Section 68 of Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The World's Story, Volume 7, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, edited by Eva March Toppen, Section 68. The Return of Spinoza, about 1653 by Israel Zangirl. Spinoza was a Jewish philosopher of Dutch birth, is like her faith and Judaism led to his withdrawal from the synagogue. The rabbis brought about his nominal banishment from Amsterdam. Nevertheless, he remained there for several years, though in constant danger, supporting himself by grinding glasses for telescopes, the editor. On his homeward way, dark looks still met him, but he faced them with cheerful, candid gaze. At the end of the narrow, squeeze strut, the affairs of the broad marketplace engrossed popular attention, and the philosopher threaded his way, unregarded among the stalls and the canvas covered zealand wagons, and it was not till he reached the Pavel Jörngracht, where he now sits securely in stone, penciling a thought as enduring that he encountered fresh difficulty. There, at his own street door under the trees lining the canal bank, his landlord Van Der Spik, the painter usually a phlegmatic figure haloed in pipe clouds, congratulated him excitedly on his safe return, but refused him entry to the house. Here thou canst lodge no more. Here I lodge tonight, said Spinoza quietly, if there be any law in Holland. Law, the folk will take the law into their own hands. My windows will be broken, my doors battered in, and thou will be murdered and thrown into the canal. Is lodger left, and wherefore an honest optician murdered go to good friend? If thou hadst but stayed at home, polishing thy spy glasses, instead of fearing to you-tracked, customarily thou art so cloistered in that the good wife declares thou forgives to eat for three days together, and search there is little thou canst eat when thou goest not abroad to buy provision, what devil must drive thee on a long journey in this hour of heat and ferment? Not that I believe a word of thy turning trader, I'd sooner believe my mall stick could turn serpent like Aaron's rod, but in my house thou shalt not be murdered. Reassure thyself, the whole town knows my business was stoop, at least I told my bookseller and his only a matter of hours. Truly he is a lively gossip. I, said Spinoza dryly, he was even aware that a letter from the Royal Society of England awaits me. Bander Spick readened, I have not opened it, he cried hastily, naturally, but the door thou mayest open. The painter hesitated, they will drag thee forth as they drag the dewyts from the prison. Spinoza smiled sadly, and on that occasion thou wits not let me out. Now thou wilt not let me in. Both proofs that I have more regard for thee than thou for thyself. If I had let thee dash out to fix up on the public wall, that denunciation thou hath written of the barbarian mob, there had been no life of thine to risk today. Fly the town, I beseech thee, or find thicker walls than mine, thou knowest I would shelter thee, had I the power. Do not our other lodgers turn to thee in sickness and sorrow to be sued by thy talk? Not our own little ones love and obey thee more than their mother and me, but if thou were murdered in our house, how dreadful our shock and a memory to us all. I know well your love for me, said Spinoza touched, but fear nothing on my account, I can easily justify myself. There are people enough, and of chief men in the country too, who well know the motives of my journey. But whatever comes of it, so soon as the crowd make the least noise at your door, I will go out and make straight for them, though they should serve me as they have done the unhappy duets. Bander Spick threw open the door, thy word is an oath. On the stairs, shown the speckless landlady, a cheerful creature in black cap and white apron, her bodice laced with ornamental green and red ribbons, she gave a cry of joy and flew to meet him, broom in hand. Welcome home, Herr Spinoza, how glad the little ones will be when they get back from school. There's a pack of knaves been slandering thee right and left. Some of them tried to pump Henri, but we sent them away with fleas in their ears. Eh, Henri? Henri smiled sheepishly. Most pertinacious of all was a party of three, an old man and his daughter and a young man. They came twice, very vexed, to find thee away and feigning to be old friends of thine. From Amsterdam, at least not the young man, his lament, was to miss the celebrated scholar he had been taken to see. A bushel of questions they asked, but not many pecs did they get out of me. A flush, a mantle, de pun Spinoza's olive cheek. Did they give any name, he asked, with unusual eagerness. It ends in enda, that stuck in my memory, than den enda, or such like. The daughter was beautiful, a goddess, put in the painter. Huh, said the vile, give me the young man. A cold marble creature is not my idea of a goddess. Tis a Greek goddess, said Spinoza, with labored likeness. They are indeed old friends of mine, saving the young man, who is doubtless a pupil of the old. He is a very learned philologist, this Dr. van den enda. He taught me Latin, and Greek goddesses flashed the brow affectionately. Spinoza tried to say something, but fell a coughing instead, and began to ascend to his room. He was agitated, and it was his principle to quit society, whenever his emotions threatened to exceed philosophical moderation. Wait, I have thy key. Cried the good wife, pursuing him. And oh, what dust in thy room. No wonder thou art troubled with a pithesis. Thou didst not arrange anything. He cried in alarm. I flick with a feather brush, as I took in thy letters. No more my hand itched to be at thy papers, but see, not one is in order. She unlocked his door, revealing a little room in which books and papers mingled oddly, with the bedroom furniture, and the tools and bench of his craft. There were two windows with shabby red curtains, on nails hung out few odd garments, one of which the doublet, anciently pierced by the fanatic stagger, merely served as a memento, though not visibly older than the rest of his wardrobe. Who puts a mediocre article into a costly envelope was the philosopher's oratorial standpoint. Over the mantle, on which among some old pipes lay two silver vocals, his only jewelry, was pinned a charcoal sketch of moss and yellow in short sleeves with a net on his shoulder, done by Spinoza himself, and obviously with his own features as model, perhaps in some whimsical moment when he figured himself as an intellectual revolutionary. A portfolio that leaned against a microscope contained black and white studies of some of his illustrious visitors, which caught happily their essential features without detail. The few other wallpictures were engravings by other hands. Spinoza sat down on his charcoal bed with a great sigh of content. De zitter la toque a qui estimus lecto, footnote, I rest upon the couch for which I have longed, in the footnote, he murmured. Then his eye, roving around, my spider's webs are gone, he groaned. I could not disarrange ought in sweeping them away, deprecated the good wife, thou hast disarrange me. I have learnt all my wisdom from watching spiders, he said, smiling. Nay, thou justest, in no wise, the spider and the fly, the whole of life is there, tis through leaving them out that the theologies are so empty, the sides who will now catch the flies for my microscope. I will not believe thou wist have the poor little flies caught by the great big spiders. Never did I understand what Pastor Cortis praded of turning the other cheek till I met thee. Nay, tis not my doctrine, mine is the worship of joy. I hold that the effort to preserve our being is virtue. But thou goest to church, sometimes, to hear our preacher. A strange motive, she added musingly, Christianity is not, then, true? Not true for me. Then if thou canst not believe in it, I will not. Spinoza smiled tenderly, be guided by Dr. Cortis, not by me. The good wife was puzzled, thus thou then think I can be saved. In Dr. Cortis, doctrine, she asked anxiously. Yes, tis a very good doctrine, the Lutheran. Doubt not, thou wilt be saved in it, provided thou livest at peace with thy neighbors. Her face brightened, then I will be guided by thee. End of Section 68. Section 69 of Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This is a Librebox recording. All Librebox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librebox.org. The World's Story, Volume 7. Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Edited by Eva-Marc Tappen. Section 69. The Rival Tulip Growers. 1672. By Alexandra Dumoul. The famous tulip mania began in France in 1635. But raged more violently in the Netherlands. They usually stayed and sensible Dutchmen forgot everything, but buying and selling tulip bulbs. The prices given for some of these were most absurd, as high as 5200 being paid for one bulb. At the height of the excitement shares were issued and speculated in for a single rare specimen even before the bulb existed. At length the craze for speculation reached such a degree that a proclamation was issued by the government declaring all contracts concerning tulips to be invalid and the frenzy came to an end, but not until the wealth of many families had swept away. The Editor. Just then the Tulip Society of Harlem offered a prize for the production of the large black tulip without a spot of color, a thing which had not yet been accomplished and was considered impossible, as at that time there did not exist a flower of that species approaching even to dark-nut brown. It was, therefore, generally said that the founders of the prize might just as well have offered two millions as 100,000 guilders since no one would be able to gain it. Footnote. In former times the value of the gilder varied according to the period and the place of issue. At present a gilder is worth 40.2 cents. End of footnote. The tulip growing world, however, was thrown by it into a state of most active commotion. Some fanciers caught the idea without believing it practicable, but such as the power of imagination among florists, that, although considering the undertaking is certain to fail, all their thoughts were engrossed by that grand black tulip which was looked upon as to Merrill, as the black swan or the white raven were reputed to be in those days. Then Merrill was one of the tulip growers who were struck with the idea. Box Tell thought of it in the light of a speculation. Then Merrill, as soon as the idea had once taken root in his clear and ingenious mind, began slowly the necessary souings and operations to reduce the tulips which he had grown already from red to brown and from brown to dark brown. By the next year he had obtained flowers of a perfect nut brown and Box Tell spied them in the border whereas he had himself as yet only succeeded in reducing the light brown. Box Tell, once more worsted by the superiority of his hated rival, was now completely disgusted with tulip growing and, being driven half mad, devoted himself entirely to observation. The house of his rival was quite open to view. A garden exposed to the sun, cabinets with glass walls, shelves covered boxes and ticketed pigeonholes which could easily be surveyed by the telescope. Box Tell lotted his bulbs to rot in the pits, his ceilings to dry up in their cases and his tulips to wither in the borders and henceforth occupied himself with nothing else but the do-ings at Van Merrill's. But the most curious part of the operations was not performed in the garden. It might be one o'clock in the morning when Van Merrill went up to