opinion, when Arminius, a native of Holland, was appointed to the divinity chair of Leyden, and taught the opposite opinion of the freedom of the hu [7:11:521]man will. He thus became the head of one sect, whilst a Dr Gomarus, another professor, became the leader of the Calvinistic sect. Theological discussions soon created political parties. Prince Maurice had imbibed the opinions of Arminius, but finding the clergy and the great body of the common people attached to those of Gomarus, he, without regarding the private opinions he held, placed himself at the head of the Gomarists. Barneveldt, the chief civil man in the union, was in opinion a Calvinist; but seeing the nobility and the better educated part of the people supported the system of the Arminians, he became the chief of thatparty. The acrimony and bitterness with which the contest was carried on soon rendered it of a mixed character, combining religion and politics. Each city possessing within itself independent powers, punished or protected either the Arminians or the Gomarists. Those two eminent scholars Grotius and Vossius defended Arminianism, whilst the synod of Dort, assisted by King James of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury, for a short time maintained the opposite side in the controversy. Prince Maurice, by his influence with the common people, and from being at the head of the army, was enabled in many of the cities to change the magistrates; and when he could not effect that purpose, as at Ütrecht, he called in the troops to their assistance. Barneveldt and his party proposed a general toleration of all opinions, and presented a remonstrance to that effect; a proceeding which changed the names, but not the characters, of the party. The Arminians were called Remonstrants, and the Calvinists Anti-Remonstrants, names which have been continued to this day. The party of Maurice, consisting chiefly of the populace of the cities, and their clergy, was ready to tolerate Jews, Mahommedans, and infidels, but would not consent to grant similar toleration to the Remonstrants.

It became evident that the prince was aiming at establishing for himself and his family an hereditary sovereignty over the states; whilst Barneveldt and the higher classes, on the other hand, eager to perpetuate the liberties of their country, formed connections with the court of France, and thence obtained the name of the Louvestein faction, which has been continued amongst the opposers of the absolute power of the house of Orange to the present time. But the Orange party acquired such superiority that Maurice was enabled to seize and imprison the venerable Barneveldt and the learned Grotius, the former of whom, after an infamous trial, when the judges were threatened with death if they did not pronounce the popular sentence, was condemned to death, and beheaded at the Hague on the 13th of May 1619. As the benefactor of his country, he died with the regret of the wise and good of his own time, and has been viewed by succeeding ages as one of the chief authors of the victories, the prosperity, and the liberties of his country. Grotius was still a prisoner, probably not a very strict one. He was allowed the use of books, which passed in a large chest unexamined, and in that chest he was concealed and carried away. He escaped to France, and passed the remainder of his days in an honourable, useful, and upright manner.

The truce was now drawing to a close. The interval which the Dutch had enjoyed had been employed by them, in spite of their internal dissensions, in the most profitable manner. They had prodigiously extended their maritime operations, having been much benefited by the languor of James I. of England, and the ruined state of the marine of Spain. Their ships gave laws from the Baltic to the Levant. They had forced a trade with the Spanish possessions in the western world and in the East Indies; and, besides some smaller acquisitions, they had founded Batavia in the island of Java, which soon became the emporium of the trade of the eastern world.

Philip of Spain died in 1621, just at the time when the truce between him and the Hollanders had expired. The greater progress the Dutch had made in prosperity and power, the more worthy objects of his ambition did he deem them, whom he still viewed as his rebellious subjects. He had instructed his ambassador to propose such terms of peace as were sure to be rejected, which in fact they were, in the most contemptuous manner. But Prince Maurice was not well supported by the states on land. The operations were not of great moment. The Spaniards under Spinola took Juliers, but were repulsed in an attack upon Haerlem. Maurice made an effort to seize upon Antwerp, which failed; and he returned to the Hague, where an attempt was made by a grandson of Barneveldt and some Arminians to assassinate him. This, though it failed, gave great strength and violence to the Gomarists, and they were most unrelenting in their cruel punishments. The rack and the axe were in constant employment, and to be known as an Arminian was deemed sufficient cause for their infliction. The war by land against the Dutch was continued by Spinola, on the side of Belgium; and though he could not prevent them from recapturing Juliers, and taking Cleves, he collected such a force as enabled him to besiege Breda, which was commanded by an English colonel, Morgan. It was an important place, strongly fortified, and of great interest to Prince Maurice, because it formed the centre of his patrimonial estates. It was ably defended, and during the ten months the siege lasted, the loss of the Spaniards was enormous. They however ultimately succeeded, and a capitulation was signed on the 6th of June 1625.

During these operations, Prince Maurice died in the eighty-eighth year of his age. Ambition alone, which had caused his severity towards the Arminians, prevented him from being the most amiable, as he was one of the ablest men of the age in which he lived. About the same period King James of England died, and was succeeded by the unfortunate Charles I. Prince Henry of Nassau was the successor of his brother, as governor of the states of Holland, Zealand, Guelderland, Utrecht, and Overyssel. He continued the military operations against Spinola, but, after the surrender of Breda neither party could boast of having gained much advnatage.

The naval operations in some degree compensated for the languor which prevailed on land. The Dutch sent an expedition to the South Sea, which attacked the Spanish settlements in Peru with much success; and at length they also conquered St Salvador and other parts of Brazil, but were soon afterwards obliged to abandon the acquisitions they had made. In the interior the religious dissensions began to revive. Henry prince of Orange was thought to be less rigid towards the Arminians, in other words, more favourable to them, than suited the principles of the Gomarists. This caused such a commotion as threatened a civil war, which was only prevented by the necessity of union against the common enemy. The Dutch fleet had joined that of France, with which power they were in alliance; and this united force was attacked by the ships of the French Protestants under Soubise. They were defeated, and the Dutch admiral’s ship was blown up, with himself and his crew. This caused the greatest joy among the common people in Holland, who detested the conduct of their chiefs; and in the city of Amsterdam their houses were pillaged, and their persons grossly insulted.

The threatening appearance of the thirty years’ war in Germany induced the states to increase their land forces in 1626; but during that and the following year only indecisive operations occurred, as the imperial general, Tilly, did not make the expected attack on their frontier towns. The Spaniards made Dunkirk the place for collecting a great number of privateers, by which the Dutch commerce was much annoyed, and many bankruptcies occa-sioned[7:11:522] amongst the merchants of Amsterdam. This induced the Dutch to blockade that port so closely that the system was checked, and in 1628 their East and West India fleets all arrived in safety, loaded with valuable cargoes belonging to the two great commercial companies which had grown up in Holland.

During the same year the fleets of Holland were remarkably successful against Spain. Peter Adrien captured twelve of the largest West Indiamen in the Bay of Honduras. Admiral Heine had still greater success, having a larger force, and in the Bay of All Saints captured so many ships laden with sugar, that the quantity, when brought to Holland, lowered the price of that commodity in all parts of Europe. He then with thirty ships intercepted the Spanish plate fleet, and, after ravaging the coasts of Spain and Portugal, returned with prizes valued at more than fifteen millions of livres. But the state of Holland was far from being tranquil. Fresh umbrage was taken by the populace at the Prince of Orange, because he had appointed some of the Arminians as magistrates, and the people of Amsterdam refused to obey them. This, with tumults amongst the seamen on account of the inadequate distribution of the prize money, caused serious commotions, which were with difficulty and some sacrifices of life put down.

The successes of the Dutch at sea had a favourable influence on the land operations of the following year. Want of pay had produced mutiny in the Spanish army. The Dutch vigour was again awakened, and the Prince of Orange furnished with a powerful army. An active campaign, in which Turenne, Montecuculli, and some other of the most celebrated warriors of the age, bore a part, was closed, by the capture of Bois-le-Duc on one side, and of Wesel on the other frontier of Holland, in spite of all the efforts of the Spaniards to raise the sieges of these places. In the year 1630 the Spaniards renewed their efforts to defend the places they held on the German frontier, but were so unfortunate that, after fruitless attempts to organise a German Catholic confederacy against Holland, they were induced to enter into a negotiation for the conclusion of a truce during thirty-four years. But this negotiation was rendered ineffectual, principally by the intrigues and the influence of the French minister Richelieu, who had by this time formed a strong party in Holland, in opposition to that of the Prince of Orange; a party which continued up to the present age, and to the existence of which may be attributed the enmity displayed by the successive heads of that family to the French government. After the rupture of the negotiations, John of Nassau, with a force, aided by some of the German Catholic princes, of troops and water craft, made the attempt to separate Zealand from Holland. The expedition was met by the Dutch gun-boats; a terrible conflict ensued; the Spanish flotilla was either sunk or captured; and 5000 men were made prisoners, who entered immediately into the service of Holland. This blow was followed up by the Prince of Orange, with his whole force, augmented by the junction of 12,000 Swedes of the army of Gustavus Adolphus, with whom the states had made a treaty, by an attack upon Maestricht, which at length capitulated, as did also the fortified city of Rheneberg on the Rhine, by which Holland became secure from all invasion on the side of Germany. At this time attempts were again made towards negotiation; but the interference of the Austrian general Pappenheim, who had garrisoned some of the towns belonging to Spain, prevented, by his claims, any treaty from being brought to a pacific conclusion.

