Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands by Sir William Temple ...

Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands by Sir William Temple ...

Table of contents

Title page

THE PREFACE.

The Contents.

The Printer to the Reader.

ERRATA.

CHAP. I. Of the Rise and Progress of the United Provinces.

CHAP. II. Of Their GOVERNMENT.

CHAP. III. Of their Scituation.

CHAP. IV. Of their People and Dispositions.

CHAP. V. Of their RELIGION.

CHAP. VI. Of their TRADE.

CHAP. VII. Of their FORCES and REVENUES.

CHAP. VIII. The Causes of their FALL in 1672.

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OBSERVATIONS UPON THE United Provinces OF THE NETHERLANDS.

By Sir WILLIAM TEMPLE of Shene, in the County of Surrey, Baronet, Ambassador at the Hague, and at Aix la Chappellè, in the year 1668.

LONDON, Printed by A. Maxwell for Sa. Gellibrand at the Golden Ball in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1673.

THE PREFACE.

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HAving lately seen the State of the United Provinces, after a prodigious growth in Riches, Beauty, extent of Commerce, and number of Inhabitants, arrived at length to such a heighth (by the strength of their Navies, their fortified Towns and standing-Forces, with a constant Revenue proportion'd to the support of all this Greatness), As made them the Envy of some, the Fear of others, and the Wonder of all their Neighbours.

We have this Summer past, beheld the same State, in the midst of great appearing Safety, Order, Strength, and Vigor, Almost ruin'd and broken to pieces in some few days and by very few blows; And reduced in a manner to its first Principles of Weakness and [Page] Distress; Exposed, opprest, and very near at Mercy. Their Inland-Provinces swallowed up by an Invasion, almost as sudden and unresisted, as the Inundations to which the others are subject. And the remainders of their State rather kept alive by neglect or disconcert of its Enemies, than by any strength of Nature, or endeavours at its own recovery.

Now because such a Greatness, and such a Fall of this State, seem Revolutions unparallel'd in any Story, and hardly conceived even by those who have lately seen them; I thought it might be worth an idle man's time, to give some account of the Rise and Progress of this Commonwealth, The Causes of their Greatness, And the steps towards their fall: Which were all made by motions perhaps little taken notice of by common eyes, and almost undiscernable to any man that was not placed to the best advantage, and something concerned, as well as much enclin'd to observe them.

The usual Duty of Employments abroad, imposed not only by Custom, but by Orders of State, made it fit for me to prepare some formal Account of this Countrey and Government, after Two [Page] years Ambassy, in the midst of so great Conjunctures and Negotiations among them. And such a Revolution as has since happen'd there, though it may have made these Discourses little important to His Majesty, or His Council; Yet it will not have render'd them less agreeable to common eyes, who, like men that live near the Sea, will run out upon the Cliffs to gaze at it in a Storm, though they would not look out of their Windows to see it in a Calm.

Besides, at a time when the Actions of this Scene take up so generally the eyes and discourses of their Neighbours; And the Maps of their Countrey grow so much in request: I thought a Map of their State and Government would not be unwelcome to the World, since it is full as necessary as the others, To understand the late Revolutions and Changes among them. And as no man's Story can be well written till he is dead; so the account of this State could not be well given till its fall, which may justly be dated from the Events of last Summer (whatever fortunes may further attend them), since therein we have seen the sudden and violent dissolution of that more Popular Government, [Page] which had continued and made so much noise for above Twenty years in the World, without the exercise or influence of the Authority of the Princes of Orange, A part so essential in the first Constitutions of their State. Nor can I wholly lose my pains in this Adventure, when I shall gain the ease of answering this way at once, those many Questions I have lately been used to upon this occasion: Which made me first observe and wonder, how ignorant we were generally in the Affairs and Constitutions of a Countrey so much in our eye, the common road of our travels, as well as subject of our talk; and which we have been of late not only curious, but concerned to know.

I am very sensible how ill a Trade it is to write, where much is ventur'd, and little can be gain'd; since whoever does it ill, is sure of contempt, and the justliest that can be, when no man provokes him to discover his own follies, or to trouble the world. If he writes well, he raises the envy of those Wits that are possest of the Vogue, and are jealous of their Preferment there, as if it were in Love, or in State; And have found, that the nearest way to their own Reputation, [Page] lyes right, or wrong, by the derision of other men. But however, I am not in pain: for 'tis the affectation of Praise, that makes the fear of Reproach; And I write without other design than of entertaining very idle men, and among them my self. For I must confess, that being wholly useless to the Publique, And unacquainted with the cares of encreasing Riches (which busie the World): Being grown cold to the pleasures of younger or livelier men; And having ended the Entertainments of Building and Planting (which use to succeed them); Finding little taste in common Conversation; And trouble in much Reading, from the care of my eyes (since an illness contracted by many unnecessary diligences in my Employments abroad): There can hardly be found an idler man than I; Nor consequently one more excusable for giving way to such amusements as this: Having nothing to do, but to enjoy the ease of a private Life and Fortune; which as I know no man envies, so (I thank God) no man can reproach.

I am not ignorant, that the vein of Reading never run lower than in this Age; and seldom goes further than the [Page] design of raising a Stock to furnish some Calling or Conversation. The desire of Knowledg being either laught out of doors by the Wit that pleases the Age; or beaten out by Interest, that so much possesses it: And the amusement of Books giving way to the liberties or refinements of Pleasure, that were formerly less known, or less avowed than now. Yet some there will always be found in the world, who ask no more at their idle hours, than to forget themselves. And whether that be brought about by Drink or Play, by Love or Business, or by some diversions as idle as this, 'Tis all a case.

Besides, it may possibly fall out, at one time or other, that some Prince or great Minister may not be ill pleased in these kind of Memorials (upon such a Subject), to trace the steps of Trade and Riches, of Order and Power in a State; and those likewise of weak or violent Counsels, of corrupt or ill Conduct, of Faction or Obstinacy, which decay and dissolve the firmest Governments: That so by reflections upon Forreign Events, they may provide the better and the earlier against those at home, and raise their own Honour and Happiness by equal degrees with the Prosperity [Page] and Safety of the Nations they govern.

For under favour of those who would pass for Wits in our Age, by saying things which David tells us the fool said in His; And set up with bringing those Wares to Market, which (God knows) have been always in the World, though kept up in corners, because they used to mark their Owners, in former Ages, with the Names of Buffoons, Prophane or Impudent men. Who deride all Form and Order, as well as Piety and Truth; And under the notion of Fopperies, endeavour to dissolve the very Bonds of all Civil Society; Though by the favour and protection thereof, They themselves enjoy so much greater proportions of Wealth and of Pleasures, than would fall to their share if all lay in common, as they seem to design (for then such Possessions would belong of right to the strongest and bravest among us).

Vnder favour of such men, I believe it will be found at one time or other, by all who shall try, That whilst Human Nature continues what it is, The same Orders in State, The same Discipline in Armies, The same Reverence for [Page] things Sacred, And Respect of Civil Institutions, The same Virtues and Dispositions of Princes and Magistrates, derived by interest or imitation into the Customs and Humours of the people, Will ever have the same effects upon the Strength and Greatness of all Governments, and upon the Honour and Authority of those that Rule, as well as the Happiness and Safety of those that Obey.

Nor are we to think Princes themselves losers, or less entertain'd, when we see them employ their time and their thoughts in so useful Speculations, and to so glorious Ends: But that rather thereby they attain their true Prerogative of being Happier, as well as Greater than Subjects can be. For all the Pleasures of Sense that any man can enjoy, are within the reach of a private Fortune, and ordinary Contrivance; Grow fainter with age, and duller with use; Must be revived with intermissions, and wait upon the returns of Appetite, which are no more at call of the Rich, than the Poor. The slashes of Wit and good Humour that rise from the Vapours of Wine, are little different from those that proceed [Page] from the heats of blood in the first approaches of Fevers or Frenzies; And are to be valued but as (indeed) they are the effects of Distemper. But the pleasures of Imagination, as they heighten and refine the very pleasures of Sense, so they are of larger extent, and longer duration. And if the most sensual man will confess there is a Pleasure in Pleasing, He must likewise allow, there is good to a man's self in doing good to others. And the further this extends, the higher it rises, and the longer it lasts. Besides, there is Beauty in Order; and there are Charms in well-deserved Praise: And both are the greater, by how much greater the Subject; As the first appearing in a well-framed and well-governed State; And the other arising from Noble and Generous Actions. Nor can any veins of good Humour be greater than those that swell by the success of wise Counsels, and by the fortunate Events of publique Affairs; since a man that takes pleasure in doing good to Ten thousand, must needs have more, than he that takes none but in doing good to himself.

[Page]But these thoughts lead me too far, and to little purpose: Therefore I shall leave them for those I had first in my head concerning the State of the United Provinces.

And whereas the greatness of their Strength and Revenues, grew out of the vastness of their Trade, into which, Their Religion, their Manners and Dispositions, their Scituation, and the form of their Government, were the chief Ingredients. And this last had been raised partly upon an old foundation, And partly with Materials brought together by many and various Accidents; It will be necessary for the survey of this great Frame, to give some account of the Rise and Progress of their State, by pointing out the most remarkable occasions of the first, and periods of the other. To discover the Nature and Constitutions of their Government in its several parts, and the motions of it from the first and smallest wheels. To observe what is peculiar to them in their Scituation or Dispositions, And what in their Religion. To take a survey of their Trade, and the Causes of it; Of the Forces and Revenues which composed their Greatness; [Page] And the Circumstances▪ and Conjunctures which conspired to their Fall. And these are the Heads that shall make the Order and Arguments in the several parts of these Observations.

The Contents.

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CHap. I. Of the Rise and Progress of their State.

Chap. II. Of their Government.

Chap. III. Of their Scituation.

Chap. IV. Of their People and Dispositions.

Chap. V. Of their Religion.

Chap. VI. Of their Trade.

Chap. VII. Of their Forces and Revenues

Chap. VIII. Of the Causes of their fall in 1672.

The Printer to the Reader.

THE Author having not concerned himself in the publication of these Papers; It has happen'd that for want of his Care in revising the Impression, several faults are slipt in, and some such as alter the sense; For which I am to ask the Reader's pardon, and desire his trouble in correcting such as occur to me, according to the following

ERRATA.

Page 20. l 20. r. retaining, p. 25. l. 26. r executions, p. 46. l. 6. r. goes on, p. 61. l. 2. r. forming, p. 66. l. 9. r. eluded, p. 90. l. 23. r. Gecommitteerde, p. 91. l. 20. dele either, p. 124. l. 28. r. being so much, p. 173. l. 17. r. seemed.

CHAP. I. Of the Rise and Progress of the United Provinces.

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WHoever will take a view of the Rise of this Commonwealth, must trace it up as high as the first Commotions in the Seventeen Provinces, under the Dutchess of Parma's Government; and the true Causes of that more avowed and general Revolt in the Duke of Alva's time. And to find out the natural Springs of those Revolutions, must reflect upon that sort of Government under which the Inhabitants of those Provinces lived for so many Ages past, in the subjection of their several Dukes or Counts; till by Marriages, Successions, or Conquest, they came to be united in the House of Burgundy, under Philip surnamed The Good: And afterwards in that of Austria, under Philip Father of Charles [Page] the Fifth: And lastly, in the Person of that great Emperor incorporated with those vast Dominions of Germany and Spain, Italy and the Indies.

Nor will it be from the purpose upon this search, to run a little higher into the Antiquities of these Countries: For though most men are contented only to see a River as it runs by them, and talk of the changes in it as they happen; when 'tis troubled, or when clear; when it drowns the Countrey in a Flood, or forsakes it in a Drowth: Yet he that would know the nature of the water, and the Causes of those Accidents (so as to guess at their continuance or return), must find out its source, and observe with what strength it rises, what length it runs, and how many small streams fall in, and feed it to such a height, as make it either delightful or terrible to the eye, and useful or dangerous to the Countrey about it.

The Numbers and Fury of the Northern Nations under many different names, having by several Inundations broken down the whole frame of the Roman Empire, extended in their Provinces as far as the Rhine; either gave [Page] a birth, or made way for the several Kingdoms and Principalities that have since continued in the parts of Europe on this side that River, which made the ancient limits of the Gaul and German Nations. The Tract of Land which we usually call the Low-Countreys, was so wasted by the Invasions or Marches of this raging people (who past by them to greater Conquests), that the Inhabitants grew thin; and being secure of nothing they possest, fell to seek the support of their lives rather by hunting, or by violence, than by labour and industry: and thereby the grounds came to be uncultivated, and in the course of years turned either to Forrest, or Marshes; which are the two natural soyls of all desolated Lands in the more temperate Regions. For by soaking of frequent showrs, and the course of waters from the higher into lower grounds, when there is no issue that helps them to break out into a Channel, the flat Land grows to be a mixture of earth and water, and neither of common use nor passage to Man or Beast, which is call'd a Marsh. Tho higher, and so the dryer parts, moistned by the Rain, and warm'd by the Sun, [Page] shoot forth some sorts of Plants, as naturally as Bodies do some sorts of Hair; which being preserved by the desolateness of a place untrodden, as well as untill'd, grow to such Trees or Shrubs as are natural to the Soyle; and those in time producing both food and shelter for several kind of Beasts, make the sort of Countrey we call a Forest.

And such was Flanders for many years before Charlemaign's time, when the Power of the Francs having raised and establisht a great Kingdom of their own upon the entire Conquest of Gaul, Began to reduce the disorders of that Countrey to the form of a Civil, or (at least) Military Government; To make divisions and distributions of Lands and Jurisdictions, by the Bounty of the Prince, or the Services of his chief Followers and Commanders; To one of whom, a great extent of this Land was given, with the title of Forester of Flanders. This Office continued for several descents, and began to civilize the Countrey, by repressing the violence of Robbers and Spoylers, who infested the woody and fast-places, and by encouraging the milder people to fall into Civil Societies, to trust to their [Page] Industry for subsistence, to Laws for protection, and to their Arms united under the care and conduct of their Governours, for safety and defence.

In the time of Charlemaigne, as some write; or as others, in that of Charles the Bald, Flanders was erected into a County, which changed the Title of Forester for that of Count, without interrupting the Succession.

VVhat the extent of this County was at first, or how far the Jurisdiction of Foresters reached, I cannot affirm; nor whether it only bordered upon, or included the lower parts of the vast VVoods of Ardenne, which in Charlemaign's time was all Forest as high as Aix and the rough Countrey for some Leagues beyond it, and was used commonly by that Emperor for his Hunting: This appears by the ancient Records of that City, which attribute the discovery, or at least retrieving the knowledg of those hot Baths, to the fortune of that Prince while he was Hunting: For his Horse poching one of his legs into some hollow ground, made way for the smoaking water to break out, and gave occasion for the Emperors building that City, and making [Page] it his usual Seat, and the place of Coronation for the following Emperors.

Holland being an Island made by the dividing-branches of the ancient Rhyne, and called formerly Batavia, was esteemed rather a part of Germany, than Gaul (between which it was seated), in regard of its being planted by the Catti, a great and ancient people of Germany, and was treated by the Romans rather as an Allied than Subjected Province; who drew from thence no other Tribute besides Bands of Soldiers, much esteemed for their Valour, and joined as Auxiliaries to their Legions in their Gallick, German, and British VVars.

'Tis probable this Island changed in a great measure Inhabitants and Customs, as well as Names, upon the inroads of the barbarous Nations, but chiefly of the Normans and Danes, from whose Countreys and Language the Names of Holland and Zealand seem to be derived. But about the year 860, a Son of the Count of Frize, by a Daughter of the Emperor Lewis the second, was by him instituted Count of Holland, and gave beginning to that Title; which running since that time through so many [Page] direct or collateral Successions and some Usurpations, ended at last in Philip the second, King of Spain, by the defection of the United Provinces.

Under these first Foresters, and Counts, who began to take those wasted Countreys and mixed People into their care, and to intend the growth, strength and riches of their Subjects, which they esteemed to be their own; Many old and demolisht Castles were re-built, many new ones erected, and given by the Princes to those of their Subjects or Friends whom they most loved or esteemed, with large circuits of Lands for their support, and Seigneurial Jurisdiction over the Inhabitants. And this upon several easie Conditions, but chiefly of attendance on their Prince at the necessary times of either honouring him in Peace, or serving him in VVar. Nay possibly, some of these Seigneuries and their Jurisdictions, may, as they pretend, have been the remains of some old Principalities in those Countreys among the Gallick and German Nations, the first Institutions whereof were lost in the immensity of time that preceded the Roman Discoveries or Conquest, and might be derived perhaps from the first [Page] Paternal dominion or concurrence of loose people into orderly Neighbourhoods, with a deference, if not subjection to the wisest or bravest among them.

Under the same Counts were either founded or restored many Cities and Towns; of which the old had their ancient Freedoms and Jurisdictions confirmed, or others annexed; and the New had either the same granted to them by example of the others; or great Immunities and Priviledges for the encouragement of Inhabitants to come and people in them: All these Constitutions agreeing much in substance perhaps by imitation, or else by the agreeing-nature of the people for whom or by whom they were framed; but differing in form according to the difference of their Original, or the several Natures, Customs and Interests of the Princes, whose Concessions many of them were, and all their Permissions.

Another Constitution which entered deep into their Government, may be derived from another source. For those Northern Nations whose unknown Language and Countrey perhaps made them be called Barbarous (though indeed almost all Nations out of Italy and [Page] Greece were stiled so by the Romans), but whose Victories in obtaining new Seats, and Orders in possessing them, might make us allow them for a better polici'd people than they appeared by the vastness of their Multitude, or the rage of their Battels.

VVherever they past, and seated their Colonies and Dominions, they left a Constitution which has since been called in most European Languages, The States; consisting of Three Orders, Noble, Ecclesiastical, and Popular, under the limited Principality of one Person, with the stile of King, Prince, Duke, or Count. The remainders at least, or traces hereof, appear still in all the Principalities founded by those people in Italy, France, and Spain; and were of a piece with the present Constitutions in most of the great Dominions on t'other side the Rhyne: And it seems to have been a temper first introduced by them between the Tyranny of the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Liberty of the Grecian or Roman Commonwealths.

'Tis true, the Goths were Gentiles when they first broke into the Roman Empire, till one great swarm of this [Page] people, upon treaty with one of the Roman Emperors, and upon Concessions of a great Tract of Land to be a Seat for their Nation, embraced at once the Christian Faith. After which, the same people breaking out of the limits had been allowed them, and by fresh numbers bearing all down where they bent their march; as they were a great means of propagating Religion in many parts of Europe where they extended their Conquests; so the zeal of these new Proselytes, warmed by the veneration they had for their Bishops and Pastors, and enriched by the spoyls and possessions of so vast Countreys, seem to have been the First that introduced the maintenance of the Churches and Clergy, by endowments of Lands, Lordships and Vassals, appropriated to them: For before this time the Authority of the Priesthood in all Religions seemed wholly to consist in the peoples opinion of their Piety, Learning and Virtues, or a reverence for their Character and Mystical Ceremonies and Institutions; their Support, or their Revenues, in the voluntary Oblations of pious men, the Bounty of Princes, or in a certain share out [Page] of the Labours and Gains of those who lived under their Cure, and not in any subjection of mens Lives or Fortunes, which belonged wholly to the Civil Power: And Ammianus, though he taxes the Luxury of the Bishops in Valentinian's time; yet he speaks of their Riches which occasioned or fomented it, as arising wholly from the Oblations of the people. But the Devotion of these new Christians introducing this new form of endowing their Churches; and afterwards Pepin and Charlemaign, King of the Franks, upon their Victories in Italy, and the favour of the Roman Bishop to their Title and Arms, having annexed great Territories and Jurisdictions to that See; This Example or Custom was followed by most Princes of the Northern Races through the rest of Europe, and brought into the Clergy great possessions of Lands, and by a necessary consequence a great share of Temporal Power, from the dependances of their Subjects or Tenants; by which means they came to be generally one of the Three Orders that composed the Assembly of the States in every Countrey.

This Constitution of the States had [Page] been establisht from time immemorial in the several Provinces of the Low-Countreys, and was often assembled for determining Disputes about succession of their Princes, where doubtful or contested; For deciding those between the great Towns; For raising a Milice for the defence of their Countreys in the wars of their Neighbours; For Advice in time of Dangers abroad, or Discontents at home; But always upon the new Succession of a Prince, and upon any new Impositions that were necessary on the people. The use of this Assembly was another of those Liberties whereof the Inhabitants of these Provinces were so fond and so tenacious. The rest, besides those ancient Priviledges already mentioned of their Towns, were Concessions and Graces of several Princes, in particular Exemptions or Immunities, Jurisdiction both in choice and exercise of Magigistracy and Civil Judicature within themselves; or else in the customs of using none but Natives in Charges and Offices, and passing all weighty Affairs by the great Council composed of the great Lords of the Countrey, who were in a manner all Temporal, there being [Page] but three Bishops in all the Seventeen Provinces, till the time of Philip the second of Spain.

The Revenues of these Princes consisted in their ancient Demesnes, in small Customs (which yet grew considerable by the greatness of Trade in the Maritime Towns), and in the voluntary Contributions of their Subjects, either in the States, or in particular Cities, according to the necessities of their Prince, or the affections of the people. Nor were these frequent; for the Forces of these Counts were composed of such Lords who either by their Governments, or other Offices; or by the tenure of their Lands, were obliged to attend their Prince on Horse-back, with certain numbers of men, upon all his wars: or else of a Milice, which was call'd Les gens d' ordonnance, who served on foot, and were not unlike our Train-bands; the use, or at least stile whereof, was renewed in Flanders upon the last VVar with France in 1667, when the Count Egmont was made by the Governour, General de gens d' ordonnance.

These Forces were defrayed by the Cities or Countreys, as the others were [Page] raised by the Lords when occasion required; and all were licensed immediately when it was past, so that they were of little charge to the Prince. His wars were but with other Princes of his own size, or Competitors to his Principality; or sometimes with the Mutineys of his great Towns: Short, though violent; and decided by one Battel or Siege; unless they fell into the quarrels between England and France, and then they were engaged but in the skirts of the VVar, the gross of it being waged between the two Kings, and these smaller Princes made use of for the credit of Alliance, or sometimes the commodiousness of a Diversion, rather than for any great weight they made in the main of the Affair.

The most frequent VVars of the Counts of Holland, were with the Frisons, a part of the old Saxons; and the fiercest battels of some of the Counts of Flanders, were with the Normans, who past that way into France, and were the last of those Nations that have infested the more Southern parts of Europe. I have sometimes thought, how it should have come to pass, that the infinite swarm of that vast Northern-Hive, [Page] which so often shook the world like a great Tempest, and overflowed it like a great Torrent; changing Names, and Customs, and Government, and Language, and the very face of Nature, wherever they seated themselves; which upon record of story, under the name of Gauls, pierced into Greece and Italy, sacking Rome, and besieging the Capitol in Camillus his time; under that of the Cimbers, marcht through France to the very confines of Italy, defended by Marius; under that of Huns or Lombards, Visigoths, Goths, and Vandals, conquered the whole Forces of the Roman Empire, sackt Rome thrice in a small compass of years; seated their Kingdoms in Spain and Africk, as well as Lombardy; and under that of Danes or Normans, possest themselves of England, a great part of France, and even of Naples and Sicily: How (I say) these Nations, which seemed to spawn in every Age, and at some intervals of time discharged their own native Countreys of so vast Numbers, and with such terror to the world, should about seven or eight hundred years ago leave off the use of these furious expeditions, as if on a sudden [Page] they should have grown barren, or tame, or better contented with their own ill Climates. But I suppose we owe this benefit wholly to the growth and progress of Christianity in the North; by which, early and undistinguisht Copulation, or multitude of VVives, were either restrained or abrogated; By the same means Learning and Civility got footing among them in some degree, and enclosed certain Circuits of those vast Regions, by the distinctions and bounds of Kingdoms, Principalities, or Commonalties. Men began to leave their wilder lives, spent without other cares or pleasures than of Food, or of Lust; and betook themselves to the ease and entertainment of Societies: VVith Order and Labour, Riches began, and Trade followed; and these made way for Luxury, and that for many Diseases or ill habits of body, which, unknown to the former and simpler Ages, began to shorten and weaken both Life and Procreation. Besides, the divisions and circles of Dominion, occasioned VVars between the several Nations, though of one Faith; and those of the Poles, Hungarians, and Muscovites, with the Turks or Tartars, [Page] made greater slaughters; and by these Accidents I suppose the Numbers of those fertil Broods have been lessened, and their Limits in a measure confined; and we have had thereby for so long together in these parts of the world, the honour and liberty of drawing our own blood, upon the quarrels of Humour or Avarice, Ambition or Pride, without the assistance or need of any Barbarons Nations to destroy us.

But to end this disgression, and return to the Low-Countreys, where the Government lasted in the form and manner described (though in several Principalities), till Philip of Burgundy, in whom all the Seventeen Provinces came to be united.

By this great extent of a populous Countrey, and the mighty growth of Trade in Bruges, Gant, and Antwerp, attributed by Comines to the goodness of the Princes, and ease and safety of the people; both Philip and his Son Charles the Hardy, found themselves a Match for France, then much weakned, as well by the late wars of England, as the Factions of their Princes. And in the wars with France, was the House of Burgundy under Charles and Maximilian [Page] of Austria (who married his Daughter and Heir), and afterwards under Charles the Fifth, their Grandchild, almost constantly engaged; the course, successes, and revolutions whereof are commonly known.

Philip of Burgundy, who began them, was a good and wise Prince, lov'd by his Subjects and esteemed by his Enemies; and took his measures so well, that upon the declining of the English Greatness abroad, by their Dissentions at home, he ended his quarrels in France, by a Peace with Safety and Honour. So that he took no pretence from his Greatness, or his VVars, to change any thing in the Forms of his Government: But Charles the Hardy, engaged more rashly against France and the Switzers, began to ask greater and frequent Contributions of his Subjects; which gain'd at first by the credit of his Father's Government and his own great Designs, but spent in an unfortunate VVar, made his people discontented and him disesteemed, till he ended an unhappy life, by an untimely death, in the Battel of Nancy.

In the time of Maximilian, several German-troops were brought down into [Page] Flanders for their defence against France; and in that of Charles the Fifth, much greater Forces of Spaniards and Italians, upon the same occasion; a thing unknown to the Low-Countrey-men in the time of their former Princes. But through the whole course of this Emperor's Reign, who was commonly on the fortunate hand, his Greatness and Fame encreasing together, either diverted or suppressed any discontents of his Subjects upon the encrease of their Payments, or the grievance of so many Forreign Troops among them. Besides, Charles was of a gentle and a generous nature; and being born in the Low-Countreys, was naturally kind and easie to that people, whose Customs and Language he always used when he was among them, and employed all their great men in the Charges of his Court, his Government, or his Armies, through the several parts of his vast Dominions; so that upon the last great Action of his life, which was the resignation of his Crowns to his Son and Brother, He left to Philip the Second, the Seventeen Provinces, in a condition as Peaceable, and as Loyal, as either Prince or Subjects could desire.

[Page] Philip the Second coming to the possession of so many and great Dominions, about the year 1556, after some trial of good and ill fortune in the War with France (which was left him by his Father like an encumbrance upon a great Estate), restored by the Peace of Cambrey not only the quiet of his own Countreys, but in a manner of all Christendom, which was in some degree or other engaged in the quarrel of these Princes. After this he resolved to return into Spain, and leave the Low-Countreys under a subordinate Government, which had been till Charles the Fifth's time the constant Seat of their Princes, and shar'd the Presence of that great Emperor with the rest of his Dominions. But Philip a Spaniard born, receiving from the Climate or Education of that Countrey, the Severeness and Gravity of the Nation, which the Flemings called Reservedness and Pride; Conferring the Offices of his House, and the Honour of his Council and Confidence, upon Spaniards, and thereby introducing their Customs, Habits, and Language, into the Court of Flanders. Continuing, after the peace, those Spanish and Italian Forces, and [Page] the demand of Supplies from the States, which the War had made necessary, and the easier supported; He soon left off being lov'd, and began to be feared by the Inhabitants of those Provinces.

But Philip the Second thought it not agreeing with the Pomp and Greatness of the House of Austria, already at the head of so mighty Dominions; nor with his Designs of a yet greater Empire, to consider the Discontents or Grievances of so small a Countrey; nor to be limited by their ancient Forms of Government: And therefore at his departure for Spain, and substitution of his natural Sister the Dutchess of Parma, for Governess of the Low-Countreys, assisted by the Ministry of Granvell; He left her instructed to continue the Forreign Troops, and the demand of money from the States for their support, which was now by a long course of War grown customary among them, and the Sums only disputed between the Prince and the States: To establish the Fourteen Bishops, he had agreed with the Pope, should be added to the Three that were anciently in the Low-Countreys, To revive the Edicts of Charles the Fifth against Luther, publish't [Page] in a Diet of the Empire about the year 1550, but eluded in the Low-Countreys even in that Emperor's time; and thereby to make way for the Inquisition with the same course it had received in Spain; of which the Lutherans here, and the Moors there, were made an equal pretence. And these Points, as they came to be owned and executed, made the first Commotions of mens minds in the Provinces.

The hatred of the people against the Spaniards, and the Insolencies of those Troops, with the charge of their support, made them look't upon by the Inhabitants in general, as the Instruments of their Oppression and Slavery, and not of their Defence, when a general Peace had left them no Enemies: And therefore the States began here their Complaints, with a general Consent and Passion of all the Nobles, as well as Towns and Countrey. And upon the Delays that were contrived, or fell in; the States first refused to raise any more moneys either for the Spaniards pay, or their own standing-Troops; and the people run into so great despair, that in Zealand they absolutely gave over [Page] the working at their Digues, suffering the Sea to gain every Tide upon the Countrey; and resolving (as they said) rather to be devoured by that Element, than by the Spanish Soldiers: So that after many Disputes and Intrigues between the Governess and the Provinces, the King upon her Remonstrances was induced to their removal; which was accordingly performed with great joy and applause of the people.