his laboratory into the glazed cabinet where Box Tell's telescope had such easy access and here, as soon as the lamp illuminated the walls and windows, Box Tell saw the inventive genius of his rival at work. He beheld him sifting his seeds and soaking them in liquids which were destined to modify or to deepen their colors. He knew what Cornelius meant when, heating certain grains out of grafting, a minute in marvelously delicate manipulation, he shot up in darkness those which were expected to furnish the black color, exposed to the sonor to the lamp those which were to produce red and placed between the endless reflection of two water-mirrors, those intended for white, the pure representation of the limpid element. This innocent magic, the fruit at the same time of childlike musings and of manly genius, this patient untiring labor of which Box Tell knew himself to be incapable and made him, not as he was with Envy, center all his life, all his thoughts and all his hopes in his telescope. For strange to say, the love and interest of horticulture had not deadened in Isaac his fierce envy and thirst for revenge. Sometimes, whilst covering Venvero with his telescope, he diluted himself into a belief that he was leveling a never-failing musket at him and that he would seek with his finger for the trigger to fire the shot which was to have killed his neighbor. But it is time that we should connect with this epic of the operations of the one and the espionage of the other, the visit which Cornelius DeWitt came to pay to his native town. Just at this time, Venvero receives a visit from his godfather, Cornelius DeWitt, brother of the chief magistrate of Holland who leaves him with a sealed package. The jealous Tulip fancier suspects that this contains political papers and forms a plot to prevent his rival from developing the precious black Tulip. They were accused of attempting the life of William of Orange. They were not pronounced guilty, but nevertheless they were torn in pieces by a furious mob. On the 20th of August, 1672 at one o'clock, Cornelius was, therefore, in his dry room with his feet resting on the foot bar of the table and his elbows on the cover looking with intense delight on three suckers which he had just attached from a mother bulb, pure, perfect and entire, and from which he would grow that wonderful product of horeculture which would render the name of Cornelius Venvero forever illustrious. I shall find the black Tulip, said Cornelius to himself while detaching the suckers. I shall obtain the hundred thousand killters offered by the society. I shall distribute them among the poor of Dort, and thus the hatred which every rich man has to encounter in times of civil wars will be soothed down, and I shall be able without fearing any harm either from Republicans or Orgists to keep as here to fore my borders in splendid condition. I need no more be afraid lest on the day of the riot the shopkeepers of the town and the sailors of the port should come and tear up my bulbs to boil them as onions for the families as they have sometimes quietly threatened when they happen to remember me having paid two or three hundred guilders for one bulb. It is, therefore, settled. I shall give the hundred thousand guilders of the prize Harlem to the poor, and yet here Cornelius stopped and heaved a sigh. And yet he continued, it would have been so very delightful to spend the hundred thousand guilders on the enlargement of my Tulip bed or even on a journey to the east a country of beautiful flowers. But alas these are no thoughts for the present times when muskets, standards, proclamations, and beating of drums Ben Barrow raised his eyes to heaven and sighed again then turning his glance toward his bulbs objects of much greater importance to him than all those muskets, standards, drums, and proclamations which he conceived only to be fit to disturb the minds of honest people he said these are indeed beautiful bulbs how smooth they are, how well formed there is that air of melancholy about them which promises to produce a flower of harmony on their skin you cannot even distinguish the circulating veins with the naked eye certainly, certainly not a light spot will disfigure the Tulip which I have called into existence and by what name shall we call this offspring of my sleepless nights of my labor and my thought Tulipa Neger Valienus yes, Valienus a fine name all the Tulip fanciers that is to say all the intelligent people of Europe will feel a thrill of excitement when the rumor spreads to the four quarters of the globe the grand black Tulip is found how is it called? the fanciers will ask Tulipa Neger Valienus why, Valienus after its grower, Van Barel will be the answer and who is this Van Barel it is the same who has already produced five new Tulips the Jain, the John DeWitt et cetera well, this is what I call my ambition it will cause tears to no one and people will still talk of my Tulipa Neger Valienus when perhaps my godfather this sublime politician is only known from the Tulip to which I have given his name ah these darling bulbs when my Tulip has flowered Barel continued in his soliloquy and when Tranquility is restored in Holland I shall give to the poor only 50,000 guilders which, after all, is a goodly sum for a man who is under no obligation whatever then with the remaining 50,000 guilders I shall make experiments with them I shall succeed in imparting scent to the Tulipa ah, if I succeed in giving at the odor of the rose or the carnation or what would be still better a completely new scent and this queen of flowers her natural distinctive perfume which she has lost in passing from her eastern to her European throne and what she must have in the Indian Peninsula at Goya, Bombay and Madras and especially in that island which in olden times, as is asserted was the terrestrial paradise and which is called Ceylon oh, what glory I must say I would then rather be Cornucas van Barel than Alexander Caesar a Maximilian ah, the admirable bulbs thus Cornucas indulged in the delights of contemplation and was carried away by the sweetest dreams suddenly the bell of his cabinet was rung much more violently than usual Cornucas, startled laid his hands on his bulbs and turned round who is there? he asked sir, answered the servant it is a messenger from the hag a messenger from the hag? what does he want? sir, it is Cranky Cranky? the confidential servant of my inner John, Dwight? good, let him wait I cannot wait, said a voice in the lobby and at the same time forcing his way in Cranky rushed into the dry room this abrupt entrance was such an infringement on the established rules of the household of Cornucas van Barel that the latter, at the sight of Cranky almost convulsively moved his hand so that two of them fell on the floor one of them rolling under a small table and the other into the fireplace sounds! said Cornucas eagerly picking up his precious bulbs what's the matter? the matter, sir said Cranky, laying a paper on the large table on which the third bulb was laying the matter is that you are requested to read this paper without losing one moment and Cranky who thought he had remarked in the streets of Dord symptoms of a tumult similar to that which he had witnessed before his departure from the hag ran off without even looking behind him all right, all right my dear Cranky, said Cornucas stretching his arm under the table for the bulb your paper shall be read indeed it shall then examining the bulb which he held in the hollow of his hand he said, well here is one of them uninjured that confounded Cranky lost her rush into my dry room let us now look after the other and without laying down the bulb which he already held Barrow went to the fireplace, knelt down and stirred with the tips of his finger at the ashes which fortunately were quite cold he at once felt the other bulb ah, here it is he said and looking at it with almost fatherly affection he exclaimed, uninjured as the first at this very instant and while Cornucas still on his knees was examining his pets the door of the dry room was so violently shaken by the matter that Cornucas felt rising in his cheeks and his ears the glow of that evil counselor which is called Rath now, what is it again? he demanded are people going mad here? oh sir, sir cried the servant rushing into the dry room with a much paler face and with much more frightened mien than Cranky had shown well, asked Cornucas foreboding some mystery from this double breach of the strict rule of the house oh sir, fly, fly, quick! fly, and what for? sir, the house is for the guards of the states and what do they want? they want you! what for? to arrest you arrest me? arrest me, do you say? yes, sir, and they're headed by a magistrate what's the meaning of all this? said Vembero grasping in his hands the two bulbs and directing his terrified glance toward the staircase they're coming up, they're coming up! cried the servant oh, my dear child, my worthy master cried the old housekeeper who now likewise made her appearance in the dry room take your gold, your jewelry and fly, fly! but how shall I make my escape, nurse? said Vembero jump out of the window twenty-five feet from the ground but you shall fall on six feet of soft soil yes, but I should follow my tulips never mind jump out Cornucas took the third bulb approached the window and opened it but seeing what havoc he would necessarily cause in his borders, and more than this what a height he would have to jump he called out, never! and fell back a step at this instance they saw across the banister of the staircase the points of the halberds of the soldiers rising the housekeeper raised her hands to heaven as to Cornucas' fan barrel it must be stated to his honor not as a man, but as a tulip fancier his only thought was for his inestimable bulbs looking about for a paper in which to wrap them up he noticed the fly leaf from the Bible which Crackey had laid upon the table so good without, in his confusion remembering once it came folded in it the three bulbs secreted them in his bosom and waited at this very moment the soldiers proceeded by a magistrate enter the room are you Dr. Cornucas van Barrel demand a magistrate who, although knowing the young man very well put his questions according to the forms of justice which gave his proceedings a much more dignified air I am that person, Master van Spennin answered Cornucas, politely bowing to his judge and you know it very well then give up to us the seditious papers which you secrete in your house the seditious papers repeated Cornucas quite dumbfounded at the imputation now don't look astonished if you please I vow to you, Master van Spennin Cornucas replied that I am completely at a loss to understand what you want then I shall put you in the way doctor said the judge give up to us the paper which the trader Cornucas to wit deposited with you in the month of January last a sudden light came into the mind of Cornucas hello said van Spennin you begin now to remember don't you indeed I do but you spoke of seditious papers and I have none of that sort you deny it then certainly I do the magistrate turned round and took a rapid survey of the whole cabinet where is the apartment you call your dry room he asked the very same where you are now the magistrate cast a glance at a small note at the top of his papers all right he said like a man who was sure of his ground then turning round to Cornucas he continued will you give up those papers to me but I cannot, master van Spennin those papers do not belong to me they have been deposited with me as a trust and a