The Dutch army for the campaign of 1633 was more powerful than at any former period, and was thought sufficiently strong to have completed, with a general of such talents as the prince, the entire conquest of Spanish Brabant. He took the field for that purpose, but the excessive rains of that season, the great inundations, the sickness which prevailed in the army, the scarcity of provisions, and other inconveniences, compelled him to put his army into winter-quarters at a very early period, without having effected or scarcely attempted any object of importance. The year 1634 passed over with no memorable displays of hostile movements. The death of Gustavus Adolphus in the midst of the vast operations in Germany, of which he was the animating soul, caused so many and various negotiations, that the whole of Europe had its attention directed to diplomatic discussions. The war between the Spaniards and the Dutch languished in the Netherlands, though it was carried on at sea much to the benefit of the latter party. In this year, 1635, a partition treaty was entered into with France by the states, contrary to the will of the Prince of Orange, and their ally the king of England, by which the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur, Courtray, Hainault, Artois, and Flanders, were to be transferred to the king of France, and those of Brabant, Guelderland, and the districts of Waes, Mechlin, and the rest of Flanders, to the United States. In pursuance of the objects of this treaty, the fleets of France and Holland were united together; but preparations from England to place her marine in opposition induced them to return to their respective ports. The attempts by land were equally ineffectual. France marched an army of 20,000 foot and 7000 horse into Brabant, and the states had equipped one of nearly equal force. These united troops were to be commanded by the Prince of Orange; but whether that commander, from being averse to the service, neglected to accomplish its objects, or whether the arrogance and barbarities of the French disgusted their allies, such dissensions arose between the officers, that no movements proved beneficial, and the campaign was closed at an early period. The Dutch withdrew to their own country, and the French went into winter-quarters at Ruremond, where it is said more than 6000 of them died, from want and disease. Cardinal Richelieu and the Prince of Orange cherished a mutual animosity, which, though it neutralised their land operations, did not cause a rupture of the alliance that had been formed. The Dutch were successful by sea, where they de-feateda Spanish squadron near Dunkirk; and having blockaded that port, secured a safe return to their numerous trading ships from the East and West Indies. In the same year they fitted out an expedition, with the design of extending their power in Brazil. This force, under the command of Prince Maurice of Nassau, consisted of thirty-two ships, with 2700 land forces, and arrived safely at its destination.

The year 1637 was distinguished by the efforts made to capture Breda, which was occupied by a Spanish force under Fourben, a brave and skilful officer. It was invested by the Prince of Orange, and several attempts to relieve it failed, so that after a long siege it capitulated, but not till the beginning of the year 1638. In that year a great project was formed by the Prince of Orange for the capture of Antwerp. It was well designed, but failed from unforeseen circumstances, such as often occur in operations combined of marine and of land forces.

The campaign of 1639 was planned by the Spaniards on a gigantic scheme, but was chiefly directed to naval objects. The Dutch admiral Van Tromp attacked a squadron of ten large men of war, near Gravelines, on the 18th of February. The fight was long and obstinate, but ended in the total defeat of the Spaniards. Their admiral, with three of the largest ships, was taken prisoner; the vice-admiral’s ship was burned by the crew, and four of his division were captured; and their loss in men exceeded 2000. Notwithstanding this disaster, the Spaniards equip*
[7:11:523]

ped a tremendous force under the command ofDOquendo, consisting of eighty-seven large ships and numerous transports, with 20,000 land forces on board. A junction was formed of the two divisions, one from Cadiz and the other from Corunna. Van Tromp met and engaged this force, sunk the ship which bore the admiral’s flag, and took four of the others, but was prevented by a fog from following up his success, whilst from the same cause the Spaniards took refuge in the Downs, where there was an English fleet to protect them. Van Tromp having received reinforcements under Evertzen, and, along with these, orders to renew the battle, desired the English fleet to withdraw; intimating, that if that request was not complied with, his orders were to fight both. Pennington, the English admiral, had doubts of the fidelity of his people, and no confidence in the Spaniards, who were ill disciplined and badly equipped. He therefore declared for a neutrality, but stated that he would join the fleet which should be attacked. DOqućndo had been advised to withdraw, but it was no longer in his power to do so. Pennington, under pretence that the Spaniards had violated the neutrality, withdrew his protection. Van Trornp then began the attack, and the Spaniards were totally defeated. Fourteen Spanish ships of war were destroyed, amongst which was the Teresa of a hundred guns, with eight hundred men. The vice-admiral of Spain and the admiral of Galicia shared the same fate; sixteen large ships were taken, with 4500 prisoners; fourteen were wrecked between Boulogne and Calais, and the remainder were saved by the interposition of the English. Of the whole armament, only eight ships under DOquendo reached Dunkirk in safety. The Spanish loss in killed exceeded 8000 men. Whilst these naval triumphs were achieving in Europe, the Dutch were equally successful in the operations against the Spaniards in Brazil. Their admiral Count de la Torre had been dispatched from Spain with forty-six large ships and a numerous body of troops, many of whom died on the passage, and the others arrived in a sickly state. The Dutch fleet consisted only of forty-one ships, mostly inferior in size to those of their adversaries, but well disciplined, and commanded by two admirals of great bravery and skill, Loof and Huggins. The Spanish fleet previously in Brazil joined that under De la Torre, and they thus amounted to ninety-four ships. An action took place which lasted during several days. Loof was killed at the commencement, but Huggins at length gained a complete victory, in which the Spaniards lost twelve of their largest ships, and 4000 men, whilst the casualties in the Dutch fleet did not exceed one hundred. Disease still further reduced the Spanish force, and thus left Prince Maurice nearly master of that country. The prince then accomplished the conquest of Maranham, and despatched an expedition to the shores of Africa under Admiral Joi, who captured Congo, the island of St Thomas, and the other establishments which the Portuguese had formed on that coast.

At this period Portugal revolted from Spain, and, under the house of Braganza, declared itself an independent kingdom. The new king, John IV., concluded with the Dutch a treaty for a truce of ten years, in all the dominions of both countries, which, however, the latter are accused of having disregarded as far as related to Japan, whence they drove away the Portuguese, and secured íbr themselves the exclusive trade. The narrative of the transactions in Brazil is given in another part of this work, under that article; and, referring to it (vol. v. part i. page 191), we only add that it was finally abandoned by the Dutch in 1654.

I he war between the states and their ally the king of France was continued, but with no great vigour. The jealousy of the Prince of Orange was increased by the discovery of the disinclination of Cardinal Mazarin, the successor of Richelieu, to his capture of Antwerp. He succeeded however in taking Hulst and Lillo, and thus secured a powerful barrier on the Flanders frontier. The negotiations for a general pacification were begun in 1642, and did not close till October 1648, when the celebrated treaty of Westphalia was signed at Munster and Osnaburg. In the first of these years, the treaty between France and Holland was renewed, but was scarcely in activity, as all the military operations of the several powers were in some measure, though not wholly, suspended, except that the Dutch availed themselves of the naval superiority they had acquired, by annoying the Spaniards in every quarter of the world.

