George Edmundson

“ Then the army under Alva’s son, Don Frederick of Toledo, marched northwards, and the sack of Zutphen and the inhuman butchery of Naarden are among the blackest records of history. But the very horrors of Don Frederick’s advance roused a spirit of indomitable resistance in Holland.
The famous defence of Haarlem, lasting through the winter of 1572 to July 1573, cost the besiegers 12,000 lives, and gave the insurgent provinces time to breathe. The example of Haarlem was followed by Alkmaar, and with better and success. The assault of the Spaniards was repulsed, Siege of Haarlem and Alkmaar. ”

“ The commanding abilities of Oldenbarneveldt, now advocate of Holland, gradually gathered into his hands the entire administration of the Republic. He became indispensable and, as his influence grew, more and more did the policy of the provinces acquire unity and consistency of purpose. At the same time Maurice of Maurice of Nassau. Nassau, now grown to man’s estate, began to display those military talents which were to gain for him the fame of being the first general of his time. But Maurice was no politician. ”

“ The advocate (or grand pensionary) of Holland therefore, if an able man, had opportunities for exercising a very considerable influence, becoming in fact a kind of minister of all affairs. It was this influence as exerted by the successive advocates of Holland, Paul Buys and Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, which rendered abortive the well-meant efforts of the earl of Leicester to centralize the government of the United Provinces. After his departure (1587) the advocate of Holland, Oldenbarneveldt, became the indispensable statesman of the struggling republic. ”

“ The States-General never seriously considered the question of giving in their submission to the new sovereigns. The traders of Holland and Zeeland had thriven mightily by the war. Their ships had penetrated to the East and West Indies, and were to be found in every sea. The year 1600 saw the foundation of the Chartered East India Company (see Dutch East India Company) . The question of freedom of trade with the Indies had become no less vital to the Dutch people than freedom of religious worship. To both these concessions Spanish policy was irreconcilably opposed. ”

“ In his reign the long-standing quarrel with Flanders, which had during a century and a half caused so many wars, was finally settled by the treaty of 1323, by which the full possession of West Zeeland was granted to William, who on his part renounced all claim in Imperial Flanders. The Amstelland with its capital, Amsterdam, which had hitherto been held as a fief of Utrecht, was by William, on the death of his uncle Bishop Guy, finally annexed to Holland. This count did much to encourage civic life and to develop the resources of the country. ”

“ The national leaders drew back, afraid to identify themselves with revolutionary movements, or the cause of extreme Protestantism. Egmont was a good Catholic, and took active steps to suppress disorder, and Orange himself at the request of the regent betook himself to Antwerp, where the citizens in arms were on the point of engaging in civil strife. At the risk of his life the prince succeeded in bringing about an accord, and as he proclaimed its terms to a sullen and half-hostile crowd he uttered for the last time the words, “Long live the King!” ”

“ William, now supreme in the States, while on land struggling with chequered success against the superior forces of the French, strove by his diplomacy, and not in vain, to gain allies for the republic. The growing power of France caused alarm to her neighbours, and Sweden, Peace of Westminster. Denmark, Spain and the emperor lent a willing ear to the persuasions of the stadholder and were ready to aid his efforts to curb the ambition of Louis. ”

“ A life and death conflict again ensued, and once more in 1650 the prince of Orange by armed force crushed the opposition of the Hollanders. The sudden death of William in the hour of his triumph caused a complete revolution in the government of the republic. He left no heir but a posthumous infant, and the party of the burgher regents of Holland was once more in the ascendant. ”

“ Nowhere was the call responded to with greater zeal than in the Netherlands, and nowhere had the spirit of adventure and the stimulus to enterprise, which was one of the chief fruits of the Crusades, more permanent effects for good. The foremost heroes of the first crusade were Netherlanders. Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the expedition and the first king of Jerusalem, was duke of Lower Lorraine, and the names of his brothers Baldwin of Edessa and Eustace of Boulogne, and of Count Robert II. of Flanders are only less famous. ”

“ Charitable and other Institutions.—Private charities have always occupied a distinguished position in the Netherlands, and the principle of the law of 1854 concerning the relief of the poor is, that the state shall only interfere when private charity fails. All private and religious institutions have to be inscribed before they can collect public funds. In some cases these institutions are organized and administered conjointly with the civil authorities. At the head of the charitable institutions stand the agricultural colonies belonging to the Society of Charity (see Drente) . ”