trust is sacred doctor Cornelius said the judge in the name of the states I order you to open this drawer and to give up to me the papers which it contains saying this the judge pointed with his finger to the third drawer of the press near the fireplace in this very drawer indeed the papers deposited by the warden of the dykes with his godson relying on the very exact information ah, you will not said van Spennin when he saw Cornelius standing immovable and bewildered that I shall open the drawer myself and pulling out the drawer to his full length the magistrate at first alighted on about twenty bulbs carefully arranged and ticketed and then on the paper parcel which had remained in exactly the same state as it was when delivered by the unfortunate Cornelius de Wit to his godson the magistrate broke the seals tore off the envelope cast an eager glance on the first leaves which met his eye and then exclaimed with a terrible voice well, justice has been rightly informed after all how? said Cornelius how was this? don't pretend to be ignorant my hair then barrel answered the magistrate follow me what's that, follow you? cried the doctor yes sir arrests were not as yet made in the name of William of Orange he had not been stat-holder long enough for that arrest me, cried Cornelius but what have I done? that's no affair of mine doctor you will explain all that before your judges where? at the Hague Cornelius enduced to affection embraced his old nurse who was in a swoon shook hands with his servants who were bathed in tears and followed the magistrate who put him in a coach as a prisoner of the state and had him driven at full gallop to the Hague end of section 69 recording by Todd section 70 of Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 7 Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland edited by Eva March Tappen section 70 when William the 3rd of England came home to his fatherland 1691 Thomas Babington Macaulay William stat-holder of the United Netherlands married Mary, daughter of James the 2nd of England when James was deposed William and Mary were called to England and pronounced sovereigns of that country the English appreciated what William did for them but they never liked him or understood him although he was adored by his subjects in Holland the editor the passage was tedious and disagreeable during many hours the fleet formed off the Goodwin Sands and it was not till the 5th day that the soundings proved the coast of Holland to be near the seafog was so thick that no land could be seen and it was not thought safe for the ships to proceed farther in the darkness William tired out by the voyage and impatient to be once more in his beloved country determined to land in an open boat the nobleman who were in his train tried to dissuade him from risking so valuable a life but when they found that his mind was made up they insisted on sharing the danger that danger proved more serious than they had expected it had been supposed that in an hour the party would be on shore but great masses of floating ice impeded the progress of the skiff the night came on the fog grew thicker the waves broke over the king and the courtiers once the keel struck on a sandbank and was with difficulty got off the heartiest mariners showed some signs of uneasiness but William through the whole night was as composed as if he had been in the drawing room at Kensington for shame he said to one of the dismayed sailors are you afraid to die in my company a bold Dutch seaman ventured to spring out and with great difficulty swam and scrambled through breakers ice and mud to firm ground here he discharged a musket and lighted a fire as a signal that he was safe none of his fellow passengers however thought it prudent to follow his example they lay tossing inside of the flame which he had kindled till the first pale light of a January morning showed them that they were close to the island of Goree the king and his lord stiffed with cold and covered with icicles gladly landed to warm and rest themselves after reposing some hours in the hut of a peasant William proceeded to the Hague patiently expected there for though the fleet which brought him was not visible from the shore the royal salutes had been heard through the mist and had apprised the whole coast of his arrival thousands had assembled at Hans Leer Dijk to welcome him with applause which came from their hearts and which went to his heart that was one of the few white days of a life sent indeed inglorious but far from happy after more than two years passed in a strange land the exile had again set foot on his native soil he heard again the language of his nursery he saw again the scenery and the architecture which were inseparably associated in his mind with the recollections of childhood and the sacred feeling of home the dreary mounds of sand shells and weeds on which the waves of the German ocean broke the interminable meadows intersected by trenches the straight canals the villas bright with paint and adorned with quaint images and inscriptions he had lived during many weary months among the people who did not love him who did not understand him who could never forget that he was a foreigner and most faithfully served him without enthusiasm without personal attachment and merely from a sense of public duty in their hearts they were sorry that they had no choice but between an English tyrant and a Dutch deliverer all was now changed William was among a population by which he was adored as Elizabeth had been adored when she rode through her army at Tilbury as Charles II had been adored when he landed at Dover it is true that the old enemies of the House of Orange had not been inactive during the absence of the Statholder there had been not indeed clamors but mutterings against him he had it was said neglected his native land for his new kingdom whenever the dignity of the English flag whenever the prosperity of the English trade was concerned he forgot that he was a Hollander but as soon as his well-remembered face was again seen all jealousy all coldness was at an end there was not a bore not a fisherman not an artisan in the crowds which lined the road from Hans Leur Dijk to the Hague whose heart did not swell with pride at the thought that the First Minister of Holland had become a great king had freed the English and had conquered the Irish it would have been madness and William to travel from Hampton Court to Westminster without a guard but in his own land he needed no swords or carbines to defend him do not keep the people off he cried let them come close to me they are all my good friends he soon learned that sumptuous preparations were making for his entrance into the Hague at first he murmured and objected he detested he said noise and display the necessary cost of the war was quite heavy enough he hoped that his kind fellow townsmen would consider him as a neighbor born and bred among them and would not pay him so bad a compliment as to treat him ceremoniously but all his expostulations were in vain the Hollander's simple and parsimonious as their ordinary habits were had set their hearts on giving their illustrious countrymen a reception suited to his dignity and to his merit and he found it necessary to yield on the day of his triumph the concourse was immense all the wheel carriages and horses of the province were too few for the multitude of those who flocked to the show many thousands came sliding or skating along the frozen canals from Amsterdam, Rotterdam Laiden, Harlem, Delft at 10 in the morning of the 26th of January the great bell of the townhouse gave the signal 1600 substantial burgers well armed and clad in the finest dresses which were to be found in the recesses of their wardrobes kept order in the crowded streets balconies and scaffolds and bowered in evergreen and hung with tapestry hid the windows the royal coach escorted by an army of howl by our deers and running footmen a long train of splendid equips past under numerous arches rich in carving and painting amidst shouts of long lived the king our stat holder the front of the townhouse and the whole circuit of marketplace were in a blaze with brilliant colors civic crowns trophies emblems of art of sciences of commerce and of agriculture appeared everywhere in one place William portrayed the glorious actions of his ancestors there was the silent prince the founder of the Tavian Commonwealth passing the muse with his warriors there was the more impetuous Maurice leading the charge at Newport a little farther on the hero might retrace the eventful story of his own life he was a child at his widowed mother's knee he was at the altar with Mary's hand in his he was landing at Torbay there too was a boat amidst the ice and the breakers and above it was most appropriately inscribed in the majestic language of Rome what does thou fear thou hast Caesar on board the task of furnishing the Latin models have been entrusted to two men who till bent they appeared held the highest place among the classical scholars of that age Spanheim whose knowledge of the Roman medals was unrivaled, imitated and successfully the noble consciousness of those ancient legends which he had assiduously studied and he was assisted by Graeveus who then filled a chair at Utrecht and whose just reputation had drawn to that university multitudes of students from every part of Protestant Europe when the night came fireworks were exhibited on the great tank which washes the walls of the palace of the Federation the tank was now as hard as marble and the Dutch boasted that nothing had ever been seen even on the terrace of Versailles more brilliant than the effect produced by the innumerable cascades of flame which were reflected in the smooth mirror of ice the English lords congratulated their master on his immense popularity yes said he but I am not the favorite the shouting was nothing to what it would have been if Mary had been with me a few hours after the triumphal entry the king attended a sitting of the state general his last appearance among them had been on the day on which he embarked for England he had been amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those grave senators thanked them for the kindness with which they had watched over his childhood trained his young mind and supported his authority in his ripe years and he had solemnly commended his beloved wife to their care he now came among them the king of three kingdoms the head of the greatest coalition that Europe had seen during 180 years and nothing was heard in the hall but applause and congratulations by this time the streets of the Hague were overflowing with the equipages and retinues of princes and ambassadors who came flocking to the great congress first appeared the ambitious and ostentatious Frederick who a few years later took the title of king of Prussia then arrived the young elector of Bavaria the regent of Vertenburg the land graves of Hesse castle and Hesse and a long train of sovereign princes sprung from the illustrious houses of Brunswick of Saxony of Holstein and of Nassau the Marquis of Castanaga governor of the Spanish Netherlands repaired to the assembly from the vice regal court of Brussels extraordinary ministers had been sent by the emperor by the kings of Spain, Poland Denmark and Sweden and by the Duke of Savoy there was scarcely room in the town and the neighborhood for the English lords and gentlemen and the German Counts whom curiosity of official duty had brought to the place of meeting the grave capital of the most thrifty and industrious of nations was as gay as Venice