Towards the close of the negotiations in Westphalia, the Prince of Orange died, in his sixty-seventh year, and was succeeded in his dignities by his son, William II. The states, regardless of their engagements with France, and in spite of the obstacles interposed by the French ambassador at Munster, entered into a separate treaty with Spain. This treaty was speedily ratified, and its terms formed a part of the general pacification of Europe. The king of Spain acknowledged the independence and sovereignty of the states, and a clause of uti possidetis in all parts of the world formed one of the articles. From the peace of Westphalia, the transactions of the United States, whose independence it had legalized, were so intermingled with those of the other European powers, that they form part of the general history of Europe. In continuing this narrative, many of the events which regarded the country here treated of, though important in themselves, must be slightly passed over, because they are to be found under the heads of England, Europe, France, and Germany.

The conclusion of hostilities had found the nation in a condition of great poverty as related to the governments of the several states, but of great wealth as regarded numerous individuals. The states were deeply in debt, but their creditors were almost exclusively citizens, not to say subjects of the country. This produced what has been called the funding system, which has since been followed by other nations.

Disputes had arisen between the states of Holland on one hand, and the Prince of Orange and the smaller states on the other, respecting the diminution of the army and navy, and the conduct of the officers who had abandoned Brazil. These controversies were carried to such a height that the Prince of Orange would have besieged Amsterdam, towards which he had actually advanced, if he had not been prevented by the opening of the sluices, by which his army would have been drowned. This excited against the prince great unpopularity, when he was carried off by the small-pox, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, leaving no son, but his wife pregnant, who was delivered of a son, afterwards William 111. king of England. The civil wars of England were favourable to the trade of the Dutch, though it involved them in war with the government which succeeded the death of Charles I. The several parties in Holland had carefully watched to maintain a neutrality between the monarchical and republican parties in England; but the intemperance of the royalist emigrants, displayed in the murder of Dorislaus, who had been accused of participation in the legal murder of Charles,· and of some other rash proceedings, gave the republicans a pretext for commencing hostilities. This led to a naval battle in 1652, when Blake gained some advantage over Van Tromp, though his fleet was much inferior, at least in number of ships, if not in weight of metal. The Dutch instantly fitted out a still larger fleet under the command of De Ruyter, which was met by the English channel fleet under Sir George Ascough. They fought during three successive [7:11:524]days, but parted, each claiming a victory. De Witt was then appointed commander in chief of the Dutch fleet, with De Ruyter as his second. Blake, who had sailed to the north after his former battle, collected his ships, and was reinforced by Admirals Penn and Bourn with their squadrons. The two fleets engaged on the 30th of October. The battle was most resolutely contested, but night terminated it before it was decided, and the next day the Dutch entered Goree, declining farther conflict. The fleet of Holland was quickly repaired and reinforced, and¶flaced once more under the command of Van Tromp. Blake had not been furnished in as prompt a manner with reinforcements as his antagonist, and was thus interior. A tremendous encounter took place on the 25th of November, in which the Dutch were victorious. In this action Blake’s flag-ship was disabled, two others were taken, two burned, and one sunk, whilst Van Tromp lost but one of his ships, which was blown up by accident. The engagement lasted from eleven in the morning till six in the evening, when darkness favoured the escape of the shattered remains of the English armament.

In the early part of 1653, both the republics addressed their chief attention to the preparation of their fleets. Blake was enabled to muster sixty sail, with which he attempted to intercept a large convoy of merchant ships, protected by Van Tromp’s more numerous, if not more weighty force. On the 18th of February the two contending fleets met, when there ensued an obstinate and bloody conflict, which lasted three days, at the end of which Van Tromp retreated with the loss of eleven ships. The English had lost but one, but the whole fleet was so shattered that they could not pursue. The loss in killed and wounded was nearly equal on both sides; and though the English gained the victory, Van Tromp, by his excellent seamanship, was enabled to convey in safety to the Dutch ports the numerous trading vessels which he had been sent to protect.

At this period Sweden discovered a disposition to join her fleets to those of England, but the diplomatic skill of the Dutch ambassador prevailed on her to agree to a neutrality; and the king of Denmark made a treaty, stipulating to furnish to the Dutch a fleet of twenty sail, to confiscate the English ships in the port of Copenhagen, and to exclude all English vessels from trading in the Baltic. The Danish ships never joined, but the treaty enabled the Dutch to obtain supplies of timber and other stores. Though secret negotiations for peace had been entertained between Cromwell, now master of England, and De Witt, recently appointed pensionary of Holland, yet, as they terminated in nothing, the most extraordinary preparations were made to continue the conflict. In the beginning of June, Van Tromp, seconded by De Witt and De Ruyter, appeared on the ocean with a fleet of ninety-eight men of war and sever» fire-ships. They were speedily met by an English fleet of ninety-five sail and five fireships, commanded by Blake, Monk, and Dean. On the 2d of June an obstinate battle took place, which speedily terminated in favour of, rhe English. The victory was complete. Three of the best Dutch ships were sunk, two blown up, eleven captured, with mapy merchantmen; and the whole of them would have been destroyed, but for their timely retreat to the shoals, where the larger English ships could not follow them. The English did not lose a single ship, but Admiral Dean, one captain, and some few inferior officers and searnen, were killed. Van l’romp attributed his defeat to the inferiority of his ships in size and in weight of, metal, and to the want of sufficient ammunition, especially gunpowder.

In consequence of this disaster, the party opposed to the house of Orange raised a cry in favour of peace, and some secret negotiations were carried on with Cromwell; but the public voice was strongly in favour of the Orange party, and compelled the government to renew the naval war. Another fleet superior in numbers was hastily prepared, and ready to proceed to sea in the middle of July. This last fleet amounted to one hundred and tweuty sail, and they proceeded as soon as collected to engage the fleet of England, commanded by Monk, Lawson, and Penn, between Scheveling and the mouth of the Meuse. But Tromp fell early in the action, and his death had a bad effect. A rout followed, and the Dutch lost twenty-six ships, with 4000 men killed, and near 2000 prisoners. The Euglish lost some ships, had 600 men killed and 1000 wounded; but their ships had been so severely shattered that they were immediately obliged to seek repairs in their own ports.

The Dutch, though defeated, were not dispirited, and prepared to renew the contest, unless Cromwell would abandon his proposition for the annihilation of the power of the Orange family. He however had determined on a war with Spain, and on expeditions to Spanish America. He withdrew his propositions respecting the house of Orange, but obtained others excluding the royal family of England and their adherents from all refuge within the states, and thus a peace was concluded. The states of Holland bound themselves to exclude the house of Orange from the stadtholderate, but the other states did not agree to it; some of the members even of that province protested against the exclusion, and it was highly unpopular with the great body of the citizens everywhere but in Amsterdam.

The war with England, though short in its duration, had been very expensive as well as sanguinary. It was however no sooner at an end than the Dutch were engaged in hostilities with the Portuguese respecting their settlements in Brazil, which were terminated without any decisive naval combat. But many of the ships of Portugal were captured; and De Riiyter was sent with a fleet to make demonstrations before Lisbon, but having encountered severe storms, his ships were so much damaged that he was compelled to return to repair them, and soon afterwards peace was concluded.

The Dutch next interfered in a contest between the Danes and the Swedes. The latter power had besieged Copenhagen, when the Dutch admiral Opdam was despatched to the Baltic for its relief. He attacked and defeated the Swedish fleet under the walls of Cronenburg, and, by the supplies given to the Danes, saved their capital. A peace was soon afterwards concluded between the northern powers, through the mediation of Holland and England.

The death of Cromwell, in September 1658, had a favourable effect on the Orange party in the United Provinces, whilst the restoration of Charles to the throne of England strengthened it still more; and, though Holland opposed it, a settlement of a large sum was voted to support the household, and carry on the education of the prince. This became necessary from the French king having, upon some very frivolous pretences, seized on the principality of Orange. Charles and his adherents were full of animosity towards the Dutch; and they, elated with their independence, and their powerful naval forces, were not disposed to yield to the indignant superiority which the restored monarch had assumed. The Louvestein faction had again, under De Witt, reared its head in Holland, and some efforts were made to form a union with France, with the view of making a conquest of the ten Netherland provinces, and dividing them between France and Holland. By this proceeding, suspicions and jealousies were created towards the states, on the part of all the other governments of Europe. Towards England the Dutch had shown some animosity, and held language the more presumptuous because [7:11:525]their party in England, the remains of the Cromwell faction, had assured them that, from the want of money, Charles would be unable to go to war. To the dismay of the Louvestein party in Holland, the king resolved on hostilities; and in April 1665, his parliament having voted abundant supplies, a fleet under the command of the Duke of York issued forth, and, after the capture of some merchant ships, finding no enemy, returned to Harwich. The states of Holland and Zealand with great activity prepared a naval force of 120 sail of vessels. The commander, Opdam, was met on the 1st of June by the Duke of York with 100 sail, and, after some manoeuvring during two days, a battle was fought, in which the English were victorious, chiefly, as the Louvestein party affirmed, from the treachery of some of the captains of the Dutch ships. Their admiral was blown up in his flag-ship; the second in command, Cartemaer, was wounded, and died a prisoner; and eighteen ships, with 6000 men, were captured. The loss of the English was but one ship, and that of men on board the duke’s ship was 200: the rest of the fleet had suffered very slightly; but Admiral Lawson, one of the most brave and skilful of the English commanders, fell in the conflict.