“ The Union of Utrecht was signed on the 29th of January by the representatives of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland Union of Utrecht. and Zutphen. By it the northern provinces bound themselves together “as if they were one province” to maintain their rights and liberties “with life-blood and goods” against foreign tyranny, and to grant complete freedom of worship and of religious opinion throughout the Confederacy. This famous compact was the work of John of Nassau, at that time governor of Gelderland, and did not at first commend itself to his brother. ”

“ The Rhine in its course through Holland is merely the parent stream of several important branches, splitting up into Rhine and Waal, Rhine and Ysel, Crooked Rhine and Lek (which takes two-thirds of the waters) , and at Utrecht into Old Rhine and Vecht, finally reaching the sea through the sluices at Katwijk as little more than a drainage canal. The Ysel and the Vecht flow to the Zuider Zee; the other branches to the North Sea. The Maas, whose course is almost parallel to that of the Rhine, follows in a wide curve the general slope of the country, receiving the Roer, the Mark and the Aa. ”

“ Agriculture.—Waste lands are chiefly composed of the barren stretches of heaths found in Drente, Overysel, Gelderland and North Brabant. They formerly served to support large flocks of sheep and some cattle, but are gradually transformed by the planting of woods, as well as by strenuous efforts at cultivation. Zeeland and Groningen are the two principal agricultural provinces, and after them follow Limburg, North Brabant, Gelderland and South Holland. The chief products of cultivation on the heavy clay soil are oats, barley and wheat, and on the sand-grounds rye, buckwheat and potatoes. ”

“ Stock-breeding, like agriculture, has considerably improved under the care of the government (state and provincial) , which grants subsidies for breeding, irrigation of pasture-lands, the importation of finer breeds of cattle and horses, the erection of factories for dairy produce, schools, &c.
Fisheries.—The fishing industry of the Netherlands may be said to have been in existence already in the 13th century, and in the following century received a considerable impetus from the discovery how to cure herring by William Beukelszoon, a Zeeland fisherman. ”

“ Dordrecht, Leiden, Haarlem, Delft, Vlaardingen, Rotterdam in Holland, and Middleburg and Zierikzee in Zeeland, repeated with modifications the characteristics of the communes of Flanders and Brabant. But the growth and development of the northern communal movement, though strong and instinct with life, was slower and less tempestuous than the Flemish. In the bishopric of Utrecht, in Gelderland and Friesland, the privileges accorded to Utrecht, Groningen, Zutphen, Stavoren, Leeuwarden followed rather on the model of those of the Rhenish “free cities” than of the Franco-Flemish commune. ”

“ The French conquest swept away the old condition of things never to reappear; but allegiance to the Orange dynasty survived, and in 1813 became the rallying point of a united Dutch people. At the same time the leading part played by the province of Holland in the history of the republic has not been unrecognized, for the country ruled over by the sovereigns of the house of Orange is always popularly, and often officially, known as Holland. ”

“ The question of female succession thus raised was not likely to be accepted without a challenge by William. It had been the intention of Dirk VII. to secure the recognition of his daughter’s rights by appointing his brother her guardian. His widow Alida, however, an ambitious woman of strong character, as soon as her husband was dead, hurried on a marriage between Ada and Count Louis of Loon; and attempted with the nobles of Holland, who now for the first time make their appearance as a power in the country, to oppose the claim which William had made to the countship as heir in the male line. ”

“ On the 25th of March 1581 a ban was promulgated by King Philip against the prince of Orange, in which William was denounced as a traitor and enemy of the human race, and a reward of 25,000 crowns in gold or land with a patent of nobility was offered to any one who should deliver the world of this pest. William replied in a lengthy document, the Apology, in which he defended himself from the accusations brought against him, and on his part charged the Spanish king with a series of misdeeds and crimes. ”

“ The extremes of density of population are found in the provinces of North Holland and South Holland on the one hand, and Drente on the other. This divergence is partly explained by the difference of soil—which in Drente comprises the maximum of waste lands, and in South Holland the minimum—and partly also by the greater facilities which the seaward provinces enjoy of earning a subsistence, and the greater variety of their industries. The largest towns are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Utrecht, Groningen, Haarlem, Arnhem, Leiden, Nijmwegen, Tilburg. ”

