Holland: The History of the Netherlands

by Thomas Colley Grattan

All the local despotisms of Italy collapsed before the breath of revolution; but the country then found itself face to face with Austria. Charles Albert of Sardinia had the courage to head the revolt; but was defeated, and abdicated in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel. Venice was taken after a severe siege by the Austrians; and King Bomba managed to repossess himself of Naples, after a terrible massacre. Sicily was subdued. In the Papal States, Pio Nono was deposed; but after a time a reaction set in, the provisional government under Mazzini was overthrown, and the French occupied Rome and recalled the Pope.

The question as to the Danish or German ownership of the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein had already been agitated, and they became acute at this time; but the spirit of the new revolution had no direct bearing upon the matter. By the end of the first half of the nineteenth century, Europe was outwardly quiet once more.

And what part had Holland taken in these proceedings? A very small one. The phlegmatic Dutchmen found themselves fairly well off, and were nowise tempted to embark in troubles for sentiment's sake. The constitution given them in 1814 was revised, with the consent of the king, and the changes, which involved various political reforms, went into effect on April 17, 1848. William II. died just eleven months afterward, and was succeeded by his son William III., at that time a man of two-and-thirty. He favored the reforms granted by his father, and showed himself to be in harmony with such sober ideas of progress as belonged to the nation over which he ruled. His aim in all things was peace, and the development of the resources of the country; he understood his people, and they placed confidence in him, and Holland steadily grew in wealth and comfort. In 1853, after the establishment by the papacy of Catholic bishoprics had been allowed, there was a period of some excitement; for Roman Catholicism had found a stern and unconquerable foe in the Dutch; when it had come with the bloody tyranny of Spain. But those evil days were past, and the Dutch, who had pledged themselves to welcome religious freedom in their dominions, were disposed to let bygones be bygones, and to permit such of their countrymen as preferred the Catholic ceremonial to have their way. It was evident that no danger existed of Holland's becoming subject to the papacy; and, indeed, the immediate political sequel of the establishment of the bishoprics was the election of a moderate, liberal, Protestant cabinet, which thoroughly represented the country, and which represented its tone thereafter, with such modifications as new circumstances might suggest. The Dutch were philosophic, and were victims to no vague and costly ambitions. They felt that they had given sufficient proofs of their quality in the past; the glory which they had won as champions of liberty could never fade; and now they merited the repose which we have learned to associate with our conception of the Dutch character. Their nature seems to partake of the scenic traits of their country; its picturesque, solid serenity, its unemotional levels, its flavor of the antique: and yet beneath that composure we feel the strength and steadfastness which can say to the ocean, Thus far and no further, and can build their immaculate towns, and erect their peaceful windmills, and navigate their placid canals, and smoke their fragrant pipes on land which, by natural right, should be the bottom of the sea. Holland is a perennial type of human courage and industry, common sense and moderation. As we contemplate them to-day, it requires an effort of the imagination to picture them as the descendants of a race of heroes who defied and overcame the strongest and most cruel Power on earth in their day, and then taught the rest of Europe how to unite success in commerce with justice and honor. But the heroism is still there, and, should need arise, we need not doubt that it would once more be manifested.

Because Holland is so quiet, some rash critics fancy that she may be termed effete. But this is far from the truth. The absence of military burdens, rendered needless by the intelligent selfishness, if not the conscience, of the rest of Europe, implies no decadence of masculine spirit in the Dutch. In no department of enterprise, commercial ability, or intellectual energy are they inferior to any of their contemporaries, or to their own great progenitors. "Holland," says Professor Thorold Rogers, "is the origin of scientific medicine and rational therapeutics. From Holland came the first optical instruments, the best mathematicians, the most intelligent philosophers, as well as the boldest and most original thinkers. Amsterdam and Rotterdam held the printing presses of Europe in the early days of the republic; the Elzevirs were the first publishers of cheap editions, and thereby aided in disseminating the new learning. From Holland came the new agriculture, which has done so much for social life, horticulture and floriculture. The Dutch taught modern Europe navigation. They were the first to explore the unknown seas, and many an island and cape which their captains discovered has been renamed after some one who got his knowledge by their research, and appropriated the fruit of his predecessor's labors. They have been as much plundered in the world of letters as they have been in commerce and politics. Holland taught the Western nations finance—perhaps no great boon. But they also taught commercial honor, the last and hardest lesson which nations learn. They inculcated free trade, a lesson nearly as hard to learn, if not harder, since the conspiracy against private right is watchful, incessant, and, as some would make us believe, respectable. They raised a constant and for a long time ineffectual protest against the barbarous custom of privateering, and the dangerous doctrine of contraband of war, a doctrine which, if carried out logically, would allow belligerents to interdict the trade of the world. The Dutch are the real founders of what people call international law, or the rights of nations. They made mistakes, but they made fewer than their neighbors made. The benefits which they conferred were incomparably greater than the errors they committed. There is nothing more striking than the fact that, after a brief and discreditable episode, the states were an asylum for the persecuted. The Jews, who were condemned because they were thrifty, plundered because they were rich, and harassed because they clung tenaciously to their ancient faith and customs, found an asylum in Holland; and some of them perhaps, after they originated and adopted, with the pliability of their race, a Teutonic alias, have not been sufficiently grateful to the country which sheltered them. The Jansenists, expelled from France, found a refuge in Utrecht, and more than a refuge, a recognition, when recognition was a dangerous offence.