The remains of the Dutch fleet made a skilful retreat, and great vigour was exerted to reinforce it. The plague at that time raged in London, and prevented equal exertions from being made, so that the Dutch were enabled early in the following year to assemble a force of eighty-three large ships, furnished with much heavier metal than they had before employed. This force was greater than any that the English could oppose to it. A part too of the English fleet had been despatched to cruise in the mouth of the Channel, by which the grand fleet under the Duke of Albemarle was rendered still more inferior to that of the enemy. The Dutch were commanded by De Ruyter, and the opposing fleets met, and engaged on the 1st of June. The contest continued with great vigour throughout the day; but a reinforcement of sixteen ships having joined De Ruyter, Albemarle drew off, but being pursued, he turned on the enemy, and renewed the battle. During this fight the English Channel fleet made its appearance under Prince Rupert. The contest continued, on the whole, four days. The English then retreated in good order, with the loss of twenty-two ships. The Dutch had lost only seven ships, and were enabled to keep the sea, thus claiming the victory, and even threatening a descent on England.

The English fleet was so quickly reinforced, that on the 24th of July it again appeared at sea, and once more encountered the enemy with success. Three of the Dutch admirals and twelve captains were killed, with 2000 men; and seven ships were sunk, but none taken. After this last battle the English had the command of the sea, and inflicted a severe retaliation for the losses and mortifications they had endured. This produced great exhibitions of partyspirit in Holland, and also disposed them to peace. England, by the extravagance of its sovereign, by the sufferings of the plague and of the fire of London, and the intrigues of France, was much in need of peace.

Conferences were accordingly opened at Breda; but King Charles, with the negligence which characterised his government, had not stipulated for a cessation of hostilities during the negotiations. De Witt took advantage of this, and despatched a fleet to the Thames, which advanced to the Medway, and thus closed for a short time the port of London, at the same time threatening the naval arsenal of Chatham. This in its issue was little more than a bravado, though, after retreating from the Thames, the Dutch made some valuable captures. The negotiations at Breda were however carried on, and peace finally concluded on the 10th of July 1667.

This treaty was followed by one between England, Sweden, and Holland, designed to oppose the growing power of France. The king of England, at that time a pensioner, as well as some of his ministers, on the court of France, behaved with the greatest duplicity, and, upon the most frivolous pretences, resolved to aid France in her projects to conquer the whole of the Netherlands. Under pretence of supporting the triple alliance, Charles obtained money from his parliament, and then determined to attack the Dutch commercial fleets, which were navigating the ocean in full security in the state of peace which had been established. A rich fleet from the Mediterranean was expected to arrive in 1672, when Admiral Holmes was sent with a naval squadron to intercept it. Holmes assumed a pacific behaviour, but the Dutch distrusted him. He made an attack on the fleet, and took one of the ships of war and three small merchant vessels; but the rest, fighting as they retreated, reached the ports of Holland in safety. This naturally produced a declaration of war; and France, joined with England, was engaged in a contest, the object of which was to conquer the whole of the Low Countries, and subject them to the dominion of France.

The violent party-spirit in-Holland was ground of alarm. The jealousy of the house ofOrange had induced the party of De Witt to neglect the land forces, and the army was in a state of indiscipline, and especially in want of skilful officers, as nearly all the more experienced men of that profession were adherents of the house of Orange, and on that account were not employed. The naval force was in a far better state under the immediate control of the Louvestein faction, though many of its commanders were of the Orange party. De Ruyter was enabled speedily to fit out a fleet of ninety-one ships of war and forty-four fire-ships, and with them sailed to attack the fleet of England and France. This combined force, under the Duke of York and Marshal d’Etrées, was at anchor in Solebay on the coast of Suffolk, where the Dutch hoped by the help of their fireships to achieve their destruction. But the united fleets either cut or slipt their cables, and fought the Dutch on the open sea. The fight was tremendous, and was only ended by darkness, when the Dutch withdrew to their own ports. The loss on both sides was nearly equal, but heaviest on the English ships, as their new allies took but little share in the action. It was supposed they had secret orders to spare their own ships, whilst the Dutch and English should weaken each other, a supposition confirmed by subsequent events.

In the mean time the army of France had begun to act on the land side, under Louis XIV., who himself took the field. It was the most numerous and best appointed which Europe had ever seen. It amounted to 120,000 men, including the auxiliary troops of the elector of Cologne, and of the bishop of Munster. The Dutch had not more than 25,000 to take the field, and the elector of Brandenburg had engaged to furnish an equal number, on the condition that the Dutch navy should assist him in taking Pomerania from the Swedes. The internal state of Holland was disturbed by party-spirit, but neither party were disposed to submit to a foreign dominion. The partisans of De Witt had projected a flight by sea, and made some preparations for the transport of 50,000 families to Batavia. The young Prince of Orange, though of a śicklÿ frame, resolutely encouraged a spirit of defence, hopeless as it appeared; and when asked what he should do if the French should conquer the country, gallantly replied, “die in the last ditch.” This inspirited others, and by the universal voice he was declared stadtholder with unlimited power, and the De Witts were prosecuted, stripped of their wealth, sentenced to perpetual banishment, and murdered by the populace.

In the mean time the French had made a rapid progress, and, proceeding by the Rhine, had subdued the provinces of Utrecht, Guelderland. and Overyssel. Amsterdam, [7:11:526]Rotterdam, the Hague, with Middleburg, and the islands, were reduced to great straits, but were held by the Prince of Orange. As a last resource, the patriotic resolution was taken to drown the country, with its invaders. By this step, when the sluices were opened, the French were in part drowned, and such diseases broke out in their army that Amsterdam was saved. Louis had made more than 24,000 prisoners. These he could no longer keep, and on their release they joined their countrymen. The spirit shown by the Dutch had excited an interest in their favour with the emperor of Germany and other princes of the empire, and even the Spanish governor of the Netherlands sent to their aid a force of 10,000 men. A diversion too was operated in behalf of the Dutch by the elector of Brandenburg, and, though impeded by the French general Turenne, it proved of some benefit to the states.

Charles, though somewhat dissatisfied with the French, sent an English fleet to act in combination with that of France, and conquered the province of Zealand; but contrary winds rendered the attempt unsuccessful. In the beginning of 1673, an attempt was made by a French division under the Duke of Luxembourg, to march over the ice and seize Amsterdam and the Hague; but this attempt failed with great loss to the invaders, owing chiefly to a sudden thaw. In the same year a combined English and French fleet, the former commanded by Prince Rupert, and the latter by D’Etrées, engaged the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter and Van Tromp. After much cannonading, in which the French were accused of backwardness, the conflicting navies returned to their ports, each of them claiming a victory. This occurred on the 14th of June.

By this time Spain had declared war against France, the Imperialists had advanced, the invading army was compelled to abandon its conquests in Holland as rapidly as it had gained them, and the dominions of the elector of Cologne, the ally of France, including the city of that name, and Bonn, were occupied by the allies and the armies of Holland.

These events led to negotiations under the mediation of Sweden, and in 1674 a peace was concluded between all the belligerent powers. The transactions of the negotiators were so managed by the address of the Prince of Orange, as to enable him to lay the foundation of the grand alliance, by which, in subsequent periods, after his accession to the English throne, the power of Louis XIV. was reduced to the lowest point.

In 1677 the Prince of Orange was married to the Princess Mary, daughter of the Duke of York, and niece to Charles; an event hailed as favourable to their interests by the Dutch, and by those in England who were unfavourable to the mean dependence on the French court, to which Charles’ pecuniary wants had subjected him.