in the Carnival the rocks cut among those noble limes and elms in which the villa of the Prince of Orange is embosomed were gay with the plumes the stars, the flowing wigs the embroidered coats and the gold-hilted swords of galants from London, Berlin and Vienna but the nobles were mingled sharpers not less gorgeously attired than they at night the hazard tables were thronged and the theater was filled to the roof Prince Lebanquis followed one another the meets were served in gold and according to that old teutonic fashion with which Shakespeare had made his countrymen familiar as often as any of the great princes proposed a health, the kettle drums and trumpets sounded some English lords particularly Devonshire gave entertainments which ride with those of sovereigns it was remarked that the German potentates though generally disposed to be litigious about etiquette associated on this occasion unceremonious manner and seemed to have forgotten their passion for genealogical and heraldic controversy the taste for wine which was then characteristic of their nation they had not forgotten at the table of the elector of Bendenburg much mirth was caused by the gravity of the statesmen of Holland who sobered themselves, confuted out of grotesque and puff-n-dorf the nonsense studded by the tipsy nobles of the empire one of these nobles swallowed so many bumpers that he tumbled into the turf fire it was not pulled out till his fine velvet suit had been burned in the midst of all this revelry business was not neglected a formal meeting of the congress was held at which William presided in a short indignified speech which was speedily circulated throughout Europe he set forth the necessity of firm union and strenuous exertion for profound respect with which he was heard by that splendid assembly caused bitter mortification to his enemies both in England and in France the German potentates were bitterly reviled for yielding precedence to an upstart indeed the most illustrious among them paid to him such marks of deference as they would scarcely have deigned to pay to his imperial majesty mingled with the crowd in his anti-chamber and at his table behaved as respectfully as any English lord in waiting in one caricature the allied princes were represented as muzzle bears some with crowns some with cops of state William had them all in a chain and was teaching them to dance in another caricature he appeared taking his ease in an armchair with his feet on a cushion and his hat on his head while the electors of Brandenburg and Bavaria uncovered occupied small stools on the right and left the crowd of land graves and sovereign dukes stood at humble distance and castanaga the unworthy successor of Alva the heretic tyrant on bended knee in section 70 this recording is in the public domain section 71 of Germany the Netherlands and Switzerland read for librafox.org by phone the Netherlands part 4 little stories of Netherlands artists historical note in the Netherlands were two schools of painting the Flemish in the southern provinces or what is now Belgium and the Dutch in the northern the Flemish school began with Jan van Eyck who revolutionized the art of oil painting before his death in 1440 and culminated in Peter Paul Rubens 1577 to 1640 and his pupil van Dijk the golden age of Dutch painters was the 17th century their art was bourgeois rather than aristocratic it centered about the home and aimed at decorating the house naturally then the smaller panel picture was the favorite genre subjects little scenes from everyday life were greatly liked and in these the Dutch painters achieved perfection both in color and in design the Dutch also inaugurated landscape and animal painting and in still life their work has never been surpassed among the greatest names in the Dutch school of painting are Rembrandt 1607 to 1669 Frans Hals 1580 to 1666 Gerard Terberg 1608 to 1681 Jan Steen 1680 to 1660 Jan Steen 1626 to 1679 and Jan van der Meer 1632 to 1690 end of section 71 this recording is in the public domain section 72 of Germany the Netherlands and Switzerland read for LibreVox.org by Thomas Peter King Philip presenting Rubens to The Last Quest John E. Escucura Spanish artist 1834 to 1901 painting page 406 the visit of Rubens to Spain was paid in the character of an unofficial ambassador to bring about peace between England and Spain he passed nine months in the latter country and was much admired by the art loving Philip IV the king had a studio prepared for him in the palace and here he painted several portraits of the sovereign and the royal family he became a special favourite of the king who greatly enjoyed seeing him at work and spent much time in his studio Velázquez was at the head of the Spanish school of painting and one of the mightiest painters of the world King Philip was his faithful friend he took delight in bringing the two painters together and appointed Velázquez to guide the Fleming among the art treasures of the country this illustration represents the meeting of the artists the scene is the studio of the Spaniard the king occupying the centre of the foreground has just presented Rubens who had in hand is bowing to Velázquez the Spaniard is giving him courteous greeting he extends his right hand and welcome his left still holds the palette on the easel is a portrait of the Infanta upon which he has been working at the left stand the Infanta and her maid at the right is the court gesture curled up in a great armchair the forum is a greyhound who is apparently quite as much interested in the historic scene as are any of the more famous actors end of section 72 this recording is in the public domain section 73 of Germany the Netherlands and Switzerland this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 7 Germany the Netherlands and Switzerland edited by Eva Marchteppen section 73 Peter Paul Rubens 1577 to 1640 by Theodor Child Peter Paul Rubens born 1577 died 1640 the greatest of all the Flemish painters and a master to be classed with the greatest painters of all time after having been taught Latin and generally well instructed by the Jesuit fathers was placed by his mother as a page in the service of Madame Marguerite de lignu widow of the Comte de l'Alain in those days it was a custom for boys and girls to pass a few years in some noble family where they waited upon the lord and lady of the house who in return attended to the completion of their education in the usages and refinements of social life but he did not continue long as a page he wanted to become a painter and therefore entered the studio of a master indeed he had successfully three masters of whom the chief was Otto van Veen who is said to have given young Rubens a taste for allegory and erudition to have taught him to love beautiful stuffs and to have still further schooled him in fine manners we may look upon this Otto van Veen as a specimen of those widely curious and superior men of the 16th century who knew something about everything he had frequented the courts of many princes he had read everything that was to be read he had traveled all over Europe and his artistic tastes and general erudition doubtless gave him great moral influence over his pupil we may imagine the worthy man directing the attention of young Rubens to the splendor of some rich brocade or arranging a drapery of velvet or satin in such a manner that the light lit amusingly in the folds and creases meanwhile he would doubtless expound to his pupil the secret of swag and elegant manners the principles of graceful bearing of appropriate gesture of clear and pleasing enunciation impressing upon him the fact that manners make of man and when those manners are good contribute not a little to one's own happiness and to the happiness of all those with whom we may come in contact in afterlife Rubens in every respect did honor to his master's teachings and became not only a great painter and a model gentleman but generally a very learned man and with all a great collector of antiquities of costumes and beautiful objects of all sorts it is interesting to note that he communicated these tastes to his son Albert whose open, intelligent and expressive face we see in the portrait at Dresden Albert Rubens became distinguished as an antiquary and an authority on the coins and monies of the past and wrote in Latin a learned and curious treatise on the costume of the ancients when Rubens left the studio from vain in the year 1600 he went as was the custom to Italy to complete his studies and his master gave him a letter to the Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella introducing the young man as his favorite pupil but as a contemporary Italian writer Bellori says young Rubens himself possessed the strongest of recommendations in the elegance of his bearing his noble and effable manners and the abundance and variety of his conversation thanks to these remarkable social qualities Rubens in afterlife was charged by sovereigns with many delicate diplomatic missions there is a story told that a disdainful ambassador at the court of childs one where Rubens had come on a diplomatic errand seeing him at work at his easel one day said with a curl of the lips I see Monsieur the ambassador amuses himself as a painter on the contrary replied Rubens being a painter I amuse myself sometimes by playing the ambassador nevertheless this prince of painters and of gentlemen as the English diplomatist Sir Dudley Carlton called Rubens was never happier than when he was living calmly in his splendid house at Antwerp with his wife and children furthermore he was never happier in his art than in the figures that he painted with his wife or his children as models especially his beautiful second wife Elaine Frumont whom he often painted with her little son on her knees end of section 73 this recording is in the public domain section 74 of Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by phone the world's story volume 7 Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland edited by Eva March-Tappen section 74 Anton van Dijk 1599 to 1641 by Clara Erskine Clement the greatest painter among the pupils of Rubens was Anton or Anthony van Dijk or van Dijk as it is also spelled he was born at Antwerp in 1599 his father was a silk merchant and his mother was a lady of artistic taste though she had 12 children she yet found time to do much embroidery and tapestry work she had a daughter named Susanna and it may have been on account of this child that her finest work was a large piece on which the story of Susanna was represented she was occupied with this before the birth of Anthony who was her seventh child and during his early years she skillfully plied her needle and brought her many coloured silks into landscapes and skies trees and houses men and animals with untiring patience and uncommon excellence it is easy to understand that this mother must have rejoiced to find that Anthony had artistic talent and it is probable that it was through her influence that he became a pupil under the artist Heinrich van Dijk when he was about 10 years old he was still a boy not more than 17 when he entered the studio of Rubens just at a time when the great master was devoting himself to his art with his whole soul and had a large number of young students under his direction van Dijk soon became the favourite pupil of Rubens and was early allowed to do such work as proved that the great artist even then appreciated the genius of the brilliant and attractive youth for such we are told that van Dijk was among other things Rubens entrusted to van Dijk the labour of