“ But in the eyes of Philip he had long been a marked man. The Spanish king had temporized only until the moment arrived when he could crush opposition by force. In the summer of 1567 the duke of Alva was despatched to the Netherlands at the head of an army of veterans to supersede the regent Margaret and restore order in the discontented provinces. Orange fled to Germany after having vainly warned Egmont and Horn of the dangers that threatened them. Alva was at pains to lull their suspicions, and then suddenly seized them both and threw them in the castle of Ghent. ”

“ William had to steer a difficult course amidst shoals and quicksands, and never did his brilliant talents as diplomatist and statesman shine more brightly. But after the sudden death of Don John he found himself face to face with an opponent of abilities equal to his own in the person of Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, appointed governor general by Philip. Farnese skilfully fomented the jealousy of the Catholic nobles of the south—the Malcontents—against the prince of Orange, and the Pacification of Ghent was henceforth doomed. ”

“ Manufacturing Industries.—The mineral resources of Holland give no encouragement to industrial activity, with the exception of the coal-mining in Limburg, the smelting of iron ore in a few furnaces in Overysel and Gelderland, the use of stone and gravel in the making of dikes and roads, and of clay in brickworks and potteries, the quarrying of stone at St Pietersberg, &c. Nevertheless the industry of the country has developed in a remarkable manner since the separation from Belgium. ”

“ During the years 1569-1572 the brothers William and Louis, the one in Germany, the other in France, were, however, actively preparing for a renewal of the struggle for the freedom of the Netherlands. The barbarities of Alva had caused Spanish rule to be universally hated, and the agents of the Nassaus were busy in the provinces rousing the spirit of resistance and trying to raise funds. In 1569 eighteen vessels provided with letters of marque from the prince of Orange were preying upon Spanish commerce in the narrow seas. ”

“ The stadholderate, the offices of captain and admiral-general, and all the ancient organization of the United Netherlands were abolished, and were transformed into the Batavian Republic, in close alliance with France. But the Dutch had soon cause to regret their revolutionary ardour. French alliance meant French domination, and participation in the wars of the Revolution. Its consequences were the total ruin of Dutch commerce, and the seizure of all the Dutch colonies by the English. Internally one change of government succeeded another ”

“ In no country in Europe has the character of the territory exercised so great an influence on the inhabitants as in the Netherlands; and, on the other hand, no people has so extensively modified the condition of its territory as the Dutch. The greatest importance attaches therefore to the physical conformation of the country.
The coast-line extends in a double curve from south-west to north-east, and is formed by a row of sand dunes, 171 m. ”

“ He had implicit trust in the advocate, his father’s faithful friend and counsellor, and for many years to come the statesman and the soldier worked in harmony together for the best interests of their country (see Oldenbarneveldt, and Maurice, prince of Orange) . At the side of Maurice, as a wise adviser, stood his cousin William Louis, stadholder of Friesland, a trained soldier and good commander in the field. ”

“ Although himself a good Catholic, Egmont had no wish to see the Spanish Inquisition established in his native country. Orange, Egmont and others were convinced that the enforcement of the decrees in the Netherlands was impossible, and, in January 1665, Egmont accepted a special mission to Spain to make known to Philip the state of affairs and the disposition of the people. At Madrid the king gave him an ostentatiously cordial reception, and all the courtiers vied with one another in lavishing professions of respect upon him. ”

“ William now felt that his struggle with Philip was a war à outrance, and knowing that the United Provinces were too weak to resist the Spanish armies unaided, he endeavoured to secure the powerful aid of France, by making the duke of Anjou sovereign of the Netherlands. Holland and Zeeland were averse to this project, and to conciliate their prejudices Orange, provisionally, and after some demur, accepted from those provinces the offer of the countship (24th of July 1581) . ”

“ To him belong the ultimate direction of foreign affairs, the power to declare war and peace, to make treaties and alliances, and to dissolve one or both chambers of parliament, the supreme command of the army and navy, the supreme administration of the state finances and of the colonies and other possessions of the kingdom, and the prerogative of mercy. By the provisions of the same constitution he establishes the ministerial departments, and shares the legislative power with the first and second chambers of parliament, which constitute the states-general and sit at the Hague. ”

“ Frederick Henry was both a great general and statesman. His only son, William, was married in 1641 to Mary, princess royal of England, he being fifteen and the princess nine years old at that date, and he succeeded to the title of prince of Orange on his father’s death in 1647. At the very outset of a promising career he suddenly succumbed to an attack of smallpox on the 6th of November 1650, his son William III. being born a week after his father’s death. ”