EUROPEAN. 227 



English, by intermarriage, in 1361. The fate of Ireland has been 

 peculiarly unfortunate ; but we have no room to trace it farther. 



5. We come next to the History of Central Europe ; including 

 that of all the Germanic nations. The early inhabitants of Holland, 

 the Batavi and Frisii, were subdued successively by the Romans, 

 and the Franks ; and formed a part of the Prankish empire, till the 

 partition at Verdun, A . D. 843 ; when Holland was attached to Ger- 

 many. On the abdication of Charles the V., in 1556, Holland, with 

 the adjacent provinces, constituting the Netherlands, (or Lowlands), 

 was united with Spain, under Philip II. His severe treatment caused 

 Holland and Zealand to rebel against him in 1572; and five other 

 provinces joined them, at Ghent, in 1576. The seven United Pro- 

 vinces under William of Orange as Stadtholder, declared themselves 

 independent, in 1579; though not recognized so by Spain, till the 

 close of the Thirty years' war, and peace of Westphalia, in 1648. 

 At this period, they were the first commercial nation in the world; 

 the Dutch East India Company, formed in 1602, having engrossed 

 the commerce of the East. 



The other ten provinces, called Flanders, or Spanish Netherlands, 

 now Belgium, were ceded by Spain, at the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, 

 lo the house of Austria, which held them till the French Revolution; 

 when they were taken by France, in 1794. The French also took 

 Holland in 1795; forming of it the Batavian Republic; which 

 Bonaparte, in 1806, converted into the kingdom of Holland, under 

 his brother Louis Napoleon. On the fall of Bonaparte, in 1814, 

 the whole seventeen provinces were erected into the kingdom of the 

 United Netherlands, under William I. of Orange. But in 1830, 

 the ten Belgic provinces revolted from his rule, and the kingdom of 

 Belgium was organized in 1831, under Leopold of Saxe Coburg. 



Switzerland was also conquered successively by the Romans, and, 

 the Franks ; by the latter A. D. 534. Its western part, was included 

 in the kingdom of Burgundy, in the south-east of France, founded 

 by Rodolph, in 888 ; which kingdom, on the death of Rodolph III., 

 in 1032, was reunited to Germany. Switzerland was again inde- 

 pendent, under the dukes of Zdhringen, till 1218 ; when it reverted 

 to Germany. The tyranny of the emperor Albert, led the Swiss to 

 unite, in 1307, and throw off the German yoke ; in which they suc- 

 ceeded, after a series of bloody wars, terminating with the peace of 

 Basle, in 1499. By the French Revolution, Switzerland was, in 

 1798, converted into the Helvetic Republic ; but in 1814, the former 

 state was restored ; and the Cantons of Switzerland remain an inde- 

 pendent confederation. 



Germany, was first invaded by the Romans, under Julius Caesar, 

 55 B. C. ; but he only succeeded in checking the German irruptions 

 into Gaul. During the decline of Rome, the leading tribes of Ger- 

 many were the Cherusci or Franks, in the north, and the Jlllemanni, 

 in the south : but the latter were subdued by Clovis, king of the 

 Franks, A. D. 496 ; after he had defeated the Romans in France. 

 Germany thus became a part of the Prankish empire, down to the 

 time of 'Charlemagne, (p. 223). By the peace of Verdun, which 

 settled the quarrels of Charlemagne's grandsons, Louis, (the Ger- 