making drawings from his pictures to be used by the engravers who made prints after his works for which there was a great demand at this time it was necessary that these drawings should be very exact so that the engraving should be as nearly like the original works as possible and the fact that van Dijk was still so young was chosen for this important task proves that he must have been unusually skillful and correct in his drawings Rubens left his studio but rarely and when he did so his pupils were in the habit of griping his old servant to unlock the door of his private room that they might see what the master had done the story goes that on one occasion just that evening when Rubens was writing the scholars as they looked at his work jostled each other and injured the picture which was not yet dry they were filled with alarm and feared expulsion from the school after a consultation they begged van Dijk to restore the injured picture with some hesitation he did so and to the eyes of the pupils it was so well done that they counted on escape and discovery the keen eye of the master however detected the work of another hand than his own he summoned all the pupils and demanded an explanation and when he knew all that had happened he made no comment it has even been said that he was so well pleased that he left the picture as van Dijk had restored it some writers say that this accident happened to the face of the virgin and the arm of the Magdalene in the great picture of the descent from the cross now in the Antwerp Cathedral but we are not at all certain of the truth of this statement when van Dijk was ready to go to Italy he made a farewell visit to Rubens and presented him with three of his pictures one of these, the Roman seizing Christ in the garden of Getzemanne Rubens hung in the principal room of his house and was never weary of praising it the master returned his pupils generosity by presenting him with one of his finest horses van Dijk made his first stop at Sableton, a village near Brussels here he fell in love with a girl named Anna van Oppen and forgot Italy and his art while gazing in her face and wandering by her side through the fair valley in which she dwelt but Anna regretted his idleness and was curious to see the pictures that he could paint finally he yielded to her persuasions and painted two pictures for the parish church of Sableton one of these was a holy family in which the virgin was a portrait of Anna while Saint Joachim and Saint Anna represented her father and mother this picture he gave to the church it has long since disappeared and it is said that it was used to make grain bags by French foragers the second picture for which he was paid represented Saint Martin of Tour when he divided his cloak with two beggars the saint was a portrait of van Dijk himself and the horse he rode was painted from that which Rubens had given him the picture was very dear to the people of Sableton and when in 1758 they discovered that the parish priest had agreed to sell it they armed themselves with pitchforks and other homely weapons and surrounding the church insisted that the picture should not be removed in 1806 however they were powerless before French soldiers and though they loved their saint as dearly as ever he was born away to Paris and placed in the gallery of the Louvre where he remained until 1815 when he was taken again to Sableton and restored to his original place it is also said that in 1850 a rich American offered $20,000 to anyone who would bring this picture to him no matter how it was obtained some rogues tried to seal it but the watchdogs of Sableton were so furiously that the men of the village were alarmed and rushed to the church so quickly that the robbers scarcely escaped since then a guard sleeps in the church and Saint Martin is undisturbed and may always be seen there dividing his cloak and teaching the lesson of that Christian charity for which his own life was remarkable on one occasion van Dijk was at Haarlem the home of Frans Hals a noted Dutch portrait painter van Dijk sent for him saying that a stranger wished his portrait painted and had but two hours to stay for it Hals seized the canvas and finished the picture within the given time van Dijk praised it warmly and said painting seems such a simple thing that I should like to try what I can do at it Hals changed places with him and a visitor painted the second portrait as quickly as the first had been made when Hals saw the picture he embraced the painter and cried you are van Dijk no other could do what you have now done among van Dijk's most distinguished portraits are those of Charles I and his family perhaps the most pleasing of these is the picture of the three children of the king a subject which van Dijk several times repeated end of section 74 this recording is in the public domain section 75 of Germany the Netherlands and Switzerland this is a Libravox recording all Libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Libravox.org the world's story volume 7 Germany the Netherlands and Switzerland edited by Eva March Tappen section 75 Rembrandt's The Night Watch by Theo Fiel Goetier The Night Watch the largest work ever painted by Rembrandt fills almost the whole of one side of a room in the museum at Amsterdam that might be better lighted to remedy this the painting is mounted on a bracket that allows the picture to be drawn from the wall until the right line has been obtained before I speak of this marvel it may not be out of place to tell under what circumstances it was painted and what is the theme the artist has treated if there be anything that confirms the theory I have so often put forth and maintained namely that two painters of true genius the subject is a matter of utmost indifference it is assuredly the wondrous painting in the museum at Amsterdam with its name The Night Watch might lead people who have not seen it to imagine that it represents some mysterious and fantastic scene a nightmare of shadow and terror such as Rembrandt sketched so well but there is nothing so poetical about it the picture merely represents the assembly of the National Guard of the day if one looks up Wagon R of a history of Amsterdam one finds that the militia was ordered on May 4 1642 to be ready for a review that was to take place on the evening of the 19th under penalty of 25 golden fine in case of absence the object was to receive the Prince of Orange who was to arrive accompanied by the daughter of Charles I England whom he had just taken in marriage it surely was impossible to give a painter a more insignificant and more prosaic subject modern efforts along this line suffice to indicate what such a subject now brings forth it must be born in mind also that it was necessary to put the big wigs of the militia well in front and to attain resemblance in the case of each and every one for most of these faces and portraits and the queer names of their owners have been preserved it may be assumed that all these were these had not received written summonses to turn out or else that the use of such notices was unknown to the good city of Amsterdam for the beat of the drum seems to have surprised them in the midst of their occupations they are hurrying as though a single minutes delay would involve the 25 golden fine they rush forth half dressed one man is buttoning his jacket and another is drawing on his gloves as he goes the whole scene is filled with infinite movement disorder and rush the Spartans under Leonidas did not spring to arms to defend the thermopoly with greater courage than these worthy and debonair Dutch citizens going to meet the Prince of Orange you are aware of the fanciful taste of the laden miller's son in the matter of the costumes he puts on his figures well he never was more amazingly startling than in this inoffensive meeting of militia men it is true that the costumes of the day lent themselves more readily to painting than do those of our times the jackets of embroidered leather the points the wide top boots the helmets the breast plates the neck plates the broad the swords with heavy shell guards all these even when worn by a militia man may furnish opportunities to the brush have a skillful painter what Rembrandt has made of them is absolutely prodigious never was the fury of execution carried to such a pitch there is a temerity in the work of the brush a craze of impasto of which de camp's most violent sketches do not give even a faint idea some of the gold lace is modeled in full relief some of the four shortened fingers have been done at one stroke of the brush while there are noses that fairly stand out of the canvas it is at once the strangest thing and one that redounds to the glory of Rembrandt that this execution so incredible in its brutality is at the same time extremely delicate it is a finish obtained by fisticuffs and kicks but such as the most careful painters have never been able to attain from the chaos of broken touches from the tumult of shadows and lights from the masses of color cast on as if at half hazard their springs supreme harmony Rembrandt who of all men assuredly cared least for the Greeks and Romans and whose mighty triviality accepts unhesitatingly the meanest aspects of nature does not on that account as might easily be believed lack, style, and elevation of thought by means of the peculiar accent he imparts even to the objects he has most faithfully reproduced by the romantic quaintness of his costumes and the deep thoughtfulness of even the ugliest faces he paints he attains a monstrous beauty more easily felt than described his work has a formidable character that brings it up to the level of all masterpieces the fantastic and masterly manner in which he handles light and shade the sublime effects of Chiaroscuro which he evolves make of him as poetical and artist as ever lived all he needs to move you forward is an old man rising from his armchair and a star scintillating against the dark background these worthy Dutchmen have been provided by his brush with curled up mustaches and beards, bristling eyebrows hands on hips marshal poses and hectoring airs never did Condatieri lands, connects or stradiotes surly grim Salvatore Rose's brigands look like peaceful citizens by the sight of these worthy militiamen. The drummer in particular is beating his drum with relentless fierceness while he casts glances fit to make the earthquake with terror on the other hand nothing can be more engaging more fair, more golden than the little maid dressed in yellow seen through an almost trickable collection of legs and arms this painting, Sir Wagonar further tells us adorned as late as 1764 the courtroom of the aforesaid militia what a pleasure it must have been in those days to fail to report for guard duty a man was summoned before the court and while he was being tried could gaze undisturbed upon the wondrous painting hung behind the edges times had changed indeed where is the militia regiment that would dream of ordering a picture of Delacroix and hanging it up in its courtroom end of section 75 this recording is in the public domain section 76 of Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland read for LibreVox.org by phone The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn born at Leiden 1607 died in 1669 painting page 414 the picture cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of its history painted for the whole of the Amsterdam Musketeers it was to take its place among others by contemporary painters a portrait group in honour of the officers of the year and as a lasting memorial of their