HOLLAND 



741 



schools lire freely permitted, but subject to inspoc- 

 timi ; .-in. I teachers must qualify for their task under 

 a government examination. There are ancient 

 universities at l.cyden, 1'trechl. and ( Jroningen, ami 

 since 1 877 anew university at Amsterdam, HUp|*>rted 

 hy the municipality. Tlie four universities have up- 

 \\ards of :XX) students. There are Latin schools in 

 tin- leading municipalities. There are also the Royal 

 Military and Naval Academy at Breda, and that 

 for engineers and the Indian civil service at Delft, 

 besides seminaries in several places for the training 

 of the Roman Catholic- clergy, &c. The state pays 

 30 per cent, of the expenditure on the public 

 schools, and the communes or parishes 70 per cent. 

 In 1895 there were over 3000 elementary public 

 schools, 1351 elementary private schools, and about 

 150 secondary schools. The pupils in the public 

 elementary schools number 475,000. About 600,000 

 children under twelve receive some sort of school 

 education, but 10 per cent. none. There is no com- 

 pulsory attendance in Holland, and many can neither 

 read nor write (5 per cent, of illiterate recruits). 



Army, Navy, <tc. The strength of the regular 

 army in Europe is about 62,000 men, and of the 

 colonial army about 40,000 men, some 15,000 

 thereof being Europeans. Dutch troops are not 

 allowed to be sent to India. The Dutch home army 

 is composed of volunteers, and of a varying propor- 

 tion or men drawn by lot for five years' service. 

 There is also a local force, called Schutterij, drawn 

 by lot from those between twenty-five and thirty- 

 four years of age, to assist in keeping order in 

 peace, and in case of war to act as a mobile corps, 

 and do garrison duty. North and South Holland 

 can be inundated at short notice. 



The royal navy on 1st January 1897 consisted of 

 120 men-of-war, 24 being ironclads. Six are large 

 cruisers, each of 3400 tons, built of iron and steel. 

 There are also numerous torpedo boats for* the 

 defence of the coasts and river-mouths. 



History. About a century and a half before our 

 era, a Teutonic people, known to the Romans as 

 the Batavi, and who came from Hesse, occupied 

 the land between the Rhine and the Waal. At 

 this time the Frisians occupied the country north 

 of the Rhine to the Elbe. The Batavi and 

 Frisians differed little in appearance, manner of 

 life, and religion. They clothed themselves with 

 skins, fished, hunted, and led a pastoral life ; 

 were faithful, frank, chaste, and hospitable. The 

 songs of the bards composed their literature and 

 history. Warlike and orave, they selected their 

 leader for his courage and prowess, and were armed 

 with a IK>W and a short spear. They worshipped 

 the sun and moon, and held their meetings in con- 

 secrated woods. 



The Romans having subdued the Belgfi 1 , next 

 attacked the Frisians, who agreed to pay a tribute 

 of ox-hides and horns, but continued restless and 

 rebellious. The Batavi became allies of Rome, 

 paying no tribute, but supplying a volunteer con- 

 tingent, chiefly of cavalry, which was renowned for 

 its impetuous bravery, and helped to win the 

 battle of Pharsalia for Ciesar. About 70 A.D. 

 Claudius Civilis, a liatavian, made a bold effort 

 to overthrow the Roman power in Rhenish or 

 Germanic Gaul, but failed in the end. Roman 

 supremacy endured until the 4th century, when the 

 inroads of the Salic Franks were followed by the 

 Saxons and other tribes. The Franks took posses- 

 sion of the Insiiln Batavonim, and the name of 

 the Batavi vanished. Christianity spread among 

 these tribes, and even the Frisians, who were 

 violently opposed to it, were forcibly converted by 

 Charles Martel. At the end of the 8th century 

 all the Low Countries submitted to Charlemagne, 

 who built a palace at Nimeguen, on the \N aal. 

 The feudal system now began to develop itself, and 



dukedoms, counties, lordnhi|iH, and bishopric* arone, 

 the bishops of I'trecht, the duke* of (JuelderUod, 

 and the count* of Holland Ix-ing among the moat 

 jtowerful of these petty rulers, who owned but very 

 little allegiance to their lords. During the 9th 

 and 10th ci-nt uiies the districts of the modern 

 Netherlands belonged to Lotharingia, which 

 acknowledged alternately French and German 

 sovereignty. The nucleus of the countship of 

 Holland, and the beginning of i\~ power, were the 

 work of Dirk III., who died in 1039. Count 

 William II. was even made King of the Romans 

 (1248) through the influence of Pope Innocent IV. 

 The Crusades weakened the tiower and resources of 

 the nobles and prelates, so tliat, during the middle 

 ages, cities began to assume importance, strengthen 

 themselves with walls, and choose their own rulers. 



In 1384 the earldom of Flanders passed, through 

 marriage, to the Duke of Burgundy, whose grand- 

 son, Philip the Good, made it his special life-effort 

 to form the Netherlands into aj>owerful kingdom. 

 He bought Narnur, inherited Brabant with Lirn- 

 burg, and compelled Jacoba of Bavaria to resign 

 Holland and Zealand. Charles V., as heir to Bur- 

 gundy, inherited and united the Netherlands under 

 Ids sceptre. He fostered trades and industries in 

 the Low Countries, and under his rule they attained 

 a great prosperity, whilst cities like Bruges and 

 Ghent reached the zenith of their wealth and 

 power. But he also tyrannised over the land with 

 an iron will and hand, drained the life-blood of the 

 nation for his continual warfare, and depopulated 

 north and south by an implacable Inquisition, which 

 it is computed put to death in various forms at 

 least 100,000 persons for heresy. Yet he was at 

 times popular with the people. He spoke their 

 language. He always remained a Fleming ; and 

 Ghent, after attempting to betray him and rising in 

 rebellion against him in 1539, owed her ultimate 

 escape from the destruction which Alva counselled 

 entirely to the fact of the emperor's citizenship. 

 His son Philip II., who succeeded to the throne in 

 October 1555, was a character of the very opposite 

 type. A Spaniard born, he remained a Castilian 

 to his dying day austere, harsh, narrow, domi- 

 neering, fanatical. He never spoke a word of 

 Dutch, nor did he understand the people. With 

 Philip II. commenced that terrible and desperate 

 and long-fought struggle of Holland and Spain 

 which finally resulted in the throwing off of the 

 Spanish yoke, in the establishment of a free, 

 strong, and prosperous commonwealth among the 

 marshes of the low-lying delta. This heroic 

 contest of the few against the many, of a hand- 

 ful of isolated burghers against the combined 

 forces of the most powerful state in Euroj>e, has 

 excited a wonderful amount of interest in the 

 civilised world. Motley, with the now count- 

 less editions of his great work, The Rise of the 

 Dutch Republic, and its continuation, has done 

 more to popularise the story of the so-called Eighty 

 Years' War of the Low Countries against Spain 

 than any of his predecessors. 



Philip II. only remained in Holland for four brief 

 years and then left it, never to return, appointing 

 as regent Margaret of Parma, mother of the famous 

 Farnese, and a natural daughter of Charles V., 

 with a council, to which belonged Viglius, Berlay- 

 mont, the afterwards notorious Cardinal Granvella, 

 Bishop of Arras all friends and flatterers of the 

 young king and enemies of the people as well as 

 Egmout. who had won the battles of St Quentin 

 and Gravelines for Philip, and the king's lieutenant 

 in Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, young William 

 of Orange, then completely unknown to fame. As 

 the latter took leave of Philip, who was embarking 

 at Flushing to return to Spain, the king bitterly 

 complained to him of the opposition already mam 