The erecting of Fourteen new Bishops Sees, raised the next Contest. The great Lords lookt upon this Innovation as a lessening of their Power, by introducing so many new men into the great Council. The Abbots (out of whose Lands they were to be endowed) pleaded against it as a violent usurpation upon the Rights of the Church, and the Will of the Dead, who had given those Lands to a particular use. The Commons murmured at it as a new degree of Oppression upon their Conscience or Liberty, by the erecting so many new Spiritual Courts of Judicature, and so great a number of Judges, being Seventeen for Three, that were before in the Countrey; and those depending absolutely [Page] upon the Pope, or the King. And all men declaimed against it as a breach of the Kings Oath at his accession to the Government, for the preserving the Church and the Laws in the same state he found them. However, this Point was gain'd intirely by the Governess, and carried over the head of all opposition, though not without leaving a general discontent.

In the midst of these ill Humours stirring in Flanders, the Wars of Religion breaking out in France, drove great numbers of Calvinists into all those parts of the Low-Countreys that confine upon France, as the Troubles of Germany had before of Lutherans into the Provinces about the Rhyne; and the Persecutions under Queen Mary, those of the Church of England into Flanders and Brabant, by the great commerce of this Kingdom with Bruges and Antwerp.

These Accidents and Neighbourhoods filled these Countreys in a small tract of time with swarms of the Reformed Professors: And the admiration of their Zeal, the opinion of their Doctrine and Piety, the compassion of their Sufferings, the infusion of their [Page] Discontents, or the Humour of the Age, gain'd them every day many Proselytes in the Low-Countreys, some among the Nobles, many among the Villages, but most among the Cities, whose Trade and Riches were much encreased by these new Inhabitants; and whose Interest thereby, as well as Conversation, drew them on to their favour.

This made work for the Inquisition, though moderately exercised by the prudence and temper of the Governess, mediating between the rigor of Granvell, in straining up to the highest his Master's Authority and the execution of his Commands upon all occasions; And the resoluteness of the Lords of the Provinces, to temper the King's Edicts, and protect the Liberties of their Countrey against the admission of this New and Arbitrary Judicature, unknown to all ancient Laws and Customs of the Countrey; and for that, not less odious to the people, than for the cruelty of their executions. For before the Inquisition, the care of Religion was in the Bishops; and before that, in the Civil Magistrates throughout the Provinces.

[Page]Upon angry Debates in Council, but chiefly upon the universal Ministry of Granvell, a Burgundian of mean birth, grown at last to be a Cardinal; and more famous for the greatness of his Parts, than the goodness of his Life. The chief Lords of the Countrey (among whom the Prince of Orange, Counts Egmont and Horn, the Marquess of Bergen and Montigny, were most considerable) grew to so violent and implacable a hatred of the Cardinal (whether from Passion or Interest), which was so universally spread through the whole Body of the People, either by the Causes of it, or the Example; That the Lords first refused their attendance in Council, protesting, Not to endure the sight of a man so absolute there, and to the ruin of their Countrey: And afterwards petitioned the King in the name of the whole Countrey, for his removal: Upon the delay whereof and the continuance of the Inquisition, the people appeared upon daily occasions and accidents, heated to that degree, as threatned a general Combustion in the whole Body, when ever the least Flame should break out in any part.

[Page]But the King at length consented to Granvell's recess, by the opinion of the Dutchess of Parma, as well as the pursuit of the Provinces: Whereupon the Lords reassumed their places in Council; Count Egmont was sent into Spain to represent the Grievances of the Provinces; and being favourably dispatcht by the King, especially by remitting the rigor of the Edicts about Religion, and the Inquisition; All noise of discontent and tumult was appeased, the Lords were made use of by the Governess in the Council, and conduct of Affairs; and the Governess was by the Lords both obeyed and honoured.

In the beginning of the year 1565, there was a Conference at Bayonne between Katharine Queen-Mother of France, and her Son Charles the Ninth (though very young), with his Sister Isabella Queen of Spain: In which no other person but the Duke of Alva interven'd, being deputed thither by Philip, who excused his own presence, and thereby made this Enterview pass for an effect or expression of kindness between the Mother and her Children. Whether great Resolutions are the more [Page] suspected, where great Secresie is observed; or it be true, what the Prince of Orange affirmed to have by accident discovered, That the extirpation of all Families which should profess the New Religion in the French or Spanish Dominions, was here agreed on, with mutual assistance of the two Crowns; 'Tis certain, and was owned, that Matters of Religion were the subject of that Conference; and that soon after, in the same year, came Letters from King Philip to the Dutchess of Parma, disclaiming the Interpretation which had been given to his Letters by Count Egmont; declaring, His Pleasure was, That all Hereticks should be put to death without remission: That the Emperor's Edicts, and the Councel of Trent, should be published and observed; and commanding, That the utmost Assistance of the Civil Power should be given to the Inquisition.

When this was divulged, at first, the astonishment was great throughout their Provinces; but that soon gave way to their Rage, which began to appear in their Looks, in their Speeches, their bold Meetings and Libels; and was [Page] encreased by the miserable spectacles of so many Executions upon account of Religion. The Constancy of the Sufferers, and Compassion of the Beholders, conspiring generally to lessen the opinion of Guilt or Crime, and highten a detestation of the Punishment and Revenge, against the Authors of that Counsel, of whom the Duke of Alva was esteemed the Chief.

In the beginning of the year 1566, began an open Mutiny of the Citizens in many Towns, hindring Executions, and forcing Prisons and Officers; and this was followed by a Confederacy of the Lords, Never to suffer the Inquisition in the Low-Countreys, as contrary to all Laws, both Sacred and Prophane, and exceeding the Cruelty of all former Tyrannies. Upon which all resolutions of Force or Rigor grew unsafe for the Government, now too weak for such a revolution of the people; and on the other side, Brederode in confidence of the general Favour, came in the head of Two hundred Gentlemen, thorow the Provinces to Brussels, and in bold terms petitioned the Governess for abolishing the Inquisition, and Edicts about Religion; and [Page] that new ones should be fram'd by a Convention of the States.

The Governess was forced to use gentle Remedies to so violent a Disease; to receive the Petition without show of the resentment she had at heart, and to promise a representation of their Desires to the King; which was accordingly done: But though the King was startled with such consequences of his last Commands, and at length induced to recall them; yet whether by the slowness of his nature, or the forms of the Spanish Court, the Answer came too late: and as all his former Concessions, either, by delay or testimonies of ill-will or meaning in them, had lost the good grace; so this lost absolutely the effect, and came into the Low-Countreys when all was in flame by an insurrection of the meaner people through many great Towns of Flanders, Holland, and Utrecht; who fell violently upon the spoyl of Churches, and destruction of Images, with a thousand circumstances of barbarous and brutish fury; which with the Institution of Consistories and Magistrates in each Town among those of the Reformed Profession, with publike [Page] Confederacies and Distinctions, and private Contributions agreed upon for the support of their common Cause, gave the first date in this year of 1566, to the revolt of the Low-Countreys.

But the Nobility of the Countrey, and the richest of the people in the Cities, though unsatisfied with the Government, yet feeling the Effects, and abhorring the Rage of Popular Tumults, as the worst mischief that can befall any State; And encouraged by the arrival of the King's Concessions, began to unite their Councels and Forces with those of the Governess, and to employ themselves both with great Vigor and Loyalty, for suppressing the late Insurrections that had seized upon many, and shaked most of the Cities of the Provinces; in which the Prince of Orange, and Count Egmont, were great Instruments, by the authority of their great Charges (One being Governour of Holland and Zealand, and the other of Flanders); but more by the general love and confidence of the people; Till by the reducing Valenciens, Maestricht, and the Burse, by Arms; The submission of [Page] Antwerp and other Towns; The defection of Count Egmont from the Councels of the Confederate Lords (as they were called); The retreat of the Prince of Orange into Germany; and the death of Brederode, with the news and preparations of King Philip's sudden journey into the Low-Countreys, as well as the Prudence and Moderation of the Dutchess in governing all these circumstances; The whole Estate of the Provinces was perfectly restored to its former Peace, Obedience, and at least Appearance of Loyalty.

King Philip, whether having never really decreed his journey into Flanders, or diverted by the pacification of the Provinces, and apprehension of the Moors rebelling in Spain, or a distrust of his Son Prince Charles his violent Passions and Dispositions, or the expectation of what had been resolved at Bayonne, growing ripe for execution in France, gave over the discourse of seeing the Low-Countreys; But at the same time took up the resolution for dispatching the Duke of Alva thither at the head of an Army of Ten thousand Veterane Spanish, and Italian Troops, for the assistance of the [Page] Governess, the execution of the Laws, the suppressing and punishment of all who had been Authors or Fomentors of the late Seditions.

This Result was put suddenly in execution, though wholly against the Advice of the Dutchess of Parma in Flanders, and the Duke of Feria (one of the chief Ministers) in Spain: Who thought the present Peace of the Provinces ought not to be invaded by new occasions; nor the Royal Authority lessened, by being made a party in a War upon his Subjects; nor a Minister employed where he was so professedly both hating and hated, as the Duke of Alva in the Low-Countreys.

But the King was unmovable; so that in the end of the year 1567, the Duke of Alva arrived there with an Army of Ten thousand, the best Spanish and Italian Soldiers, under the Command of the choicest Officers which the Wars of Charles the Fifth, or Philip the Second, had bred up in Europe; which with Two thousand Germans the Dutchess of Parma had raised in the last Tumults; and under the Command of so Old and Renowned [Page] a General as the Duke of Alva, made up a Force, which nothing in the Low-Countreys could look in the face with other eyes, than of Astonishment, Submission, or Despair.

Upon the first report of this Expedition, the Trading-people of the Towns and Countrey began in vast numbers to retire out of the Provinces; so as the Dutchess wrote to the King, That in few days above a Hundred thousand men had left the Countrey, and withdrawn both their Money and Goods, and more were following every day: So great antipathy there ever appears between Merchants and Soldiers; whilst one pretends to be safe under Laws, which the other pretends shall be subject to his Sword and his Will. And upon the first Action of the Duke of Alva after his arrival, which was the seizing Count Egmont and Horn, as well as the suspected death of the Marquess of Berghen, and imprisonment of Montigny in Spain (whither some Months before, they had been sent with Commission and Instructions from the Dutchess), she immediately desired leave of the King to retire out of the Low-Countreys.

[Page]This was easily obtained, and the Duke of Alva invested in the Government, with Powers never given before to any Governour: A Council of Twelve was erected for tryal of all Crimes committed against the King's Authority, which was called by the people The Council of Blood. Great numbers were condemned and executed by Sentence of this Council, upon account of the late Insurrections; More by that of the Inquisition, against the parting-advice of the Dutchess of Parma, and the Exclamations of the people at those Illegal Courts. The Towns stomached the breach of their Charters, the people of their Liberties, the Knights of the Golden-Fleece the Charters of their Order, by these new and odious Courts of Judicature; All complain of the disuse of the States, of the introduction of Armies, but all in vain: The King was constant to what he had determined; Alva was in his nature cruel and inexorable; the new Army was fierce and brave, and desirous of nothing so much as a Rebellion in the Countrey; The people were enraged, but awed and unheaded; All was Seizure and Process, Confiscation, [Page] and Imprisonment, Blood and Horror, Insolence and Dejection, punishments executed, and meditated Revenge: The smaller Branches were lopt off apace; the great ones were longer a hewing down. Count Egmont and Horne, lasted several Months; but at length in spight of all their Services to Charles the Fifth, and to Philip; as well as of their new Merits in the quieting of the Provinces, and of so great Supplications and Intercessions as were made in their favour both in Spain and in Flanders, They were publikely beheaded at Brussels, which seemed to break all patience in the people; and by their end, to give those Commotions a beginning, which cost Europe so much Blood, and Spain a great part of the Low-Countrey-Provinces.

After the process of Egmont and Horne, the Prince of Orange, who was retired into Germany, was summoned to his Trial for the same Crimes of which the others had been accused; and upon his not appearing, was condemned, proclaimed Traytor, and his whole Estate (which was very great in the Provinces, and in Burgundy) seized upon as forfeited to the King. [Page] The Prince treated in this manner while he was quiet and unarmed in Germany, employs all his Credit with those Princes engaged to him by Alliance, or by common fears of the House of Austria; throws off all obedience to the Duke of Alva, raises Forces, joyns with great numbers flocking to him out of the Provinces; All enraged at the Duke of Alva's cruel and arbitrary Government, and resolved to revenge the Count Egmont's death (who had ever been the Darling of the people). With these Troops he enters Freizland, and invades the outward parts of Brabant, receives succours from the Protestants of France then in arms under the Prince of Conde: And after many various Encounters and Successes, by the great Conduct of Alva and Valour of his Veterane Army, being hindred from seizing upon any Town in Brabant (which both of them knew would shake the fidelity of the Provinces), he is at length forced to break up his Army, and to retire into Germany. Hereupon Alva returns in Triumph to Brussels; and, as if he had made a Conquest instead of a Defence, causes out of the Cannon taken from Lewis [Page] of Nassau, his Statue to be cast in Brass, treading and insulting upon two smaller Statues that represented the Two Estates of the Low-Countreys; And this to be erected in the Cittadel he had built at Antwerp for the absolute subjecting of that rich, populous, and mutinous Town.

Nothing had raised greater indignation among the Flemings, than the publique sight and ostentation of this Statue; and the more, because they knew the boast to be true, finding their ancient Liberties and Priviledges (the Inheritance of so many Ages, or Bounty of so many Princes) all now prostrate before this one man's Sword and Will, who from the time of Charles the Fifth had ever been esteemed an Enemy of their Nation, and Author of all the Counsels for the absolute subduing their Countrey.

But Alva mov'd with no Rumours, terrifi'd with no Threats from a broken and unarmed people, and thinking no Measures nor Forms were any more necessary to be observed in the Low-Countreys; pretends greater sums are necessary for the pay and reward of his Victorious Troops, than were [Page] annually granted upon the King's Request, by the States of the Provinces: And therefore demands a general Tax of the Hundredth part of every man's Estate in the Low-Countreys, to be raised at once: And for the future, the Twentieth of all Immovables, and the Tenth of all that was sold.

The States with much reluctancy consent to the first as a thing that ended at once; but refused the other two, alledging the poverty of the Provinces, and the ruin of Trade. Upon the Duke's persisting, they petition the King by Messengers into Spain, but without redress; draw out the year in Contests, sometimes stomachful, sometimes humble with the Governour; Till the Duke impatient of further delay, causes the Edict, without consent of the States, to be published at Brussels. The people refuse to pay, the Soldiers begin to levy by force; the Townsmen all shut up their Shops; the people in the Countrey forbear the Market, so as not so much as Bread or Meat is to be bought in the Town. The Duke is enraged, and calls the Soldiers to arms, and commands several of the Inhabitants, who refused the [Page] payments, to be hanged that very night upon their Sign-posts; Which nothing moves the Obstinacy of the people. And now the Officers and the Guards are ready to begin the Executions, when news comes to Town of the taking of the Briel by the Geusses, and of the expectation that had given of a sudden Revolt in the Province of Holland.

This unexpected blow struck the Duke of Alva; and foreseeing the consequences of it, because he knew the Stubble was dry, and now he found the Fire was fallen in, He thought it an ill time to make an end of the Tragedy in Brabant, whilst a new Scene was ready in Holland; and so giving over for the present his Taxes and Executions, applies his thoughts to the suppression of this new Enemy that broke in upon him from the Sea; and for that reason the bottom and reach of the Design as well as the nature and strength of their Forces, were to the Duke the less known, and the more suspected. Now because this seizure of the Briel began the second great Commotion of the Low-Countreys in 1570; and that which indeed never [Page] ended but in the loss of those Provinces, where the death of the Spanish and Royal Government, gave life to a new Commonwealth; It will be necessary to know what sort of men, and by what Accidents united, and by what Fears or Hopes emboldned, were the first Authors of this Adventure.

Upon Brederod's delivering a Petition to the Dutchess of Parma, against the Inquisition, and for some liberty in point of Religion; Those persons which attended him, looking mean in their Clothes and their Garb, were called by one of the Courtiers at their entrance into the Palace, Gueses, which signifies Beggars; a Name though raised by chance or by scorn, yet affected by the Party as an Expression of Humility and Distress, and used ever after by both sides as a Name of distinction, comprehending all who dissented from the Roman Church, how different soever in opinion among themselves.

These men spread in great numbers through the whole extent of the Provinces, by the accidents and dispositions already mentioned; After the appeasing of their first Sedition, were broken in their common Counsels; and [Page] by the Cruelty of the Inquisition, and Rigor of Alva, were in great multitudes forced to retire out of the Provinces, at least such as had means or hopes of subsisting abroad: Many of the poorer and more desperate, fled into the Woods of the upper Countreys (where they are thick and wild), and liv'd upon spoil; and in the first descent of the Prince of Orange his Forces, did great mischiefs to all scatter'd parties of the Duke of Alva's Troops in their march through those parts. But after that attempt of the Prince ended without success, and he was forced back into Germany; the Count of Marcke; a violent and implacable Enemy to the Duke of Alva and his Government, with many others of the broken Troops (whom the same fortune and disposition had left together in Friezland), mann'd out some Ships of small force, and betook themselves to Sea; and with Commissions from the Prince of Orange, began to prey upon all they could master, that belonged to the Spaniards. They sometimes sheltered and watered, and sold their Prizes in some Crekes or small Harbours of England, though forbidden [Page] by Queen Elizabeth (then in peace with Spain); sometimes in the River Ems, or some small ports of Friezland; till at length, having gain'd considerable Riches by these Adventures; whether to sell, or to refresh; whether driven by storm, or led by design (upon knowledg of the ill blood which the new Taxes had bred in all the Provinces) they landed in the Island of the Briel, assaulted and carried the Town, pull'd down the Images in the Churches, professed openly their Religion, declared against the Taxes and Tyranny of the Spanish Government, and were immediately followed by the revolt of most of the Towns of Holland, Zealand, and West-Friezland, who threw out the Spanish Garrisons, renounced their obedience to King Philip, and swore Fidelity to the Prince of Orange.

The Prince returned out of Germany with new Forces; and making use of this fury of the people, contented himself not with Holland and Zealand, but marcht up into the very heart of the Provinces, within five Leagues of Brussels, seizing upon Mechlin, and many other Towns, with so great Consent, Applause, and Concourse [Page] of people, that the whole Spanish Dominions seemed now ready to expire in the Low-Countreys, if it had not been revived by the Massacre of the Protestants at Paris; which contrived by joynt Councels with King Philip ▪ and acted by a Spanish party in the Court of France, and with so fatal a blow to the contrary Faction, encouraged the Duke of Alva, and dampt the Prince of Orange in the same degree; so that one gathers strength enough to defend the heart of the Provinces, and the other retires into Holland, and makes that the seat of the War.

This Countrey was strong by its nature and seat among the Waters that encompass and divide it; but more by a rougher sort of people at that time, less softned by Trade, or by Riches; less used to Grants of Money and Taxes; and proud of their ancient Fame recorded in the Roman Stories, of being obstinate Defenders of their Liberties, and now most implacable haters of the Spanish Name.

All these dispositions were encreased and hardened in the War that ensued under the Duke of Alva's Conduct, or his Sons; By the slaughter of all innocent [Page] persons and sexes, upon the taking of Naerden, where the Houses were burnt, and the Walls levelled to the ground; By the desperate defence of Haerlem for ten months, with all the practises and returns of ignominy, cruelty, and scorn on both sides; while the very Women listed themselves in companies, repaired breaches, gave alarms, and beat up quarters, till all being famisht, Four hundred Burgers (after the surrender) were kill'd in cold blood, among many other Examples of an incensed Conqueror; Which made the Humour of the parties grow more desperate, and their hatred to Spain and Alva incurable.

The same Army broken and forced to rise from before Alcmaer, after a long and fierce siege in Alva's time; and from before Leyden in the time of Requisenes (where the Boors themselves opened the Sluyces, and drown'd the Countrey, resolving to mischief the Spaniards at the charge of their own ruin), gave the great turn to Affairs in Holland.

The King grows sensible of Danger, and apprehensive of the total defection of the Provinces; Alva weary of [Page] his Government, finding His violent Counsels and Proceedings had raised a Spirit, which was quiet before he came, and was never to be laid any more. The Duke is recalled, and the War goes under Requisenes; who dying suddenly, and without provisions made by the King for a Successor; the Government, by customs of the Countrey, devolved by way of interim upon the great Council, which lasted some time by the delay of Don John of Austria's coming, who was declared the new Governour.

But in this Interim the strength of the Disease appears; for upon the Mutiny of some Spanish Troops for want of their pay, and their seizing Alost, a Town near Brussels, the people grow into a rage, the Trades-men give over their Shops, and the Countrey-men their Labour, and all run to Arms; In Brussels they force the Senate, pull out those men they knew to be most addicted to the Spaniards, kill such of that Nation as they meet in the streets, and all in general cry out for the expulsion of Forreigners out of the Low-Countreys, and the assembling of the States; to which the Council is forced [Page] to consent. In the mean time the chief persons of the Provinces enter into an agreement with the Prince of Orange, to carry on the common Affairs of the Provinces by the same Counsels; so as when the Estates assembled at Ghent, without any contest they agreed upon that Act which was called The Pacification of Ghent, in the year 1576, whereof the chief Articles were, The expulsion of all Forreign Soldiers out of the Provinces; Restoring all the ancient Forms of Government; And referring matters of Religion in each Province to the Provincial Estates; And that for performance hereof the rest of the Provinces should for ever be confederate with Holland and Zealand. And this made the first period of the Low-Countrey Troubles, proving to King Philip a dear Experience how little the best Conduct and boldest Armies are able to withstand the Torrent of a stubborn and enraged people, which ever bears all down before it, till it comes to be divided into different Channels by Arts or by Chance; or till the Springs, which are the Humours that fed it, come to be spent, or dry up of themselves.

[Page]The Forreign Forces refusing to depart, are declared Rebels; whereupon the Spanish Troops force and plunder several Towns, and Antwerp among the rest (by advantage of the Cittadel), with equal Courage and Avarice; And defend themselves in several Holds from the Forces of the States, till Don John's arrival at Luxenburgh, the only Town of the Provinces where he thought himself safe, as not involved in the defection of the rest.

The Estates refuse to admit him without his accepting and confirming the Pacification of Ghent; which at length he does by leave from the King, and enters upon the Government with the dismission of all Forreign Troops, which return into Italy. But soon after Don John, whether out of indignation to see himself but a precarious Governour, without force or dependance; Or desiring new occasions of Fame by a War; or instructed from Spain upon new Councels; He takes the occasion of complementing Queen Margaret upon her journey out of France to the Spaw, and on a sudden seizes upon the Castle of Namur. Whereupon the Provinces for the third time throw [Page] off their obedience, call the Prince of Orange to Brussels, where he is made Protector of Brabant by the States of that Province, and preparations are made on both sides for the War; While Spain is busie to form new Armies, and draw them together in Namur and Luxenburgh, the only Provinces obedient to that Crown; And all the rest agree to elect a Governour of their own, and send to Matthias the Emperors Brother, to offer him the Charge.

At this time began to be formed the Malecontent-party in the Low-Countreys; which though agreeing with the rest in their hatred to the Spaniards, and defence of their Liberties and Laws; yet were not inclin'd to shake off their Allegiance to their Prince, nor change their old and establisht Religion: And these were headed by the Duke of Areschot, and several great men; the more averse from a general defection, by emulation or envy of the Prince of Orange his Greatness, who was now grown to have all the influence and credit in the Counsels of the League.

By the assistance of this party after [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] Don John's sudden death, the Duke of Parma succeeding him, gain'd strength and reputation upon his coming to the Government, and an entrance upon that great Scene of Glory and Victory, which made both his Person so renowned, and the time of his Government signallized by so many Sieges and Battels, and the reduction of so great a part of the Body of the Provinces to the subjection of Spain.

Upon the growth of this Party, and for distinction from them, who pursuing a middle and dangerous Councel, were at length to become an accession to one of the Extreams; The Seven Northern Provinces meeting by their Deputies at Utrecht, in the year 1579, framed that Act or Alliance, which was ever after called The Union of Utrecht; and was the Original Constitution and Frame of that Commonwealth, which has since been so well known in the World by the Name of The United Provinces.

This Union was grounded upon the Spaniards breach of the Pacification of Ghent, and new invasion of some Towns in Gelderland; and was not pretended to divide these Provinces from [Page] the generality, nor from the said Pacification; but to strengthen and pursue the Ends of it, by more vigorous and united Counsels and Arms.

The chief force of this Union consists in these points drawn out of the Instrument it self.

The Seven Provinces unite themselves so, as if they were but one Province, and so as never to be divided by Testament, Donation, Exchange, Sale, or Agreement: Reserving to each particular Province and City, all Priviledges, Rights, Customs and Statutes; In adjudging whereof, or differences that shall arise between any of the Provinces, the rest shall not intermeddle further, than to intercede towards an Agreement.

They bind themselves to assist one another with Life and Fortunes against all Force and Assault made upon any of them, whether upon pretence of Royal Majesty, of restoring Catholique Religion, or any other whatsoever.

All frontier-Towns belonging to the Union, if old, to be fortified at the charge of the Province where they lye; if new, to be erected at the charge of the Generality.

[Page]All Imposts and Customs from three Months to three Months, to be offered to them that bid most; and with the Incomes of the Royal Majesty, to be employed for the Common defence.

All Inhabitants to be Listed and Trained within a Month, from 18 to 60 years old. Peace and War not to be made without consent of all the Provinces; Other cases that concern the management of both, by most Voices. Differences that shall arise upon the first, between the Provinces, to be submitted to the Stadtholders.

Neighbouring-Princes, Lords, Lands, and Cities, to be admitted into the Union by consent of the Provinces.

For Religion, those of Holland and Zealand to act in it as seems good unto themselves. The other Provinces may regulate themselves according to the tenor establisht by Matthias, or else as they shall judg to be most for the peace and welfare of their particular Provinces; provided every one remain free in his Religion, and no man be examined or entrapped for that cause, according to the Pacification of Ghent.

[Page]In case of any dissention or differences between Provinces, if it concern one in particular, it shall be accommodated by the others; if it concern all in general, by the Stadtholders; In both which cases, sentence to be pronounced within a Month, and without Appeal or Revision.

The States to be held as has been formerly used; and the Mint in such manner as shall hereafter be agreed by all the Provinces.

Interpretation of these Articles to remain in the States; but in case of their differences, in the Stadtholders.

They bind themselves to fall upon, and imprison any that shall act contrary to these Articles; in which case no Priviledg nor Exemption to be valid.

This Act was signed by the Deputies of Gelderland, Zutphen, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, and the Omlands of Frize, Jan. 23, 1579; but was not signed by the Prince of Orange till May following; and with this Signification, judging that by the same the Superiority and Authority of Arch-Duke Matthias is not lessened.

[Page]In the same year this Union was enter'd and signed by the Cities of Ghent, Nimmegue, Arnhem, Leewarden, with some particular Nobles of Frizeland, Venlo, Ypers, Antwerp, Breda, and Bruges. And thus these Provinces became a Commonwealth, but in so low and uncertain a state of Affairs, by reason of the various motions and affections of mens minds, the different Ends and Interests of the several Parties, especially in the other Provinces; and the mighty Power and Preparations of the Spanish Monarchy to oppress them, That in their first Coyn they caused a Ship to be stamped, labouring among the Waves without Sails or Oars; and these words: Incertum quo fata ferant.

I thought so particular a deduction necessary to discover the natural causes of this Revolution in the Low-Countreys, which has since had so great a part, for near a hundred years, in all the Actions and Negotiations of Christendom; And to find out the true Incentives of that obstinate love for their Liberties, and invincible hatred for the Spanish Nation and Government, which laid the foundation of this Commonwealth: [Page] And this last I take to have been the stronger passion, and of the greater effect, both in the bold Counsels of contracting their Union, and the desperate Resolutions of defending it. For not long after, The whole Councel of this new State being prest by the extremities of their Affairs, passing by the form of Government in the way of a Commonwealth, made an earnest and solemn Offer of the Dominion of these Provinces both to England and France; but were refused by both Crowns: And though they retain'd the Name of a Free People, yet they soon lost the ease of the Liberties they contended for, by the absoluteness of their Magistrates in the several Cities and Provinces, and by the extream pressure of their Taxes, which so long a War with so mighty an Enemy made necessary for the support of their State.

But the hatred of the Spanish Government under Alva, was so universal, that it made the Revolt general through the Provinces, running through all Religions, and all Orders of men, as appeared by the Pacification of Ghent; Till by the division of the [Page] Parties, by the Powers of so vast a Monarchy as Spain at that time, and by the matchless Conduct and Valour of the Duke of Parma, This Humour, like Poyson in a strong Constitution, and with the help of violent Physick, was expell'd from the heart, which was Flanders and Brabant (with the rest of the Ten Provinces) into the outward Members; and by their being cut off, the Body was saved. After which, the most enflamed spirits being driven by the Arms of Spain, or drawn by the hopes of Liberty and Safety, into the United Provinces out of the rest, the hatred of Spain grew to that heighth, that they were not only willing to submit to any new Dominion, rather than return to the old; but when they could find no Master to protect them, and their Affairs grew desperate, they were once certainly upon the Counsel of burning their great Towns, wasting and drowning what they could of their Countrey, and going to seek some new Seats in the Indies. Which they might have executed, if they had found Shipping enough to carry off all their Numbers, and had not been detained by the compassion [Page] of those which must have been left behind, at the mercy of an incensed and conquering Master.