The Dutch sent a fleet under De Ruyter to join that of Spain in the Mediterranean. In a contest with the French De Ruyter was mortally wounded, though his fleet was victorious; but in a subsequent battle the Dutch and Spaniards were defeated with great loss, by which the French became masters of the Mediterranean.

The Prince of Orange had attained to supreme, almost to absolute power in Holland. His ruling principle was hostility to France, arising from the manifest ambition of Louis XIV. With this impression he was induced to direct all his efforts to counteract the influence of France, especially amongst the German states. As his father-in-law James, who had ascended the English throne, was acting in an opposite direction, to the great disgust of the leading Protestants of his dominions, the prince opposed him by maintaining a correspondence with the discontented. They were received by him with some degree of privacy; but as Janies proceeded in his measures against the established religion, they became too numerous to escape the notice of France, though they engaged but little share of the attention of James, probably from the deceit of one of his ministers, who has been accused by history of having acted a false part towards him. A jealousy existed, though with no great force on the part of James, towards France, and this induced him to decline the acceptance of offers of succour from Louis XIV.

The Prince of Orange, under the pretext of a dispute with Bavaria and the elector of Cologne, collected an army of 14,000, with transports sufficient to convey them to England. After being once driven back by storms, the forces landed in Torbay on the 4th of November 1688; and thus was effected that change of succession usually called the Revolution, the details and consequences of which belong more to the history of England than to that of Holland.

The change of sovereigns brought England into the grand alliance against France; and the united navies, in 1692, fought the battle of La Hogue, in which, after a contest of three days’ continuance, the French admiral Tourville was completely beaten, and suffered the loss of sixteen of his largest ships. The Dutch commerce suffered considerably by the privateers of France, especially by the operations of the celebrated Du Bart; but these and other hostilities were suspended by the peace of Ryswick, concluded in 1697.

The death of King William occurred in 1701, just at the commencement of that war respecting the Spanish succession, which continued till the peace of Utrecht, in the year 1712. The transactions connected with it belong more to the history of other countries than to that of Holland, though the Dutch states under the succession of William, who was created stadtholder, continued to bear a considerable share in the contests.

About the year 1742 the Louvestein party had gained the upper hand in Holland; and Cardinal Fleury, the French minister, engaged the states in some intrigues, and even hostilities, upon which a stadtholder was again appointed, and soon afterwards a general peace was concluded, that of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748.

The prince stadtholder died in 1751. He had seen but little service in the field, yet he had proved himself an active and skilful chief of the republic. He left a son and daughter, both minors; and his office was intrusted, as well as the education of his children, to their mother, a daughter of George II.

Whilst the Seven Years’ War raged, from 1758 to 1763, Holland maintained its neutrality, or at least affected to do so. Great complaints and many discussions arose with England, on a question of neutral rights, which has continued till the present time; but they led to no events of any .importance. When the war between England and her American colonies broke out, the question of neutral rights was again resumed; but, in the midst of the discussions on that subject, it was discovered that an attempt ata treaty with those called by us our rebel subjects had been favourably received in Amsterdam, and Mr Laurens, an American ambassador on his passage, was captured with the correspondence. This led to hostilities, in which St Eustatia in the West Indies was taken by the English. In the year 1782 a Dutch fleet was equipped, and met on the Dogger Bank by an English fleet of nearly equal force under Admiral Parker. A bloody fight ensued, which terminated in favour of the English. The peace which followed, in 1783, restored tranquillity to Holland, which had suffered severe losses by captures during the short hostilities that had been carried on. After the peace, the AntiOrange party in Holland, which, from the hereditary dignity having been conferred on that family, had appeared extinct, gained fresh influence, and again raised its head. The Princess of Orange, the sister of the king of Prussia, had been grossly insulted, upon which that monarch de [7:11:527]manded satisfaction, and this being refused, he marched an army into Holland, which was feebly defended by the clamorous boasters of their bravery. Amsterdam was occupied by the Prussians in September 1787; the stadtholder was reinstated in the power of which he had been deprived; and a strict alliance was formed with England and Prussia. Though tranquillity was thus restored, the party which had been suppressed were dissatisfied, and watched for the fittest opportunity to avenge their mortifications.

. Nor was it long before an occasion presented itself. In 1794, when the French republican flag was displayed on the frontiers, the defeated party were active and clamorous, and when the country was invaded by the army of Pichegru, they gave it every assistance in their power. This state of affairs, with a frost of great intensity, which admitted the passage on the ice of the artillery and heavy baggage of the French army, rendered the conquest of Holland of easy accomplishment. In 1795 the Orange family fled and took refuge in England, whilst a republican constitution, framed by the French faction of the day, was established, with a directory of five persons as the executive power. The new republic, called the Batavian, was compelled to cede to France some parts of its territory, with the cities of Maestricht and Venlo, and the province of Limburg. An immediate demand was enforced for the payment of ten millions sterling, and the army of France was to be paid, fed, and clothed at the expense of the Batavian republic. Under this state of things, one part of their navy was given up to the British by the dissatisfied seamen, another part fought and were defeated; their colonies surrendered or were taken by the same power, their commerce was confined to mere coasting, and the bank of Amsterdam nearly shattered; but not a fraction of the pecuniary demands was abated by their new allies.

The constitution was new-modelled in 1801. The number of the directors was diminished, a kind of upper house was created in imitation of the council of ancients in France, and the country was divided into eight departments. The peace of Amiens gave back to Holland their colonies in South America and the Cape of Good Hope, but left Ceylon in the hands of England. When the war was renewed, the restored colonies were again captured, their ports were strictly blockaded, and every hope of prosperity was extinguished. In April 1805 a new constitution was introduced by France, and Schimmelpenninck was made sole director; but his integrity was unable to serve his country in the difficult circumstances in which both he and it were placed. It was therefore determined by Bonaparte to create Holland into a separate kingdom, and place his brother Louis on the throne. This was executed in June 1806. On his accession Louis availed himself of the talents and integrity of the late director, and acted, as far as he was able, for the benefit of the people over whom he had been placed as sovereign. But none of his efforts proved effectual in removing the general distress, and even in the few which were made, he was so controlled by his imperial brother, that, without communicating his intention, Louis withdrew himself from Holland, renounced all authority, and, with but scanty means of subsistence, took up his residence as a private individual in the dominions of the emperor of Austria. This step has been represented as having been hastened by hit incapacity to relieve the distress which had been produced in his dominions by the landing of the English in Middleburg in their attempt upon Antwerp in

Louis retired in July 1810, and Holland was by a decree of the emperor incorporated as an integral part of his empire; Amsterdam was declared to be the third city of the imperial dominions; the French conscription law was extended to the whole of Holland, and those taken under it were equally divided between the land and the sea service; and the country was then, for military purposes, formed into two divisions.

Under this military yoke the Dutch suffered till after the battle of Leipsic in October 1813, when a part of the victorious army under General Bulow advanced toward Holland, and met there an English division under General Graham. On the 20th of November the two commanders called on the Dutch to join the cause of the allies. Two days before this, Count Hogendorp, a moderate Orangist, had privately collected in his house a number of the most distinguished persons, who, like himself, had formed part of the ministry from 1788 to 1795, and persuaded them to take upon themselves the provisional government, till the Prince of Orange, who was expected from England, should arrive.

A correspondence was opened with General Bulow, and with the allied monarchs, who had advanced to Frankfort; and invitations were addressed to the prince, who with little delay arrived at the Hague, and proceeded to Amsterdam amidst the rapturous acclamations of the assembled crowds. Proclamations had been circulated generally, headed, “The Netherlands are free, and William I. is the sovereign prince of this land of liberty.” He however refused to assume any power till .an assembly could be convened, which might properly be considered as a fair representation of the whole people. An assembly of notables, consisting of the most distinguished men of all parties and professions, was speedily called together. The number summoned was 600; of these, 125 declined attending, some on account of their age, others from ill health or personal reasons. With the dissent of only twenty-six voices, the prince was declared king, and a constitution decreed, which secured to him considerable power, limited, however, by two legislative assemblies.

