| | | | It is not saying more than enough to affirm, that no | work, no cognate subjects, equal to this, has fallen | under our observation for a long series of years. It is | full of instruction, and of excellent example; the history | of the social progress, and the development of free | institutions in two countries remarkable for some | general features of resemblance, but much more | remarkable for strong contrasts; for what can be more | opposite than ancient Greece and modern Holland; the | lively volatile Athenians and the astute, phlegmatic | Dutch. The History of these two nations is pre-eminently | History for the People; and here we found it | written with aptitude, ability, and clear and temperate | judgment; with patient research, and liveliness of style, | that must recommend a work, which, although it had | been defective in mere artistic skill, might safely have | rested upon its high intrinsic merits. From the title, it | may be inferred that this is but a portion of a | comprehensive design for writing the history of every | free nation; or, in other words, the genuine history of | the People of the different nations, instead of the | narrative of the wars of their sovereigns, the strifes of | their noble, and the changes of dynasties. In reading | History as it has hitherto been too generally composed, | how very little, save by accident or accidental side-lights, | is seen of the exact social progress and condition | of the great mass of the people! It would even seem an | object to keep them and their interests in the | background, as something too vulgar or unimportant to | be brought into view. One apology for this cardinal | defect in our modern histories, is the extreme scantiness | of the materials stored up by the elder annalists and | chroniclers; while modern historians have too generally | neglected the obscure but efficient sources to which Mr. | McCullagh has applied, in a diligent search through all | manner of desultory pamphlets, tracts, and small | periodicals. These last, among the Dutch in particular, | the natural growth of their comparatively free political | condition and industrial eminence, came earlier into | popular use than among any other people. | says our author, . | While modern readers show such avidity for the | minutest details concerning English kings and queens, | and courts and princes, whether genuine or | apochryphal, let us hope that | someone as well qualified as Mr. McCullagh, | may accomplish the higher and far more arduous task | of compiling the "Industrial History of England." If it | shall be half as interesting as that of the Dutch, here | presented to us, we are certain that no pictures of courts | or kings, obsolete scandals or ancient costumes, will be | able to vie with it in the favour of those whose | approbation is true praise: ~~ This is the bye. | Preferring the near, the useful, and the practical, to the | more beautiful but remote, we shall at once dismiss Mr. | McCullagh's first volume, the "Industrial History of the | Greeks;" though the learning and taste displayed in it | must propitiate the most refined classical reader, and | render the most fastidious tolerant of the more sober | annals of a People, who may be said to hold the place | among European nations which the Quakers do among | religious sects. Though we are thus voluntarily tasked | to the annals of the industrious, frugal, persevering, | tolerant and religious Quaker family of Europe, we | would advise every reader to learn for himself, through | a most agreeable medium, what were the primary | elements of the life of those famous old Greeks; how | among them ; how ; and how | and finally, how this brilliant and noble nation | declined and fell; the surest workers of its ruin being | found in its own bosom. | Mr. McCullagh closes his work by saying, . | This is our text: ~~ | | The History opens with a view of the early condition | | of Holland, and of the physical difficulties ~~ | impossibilities, we should say, to all save Beavers or | Dutchmans ~~ with which the first inhabitants had to | contend. The first traces of their remarkable industry | and inventive capacity are obscure. But it is known that | at a very early period they made certain astronomical | instruments, and horologes, and used glass; and that | many among them could read and write at a period | when such accomplishments were in other countries | limited to the monastery or the schools. So early as the | age of Alfred, the Netherlanders obtained wool from | England, and supplied their ruder neighbours with dyed | cloths of much finer texture than could be woven by the | Anglo-Saxons, who knew little of dyeing; and soon | after the Conquest, England was indebted to a band of | fugitives from the Netherlands, who settled under the | royal protection in Pembrokeshire, for increased skill in | the manufacture of finer fabrics. There was even, thus | early, considerable commercial intercourse between the | countries; nor was it long before the British seas and | friths were covered with the fishing vessels of this | amphibious people. In the beginning of the thirteenth | century, the valuable discovery of salting herrings, an | art in which the Dutch still excel all the rest of the | world, was made by Peter Chevalier, and practised off | Yarmouth. The art of thoroughly curing cod, ling, and | herrings, was the later discovery of another Dutchman; | and thus, in salted fish, was laid the sure foundation of | future commercial wealth and prosperity. Dutch | commerce rose, in defiance of great natural obstacles, | from very small beginnings. | | The love of freedom was an early distinction of the | inhabitants of Guelderland and Holland. In the latter | province, it was early discerned that the national | strength lay in industry and population; and foreign | industry was not only protected, but invited and | encouraged to settle in the rising and prosperous towns. | Here is unfolded the secret of the prosperity and | freedom of the Dutch. | | The right of municipal self-assessment enabled them to | make a country out of salt water; and while our civic | communities seem not yet quite certain whether it is | wise or practicable to supply themselves with gas and | water, the Dutch, many centuries since, had constructed | their stupendous sea-dykes. But this was not all: | | Mr. McCullagh has great, if not excessive faith in the | superiority of urban to rural communities, and not much | admiration of the modern passion for centralized power. | The towns of Holland were not, like those of other | countries, portions of the State; but the State rather | consisted of an aggregate of cities, each having its own | laws and government, its own courts of justice, and, | within its own limits, entire fiscal power. In this | municipal system and federal union, (so to speak,) our | author finds the germ or source of whatever is most to | be admired in the social condition of the Dutch. | he says, | | | In few words we may say that the spirit of localism | every where accomplished what centralization, it is | believed, never could have effected. There might have | been