The Spanish and Italian Writers content themselves to attribute the causes of these Revolutions to the change of Religion, to the native stubbornness of the people, and to the Ambition of the Prince of Orange: But Religion without mixtures of Ambition and Interest, works no such violent effects; and produces rather the Examples of constant Sufferings, than of desperate Actions. The nature of the People cannot change of a sudden, no more than the Climate which infuses it; and no Countrey hath brought forth better Subjects, than many of these Provinces, both before and since these Commotions among them: And the Ambition of one man could neither have designed nor atchieved so great an Adventure, had it not been seconded with universal Discontent: Nor could that have been raised to so great a heighth and heat, without so many circumstances as fell in from an unhappy course of the Spanish Counsels, to kindle and foment it. For though it had been hard to Head such [Page] a Body, and give it so strong a principle of Life, and so regular Motions, without the accident of so great a Governour in the Provinces, as Prince William of Orange; A man of equal Abilities in Council and in Arms; Cautious and Resolute, Affable and Severe, Supple to Occasions, and yet Constant to his Ends; of mighty Revenues and Dependance in the Provinces, of great Credit and Alliances in Germany; esteemed and honoured abroad, but at home infinitely lov'd and trusted by the people, who thought him affectionate to their Countrey, sincere in his Professions and Designs, able and willing to defend their Liberties, and unlikely to invade them by any Ambition of his own. Yet all these Qualities might very well have been confin'd to the Duty and Services of a Subject, as they were in Charles the Fifth's time; Without the absence of the King, and the peoples opinion of his ill-will to their Nation and their Laws; Without the continuance of Forreign Troops after the Wars were ended; The erecting of the new Bishops Sees, and introducing the Inquisition; The sole Ministry of Granvell, [Page] and exclusion of the Lords from their usual part in Counsels and Affairs; The Government of a man so hated as the Duke of Alva; The rigour of his Prosecutions, and the insolence of his Statue: And lastly, Without the death of Egmont, and the imposition of the Tenth and Twentieth part, against the Legal Forms of Government in a Countrey, where a long derived Succession had made the people fond and tenacious of their ancient Customs and Laws.

These were the seeds of their hatred to Spain; which encreasing by the course of about Threescore years, War, was not allay'd by a long succeeding Peace, but will appear to have been an Ingredient into the Fall, as it was into the Rise of this State; which having been thus planted, came to be conserved and cultivated by many Accidents and Influences from abroad; But those having had no part in the Constitution of their State, nor the Frame of their Government. I will content my self to mention only the chief of them, which most contributed to preserve the Infancy of this Commonwealth, and make way for its growth. The Causes of its succeeding [Page] Greatness and Riches being not to be sought for in the Events of their Wars, but in the Institutions and Orders of their Government, their Customs and Trade, which will make the Arguments of the ensuing Chapters.

When Don John threw off the Conditions he had at first accepted of the Pacification of Ghent, and by the surprize of Namur broke out into Arms; The Estate of the Provinces offer'd the Government of their Countrey to Matthias Brother to the Emperor, as a temper between their return to the obedience of Spain, and the Popular Government which was moulding in the Northern Provinces. But Matthias arriving without the advice or support of the Emperor, or Credit in the Provinces; And having the Prince of Orange given him for his Lieutenant-General, was only a Cypher, and his Government a piece of Pageantry, which past without effect, and was soon ended; So that upon the Duke of Parma's taking on him the Government, some new protection was necessary to this Infant-State, that had not legs to support it against such a storm as was threatned upon the return of the Spanish and Italian Forces, [Page] to make the Body of a formidable Army, which the Duke of Parma was framing in Namur and Luxenburgh.

Since the Conference of Bayonne between the Queen-Mother of France, and her Daughter Queen of Spain; Those two Crowns had continued in the Reign of Francis and Charles, to assist one another in the common Design there agreed on, of prosecuting with violence those they called the Hereticks, in both their Dominions. The Peace held constant, if not kind, between England and Spain; so as King Philip had no Wars upon his hands in Christendom during these Commotions in the Low-Countreys; And the boldness of the Confederates in their first Revolt and Union, seemed greater at such a time, than the success of their Resistances afterwards, when so many occasions fell in to weaken and divert the Forces of the Spanish Monarchy.

For Henry the Third coming to the Crown of France, and at first only fetter'd and control'd by the Faction of the Guises, but afterwards engaged in an open War (which They had raised against him upon pretext of preserving the Catholique Religion, and in [Page] a conjunction of Councels with Spain) was forced into better measures with the Hugonots of his Kingdom, and fell into ill intelligence with Philip the Second, so as Queen Elizabeth having declined to undertake openly the protection of the Low-Countrey Provinces, It was by the concurring-resolution of the States, and the consent of the French Court, devolved upon the Duke of Alencon, Brother to Henry the Third.

But this Prince entered Antwerp with an ill presage to the Flemings, by an attempt which a Biscainer made the same day upon the Prince of Orange's Life, shooting him, though not mortally, in the head; and He continued his short Government with such mutual distasts between the French and the Flemings (the Heat and Violence of one Nation agreeing ill with the Customs and Liberties of the other) that the Duke attempting to make himself absolute Master of the City of Antwerp by force, was driven out of the Town, and thereupon retired out of the Countrey with extream resentment of the Flemings, and indignation of the French; so as the Prince of Orange being not [Page] long after assasin'd at Delph, and the Duke of Parma encreasing daily in Reputation and in Force, and the Malecontent Party falling back apace to his obedience, an end was presaged by most men to the Affairs of the Confederates.

But the Root was deeper, and not so easily shaken: For the United Provinces, after the unhappy Transactions with the French under the Duke of Alencon, reassumed their Union in 583; binding themselves, in case by fury of the War any point of it had not been observed, To endeavour from that time to see it effected, In case any doubt had happened, to see it clear'd, And any Difficulties, composed: And in regard the Article concerning Religion had been so fram'd in the Union, because in all the other Provinces besides Holland and Zealand, The Romish Religion was then used, but now the Evangelical; It was agreed by all the Provinces of the Union, That from this time in them all, the Evangelical Reformed Religion should alone be openly preached and exercised.

They were so far from being broken in their Designs by the Prince of [Page] Orange's death, That they did all the honour that could be to his Memory, substituted Prince Maurice his Son, though but Sixteen years old, in all his Honours and Commands, and obstinately refused all Overtures that were made them of Peace; resolving upon all the most desperate Actions and Sufferings, rather than return under the Spanish Obedience.

But these Spirits were fed and heighthen'd in a great degree, by the hopes and countenance given them about this time from England: for Queen Elizabeth, and Philip the Second, though they still preserved the Name of Peace, yet had worn out in a manner the Effects as well as the Dispositions of it, whilst the Spaniard fomented and assisted the Insurrections of the Irish, and Queen Elizabeth the new Commonwealth in the Low-Countreys; Though neither directly, yet by Countenance, Money, voluntary Troops, and ways that were equally felt on both sides, and equally understood.

King Philip had lately encreased the greatness of his Empire, by the Inheritance or Invasion of the Kingdoms of Portugal, upon King Sebastian's loss [Page] in Africa; But I know not whether he had encreast his Power, by the accession of a Kingdom, with disputed Title, and a discontented People, who could neither be used like good Subjects and governed without Armies; nor like a Conquered Nation and so made to bear the charge of their forced obedience; But this addition of Empire, with the vast Treasure flowing every year out of the Indies, had without question raised King Philip's Ambition to vaster designs; which made him embrace at once the protection of the League in France against Henry the Third and Fourth, and the Donation made him of Ireland by the Pope, and so embarque himself in a War with both those Crowns, while He was bearded with the open Arms and Defiance of his own Subjects in the Low-Countreys.

But 'tis hard to be imagined how far the Spirit of one Great man goes in the Fortunes of any Army or State. The Duke of Parma coming to the Government without any footing in more than two of the smallest Provinces, collecting an Army from Spain, Italy, Germany, and the broken Troops [Page] of the Countrey left him by Don John, having all the other Provinces confederated against him, and both England and France beginning to take open part in their defence; yet by force of his own Valour, Conduct, and the Discipline of his Army, with the dis-interessed and generous Qualities of his mind, winning equally upon the Hearts and Arms of the Revolted Countreys, and piercing through the Provinces with an uninterrupted course of Successes, and the recovery of the most important Towns in Flanders; At last by the taking of Anwerp and Groningue, reduced the Affairs of the Union to so extream distress, that being grown destitute of all hopes and succours from France (then deep engaged in their own Civil Wars), They threw themselves wholly at the feet of Queen Elizabeth, imploring her Protection, and offering her the Soveraignty of their Countrey. The Queen refused the Dominion, but enter'd into Articles with their Deputies in 585, obliging her self to very great Supplies of Men and of Moneys, lent them upon the security of the Briel, Flussing, and Ramekins; which were performed, and [Page] Sir John Norrice sent over to command her Forces; and afterwards in 87, upon the War broken out with Spain, and the mighty threats of the Spanish Armada, she sent over yet greater Forces under the Earl of Leicester, whom the States admitted, and swore obedience to him, as Governour of their United Provinces.

But this Government lasted not long, distastes and suspition soon breaking out between Leicester and the States; Partly from the jealousie of his affecting an Absolute Dominion and Arbitrary disposal of all Offices; But chiefly, of the Queen's Intentions to make a Peace with Spain; And the easie loss of some of their Towns by Governours placed in them by the Earl of Leicester, encreased their discontents. Notwithstanding this ill intercourse, the Queen re-assures them in both those points, disapproves some of Leicester's proceedings, receives franc and hearty assistances from them in her Naval Preparations against the Spaniards; and at length upon the disorders encreasing between the Earl of Leicester and the States, commands him to resign his Government, and release the States of [Page] the Oath they had taken to obey him. And after all this had past, the Queen easily sacrificing all particular resentments to the Interest of her Crown, continued her Favour, Protection, and Assistances to the States, during the whole course of Her Reign, which were return'd with the greatest deference and veneration to her Person, that was ever paid by them to any Forreign Prince, and continues still to her Name in the remembrance, and frequently in the mouths of all sorts of people among them.

After Leicester's departure, Prince Maurice was by the consent of the Union chosen their Governour, but with a reservation to Queen Elizabeth; and enter'd that Command with the hopes, which he made good in the execution of it for many years; proving the greatest Captain of his Age, famous particularly in the discipline and ordonance of his Armies, and the ways of Fortification by him first invented or perfected, and since his time imitated by all.

But the great breath that was given the States in the heat of their Affairs, was by the sharp Wars made by Queen [Page] Elizabeth upon the Spaniards at Sea in the Indies, and the Expeditions of Lisbon and Cadiz, and by the declining-affairs of the League in France, for whose support Philip the Second was so passionately engaged, that twice he commanded the Duke of Parma to interrupt the course of his Victories in the Low-Countreys, and march into France, for the relief of Roan and Paris; Which much augmented the Renown of this great Captain, but as much impaired the state of the Spanish Affairs in Flanders. For in the Duke of Parma's absence, Prince Maurice took in all the places held by the Spaniard on t'other side the Rhine, which gave them entrance into the United Provinces.

The succession of Henry the Fourth to the Crown of France, gave a mighty blow to the Designs of King Philip; and much greater, The general obedience and acknowledgment of him upon his change of Religion. With this King the States began to enter a confidence and kindness, and the more by that which interceded between Him and the Queen of England, who had all their dependance during her life; [Page] But after her death, King Henry grew to have greater credit than ever in the United Provinces; though upon the decay of the Spanish Power under the Ascendent of this King, the States fell into very early jealousies of his growing too great and too near them in Flanders.

With the Duke of Parma died all the Discipline, and with that, all the Fortunes of the Spanish Arms in Flanders; The frequent Mutinies of their Soldiers, dangerous in effect and in example, were more talkt of, than any other of their actions, in the short Government of Manstsield, Ernest, and Fuentes. Till the old Discipline of their Armies began to revive, and their Fortune a little to respire under the new Government of Cardinal Albert, who came into Flanders both Governour and Prince of the Low-Countreys, in the head of a mighty Army drawn out of Germany and Italy, to try the last effort of the Spanish Power, either in a prosperous War, or at least in making way for a necessary Peace.

But the choice of the Arch-Duke and this new Authority, had a deeper root and design than at first appear'd: [Page] For that mighty King, Philip the Second, born to so vast Possessions, and to so much vaster Desires; after a long dream of raising his head into the Clouds, found it now ready to lye down in the dust: His Body broken with age and infirmities, his Mind with cares and distemper'd thoughts, and the Royal servitude of a sollicitous life, He began to see in the glass of Time and Experience, the true shapes of all human Greatness and Designs; And finding to what Airy Figures he had hitherto sacrificed his Health, and Ease, and the Good of his Life, He now turn'd his thoughts wholly to rest and quiet, which he had never yet allowed either the World or Himself: His Designs upon England, and his Invincible Armada, had ended in smoak; Those upon France, in Events the most contrary to what he had proposed; And instead of mastering the Liberties, and breaking the Stomach of his Low-Countrey Subjects, He had lost Seven of his Provinces, and held the rest by the tenure of a War, that cost him more than they were worth. He had made lately a Peace with England, and desir'd it with France; and though he scorn'd [Page] it with his revolted Subjects in his own Name, yet he wisht it in another's; and was unwilling to entail a quarrel upon his Son, which had crost his Fortunes, and busied his thoughts all the course of his Reign. He therefore resolved to commit these two Designs to the management of Arch-Duke Albert, with the stile of Governour and Prince of the Low-Countreys; to the end that if he could reduce the Provinces to their old subjection, He should govern them as Spanish Dominions; If that was once more in vain attempted, He should by a Marriage with Clara Isabella Eugenia (King Philip's beloved Daughter) receive those Provinces as a Dowry, and become the Prince of them, with a condition only of their returning to Spain, in case of Isabella's dying without Issue. King Philip believed that the presence of a natural Prince among his Subjects; That the Birth and Customs of Arch-Duke Albert, being a German; The generous and obliging dispositions of Isabella, might gain further upon this stubborn people, than all the Force and Rigor of his former Counsels: And at the worst; That they might make a Peace, if they could [Page] not a War, and without interessing the Honour and Greatness of the Spanish Crown.

In pursuit of this determination, like a wise King, while he intended nothing but Peace, He made Preparations as if he design'd nothing but War; knowing that his own desires of Peace would signifie nothing, unless he could force his Enemies to desire it too. He therefore sent the Arch-Duke into Flanders, at the head of such an Army, that believing the Peace with France must be the first in order, and make way for either the War or Peace afterward in the Low-Countreys, He marcht into France, and took Amiens the chief City of Picardy, and thereby gave such an Alarm to the French Court, as they little expected, and had never received in the former Wars. But while Albert bent the whole force of the War upon France, till he determin'd it in a Peace with that Crown, Prince Maurice who had taken Groningue in the time of Ernest, now mastered Linghen, Groll, and other places in Overyssel, thereby adding those Provinces intire, to the Body of the Union; and at Albert's return into Flanders, entertain'd [Page] him with the Battel of Newport, won by the desperate Courage of the English under Sir Francis Vere, where Albert was wounded and very near being taken.

After this Loss the Arch-Duke was yet comforted and relieved, by the obsequious affections and obedience of his new Subjects, so far as to resolve upon the Siege of Ostend; which having some time continued, and being almost disheartned by the strength of the place, and invincible Courage of the Defendants; He was recruited by a Body of Eight thousand Italians under the Marquess Spinola, to whom the prosecution of this Siege was committed: He took the place after Three years siege, not by any want of Men or Provisions within (the Haven and relief by Sea being open all the time); but perfectly for want of ground, which was gain'd foot by foot, till not so much was left, as would hold men to defend it; a great example how impossible it is to defend any Town that cannot be relieved by an Army strong enough to raise the Siege.

Prince Maurice, though he could not save Ostend, made yet amends for its [Page] loss, by the taking of Grave and Sluyce; so as the Spaniards gain'd little but the honour of the Enterprise: And Philip the Second being dead about the time of the Arch-Dukes and Dutchesses arrival in Flanders, and with him the personal resentment of that War, The Arch-Duke by consent of the Spanish Court, began to apply his thoughts wholly to a Peace; which another circumstance had made more necessary than any of those already mentioned.

As the Dutch Commonwealth was born out of the Sea, so out of the same Element it drew its first strength and consideration, as well as afterwards its Riches and Greatness: For before the Revolt, the Subjects of the Low-Countreys, though never allowed the Trade of the Indies, but in the Spanish Fleets, and under Spanish Covert; yet many of them had in that manner made the Voyages, and become skilful Pilots, as well as verst in the ways, and sensible of the infinite gains of that Trade. And after the Union, a greater confluence▪ of people falling down into the United Provinces, than could manage their Stock, or find employment at Land; Great multitudes [Page] turn'd their endeavours to Sea; and having lost the Trade of Spain and the Streights, fell not only into that of England, France, and the Northern Seas, but ventur'd upon that of the East-Indies, at first with small Forces and Success; But in course of time, and by the institution of an East-India Company, This came to be pursued with so general application of the Provinces, and so great advantage, that they made themselves Masters of most of the Collonies and Forts planted there by the Portuguesses (now Subjects of Spain). The Dutch Sea-men grew as well acquainted with those vast Seas and Coasts, as with their own; and Holland became the great Magazine of all the Commodities of those Eastern Regions.

In the West-Indies their attempts were neither so frequent nor prosperous, the Spanish Plantations there being too numerous and strong; But by the multitude of their Shipping set out with publique or private Commissions, they infested the Seas, and began to wait for, and threaten the Spanish Indian Fleets, and sometimes to attempt their Coasts in that new World (which [Page] was to touch Spain in the most sensible part), and gave their Court the strongest motives to endeavour a Peace, That might secure those Treasures in their way, and preserve them in Spain, by stopping the issue of those vast sums which were continually transmitted to entertain the Low-Countrey Wars.

These respects gave the first rise to a Treaty of Peace, the Proposal whereof came wholly from the Spaniards; and the very mention of it could hardly at first be fast'ned upon the States; nor could they ever be prevail'd with to make way for any Negotiation by a suspension of Arms, till the Arch-Duke had declared, He would treat with them as with free Provinces, upon whom neither He nor Spain had any pretence. However, the Affair was pursued with so much Art and Industry on the Arch-Dukes part, and with so passionate Desires of the Spanish Court, to end this War, That they were content to treat it at the Hague, the Seat of the States-General; And for the greater Honour and better Conduct of the whole Business, appointed the Four chief Ministers of the Arch-Dukes, Their Commissioners to [Page] attend and pursue it there; who were, Their Camp-Master-General Spinola, The President of the Council, and the Two Secretaries of State and of War in Flanders.

On the other side, in Holland, all the paces towards this Treaty were made with great coldness and arrogance, raising punctillious-difficulties upon every word of the Arch-Dukes Declaration of treating them as Free Provinces, and upon Spain's Ratification of that Form; And forcing them to send Expresses into Spain upon every occasion, and to attend the length of those returns. For the prosperous success of their Arms at Land, in the course of above Thirty years War; and the mighty growth of their Naval Power, and (under that protection) of their Trade, Had made the whole Body of their Militia both at Land and Sea, averse from this Treaty, as well as the greatest part of the People; Whose inveterate hatred against Spain, was still as fierce as ever; and who had the hopes or dispositions of raising their Fortunes by the War, of which they had so many and great Examples among them.

[Page]But there was at the bottom, one Forreign and another Domestick Consideration, which made way for this Treaty, more than all those Arguments that were the common Theams, or than all the Offices of the Neighbour-Princes, who concerned themselves in this Affair, either from interest of their own, or the desires of ending a War which had so long exercised in a manner the Arms of all Christendom upon the Stage of the Low-Countreys. The greatness of the Spanish Monarchy, so formidable under Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second, began now to decline by the vast Designs and unfortunate Events of so many Ambitious Counsels: And on the other side the Affairs of Henry the Fourth of France were now at the greatest height and felicity, after having atchieved so many Adventures with incredible Constancy and Valour, and ended all his Wars in a Peace with Spain. The Dutch imagin'd that the hot spirits of the French could not continue long without some Exercise; and that to prevent it at home, it might be necessary for that King to give it them abroad; That no Enterprise lay so convenient for Him, as that upon Flanders, which had [Page] anciently been part of the Gallick Nation, and whose first Princes derived and held of the Kings of France. Besides, they had intimations that Henry the Fourth was taken up in great Preparations of War, which they doubted would at one time or other fall on that side, at least if they were invited by any greater decays of the Spanish Power in Flanders: And they knew very well, they should lye as much at the mercy of such a Neighbour as France, as they had formerly done of such a Master as Spain. For the Spanish Power in Flanders was fed by Treasures that came by long and perillous Voyages out of Spain; By Troops drawn either from thence, or from Italy or Germany, with much Casualty, and more Expence: Their Territory of the Ten Provinces was small, and awed by the Neighbourhood and Jealousies both of England and France. But if France were once Master of Flanders, The Body of that Empire would be so great, and so intire; so abounding in People, and in Riches, That whenever they found or made an occasion of invading the United Provinces, They had no hopes of preserving themselves by any opposition or diversion: [Page] And the end of their mighty resistances against Spain, was to have no Master; and not to change one for another, as they should do in this case: Therefore the most intelligent among their Civil Ministers thought it safest, by a Peace to give breath to the Arch-Duke's and Spanish Power, and by that means to lessen the invitation of the Arms of France into Flanders under so great a King.

For what was Domestique, The Credit and Power of Prince Maurice built at first upon that of his Father, but much raised by his own Personal Virtues and Qualities, and the success of his Arms; Was now grown so high (the Prince being Governour or Stadtholder of Four of the Provinces, and two of his Cousins of the other Three), that several of the States, headed by Barnevelt, Pensioner of Holland, and a man of great Abilities and Authority among them, became jealous of the Prince's Power, and pretended to fear the growth of it to an Absolute Dominion: They knew it would encrease by the continuance of a War, which was wholly managed by the Prince; and thought that in a Peace it would [Page] diminish, and give way to the Authority of Civil Power: Which disposed this whole Party to desire the Treaty, and to advance the progress and issue of it by all their assistances. And these different humours stirring in the heart of the States, with almost equal strength and vigour; The Negotiation of a Peace came to be ended after long debates and infinite endeavours; Breaking in appearance upon the points of Religion, and the Indian Trade: But yet came to knit again and conclude in a Truce of Twelve years, dated in the year 1609, whereof the most essential points were, The Declaration of treating with them as Free Provinces: The Cessation of all Acts of Hostility on both sides during the Truce: The enjoyment, for that space, of all that each party possest at the time of the Treaty. That no new Fortification should be raised on either side; And that free Commerce should be restored on all parts in the same manner as it was before the Wars.

And thus the State of the United Provinces came to be acknowledged as a Free Commonwealth by their ancient Master, having before been treated so [Page] by most of the Kings and Princes of Europe, in frequent Ambassies and Negotiations. Among which, a particular preference was given to the English Crown, whose Ambassador had Session and Vote in their Council of State, by Agreement with Queen Elizabeth, and in acknowledgment of those great Assistances, which gave life to their State when it was upon the point of expiring: Though the Dutch pretend that Priviledg was given to the Ambassador by virtue of the possession This Crown had of the Briel, Flussingue, and Ramekins; and that it was to cease upon the restitution of those Towns, and repayment of those Sums lent by the Queen.

In the very time of treating this Truce, a League was concluded between Henry the Fourth of France, and the States, for preserving the Peace, if it came to be concluded; or in case of its failing, for assistance of one another, With Ten thousand men on the Kings part, and Five thousand on the States. Nor did that King make any difficulty of continuing the Two Regiments of Foot and Two hundred Horse in the States Service, at his own charge, after [Page] the Truce, which he had maintained for several years before it; Omitting no provisions that might tye that State to his interests, and make him at present Arbiter of the Peace, and for the future of the War, if the Truce should come to be broken, or to expire of it self.

By what has been related, it will easily appear, That no State was ever born with stronger throws, or nurst up with harder fare, or inur'd to greater labours or dangers in the whole course of its youth; which are circumstances that usually make strong and healthy bodies: And so this has proved, having never had more than one Disease break out, in the space of Ninety three years, which may be accounted the Age of this State, reckoning from the Union of Utrecht, enter'd by the Provinces in 1579: But this Disease, like those of the Seed or Conception in a natural body, Though it first appear'd in Barnevelt's time, breaking out upon the Negotiations with Spain, and seemed to end with his death (who was beheaded not many years after); yet has it ever since continued lurking in the veins of this State, and appearing [Page] upon all Revolutions, that seem to favour the predominancy of the one or other Humour in the Body; And under the Names of the Prince of Orange's, and the Arminian Party, has ever made the weak side of this State; and whenever their period comes, will prove the occasion of their Fall.

The ground of this Name of Arminian was, That whilst Barnevelt's Party accused those of the Prince of Orange's, as being careless of their Liberties, So dearly bought, as devoted to the House of Orange, and disposed to the admission of an Absolute Principality, and in order thereunto as promoters of a perpetual War with Spain: So those of the Princes Party, accused the others, as leaning still, and looking kindly upon their old Servitude, and relishing the Spaniard both in their Politicks, by so eagerly affecting a Peace with that Crown; and in their Religion, by being generally Arminians (which was esteemed the middle part between the Calvinist and the Roman Religion). And besides these mutual Reproaches, the two Parties have ever valued themselves upon the asserting, One of the true and purer [Page] Reformed Religion; and the other, of the true and freer Liberties of the State.

The Fortunes of this Commonwealth, that have happened in their Wars or Negotiations, since the Truce with Spain, and what Circumstances or Accidents both abroad and at home, serv'd to cultivate their mighty growth, and conspired to the Greatness wherein they appear'd to the World in the beginning of the year 1665, being not only the subject of the Relations, but even the Observations of this present Age; I shall either leave as more obvious, and less necessary to the account I intend of the Civil Government of this Commonwealth; Or else reserve them till the same vein of Leasure or Humour invite me to continue this Deduction to the present time, The Affairs of this State having been complicated with all the variety and memorable Revolutions both of Actions and Counsels, that have since happened in the rest of Christendom.

In the mean time, I will close this Relation with an Event, which arrived soon after the conclusion of the Truce, and had like to have broken it within [Page] the very year, if not prevented by the Offices of the Neighbour Princes, but more by a change of Humour in the United States, conspiring to the conservation of the new-restored Peace in these parts of the World.

In the end of the year 1609, dyed the Duke of Cleves and Juliers, without Heir-male, leaving those Dutchies to the pretensions of his Daughters, in whose Right the Duke of Brandenburgh and Nieuburgh possessed themselves of such parts of those Territories as they first could invade; each of them pretending right to the whole Inheritance. Brandenburgh seeks protection and favour to his Title, from the United Provinces; Nieuburgh from Arch-Duke Albert, and from Spain. The Arch-Duke newly respiring from so long a War, had no desire to interess himself in this Quarrel, further than the care that the Dutch should not take advantage of it; and under pretext of assisting one of the Parties, seize upon some of those Dominions lying contiguous to their own. The Dutch were not so equal, nor content to lose so fair an occasion, and surprized the Town of Juliers (though pretending only to keep [Page] it till the Parties agreed). And believing that Spain, after having parted with so much in the late Truce, to end a quarrel of their own, would not venture the breach of it upon a quarrel of their Neighbours. But the Arch-Duke, having first taken his measures with Spain, and foreseeing the consequence of this Affair, resolved to venture the whole State of Flanders in a new War, rather than suffer such an encrease of Power and Dominion to the States. And thereupon first in the behalf of the Duke of Nieuburgh, requires from them the restitution of Juliers; and upon their artificious and dilatory Answers, immediately draws his Forces together, and with an Army under the Command of Spinola, marches towards Juliers (which the States were in no care of, as well provided for a bold defence); But makes a sudden turn, and sits down before Wesel, with such a terror and surprise to the Inhabitants, that he carries the Town before the Dutch could come in to their assistance. Wesel was a strong Town upon the Rhine, which the Duke of Brandenburgh pretended to, as belonging to the Dutchy of Cleve; [Page] but the Citizens held it at this time as an Imperial Town, and under protection of the Dutch; Who amazed at this sudden and bold attempt of Spinola, which made him Master of a Pass that lay fair for any further Invasion upon their Provinces (especially those on t'other side the Rhine), engage the Offices of both the English and French Crowns, to mediate an Agreement, which at length they conclude, so as neither Party should upon any pretence draw their Forces into any part of these Dutchies. Thus the Arch-Duke having by the fondness of Peace, newly made a Truce upon Conditions imposed by the Dutch; now by the Resolution of making War, obtains a Peace upon the very Terms proposed by himself, and by Spain. An Event of great Instruction and Example, how dangerous it ever proves for weak Princes to call in greater to their aid, which makes them a prey to their Friend, instead of their Enemy; How the only time of making an advantageous Peace, is when your Enemy desires it, and when you are in the best condition of pursuing a War: And how vain a [Page] Counsel it is, to avoid a War by yeilding any point of Interest or Honour; which does but invite new Injuries, encourage Enemies, and dishearten Friends.

CHAP. II. Of Their GOVERNMENT.

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IT is evident by what has been discoursed in the former Chapter concerning the Rise of this State (which is to be dated from the Union of Utrecht), that It cannot properly be stiled a Commonwealth, but is rather a Confederacy of Seven Soveraign Provinces united together for their common and mutual defence, without any dependance one upon the other. But to discover the nature of their Government from the first springs and motions, It must be taken yet into smaller pieces, by which it will appear, that each of these Provinces is likewise composed of many little States or Cities, which have several marks of Soveraign Power within themselves, and are not subject to the Soveraignty of their Province; Not being concluded in many things by the majority, but only by the universal concurrence of Voices in the Provincial-States. For as the States-General cannot make War or [Page] Peace, or any new Alliance, or Levies of Money, without the consent of every Province; so cannot the States-Provincial conclude any of those points without the consent of each of the Cities, that by their Constitution has a voice in that Assembly. And though in many Civil Causes there lies an Appeal from the Common Judicature of the Cities, to the Provincial Courts of Justice; yet in Criminals there lies none at all; nor can the Soveraignty of a Province exercise any Judicature, seize upon any Offender, or pardon any Offence within the Jurisdiction of a City, or execute any common Resolution or Law, but by the Justice and Officers of the City it self. By this a certain Soveraignty in each City is discerned, the chief marks whereof are, The power of exercising Judicature, levying of Money, and making War and Peace: For the other of Coining Money, is neither in particular Cities or Provinces, but in the generalty of the Union by common Agreement.