"There is no nation in Europe," continues the professor, "which owes more to Holland than Great Britain does. The English were for a long time, in the industrial history of modern civilization, the stupidest and most backward nation in Europe. There was, to be sure, a great age in England during the reign of Elizabeth and that of the first Stuart king. But it was brief indeed. In every other department of art, of agriculture, of trade, we learned our lesson from the Hollanders. I doubt whether any other small European race, after passing through the trials which it endured after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle to the conclusion of the continental war, ever had so entire a recovery. The chain of its history, to be sure, was broken, and can never, in the nature of things, be welded together. But there is still left to Holland the boast and the reality of her motto, 'Luctor et emergo.'"

The events of Holland's history since the Catholic concessions can be briefly told. In 1863 slavery was abolished in the Dutch West Indies, the owners being compensated; and forty-two thousand slaves were set free, chiefly in Dutch Guiana. In the same year the navigation of the Scheldt was freed, by purchase from Holland by the European powers, of the right to levy tolls. In 1867, Louis Napoleon raised the question of Luxemburg by negotiating to buy the grand duchy from Holland; but Prussia objected to the scheme, and the matter was finally settled by a Conference in London; the Prussian garrison evacuating the fortifications, which were then dismantled, and Luxemburg was declared neutral territory. Capital punishment was abolished in 1869; and on the 15th of July of the same year the Amsterdam National Exposition was opened by Prince Henry. In 1870, at the outbreak of war between Germany and France, the neutrality of Holland as to both belligerents was secured by the other Powers. In 1871 the Hollanders ceded Dutch Guinea to England, and in 1876 the canal between Amsterdam and the North Sea, which had been begun in 1865, was completed, and the passage through it was accomplished by a monitor. Another Exposition was opened in 1883, and in the same year the constitution underwent a further revision. On the 24th of June, 1884, the Prince of Orange, heir-apparent to the throne, died, and the succession thus devolved upon the princess Wilhelmina, then a child of four years. William III. himself died in 1890, and Queen Emma thereupon assumed the regency, which she was to hold until Wilhelmina came of age in 1898; an agreeable consummation which we have just witnessed.

A word may here be said concerning the physical and political constitution of the present kingdom of Holland. The country is divided into eleven provinces—North and South Holland, Zealand, North Brabant, Utrecht, Limburg, Gelderland, Overyssel, Drenthe, Groningen, and Friesland. There are three large rivers—the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. The inhabitants are Low Germans (Dutch), Frankish, Saxon, Frisian, and Jews, the latter numbering some sixty thousand, though their influence is, owing to their wealth and activity, larger than these figures would normally represent. The leading religion of the country is Lutheran; but there are also many Catholics and persons of other faiths, all of whom are permitted the enjoyment of their creeds. Holland was at one time second to no country in the extent of its colonies; and it still owns Java, the Moluccas, part of Borneo, New Guinea, Sumatra and Celebes, in the East; and in the West, Dutch Guiana and Curacoa. 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. The Semitic race is represented by the Portuguese Jews; and there is an admixture of other nationalities. In no part of the country do the Dutch present a marked physical type, but, on the other hand, they are sharply differenced, in various localities, by their laws, their customs, and particularly by their dialects; indeed the Frisians have a distinct language of their own.

The constitution of 1815, though more than once revised, remains practically much the same as at first. The son of the monarch, the heir-apparent, is called the Prince of Orange. The administration of the Provinces is in the hands of the provincial states; these meet but a few times in the year. The Communes have their communal councils, under the control of the burgomasters. There is a high court of justice, and numerous minor courts.

The population is divided between about two million two hundred thousand Protestants, and half as many Roman Catholics, together with others. There are four thousand schools, with six hundred thousand pupils, and about fourteen thousand teachers. Not more than ten per cent of the people are illiterate, and the women are as carefully educated the men. There are four great universities: Leyden, founded in 1575; Utrecht, founded in 1636; Groningen, in 1614; and Amsterdam, which has existed since 1877. These seats of learning give instruction to from three hundred to seven hundred students each. The total expenses of the universities average about six hundred thousand dollars. There are also in Holland excellent institutions of art, science, and industry.

Agriculture is generally pursued, but without the extreme science and economy shown in Belgium. The cultivation and produce vary, in part, according as the soil is sand or clay; but the same kind of soil, in different parts of the country, produces different results. Cattle are largely raised and are of first-rate quality; Friesland produces the best, but there are also excellent stocks in North Holland and South Holland. In Drenthe, owing to the extensive pasturage, great numbers of sheep are raised. But perhaps the most important industry of Holland is the fisheries, both those of the deep sea, and those carried on in the great Zuyder Zee, which occupies a vast area within the boundaries of the country. These fisheries, however, are not in all years successful, owing to the ungovernable vagaries of ocean currents, and other causes.