17-2 IvEPORT S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



way to India was accorded the treatment of " the most favoured 

 nation," and the steady increase of English shipping in Table Bav 

 was the sign of the growth of the British power in India, which, 

 under Clive and Warren Hastings, was developing into actual 

 domination. Strangely enough, the same period witnessed a continual 

 diminution of the power and energy of Holland. Many causes have 

 been assigned for this decline of the nation which had led the way 

 in commerce and discovery : the excessive accumulation of wealth, 

 which brought the rate of interest down to 2 per cent., the steady 

 profits of the Java trade, which removed the inducement to find new 

 markets, and the gradual introduction of steam-driven machinery 

 into England, which made manufacture depend upon coal supply. 

 But Captain Mahan has drawn attention to the very interesting 

 theory that Holland .suffered from the excessive security insured by 

 the permanent alliance with England. Naval power is expensive, 

 and will only be maintained by the permanent need of self-defence ; 

 but, while the two maritime nations were allied, Holland could safely 

 neglect her fleet and spend money on the fortifications which seemed 

 necessary as a protection against her military neighbours. 



The main facts, however, are beyond dispute : the supremacy 

 over the Indian Ocean, which had been wielded by Portugal in the 

 1 6th century, and by Holland in the 17th, had, by the i8th century, 

 passed entirely to England. Holland was allied to England; but 

 in naval affairs they were no longer united as equals. The use of 

 Table Bay was accorded to British squadrons by their allies ; but 

 it had become almost a necessity to the existence of the new Indian 

 Empire, and we can see that any change in Europe that broke ,he 

 alliance would necessitate the seizure of Cape Town by England. 

 Thus we see the world-forces which shaped the destiny of South 

 Africa and determined the course of later events. 



While Holland continued to be a centre of learning and refine- 

 ment, her internal politics became very unattractive to the student 

 of history. The long contest between the " Orange " party of the 

 Stadholder and the orthodox Calvinists and the " Patriot " party 

 of the Amsterdam politician and the advocates of popular govern- 

 ment, may not be interesting in itself ; but it bears very directly 

 upon South African history. The " Orange " party rested upon the 

 support of England and Prussia, while their opponents received 

 perpetual encouragement from France. Now the last twenty years 

 of the Eighteenth Century saw a French garrison landed at Table 

 Bay by Admiral Suffren, and later on an English force came to 

 occupy the Colony by the authority of the Prince of Orange. Thus 

 we may see that the future of the country depended upon France 

 or upon England, in accordance with the struggle of domestic parties 

 in the Netherlands. 



In all history we shall find no greater paradox than the position 

 of the absolute Bourbon kings, posing as supporters of popular rights 

 in Holland and America. Yet, while her own Government represented 

 all that was worst in feudalism and in arbitrar\- rule, the France 