The main Ingredients therefore into the Composition of this State, are the Freedom of the Cities, the Soveraignty [Page] of the Provinces, the Agreements or Constitutions of the Union, and the Authority of the Princes of Orange; Which make the Order I shall follow in the Account intended of this Government. But whereas the several Provinces in the Union, and the several Cities in each Province, as they have in their Orders and Constitutions some particular differences, as well as a general resemblance; and the account of each distinctly would swell this Discourse out of measure, and to little purpose; I shall confine my self to the account of Holland, as the richest, strongest, and of most authority among the Provinces; and of Amsterdam, as that which has the same Preheminencies among the Cities.

The Soveraign Authority of the City of Amsterdam, Government of the City of Amsterdam. consists in the Decrees or Results of their Senate, which is composed of Six and thirty men, by whom the Justice is administred, according to ancient forms, in the names of Officers and Places of Judicature. But Moneys are levied by Arbitrary Resolutions and Proportions, according to what appears convenient or necessary upon the change or emergency of [Page] occasions. These Senators are for their lives, and the Senate was anciently chosen by the voices of the richer Burghers or Free-men of the City, who upon the death of a Senator met together either in a Church, a Market, or some other place spacious enough to receive their numbers; And there made an election of the person to succeed, by the majority of voices. But about a hundred and thirty or forty years ago, when the Towns of Holland began to encrease in circuit, and in people, so as these frequent Assemblies grew into danger of tumuit and disorders upon every occasion, by reason of their Numbers and Contention; This election of Senators came by the resolution of the Burghers, in one of their General Assemblies, to be devolved for ever upon the standing-Senate at that time; So as ever since, when any one of their number dyes, a new one is chosen by the rest of the Senate, without any intervention of the other Burghers; Which makes the Government a sort of Oligarchy, and very different from a Popular Government, as it is generally esteemed by those who passing or living in these [Page] Countreys, content themselves with common Observations or Inquiries. And this Resolution of the Burghers, either was agreed upon, or followed by general Consent or Example, about the same time, in all the Towns of the Province, though with some difference in number of their Senators.

By this Senate are chosen the chief Magistrates of the Town, which are the Burgomasters and the Eschevins: The Burgomasters of Amsterdam are Four, whereof three are chosen every year; so as one of them stays in office two years; but the three last chosen, are called the Reigning-Burgomasters for that year, and preside by turns, after the first three Months; for so long after a new Election, the Burgomaster of the year before presides; in which time it is supposed the new ones will grow instructed in the Forms and Duties of their Office, and acquainted with the state of the City's Affairs.

The Burgomasters are chosen by most voices of all those persons in the Senate who have been either Burgomasters or Eschevins; and their Authority resembles that of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in our Cities. [Page] They represent the Dignity of the Government, and do the Honour of the City upon all occasions: They dispose of all under-offices that fall in their time; and issue out all Moneys out of the Common Stock or Treasure, judging alone what is necessary for the Safety, Convenience, or Dignity of the City. They keep the Key of the Bank of Amsterdam (the Common Treasure of so many Nations), which is never open'd without the presence of one of them; And they inspect and pursue all the great Publique Works of the City, as the Ramparts and Stadt-house, now almost finished with so great Magnificence, and so vast Expence.

This Office is a Charge of the greatest Trust, Authority, and Dignity; and so much the greater, by not being of Profit or Advantage, but only as a way to other constant Employments in the City that are so. The Salary of a Burgomaster of Amsterdam, is but Five hundred Gilders a year, though there are Offices worth Five thousand in their disposal; But yet none of them known to have taken money upon such occasions, which would lose all their Credit in the Town, and thereby their [Page] Fortunes by any Publique Employments. They are obliged to no sort of Expence, more than ordinary modest Citizens, in their Habits, their Attendance, their Tables, or any part of their own Domestique. They are upon all Publique Occasions waited on by men in Salary from the Town; and whatever Feasts they make upon Solemn Days, or for the Entertainment of any Princes or Forreign Ministers, the Charge is defrayed out of the Common Treasure; but proportioned by their own discretion. At other times they appear in all places with the simplicity and modesty of other private Citizens. When the Burgomaster's Office expires, they are of course disposed into the other Charges or Employments of the Town, which are very many and beneficial; unless they lose their Credit with the Senate, by any want of Diligence or Fidelity in the discharge of their Office, which seldom arrives.

The Eschevins are the Court of Justice in every Town. They are at Amsterdam Nine in number; of which Seven are chosen Annually; but two of the preceding year continue in office. A double number is named by [Page] the Senate, out of which the Burgomasters now chuse, as the Prince of Orange did in the former Constitution. They are Soveraign Judges in all Criminal Causes. In Civil, after a certain value, there lyes Appeal to the Court of Justice of the Province. But they pass sentence of death upon no man, without first advising with the Burgomasters; though after that form is past, they proceed themselves, and are not bound to follow the Burgomasters opinion, but are left to their own: This being only a care or favour of supererogation to the life of man, which is so soon cut off, and never to be retrieved or made amends for.

Under these Soveraign Magistrates, the chief subordinate Officers of the Town are the Treasurers, who receive and issue out all moneys that are properly the Revenues or Stock of the City: The Scout, who takes care of the Peace, seizes all Criminals, and sees the Sentences of Justice executed, and whose Authority is like that of a Sheriff in a County with us, or a Constable in a Parish. The Pensioner, who is a Civil-Lawyer, verst in the [Page] Customs, and Records, and Priviledges of the Town, concerning which he informs the Magistracy upon occasion, and vindicates them upon disputes with other Towns; He is a Servant of the Senate and the Burgomasters, Delivers their Messages, makes their Harangues upon all Publique Occasions, and is not unlike the Recorder in one of our Towns.

In this City of Amsterdam is the famous Bank, which is the greatest Treasure, either real or imaginary, that is known any where in the World. The place of it is a great Vault under the Stadthouse, made strong with all the circumstances of Doors and Locks, and other appearing cautions of safety, that can be: And 'tis certain, that whoever is carried to see the Bank, shall never fail to find the appearance of a mighty real Treasure, in Barrs of Gold and Silver, Plate and infinite Bags of Metals, which are supposed to be all Gold and Silver, and may be so for ought I know. But the Burgomasters only having the inspection of this Bank, and no man ever taking any particular account of what issues in and out, from Age to Age, 'tis impossible [Page] to make any calculation, or guess what proportion the real Treasure may hold to the Credit of it. Therefore the security of the Bank lies not only in the Effects that are in it, but in the Credit of the whole Town or State of Amsterdam, whose Stock and Revenue is equal to that of some Kingdoms; and who are bound to make good all Moneys that are brought into their Bank; The Tickets or Bills hereof, make all the usual great Payments that are made between man and man in the Town; and not only in most other places of the United Provinces, but in many other Trading-parts of the World. So as this Bank is properly a general Cash, where every man lodges his money, because he esteems it safer, and easier paid in and out, than if it were in his Coffers at home: And the Bank is so far from paying any Interest for what is there brought in, that Money in the Bank is worth something more in common Payments, than what runs current in Coyn from hand to hand; No other money passing in the Bank, but in the species of Coyn the best known, the most ascertain'd, and the [Page] most generally current in all parts of the Higher as well as the Lower Germany.

The Revenues of Amsterdam arise out of the constant Excise upon all sorts of Commodities bought and sold within the Precinct: Or out of the Rents of those Houses or Lands that belong in common to the City: Or out of certain Duties and Impositions upon every House, towards the uses of Charity, and the Repairs, or Adornments, or Fortifications of the place: Or else out of extraordinary Levies consented to by the Senate, for furnishing their part of the Publique Charge that is agreed to by their Deputies in the Provincial-States, for the use of the Province: Or by the Deputies of the States of Holland in the States-General, for support of the Union. And all these Payments are made into one Common Stock of the Town, not as many of ours are into that of the Parish; So as attempts may be easier made at the calculations of their whole Revenue: And I have heard it affirmed, That what is paid of all kinds to Publique Uses of the States-General, the Province, and the City in Amsterdam, amounts to [Page] above Sixteen hundred thousand pounds Sterling a year. But I enter into no Computations, nor give these for any thing more than what I have heard from men who pretended to make such Enquiries, which I confess I did not. 'Tis certain that in no Town, Strength, Beauty, and Convenience, are better provided for, nor with more unlimited Expence, than in this, by the Magnificence of their Publique Buildings, as Stadthouse and Arsenals; The Number and Spaciousness, as well as Order and Revenues of their many Hospitals; The commodiousness of their Canals running through the chief Streets of passage; The mighty strength of their Bastions and Ramparts; And the neatness as well as convenience of their Streets, so far as can be compassed in so great a confluence of industrious people: All which could never be atchieved without a Charge much exceeding what seems proportioned to the Revenue of one single Town.

Government of the Province of Holland▪The Senate chuses the Deputies, which are sent from this City to the States of Holland; The Soveraignty whereof is represented by Deputies of [Page] the Nobles and Towns, composing Nineteen Voices; Of which the Nobles have only the first, and the Cities eighteen, according to the number of those which are called Stemms; The other Cities and Towns of the Province having no voice in the States. These Cities were originally but Six, Dort, Haerlem, Delf, Leyden, Amsterdam, and Tergo [...]. But were encreased by Prince William of Nassaw, to the number of Eighteen, by the addition of Rotterdam, Gorcum, Schedam, Schonoven, Briel, Alcmaer, Horne, Enchusen, Edam, Moninckdam, Medenblick, and Permeren. This makes as great an inequality in the Government of the Province, by such a small City as Permeren having an equal voice in the the Provincial-States with Amsterdam (which pays perhaps half of all charge of the Province), as seems to be in the States-General by so small a Province as Overyssel having an equal voice in the States-General with that of Holland, which contributes more than half to the general charge of the Union. But this was by some Writers of that Age interpreted to be done by the Prince's Authority, to [Page] lessen that of the Nobles, and balance that of the greater Cities, by the voices of the smaller, whose dependances were easier to be gained and secured.

The Nobles, though they are few in this Province, yet are not represented by all their number, but by Eight or Nine, who as Deputies from their Body have session in the States-Provincial; And who, when one among them dyes, chuse another to succeed him. Though they have all together but one voice equal to the smallest Town; yet are they very considerable in the Government, by possessing many of the best Charges both Civil and Military, by having the direction of all the Ecclesiastical Revenue that was seized by the State upon the change of Religion; and by sending their Deputies to all the Councils both of the Generalty and the Province, and by the nomination of one Councellor in the two great Courts of Justice. They give their Voice first in the Assembly of the States, and thereby a great weight to the business in consultation. The Pensioner of Holland is seated with them, delivers their Voice for [Page] them, and assists at all their Deliberations before they come to the Assembly. He is properly, but Minister or Servant of the Province, and so his Place or Rank is behind all their Deputies; but has always great Credit, because he is perpetual, or seldom discharged; though of right he ought to be chosen or renewed every third year. He has place in all the several Assemblies of the Province, and in the States proposes all Affairs, gathers the Opinions, and forms or digests the Resolutions; Pretending likewise a power not to conclude any very important Affair by plurality of Voices, when he judges in his Conscience he ought not to do it, and that it will be of ill consequence or prejudice to the Province.

The Deputies of the Cities are drawn out of the Magistrates and Senate of each Town: Their Number is uncertain and arbitrary, according to the Customs or Pleasure of the Cities that send them, because they have all together but one Voice, and are all maintained at their Cities charge: But commonly one of the Burgomasters and the Pensioner are of the number.

[Page]The States of Holland have their Session in the Court at the Hague, and assemble ordinarily four times a year, in February, June, September, and November. In the former Sessions they provide for the filling up of all vacant Charges, and for renewing the Farms of all the several Taxes, and for consulting about any matters that concern either the general good of the Province, or any particular differences arising between the Towns. But in November they meet purposely to resolve upon the continuance of the Charge which falls to the share of their Province the following year, according to what may have been agreed upon by the Deputies of the States-General, as necessary for the support of the State or Union.

For extraordinary occasions, they are convoked by a Council called the Gecommi Heerde Raeden, or the Commissioned Councellors, who are properly a Council of State of the Province, composed of several Deputies; One from the Nobles; One from each of the chief Towns; And but One from three of the smaller Towns, each of the three chusing him by [Page] turns. And this Council sits constantly at the Hague, and both proposes to the Provincial-States at their extraordinary Assemblies, the matters of deliberation; and executes their Resolutions.

In these Assemblies, though all are equal in Voices, and any one hinders a result; yet it seldom happens, but that united by one common bond of Interest, and having all one common End of Publique Good, They come after full Debates to easie Resolutions; yeilding to the power of Reason where it is clear and strong; And suppressing all private Passions or Interests, so as the smaller part seldom contests hard or long, what the greater agrees of. When the Deputies of the States agree in opinion, they send some of their number to their respective Towns, proposing the Affair and the Reasons alledged, and desiring Orders from them to conclude; Which seldom fails, if the necessity or utility be evident: If it be more intricate, or suffers delay, The States adjourn for such a time, as admits the return of all the Deputies to their Towns; where their influence and interest, and [Page] the impressions of the Debates in their Provincial Assemblies, make the consent of the Cities easier gain'd.

Besides the States and Council mention'd, the Province has likewise a Chamber of Accounts, who manage the general Revenues of the Province: And besides this Trust, they have the absolute disposition of the ancient Demesne of Holland, without giving any account to the States of the Province. Only at times, either upon usual intervals, or upon a necessity of money, The States call upon them for a Subsidy of Two or three hundred thousand Crowns, or more, as they are prest, or conceive the Chamber to be grown rich, beyond what is proportioned to the general design of encreasing the ease and fortunes of those persons who compose it. The States of Holland dispose of these charges to men grown aged in their service, and who have passed through most of the Employments of State with the esteem of Prudence and Integrity; and such persons find here an honourable and profitable retreat.

The Provinces of Holland and Zealand, as they used formerly to have [Page] one Governour in the time of the House of Burgundy and Austria; so they have long had one common Judicature, which is exercised by two Courts of Justice, each of them common to both the Provinces. The first is composed of Twelve Councellors, Nine of Holland, and Three of Zealand, of whom the Governour of the Provinces is the Head; by the old Constitution used to preside whenever he pleased, and to name all the Councellors except one, who was chosen by the Nobles. This Court judges without appeal in all Criminal Causes; but in Civil there lyes appeal to the other Court, which is called the High Council, from which there is no appeal but only by Petition to the States of the Province for a revision: When these judg there is reason for it, they grant Letters-Patents to that purpose, naming some Syndiques out of the Towns, who being added to the Councellors of the two former Courts, revise and judg the Cause in the last resort. And this course seems to have been instituted by way of supply or imitation of the Chamber of Mechlyn, to which, before the Revolt of the [Page] Provinces, there lay an appeal by way of revision, from all or most of the Provincial Courts of Justice, as there still does in the Spanish Provinces of the Netherlands.

Government of the United Provinces.The Union is made up of the Seven Soveraign Provinces before named, who chuse their respective Deputies, and send them to the Hague, for the composing of three several Colledges, called, The States-General, The Council of State, and the Chamber of Accounts. The Soveraign Power of this United-State, lyes effectively in the Assembly of the States-General, which used at first to be convoked upon extraordinary occasions, by the Council of State; but that seldom, in regard they usually consisted of above Eight hundred persons, whose meeting together in one place from so many several parts, gave too great a shake to the whole Body of the Union; Made the Debates long, and sometimes confused; the Resolutions slow, and upon sudden occasions out of time. In the absence of the States-General, the Council of State represented their Authority, and executed their Resolutions, and judged of the necessity of a [Page] new Convocation: Till after the Earl of Leicester's departure from the Government, the Provincial-States desired of the General, That they might by their constant respective Deputies, continue their Assemblies under the name of States-General, which were never after assembled but at Bergen ap Zoom, for ratifying with more solemn form and authority, the Truce concluded with Duke Albert and Spain.

This Desire of the Provinces was grounded upon the pretences, That the Council of State convoked them but seldom, and at will; and that being to execute all in their absence, they thereby arrogated to themselves too great an Authority in the State. But a more secret reason had greater weight in this Affair, which was, That the English Ambassador had by agreement with Queen Elizabeth, a constant place in their Council of State; And upon the distasts arising between the Provinces and the Earl of Leicester, with some jealousies of the Queen's disposition to make a Peace with Spain, They had no mind that Her Ambassador should be present any longer in the first digestion of their Affairs, [Page] which was then usually made in the Council of State. And hereupon they first framed the ordinary Council, called the States-General, which has ever since passed by that Name, and sits constantly in the Court at the Hague, Represents the Soveraignty of the Union, Gives Audience and Dispatches to all Forreign Ministers; But yet is indeed only a representative of the States-General, the Assemblies whereof are wholly disused.

The Council of State, the Admiralty, and the Treasury are all subordinate to this Council; All which are continued in as near a resemblance as could be, to the several Councils used in the time when the Provinces were subject to their several Principalities; or united under One in the Houses of Burgundy and Austria: Only the several Deputies (composing one voice) now succeeding the single Persons employed under the former Governments: And the Hague, which was the ancient Seat of the Counts of Holland, still continues to be so of all these Councils; where the Palace of the former Soveraigns, lodges the Prince of Orange as Governour, and receives these several [Page] Councils as attending still upon the Soveraignty, represented by the States-General.

The Members of all these Councils are placed and changed by the several Provinces, according to their different or agreeing Customs. To the States-General every one sends their Deputies in what number they please; some Two, some Ten or Twelve; Which makes no difference, because all matters are carried not by the Votes of Persons, but of Provinces; and all the Deputies from one Province, how few or many soever, have one single Vote. The Provinces differ likewise in the time fixed for their Deputation; some sending for a year, some for more, and others for life. The Province of Holland send to the States-General one of their Nobles, who is perpetual; Two Deputies chosen out of their Eight chief Towns; and One out of North-Holland; and with these, Two of their Provincial Council of State, and their Pensioner.

Neither Stadtholder, or Governour, or any person in Military-charge, has Session in the States-General. Every Province presides their week in turns, [Page] and by the most qualified person of the Deputies of that Province: He sits in a Chair with arms, at the middle of a long Table, capable of holding about thirty persons; For about that number this Council is usually composed of. The Greffier, who is in nature of a Secretary, sits at the lower end of the Table: When a Forreign Minister has audience, he is seated at the middle of this Table, over-against the President: Who proposes all matters in this Assembly; Makes the Greffier read all Papers; Puts the Question; Calls the Voices of the Provinces; And forms the Conclusion. Or if he refuses to conclude according to the plurality, he is obliged to resign his Place to the President of the ensuing Week, who concludes for him.

This is the course in all Affairs before them, except in cases of Peace and War, of Forreign Alliances, of Raising or Coining of Moneys, or the Priviledges of each Province or Member of the Union. In all which, All the Provinces must concur, Plurality being not at all weighed or observed. This Counsel is not Soveraign, but [Page] only represents the Soveraignty; and therefore though Ambassadors are both received and sent in their Name; yet neither are their own chosen, nor Forreign Ministers answered, nor any of those mentioned Affairs resolved, without consulting first the States of each Province by their respective Deputies, and receiving Orders from them; And in other important matters, though decided by Plurality, They frequently consult with the Council of State.

Nor has this Method or Constitution ever been broken since their State began, excepting only in one Affair, which was in January 1668, when His Majesty sent me over to propose a League of Mutual Defence with this State, and another for the preservation of Flanders from the invasion of France, which had already conquered a great part of the Spanish Provinces, and left the rest at the mercy of the next Campania. Upon this occasion I had the fortune to prevail with the States-General to conclude three Treaties, and upon them draw up and sign the several Instruments, in the space of Five days; Without passing the essential forms of their Government [Page] by any recourse to the Provinces, which must likewise have had it to the several Cities; There, I knew, those Forreign Ministers whose Duty and Interest it was to oppose this Affair, expected to meet and to elude it, which could not have failed in case it had run that circle, since engaging the Voice of one City, must have broken it. 'Tis true, that in concluding these Alliances without Commission from their Principals, The Deputies of the States-General ventur'd their Heads if they had been disowned by their Provinces; but being all unanimous, and led by the clear evidence of so direct and so important an Interest (which must have been lost by the usual delays), They all agreed to run the hazzard; and were so far from being disowned, that they were applauded by all the Members of every Province; Having thereby changed the whole face of Affairs in Christendom, and laid the Foundation of the Triple-Alliance, and the Peace of Aix (which were concluded about Four Months after). So great has the force of Reason and Interest ever proved in this State, not only to the uniting of all Voices in [Page] their Assemblies, but to the absolving of the greatest breach of their Original Constitutions; Even in a State whose Safety and Greatness has been chiefly founded upon the severe and exact observance of Order and Method in all their Counsels and Executions. Nor have they ever used at any other time any greater means to agree and unite the several Members of their Union in the Resolutions necessary, upon the most pressing occasions, Than for the agreeing-Provinces to name some of their ablest persons to go and confer with the dissenting, and represent those Reasons and Interests, by which they have been induced to their opinions.

The Council of State is composed of Deputies from the several Provinces, but after another manner than the States-General, the number being fixed. Gelderland sends Two, Holland Three, Zealand and Utrecht Two a piece, Friezland, Overyssel and Groninghen, each of them One, making in all Twelve. They vote not by Provinces, but by Personal Voices; and every Deputy presides by turns. In this Council the Governour of the Provinces [Page] has Session, and a decisive voice; And the Treasurer-General, Session, but a voice only deliberative; yet he has much credit here, being for life; and so is the person deputed to this Council from the Nobles of Holland, and the Deputies of the Province of Zealand. The rest are but for two, three, or four years.

The Council of State executes the Resolutions of the States-General; consults and proposes to them the most expedient ways of raising Troops, and levying Moneys, as well as the proportions of both, which they conceive necessary in all Conjunctures and Revolutions of the State: Superintends the Milice, the Fortifications, the Contributions out of Enemies Countrey, the forms and disposal of all Passports, and the Affairs, Revenues, and Government of all places conquered since the Union; which being gain'd by the common Arms of the State, depend upon the States-General, and not upon any particular Province.

Towards the end of every year, this Council forms a state of the Expence they conceive will be necessary for the year ensuing; Presents it to the States-General, [Page] desiring them to demand so much of the States-Provincial, to be raised according to the usual Proportions, which are of 100000 Grs.

Gelderland | 3612 grs | 05 st | 00 d
Holland | 58309 grs | 01 st | 10 d
Zealand | 9183 grs | 14 st | 02 d
Utrecht | 5830 grs | 17 st | 11 d
Friezland | 11661 grs | 15 st | 10 d
Overyssel | 3571 grs | 08 st | 04 d
Groningue | 5830 grs | 17 st | 11 d

This Petition, as 'tis called, is made to the States-General in the Name of the Governour and Council of State, which is but a continuance of the forms used in the time of their Soveraigns, and still by the Governours and Council of State in the Spanish Netherlands: Petition signifying barely asking or demanding, though implying the thing demanded to be wholly in the right and power of them that give. It was used by the first Counts only upon extraordinary occasions and necessities; but in the time of the Houses of Burgundy and Austria, grew to be a thing of course, and Annual, [Page] as it is still in the Spanish Provinces.

The Council of State disposes of all sums of Money destin'd for all extraordinary Affairs, and expedites the Orders for the whole expence of the State, upon the Resolutions first taken in the main, by the States-General. The Orders must be signed by three Deputies of several Provinces, as well as by the Treasurer-General, and then registred in the Chamber of Accounts, before the Receiver-General pays them, which is then done without any difficulty, charge, or delay.

Every Province raises what Moneys it pleases, and by what ways or means; sends its Quota, or share of the general charge, to the Receiver-General, and converts the rest to the present use, or reserves it for the future occasions of the Province.

The Chamber of Accounts was erected about sixty years ago, for the ease of the Council of State, to examine and state all Accounts of all the several Receivers, to controul and register the Orders of the Council of State, which disposes of the Finances: and this Chamber is composed of two Deputies from each Province, who are [Page] changed every Three years.

Besides these Colledges, is the Council of the Admiralty; who, when the States-General by advice of the Council of State, have destin'd a Fleet of such a number and force to be set out, Have the absolute disposition of the Marine Affairs, as well in the choice and equipage of all the several Ships, as in issuing the Moneys allotted for that service.

This Colledg is subdivided into Five, of which three are in Holland, viz. one in Amsterdam, another at Rotterdam, and the third at Horn: The fourth is at Middlebourgh in Zealand, and the fifth at Harlinguen in Friezland. Each of these is composed of Seven Deputies; Four of that Province where the Colledg resides; and Three named by the other Provinces. The Admiral, or in his absence the Vice-Admiral, has Session in all these Colledges, and presides when he is present. They take cognizance of all Crimes committed at Sea; judg all Pirates that are taken, and all Frauds or Negligences in the payment or collections of the Customs; which are particularly affected to the Admiralty, [Page] and appliable to no other use. This Fond being not sufficient in times of Wars, is supplied by the States with whatever more is necessary from other Fonds; but in time of Peace, being little exhausted by other constant charge, besides that of Convoys to their several Fleets of Merchants in all parts, The remainder of this Revenue is applied to the building of great Ships of War, and furnishing the several Arsenals and Stores with all sorts of Provision necessary for the building and rigging of more Ships than can be needed by the course of a long War.

So soon as the number and force of the Fleets designed for any Expedition, is agreed by the States-General, and given out by the Council of State to the Admiralty; Each particular Colledg furnishes their own proportion, which is known as well as that of the several Provinces, in all Moneys that are to be raised. In all which, the Admiral has no other share or advantages, besides his bare Salary, and his proportion in Prizes that are taken. The Captains and Superior Officers of each Squadron are chosen by the several [Page] Colledges; the number of men appointed for every ship: After which, each Captain uses his best diligence and credit to fill his number with the best men he can get, and takes the whole care and charge of Victualling his own Ship for the time intended for that Expedition, and signifi'd to him by the Admiralty; and this at a certain rate of so much a man. And by the good or ill discharge of his Trust, as well as that of providing Chirurgeons Medicines, and all things necessary for the health of the men, each Captain grows into good or ill credit with the Sea-men, and by their report with the Admiralties; Upon whose opinion and esteem, the fortune of all Sea-Officers depends: So as in all their Expeditions there appears rather an emulation among the particular Captains who shall treat his Sea-men best in these points, and employ the Moneys allotted for their Victualling, to the best advantage, Than any little Knavish Practises, of filling their own Purses by keeping their men's Bellys empty, or forcing them to corrupted unwholsome Diet: Upon which, and upon cleanliness in their Ships, the [Page] health of many people crowded up into so little Rooms, seems chiefly to depend.

The Salaries of all the great Officers of this State, are very small: I have already mentioned that of a Burgomaster's of Amsterdam to be about fifty pounds sterling a year: That of their Vice-Admiral (for since the last Prince of Orange's death, to the year 1670, there had been no Admiral) is Five hundred, and that of the Pensioner of Holland Two hundred.

The Greatness of this State seems much to consist in these Orders, how confused soever, and of different pieces they may seem: But more in two main effects of them, which are the good choice of the Officers of chief Trust in the Cities, Provinces, and State: And the great simplicity and modesty in the common port or living of their chiefest Ministers; without which, the Absoluteness of the Senates in each Town, and the Immensity of Taxes throughout the whole State, would never be endured by the people with any patience; being both of them greater than in many of those Governments which are esteemed most Arbitrary [Page] among their Neighbours. But in the Assemblies and Debates of their Senates, every man's Abilities are discovered, as their Dispositions are, in the conduct of their Lives and Domestick, among their fellow-Citizens. The observation of these, either raises or suppresses the credit of particular men, both among the people and the Senates of their Towns; who to maintain their Authority with less popular envy or discontent, give much to the general opinion of the people in the choice of their Magistrates: By this means it comes to pass, that though perhaps the Nation generally be not wise, yet the Government is, Because it is composed of the wisest of the Nation, which may give it an advantage over many others, where Ability is of more common growth, but of less use to the Publique, If it happens that neither Wisdom nor Honesty are the Qualities which bring men to the management of State-Affairs, as they usually do in this Commonwealth.

Besides, though these people, who are naturally Cold and Heavy, may not be ingenious enough to furnish a pleasant or agreeable Conversation, yet [Page] they want not plain down-right sence to understand and do their business both publique and private, which is a Talent very different from the other; and I know not whether they often meet: For the first proceeds from heat of the brain, which makes the spirits more aiery and volatile, and thereby the motions of Thought lighter and quicker, and the range of Imagination much greater than in cold heads, where the spirits are more earthy and dull; Thought moves slower and heavier, but thereby the impressions of it are deeper, and last longer: One imagination being not so frequently nor so easily effaced by another, as where new ones are continually arising. This makes duller men more constant and steddy, and quicker men more inconstant and uncertain; whereas the greatest ability in business, seems to be the steddy pursuit of some one thing till there is an end of it, with perpetual application and endeavour not to be diverted by every representation of new hopes or fears, of difficulty or danger, or of some better design. The first of these Talents cuts like a Razor, the other like a Hatchet: One has [Page] thinness of edg, and fineness of metal and temper, but is easily turn'd by any substance that is hard, and resists. T'other has toughness and weight, which makes it cut thorough, or go deep, wherever it falls; and therefore one is for Adornment, and t'other for Use.

It may be said further, that the heat of the Heart commonly goes along with that of the Brain; so that Passions are warmer where Imaginations are quicker: And there are few men (unless in case of some evident natural defect) but have sence enough to distinguish in gross between Right and Wrong, between Good and Bad, when represented to them; and consequently have judgment enough to do their business, if it be left to it self, and not swayed nor corrupted by some Humour or Passion, by Anger or Pride, by Love or by Scorn, Ambition or Avarice, Delight or Revenge; so as the coldness of Passions seems to be the natural ground of Ability and Honesty among men, as the government or moderation of them the great End of Philosophical and Moral Instructions. These Speculations may perhaps a little lessen the common wonder, How we should [Page] meet with in one Nation so little show of Parts and of Wit, and so great evidence of Wisdom and Prudence, as has appeared in the Conduct and Successes of this State for near a Hundred years; Which needs no other testimony than the mighty Growth and Power it arrived to from so weak and contemptible Seeds and Beginnings.