When the French forces were compelled to abandon the ten ancient provinces of the house of Austria, these were considered as conquests made by the allied powers, who assumed the disposal of them. The congress of Vienna, of which Austria, the former sovereign of those provinces, was a member, resolved that they should be united with the seven provinces, and form together one independent kingdom, under a constitution, of which the princes of the house of Orange were to be hereditary monarchs. As an indemnification to the prince, now king, for the loss of his states in Germany, the duchy of Luxembourg, with the exception of the fortress, was given up to be added to this newly-constructed kingdom, and in it was included the ancient bishopric of Liège.

Before the complicated arrangements which the union of these parts required could be completed, the return of Bonaparte from Elba, and the revolt of the French army, created impediments to the settlement of internal affairs. But this newly-constructed kingdom, which was the first object of attack, entered with energy into the contest, and their troops, mustered as they had hastily been, took an honourable part, under the eldest son of the king, now Prince of Orange, in the grand events of that short but brilliant campaign of 1815, which ended in the decisive victory of Waterloo.

The consolidation of such heterogeneous bodies as the inhabitants of Belgium and those of Holland was a difficult task, owing to their differences of religion, of laws, of language, and of occupations. The Belgians were rigid Catholics, and their clergy strove to prevent the toleration of all other professions; their laws had all been founded on the system of the ancient Dukes of Burgundy, but altered to suit the Code Napoleon. The language spoken by the major part of the people, though it nearly resembled the Dutch, had considerably varied from it in the practice of two hundred years; and besides, a numerous portion of them spoke French almost exclusively, whilst another portion spoke the Walloon, and in Luxembourg the German language pre [7:11:528]dominated. The Dutch were principally conversant in trade, in the fisheries, and in manufactures, whilst the Belgians were chiefly employed in agriculture.

The members of the legislative body contained nearly an equal division of the two countries; and as they acted rather with the feeling of delegates from the parts by which they were chosen, than as the representatives of the interests of the whole community, their decisions were subject to greatfluctuations, according to the number of Dutch or of Belgian members who might happen, by sickness or by accident, to be prevented from being present when the votes on a particular proposition were taken. This inconvenience might have been removed by time, if other causes had not been in operation. The agriculturists wished to monopolise the whole supply of corn by means of a restrictive law; but the distillers, who used a great quantity of Baltic corn in making gin, and the speculative merchants in grain, who were a medium for supplying that commodity to a great extent from countries in which it was cheap, to countries in which it was dear, claimed a continuance of the free trade which they had long enjoyed. Though this point was finally settled in favour of the Dutch party, it caused a rankling feeling in the minds of the Belgians. The assemblies, besides their ordinary occupations, had their attention constantly directed to the composition of a system of law, applicable both to civil and to criminal cases, and had made great progress in the work. After much opposition to religious toleration, in which the king displayed both temper and firmness, a concordat was made with the pope, which, if not quite satisfactory, would, if left to itself, have probably removed all existing obstacles. The difference of language, though represented by those who availed themselves of every pretext to produce mischief, as of importance, was not in reality of very great moment. The Belgic and the Dutch are scarcely more dissimilar than the English and the Scotch, and one or the other was the language of a vast majority. All the books of any value were in the Dutch dialect, but they were neglected by the Belgians, of whom the few that could and did read drew their ideas from French publications. By directing all law proceedings to be carried on in the vernacular languages, a body of impetuous young men, imbued with French principles, were inflamed against the government, and gained more influence than they could have obtained if the exclusion of the French tongue from the courts had been gradually and not suddenly attempted.

In spite of these obstacles to a more perfect union, no country ever made so rapid a progress in prosperity as was exhibited in Belgium. The products of its soil, the iron and the coals of Liège and of Luxembourg, found most beneficial markets in Holland. The corn was, in spite of that imported from the north of Europe, sold at profitable rates. The trade with the Dutch colonies being opened to them, and the valuable port of Antwerp being no longer closed, Belgium made a great progress in foreign trade. The effect of this was to create new manufacturing establishments of cotton, woollen, and linen goods, and to extend those which had before existed. The advancement of the country was manifested to the most casual observer, and seen in the increase of private and public buildings, and in the improvement and embellishment of the old ones, in every city, town, and village.

The state or ease and improvement so striking in Belgium was, however, no security against the union of opposite factions, who agreed in nothing but in the work of inflaming the worst passions of the most ignorant part of the community, who, though highly bigoted to their religion, were made tools to overturn the government, by those who avowedly hated it.

The Parisian revolution of July 1830 quickly produced & similar one in Brussels. The events passed as rapidly as in the former city. There were few or no troops, a negligent and inefficient police force, and no spirit amongst those who possessed property, to protect it against the plunderers. They prayed the king to send troops to protect them; but when these arrived, the inflamed Belgians, who were from policy mixed up in the same ranks with the Dutch, would not act, and they abandoned the city. The mob, thus triumphant, compelled the feebler but richer citizens to submit to their demagogue leaders. This produced a declaration of independence against the house of Orange.

In the mean time, the Dutch, who were not without causes of complaint of the greater favour shown to the Belgians than to themselves, were firm in their allegiance to the monarch, and wished for a separation of the two countries. This measure was proposed and discussed in the legislative assembly at the Hague, and ultimately, by a majority, but not a large one, determined upon.

Application was made by the king of the Netherlands, to the several powers who had at Vienna sanctioned the union, and guaranteed to him the possession of his throne. This led to discussions and negotiations, during which a monarch was elected by the Belgians. They wished one from the family of Napoleon, or that of Orleans, but were not allowed a free choice, and at length Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was placed on the throne.

The Dutch soon composed an army, which, though inferior in number to that of Belgium, invaded the country. The Belgians displayed neither courage nor discipline, but fled in all directions; and their new king would, but for an accident, have been made prisoner. A division of the French army advanced to the aid of the Belgians, upun which the Dutch retired.

The citadel which commanded the city of Antwerp was still garrisoned by a Dutch force. It appeared proper to England and France that this should be given up to Leopold; and as the Dutch refused to surrender it till all other subjects of contest between the two countries were arranged, it was resolved to compel its surrender by warlike measures. The ports of Holland were blockaded, and the fortress of Antwerp was attacked by a French army, and, after a gallant defence, compelled to capitulate. The embargo was then taken off, and all hostilities ceased in 1833.

The king still retains his former title of king of the Netherlands, but as that will probably be finally changed for some other of a more definite nature, we here confine our statistical description to the country actually under his authority, the divisions, extent, and population of which are as follow:
[table]

In this account the duchy of Luxembourg is omitted, as being at present the subject of negotiation between Belgium and Holland, in which are also intermingled the views of the powers who were parties to the treaty of Vienna, as well as those of the Germanic confederation.
[7:11:529]

That province extenas over 2193 square miles, contains , twenty-two cities and towns, and 809 villages, with 302,654 inhabitants. A part of it, however, comprehending the strong fortress of the same name, with a circle of four leagues around, will be continued in the hands of the German confederation, whether the remaining part should form a part of Holland or of Belgium.

The cities of Holland containing each more than 10,000 inhabitants, with their actual population, were in 1833 as in the statement subjoined.

Cities. Population. Cities·. Population.

Amsterdam 202,364 Hague 56,105

Rotterdam 72,294 Utrecht 43,407

Cities. Population. Cities. Population.

Leyden 34,564 Middleb urg 14,700

Groningen 30,260 Arnhem 14,509

Haarlem 21,667 Deventer 13,639

Leuwarden 20,938 Breda 13,114

Bois-le-Duc 20,489 Gouda 12,878

Dort 19,972 Amersfort 11,782

Nimeguen 17,734 Tilbourg 11,726

Zwolle 15,640 Scheidam 11,588

Delft 15,023 Zutphen 10,204

The proportion of the town population to that of the villages is far greater than is to be found in any other part of the world, as appears by the following table.
[table]

It is worthy of remark, that whilst in the country in-cities and towns the females exceed in number the males habitants the males rather exceed the females, in the by nearly a fifteenth part.
[table]

The several sects are maintained by the government, although some particular churches have endowments. The greater part of the Protestants are of the Calvinistic profession. The Lutherans are the next in number, the Menonites and the Remonstrants exceed 120,000, but the whole of the other Protestants taken together are not more than half the number of the Calvinists. By the budget of 1833 the sums voted for the support of the Protestant worship-amounted to 1,330,000 florins (L.l 15,000), and for the Catholic worship 400,000 florins (L∙33,400), besides the expense of the universities. There are now three universities, viz. Leyden with 684 students, Utrecht with 476, and Groningen with 284. These are indiscriminately resorted to by the different religious parties, whose separate theological studies are provided for by the state under professors of each faith.

