HOLLAND 



743 



MM- more numerous. I'armn, indeed, took 

 Antwerp after a long siege, but fulled to effect 

 a junction with the Armada in 1588, at* the llol- 

 lainliM^ |.r.-\ ,-nif, | his fleet from leaving the Scheldt; 

 ami when tin- great general <lie<l in 1592, six 

 s before his master, he hail not accompliahad 

 hi- mi imi. I'liiliji III. was not more fortunate, 

 anil roul.l do nothing letter than sign in 1(K)9 the 

 twelve years' armistice with the ' rel>els,' who were 

 already masters of the sea, had laid the foundations 

 <>(' their great Indian empire by the establishment 

 <>f die K.ist India Company in 1602, and practically 

 li.-nl niiide their own conditions. Maurice had been 

 against the armistice, but he was overruled by the 

 States, who wanted peace for trailing. Unfortu- 

 nately, the breathing time to 1621 was in a large 

 measure filled up with religious and political dis- 

 sensions lift WITH the adherents of Gomarus, the 

 orthodox Lutherans, and the Arminians, the milder- 

 mannered followers of Arminius, to whom Hugo 

 Grot ins and other celebrated men of the time 

 belonged. These disputes culminated in the perse- 

 cution of the Arminians, who were forced to flee, 

 like Grotius, or were put on their trial for high- 

 treason, like Olden Bameveldt, the Grand-pension- 

 ary of Holland, and one of her most distinguished 

 sons, who was beheaded in 1618 with the approval 

 of Maurice. But these internal troubles did not 

 check the progress of the new republic. Maurice 

 die, I in 1625, and his brother Frederick Henry 

 finally freed his country from the Spaniards, who 

 in 1648 were compelled to recognise the 'rebels' as 

 an independent nation by the treaty of Munster. 



In this epoch lies, perhaps, the period of Hol- 

 land's greatest material and intellectual develop- 

 ment. Her ships could be seen everywhere, and 

 the Dutch had become the general carriers of the 

 world's trade. Amsterdam, grown powerful and 

 rich, was the Venice of the north, wnere, besides 

 commerce proper, both banking and stockbroking 

 reached a flourishing stage at an early period. 

 From this emporium started the fleets of the great 

 trading companies, and the vessels of intrepid 

 explorers like Hudson, Heemskerck, Houtman, 

 Lemaire, Tasman, and many others. Dutch 

 agriculture and floriculture, gaining new experi- 

 ence and teaching fresh methods, grew famous, 

 and so did many branches of science and in- 

 dustry. The first optical instruments came from 

 Holland, and Huygens gave us the pendulum-clock. 

 Arts and letters flourished, and the names of 

 Erasmus, Grotius, Vossius, Burman, Gronovius, 

 Boerhaave, Spino/a, Huygens, Rembrandt, Cuyp, 

 Van der Heist, Hobl>ema, Potter, and many more 

 became known and illustrious far beyond the 

 national frontiers. The art of printing, perhaps 

 not a glory of Holland in its inception (see PRINT- 

 ING), nan. at anyrate attained a high degree of 

 perfection there in the 17th century, as the names 

 of Plantin and Elzevir testify. The liberty of the 

 press, secured at an early date, led to the establish- 

 ment of numerous newspapers, Dutch and foreign. 

 The foreign news-sheets of Holland, mostly pub- 

 lished in French, were sent all over the worhi, as 

 they contained the latest intelligence and things 

 that were not allowed to appear in print elsewhere. 

 The Gazette de Leyde was among the oldest and 

 most powerful of these early journals ( 1680-1814). 



The rising power of Holland had the natural 

 n-snlt of creating envy and cupidity in her nearest 

 neighbours. The first serious antagonism came 

 from England, where trade and navigation were 

 also rapidly coming to the front. Both countries 

 were then pure commonwealths Cromwell ruling 

 in England, and the Grand -pensionary John de 

 Witt having virtually the destinies of the United 

 Provinces in his hands since the death of Frederick 

 Henry's son, the last stadtholder before William 



III. Cromwell's Act of Navigation, which aimed 

 at the destruction of Holland's IIIOIIO|MI|\ in tin- 

 carrying trade, led to the great naval' war of 

 1652-54, during which twelve important K.iitl.-.-, 

 more or less decisive, were fought, and Ixith nation* 

 distinguished themselves by the intrepid daring 

 of their commanders and seamanship. Vet other 

 wi-e the result was barren, though the name- of 

 De Ruyter, Tromp, Evertwen, and Van Galen 

 shone forth ever afterwards. The*e hostilities 

 between Holland and England were renewed when 

 Charles II. had been restored by General Monk ; 

 but the war of 1664-67 remained as undecisive a* 

 its predecessor, despite De Ruyter's daring feat of 

 sailing up the Medway, which" caused for a while 

 wild panic in the British capital. 



An ensuing war with trance, now allied with 

 England against the United Provinces, was much 

 more serious, as De Witt had done his le*t to 

 strengthen the navy, but at the cost of a totally 

 neglected army. The hosts of Louis XIV., under 

 captains so famous as Conde and Turenne, made 

 short work of all resistance that Holland could 

 offer on land, although De Kuyter's fleet kept the 

 allied squadrons at bay, and thus, probably, saved 

 his country from political annihilation. At the 

 most critical juncture a violent |>opular reaction 

 set in against De Witt and his brother Cornelis, 

 and in favour of the young Prince of Orange, who 

 had been held back by their party. John de Witt, 

 one of the most clear-headed and bold statesmen of 

 his day, was murdered as a traitor by an infuriated 

 mob at The Hague, and the stadtholderehip re- 

 established in the person of a prince then (1672) 

 only twenty-two years of age. But the people's 

 instinct had been right after all, for William 11 1. 's 

 accession proved the salvation of Holland, as it 

 also accomplished, later on, the political regenera- 

 tion of England. The fortunes of the war changed 

 immediately with William at the head of affairs. 

 He showed himself an able tactician and a still 

 more skilful diplomatist. By dexterously manoeuv- 

 ring between Holland's enemies he managed to 

 gain time and isolate France. At last, in 1678, 

 Louis XIV. was compelled to sign the treaty of 

 peace of Nimeguen, as William had become, for 

 the time being, the ally of the king of England, 

 by his marriage with Mary, daughter of the Duke 

 of York. William was not satisfied with what 

 the peace of Nimeguen gave to Holland; and the 

 following years were passed in preparing for the 

 great events which he no doubt saw rapidly ap- 

 proaching. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes 

 flooded Holland once more with political refu_ 

 who here found a new fatherland, and who subse- 

 quently helped to fight the battles of Europe 

 against their common tvrant. In the English 

 Revolution of 1688 by William III., many of these 

 Huguenots played an active and prominent part. 

 To Holland the'inauguration of the new era in Eng- 

 land did not mean peace, but it meant an honour- 

 able alliance and security from further encroach- 

 ments of the French king. The Dutch troops 

 fought bravely in the Iwittles of England, even 

 after William's death in 1702; and Ramilli<>, 

 Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, which saw Louis's 

 greatest humiliation, were as much Dutch vic- 

 tories as La Hogne was an English victory. 



The peace of I'trecht, in 1713, marks the close 

 of Holland's activity as a great power in Europe. 

 For her the 18th c'entury was the century of de 

 moralisation and decay. After William s death 

 she l>ecame a republic once more ; the stadt holder- 

 ship was re-established in 1747, but it made no 

 difference in the downward course. The National 

 Convention of France having declared war against 

 Great Britain and the stadtholder of Holland in 

 1793, French armies overran Belgium ( 1794) ; they 