The other Circumstance I mentioned as an occasion of their Greatness, was the simplicity and modesty of their Magistrates in their way of living; which is so general, that I never knew One among them exceed the common frugal popular air; And so great, That of the two chief Officers in my time, Vice-Admiral De Ruiter, and the Pensioner De Wit (One, generally esteemed by Forreign Nations, as great a Sea-man, and the other as great a States-man, as any of their Age), I never saw the first in Clothes better than the commonest Sea-Captain, nor with above one man following him, nor in a Coach: And in his own House, neither was the Size, Building, Furniture, or Entertainment, at all exceeding the use of every common Merchant and Trades-man in his Town. [Page] For the Pensioner De Wit, who had the great influence in the Government, The whole train and expence of his Domestique went very equal with other common Deputies or Ministers of the State; His Habit grave, and plain, and popular; His Table what only serv'd turn for his Family, or a Friend; His Train (besides Commissaries and Clerks kept for him in an Office adjoining to his House, at the publique charge) was only one man, who performed all the Menial service of his House at home; and upon his Visits of Ceremony, putting on a plain Livery-Cloak, attended his Coach abroad: For upon other occasions, He was seen usually in the streets on foot and alone, like the commonest Burger of the Town. Nor was this manner of life affected, or used by these particular men, but was the general fashion or mode among all the Magistrates of the State: For I speak not of the Military Officers, who are reckon'd their Servants, and live in a different garb, though generally modester than in other Countreys.

Thus this stomachful People, who could not endure the least exercise of [Page] Arbitrary Power or Impositions, or the sight of any Forreign Troops under the Spanish Government; Have been since inured to all of them, in the highest degree, under their own Popular Magistrates; Bridled with hard Laws; Terrified with severe Executions; Environ'd with Forreign Forces; And opprest with the most cruel Hardship and variety of Taxes, that was ever known under any Government. But all this, whilst the way to Office and Authority lyes through those qualities which acquire the general esteem of the people; Whilst no man is exempted from the danger and current of Laws; Whilst Soldiers are confin'd to Frontier-Garrisons (the guard of Inland or Trading-Towns being left to the Burghers themselves); And whilst no great Riches are seen to enter by Publique Payments into private Purses, either to raise Families, or to feed the prodigal Expences of vain, extravagant, and luxurious men; But all Publique Moneys are applied to the Safety, Greatness, or Honour of the State, and the Magistrates themselves bear an equal share in all the Burthens they impose.

[Page]The Authority of the Princes of Orange, The Authority of the Princes of Orange. though intermitted upon the untimely death of the last, and infancy of this present Prince; Yet as it must be ever acknowledged to have had a most essential part in the first frame of this Government, and in all the Fortunes thereof, during the whole growth and progress of the State: So has it ever preserved a very strong root, not only in Six of the Provinces, but even in the general and popular affections of the Province of Holland it self, Whose States have for these last Twenty years so much endeavoured to suppress or exclude it.

This began in the person of Prince William of Nassaw, at the very birth of the State; And not so much by the quality of being Governour of Holland and Zealand in Charles the Fifth's, and Philip the Second's time; As by the esteem of so great Wisdom, Goodness and Courage, as excell'd in that Prince, and seems to have been from him derived to his whole Race, Being indeed the qualities that naturally acquire esteem and authority among the people in all Governments. [Page] Nor has this Nation in particular, since the time perhaps of Civilis, ever been without some Head, under some Title or other; but always a Head subordinate to their Laws and Customs, and to the Soveraign Power of the State.

In the first Constitution of this Government, after the Revolt from Spain, All the Power and Rights of Prince William of Orange, as Governour of the Provinces, seem to have been carefully reserved. But those which remain'd inherent in the Soveraign, were devolved upon the Assembly of the States-General, so as in them remained the power of making Peace and War, and all Forreign Alliances, and of raising and coining of Moneys. In the Prince, the command of all Land and Sea-Forces, as Captain-General and Admiral, and thereby the disposition of all Military Commands; The power of pardoning the Penalty of Crimes; The chusing of Magistrates upon the nomination of the Towns; For they presented three to the Prince, who elected one out of that number. Originally the States-General were convoked [Page] by the Council of State, where the Prince had the greatest influence: Nor since that change, have the States used to resolve any important matter without his advice. Besides all this, As the States-General represented the Soveraignty, so did the Prince of Orange the Dignity of this State, by publique Guards, and the attendance of all Military Officers; By the application of all Forreign Ministers, and all pretenders at home; By the splendour of his Court, and magnificence of his Expence, supported not only by the Pensions and Rights of his several Charges and Commands, but by a mighty Patrimonial Revenue in Lands, and Soveraign Principalities and Lordships, as well in France, Germany, and Burgundy, as in the several parts of the Seventeen Provinces; so as Prince Henry was used to answer some that would have flattered him into the designs of a more Arbitrary Power, That he had as much as any wise Prince would desire in that State; since he had all indeed, besides that of Punishing men, and raising Money; whereas he had rather the envy of the first [Page] should lye upon the Forms of the Government; and he knew the other could never be supported without the consent of the people, to that degree which was necessary for the defence of so small a State against so mighty Princes as their Neighbours.

Upon these Foundations was this State first establisht, and by these Orders maintained, till the death of the last Prince of Orange; When by the great influence of the Province of Holland amongst the rest, the Authority of the Princes came to be shared among the several Magistracies of the State; Those of the Cities assumed the last nomination of their several Magistrates; The States-Provincial, the disposal of all Military Commands in those Troops which their share was to pay; And the States-General, the Command of the Armies, by Officers of their own appointment, substituted and changed at their will. No power remain'd to pardon what was once condemned by rigor of Law; Nor any person to represent the Port and Dignity of a Soveraign State; Both which could not fail of being sensibly missed [Page] by the people, since no man in particular can be secure of offending, or would therefore absolutely despair of impunity himself, though he would have others do so; And men are generally pleased with the Pomp and Splendor of a Government, not only as it is an amusement for idle people, but as it is a mark of the Greatness, Honour and Riches of their Countrey.

However these Defects were for near Twenty years supplied in some measure, and this Frame supported by the great Authority and Riches of the Province of Holland, which drew a sort of dependance from the other Six; and by the great Sufficiency, Integrity and Constancy of their chief Minister, and by the effect of both in the prosperous Successes of their Affairs: Yet having a Constitution strained against the current vein and humour of the people, It was always evident, that upon the growth of this young Prince, The great Virtues and Qualities he derived from the mixture of such Royal and such Princely Blood, could not fail [Page] in time of raising His Authority to equal at least, if not to surpass that of his glorious Ancestors.

CHAP. III. Of their Scituation.

[Page]

HOLLAND, Zealand, Friezland, and Groninguen, are seated upon the Sea, and make the Strength and Greatness of this State: The other three, with the Conquered Towns in Brabant, Flanders, and Cleve, make only the Out-works or Frontiers, serving chiefly for safety and defence of these. No man can tell the strange and mighty Changes that may have been made in the face and bounds of Maritime Countreys, at one time or other, by furious Inundations, upon the unusual concurrence of Land-Floods, Winds and Tides; And therefore no man knows whether the Province of Holland may not have been in some past Ages, all Wood and rough unequal ground, as some old Traditions go; And level'd to what we see, by the Sea's breaking in and continuing long upon the Land; since recovered by its recess, and with the help of Industry. For it is evident, that the Sea [Page] for some space of years, advances continually upon one Coast, retiring from the opposite; and in another Age, quite changes this course, yeilding up what it had seized, and seizing what it had yeilded up, without any reason to be given of such contrary motions. But I suppose this great change was made in Holland, when the Sea first parted England from the Continent, breaking through a neck of Land between Dover and Calais; Which may be a Tale, but I am sure is no Record. It is certain, on the contrary, that Sixteen hundred years ago, there was no usual mention or memory of any such Changes; and that the face of all these Coasts, and nature of the Soil, especially that of Holland, was much as it is now, allowing only the Improvements of Riches, Time, and Industry; Which appears by the description made in Tacitus both of the limits of the Isle of Batavia, Rhenus apud principium agri Batavi velut ín duos amnes dividitur, ad Gallicam ripam latior & placidior verso cognomento Vahalem accola dicuut, mox id quoque vocabulum mutat Mosâ flumine, ejus (que) immenso ore eundem in Oceanum effunditur. Cum interim flexu Autumni & Crebris imbribus superfusus amnis palust [...]m humil [...]m (que) Insulam in faciem Stag [...]i opplevit. and the nature of the Soil as well as the Climate, and the very names of Rivers still remaining.

[Page]'Tis likely the Changes arrived since that Age in these Countreys, may have been made by stoppages grown in time, with the rolling of Sands upon the mouths of three great Rivers, which disimbogued into the Sea through the Coasts of these Provinces; That is, the Rhine, the Mose, and the Scheld. The ancient Rhyne divided where Skencksconce now stands, into two Rivers; of which, one kept the name, till running near Leyden, it fell into the Sea at Catwick; Where are still seen at low Tides, the foundations of an ancient Roman Castle that commanded the mouth of this River: But this is wholly stopt up, though a great Canal still preserves the Name of the old Rhine. The Mose running by Dort and Rotterdam, fell as it now does, into the Sea at the Briel, with mighty issues of water; But the Sands gather'd for three or four Leagues upon this Coast, makes the Haven extream dangerous, without great skill of Pilots, and use of Pilot-boats, that come out with every Tide to welcome and secure the Ships bound for that River; And it is probable that these Sands having obstructed the free course of [Page] the River, has at times caused or encreased those Inundations, out of which so many Islands have been recovered, and of which that part of the Countrey is much composed.

The Scheld seems to have had its issue by Walcheren in Zealand, which was an Island in the mouth of that River, till the Inundations of that and the Mose seem to have been joyned together by some great Helps or Irruptions of the Sea, by which the whole Countrey was overwhelmed, which now makes that Inland-Sea that serves for a common passage between Holland, Zealand, Flanders and Brabant. The Sea for some Leagues from Zealand, lyes generally upon such Banks of Sand as it does upon the mouth of the Maze, though separated by something better Channels than are found in the other.

That which seems likeliest to have been the occasion of stopping up wholly one of these Rivers, and obstructing the others, Is the course of Westerly-winds, which drive upon this Shore so much more constant and violent than the East: For taking the Seasons and Years one with another, I suppose [Page] there will be observed three parts of Westerly for one of Easterly Winds; Besides that these last generally attend the calm Frosts and fair weather, and the other the stormy and foul. And I have had occasion to make experiment of the Sands rising and sinking before a Haven, by two fits of these contrary Winds, above four foot. This I presume is likewise the natural reason of so many deep and commodious Havens found upon all the English side of the Channel, and so few (or indeed none) upon the French and Dutch: An advantage seeming to be given us by Nature, and never to be equal'd by any Art or Expence of our Neighbours.

I remember no mention in ancient Authors of that which is now call'd the Zudder-Sea; Which makes me imagine, that may have been form'd likewise by some great Inundation breaking in between the Tessel-Islands and others that lye still in a line contiguous, and like the broken remainders of a continued Coast. This seems more probable from the great shallowness of that Sea, and flatness of the Sands upon the whole extent of it; [Page] From the violent Rage of the Waters breaking in that way, which threaten the parts of North-Holland about Medenblick and Enchusen, and brave it over the highest and strongest Digues of the Province upon every High-tide, and storm at North-west. As likewise from the Names of East and West-Friezland, which should have been one Continent till divided by this Sea; And in the time of the first Counts of Holland, their great and almost continual Wars were against the Frizons; which could not have been, if separated by this Sea, or if the Frizons were only the Inhabitants of North-Holland.

Whatever it was, whether Nature or Accident, and upon what occasion soever it arrived, The Soil of the whole Province of Holland is generally flat like the Sea in a calm, and looks as if after a long contention between Land and Water, which It should belong to, It had at length been divided between them: For to consider the great Rivers, and the strange number of Canals that are found in this Province, and do not only lead to every great Town, but almost to every Village, [Page] and every Farm-House in the Countrey; And the infinity of Sails that are seen every where coursing up and down upon them; One would imagine the Water to have shar'd with the Land; and the people that live in Boats, to hold some proportion with those that live in Houses. And this is one great advantage towards Trade, which is natural to the Scituation, and not to be attained in any Countrey where there is not the same level and softness of Soil, which makes the cutting of Canals so easie work as to be attempted almost by every private man; And one Horse shall draw in a Boat more than fifty can do by Cart, whereas Carriage makes a great part of the price in all heavy Commodities: And by this easie way of travelling, an industrious man loses no time from his business, for he writes, or eats, or sleeps while he goes; whereas the Time of labouring or industrious men, is the greatest Native Commodity of any Countrey.

There is besides, one very great Lake of fresh water still remaining in the midst of this Province, by the name of Harlem Maer, which might as they [Page] say be easily drained, and would thereby make a mighty addition of Land to a Countrey, where nothing is more wanted; and receive a great quantity of people, in which they abound, and who make their Greatness and Riches. Much discourse there has been about such an Attempt, but the City of Leyden having no other way of refreshing their Town, or renewing their Canals with fresh water, but from this Maer, will never consent to it. On the other side, Amsterdam will ever oppose the opening and cleansing of the old Channel of the Rhine, which they say might easily be compassed, and by which the Town of Leyden would grow Maritime, and share a great part of the Trade now engrossed by Amsterdam. There is in North-Holland a great Essay made at the possibility of draining these great Lakes, by one of about two Leagues broad having been made firm Land, within these forty years; This makes that part of the Countrey called the Bemster, being now the richest Soil of the Province, lying upon a dead flat, divided with Canals, and the ways through it distinguisht with ranges of [Page] Trees, which make the pleasantest Summer-Landschip of any Countrey I have seen of that sort.

Another advantage of their Scituation for Trade, is made by those two great Rivers of the Rhyne and Mose, reaching up, and Navigable so mighty a length into so rich and populous Countreys of the Higher and Lower Germany; which as it brings down all the Commodities from those parts to the Magazines in Holland, that vent them by their Shipping into all parts of the World where the Market calls for them; so with something more Labour and Time, it returns all the Merchandizes of other parts into those Countreys that are seated upon these streams. For their commodious seat as to the Trade of the Streights, or Baltique, or any parts of the Ocean, I see no advantage they have of most parts of England; and they must certainly yeild to many we possess, if we had other equal circumstances to value them.

The lowness and flatness of their Lands, makes in a great measure the richness of their Soil, that is easily overflowed every Winter, so as the [Page] whole Countrey at that season seems to lye under water, which in Spring is driven out again by Mills. But that which mends the Earth, spoils the Air, which would be all Fog and Mist, if it were not clear'd by the sharpness of their Frosts, which never fail with every East-wind for about four Months of the year, and are much fiercer than in the same Latitude with us, because that Wind comes to them over a mighty length of dry Continent; but is moistned by the Vapours, or softned by the warmth of the Seas motion, before it reaches us.

And this is the greatest disadvantage of Trade they receive from their Scituation, though necessary to their health; Because many times their Havens are all shut up for two or three Months with Ice, when ours are open and free.

The fierce sharpness of these Winds, makes the changes of their Weather and Seasons more violent and surprising than in any place I know; so as a warm faint Air turns in a night to a sharp Frost, with the Wind coming into the North-east; And the contrary with another change of Wind. The [Page] Spring is much shorter, and less agreeable than with us; the Winter much colder, and some parts of the Summer much hotter; and I have known more than once, the violence of one give way to that of the other, like the cold fit of an Ague to the hot, without any good temper between.

The flatness of their Land exposes it to the danger of the Sea, and forces them to infinite charge in the continual fences and repairs of their Banks to oppose it; Which employ yearly more men than all the Corn of the Province of Holland could maintain (as one of their chief Ministers has told me). They have lately found the common Sea-weed to be the best Material for these Digues, which fastens with a thin mixture of Earth, yeilds a little to the force of the Sea, and returns when the Waves give back: Whether they are thereby the safer against Water, as they say Houses that shake are against Wind; or whether, as pious Naturalists observe, all things carry about them that which serves for a Remedy against the Mischiefs they do in the world.

[Page]The extream moisture of the Air, I take to be the occasion of the great neatness in their Houses, and cleanliness in their Towns. For without the help of those Customs, their Countrey would not be habitable by such Crowds of people, but the Air would corrupt upon every hot season, and expose the Inhabitants to general and infectious Diseases; Which they hardly escape three Summers together, especially about Leyden, where the Waters are not so easily renewed; and for this reason I suppose it is that Leyden is found to be the neatest and cleanest kept of all their Towns.

The same moisture of Air makes all Metals apt to rust, and Wood to mould; which forces them by continual pains of rubbing and scouring, to seek a prevention or cure: This makes the brightness and cleanness that seems affected in their Houses, and is call'd natural to them, by people who think no further. So the deepness of their Soil, and wetness of Seasons, which would render it unpassable, forces them not only to exactness of paving in their Streets, but to the expence of so long Cawsies [Page] between many of their Towns, and in their High-ways. As indeed most National Customs are the Effect of some unseen or unobserved natural Causes or Necessities.

CHAP. IV. Of their People and Dispositions.

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THE People of Holland may be divided into these several Classes: The Clowns or Boors (as they call them), who cultivate the Land. The Mariners or Schippers, who supply their Ships and Inland-Boats. The Merchants or Traders, who fill their Towns. The Renteeners, or men that live in all their chief Cities upon the Rents or Interest of Estates formerly acquired in their Families: And the Gentlemen and Officers of their Armies.

The first are a Race of people diligent rather than laborious; dull and slow of understanding, and so not dealt with by hasty words, but managed easily by soft and fair; and yeilding to plain Reason, if you give them time to understand it. In the Countrey and Villages not too near the great Towns, they seem plain and honest, and content with their own; so that [Page] if in bounty you give them a shilling for what is worth but a groat, they will take the current price, and give you the rest again; if you bid them take it, they know not what you mean, and sometimes ask if you are a Fool. They know no other Good, but the supply of what Nature requires, and the common encrease of Wealth. They feed most upon Herbs, Roots, and Milks; and by that means I suppose neither their Strength nor Vigor seems answerable to the Size or Bulk of their Bodies.

The Mariners are a plain, but much rougher people; whether from the Element they live in, or from their Food, which is generally Fish and Corn, and heartier than that of the Boors. They are surly and ill-manner'd, which is mistaken for Pride; but I believe is learnt, as all Manners are, by the conversation we use. Now theirs lying only among one another, or with Winds▪ and Waves, which are not mov'd or wrought upon by any language, or observance; or to be dealt with, but by Pains and by Patience; These are all the Qualities their Mariners have learnt; their Valour [Page] is passive rather than active; and their Language is little more than what is of necessary use to their Business.

The Merchants and Trades-men, both the greater and Mechanick, living in Towns that are of great resort, both by strangers and passengers of their own; Are more Mercurial (Wit being sharpned by commerce and conversation of Cities), though they are not very inventive, which is the gift of warmer heads; yet are they great in imitation, and so far, many times, as goes beyond the Originals: Of mighty Industry, and constant application to the Ends they propose and pursue. They make use of their Skill and their Wit, to take advantage of other men's Ignorance and Folly they deal with: Are great Exacters where the Law is in their own hands. In other points, where they deal with men that understand like themselves, and are under the reach of Justice and [...], they are the plainest and best dealers in the world; Which seems not to grow so much from a Principle of Conscience or Morality, as from a Custom or Habit [Page] introduced by the necessity of Trade among them, which depends as much upon Common-Honesty, as War does upon Discipline; and without which, all would break up, Merchants would turn Pedlars, and Soldiers Thieves.

Those Families which live upon their Patrimonial Estates in all the great Cities, are a people differently bred and manner'd from the Traders, though like them in the modesty of Garb and Habit, and the Parsimony of living. Their Youth are generally bred up at Schools, and at the Universities of Leyden or Utrecht, in the common studies of Human Learning, but chiefly of the Civil Law, which is that of their Countrey, at least as far as it is so in France and Spain. (For, as much as I understand of those Countreys, No Decisions or Decrees of the Civil Law, nor Constitutions of the Roman Emperors, have the force or current of Law among them, as is commonly believed, but only the force of Reasons when alledged before their Courts of Judicature, as far as the Authority of men esteemed wise, passes for Reason: But the ancient Customs of those several [Page] Countreys, and the Ordonnances of their Kings and Princes, consented to by the Estates, or in France verified by Parliaments, have only the strength and authority of Law among them.)

Where these Families are rich, their Youths after the course of their studies at home, travel for some years, as the Sons of our Gentry use to do; but their journeys are chiefly into England and France, not much into Italy, seldomer into Spain, nor often into the more Northern Countreys, unless in company or train of their Publique Ministers. The chief End of their Breeding, is to make them fit for the service of their Countrey in the Magistracy of their Towns, their Provinces, and their State. And of these kind of men are the Civil Officers of this Government generally composed, being descended of Families who have many times been constantly in the Magistracy of their Native Towns for many Years, and some for several Ages.

Such were most or all of the chief Ministers, and the persons that composed their chief Councils, in the time of my residence among them, and not [Page] men of mean or Mechanick Trades, as it is commonly received among Forreigners, and makes the subject of Comical Jests upon their Government. This does not exclude many Merchants, or Traders in gross, from being often seen in the Offices of their Cities, and sometimes deputed to their States; Nor several of their States, from turning their Stocks in the management of some very beneficial Trade by Servants, and Houses maintained to that purpose. But the generality of the States and Magistrates are of the other sort; Their Estates consisting in the Pensions of their Publique Charges, in the Rents of Lands, or Interest of Money upon the Cantores, or in Actions of the East-Indy Company, or in Shares upon the Adventures of great Trading-Merchants.

Nor do these Families, habituated as it were to the Magistracy of their Towns and Provinces, usually arrive at great or excessive Riches; The Salaries of Publique Employments and Interest being low, but the Revenue of Lands being yet very much lower, and seldom exceeding the profit of Two in the Hundred. They content themselves [Page] with the hohour of being useful to the Publique, with the esteem of their Cities or their Countrey, and with the ease of their Fortunes; which seldom fails, by the frugality of their living, grown universal by being (I suppose) at first necessary, but since honourable among them.

The mighty growth and excess of Riches is seen among the Merchants and Traders, whose application lyes wholly that way, and who are the better content to have so little share in the Government, desiring only security in what they possess; Troubled with no cares but those of their Fortunes, and the management of their Trades, and turning the rest of their time and thought to the divertisement of their lives. Yet these, when they attain great wealth, chuse to breed up their Sons in the way, and marry their Daughters into the Families of those others most generally credited in their Towns, and versed in their Magistracies; And thereby introduce their Families into the way of Government and Honour, which consists not here in Titles, but in Publique Employments.

The next Rank among them, is that [Page] of their Gentlemen or Nobles, who in the Province of Holland (to which I chiefly confine these Observations) are very few, most of the Families having been extinguished in the long Wars with Spain. But those that remain, are in a manner all employ'd in the Military or Civil Charges of the Province or State. These are in their Customs, and Manners, and way of living, a good deal different from the rest of the people; and having been bred much abroad, rather affect the Garb of their Neighbour-Courts, than the Popular Air of their own Countrey. They value themselves more upon their Nobility, than men do in other Countreys, where 'tis more common; and would think themselves utterly dishonoured by the marriage of one that were not of their Rank, though it were to make up the broken Fortune of a Noble Family, by the Wealth of a Plebean. They strive to imitate the French in their Meen, their Clothes, their way of Talk, of Eating, of Gallantry, or Debauchery; And are, in my mind, something worse than they would be, by affecting to be better than they need; making sometimes but ill Copies, [Page] whereas they might be good Originals, by refining or improving the Customs and Virtues proper to their own Countrey and Climate. They are otherwise an Honest, Well-natur'd, Friendly, and Gentlemanly sort of men, and acquit themselves generally with Honour and Merit, where their Countrey employs them.

The Officers of their Armies live after the Customs and Fashions of the Gentlemen; And so do many Sons of the rich Merchants, who returning from travel abroad, have more designs upon their own pleasure, and the vanity of appearing, than upon the Service of their Countrey; Or if they pretend to enter into that, it is rather by the Army than the State. And all these are generally desirous to see a Court in their Countrey, that they may value themselves at home, by the Qualities they have learnt abroad; and make a Figure which agrees better with their own Humour, and the manner of Courts, than with the Customs and Orders that prevail in more Popular Governments.

There are some Customs or Dispositions that seem to run generally [Page] through all these Degrees of men among them; As great Frugality, and order in their Expences. Their common Riches lye in every man's having more than he spends; or to say it more properly, In every man's spending less than he has coming in, be that what it will: Nor does it enter into men's heads among them, That the common port or course of Expence, should equal the Revenue; and when this happens, they think at least they have liv'd that year to no purpose; And the train of it discredits a man among them, as much as any vicious or prodigal Extravagance does in other Countreys. This enables every man to bear their extream Taxes, and makes them less sensible than they would be in other places: For he that lives upon Two parts in Five of what he has coming in, if he pays Two more to the State, he does but part with what he should have laid up, and had no present use for; Whereas he that spends yearly what he receives, if he pays but the Fiftieth part to the Publique, it goes from him like that which was necessary to buy Bread or Clothes for himself or his Family.

[Page]This makes the beauty and strength of their Towns, the commodiousness of travelling in their Countrey by their Canals, Bridges, and Cawseys; the pleasantness of their Walks, and their Grafts in and near all their Cities; And in short, the Beauty, Convenience, and sometimes Magnificence of all Publique Works, to which every man pays as willingly, and takes as much pleasure and vanity in them, as those of other Countreys do in the same circumstances, among the Possessions of their Families, or private Inheritance. What they can spare, besides the necessary expence of their Domestique, the Publique Payments, and the common course of still encreasing their Stock, Is laid out in the Fabrick, Adornment, or Furniture of their Houses: Things not so transitory, or so prejudicial to Health, and to Business, as the constant Excesses and Luxury of Tables; Nor perhaps altogether so vain as the extravagant Expences of Clothes and Attendance; At least these end wholly in a man's self, and the satisfaction of his personal Humour; whereas the other make not only the Riches of a Family, but contribute [Page] much towards the publique Beauty and Honour of a Countrey.

The order in casting up their Expences, is so great and general, that no man offers at any Undertaking, which he is not prepared for, and Master of his Design before he begins; so as I have neither observed nor heard of any Building publique or private, that has not been finished in the time designed for it. So are their Canals, Cawseys, and Bridges; so was their Way from the Hague to Skeveling, a Work that might have become the old Romans, considering how soon it was dispatcht. The House at the Hague, built purposely for casting of Cannon, was finisht in one Summer, during the heat of the first English War, and lookt rather like a design of Vanity in their Government, than Necessity or Use. The Stadthouse of Amsterdam has been left purposely to time, without any limitation in the first Design, either of that, or of Expence; both that the Diligence and the Genius of so many succeeding Magistrates, should be employ'd in the collection of all things that could be esteemed proper to encrease the Beauty or Magnificence of [Page] that Structure; And perhaps a little to reprieve the experiment of a current Prediction, That the Trade of that City should begin to fall the same year the Stadthouse should be finisht, as it did at Antwerp.

Charity seems to be very National among them, though it be regulated by Orders of the Countrey, and not usually moved by the common Objects of Compassion. But it is seen in the admirable Provisions that are made out of it for all sorts of persons that can want, or ought to be kept in a Government. Among the many and various Hospitals that are in every man's curiosity and talk that travels their Countrey, I was affected with none more than that of the aged Sea-men at Enchusyen, which is contrived, finished, and ordered, as if it were done with a kind intention of some well-natur'd man, That those who had past their whole lives in the Hardships and Incommodities of the Sea, should find a Retreat stor'd with all the Eases and Conveniences that Old-age is capable of feeling and enjoying. And here I met with the only rich man that I ever saw in my life: For one of these old [Page] Sea-men entertaining me a good while with the plain Stories of his Fifty years Voyages and Adventures, while I was viewing their Hospital, and the Church adjoining; I gave him at parting a piece of their Coin about the value of a Crown; He took it smiling, and offer'd it me again; but when I refused it, he askt me what he should do with Money? for all that ever they wanted, was provided for them at their House. I left him to overcome his Modesty as he could; but a Servant coming after me, saw him give it to a little Girl that open'd the Church-door, as she past by him; Which made me reflect upon the fantastick calculation of Riches and Poverty that is current in the world, by which a man that wants a Million, is a Prince; He that wants but a Groat is a Beggar; and this was a poor man that wanted nothing at all.

In general, All Appetites and Passions seem to run lower and cooler here, than in other Countreys where I have converst. Avarice may be excepted. And yet that should not be so violent, where it feeds only upon Industry and Parsimony, as where it [Page] breaks out into Fraud, Rapine, and Oppression. But Quarrels are seldom seen among them, unless in their drink, Revenge rarely heard of, or Jealousie known. Their Tempers are not aiery enough for Joy, or any unusual strains of pleasant Humour; nor warm enough for Love. This is talkt of sometimes among the younger men, but as a thing they have heard of, rather than felt; and as a discourse that becomes them, rather than affects them. I have known some among them that personated Lovers well enough but none that I ever thought were at heart in love; Nor any of the Women that seem'd at all to care whether they were so or no. Whether it be that they are such lovers of their Liberty, as not to bear the servitude of a Mistris, any more than that of a Master; Or that the dulness of their Air renders them less susceptible of more refined Passions; Or that they are diverted from it by the general intention every man has upon his business whatever it is; (nothing being so mortal an Enemy of Love, that suffers no Rival, as any bent of thought another way).

[Page]The same Causes may have had the same Effects among their married Women, who have the whole care and absolute management of all their Domestique; And live with very general good Fame; A certain sort of Chastity being hereditary and habitual among them, as Probity among the Men.