services the other pictures have been stiff groups about a table and the novelty of Rembrandt's composition displeased some of the members of the guild each person who figures in the scene had subscribed a certain sum towards the cost of the picture for his own portrait and was anxious to get his money's worth subsequently there were many who did not at all relish their insignificance in the background quite overshadowed by the glory of the captain and lieutenant they thought they would have shown to much better advantage arranged in rows in the following century it was removed to the town hall and in order to fit it into a particular place on the wall a strip was cut off each side of the canvas and these margins which gives the composition the crowded appearance which so long seemed a strange fault in a great artist like Rembrandt's the original colours of the painting grew so dark with the accumulation of smoke in the whole that the critics suppose the scene occurred at night hence the incorrect name of the night watch was given to it since the picture was cleaned in 1889 it is apparent that the incident occurred in the daytime and if you look carefully you can plainly see the shadow of Captain Koch's hand on the lieutenant's tunic Estelle M. Hurl end of section 76 this recording is in the public domain section 77 of Germany the Netherlands and Switzerland read for LibriVox.org by Sandra Schmidt Rembrandt in his studio by Jean-Léon Gérôme French artist 1824 to 1904 painting page 416 Rembrandt was at the head of the Dutch school of painting and was one of the world's greatest artists he was thoroughly original his one model was nature but nature a glow with poetry and reproduced with a strong and virile touch his portrait painting was marvelously executed for here too came out the picturesque and also the realistic in etching he has never been excelled both because of his artistic excellence and also because of his rare skill in the technicalities of the art and in the use of its tools the accompanying illustration represents him at his work Clara Erskine Clement says of him Rembrandt has a quick eye for all these marvelous effects of light and he has painted just such things as he has seen and nothing else in each of his pictures there are particular points upon which to fix the eye and so the whole is painted with exquisite skill and to smaller details bear examination just as the blades of grass and the smallest flowers in the landscape too we have no wish to examine them the one great interest holds our attention and we are satisfied with that the execution of the pictures of Rembrandt is marvelous he painted some very ugly and even vulgar pictures he disregarded all rules of costume and of the fitness of things in many ways he parodied many ideal subjects and he painted scenes from scripture history in which he put the exact portraits of the coarse and common people about him but in spite of all these faults his simplicity truthfulness and earnestness make his pictures masterpieces and we cannot turn away from them carelessly they attract us and hold us with a powerful spell end of section 77 this recording is in the public domain the Dutch were the firm friends of the struggling colonists but they were in difficulties at home the king of Prussia made an excuse for interfering and before long Prussia and England were the real rulers of the Dutch Republic then came a quarrel with the French who refused to make any terms with the Netherlands until the stop holder William V had left the country he did this and now was founded the Batavian Republic in 1807 Napoleon declared the land to be a kingdom and made his brother Louis its sovereign after the battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the downfall of Napoleon the Dutch freed themselves from French rule formed the constitution and invited the son of William V to become their monarch this was done in 1814 and that was when the Dutch took Holland this new ruler bore the title of King William I he governed both the northern and the southern Netherlands that is Holland and Belgium it would have needed the wisdom of Solomon to make two such dissimilar countries happy under the same laws the Hollanders spoke Dutch were interested in commerce and were Protestants the Belgians spoke French cared little for commerce but much for manufacturers and were Roman Catholics the natural result was a separation between the two countries in 1840 King William resigned in favour of his son William II who was succeeded by William III during the reign of William III business flourished Harlem Lake was drained new canals and dykes were built and there was general progress and prosperity in 1880 his daughter was born the little Wilhelmina who became queen at the age of 10 and straight away won the hearts of her people end of section 78 this recording is in the public domain section 79 of Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Philip Watson the world's story volume 7 Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland edited by Eva March Tappen section 79 the American Revolution in Holland by Hendrick Wilhelm van Loon when after a few years it seemed that the American colonies were actually going to start a new commonwealth entirely independent of the mother country large vistas of new commercial advantages opened themselves up to the Dutch merchants up to the beginning of the revolution the American colonists had been obliged to trade directly with England alone and England had been careful that the colonists should not enter upon business which would compete with the business of her subjects at home if they gained their independence the colonists would then be able to deal with whomever they pleased and the republic hoped to get her share of the American trade during the last 30 years so many old fields of enterprise had been gradually lost to her that a new opening would be extremely welcome this practical sentiment was reciprocated in America those excellent colonists were at all times infinitely more practical than the European sentimentalist could imagine them to be they were practical politicians the theory of their revolution never for a moment allowed them to forget the bread and butter side of it their hard common sense never allowed them to go off into any extremes which did not stand fundamentally upon a sound basis of $1 plus $1 or $2 the French Revolution with its sublime indifference to the material side of life and with its exaggerated sentiment about uplifting the whole of the human race to its own ideals was conducted upon entirely different principles the American revolutionists knew what they wanted better than other rebels either before or after have known they did one thing at a time and did not waste their energies in senseless dreams of the far distant future for the moment their most imperative need was in the hands and materials of war generally they had no regular fleet and few merchant ships on the sea they were at the mercy of the English fleet the Dutch smugglers were therefore of great benefit to them and supplying them with the necessities of war from the small island of St. Eustatius in the Antilles a possession of the West India Company a regular smuggling trade was maintained with American ports the island had a fine harbor and its storehouses were filled with millions of dollars worth of goods ready for transportation to forbidden harbors either Spanish or American this trade was quite as detrimental to the interests of England as the American export of mules for South Africa was detrimental to the interests of the late Transvaal Republic in August of the year 1775 therefore the British government instructed its representative in the Hague to address himself to the Estates General with the request that this smuggling from a Dutch harbor should forthwith be ended the Estates General expressed their regret at the matter and promised to attend to it at once they promulgated an edict which forbade the export of guns and all materials of war from Dutch harbors for a period of six months a fine of 1000 guilders was threatened to be levied upon those who should act contrary to this law after the first six months this edict was prolonged for another half year as for its practical results they were nil there was too much profit in the business to stop it with the mere threat of a fine furthermore all the tricks of this particular trade were well known and how could the Estates General surmise that barrels of butter directed to a French port in reality contained powder and were bound for an American harbor they could have discovered this, of course if they had really wished but they hesitated to interfere too seriously with the form of business activity which, however objectionable brought so much gain to many of their fellow citizens and to themselves when the British government noticed how ineffectual the Estates General had been in preventing a continuation of this detrimental smuggling business it decided to take matters into its own hands and to defend its own interests as it thought best the English fleet in the Caribbean sea was strengthened with a number of new ships and all Dutch vessels were searched and if found to contain contraband of war were brought to English ports and there sold this did not improve the feelings between the two countries England resented the Republic's indifference the Republic resented England's interference France, however, looked on with interest and rejoiced in her need of soldiers England now asked Holland for the loan of a certain Scottish brigade which had been in the Dutch service since 1577 the Dutch objected England might possibly forget to send them back and moreover by waiting a while a larger price might be commanded for their services finally the Dutch agreed to grant England's request but on condition that the brigade should not be used outside of Europe England decided that the troops were not necessary but she did not forget England had been most unhappy in the choice of her diplomatic representative in the Hague Sir Joseph York belonged to that class of arrogant British diplomats who at all times and in all countries have by their overbearing behaviour done so much to prevent a good understanding between their home country and the land to which they were accredited to be honest and belong to that order of honest people who always speak the truth when it does most harm and is least called for he represented a country which was then at the height of its glory the foremost nation of Europe but he represented it in a country which was then rapidly going towards the lowest depths it would ever reach Sir Joseph unfortunately had the bad tact to let the Hollenders continually feel their changed condition they apt to treat the estates general as if they existed only by sufferance of his British Majesty the tradition of many centuries had established a privileged position for the British minister in the Hague he was often called upon to be the unofficial advisor of the Statholders who were so closely related to the British throne from the very beginning however Sir Joseph could not get along with the friends of the young Statholders the Statholder himself soon considered a negligible quantity a man who had to be protected occasionally against his enemies who were also the enemies of England the Statholder on his side was afraid of the grouchy old Britain who would address him without any ceremony who would ask such pertinent questions that it was next to impossible to tell him a lie or to spar for time in which to get up an appropriate