The uncertain state of the external relations, and especially of those with their late fellow subjects, has caused an augmentation of the forces both by land and by sea, far beyond what can be needed or supported for a long period. The regular land army, which is well organized and disciplined, consists of forty-eight battalions of infantry, twenty-three squadrons of cavalry, nine corps of riflemen, and a proportional force of artillery. Besides these troops, a numerous body of volunteers, called the Schuttery, are in a state of preparation to act in the defence of the country. The navy consists of eight ships of the line, two of eighty-four guns and six of seventy-four. The frigates are three of sixty guns, thirteen of forty-four guns, and seven of thirty-two guns. There are fourteen corvettes mounting from twenty to twenty-eight guns, and sixteen brigs from eight to eighteen guns, and several armed steam-vessels have been recently constructed. For the defence of the internal water frontier, there are about eighty large gun-boats or [7:11:530]barks armed,, each of them having a twenty-four pound gun at their prow, two six pounders at the stern, and two carronades on the sides. This force is manned with 7000 good seamen, independently of officers, and is peculiarly appropriate for defence.

The finances of the kingdom are at present in a provisional state, owing to the indecisive negotiations which have been for several years under discussion, respecting the division of the national debt, which belonged to the two countries of Belgium and Holland when united as one kingdom. The plan decided on by the allied powers, and acquiesced in by both governments, was, that this debt should be divided into thirteen parts, of which seven should be assumed by Belgium and six by Holland. But as Belgium pays no part of the interest, the dividends have hitherto been regularly discharged by Holland. The credit of that government is good, and the wealth of its subjects abundant, and the king finds no difficulty whatever in availing himself of both during the uncertain period, which is still protracted. The expenses were thus estimated for the year 1833:

Civil list 1,425,000 florins.

Secretaries of state 572,840

Department of foreign affairs 596,200

of the interior 3,103,309

Department of justice 1,150,000 florins.

of worship 1,730,000 Naval force 6,500,000

Army 12,100,000

National industry and colonies 587,016

Interest on the debt 21,621,484

49,385,849

As twelve florins are equal to a pound sterling, the whole ordinary expenditure consequently amounts to L.4,115,480; but to this must be added 44,000,000 florins for extraordinaries on account of warlike preparations. If tranquillity be restored, and Belgium should pay her proportion of the interest on the debt, the finances of this kingdom will be in a prosperous state. During the union, the Belgic portion paid taxes at the rate of ten florins per head on the whole population, whilst Holland paid rather more than fifteen florins per head. With only its due proportion of the debt, Holland would have a surplus revenue for its ordinary expenses, and might reduce annually a portion of its debt, especially as she has the whole of the colonial possessions, and the far greater proportion of the shipping, the fisheries, and the foreign trade.

The foreign possessions of Holland are the following:
[table]

Besides these, the Dutch claim the islands of Oruba and Orubilla, that of Bonaire or Buenos Ayres, with the Bird Islands; all near the coast of the late öpanish settlements. They have few or no resident inhabitants, but a few persons occasionally repair to them to take turtles or to collect salt.

The government of Holland is a monarchy, hereditary in the house of Orange, and limited, by the constitution founded in August 1815, to the power of executing the laws. It was grounded on the ancient habits and usages, only making the executive power permanent, instead of occasional and temporary, as it was when a stadtholder was formerly appointed. The legislature is composed of two houses. The lower house has fifty-five members, none of whom can be less than forty years of age, and of these twenty-two are chosen by the provinces of North and South Holland, seven by North Brabant, six by Guelderland, five by Friesland, four each by Overyssel and Groningen, three each by Zealand and Utrecht, and one by Drenthe. The upper house consists of the nobles, appointed for life by the king.

As the greater part of the establishments of the country are permanent as well as ancient, and as the greater part of the revenue is voted every ten years in anticipation, the transactions of the chambers occupy but a short space of time, nor do they create so great an interest as in countries where more business is brought under the notice of the popular assemblies. In this kingdom the far greater part of their internal affairs are settled in the provincial assemblies of the several states, and in corporate bodies of the larger cities; all of whom have considerable funds under their control, and exercise extensive power within their respective limits.

From the economical habits of all classes, of which the monarch is an eminent example, the expenses of the several public functionaries are fixed upon a very moderate scale. This habit of prudence and foresight has descended from the higher to all other classes of society, and has been the main cause of that great accumulation of wealth, which, from the foundation of its independence, and in spite of the severe reverses it has sustained, has made this kingdom so remarkable.

No observant traveller can pass through Holland without feeling surprise at the abundant wealth, and the profitable application of it to the obtaining of additional wealth, which is everywhere to be seen. This is manifested in the public and the private buildings, in the farming erections, in the boundaries of the land, in the dykes, the canals, the roads, the mills for keeping the fields clear of water, in the wheel carriageβ, and in the cattle, as well [7:11:531] in those applicable to labour, as in those kept for the dairy or for food. The same may be seen in what relates to their ships, boats, workshops, and the interior of the dwellings. All are distinguished by their cleanliness and order, which, the Dutch have by long experience known, are essential ingredients of economy.

During the twenty years from 1794 to 1814, when the country was subjected to France, when the foreign trade was annihilated, and the intercourse with the colonies was suspended, it has been estimated that more than one hundred millions sterling, beyond the expenses of government, were extorted from Holland by their acute masters. This is said to have been encountered by such rigid parsimony, practised by all individuals and families, that the actual capital of the country was little, if at all, impaired by the extortion it had endured. On the return of tranquillity, the capital thus reserved was in a great degree employed in loans to the several foreign states of Europe; which loans were made on terms so advantageous to the lenders, that, between 1814 and 1833, more gain has been made by'the Dutch capitalists than had been taken from them in the preceding twenty years.

This traffic in money, of which Amsterdam may be considered as the central market for the whole of Europe, is not confined to the great capitalists, as in most other countries, but by various modes is so diffused over the community, that those who have but small reserve funds are enabled to partake of the advantages of it, and that whilst pursuing their regular and customary occupations.

With the return of peace the intercourse had been renewed with the colonies in the East Indies, and upon the coast of South America, which had been restored in an improved condition. This gave rise to a profitable commerce with the south-eastern part of Asia, and enabled the proprietors of estates in Surinam to realize their property. The transit trade, the fisheries, the commerce with the Baltic, and with the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, and the ports of the Mediterranean, were all re-opened, and extended beyond their former limits. During the continuance of the union with Belgium that part of the kingdom shared these branches of profit, chiefly through the noble port of Antwerp. But the late revolutionary events have nearly thrown the whole of that commerce into the hands of the Dutch. As the most substantial of the merchants and the larger ship-owners have removed from Antwerp to Rotterdam or Amsterdam, it is probable that the trade of Holland, whatever may be the result of the pending negotiations, will be benefited by the separation of the two countries.

During the war, especially after the Berlin and Milan decrees, much of the inert capital of Holland was directed towards the improvement of the soil and cultivation, and its fruits in a few years vastly increased. Many of these now form an important portion of its export trade. Those here enumerated have been doubled in quantity in the ten years up to the time of the insurrection at Brussels; and the exports annually, on an average of three years ending with 1829, were as follow :— Butter 7,924,778 pounds.

Cheese 16,383,217 ...

Oilcakes 15,024,579 ...

Oil from rape and linseed 019,260 hogsheads.

Salted meat 355,860 pounds.

Hams 136,312 ...

Hemp, rape, and linseed 196,800 bushels.

Another product of the soil, the export of which is of vast extent, but not very accurately ascertained, is gin, distilled from corn in the large establishments in the city of Scheidam, and some other places. It is not, however, the sole product of their own soil, as much of the corn from which it is made is previously imported from the Baltic, and other northern ports of Europe. This corn trade was once a very extensive branch, but of late years, from causes too complicated to be explained here, it has been very much contracted, and the large storehouses of Amsterdam have been but slightly furnished with it.