The same dulness of Air may dispose them to that strange assiduity and constant application of their minds, with that perpetual Study and Labour upon any thing they design and take in hand. This gives them patience to pursue the quest of Riches by so long Voyages and Adventures to the Indies, and by so long Parsimony as that of their whole lives. Nay I have (for a more particular example of this Disposition among them) known one man that employ'd Four and twenty years about the making and perfecting of a Globe, and another above Thirty about the inlaying of a Table. Nor does any man know how much may have been contributed towards the great things in all kinds, both publique and private, that have been atchieved among them by this one Humour [Page] of never giving over what they imagine may be brought to pass, nor leaving one sent to follow another they meet with; Which is the property of the lighter and more ingenious Nations; And the Humour of a Government being usually the same with that of the persons that compose it, Not only in this, but in all other points; so as where men that govern, are Wise, Good, Steady and Just, the Government will appear so too; and the contrary where they are otherwise.

The same Qualities in their Air, may encline them to the Entertainments and Customs of Drinking, which are so much laid to their charge, and for ought I know may not only be necessary to their Health (as they generally believe it), but to the vigour and improvement of their Understandings, in the midst of a thick foggy Air, and so much coldness of Temper and Complexion. For though the use or excess of drinking, may destroy men's Abilities who live in better Climates, and are of warmer Constitutions; Wine to hot Brains, being like Oyl to Fire, and making the Spirits by [Page] too much lightness, evaporate into smoak, and perfect aiery imaginations; Or by too much heat, rage into Frenzy, or at least into Humours and Thoughts that have a great mixture of it; Yet on the other side, it may improve men's Parts and Abilities of cold Complexions, and in dull Air; and may be necessary to thaw and move the frozen or unactive Spirits of the Brain; To rowse sleepy Thought, and refine grosser Imaginations, and perhaps to animate the Spirits of the Heart, as well as enliven those of the Brain: Therefore the old Germans seem'd to have some reason in their Custom, Not to execute any great Resolutions which had not been twice debated, and agreed at two several Assemblies, one in an Afternoon, and t'other in a Morning; Because they thought their Counsels might want Vigour when they were sober, as well as Caution when they had drunk.

Yet in Holland I have observed very few of their chief Officers or Ministers of State vicious in this kind; Or if they drunk much, 'twas only at set-Feasts, and rather to acquit themselves, [Page] than of choice or inclination; And for the Merchants and Traders, with whom it is customary, They never do it in a morning, nor till they come from the Exchange, where the business of the day is commonly dispatcht; Nay, it hardly enters into their heads, that 'tis lawful to drink at all before that time; but they will excuse it if you come to their House, and tell you how sorry they are you come in a morning when they cannot offer you to drink; as if at that time of day it were not only unlawful for them to drink themselves, but so much as a stranger to do it within their Walls.

The Afternoon, or at least the Evening is given to whatever they find will divert them; And is no more than needs, considering how they spend the rest of the day, in Thought, or in Cares; in Toils, or in Business. For Nature cannot hold out with constant labour of Body, and as little with constant bent or application of mind: Much motion of the same parts of the Brain either weary and waste them too fast for repair, or else (as it were) fire the wheels, and so end either in ge [...]eral decays of the Body, or distractions [Page] of the Mind (For these are usually occasion'd by perpetual motions of Thought about some one Object; whether it be about ones self in excesses of Pride, or about another in those of Love, or of Grief). Therefore none are so excusable as men of much care and thought, or of great business, for giving up their times of leisure to any pleasures or diversions that offend no Laws, nor hurt others or themselves: And this seems the reason that in all Civil Constitutions, not only Honours, but Riches are annexed to the Charges of those who govern, and upon whom the Publique cares are meant to be devolved; Not only that they may not be distracted from these by the cares of their own Domestique or private Interests; but that by the help of Esteem, and of Riches, they may have those Pleasures and Diversions in their reach, which idle men neither need nor deserve, but which are necessary for the refreshment or repair of Spirits exhausted with Cares and with Toil, and which serve to sweeten and preserve those Lives that would otherwise wear out too fast, or grow too uneasie in [Page] the Service of the Publique.

The two Characters that are left by the old Roman Writers, of the ancient Batavi or Hollanders, are, That they were both the bravest among the German Nations,Queruntur (Fabii Valentis) Legiones orbari se fortissimorum virorum auxilio veteres illos & tot bellorum auctores non abrumpendos ut corpori validissimos artus. Tacit. and the most obstinate lovers and defenders of their Liberty; Which made them exempted from all Tribute by the Romans, who desir'd only Soldiers of their Nation to make up some of their Auxiliary-Bands, as they did in former Ages of those Nations in Italy that were their Friends and Allies. The last Disposition seems to have continued constant and National among them ever since that time, and never to have more appeared than in the Rise and Constitutions of their present State. It does not seem to be so of the First, or that the people in general can be said now to be Valiant, a quality of old so National among them, and which by the several Wars of the Counts of Holland (especially with the Frizons), and by the desperate Defences made against the Spaniards by this people in the beginnings of their State, should [Page] seem to have lasted long, and to have but lately decayed; That is, since the whole application of their Natives has been turn'd to Commerce and Trade, and the vein of their Domestique lives so much to Parsimony (by Circumstances which will be the Subject of another Chapter); and since the main of all their Forces, and body of their Army has been composed and continually supplied out of their Neighbour-Nations.

For Soldiers and Merchants are not found by experience to be more incompatible in their abode, than the Dispositions and Customs seem to be different that render a people sit for Trade and for War. The Soldier thinks of a short life and a merry. The Trader reckons upon a long and a painful. One intends to make his Fortunes suddenly by his Courage, by Victory, and Spoil: The t'other slower, but surer, by Craft, by Treaty, and by Industry. This makes the first franc and generous, and throw away upon his Pleasures what has been gotten in one Danger, and may either be lost or repaired in the next. The other wary and frugal, and loath to [Page] part with in a day, what he has been labouring for a year, and has no hopes to recover, but by the same paces of Diligence and Time. One aims only to preserve what he has, as the fruit of his Father's pains; or what he shall get, as the fruit of his own: T'other thinks the price of a little Blood is more than of a great deal of Sweat; and means to live upon other men's Labours, and possess in an hour what they have been years in acquiring: This makes one love to live under stanch Orders and Laws; While t'other would have all depend upon Arbitrary Power and Will. The Trader reckons upon growing Richer, and by his account Better, the longer he lives; which makes him careful of his Health and his Life, and so apt to be orderly and temperate in his Diet; While the Soldier is thoughtless or prodigal of both; and having not his Meat ready at hours, or when he has a mind to it, Eats full and greedily whenever he gets to it; And perhaps difference of Diet may make greater difference in men's natural Courage, than is commonly thought of.

[Page]For Courage may proceed in some measure from the temper of Air, may be form'd by Discipline, and acquir'd by Use, or infus'd by Opinion; But that which is more natural, and so more National in some Countreys than in others, seems to arise from the heat or strength of Spirits about the Heart, Which may a great deal depend upon the measure and the substance of the food men are used to. This made a great Physician among us say, He would make any man a Coward with six weeks dietting; and Prince Maurice of Orange call for the English that were newly come over, and had (as he said) their own Beef in their Bellies, for any bold and desperate Action. This may be one reason why the Gentry in all places of the world are braver than the Peasantry, whose hearts are depressed not only by Slavery, but by short and heartless Food, the effect of their Poverty. This is a cause why the Yeomanry and Commonalty of England are generally braver than in other Countreys, Because by the Plenty and Constitutions of the Kingdom, they are so much easier in their Rents and their Taxes, and fare so much [Page] better and fuller than those of their rank in any other Nation. Their chief, and indeed constant food, being of flesh; And among all Creatures, both the Birds and the Beasts, we shall still find those that feed upon flesh, to be the fierce and the bold; and on the contrary, the fearful and fainthearted to feed upon Grass, and upon Plants. I think there can be pretended but two Exceptions to this Rule, which are rhe Cock, and the Horse; whereas the Courage of the first is noted no where but in England, and there, only in certain Races: And for the other, all the Courage we commend in them, is the want of fear; and they are observed to grow much fiercer, whenever by custom or necessity they have been used to flesh.

From all this may be inferr'd, That not only the long disuse of Arms among the Native Hollanders (especially at Land), and making use of other Nations chiefly in their Milice; But the Arts of Trade, as well as Peace, and their great Parsimony in diet, and eating so very little flesh (which the common people seldom do above once a week), may have helpt to debase [Page] much the ancient Valour of the Nation, at least in the occasions of Service at Land. Their Sea-men are much better; but not so good as those of Zealand, who are generally brave; Which I suppose comes by these having upon all occasions turn'd so much more to Privateering, and Men of War; and those of Holland being generally employ'd in Trading and Merchant-Ships; While their Men of War are man'd by Mariners of all Nations, who are very numerous among them, but especially those of the East-land Coasts of Germany, Suedes, Danes, and Norwegians.

'Tis odd, that Veins of Courage should seem to run like Veins of good Earth in a Countrey, and yet not only those of the Province of Hainault among the Spanish, and of Gelderland among the United Provinces, are esteemed better Soldiers than the rest; But the Burghers of Valenciennes among the Towns of Flanders, and of Nimmeguen among those of the lower Gelder, are observed to be particularly brave. But there may be firmness and constancy of Courage from Tradition, as well as of Belief: Nor methinks [Page] should any man know how to be a Coward, that is brought up with the opinion, That all of his Nation or City have ever been Valiant.

I can say nothing of what is usually laid to their charge about their being Cruel, besides what we have so often heard, of their barbarous usage to some of our men in the East-Indies, and what we have so lately seen of their Savage Murther of their Pensioner De Wit; A Person that deserv'd another Fate, and a better return from his Countrey after Eighteen years spent in their Ministry, without any care of his Entertainments or Ease, and little of his Fortune. A man of unwearied Industry, inflexible Constancy, sound, clear, and deep Understanding, and untainted Integrity; so that whenever he was blinded, it was by the passion he had for that which he esteemed the good and interest of his State. This testimony is justly due to him from all that practised him; and is the more willingly paid, since there can be as little interest to flatter, as honour to reproach the dead. But this Action of that people may be attributed to the misfortune of their Countrey; and is so unlike [Page] the appearance of their Customs and Dispositions, living as I saw them under the Orders and Laws of a quiet and setled State, that one must confess Mankind to be a very various Creature, and none to be known that has not been seen in his Rage, as well as his Drink.

They are generally not so long-liv'd as in better Airs; and begin to decay early, both men and women, especially at Amsterdam; For at the Hague (which is their best Air) I have known two considerable men a good deal above Seventy, and one of them in very good sense and health: But this is not so usual as it is in England and in Spain. The Diseases of the Climate seem to be chiefly the Gout and the Scurvy; but all hot and dry Summers bring some that are infectious among them, especially into Amsterdam and Leyden: These are usually Fevers that lye most in the head, and either kill suddenly, or languish long before they recover. Plagues are not so frequent, at least not in a degree to be taken notice of, for All suppress the talk of them as much as they can, and no distinction is made in the Registry of the dead, nor [Page] much in the care and attendance of the sick: Whether from a belief of Predestination, or else a preference of Trade, which is the life of the Countrey, before that of particular men.

Strangers among them are apt to complain of the Spleen, but those of the Countrey seldom or never: Which I take to proceed from their being ever busie, or easily satisfied. For this seems to be the Disease of people that are idle, or think themselves but ill entertain'd; and attribute every sit of dull Humour, or Imagination, to a formal Disease, which they have found this Name for; Whereas such Fits are incident to all men, at one time or other, from the fumes of Indigestion, from the common alterations of some insensible degrees in Health and Vigor Vbi tempestas & coeli mobilis humor Mu [...]avere vias, & Jupiter humidus Austris, D [...]nsat, erant quae rara modo, & quae densa relaxat [...]tuntur species animorum, & pectora motus [...] alios, alios dum nubila ventus agebat [...]cipiunt, hinc ille avium concentus in agris Et [...] pecudes, & ovantes gutture corvi. Virg. Geor.; or from some changes or approaches of change in Winds and Weather, which affect the finer Spirits of the Brain, before they grow sensible to other parts; And are apt to alter the shapes or colours of whatever is represented to us by our [Page] Imaginations whilst we are so affected. Yet this Effect is not so strong, but that business, or intention of thought, commonly either resists or diverts it; And those who understand the motions of it, let it pass, and return to themselves. But such as are idle, or know not from whence these changes arise, and trouble their heads with Notions and Schemes of general Happiness or Unhappiness in life; Upon every such fit begin reflections on the condition of their Bodies, their Souls, or their Fortunes; And (as all things are then represented in the worst colours) they fall into melancholy apprehensions of one or other, and sometimes of them all: These make deep impression in their minds, and are not easily worn out by the natural returns of good Humour, especially if they are often interrupted by the contrary; As happens in some particular Constitutions, and more generally in uncertain Climates, especially if improved by accidents of ill health, or ill fortune. But this is a Disease too refin'd for this Countrey and People, Who are well, when they are not ill; and pleas'd, when they are not troubled; are content, [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] because they think little of it; and seek their happiness in the common Eases and Commodities of Life, or the encrease of Riches; Not amusing themselves with the more speculative contrivances of Passion, or refinements of Pleasure.

To conclude this Chapter: Holland is a Countrey where the Earth is better than the Air, and Profit more in request than Honour; Where there is more Sense than Wit; More good Nature than good Humour; And more Wealth than Pleasure; Where a man would chuse rather to travel, than to live; Shall find more things to observe than desire, And more persons to esteem than to love. But the same Qualities and Dispositions do not value a private man and a State, nor make a Conversation agreeable, and a Government great: Nor is it unlikely that some very great King might make but a very ordinary private Gentleman, and some very extraordinary Gentleman might be capable of making but a very mean Prince.

CHAP. V. Of their RELIGION.

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I Intend not here to speak of Religion at all as a Divine, but as a meer Secular man, when I observe the occasions that seem to have establisht it in the Forms, or with the Liberties wherewith it is now attended in the United Provinces. I believe the Reformed Religion was introduced there, as well as in England, and the many other Countreys where it is profess'd, by the operation of Divine Will and Providence; And by the same, I believe the Roman-Catholique was continued in France: Where it seemed by the conspiring of so many Accidents in the beginnings of Charles the Ninth's Reign, to be so near a change. And whoever doubts this, seems to question not only the Will, but the Power of God. Nor will it at all derogate from the Honour of a Religion, to have been planted in a Countrey by Secular [Page] means, or Civil Revolutions, which have, long since, succeeded to those Miraculous Operations that made way for Christianity in the world. 'Tis enough that God Almighty infuses belief into the hearts of men, or else ordains it to grow out of Religious Enquiries and Instructions; And that wherever the generality of a Nation come by these means to be of a belief, It is by the force of this concurrence introduced into the Government, and becomes the Establisht Religion of That Countrey. So was the Reformed Profession introduced into England, Scotland, Sueden, Denmark, Holland, and many parts of Germany. So was the Roman-Catholique restored in France and in Flanders; where notwithstanding the great Concussions that were made in the Government by the Hugonots and the Gueuses, yet they were never esteemed in either of those Countreys to amount further than the Seventh or Eighth part of the people. And whosoever designs the change of Religion in a Countrey, or Government, by any other means than that of a general conversion of the people, or the greatest part of them, Designs all [Page] the Mischiefs to a Nation that use to usher in or attend the two greatest Distempers of a State, Civil War, or Tyranny; Which are, Violence, Oppression, Cruelty, Rapine, Intemperance, Injustice, and in short, the miserable Effusion of Human Blood, and the Confusion of all Laws, Orders, and Virtues among men.

Such Consequences as these, I doubt are something more than the disputed Opinions of any man, or any particular Assembly of men can be worth; Since the great and general End of all Religion, next to mens happiness hereafter, is their happiness here; As appears by the Commandments of God, being the best and greatest Moral and Civil, as well as Divine Precepts, that have been given to a Nation; And by the Rewards proposed to the Piety of the Jews throughout the Old Testament, which were the Blessings of this life, as Health, length of Age, number of Children, Plenty, Peace, or Victory.

Now the way to our future happiness, has been perpetually disputed throughout the World, and must be left at last to the Impressions made upon [Page] every man's Belief and Conscience, either by natural or supernatural Arguments and Means; Which Impressions men may disguise or dissemble, but no man can resist. For Belief is no more in a man's power, than his Stature or his Feature; And he that tells me, I must change my Opinion for his, because 'tis the truer and the better, without other Arguments, that have to me the force of conviction, May as well tell me, I must change my gray eyes for others like his that are black, because these are lovelier, or more in esteem. He that tells me, I must inform my self; Has reason, if I do it not: But if I endeavour it all that I can, and perhaps more than he ever did, and yet still differ from him; And he, that it may be is idle, will have me study on, and inform my self better, and so to the end of my life; Then I easily understand what he means by informing, Which is in short, that I must do it till I come to be of his opinion.

If he that perhaps pursues his Pleasures or Interests as much or more than I do; And allows me to have as good sense as he has, in all other matters; [Page] Tells me I should be of his opinion, but that Passion or Interest blinds me; Unless he can convince me how, or where this lies, He is but where he was, Only pretends to know me better than I do my self, who cannot imagine why I should not have as much care of my soul, as he has of his.

A man that tells me my opinions are absurd or ridiculous, impertinent or unreasonable, because they differ from his, seems to intend a Quarrel instead of a Dispute; and calls me Fool or Mad-man with a little more circumstance; Though perhaps I pass for one as well in my senses as he, as pertinent in talk, and as prudent in life: Yet these are the common Civilities, in Religious Argument, of sufficient and conceited men, Who talk much of Right Reason, and mean always their own; And make their private imagination the measure of general Truth. But such language determines all between us, and the Dispute comes to end in three words at last, which it might as well have ended in at first, That he is in the right, and I am in the wrong.

[Page]The other great End of Religion, which is our happiness here, Has been generally agreed on by all Mankind, as appears in the Records of all their Laws,Fiunt diversae respublicae ex civium moribus qui quocun (que) fluxerint, caetera secum rapiunt. Plat. de Rep. as well as all their Religions, which come to be establisht by the concurrence of men's Customs and and Opinions; though in the latter, that concurrence may have been produced by Divine Impressions or Inspirations. For all agree in teaching and commanding, in planting and improving, not only those Moral Virtues which conduce to the felicity and tranquillity of every private man's life; But also those Manners and Dispositions that tend to the Peace, Order, and Safety of all Civil Societies and Governments among men. Nor could I ever understand, how those who call themselves, and the world usually calls Religious Men, come to put so great weight upon those points of Belief which men never have agreed in, and so little upon those of Virtue and Morality, in which they have hardly ever disagreed. Nor why a State should venture the subversion of their Peace, and their Order, which are certain [Page] Goods, for the propagation of uncertain or contested Opinions.

One of the great Causes of the first Revolt in the Low-Countreys, appeared to be, The Oppression of men's Consciences, or Persecution in their Liberties, their Estates, and their Lives, upon pretence of Religion. And this at a time, when there seemed to be a conspiring-disposition in most Countreys of Christendom, to seek the reformation of some abuses, grown in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church, either by the Rust of Time, by Negligence, or by Human Inventions, Passions and Interests. The rigid opposition given at Rome to this general Humour, was followed by a defection of mighty numbers in all those several Countreys, Who professed to reform themselves according to such Rules as they thought were necessary for the reformation of the Church. These persons, though they agreed in the main of disowning the Papal Power, and reducing Belief from the authority of Tradition to that of the Scripture; Yet they differ'd much among themselves in other circumstances, especially of Discipline, according to the [Page] Perswasions and Impressions of the Leading-Doctors in their several Countreys. So the Reformed of France became universally Calvinists: But for those of Germany, though they were generally Lutherans, yet there was a great mixture both of Calvinists and Anabaptists among them.

The first Persecutions of these Reformed, arose in Germany in the time of Charles the Fifth, and drove great numbers of them down into the Seventeen Provinces, especially Holland and Brabant, where the Priviledges of the Cities were greater, and the Emperor's Government was less severe, as among the Subjects of his own Native Countreys. This was the occasion that in the year 1566, when upon the first Insurrection in Flanders, those of the Reformed Profession began to form Consistories, and levy Contributions among themselves, for support of their Common Cause; It was resolved upon consultation among the Heads of them, that for declining all differences among themselves, at a time of common exigence, The publique Profession of their Party should be that of the Lutherans, though with liberty and indulgence to [Page] those of different Opinions. By the Union of Utrecht concluded in 579, Each of the Provinces was left to order the matter of Religion as they thought fit and most conducing to the welfare of their Province; With this provision, that every man should remain free in his Religion, and none be examined or entrapped for that cause, according to the Pacification at Gant. But in the year 583, it was enacted by general agreement, That the Evangelical Religion should be only professed in all the Seven Provinces: Which came thereby to be the establisht Religion of this State.

The Reasons which seem to induce them to this settlement, were many, and of weight; As first, Because by the Persecutions arrived in France, (where all the Reformed were Calvinists) multitudes of people had retired out of that Kingdom into the Low Countreys; And by the great commerce and continual intercourse with England, where the Reformation agreed much with the Calvinists in point of Doctrine, though more with the Lutherans in point of Discipline, Those Opinions came to be credited and propagated more than any [Page] other among the people of these Provinces, So as the numbers were grown to be greater far in the Cities, of this, than of any other Profession. Secondly, The Succours and Supplies both of Men and Money, by which the weak Beginnings of this Commonwealth were Perserved and Fortified, came chiefly, from England, from the Protestants of France, (when their affairs were successful), and from the Calvinist Princes of Germany, who lay nearest, and were readiest to relieve them. In the next place, Because those of this Profession seem'd the most contrary and violent against the Spaniards, who made themselves Heads of the Roman-Catholiques throughout Christendom, And the hatred of Spain and their Dominion, was so rooted in the Hearts of this People, that it had influence upon them in the very choice of their Religion. And lastly, Because by this Profession, all Rights and Jurisdiction of the Clergy or Hierarchy being suppressed, There was no Ecclesiastical Authority left to rise up and trouble or fetter the Civil Power; And all the Goods and Possessions of Churches and Abbies, were seized wholly into the hands of the State, [Page] which made a great encrease of the publique Revenue, A thing the most necessary for the support of their Government.

There might perhaps be added one Reason more, which was particular to one of the Provinces: For whereas in most, if not all other parts of Christendom, the Clergy composed one of the Three Estates of the Countrey, And thereby shar'd with the Nobles and Commons in their Influences upon the Government; That Order never made any part of the Estates in Holland, nor had any Vote in their Assembly, which consisted only of the Nobles and the Cities, and this Province bearing always the greatest sway in the Councils of the Union, was most enclined to the settlement of that Profession, which gave least pretence of Power or Jurisdiction to the Clergy, and so agreed most with their own ancient Constitutions.

Since this Establishment, as well as before, the great Care of this State has ever been, To favour no particular or curious Inquisition into the Faith or Religious Principles of any peaceable man, who came to live under the protection of their Laws, And to suffer [Page] no Violence or Oppression upon any Mans Conscience, whose Opinions broke not out into Expressions or Actions of ill consequence to the State. A free Form of Government either making way for more freedom in Religion, Or else having newly contended so far themselves for Liberty in this point, they thought it the more unreasonable for them to oppress others. Perhaps while they were so threatened and endanger'd by Forreign Armies, they thought it the more necessary to provide against Discontents within, which can never be dangerous where they are not grounded or fathered upon Oppression in point either of Religion or Liberty, But in those two Cases the Flame often proves most violent in a State, the more 'tis shut up, or the longer concealed.

The Roman-Catholique Religion was alone excepted from the common protection of their Laws, Making Men (as the States believed) worse Subjects than the rest, By the acknowledgment of a Forreign and Superior Jurisdiction; For so must all Spiritual Power needs be, as grounded upon greater Hopes and Fears than any Civil, [Page] At least wherever the perswasions from Faith are as strong as those from Sense, Of which there are so many Testimonies recorded by the Martyrdoms, Penances or Conscientious Restraints and Severities, suffered by infinite Persons in all sorts of Religion.

Besides, this Profession seemed still a retainer of the Spanish Government, which was then the great Patron of it in the world: Yet such was the care of this State to give all men ease in this point, who askt no more than to serve God, and save their own souls, in their own Way and Forms; That what was not provided for by the Constitutions of their Government, was so, in a very great degree, by the connivence of their Officers, Who upon certain constant Payments from every Family, suffer the exercise of the Roman-Catholique Religion in their several Jurisdictions, as free and easie, though not so cheap and so avowed as the rest. This I suppose has been the reason, that though those of this Profession are very numerous in the Countrey, among the Peasants, and considerable in the Cities; Yet they seem to be a found piece of the State, [Page] and fast jointed in with the rest; And have neither given any disturbance to the Government, nor exprest any inclinations to a change, or to any Forreign Power, Either upon the former Wars with Spain, or the latter Invasions of the Bishop of Munster.

Of all other Religions, every man enjoys the free exercise in his own Chamber, or his own House, unquestioned and unespied: And if the followers of any Sect grow so numerous in any place, that they affect a publique Congregation, and are content to purchase a place of Assembly, to bear the charge of a Pastor or Teacher, and to pay for this Liberty to the Publique; They go and propose their desire to the Magistrates of the place where they reside, Who inform themselves of their Opinions, and manners of Worship; and if they find nothing in either, destructive to Civil Society, or prejudicial to the Constitutions of their State, And content themselves with the price that is offer'd for the purchase of this Liberty, They easily allow it; But with the condition, That one or more Commissioners shall be appointed, who shall have free [Page] admission at all their meetings, shall be both the Observers and Witnesses of all that is acted or preached among them, and whose testimony shall be received concerning any thing that passes there to the prejudice of the State; In which case the Laws and Executions are as severe as against any Civil Crimes.

Thus the Jews have their allowed Synagogues in Amsterdam and Rotterdam; And in the first, almost all Sects that are known among Christians, have their publique Meeting-places; and some, whose Names are almost worn out in all other parts, as the Brownists, Familists, and others. The Arminians, though they make a great Name among them, by being rather the distinction of a Party in the State, than a Sect in the Church; Yet are, in comparison of others, but few in number, Though considerable by the persons, who are of the better quality, the more learned and intelligent men, and many of them in the Government. The Anabaptists are just the contrary, very numerous, but in the lower ranks of people, Mechanicks and Sea-men, and abound chiefly in North-Holland.

[Page]The Calvinists make the body of the people, and are possessed of all the publique Churches in the Dominions of the State, as well as of the only Ministers or Pastors who are maintained by the Publique; But these have neither Lands, nor Tythes, nor any authorized Contributions from the people, but certain Salaries from the State, upon whom they wholly depend: And though they are often very bold in taxing and preaching publiquely against the Vices, and sometimes the innocent Entertainments of persons most considerable in the Government, as well as of the Vulgar; yet they are never heard to censure or controul the publique Actions or Resolutions of the State: They are in general, throughout the Countrey, passionate Friends to the Interests of the House of Orange; And during the intermission of that Authority, found ways of expressing their affections to the Person and Fortunes of this Prince, without offending the State, as it was then constituted. They are fierce Enemies of the Arminian Party, whose Principles were thought to lead them in Barnevelt's time towards a conjunction, or at least [Page] compliance with the Spanish Religion and Government; Both which, the House of Orange in the whole course of the War, endeavoured to make irreconcilable with those of the State.

It is hardly to be imagined how all the violence and sharpness, which accompanies the differences of Religion in other Countreys, seems to be appeased or softned here, by the general freedom which all men enjoy, either by allowance or connivence; Nor how Faction and Ambition are thereby disabled to colour their Interessed and Seditious Designs, with the pretences of Religion, Which has cost the Christian World so much blood for these last Hundred and fifty years. No man can here complain of pressure in his Conscience, Of being forced to any publique profession of his private Faith; Of being restrained from his own manner of worship in his House, Or obliged to any other abroad: And whoever asks more in point of Religion, without the undisputed evidence of a particular Mission from Heaven, may be justly suspected, not to ask for God's sake, but for his own; since pretending to Soveraignty instead of [Page] Liberty in Opinion, is indeed pretending the same in Authority too, Which consists chiefly in Opinion; And what Man or Party soever, can gain the common and firm belief, of being most immediately inspired, instructed, or favoured of God, Will easily obtain the prerogative of being most honour'd and obey'd by men.

But in this Commonwealth, no man having any reason to complain of oppression in Conscience; and no man having hopes by advancing his Religion, to form a Party, or break in upon the State, The differences in Opinion make none in Affections, and little in Conversation, where it serves but for entertainment and variety. They argue without interest or anger; They differ without enmity or scorn, And they agree without confederacy. Men live together like Citizens of the World, associated by the common ties of Humanity, and by the bonds of Peace, Under the impartial protection of indifferent Laws, With equal encouragement of all Art and Industry, and equal freedom of Speculation and Enquiry; All men enjoying their imaginary excellencies and acquisitions of [Page] knowledg, with as much safety, as their more real possessions and improvements of Fortune. The power of Religion among them, where it is, lies in every man's heart; The appearance of it, is but like a piece of Humanity, by which every one falls most into the company or conversation of those whose Customs and Humours, whose Talk and Disposition they like best: And as in other places, 'tis in every man's choice, With whom he will eat or lodg, with whom go to Market, or to Court; So it seems to be here, with whom he will pray or go to Church, or associate in the Service and Worship of God; Nor is any more notice taken, or more censure past, of what every one chuses in these cases, than in the other.

I believe the force of Commerce, Alliances, and Acquaintance, spreading so far as they do in small circuits (such as the Province of Holland) may contribute much to make conversation, and all the offices of common life, so easie, among so different Opinions, Of which so many several persons are often in every man's eye; And no man cheeks or takes offence at Faces, or [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] Customs, or Ceremonies he sees every day, As at those he hears of in places far distant, and perhaps by partial relations, and comes to see late in his life, and after he has long been possest by passion or prejudice against them. However it is, Religion may possibly do more good in other places, But it does less hurt here; And whereever the invisible effects of it are the greatest and most advantageous, I am sure the visible are so in this Countrey, by the continual and undisturbed Civil Peace of their Government for so long a course of years; And by so mighty an encrease of their people, Wherein will appear to consist chiefly the vast growth of their Trade and Riches, and consequently the strength and greatness of their State.

CHAP. VI. Of their TRADE.