answer neither did William like to be reminded at all times of his complete dependence upon England for a secure hold upon his own high office the princess who had not yet played any political role being too much occupied with her nursery disliked the Englishman from the beginning and always kept out of his way with the regents Sir Joseph got along even worse their high and mightiness each one a little potentate in his own small circle had to be handled with great care a mistake in the correct title by which they expected to be addressed might cause no end of annoyance Sir Joseph who went right ahead regardless of other people's feelings was continually stepping on everybody's sensitive toes instead of flattering the regents and cajoling them into complying with his wishes he used to tell them abruptly what he wanted and then would expect them to do as he desired whenever his requests were not immediately granted he used to thunder and threaten the republic with the terrible things that might happen if the just demands of his british majesties government should be disregarded the regents retaliated by most exasperating slowness and all their dealings with Sir Joseph they never said no they never gave him a chance to call forth the storm which was to destroy them but neither did they ever say yes they let his excellency know that the matter was under discussion and then they gave him a few months in which to cool off his anger a proceeding which usually had an effect opposite to that intended and this way the misunderstanding between the two countries was continually increased on the side of the republic there was a good deal of insolence and a prejudice desire to see everything british in as bad a light as possible on the side of england there was a good deal of just cause for annoyance but also an insolent disregard of the feelings of her the only person who benefited by all this quarreling was the french minister the fray had been called back and had been succeeded by a young diplomat the duke de voguillon paul françois de goulin duke de voguillon son of the former governor of louis the 14th was only 30 years old when he was sent to the haig what he lacked an experience he made up for by a charming personality and by a large personal fortune which he used most liberally democratic purposes he never bothered about the stat holder he did not even take the trouble to oppose him but left him in peace and used all his influence towards establishing a firm friendship with the regents to the regents his palace and his purse were open at all times and around his excellent dinners he used to collect as many of them as were willing to come von der kapellen and his democratic friends he carefully avoided it is true that a good engagement at that moment share the republic's popular enthusiasm for the americans and for everything american up to the wearing of hats and coats ala medicain but such enthusiasm was considered a pastime for fashionable people for those who were not fashionable the system of by the grace of god was considered good enough and was rigorously maintained even when in 1778 france entered into a treaty with the americans this was done so much out of an abstract love for those principles which the americans were supposed to defend as in the hope of earning sweet revenge for the loss of canada his excellency the french ambassador had not been sent to the republic for sentimental reasons his duty was to get the republic away from england and to force her into an alliance with france for france needed money and with the impending expedition to america would soon need more and the republic would possess those indispensable funds devoguyon therefore took great pains to get into the right relationship with the banking interests of the country in amsterdam he had a host of friends gradually he established for himself the position of unofficial head of all those among the regents who opposed the stat holder outwardly however he maintained correct relations with william for the prince of orange was an excellent weapon with which the regents should they show themselves a manageable devoguyon could always threaten to throw france's influence in favor of their enemy the stat holder in one word the french minister did a very clever piece of balancing between the different parties wherever sir joseph by his boorishness had made new enemies devoguyon was sure to appear and by the charm of his manner turned the insulted parties into his firm and everlasting friends wherever the dutch merchants were loud in their complaints about the british and denounced their brusque methods of dealing with the smuggling trade they were informed of the benefits that would result if only they were willing to leave an ally who no longer behaved as such and throw their fate in with that of magnanimous france circumstances greatly favored the frenchman and the west and ease the relations between dutch and english grew steadily from bad to worse not only had england increased her fleet in the caribbean sea but she had also hinted to her merchants at home and abroad that a little privateering at the expense of the dutch would not be punished with the gallows and might even be looked upon with favor by the authorities at home and the patriotic british ship owners from bristol and plemouth and all the many seaports along the english coast had caught the hand and had started chasing dutch ships wherever they could find them the caribbean sea was soon full of respectable buccaneers who stomped and plundered whatever ships fell into their hands in the interest of the mother country let us at least pay tribute to their impartiality they took quite as many french spanish and danish as they did dutch ships whenever they could not find anything on the sea they were apt to extend their opportunities to the south american continent england still refused to recognize the united states as an independent nation and wherever american ships were found in dutch harbors the english quietly declared them their prizes upon one occasion an english privateer met an american merchant going from suriname to virginia the americans ship fled and returned to the coast where it was captured under the very nose of a dutch fortress and a dutch man of war loud was the well which the dutch press made about this attack upon dutch sovereignty and the insult offered to the captain of the dutch ship who when he tried an explanation of the english captain was told to get out or take care that he did not get shot too the matter was immediately carried to the attention of sur joseph but his excellency had waited for just such an occasion to say what was in his mind the estates general so he told them might as well know once and for all that the king of england his august master had decided that in the future he would exercise what was merely his good right everywhere and under all conditions the king therefore intended to attack the rebellious americans wherever his majesties arms or fleet could find them and would inflict due punishment upon all those who either supported said americans or who gave them hospitality finally his majesty thought that it would be of much greater advantage to his country to have open and duly recognized enemies than to have so called allies who provided his majesties rebellious subjects with all the contraband of war they needed sur joseph did not do things by haves the hint which he gave was broad enough the republic in this period of her history was playing a miserable role she openly encouraged the enemies of her ally in order to make some money she so neglected her fortifications that her harbors were at the mercy of any english cat boat that ventured to sail across the ocean when in consequence of this dishonest policy the republic finally got into trouble she knew no way to get redress but by allowing her hired scribes to vilify england and to call the british minister a bore meanwhile everybody in the republic was asking everybody else why is not something being done why does not the stat holder send out a fleet to protect our interests are we always going to be at the mercy of this british insolence just that sort of question was asked in athens when sparta destroyed its prosperity in rome when the barbarians swooped down upon the outlying provinces why is not something being done as a matter of fact the stat holder did try to do something there were plans and discussions about sending a fleet of 20 ships to the caribbean sea to defend the dutch colonies and protect the merchant men against the english privateers the first question was where to find 20 ships the second where to find the sailors with which to man the 20 ships not only lack of funds with which to build ships but the renewed activity in the smuggling business and the high wages paid to the sailors who engaged in it caused a scarcity of men for the fleet which no promise of a high enlistment premium could remedy after many months of delay however 8 ships were made more or less seaworthy and equipped for the trip across the atlantic in the last month of 1777 this small fleet under command of count lewis von biland sailed to south america with strict orders to protect only the legitimate trade biland had no orders to suppress the illegitimate trade therefore while he defended the dutch merchant men against the english privateers he did nothing to stop the export of contraband goods to the united states from an english point of view therefore the dutch fleet was only another insult to great britain and had no other purpose than to encourage mr. george washington to continue in his rebellious conduct chance only prevented an open outbreak at that time from both sides everything was being done to create mutual ill will as we have seen before one of the governors of saint eustatius the big department store of the american revolution had been called back upon a number of complaints by the english and had been replaced by a certain digraph this digraph as we also have had a chance to remark an individual and saw his only duty in making the greatest profit in the shortest time as he was a man of great commercial industry and no integrity whatsoever his activities were all the more detrimental to the reputation of the island of which he happened to be governor one of his first acts caused no end of irritation in england on the 16th of november 1776 a ship flying the american flag entered the harbor of saint eustatius the governor though he knew that the american colonies were not yet recognized as an independent nation ordered his men to find a gun that could be fired and to salute the new flag since the american revolution has been successful and everything has come out as well as the most ardent american patriot could hope this act of digraph is lauded as the first honor which the nations of the world paid to the free and enlightened commonwealth of the west however the act of digraph was a decided breach of tact committed against a friendly nation and it is no wonder that england resented it when the matter was reported to the haig via london sir joseph in his usual way made a great to do about it even when making the most reasonable complaint he had the unhappy faculty of irritating everybody to the point where they felt that they and not he were the persons who had suffered an injustice in this case however the fact could not possibly be denied the estates general followed the only course open to them and ordered digraph to be recalled the investigation of his conduct was dragged along in the customary way from all sides pressure