Willemstad

“ Willemstad is compact and tiny, with a miniature governor and palace. It is painted with all the primary colors, and, though rain seldom falls on Curaçao Island, it is as clean as though the minute before it had been washed by a spring shower and put out in the sun to dry. Saint Ann Bay, which is the harbor of Willemstad, is less of a bay than a canal. On entering it a captain from his bridge can almost see what the people in the houses on either bank are eating for breakfast. ”

“ Under the southern sun they are so brilliant, so theatrical, so unreal, that they look like the houses of a Noah’s Ark fresh from the toy shop. There are two towns: Willemstad, and, joined to it by bridges, Otrabanda. It is on the Willemstad side that the ships tie up, and where, from the deck to the steamer, one can converse quite easily with the Monsanto brothers in their drawing-room, or with the political exiles on the balconies of the Hotel Commercial. ”

“ But in Willemstad there are no particular places of interest. It is the place itself that is of interest. It is not like any other port in the world.
“It used to be,” Roddy pointed out, “that every comic opera had one act on a tropical island. Then some fellow discovered Holland, and now all comic operas run to blonde girls in patched breeches and wooden shoes, and the back drops are ‘Rotterdam, Amsterdam, any damn place at all.’ But this town combines both the ancient and modern schools. Its scene is from Miss Hook of Holland, and the girls are out of Bandanna Land.” ”

“ Willemstad is a popular resort for smugglers, who do an extensive business on the mainland, and the temporary home of a colony of exiled Venezuelan generals and colonels, who here eke out a precarious existence in the hope that one of their periodical revolutions may soon give them the eagerly desired opportunity of enjoying some of the spoils of office, that, for the time being, are monopolized by their enemies. ”

“ In the sublime tower of Saint Rombold's at Mechlin we have another late creation, though not so late as the Church of Saint Jacques at Antwerp. The foundation stone was laid on the 1st of May 1452, and they seem to have worked at it intermittently until 1583, when the stones destined to complete it were carried off to Holland by the Prince of Orange, and employed by him to build the town of Willemstad. Even in its unfinished state it is a colossal building. At its base it is fifty-three feet wide without counting the buttresses, which advance on each side to a distance of nearly fifteen feet. ”

“ Those Venezuelans who at once had set forth on their ponies to overtake the would-be assassin already had brought word of the attempt upon Colonel Vega to Willemstad, and the repose of the peaceful burgh was greatly ruffled. The arrival of the young men increased the excitement, and, though they fled to their rooms, from their balcony overlooking the wharf they could hear their driver, enthroned upon his box seat, describing the event to an intent and eager audience.
As Peter was changing into dry clothes he held his watch so that Roddy could note the hour. ”

“ In 1722 the partisans of the boy, now eleven years old, urged that he should be elected Stadtholder of the United Provinces, with the object, as I have suggested, of breaking down the supremacy of Holland, and especially of Amsterdam. But the attempt was premature, and William was for some time merely Stadtholder of Guelderland, and with very limited powers. There was, however, no doubt that most of the European monarchs were sincerely anxious that the Dutch Republic should have an hereditary chief. ”

“ The population of the province now amounted to full ten thousand. New Amsterdam was a flourishing city, containing fifteen hundred inhabitants.
This prosperity excited both the jealousy and the covetousness of the British court. The king resolved, by one bold blow, to rob Holland of all her American possessions. On the 12th of March, 1664, the king of England granted to his brother James, the Duke of York, the whole of Long Island, all the islands in its neighborhood, and all the lands and rivers from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware Bay. ”

“ I have said there are three boys in each family. You already know the Von Blooms, Hans, Hendrik, and Jan. Allow me to introduce you to the Van Wyks. Their names are Willem, Arend, and Klaas.
Willem is the eldest, and, though not yet eighteen, is quite a man in size. Willem is, in fact, a boy of very large dimensions, so large that he has received the sobriquet of “Groot Willem” (Big William) therefrom. All his companions call him “Groot Willem.” But he is strong in proportion to his size,—by far the strongest of the young yägers. He is by no means tidy in his dress. ”

“ The institution of this society was hailed with transport throughout the whole extent of the New-Netherlands; being considered a secret foothold gained in New-Amsterdam, and a flattering presage of future triumph. Whenever that society holds its annual feast, a sympathetic hilarity prevails throughout the land; ancient Pavonia sends over its contributions of cabbages and oysters; the House of the Four Chimneys is splendidly illuminated, and the traditional song of St. Nicholas, the mystic bond of union and conspiracy, is chaunted with closed doors, in every genuine Dutch family. ”

“ In the early days of the Diamond Fields, when Griqualand West, which comprises the four diamond mines of the world, was still the property of the Orange Free State, and the institutions of the place were administered by its officials, the Dutch people and language occupied a position of importance. The Dutch as a rule are highly conservative in their religious tendencies, and it can well be imagined the Dutch Reformed Church, with its synod and kirkraad, its ministers, elders and deacons was not long in following and taking care of its nomadic adherents. ”

“ In Roman times the Low Countries were inhabited by various peoples, chiefly of Germanic origin; and in the Middle Ages were divided into several duchies and counties—such as Brabant, Flanders, Gelderland, Holland, Zealand, etc. The present government is a hereditary monarchy, consisting of a king or queen and states-general; the upper chamber of fifty members, the lower of one hundred. It is essentially a country of large towns, of five thousand inhabitants and upward. The Frisians are in North Holland, separated by the river Meuse from the Franks; the Saxons extend to the Utrecht Veldt. ”

“ Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Groningen, Overyssel, and Friesland, besides three parts of Guelderland, and certain towns in Brabant and Flanders: the ground of which is, for the most part, fruitful; the towns nowhere are so equally beautiful, strong, and rich: which equality grows by reason that they appropriate some one staple commodity to every town of note; only Amsterdam not only passeth them all, but even Seville, Lisbon, or any other Mart Town in Christendom. And to it, is appropriated the trade of the East Indies, where they maintain commonly forty ships ”

“ When well-loaded ships sailed home from New Sweden, some enterprising Dutchmen, who hated the close corporation in Amsterdam, united themselves in an independent enterprise, and sent over a ship with colonists, well supplied, to settle on the Delaware.
These freemen, who were opposed to patroons and manors, arrived just at the nick of time, for the Swedes had not yet been reinforced. The first glow of excitement was over, and trade was poor. Not having enough to eat, the colonists from Sweden were about to move to Manhattan rather than starve. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Once again I explored the beauties of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Scheveningen, and the Hague, and my great regret was that I had not time to accept an invitation given me to visit the pauper colonies of Frederiksoord, Wilhelminaoord, and Wilhelmsoord, where the Dutch have made a most successful attempt to solve one of the great questions of the day. There is very little mendicancy in Holland, and pauperism is dealt with in a rational manner. ”

“ In these days, no matter how hard your heart may be, you have to sacrifice your inclinations more or less to decency. I dare say the Car of Juggernaut was a motor. Oh, what a huge town! Shall we ever get out of Pandemonium into the country?"
We did get out at last, and suddenly, for in Hollow Land the line between town and country is abrupt, with no fading of city into suburb and meadow. One moment we were in the bustle of Amsterdam; the next, we were running along a klinker road, straight as a ruler, beside a quiet canal. ”

“ The authorities of New Amsterdam were jealous of the Swedish colony. Sir William Kieft, who had succeeded Van Twiller, warned the settlers of their intrusion on Dutch territory. But the Swedes went on enlarging their borders.
9. In 1640 New Netherland became involved in a war with the Indians. New Amsterdam was soon put in a state of defense, and a company of militia was sent against the savages. On both sides the war degenerated into treachery and murder. Through the mediation of Roger Williams a truce was obtained, but was immediately broken. ”

“ 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 States-General, the nobles, and the people, resolve to defend themselves to the very last. The dykes of Muiden, which restrain the sea, are cut, and the sea, breaking in upon the land, is received with shouts of joy, as an ally and a saviour; the country around Amsterdam, the innumerable villas and flourishing villages, Delft, Leyden, and all the neighbouring cities, are inundated; everything is changed ”

“ Owing to Dutch, occupation during half a century of intense agitation, civil war and revolution, New Netherland had escaped being drawn into the maelstrom of English hates and rivalries. Indeed the Dutch settlements, and New Amsterdam in particular, had derived advantage from the troubles of the English colonies, and among the immigrants who sought an asylum from Puritan intolerance within New Netherland jurisdiction were many who proved valuable additions to the population of the province, and who helped to build up its trade and commerce, and to develop agriculture. ”

“ The population in 1620, in Holland, was about six hundred thousand, and the other provinces contained about the same number.
It is singular to observe the fertile erections of monopoly in a state founded on principles of commercial freedom. The East and West India companies, the Greenland company, and others, were successively formed. By the effect of their enterprise, industry and wealth, conquests were made and colonies founded with surprising rapidity. The town of Amsterdam, now New York, was founded in 1624 ”

“ Wilmington is a little town, about thirty English miles south-west from Philadelphia. It was founded in the year 1733. Part of it stands upon the grounds belonging to the Swedish church, which annually receives certain rents, out of which they [157] pay the minister’s salary, and employ the rest for other uses. The houses are built of stone, and look very pretty; yet they are not built close together, but large open places are left between them. The quakers have a meeting-house in this town. The Swedish church, which I intend to mention in the sequel, is half a mile out of town eastwards. ”

“ There are other artists who do honour to this their native city, but I have mentioned those of the first order, in number and reputation perfectly sufficient to establish the pretensions of Utrecht to high rank in the roll of renowned cities. I quitted this beautiful place, the prosperity of which has suffered much by the war with England, about four o’clock on a beautiful autumnal morning, and proceeded to Arnheim, which and Nimeguen, are the capital cities of Guelderland. This beautiful and valuable province contains twenty-two considerable towns, and upwards of three hundred villages. ”

“ Under the close oligarchical rule of the patrician families, who filled all offices in the town councils, the States of Holland, in which the influence of Amsterdam was dominant, and which in their turn exercised predominance in the States-General, became more and more an assembly of “shopkeepers” whose policy was to maintain peace for the sake of the commerce on which they thrived. For thirty years after the peace of Utrecht the Provinces kept themselves free from entanglement in the quarrels of Ostend East India Company. their neighbours. ”

“ In fact, one quarter of the whole kingdom, consisting of the provinces of North and South Holland, the western portion of Utrecht as far as the Vaart Rhine, Zeeland, except the southern part of Zeeland-Flanders, and the north-west part of North Brabant, lies below the Amsterdam zero; and altogether 38% of the country, or all that part lying west of a line drawn through Groningen, Utrecht and Antwerp, lies within one metre above the Amsterdam zero and would be submerged if the sea broke down the barrier of dunes and dikes. ”