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'TIs evident to those who have read the most, and travel'd farthest, That no Countrey can be found either in this present Age, or upon Record of any Story, Where so vast a Trade has been managed, as in the narrow compass of the Four Maritime Provinces of this Commonwealth: Nay it is generally esteemed, that they have more Shipping belongs to them, than there does to all the rest of Europe. Yet they have no Native Commodities towards the building or rigging of the smallest Vessel; Their Flax, Hemp, Pitch, Wood, and Iron, coming all from abroad, as Wool does for cloathing their men, and Corn for feeding them. Nor do I know any thing properly of their own growth, that is considerable either for their own necessary use, or for Traffique with their Neighbours, besides Butter, Cheese, and Earthen [Page] Wares. For Havens, they have not any good upon their whole Coast: The best are Helversluys, which has no Trade at all; and Flussingue, which has little in comparison of other Towns in Holland: But Amsterdam, that triumphs in the spoils of Lisbon and Antwerp (which before engrost the greatest Trade of Europe and the Indies) seems to be the most incommodious Haven they have, Being seated upon so shallow waters, that ordinary Ships cannot come up to it without the advantage of Tides; Nor great ones without unlading. The entrance of the Tessel, and passage over the Zudder-Sea, is more dangerous than a Voyage from thence to Spain, lying all in blind and narrow Channels; so that it easily appears, that 'tis not a Haven that draws Trade, but Trade that fills a Haven, and brings it in vogue. Nor has Holland grown rich by any Native Commodities, but by force of Industry; By improvement and manufacture of all Forreign growths; By being the general Magazine of Europe, and furnishing all parts with whatever the Market wants or invites; And by their Sea-men being, as they have properly [Page] been call'd, the common Carriers of the World.

Since the ground of Trade cannot be deduced from Havens, or Native Commodities (as may well be concluded from the survey of Holland, which has the least and the worst; and of Ireland, which has the most and the best, of both); it were not amiss to consider, from what other source it may be more naturally and certainly derived: For if we talk of Industry, we are still as much to seek what it is that makes people industrious in one Countrey, and idle in another. I conceive the true original and ground of Trade, to be great multitude of people crowded into small compass of Land, whereby all things necessary to life become deer, and all men who have possessions, are induced to Parsimony; but those who have none, are forced to industry and labour, or else to want. Bodies that are vigorous, fall to labour; Such as are not,Magister artis ingeniique largitor Venter. Pers. supply that defect by some sort of Inventions or Ingenuity. These Customs arise first from Necessity, but encrease by Imitation, and grow in time to be habitual in a Countrey; And wherever they are [Page] so, If it lies upon the Sea, they naturally break out into Trade, both because whatever they want of their own that is necessary to so many mens lives, must be supply'd from abroad; and because by the multitude of people, and smallness of Countrey, Land grows so deer, that the improvement of money that way is inconsiderable, and so turns to Sea, where the greatness of the Profit makes amends for the Venture.

This cannot be better illustrated, than by its contrary, which appears no where more than in Ireland; Where by the largeness and plenty of the Soil, and scarcity of People, all things necessary to life are so cheap, that an industrious man, by two days labour, may gain enough to feed him the rest of the week; Which I take to be a very plain ground of the laziness attributed to the people: For men naturally prefer Ease before Labour, and will not take pains if they can live idle; Though, when by necessity they have been inured to it, they cannot leave it, being grown a custom necessary to their health, and to their very entertainment: Nor perhaps is the change harder, from constant Ease, to [Page] Labour, than from constant Labour to Ease.

This account of the Original of Trade, agrees with the experience of all Ages, and with the Constitutions of all places where it has most flourished in the World, as Tyre, Carthage, Athens, Syracuse, Agrigentum, Rhodes, Venice, Holland; and will be so obvious to every man, that knows and considers the scituation, the extent and the nature of all those Countreys, that it will need no enlargement upon the comparisons.

By these Examples, which are all of Commonwealths, and by the decay or dissolution of Trade in the Six first, when they came to be conquered or subjected to Arbitrary Dominions, It might be concluded, That there is something in that form of Government proper and natural to Trade in a more peculiar manner. But the heighth it arrived to at Bruges and Antwerp, under their Princes, for four or five descents of the House of Burgundy, and two of Austria, shows it may thrive under good Princes and legal Monarchies, as well as under Free States. Under Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power, it must [Page] of necessity decay and dissolve, Because this empties a Countrey of people, whereas the others fill it; This extinguishes Industry, whilst men are in doubt of enjoying themselves what they get, or leaving it to their Children; The others encourage it, by securing men of both: One fills a Countrey with Soldiers, and the other with Merchants; Who were never yet known to live well together, Because they cannot trust one another: And as Trade cannot live without mutual trust among private men; so it cannot grow or thrive to any great degree, without a confidence both of publique and private safety, and consequently a trust in the Government, from an opinion of its Strength, Wisdom, and Justice; Which must be grounded either upon the Personal Virtues and Qualities of a Prince, or else upon the Constitutions and Orders of a State.

It appears to every mans eye who hath travel'd Holland, and observed the number and vicinity of their great and populous Towns and Villages, with the prodigious improvement of almost every spot of ground in the Countrey, And the great multitudes [Page] constantly employ'd in their Shipping abroad, and their Boats at home, That no other known Countrey in the World, of the same extent, holds any proportion with this in numbers of people; And if that be the great foundation of Trade, the best account that can be given of theirs, will be, by considering the Causes and Accidents that have served to force or invite so vast a confluence of people into their Countrey. In the first rank may be placed, the Civil-Wars, Calamities, Persecutions, Oppressions, or Discontents, that have been so fatal to most of their Neighbours, for some time before as well as since their State began.

The Persecutions for matter of Religion, in Germany under Charles the Fifth, in France under Henry the Second, and in England under Queen Mary, forced great numbers of people out of all those Countreys, to shelter themselves in the several Towns of the Seventeen Provinces, where the ancient Liberties of the Countrey, and Priviledges of the Cities, had been inviolate under so long a succession of Princes, and gave protection to these oppressed [Page] strangers, who fill'd their Cities both with People and Trade, and raised Antwerp to such a heighth and renown, as continued till the Duke of Alva's arrival in the Low-Countreys. The fright of this man, and the Orders he brought, and Armies to execute them, began to scatter the Flock of people that for some time had been nested there; So as in very few Months, above a Hundred thousand Families removed out of the Countrey. But when the Seven Provinces united, and began to defend themselves with success, under the conduct of the Prince of Orange, and the countenance of England and France, And the Persecutions for Religion began to grow sharp in the Spanish Provinces, All the Professors of the Reformed Religion, and haters of the Spanish Dominion, retir'd into the strong Cities of this Commonwealth, and gave the same date to the growth of Trade there, and the decay of it at Antwerp.

The long Civil-Wars, at first of France, then of Germany, and lastly of England, serv'd to encrease the swarm in this Countrey, not only by such as were persecuted at home, but great [Page] numbers of peaceable men, who came here to seek for quiet in their Lives, and safety in their Possessions or Trades; Like those Birds that upon the approach of a rough Winter-season, leave the Countreys where they were born and bred, flye away to some kinder and softer Climate, and never return till the Frosts are past, and the Winds are laid at home.

The invitation these people had, to fix rather in Holland than in many better Countreys, seems to have been at first, the great strength of their Towns, which by their Maritime scituation, and the low flatness of their Countrey, can with their Sluces overflow all the ground about them at such distances, as to become inaccessible to any Land-Forces. And this natural strength has been improv'd, especially at Amsterdam, by all the Art and Expence that could any ways contribute towards the defence of the place.

Next was the Constitution of their Government, by which, neither the States-General nor the Prince have any power to invade any man's Person or Property within the precincts of their Cities. Nor could it be fear'd that the [Page] Senate of any Town should conspire to any such violence; nor if they did, could they possibly execute it, having no Soldiers in their pay, and the Burgers only being employ'd in the defence of their Towns, and execution of all Civil Justice among them.

These Circumstances gave so great a credit to the Bank of Amsterdam; And that was another invitation for people to come, and lodg here what part of their Money they could transport, and knew no way of securing at home. Nor did those people only lodg Moneys here, who came over into the Countrey; but many more who never left their own; Though they provided for a retreat, or against a storm, and thought no place so secure as this, nor from whence they might so easily draw their money into any parts of the World.

Another Circumstance, was the general Liberty and Ease, not only in point of Conscience, but all others that serve to the commodiousness and quiet of life; Every man following his own way, minding his own business, and little enquiring into other mens; Which I suppose happen'd by [Page] so great a concourse of people of several Nations, different Religions and Customs, as left nothing strange or new; And by the general humour, bent all upon Industry, whereas Curiosity is only proper to idle men.

Besides, it has ever been the great Principle of their State, running through all their Provinces and Cities, even with emulation, To make their Countrey the common refuge of all miserable men; From whose protection, hardly any Alliance, Treaties, or Interests, have ever been able to divert or remove them. So as during the great dependance this State had upon France, in the time of Henry the Fourth, All the persons disgraced at that Court, or banisht that Countrey, made this their common retreat; Nor could the State ever be prevail'd with, by any instances of the French Ambassadors, to refuse them the use and liberty of common life and air, under the protection of their Government.

This firmness in the State, has been one of the circumstances that has invited so many unhappy men out of all their Neighbourhood, and indeed from most parts of Europe, to shelter themselves [Page] from the blows of Justice, or of Fortune. Nor indeed does any Countrey seem so proper to be made use of upon such occasions, not only in respect of safety, but as a place that holds so constant and easie correspondencies with all parts of the World; And whither any man may draw whatever money he has at his disposal in any other place; Where neither Riches expose men to danger, nor Poverty to contempt; But on the contrary, where Parsimony is honourable, whether it be necessary or no; and he that is forced by his Fortune to live low, may here alone live in fashion, and upon equal terms (in appearance abroad) with the chiefest of their Ministers, and richest of their Merchants: Nor is it easily imagin'd how great an effect this Constitution among them, may in course of time have had upon the encrease both of their People and their Trade.

As the two first invitations of people into this Countrey, were the strength of their Towns, and nature of their Government; So two others have grown with the course of time, and progress of their Riches and Power. One is the Reputation of their [Page] Government, arising from the observation of the Success of their Arms, the Prudence of their Negotiations, the Steddiness of their Counsels, the Constancy of their Peace and Quiet at home, and the Consideration they hereby arrived at among the Princes and States of Christendom. From all these, men grew to a general opinion of the Wisdom and Conduct of their State; and of its being establisht upon Foundations that could not be shaken by any common Accidents, nor consequently in danger of any great or sudden Revolutions; And this is a mighty inducement to industrious people to come and inhabit a Countrey, who seek not only safety under Laws from Injustice and Oppression, but likewise under the strength and good conduct of a State, from the violence of Forreign Invasions, or of Civil Commotions.

The other, is the great Beauty of their Countrey (forced in time, and by the improvements of Industry, in spight of Nature), Which draws every day such numbers of curious and idle persons to see their Provinces, though not to inhabit them. And indeed their Countrey is a much better Mistress [Page] than a Wife; and where few persons who are well at home, would be content to live; but where none that have time and money to spare, would not for once be willing to travel; And as England shows in the beauty of the Countrey, what Nature can arrive at; so does Holland in the number, greatness, and beauty of their Towns, whatever Art can bring to pass. But these and many other matters of Speculation among them, filling the Observations of all common Travellers, shall make no part of mine, whose design is rather to discover the Causes of their Trade and Riches, than to relate the Effects.

Yet it may be noted hereupon, as a piece of wisdom in any Kingdom or State, By the Magnificence of Courts, or of Publique Structures; By encouraging beauty in private Buildings, and the adornment of Towns with pleasant and regular plantations of Trees; By the celebration of some Noble Festivals or Solemnities; By the institution of some great Marts or Fairs; and by the contrivance of any extraordinary and renowned Spectacles, To invite and occasion, as much and as often as can be, the concourse of busie [Page] or idle people from the neighbouring or remoter Nations, whose very passage and intercourse is a great encrease of Wealth and of Trade, and a secret incentive of people to inhabit a Countrey where men may meet with equal advantages, and more entertainments of life, than in other places. Such were the Olimpick and other Games among the Grecians; Such the Triumphs, Trophees, and Secular Plays of old Rome, as well as the Spectacles exhibited afterwards by the Emperors, with such stupendious effects of Art and Expence, for courting or entertertaining the people; Such the Jubilees of new Rome; The Justs and Tournaments formerly used in most of the Courts of Christendom; The Festivals of the more celebrated Orders of Knighthood; And in particular Towns, the Carnavals and Faires; The Kirmeshes which run through all the Cities of the Netherlands, and in some of them, with a great deal of Pageantry, as well as Traffique, being equal baits of Pleasure and of Gain.

Having thus discover'd what has laid the great Foundations of their Trade, by the multitude of their People, [Page] which has planted and habituated Industry among them, and by that, all sorts of Manufacture; As well as Parsimony, and thereby general Wealth: I shall enumerate very briefly, some other Circumstances, that seem, next to these, the chief Advancers and Encouragers of Trade in their Countrey.

Low Interest, and deerness of Land, are effects of the multitude of People, and cause so much Money to lye ready for all Projects, by which gain may be expected, as the cutting of Canals, making Bridges and Cawsies, leveling Downs, and draining Marshes, besides all new essays at Forreign Trade, which are proposed with any probability of advantage.

The use of their Banks, which secures Money, and makes all Payments easie, and Trade quick.

The Sale by Registry, which was introduced here and in Flanders in the time of Charles the Fifth, and makes all Purchases safe.

The Severity of Justice, not only against all Thefts, but all Cheats, and Counterfeits of any Publique Bills (which is capital among them), and [Page] even against all common Beggars, who are disposed of either into Workhouses, or Hospitals, as they are able or unable to labour.

The Convoys of Merchant-Fleets into all parts, even in time of Peace, but especially into the Streights; which give their Trade security against many unexpected accidents, and their Nation credit abroad, and breeds up Sea-men for their Ships of War.

The lowness of their Customs, and easiness of paying them, which, with the freedom of their Ports, invite both Strangers and Natives to bring Commodities hither, not only as to a Market, but as to a Magazine, where they lodg till they are invited abroad to other and better Markets.

Order and Exactness in managing their Trade, which brings their Commodities in credit abroad. This was first introduced by severe Laws and Penalties, but is since grown into custom. Thus there have been above Thirty several Placarts about the manner of curing, pickling, and barreling Herrings. Thus all Arms made at Utrecht, are forfeited if sold without mark, or marked without trial. And I [Page] observed in their Indian-House, that all the pieces of Scarlet, which are sent in great quantities to those parts, are marked with the English Arms, and Inscriptions in English; by which they maintain the credit gain'd to that Commodity, by our former trade to parts where 'tis now lost or decay'd.

The Government manag'd either by men that trade, or whose Families have risen by it, or who have themselves some Interest going in other men's Traffique, or who are born and bred in Towns, The soul and beeing whereof consists wholly in Trade, Which makes sure of all favour that from time to time grows necessary, and can be given it by the Government.

The custom of every Towns affecting some particular Commerce or Staple, valuing it self thereupon, and so improving it to the greatest heighth, as Flussingue by that of the West-Indies, Middleburgh of French-Wines, Terveer by the Scotch Staple, Dort by the English Staple and Rhenish-Wines, Rotterdam by the Rnglish and Scotch Trade at large, and by French-Wines; Leyden by the Manufacture of all sorts of Stuffs, Silk, Hair, Gold and Silver; [Page] Haerlem by Linnen, Mixt-Stuffs, and Flowers; Delf by Beer and Dutch-Purcelane; Surdam by the built of Ships; Enchusyen and Mazlandsluys, by Herring-fishing; Friezland by the Greenland-Trade, and Amsterdam by that of the East-Indies, Spain, and the Streights.

The great application of the whole Province to the Fishing-Trade, upon the Coasts of England and Scotland, which employs an incredible number of Ships and Sea-men, and supplies most of the Southern parts of Europe with a rich and necessary Commodity.

The last I shall mention, is the mighty advance they have made towards engrossing the whole Commerce of the East-Indies, by their successes against the Porteguesses, and by their many Wars and Victories against the Natives, whereby they have forced them to Treaties of Commerce, exclusive to all other Nations, and to the admission of Forts to be built upon Streights and Passes that command the entrances into the Traffique of such places. This has been atchieved by the multitude of their people and Mariners, that has been able to furnish [Page] every year so many great Ships for such Voyages, and to supply the loss of so many lives as the changes of Climate have cost, before they learnt the method of living in them: By the vastness of the Stock that has been turn'd wholly to that Trade; And by the conduct and application of the East-Indy Company, who have managed it like a Commonwealth rather than a Trade; And thereby raised a State in the Indies, governed indeed by the Orders of the Company, but otherwise appearing to those Nations like a Soveraign State, making War and Peace with their greatest Kings, and able to bring to Sea Forty or Fifty Men of War, and Thirty thousand men at Land, by the modestest computations. The Stock of this Trade, besides what it turns to in France, Spain, Italy, the Streights, and Germany, makes them so great Masters in the Trade of the Northern parts of Europe, as Muscovy, Poland, Pomerania, and all the Baltique; where the Spices, that are an Indian-Drug, and Europaean-Luxury, command all the Commodities of those Countreys, which are so necessary to life, as their [...]ora; and to Navigation, as [Page] Hemp, Pitch, Masts, Planks, and Iron.

Thus the Trade of this Countrey is discover'd to be no effect of common contrivances, of natural dispositions or scituations, or of trivial accidents; But of a great concurrence of Circumstances, a long course of Time, force of Orders and Method, which never before met in the World to such a degree, or with so prodigious a Success, and perhaps never will again. Having grown (to sum up all) from the scituation of their Countrey, extended upon the Sea, divided by two such Rivers as the Rhyne and the Mose, with the vicinity of the Ems, Weser, and Elve; From the confluence of people out of Flanders, England, France, and Germany, invited by the Strength of their Towns, and by the Constitutions and Credit of their Government; by the Liberty of Conscience, and Security of Life and Goods (subjected only to constant Laws); From general Industry and Parsimony, occasion'd by the multitude of People, and smalness of Countrey; From cheapness and easiness of Carriage by convenience of Canals; From low Use, [Page] and deerness of Land, which turn Money to Trade; The institution of Banks; Sale by Registry; Care of Convoys; Smalness of Customs; Freedom of Ports; Order in Trade; Interest of persons in the Government; Particular Traffique affected to particular places; Application to the Fishery; And Acquisitions in the East-Indies.

It is no constant Rule, That Trade makes Riches; For there may be a Trade that impoverishes a Nation: As it is not going often to Market that enriches the Countrey-man; But on the contrary, if every time he comes there, he buys to a greater value than he sells, He grows the poorer the oftner he goes: But the only and certain Scale of Riches arising from Trade in a Nation, is the proportion of what is exported for the consumption of others, to what is imported for their own.

The true ground of this proportion lies in the general Industry and Parsimony of a people, or in the contrary of both. Industry encreases the Native Commodity, either in the product of the Soil, or the Manufactures of the Countrey, which raises the Stock [Page] for exportation. Parsimony lessens the consumption of their own, as well as of Forreign Commodities; and not only abates the importation by the last, but encreases the exportation by the first; For of all Native Commodities, the less is consumed in a Countrey, the more is exported abroad; there being no Commodity, but at one price or other will find a Market, which They will be Masters of, who can afford it cheapest: Such are always the most industrious and parsimonious people, who can thrive by Prices upon which the Lazy and Expensive cannot live.

The vulgar mistake, That importation of Forreign Wares, if purchased abroad with Native Commodities, and not with Money, does not make a Nation poorer; Is but what every man that gives himself leisure to think, must immediately rectifie, By finding out, that upon the end of an Account between a Nation and all they deal with abroad Whatever the Exportation wants in value to balance that of the Importation, must of necessity be made up with ready money.

By this we find out the foundation [Page] of the Riches of Holland, As of their Trade by the circumstances already rehearsed. For never any Countrey traded so much, and consumed so little: They buy infinitely, but 'tis to sell again, either upon improvement of the Commodity, or at a better Market. They are the great Masters of the Indian Spices, and of the Persian Silks; but wear plain Woollen, and feed upon their own Fish and Roots. Nay, they sell the finest of their own Cloath to France, and buy coarse out of England for their own wear. They send abroad the best of their own Butter into all parts, and buy the cheapest out of Ireland, or the North of England, for their own use. In short, they furnish infinite Luxury, which they never practise; and traffique in Pleasures which they never taste.

The Gentlemen and Officers of the Army change their Clothes and their Modes like their Neighbours. But among the whole Body of the Civil Magistrates, the Merchants, the rich Traders, and Citizens in general, the Fashions continue still the same; And others as constant among the Sea-men and Boors: So that men leave off [Page] their Clothes only because they are worn out, and not because they are out of fashion.

Their great Forreign Consumption, is French-Wine and Brandy; But that may be allow'd them, as the only Reward they enjoy of all their pains, and as that alone which makes them rich and happy in their voluntary Poverty, who would otherwise seem poor and wretched in their real Wealth. Besides, what they spend in Wine, they save in Corn to make other Drinks, which is bought from Forreign parts. And upon a pressure of their Affairs, we see now for two years together, They have deni'd themselves even this Comfort, among all their Sorrows, and made up in passive Fortitude whatever they have wanted in the active.

Thus it happens, that much going constantly out either in Commodity, or in the Labour of Seafaring-men; And little coming in to be consumed at home; The rest returns in Coin, and fills the Countrey to that degree, That more Silver is seen in Holland among the common Hands and Purses, than Brass either in Spain or in France; Though one be so rich in the best [Page] Native Commodities, and the other drain all the Treasures of the West-Indies.

By all this account of their Trade and Riches, it will appear, That some of our Maxims are not so certain as they are current in our common Politicks. As first, That Example and Encouragement of Excess and Luxury, if employ'd in the consumption of Native Commodities, is of advantage to Trade: It may be so to that which impoverishes, but is not to that which enriches a Countrey; And is indeed less prejudicial if it lie in Native than in Forreign Wares. But the custom or humour of Luxury and Expence, cannot stop at certain bounds: What begins in Native, will proceed in Forreign Commodities; and though the Example arise among idle persons, yet the Imitation will run into all Degrees, even of those men by whose Industry the Nation subsists. And besides, the more of our own we spend, the less we shall have to send abroad; and so it will come to pass, that while we drive a vast Trade, yet by buying much more than we sell, we shall come to be poor: Whereas when we [Page] drove a very small Traffique abroad, yet by selling so much more than we bought, we were very rich in proportion to our Neighbours. This appear'd in Edward the Third's time, when we maintain'd so mighty Wars in France, and carri'd our Victorious Arms into the heart of Spain; Whereas in the 28 year of that King's Reign, the Value and Custom of all our Exported Commodities amounted to 294184 l.—17 s.—2 d. And that of our Imported, but to 38970 l.—03 s.—06 d. So as there must have enter'd that year into the Kingdom in Coin or Bullion (or else have grown a Debt to the Nation) 255214 l. — 13 s. —08 d. And yet we then carri'd out our Wools unwrought, and brought in a great part of our Clothes from Flanders.

Another common Maxim is, That if by any Forreign Invasion or Servitude, the State, and consequently the Trade of Holland should be ruin'd, the last would of course fall to our share in England. Which is no consequence: For it would certainly break into several pieces, and shift either to us, to Flanders, to the Hans-Towns, or any other parts, according as the most of [Page] those circumstances should any where concur to invite it (and the likest to such), as appear to have formerly drawn it into Holland, By so mighty a confluence of People, and so general a vein of Industry and Parsimony among them. And whoever pretends to equal their growth in Trade and Riches, by other ways than such as are already enumerated, will prove, I doubt, either to deceive, or to be deceived.

A third is, That if that State were reduced to great extremities, so as to become a Province to some greater Power, They would chuse our Subjection rather than any other, or those at least that are the Maritime and the Richest of the Provinces. But it will be more reasonably concluded from all the former Discourses, That though they may be divided by absolute Conquests, they will never divide themselves by consent, But all fall one way, and by common agreement make the best terms they can for their Countrey as a Province, if not as a State: And before they come to such an extremity, they will first seek to be admitted as a Belgick-Circle in the [Page] Empire (which they were of old); and thereby receive the protection of that Mighty Body, which (as far as great and smaller things may be compar'd) seems the likest their own State in its main Constitutions, but especially in the Freedom or Soveraignty of the Imperial Cities. And this I have often heard their Ministers speak of, as their last refuge, in case of being threatned by too strong and fatal a Conjuncture.

And if this should happen, the Trade of the Provinces would rather be preserved or encreased, than any way broken or destroy'd by such an alteration of their State, Because the Liberties of the Countrey would continue what they are, and the Security would be greater than now it is.

The last I will mention, is of another vein; That if the Prince of Orange were made Soveraign of their Country, though by Forreign Arms, he would be a great Prince, because this now appears to be so great a State. Whereas, on the contrary, those Provinces would soon become a very mean Countrey. For such a Power must be maintain'd by force, as it would be acquir'd, and as [Page] indeed all Absolute Dominion must be in those Provinces. This would raise general Discontents; and those, perpetual Seditions among the Towns, which would change the Orders of the Countrey, endanger the Property of private men, And shake the Credit and Safety of the Government: Whenever this should happen, The People would scatter, Industry would faint, Banks would dissolve, And Trade would decay to such a degree, as probably in course of time, their very Digues would be no longer maintain'd by the Defences of a weak People against so furious an Invader; But the Sea would break in upon their Land, and leave their chiefest Cities to be Fisher-Towns, as they were of old.

Without any such great Revolutions, I am of opinion, That Trade has for some years ago past its Meridian, and begun sensibly to decay among them: Whereof there seem to be several Causes; As first, The general application that so many other Nations have made to it, within these two or three and twenty years. For since the Peace of Munster, which restor'd the quiet of Christendom in 1648, [Page] not only Sueden and Denmark, but France and England, have more particularly than ever before, busied the thoughts and counsels of their several Governments, as well as the humours of their People, about the matters of Trade.

Nor has this happen'd without good degrees of Success; though Kingdoms of such extent, that have other and Nobler Foundations of Greatness, cannot raise Trade to such a pitch as this little State, which had no other to build upon; No more than a man, who has a fair and plentiful Estate, can fall to Labour and Industry, like one that has nothing else to trust to for the support of his life. But however, all these Nations have come of late to share largely with them; And there seem to be grown too many Traders for Trade in the World, So as they can hardly live one by another. As in a great populous Village, the first Grocer or Mercer that sets up among them, grows presently rich, having all the Custom; till another, encouraged by his success, comes to set up by him, and share in his gains; At length so many fall to the Trade, that nothing is [Page] got by it; and some must give over, or all must break.

Not many Ages past, Venice and Florence possest all the Trade of Europe; The last by their Manufactures; But the first by their Shipping: and the whole Trade of Persia and the Indies, whose Commodities were brought (Those by Land, and These by the Arabian-Sea) to Egypt, from whence they were fetcht by the Venetian Fleets, and dispersed into most of the parts of Europe: And in those times we find the whole Trade of England was driven by Venetians, Florentines, and Lombards. The Easterlings, who were the Inhabitants of the Hans-Towns, as Dantzic, Lubeick, Hamburgh, and others upon that Coast, fell next into Trade, and managed all that of these Northern parts for many years, and brought it first down to Bruges, and from thence to Antwerp. The first Navigations of the Portuguesses to the East-Indies, broke the greatness of the Venetian Trade, and drew it to Lisbon; And the Revolt of the Netherlands, that of Antwerp to Holland. But in all this time, The other and greater Nations of Europe concern'd themselves [Page] little in it; Their Trade was War; Their Counsels and Enterprizes were busied in the quarrels of the Holy Land, or in those between the Popes and the Emperors (both of the same Forge, engaging all Christian Princes, and ending in the greatness of the Ecclesiastical State throughout Christendom): Sometimes in the mighty Wars between England and France, Between France and Spain: The more general, between Christian and Turks; Or more particular quarrels between lesser and Neighbouring-Princes. In short, The Kingdoms and Principalities were in the World like the Noblemen and Gentlemen in a Countrey; The Free-States and Cities, like the Merchants and Traders: These at first despised by the others; The others serv'd and rever'd by them; till by the various course of Events in the World, Some of these came to grow Rich and Powerful by Industry and Parsimony; And some of the others Poor, by War and by Luxury: Which made the Traders begin to take upon them, and carry it like Gentlemen; and the Gentlemen begin to take a fancy of falling to Trade. By this short account it will [Page] appear no wonder, either that particular places grew so Rich and so Mighty, while they alone enjoyed almost the general Trade of the World; nor why not only the Trade in Holland, but the advantage of it in general, should seem to be lessen'd by so many that share it.

Another Cause of its decay in that State, may be, That by the mighty progress of their East-Indy Company, The Commodities of that Countrey are grown more than these parts of the World can take off; and consequently the Rates of them must needs be lessened, while the Charge is encreast by the great Wars, the Armies, and Forts, necessary to maintain or extend the Acquisitions of that Company in the Indies. For instead of Five or Six East-Indy Ships, which used to make the Fleet of the year, they are now risen to Eighteen or Twenty (I think Two and twenty came in one year to the United Provinces). This is the reason why the particular persons of that Company in Holland, make not so great advantage of the same Stock, as those of ours do in England; Though their Company be very much richer, [Page] and drives a far greater Trade than ours, Which is exhausted by no charge of Armies, or Forts, or Ships of War: And this is the reason that the Dutch are forced to keep so long and so much of those Commodities in their Magazines here, and to bring them out, only as the Markets call for them, or are able to take off; And why they bring so much less from the Indies, than they were able to do, if there were vent enough here: As I remember one of their Sea-men, newly landed out of their East-Indy Fleet in the year 69, upon discourse in a Boat between Delf and Leyden, said he had seen, before he came away, three heaps of Nutmegs burnt at a time, each of which was more than a small Church could hold, which he pointed at in a Village that was in sight.