The favourable situation for commerce in which Holland is placed, at the mouths of great rivers, besides the facilities for defence, has induced the construction of works which, though chiefly intended for protection, are beneficial as means of intercourse. The artificial canals are numerous and extensive, and have been constructed at an expense which only the general economy could have encountered. Without enumerating them, one of recent construction deserves especial notice. The ship canal from the Helder to Amsterdam, which was completed and opened in 1825, is about eighty miles in length, 120 feet broad, and twenty-five feet deep; thus capable of conveying into the capital the largest ship of war. It is an undertaking, both by its execution and its cost, worthy of the most flourishing period of the republic. The expense of the work has exceeded one million sterling.

During the union of Belgium with Holland, the former country had extended its manufacturing industry, and, from being more favourably situated, had prevented Holland from re-establishing those fabrics of woollen and linen goods which had flourished before the occupation of the country by the French. At present the manufactures of Holland are upon a narrow scale. Some linen, with 'a few woollen and cotton goods, are made, but chiefly for domestic consumption. A few articles of tapes and other small wares are made at Haarlem; and some linens are still bleached there, which are either made in the country, or imported in an unbleached state from Silesia. The business of refining sugar is carried on extensively in Amsterdam, and that of making snuff and tobacco gives occupation to numerous labourers. The making of gin has been already noticed, to which it may be added, that the breweries are large and numerous. The building of ships, barges, and boats, is now the chief branch of manufacturing industry; and in the; beauty of their form, in their durability, and in their adaptation for stowage, the builders of Holland have of late years been making a rapid progress. The greatest deficiency in Holland is the want of occupation for common labourers; for although in the season of harvest there is not a sufficiency of hands for the work of the field, and thousands from Westphalia repair to it to gather in the crops, yet at other seasons the distress is very great, and in no country is there so much call for the practice of benevolence as in Holland, and nowhere such abundant exercise of that virtue.

The fisheries on their own coasts, as well as those on the shores of Great Britain, employ many seamen, as does the Greenland whale-fishery; but this is chiefly a summer labour, and that class of workmen feel much distress in the winter, especially whenever, as is a common occurrence, the canals are frozen, and cease to be navigable.

The agriculture of Holland is well conducted, with very productive results in the lower parts of the country. Wheat is but little cultivated, rye is more extensively so; but the most profitable grain is oats, of which alone more is exported than is imported. Barley is but little grown, and what is needed is chiefly supplied from Germany by the inland rivers. In the recently-cultivated poor lands in Groningen and Drenthe much buck-wĥeat is grown. Potatoes also are abundantly produced. The more beneficial products are those from the cattle, such as butter, cheese, bacon, and hams; and on the farms where they are maintained are raised the greater part of those seeds from which their oil is made.

The climate is moist, and the soil generally damp; and in winter, especially in Amsterdam and some other cities, [7:11:532]the fogs are extremely dense. These circumstances, combined with a scarcity of good water to drink, are considered as the causes of the increase of population being slower in Holland than in any other country of the European continent. The mode of living may have some effect on longevity: though the people are warmly clothed, yet the use of stoves, in which turf is burned, must be injurious in the manner there practised. The great quantity of cured fish, bacon, andbutter, used as food, and the abundant drinking of ardent spirits, stimulated by the smoking and chewing of tobacco, must contribute in some degree to shorten the lives of the inhabitants.

The language of Holland is a dialect of the high German, derived from it when less improved than it has been within the last century. It first assumed a decided character in the latter end of the fifteenth century, and has from that time to the present been receiving additional polish from the literary labours of the several distinguished men who have cultivated it, from Agricoa and Erasmus, down to the time of the lately deceased Bilderdyk. It would probably have been much further improved if some of its most distinguished authors, such as Erasmus, Lipsius, Grotius, Wyttenbach, and others, had not, for the sake of greater circulation, written in the Latin language. Though the Dutch prose has but little pretension to elegance in its tones and its expressions, it is well calculated to convey clear ideas, and to explain useful truths with great simplicity and accuracy.

In no country of Europe has the proportion of highly learned men to the whole population been so great as in Holland. The earliest impulse to literature was communicated by William the first Prince of Orange, who founded the University of Leyden in 1575, as a reward to that city for its brave defence against the Spaniards in the preceding year. Men like Scaliger, Lipsius, Heinsius, Gronovius, and Spanheim, in ancient learning; Erpenius and Gollius in oriental literature; Arminius, Drusius, and Coccejus, in theology; and the two Snelliuses, in mathematics, extended their own fame, and that of their university, throughout the whole of Europe. Soon afterwards, the high schools of Franeker, of Groningen, and of Utrecht, produced a rivalry highly advantageous to the diffusion of knowledge.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, Huygens Lecuwenhoeck, Zwammerdam, and Hartseeker, were highly distinguished as astronomers and as natural historians. After the peace of Utrecht in 1713, Albert Schultens, Hemsterhuis, and the celebrated Boerhaave, with a long list of others, began to extend the study of the Greek and of the oriental languages, to improve their own, and more especially to diffuse a more correct knowledge of the healing art. The science of the law of nations, as well as of law in general, owes much to eminent Dutch writers; and nowhere has the research into antiquities been more assiduously pursued, or with greater success. The celebrity of Dutch literature invited able men from other countries, and their works published in Holland still further extended the renown of the Dutch schools. Thus Scaliger and Luzac were of French origin; Albinus, Vossius, Gronovius, Ruhnken, and Vorstius, were Germans; and Wyttenbach was a native of Switzerland. In history, in criticism, and in poetry, the Dutch were behind no other people; and, considering the paucity of readers of their language, their progress and excellence is astonishing. It would be easy to give a list of dramatic and other poetical authors of high merit, but whose talent cannot be appreciated beyond the limits of their own confined territory.

Amidst their fierce contests, and their eager desire ∙of gain, the fine arts, especially painting, had numerous patrons in Holland, and produced artists who powerfully, but in a peculiar manner, rivalled those of Flanders and of Italy. The Dutch school of painting has been praised for the truth of its representation of natural objects, for its perfect finishing, its appropriate shading, and the colouring and delicacy of pencil; but it has been censured for its selection of unworthy objects, and want of correctness in drawing. The founder of the school was Lucas of Leyden, born in the year 1494. His most eminent followers were, Van Been of Leyden, born in 1586, said to have been an instructor of Rubens; Bloemart of Gorcum, who painted historical pieces, landscapes, and cattle, and died in 1647; Cornelius Poelenburg of Utrecht, born in 1586, and died in 1663, who was peculiarly happy in his landscapes with figures, and his two distinguished pupils Bertange and Ha-ensberge; also Rembrandt, who, by his exquisite skill in colouring, was enabled to hide all his other faults. Without enumerating their peculiarities, and without extending the list, we insert the following names, most of which are well known to those who have paid any attention to the history of painting and painters. Zachtleben, Gerhard Terburg, Swanvelt, Asselyn, Gerhard Dow, Peter Van Leer, Wou-verman, Waterloo, Berghem, Paul Potter, Backhuysen, Mieris, Schalken, Jardin, Ruysdael, Van der Werf, and Van Hulst. To these, others of second-rate merit might be added. It is singular, that with their great skill in painting, the Dutch have made an indifferent figure in the sister art of statuary. In architectural taste also they have been deficient, but that has made some progress of late years, as may be observed in the buildings of more modern erection.

In the mechanical arts the Dutch have attained a high degree of perfection, as far as these are connected with their peculiar situation. In the conducting of water, and in the formation of dykes, bridges, sluices, and canals, their skill and contrivances to facilitate labour are obvious to all travellers who visit the country; and they excel all other nations in the construction of their mills, and in whatever pertains to the making of wheels, either for mills or for waggons and coaches. In such works, as indeed in all others, they exhibit the highest degree of neatness, strength, and economy.

The works chiefly referred to in this article are, Histoire des Troubles des Pays-Bas, par Vander Vynckt, 3 vols. edition 1822; Analecta Belgica de Hoynch de Papendrecht, 1743; Histoire de la Guerre des Pays-Bas, par Strada, 1604; Geschichte des Abfalls der Nrederlands von der Spanische Regeirung von Schiller, edit. 1829; Geographie Historique, Physique, et Statistique, du Royaume des Pays-Bas (Amsterdam, 1827), par J. J. de Cloet; Jaarbohje over 1831, 1832, 1833, von Z. Μ. Koning in Gravenhage; Almanach der 1834, Weimar.
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