THE UNITKD PROVINCES.] HOLLAND 77 provinces ; Holland arid Zealand were left to gather strength ; the recovery of Amsterdam (1578) removed the one hindrance to their prosperity. While the south trusted to foreign help, some John Casimir, or duke of Anjou, the north quietly consolidated itself. In January 1579 was uion of proclaimed the famous " Union of Utrecht." The docu- trecht. meut professed to make no changes ; it would but carry out the Pacification of Ghent by a closer junction of Holland and Zealand with Friesland, Guelderland with Zutphen, Utrecht, Overyssel, Groningen; united as one, these pro vinces should still retain their local uses and privileges So long as the archduke Matthias, who had been appointed governor-general in 1577, remained, his authority would be respected ; on his withdrawal in 1580 the States General named as stadtholder William of Orange, who had already exercised the real authority over the provinces. A con- he siderable number of southern cities, Ghent, Antwerp, united Bruges, and others, as well as some of the nobles, also ro ~ joined this union. Thus did the United Provinces at last lliCCS come definitely into being. During the next five years Spain devoted her efforts to the southern provinces alone ; the union was unmolested. The Walloon provinces were reconciled to Spain; the others, with exception of Holland and Zealand, had accepted the duke of Anjou as their sovereign ; Holland and Zealand had pro claimed William of Orange as their chief, though he did not finally accept sovereign powec and the title of count till August 1582, by a sort of cross division, the seven northern provinces, meeting at the Hague, had (26th July 1581 ) made )edara- an " Act of Abjuration/ and had issued their " Declaration ion of of Independence," the five naming Anjou, the two William, ndepen- , ls their sovereign in Philip s stead. Then Holland and Zealand framed an independent constitution, conservative of their ancient liberties, as expressed in the " Great Privilege of the Lady Mary ; " they declared themselves a free country, severed alike from Spain and from the empire. But Spain was not yet ready to take up this challenge ; and meanwhile she resorted to other weapons. A scandalous proclamation, offering rewards and honours to any ruffian who would sorve church and king by murdering William of Orange, was now issued ; and, roused by the double inducement, after many unsuccessful attempts, a paltry wretch (10th July 1581) succeeded in assassinating the lunk-r greatest man of his age, the worthy " Father William " of f the Dutch, and the only ruler in the world s history who Villi:uii. inav fa^y )Q compared with Washington, laurice. Fortunately for the Provinces, and for the world s liberties, the spirit of William of Orange survived in his second son Maurice, who now, though he was only seventeen and a student at Leyden, and though he had au older brother living in Spain, was at once, chiefly through the influence of that great statesman John Olden Birneveldt, mined governor of the United Provinces, with a council of stite, and with Count HoLeulohe, his brother-in-law, as lieutenant-general. He was also, soon after, inida stadtholder of Holland and Zealand, while Utrecht was placed under the lord of Villars as stadtholder, Guelderland and Overyssel under the count of Meurs, and Friesland under William of Nassau. Never was any 0113 better fitted for his life s task than was this b >y, thus early called to rule in troubled times. For Maurice of Nassau had all the coldness and calculation of his family, all its ambition, all its firmness and tenacity of grasp, while he added thereto a quality wanting in the others, a genius for war, and those gifts which go to make what is commonly called a lucky commander gifts which may be best described by saying that the lucky captain is he who in war leaves least to luck. For over forty years Maurice was the champion of the Provinces ; and, if we except his treatment of Barneveldt, we may say that he comes next after his father as a founder of the Dutch republic. At the outset his antagonist was that formidable captain, Alex- Alexander Farnese, who had by this time nearly subdued a j" ler all tlie southern provinces, and whose arms proved success- * ful at Ghent (1584) and at Antwerp (1585). The northern provinces, thinking it necessary to call in foreign aid, appealed to Henry III. of France, but the outburst of the " War of the three Henr-ies," caused by the anxiety of tin Guises lest Henry should draw too much towards the heretics, put a stop to all hope of help from that side. Olden Barneveldt, therefore, next crossed over to England with offers to Queen Elizabeth, who, though declining for herself the proffered sovereignty over the Provinces, under took to appoint a governor-general, and to send over and pay 5000 foot and 1000 horse ; in return for which she was to be put in possession of certain cautionary towns. Accordingly, Sir John Norris was at once sent over with the English forces; Sir Philip Sidney was appointed governor of Flushing, and the earl of Leicester was named governor- Earl of general by the queen. At first Leicester was welcomed Leicesti with all the joy that his Calvinistic opinions, and his posi tion as favourite and representative of Elizabeth, could elicit in the breasts of men who had now long been strug gling for existence, and who, bereft of their great prince, were yearning for some strong hand to guide them. But it did not last : his high pretensions, and his mistress s haughty tone, joined with his foolish interference with Dutch commerce and with the religious difficulties now beginning to show themselves, soon offended the States General, and neutralized whatever good the active help of England might have promised them. In 1586 Sir Philip Sidney invaded Flanders, and the young stadtholder of Holland gladly served under him. In the same autumn Leicester himself took the field, and marched to meet Parma, who was threatening the provinces from the east. Under the walls of Zutphen Sir Philip Sidney fell ; and Leicester, finding his efforts useless, soon raised the siege of that town, and withdrew to the Hague. The rest of his time was spent in bitter quarrels with the estates ; Olden Barneveldt and Maurice were united for a time by his marked ill-will towards them both ; and so strong did the feeling against him grow, that in 1587 Queen Elizabeth was fain to order his recall. For a while there was great soreness between the countries ; the general interest, Low- ever, was far stronger than any partial pique, and in the crisis of the Spanish Armada in 1588 the Dutch did very great service to England by resolutely blockading in their ports the transports and army with which Parma had meant to invade the English shores. In the same year Maurice had the satisfaction of seeing the English and Dutch repulse the famous duke from the walls of Bergen- op-Zoom. In 1589, on the other hand, the English garri son of Geertruidenberg betrayed that important place, the doorway out of Brabant into Holland, into Parma s hands, and laid the United Provinces open to attack. In other places also the English forces, not yet withdrawn, were an anxiety and danger to the states. Still, from this moment the fortunes of the Dutch began to rise. No contrast Spams! could be more striking than that between the Spanish Xetlic-r- Netherlands and the United Provinces. In the fertile ^"^ districts of Hainault and Brabant, where climate and soil p^ are good and transit easy, utter ruin alone was seen : vinces wolves and wild dogs swarmed ; the land was overrun with cmi- weeds and briars ; and even the wealthy cities of the past tr were almost deserted. In the United Provinces, on the contrary, the wellbeing of the country was steadily increas ing : every year its hardy seamen brought back fresh wealth; and thousands of ingenious workers, turning in
despair from the hopelessness of their condition in the