Another Cause may be the great cheapness of Corn, which has been for these dozen years or more, general in all these parts of Europe, and which has a very great influence upon the Trade of Holland. For a great vent of Indian Commodities (at least the Spices, which are the gross of them) used to be made into the Northern [Page] parts of Europe, in exchange for Corn, while it was taken off at good rates by the Markets of Flanders, England, France, Spain, or Italy; In all which Countreys it has of late years gone so low, as to discourage the Import of so great quantities as used to come from Poland and Prussia, and other parts of the North. Now the less value those Nations receive for Corn, the less they are able to give for Spice, Which is a great loss to the Dutch on both sides, lessening the vent of their Indian Ware in the Northern, and the Traffique of Corn in the Southern parts. The cause of this great cheapness of Corn, seems to be, not so much a course of plentiful and seasonable years, As the general Peace that has been in Europe since the year 59 or 60; by which so many Men and so much Land have been turned to Husbandry, that were before employ'd in the Wars, or lay wasted by them in all the Frontier-Provinces of France and Spain, as well as throughout Germany, before the Peace of Munster; and in England, during the Actions or Consequences of a Civil War; And Plenty grows not to a heighth, but by the Succession of several peaceful [Page] as well as seasonable Years.

The last Cause I will mention, is the mighty enlargement of the City of Amsterdam, by that which is called the New Town; The Extent whereof is so spacious, and the Buildings of so much greater Beauty and Cost than the Old, that it must have employ'd a vast proportion of that Stock which in this City was before wholly turned to Trade. Besides, there seems to have been growing on for these later years, a greater Vie of Luxury and Expence among many of the Merchants of that Town, than was ever formerly known; Which was observed and complained of, as well as the enlargement of their City, by some of the wisest of their Ministers, while I resided among them, who designed some Regulations by Sumptuary Laws; As knowing the very Foundations of their Trade would soon be undermined, if the habitual Industry, Parsimony, and Simplicity of their People, came to be over-run by Luxury, Idleness, and Excess. However it happen'd, I found it agreed by all the most diligent and circumspect Enquiries I could make, That in the years 69 and 70, there was [Page] hardly any Forreign Trade among them, besides that of the Indies, by which the Traders made the returns of their money without loss; and none, by which the gain was above Two in the hundred. So as it seems to be with Trade, as with the Sea (its Element), that has a certain pitch, above which it never rises in the highest Tides; And begins to ebb as soon as ever it ceases to flow; And ever loses ground in one place, proportionably to what it gains in another.

CHAP. VII. Of their FORCES and REVENUES.

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THE Strength and Forces of a Kingdom or State, were measured in former Ages by the Numbers of Native and Warlike Subjects, which they could draw into the Field upon any War with their Neighbours. National quarrels were decided by National Armies, not by Stipendiary Forces (raised with Money, or maintained by constant Pay). In the several Kingdoms and Principalities of Europe, the Bodies of their Armies were composed, as they are still in Poland, Of the Nobility and Gentry, who were bound to attend their Princes to the Wars, with certain numbers of armed men, according to the tenure and extent of the several Lordships and Lands they held of the Crown: Where these were not proportionable to the occasion, The rest were made up of Subjects drawn together by love of their Prince [Page] or their Countrey; By desire of Conquest and Spoils, or necessity of defence; Held together by Allegiance or Religion; And Spirited by Honour, Revenge, or Avarice (not of what they could get from their Leaders, but from their Enemies). A Battel or two, fairly fought, decided a War; and a War ended the quarrel of an Age, and either lost or gain'd the Cause or Countrey contended for: Till the change of Times and Accidents brought it to a new decision; Till the Virtues and Vices of Princes made them stronger or weaker, either in the love and obedience of their people, or in such Orders and Customs as render'd their Subjects more or less Warlike or Esseminate. Standing-Forces or Guards in constant pay, were no where used by lawful Princes in their Native or Hereditary Countreys, But only by Conquerors in subdued Provinces, or Usurpers at home; And were a defence only against Subjects, not against Enemies.

These Orders seem first to have been changed in Europe by the two States of Venice and Holland; Both of them small in Territories at Land, and those [Page] extended in Frontier upon powerful Neighbours: Both of them weak in number of Native Subjects; and those less warlike at Land, by turning so much to Traffique, and to Sea: But both of them mighty in Riches and Trade; Which made them endeavour to balance their Neighbours strength in Native Subjects, by Forreign Stipendiary Bands; And to defend their Frontiers by the Arts of Fortification, and strength of places, which might draw out a War into length by Sieges, when they durst not venture it upon a Battel; And so make it many times determine by force of Money, rather than of Arms. This forced those Princes, who frontier'd upon these States, to the same provisions; Which have been encreast by the perpetual course of Wars, upon the Continent of Europe, ever since the rise of This State, until the Peace of the Pirenees, between Princes bordering one upon the other; and so, ready for sudden Inroads or Invasions.

The Force therefore of these Provinces is to be measur'd, not by the number or dispositions of their Subjects, But by the strength of their Shipping, [Page] and standing-Troops, which they constantly maintain, even in time of peace; And by the numbers of both which, they have been able to draw into the Field, and to Sea, for support of a War: By their constant Revenue to maintain the first; And by the temporary charge they have been able to furnish for supply of the other.

I will not enumerate their Frontier-Towns (which is a common Theam), or the Forces necessary for the Garrisons of them. Nor the nature and variety of their Taxes and Impositions; Though I have an exact List of them by me, expressing the several kinds, rates, and proportions, upon every Province and Town; But this would swell a Discourse with a great deal of tedious matter, and to little purpose. I shall therefore be content only to observe, what I have informed my self of their Forces and Revenues in general, from persons among them the best able to give that account.

The ordinary Revenue of this State, consists either in what is levied in the conquered Towns, and Countrey of Brabant, Flanders, or the Rhine; Which is wholly administred by the Council [Page] of State: Or else the ordinary Fonds which the Seven Provinces provide every year, according to their several proportions, upon the Petition of the Council of State, and Computation of the Charge of the ensuing year, given in by them to the States-General. And this Revenue commonly amounts to about One and twenty Millions of Gilders a year; Every Million making about Ninety thousand pounds Sterling, intrinsick value.

The chief Fonds out of which this rises, Is the Excise, and the Customs: The first is great, and so general, that I have heard it observed at Amsterdam, That when in a Tavern, a certain Dish of Fish is eaten with the usual Sawce, above thirty several Excises are paid, for what is necessary to that small Service. The last are low, and applied particularly to the Admiralty.

Out of this Revenue, is supplied the charge of the whole Milice, Of all publique Officers of the State, and Ambassadors or Ministers abroad, And the Interest of about Thirteen Millions owing by the States-General.

The standing-Forces in the year 70, [Page] upon so general a Peace, and after all Reformations, Were Twenty six thousand two hundred men, in Ten Regiments of Horse, consisting of Fifty Troops; And Nineteen of Foot, consisting of Three hundred and Eighty Companies. The constant charge of these Forces stood them in Six Millions one hundred and nineteen thousand Gilders a year.

Their Admiralties, in time of Peace, maintain between Thirty and Forty Men of War, employ'd in the several Convoys of their Merchants Fleets, In a Squadron of Eight or Ten Ships to attend the Algerines and other Corsairs in the Mediterranean; And some always lying ready in their Havens for any sudden accidents, or occasions of the State. The common Expence of the Admiralties in this Equipage, and the built of Ships, Is about Six Millions a year.

Besides the Debt of the Generalty, The Province of Holland owes about Sixty five Millions, for which they pay Interest at Four in the Hundred; But with so great ease and exactness both in Principal and Interest, That no man ever demands it twice; They might [Page] take up whatever money they desired. Whoever is admitted to bring in his money, takes it for a great deal of favour; And when they pay off any part of the Principal, Those it belongs to, receive it with tears, Not knowing how to dispose of it to Interest with such safety and ease. And the common Revenue of particular men, lies much in the Cantores either of the Generalty, or the several Provinces, which are the Registries of these publique Debts.

Of the several Imposts and Excises, Those that are upon certain and immovable possessions (as Houses and Lands) are collected by the Magistrates of the several places, and by them paid in to the Receivers, because both the number and value of them are constant, and easily known. Those which arise out of uncertain Consumptions, are all set out to farm, And to him that bids most, some every three Months, some every six, and some yearly.

The Collection, Receit, and Distribution of all Publique Moneys, are made without any Fee to Officers, who receive certain constant Salaries from the State, which they dare not [Page] encrease by any private practises or Extortions; So as whoever has a Bill of any publique Debt, has so much ready money in his Coffers, being paid certainly at call, without charge or trouble; and assign'd over in any payment, like the best Bill of Exchange.

The extraordinary Revenue is, when upon some great occasions or Wars, the Generalty agrees to any extraordinary Contributions; As sometimes the Hundredth penny of the Estates of all the Inhabitants; Pole, or Chimney-money; Or any other Subsidies and Payments, according as they can agree, and the occasions require; Which have sometimes reached so far, as even to an Imposition upon every man that travels in the common ways of their Countrey, by Boat, or in Coach; in Wagon, or on Horseback.

By all these means, in the first year of the English War in 1665, There were raised in the Provinces Forty Millions, of which Twenty two in the Province of Holland. And upon the Bishop of Munster's invading them at the same time by Land, they had in the year 66, above Threescore thousand Land-men in pay; And a Fleet [Page] of above a Hundred great Men of War at Sea.

The greatness of this Nation at that time, seems justly to have raised the glory of Ours; Which during the years 65 and 66, maintained a War, not only against this Powerful State, but against the Crowns of France and Denmark in conjunction with them: And All at a time, when This Kingdom was forced to struggle at home with the Calamitous Effects of a raging Plague, that in Three Months of the first year, swept away incredible numbers of people; And of a prodigious Fire, that in Three days of the Second, laid in ashes that Ancient and Famous City of LONDON (the Heart and Center of our Commerce and Riches), consuming the greatest part of its Buildings, and an immense proportion of its Wealth. Yet in the midst of these fatal Accidents, Those two Summers were renowned with Three Battels of the mightiest Fleets that ever met upon the Ocean; Whereof Two were determined by entire and unquestion'd Victories, and pursuit of our Enemies into their [Page] very Havens. The Third having begun by the unfortunate division of our Fleet, with the odds of Ninety of their Ships against Fifty of ours; And in spight of such disadvantages, having continued, or been renewed for three days together (wherein We were every morning the Aggressors), ended at last by the equal and mutual Weakness or Weariness of both Sides, The maims of Ships and Tackling, with want of Powder and Ammunition; Having left undecided the greatest Action that will perhaps appear upon Record of any Story. And in this Battel, Monsieur De Witt confest to me, That we gain'd more Honour to our Nation, and to the invincible Courage of our Sea-men, than by the other Two Victories. That he was sure, their men could never have been brought on the two following days, after the disadvantages of the first; And he believed no other Nation was capable of it, but Ours.

I will not judg, how we came to fail of a glorious Peace in the Six Months next succeeding, after the [Page] fortune of our last Victory, and with the Honour of the War: But as any rough hand can break a bone, whereas much art and care are required to sett it again, and restore it to its first strength and proportion; So 'tis an easie part in a Minister of State, to engage a War; but 'tis given to few to know the times, and find the ways of making Peace. Yet when after the sensible events of an unfortunate Negligence, An indifferent Treaty was concluded at Breda in 67; Within Six Months following, By an Alliance with this State in January 68 (which was received with incredible Joy and Applause among them), His Majesty became the unquestioned Arbiter of all the Affairs of Christendom; Made a Peace between the two great Crowns, at Aix la Chapelle, Which was avowed by all the World to be perfectly His Own; And was received with equal Applause of Christian Princes abroad, and of his Subjects at home; And for three years succeeding, by the unshaken Alliance and Dependance of the United States, His Majesty remained [Page] Absolute Master of the Peace of Christendom, and in a posture of giving Bounds to the greatest, as well as Protection to the weakest of his Neighbours.

CHAP. VIII. The Causes of their FALL in 1672.

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IT must be avowed, That as This State in the course and progress of its Greatness for so many years past, Has shined like a Comet; So in the Revolutions of this last Summer, It seem'd to fall like a Meteor, and has equally amazed the World by the one and the other: When we consider such a Power and Wealth as was related in the last Chapter, To have fallen in a manner prostrate within the space of one Month: So many Frontier Towns, renowned in the Sieges and Actions of the Spanish Wars, Enter'd like open Villages by the French Troops, without defence, or almost denial: Most of them without any blows at all; and all of them with so few: Their great Rivers, that were esteemed an invincible security to the Provinces of Holland and Utrecht, passed with as much ease, and as small resistances, [Page] as little Fords: And in short, the very Hearts of a Nation so valiant of old against Rome, so obstinate against Spain; Now subdued, and in a manner abandoning all before their Danger appeared: We may justly have our recourse to the secret and fixed periods of all Human Greatness, for the account of such a Revolution: Or rather to the unsearchable Decrees, and unresistable force of Divine Providence; Though it seems not more impious to question it, than to measure it by our Scale; Or reduce the Issues and Motions of that Eternal Will and Power, to a conformity with what is esteemed Just, or Wise, or Good, by the usual Consent, or the narrow Comprehension of poor Mortal men.

But as in the search and consideration even of things natural and common, our Talent, I fear, is to Talk rather than to Know; So we may be allowed to Enquire and Reason upon all things, while we do not pretend to Certainty, or call that Undeniable Truth, which is every day denied by Ten thousand; Nor those Opinions Unreasonable, which we know to be held by such as we allow to be Reasonable [Page] men. I shall therefore set down such Circumstances as to me seem most evidently to have conspired in this Revolution; leaving the Causes less discernable, to the search of more discerning persons.

And first, I take their vast Trade, which was an occasion of their Greatness, to have been One likewise of their Fall, by having wholly diverted the Genius of their Native Subjects and Inhabitants, from Arms to Traffique, and the Arts of Peace; Leaving the whole fortune of their later Wars, to be managed by Forreign and Mercenary Troops; Which much abased the Courage of their Nation (as was observed in another Chapter), and made the Burghers of so little moment towards the defence of their Towns; Whereas in the famous Sieges of Harlem, Alemar, and Leyden, They had made such brave and fierce defences, as broke the heart of the Spanish Armies, and the fortune of their Affairs.

Next was the Peace of Munster, which had left them now, for above Twenty years, too secure of all Invasions or Enemies at Land; And so [Page] turn'd their whole application to the strength of their Forces at Sea; Which have been since exercised with two English Wars in that time, and enlivened with the small yearly Expeditions into the Streights against the Algerines, and other Corsairs of the Mediterranean.

Another was their too great Parsimony in reforming so many of their best Forreign Officers and Troops, upon the Peace of Munster; whose Valour and Conduct had been so great occasions of inducing Spain to the Counsels and Conclusions of that Treaty.

But the greatest of all others that concur'd to weaken, and indeed break the strength of their Land-Milice, Was the alteration of their State, which happen'd by the Perpetual Edict of Holland and West-Friezland, upon the death of the last Prince of Orange, for exclusion of the Power of Stadtholder in their Province, or at least the separation of it from the Charge of Captain-General. Since that time, the main design and application of those Provinces, has been to work out by degrees all the old Officers both Native and Forreign, who had been [Page] formerly sworn to the Prince of Orange, and were still thought affectionate to the Interest of that Family; And to fill the Commands of their Army with the Sons or Kinsmen of Burgomasters, and other Officers or Deputies in the State, Whom they esteemed sure to the Constitutions of their Popular Government, and good enough for an Age where they saw no appearance of Enemy at Land to attaque them.

But the Humour of Kindness to the young Prince, both in the People and Army, was not to be dissolved or dispersed by any Medicines or Operations either of Rigor or Artifice; But grew up insensibly with the Age of the Prince,Crevit occulto velut arbor [...]aevo, Fama Marcelli. ever presaging some Revolution in the State, when he should come to the years of aspiring, and managing the general Affections of the people: Being a Prince, who joined to the great Qualities of his Royal Blood, the popular Virtues of his Countrey; Silent and thoughtful; Given to hear, and to enquire; Of a sound and steddy Understanding; Much firmness in what he once resolves, or once denies; Great Industry and application to his business; Little to his [Page] Pleasures: Piety in the Religion of his Countrey, but with Charity to others; Temperance unusual to his youth, and to the Climate; Frugal in the common management of his Fortune, and yet magnificent upon occasion: Of great Spirit and Heart, aspiring to the glory of Military Actions: With strong ambition to grow Great, but rather by the Service than the Servitude of his Countrey. In short, A Prince of many Virtues, without any appearing mixture of Vice.

In the English War begun the year 65, the States disbanded all the English Troops that were then left in their Service, dispersing the Officers and Soldiers of our Nation who staid with them, into other Companies or Regiments of their own. After the French Invasion of Flanders, and the strict Alliance between England and Holland in 68: They did the same by all the French that were remaining in their Service. So as the several Bodies of these two Nations, which had ever the greatest part in the Honour and Fortune of their Wars, were now wholly dissolved, and their standing-Milice composed in a manner all of their own Natives, [Page] enervated by the long uses and arts of Traffique and of Peace.

But they were too great a Match for any of the smaller Princes their Neighbours in Germany; And too secure of any danger from Spain, by the knowledg of their Forces, as well as Dispositions; And being strictly allied both with England and Sweden, in two several Defensive Leagues, and in one common Tripple Alliance; They could not foresee any danger from France, who they thought would never have the Courage or Force to enter the Lists with so mighty Confederates; and who were sure of a Conjunction, whenever they pleased, both with the Emperor and Spain.

Besides, They knew that France could not attaque them without passing through Flanders, or Germany: They were sure Spain would not suffer it through the first, if they were backt in opposing it, As foreseeing the inevitable loss of Flanders upon that of Holland: And they could hardly believe the passage should be yeilded by a German Prince, contrary to the express Will and Intentions of the Emperor, as well as the common Interests [Page] of the Empire: So that they hoped the War would at least open in their Neighbours Provinces, For whose defence they resolved to employ the whole Force of their State. And would have made a mighty resistance, if the Quarrel had begun at any other doors but their own.

They could not imagine a Conjunction between England and France for the ruin of their State; For, being unacquainted with our Constitutions, they did not foresee how we should find our Interest in it, and measured all States by that which They esteemed to be their Interest. Nor could they believe that other Princes and States of Europe would suffer such an addition to be made to the Power of France, as a Conquest of Holland.

Besides these publique Considerations, there were others particular to the Factions among them; And some of their Ministers were neither forward nor supple enough to endeavour the early breaking or diverting such Conjunctures as threatned them; Because they were not without hopes, they might end in renewing their broken Measures with France; Which those of [Page] the Commonwealth-Party were more enclin'd to, by foreseeing the influence that their Alliances with England must needs have in time towards the restoring of the Prince of Orange's Authority: And they thought at the worst, that whenever a pinch came, they could not fail of a safe bargain in one Market or other, having so vast a Treasure ready to employ upon any good occasion.

These Considerations made them commit three fatal Oversights in their Forreign Negotiations: For they made an Alliance with England, without engaging a Confidence and Friendship: They broke their Measures with France, without closing new ones with Spain: And they reckon'd upon the Assistances of Sweden, and their Neighbour-Princes of Germany, without making them sure by Subsidiary Advances, before a War began.

Lastly, The Prince of Orange was approaching the Two and twentieth year of his age, which the States of Holland had, since their Alliance with His Majesty in 68, ever pretended, should be the time of advancing him to the Charge of Captain-General, and [Page] Admiral of their Forces, Though without that of Stadtholder. But the nearer they drew to this period, which was like to make a new Figure in their Government; the more desirous some of their Ministers seemed either to decline, or to restrain it. On the other side, the Prince grew confident upon the former Promises, or at least Intimations of Holland, and the concurring dispositions of the other Six Provinces to his advancement: And his Party, spirited by their hopes, and the great Qualities of this young Prince (now grown ripe for Action, and for Enterprise), resolved to bring this point to a sudden decision; Against which, the other Party prepared and united all their Defences; So as this strong Disease that had been so long working in the very Bowels of the State, seem'd just upon its Crisis, When a Conjunction of two Mighty Kings brought upon them a sudden and furious Invasion by Land and Sea, at the same time, By a Royal Fleet of above Fourscore Ships, and an Army of as many thousand men.

When the States saw this Cloud ready to break upon them (after a long belief [Page] that it would blow over), They began not only to provide shelter at home, with their usual vigor; but to look out for it abroad, though both too late. Of the Princes that were their Allies, or concern'd in their danger, Such as were far off, could not be in time; The nearer, were unwilling to share in a danger they were not enough prepar'd for; Most were content to see the Pride of this State humbled; Some, the Injuries they had received from them, revenged; Many would have them mortified, that would not have them destroyed; And so all resolved to leave them to weather the storm as they could for one Campania; Which they did not believe could go far towards their ruin, considering the greatness of their Riches, number of their Forces, and strength of their Places.

The State, in the mean time, had encreased their Troops to Seventy thousand men, and had begun to repair the Fortifications of their Frontier-Towns: But so great a length of their Countrey lay open to the French Invasion by the Territories of Colen and Liege; And to the Bishop of Munster (their inveterate Enemy) by Westphalia, that [Page] they knew not where to expect or provide against the first danger: And while they divided their Forces and Endeavours towards the securing of so many Garrisons, They provided for none to any purpose but Maestricht; Which the French left behind them, and fell in upon the Towns of the Rhine, and the heart of their Provinces.

Besides, Those Ministers who had still the direction of Affairs, bent their chief application to the strength and order of their Fleet, rather than of their Army: Whether more peckt at England than France, upon the War, and manner of entering into it; Or believing that a Victory at Sea would be the way to a Peace with this Crown; Or hoping their Towns would not fall so fast, but that before three or four were lost, the business at Sea would be decided; Or perhaps content that some ill Successes should attend the Prince of Orange at his first entrance upon the Command of their Armies, and thereby contribute to their Designs of restraining the Authority, while they were forced to leave him the Name of Captain-General. This indeed was not [Page] likely to fail, considering the ill constitution of their old Army, the hasty Levies of their new, and the heighth of the Factions now broken out in the State; Which left both the Towns and the Troops in suspence, under whose Banners they fought, and by whose Orders they were to be govern'd, the Prince's, or the States.

There happen'd at the same time, an accident unusual to their Climate, Which was a mighty Drowth in the begining of the Summer, that left their waters fordable in places where they used to be navigable for Boats of greatest burthen. And this gave them more trouble and distraction in the defence, as their Enemies more facility in the passage of those great Rivers, which were esteemed no small security of their Countrey.

And in this posture were the Affairs of this Commonwealth when the War broke out, with those fatal Events, that must needs attend any Kingdom or State, where the violence of a Forreign Invasion happens to meet with the distraction of a Domestique Sedition or Discontent, Which, like ill Humours in a Body, make any small wound dangerous, [Page] and a great one mortal. They were still a great Body, but without their usual Soul; They were a State, but it was of the Disunited Provinces. Their Towns were without Order; Their Burgers without Obedience; Their Soldiers without Discipline; And all without heart: Whereas in all Sieges, The Hearts of Men defend the Walls, and not Walls the Men: And indeed, it was the Name of England joining in the War against them, that broke their hearts, and contributed more to the loss of so many Towns, and so much Countrey, than the Armies of Munster, or of France. So that upon all circumstances consider'd, it seems easier to give an account, what it was that lost them so much, than what sav'd them the rest.

No man at play sees a very great Game either in his own, or another's hand, unexpectedly lost, but He is apt to consider, whether it could have been saved, and how it ought to have been play'd. The same Enquiry will be natural upon the fall of this State, and very difficult to resolve.

After the mighty growth of the French, and decay of the Spanish Power, [Page] which drew on the Invasion of Flanders in 1667, This State had a very hard Game to play; Either they must see Flanders wholly lost, and France grown to confine upon them (whom they liked as an Ally, but dreaded as a Neighbour); Or else they must join with France to divide Flanders between them; But they knew what it was to share with the Lion: Or they must join with Spain to defend Flanders against France; That is, with their old Enemy, against their old Friend: Or lastly, They must join with England for the defence of Flanders, Neither breaking with France, nor closing with Spain; and frame an Arbitrage, but of something a rough nature; Rather prescribing than mediating a Peace, And threatning a War upon that Crown that refused it.

They chose the last, and wisely, as all men thought; But though this Alliance was happily planted, yet it was unhappily cultivated, and so the Fruit came to fall, and the Root to wither upon the first change of seasons, in such a manner, and to such a degree, as we have lately seen. Whether they could have prevented a Conjunction [Page] of England with France, shall be no part of my Subject; For I pretend not to know, or to tell Secrets of State; and intend these, not for the Observations of an Ambassador, but of a private man as I am, and such as any Gentleman might easily have made, who had resided above two years as I did in Holland; and had been, as I was, a little enclined to observe. I shall only say, That the Conjunction of England with France, was to this State like one of those Diseases which the Physicians say, are hard to discern, while they are easie to cure; but when once they come to be plainly discovered, they are past remedy.

But as Holland had ever defended it self against Spain, by England and France; So it ought to have done against France, by England and Spain, and provided early against their own danger, as well as▪ that of Flanders, by improving and advancing their Confederate-League with England and Sweden, into a strict Defensive-Alliance with Spain, as a Principal in the League; And by agreeing with that Crown, to furnish between them some constant Subsidiary Payments to Sweden, for the [Page] support of their standing-Forces, even in time of Peace. This was the desire of Spain, The Interest of all that meant to secure the Peace of Christendom; And the opinion of some of the Dutch Ministers, Though not of the Chiefest, till it was too late; And the omission of This, was the greatest fault ever committed in their Politicks; And proceeded in a great measure from their ancient animosity to Spain; Which as it was the beginning, so, by this effect, it almost prov'd the end of their State.

When the War began in the midst of the Conjunctures related, 'Tis hard to say what could have defended them; But as men in a Town, threatned with a mighty Siege, abandon their Suburbs, and slight those Out-works which are either weak of themselves, or not well defensible for want of men; And resolve only to make good those Posts which they are able fully to man, and easily to relieve; Because the loss of every small Outwork does not only weaken the Number, but sink the Courage of the Garrison within.

So this State, which came to be in a manner besieged by the mighty and [Page] numerous Armies of France and of Munster; Ought, in my opinion, to have left themselves but three Out-works to maintain (I mean, three Posts standing without the Lines, that enclosed the main Body of their Provinces); These should have been, Mastricht, Wesel, and Coeverden. They should have slighted all the rest of their places that lay without these upon the Rhyne, or in Overyssel; And drawn the men into these Towns, so as to have left them rather like Camps, than Garrisons; That is, Eight thousand Foot, and Two thousand Horse in Maestricht, as many in Wesel, and half the number in Coeverden, if the place would contain them; If not, they might have formed and fortified a Camp with something a greater number, upon the next Pass into Friezland and Groninguen.

Of the rest of their Horse (which were I suppose about Five thousand), with at least Fifteen thousand Foot, they should have formed a great standing Camp, within their Rivers, somewhere near Arnhem; Fortifi'd it with Canon, and all the Art that could be; Furnisht it with the greatest care, and plenty of Provisions. The remainder [Page] of their Infantry would have been enough for the rest of their Garrisons; Of which the Towns upon the Yssel, Doesburgh, Zutphen, Doventer, and Swoll, would have been in a manner flankt (though at some distance) by the strong Garrisons of Wesel and Coeverden; And breasted by the main Camp.

If with this disposition of their Forces, They had provided well for the strength and defence of Skinksconce, Nimmeguen, and Grave (which would likewise have lien all within the cover of these out-posts); They might, for ought I know, have expected the War, without losing the heart and steddiness of their Counsels, and not without probability of making a defence worthy the former Greatness and Atchievements of their State.

For a Siege of Maestricht or Wesel (so garrison'd and resolutely defended) might not only have amused, but endanger'd the French Armies; As Coeverden might have done that of Munster. The resistance of one of these Towns, would have encreased the strength of all the rest: For the Fortune of Battels and Sieges, turns upon the hearts of men, as they are more or less capable [Page] of general Confidences or Fears, which are very much raised by Accidents and Opinions. It would not have been within any common Rules, to march so far into the Countrey, as to attaque the Burse or Breda, Nimmeguen or Grave, leaving such Camps behind as those at Wesel and Maestricht, and having so much a greater before them, as that about Arnhem. If any of these three Posts had been lost, Yet it could not have happen'd without good Conditions, and so retiring the men to strengthen either the more inward Garrisons, or the main Camp, Which would have lien ready to defend the Passes of their Rivers. And if at the worst they had fail'd in this, yet the French Army must afterwards, either have attaqued a fortifi'd Camp of Twenty thousand men, or left such an Army behind them when they marcht towards Utrecht, and into the heart of the Provinces; Both of which would have been Attempts, that I think have hardly been enterprised with success upon any Invasion.

There seems at least some appearance of Order and Conduct in this Scheam of Defence; Whereas there [Page] was none in theirs: But perhaps the greatness of the Tempest from abroad, and of the Factions at home, either broke the heart, or distracted the course of their Counsels. And besides, such old Sea-men in so strong a Ship that had weathered so many storms without loss, could not but think it hard to throw over-board so much of their Lading before This began. After all, I know very well, That nothing is so hard, as to give wise Counsel before Events; And nothing so easie, as after them, to make Wise Reflections. Many things seem true in Reason, and prove false in Experience: Many that are weakly consulted, are executed with Success. Therefore, to conclude, We must all acknowledg, That Wisdom and Happiness dwell with God alone; And among mortal men (both of their Persons and their States), Those are the wisest that commit the fewest Follies; and those the happiest that meet with the fewest Misfortunes.

FINIS.

Information about this book

Title statement

Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands by Sir William Temple ...

Temple, William, Sir, 1628-1699.

Edition statement

1673

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Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A64324

ID [STC]

Wing T656

ID [STC]

ESTC R19998

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

11766930

ID [OCLC]

ocm 11766930

ID [VID]

48787

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A64324)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 48787)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 552:4)

Source

— Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands by Sir William Temple ..., Temple, William, Sir, 1628-1699..

Extent

[14], 255 [i.e. 271] p.

Printed by A. Maxwell for Sa. Gellibrand ...,. London :: 1673.. (Reproduction of original in Cambridge University Library.)

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