was being brought to bear upon the authorities not to let such a valuable man be lost soon digraph complained that his health after so many years in the tropics could not stand the strain of the dutch climate he was then allowed to return to his old home and was reinstated as governor of st. eustatius neither england's remonstrance nor sir joseph's violence of language had done the slightest good everything remained as before the dutch smuggled the english buccaneered the stat holder grew pale in the face and stammered apologies sir joseph grew red in the face and bellowed revenge finally events took their natural course and war broke out between the republic and england end of section 79 this recording is in the public domain section 80 of germany denetherlands and switzerland this is a liberfox recording all liberfox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liberfox.org recording by phone the world's story volume 7 germany denetherlands and switzerland edited by eva march tappen section 80 contrary land by mary mape's dodge poland is one of the queerest countries under the sun it should be called odd land or contrary land for in nearly everything it is different from other parts of the world in the first place a large portion of the country is lowered on the level of the sea great dykes or bulwarks have been erected at a heavy cost of money and labour to keep the ocean where it belongs on certain parts of the coast it sometimes leans with all its weight against the land and it is as much as the poor country can do to stand to pressure sometimes the dykes give way or spring a leak and the most disastrous results ensue they are high and wide and the tops of some of them are covered with buildings and trees they have even fine public roads upon them from which horses may look down upon wayside cottages often the keels of floating ships are higher than the roofs of the dwellings the stork clattering to her young on the house beak may feel that her nest is lifted far out of danger but the croaking frog in neighbouring bullrushes is nearer to stars than she water bugs dart backward and forward above the heads of the chimney swallows and willow trees seem drooping with shame because they cannot reach as high as the reeds nearby ditches, canals ponds, rivers and lakes are everywhere to be seen high but not dry they shine in the sunlight catching nearly all the bustle and the business quite scorning the tame fields stretching damply beside them one is tempted to ask which is Holland the shores or the water the very verger that should be confined to the land has made a mistake and settled upon the fish ponds in fact the entire country is a kind of saturated sponge or as the English poet Butler called it a land that rides at anchor and is moored in which they do not live but go aboard persons are born live and die and even have their gardens on canal boats farmhouses with roofs like great slouched hats pulled over their eyes stand on wooden legs with a tucked up sort of air as if to say we intend to keep dry if we can even the horses wear a white stool on each hoof to lift them out of the mire in short the landscape everywhere suggests a paradise for ducks it is a glorious country in summer for barefooted girls and boys such wading such mimic ship sailing such rowing fishing and swimming only think of a chain of puddles where one can launch chip boats all day long and never make a return trip but enough a full recital would set all young America rushing in a body toward the Zoudersee Dutch cities seem at first sight to be a bewildering jungle of houses, bridges, churches and ships going into masts, steeples and trees in some cities vessels are hitched like horses to their owner's door post and receive their freight from the upper windows mothers scream to Lodewijk and Gassie not to swing on the garden gate for fear they may be drowned water roads are more frequent there than common roads and railways water fences in the form of lazy green ditches enclosed pleasure ground boulder and garden sometimes fine green hedges are seen but wooden fences such as we have in America are rarely met with in Holland as for stone fences a Dutchman would lift his hands with astonishment at the very idea there is no stone there except those great masses of rock that have been brought from other lands to strengthen and protect the coast all the small stones or pebbles if there ever were any seem to be imprisoned in pavements or quite melted away boys with strong quick arms may grow from pinafores to full beards without ever finding one to start the water rings or set the rabbits flying the water roads are nothing less than canals intersecting the country in every direction they are of all sizes from the great North Holland ship canal which is the wonder of the world to those which a boy can leap water omnibuses called trekschouten constantly ply up and down these roads for the conveyance of passengers and water drains called pakschouten are used for carrying fuel and merchandise footnote canal boats some of the first named are over 30 feet long they look like greenhouses lodged on barges and are drawn by horses walking along the bank of the canal the trekschouten are divided into two compartments first and second class and when not too crowded the passengers make themselves quite at home in them the men smoke the women knit or sew while children play on the small outer deck many of the canal boats have white, yellow or chocolate coloured sails this last colour is caused by a preparation of tan which is put on to preserve them end of footnote instead of green country lanes green canals stretch from field to barn and from barn to garden and the farms or boulders as they are termed are merely great lakes pumped dry some of the busiest streets are water, while many of the country roads are paved with brick the city boats with their rounded sterns gilded prows and gaily painted sides are unlike any other under the sun and a dutch wagon with its funny little crooked pole is a perfect mystery of mysteries one thing is clear cries master brightsign the inhabitant need never be thirsty but no, odd land is true to itself still notwithstanding the sea pushing to get in and the lakes struggling to get out and the overflowing canals rivers and ditches in many districts there is no water fit to swallow our poor hollanders must go dry or drink wine and beer or send far into the inland to Utrecht and other favored localities for that precious fluid older than Adam yet young as the morning do sometimes indeed the inhabitants can swallow a shower when they are provided with any means of catching it but generally they are like the albatross haunted sailors in Coleridge's famous poem of the ancient mariner they see water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink great flapping windmills all over the country make it look as if flocks of huge sea-bloods were just settling upon it everywhere one sees the funniest trees bobbed into fantastical shapes with their trunks painted dazzling white, yellow or red horses are often yoked three abreast men, women and children go clattering about in wooden shoes with loose heels peasant girls who cannot get those for love hire them for money to escort them to the care-miss footnote fair end of footnote and husbands and wives lovingly harness themselves side by side of the bank to the canal and drag their bucks-routes to market another peculiar feature of Holland is the dune or sand hill these are numerous along certain portions of the coast before they were sown with coarse reed grass and other plants to hold them down they used to send great storms of sand over the inland so to add to the oddities farmers sometimes dig down under the surface to find their soil and on windy days dry showers of sand often fall upon fields that have grown wet under a week of sunshine in short almost the only familiar thing we Yankees can meet with in Holland is a harvest song which is quite popular there though no linguist could translate it even then we must shut our eyes and listen only to the tune which I leave you to guess on the other hand many of the oddities of Holland serve only to prove the thrift and perseverance of the people there is not a richer or more carefully tilled garden spot in the whole world than this leaky springy little country there is not a braver more heroic race than its quiet passive looking inhabitants few nations have equaled it in important discoveries and inventions none has excelled it in commerce, navigation learning and science or set as noble examples in a promotion of education and public charities and none in proportion to its extent has expended more money and labour upon public works Holland has its shining annals of noble and illustrious men and women its grand historic records of patience, resistance and victory its religious freedom its enlightened enterprise its art its music and its literature it has truly been called the battlefield of Europe as truly may we consider it the asylum of the world for the oppressed of every nation have there found shelter and encouragement if we Americans who after all are homeopathic preparations of Holland's stock can laugh at a Dutch and call them human beavers and hint that their country may float off any day at high tide we can also feel proud and say they have proved themselves heroes and that their country will not float off while there is a Dutchman left to grapple it there are said to be at least 9900 large windmills in Holland with sails ranging from 80 to 120 feet long they are employed in sowing timber beating hemp grinding and many other kinds of work but their principal use is pumping water from the lowlands into the canals and for guarding against the inland freshets that so often deluge the country their yearly cost is said to be nearly 10 millions of dollars the large ones are of great power their huge circular tower rising sometimes from the midst of factory buildings is surmounted with a smaller one tapering into a cat-like roof this upper tower is encircled at its base with a balcony high above which juts the axes turned by its four prodigious ladder-backed sails many of the windmills are primitive affairs seeming sadly in need of Yankee improvements but some of the new ones are admirable they are so constructed that by some ingenious contrivance they understand their fans or wings to the wind in precisely the right direction to work with the requisite power in other words the miller may take a nap and feel quite sure that his mill will study the wind and make the most of it until he wakens should there be but a slight current of air every sail will spread itself to catch the faintest breath but if a heavy blow should come it will shrink at its touch like great mimosa leaves and only give it half chance to move them one of the old prisons of Amsterdam caused the rasp-hose because the thieves and vagrants who were confined there were employed in rasping logwood had a cell for the punishment of lazy prisoners in one corner of this cell was a pump and in another an opening which a steady stream of water was admitted the prisoner could take his choice either to stand still and be drowned or to work for dear life at the pump and keep the flood down until his jailer chose to relieve him now it seems to me that throughout Holland nature has introduced this little diversion on a grand scale the Dutch have always been forced to pump for their very existence and probably must continue to do so to the end of time end of section 80 this recording is in the public domain recording by phone