partial injustice in its operation, but the system | worked well for the general interest. As in the United | States at the present day, the magistrates were seldom | lawyers; but the simple laws of each civic community | were well, because promptly, administered; and | substantial justice was speedily done in both civil and | criminal cases. Appeal, however, lay from the | municipal courts to the supreme court of the province. | The towns had one kink of tribunal, which might, with | advantage, be adopted in all new settlements, if it might | not, indeed, be found as useful in the oldest | communities. | | It is believed probable that, at first, every householder | had a voice in the deliberations of the municipal | assembly, or, as we should say, Town Council. The | increase of population must soon have rendered such | popular representation impracticable; but though the | right was narrowed, the people did not let slip their hold | of the principle of municipal representation, and of the | control of their own affairs; though they took wise and | peaceful methods to gain their objects. | | The gradual changes in the municipal system was not | attributed to decay of pubic spirit, but to the love of | quiet and good government, ever incompatible with | tumultuous local assemblies. | Had the great principles of free trade, and, above all, of | free trade in corn, not now been so generally recognised | among us, this book would have come yet to elucidate | them. If there are no traces of the direct encouragement | or protection of trade to be found in the early laws of | Holland, it is inferred that none were required, where | interference of any sort was never attempted. | | The illustrations are found in the commercial history of | Venice. | The principal trade of the Dutch, during the thirteenth | century, was with England, Scotland, and the provinces | on the Baltic. England, at that time, exported corn and | other kinds of food; but, though having, in general, | more than was required for home consumption, seasons | of dearth frequently occurred in Britain; while the | Dutch, who depended largely upon foreign supplies, | were always better off, and, in seasons of famine, were | even able to assist their neighbours. Commercial | jealousy sometimes led the English Parliament to pass | laws prohibiting the importation of the superior woollen | cloth of the Netherlands, and compelling the native | wool to be manufactured at home, with the same | success which has attended every attempt of the sort, | from the reign of King John until Mr. O'Connell lately | patronized home-woven frieze coats. Notwithstanding | these abortive checks, the trade between the countries | increased rapidly; and though Edward I. sought a | monopoly of the trade to the British Isles exclusively | for his own dominions, Count Robert of Flanders | remembered that and, above all, that it was by | entire freedom from all tolls, and the security of traffic | granted by his ancestors to foreign merchants, that the | great annual Fairs had been established, and the basis | laid for the opulence and power of his country. At | these great Fairs, of which few vestiges now remain, if | we except in Russia, most of the business of Europe | was, for centuries, transacted. Some of the leading | Fairs were early established in the Flemish towns. And | in these localities, in this wisely governed country, ~~ | | The absence of uniformity in the municipal government | and the administration of the laws in the different towns, | produced no bad effect; as each was well adapted to | local purposes, and the people every where loved order | and loyalty, and maintained the laws. By the people | must here be understood the burghers, and the other | inhabitants | | of the towns; for in the Netherlands, as elsewhere, at | that period, it was in the towns where the security and | order prevailed, that knowledge, industry and wealth, | were to be found in the possession of the people. The | woollen manufactures, the growth of freedom, and | consequent industrial enterprise, flourished in Flanders | for centuries, and felt no shock until the Guilds and | Halls began to exercise a pernicious interference with it, | and, by attempting to restrict manufactures to particular | towns, went far to drive them from the country | altogether. | | After adverting to serious riots among the weavers in | Ghent and Bruges, it is said, | | Leyden, which hospitably and gladly received the | Belgian refugees, was then a small obscure place; but | the skill and industry of those it had wisely welcomed | greatly helped to enrich and render it a place of note. | How a city best grows and thrives from a small | beginning, is well seen in the history of the town of | Amsterdam. The passage forms a complete picture, | which, with another, we place before our readers: ~~ | | Edward III, of England is best known as a warrior and | conqueror, and an able statesman; but he deserves equal | praise for his prescient knowledge of the principles of | political economy; though here the merit may perhaps | belong to his parliament and his wise bishop-minister, | as it was abandoned when Edward found it necessary to | | kill the goose which laid the golden eggs. At the | commencement of his reign, all staples, or places | having exclusive privileges and monopolies of sales, | were abolished, and the merchants and burghers of | every country were welcomed to according to | the provisions of the great charter. | | What we next quote, is an illustration of the principles | of sound national economy, applicable to all countries | and times, and, we need not say, to every kind of | manufacture: ~~ | | Holland has ever been a great commercial and marine | state. Ship-building, and all the arts subservient to | navigation, were cultivated in Holland from the earliest | period; and the prowess of the Dutch in sea conflicts is | as much famed as their maritime enterprise. A great | Dutch discovery, if we may so term it, was the use of | bills of exchange; and invention for which the Dutch | believe themselves indebted, not to the merchants of | Florence, but to the Hanse League, that powerfully-moving, | if somewhat unsteadfast power, which in its | day exercised so vast and beneficial an influence on | European commerce. | The origin in Holland of the prolonged conflict between | feudalism and industry, which has been witnessed in | every country in Europe, is at once curious and amusing: | ~~ | A family dispute for the sovereignty of the Dutch | Netherland provinces, which took place about the | middle of the fourteenth century, led to the formation of | a noble and burgher faction, long afterwards known by | the party names of Hooks and | Kabeljauws. The people, | looking on the class-quarrels from which they suffered, | and with which they had no concern, said, that the | turbulent nobles lived, like the great | fish, by devouring the small ones, ~~ | | | | We regret to say that the Kabeljauws | were at this time too strong for the | Hooks. | Laying aside the hostile conflicts in which this | generally wise, peaceful, and industrious people were | too frequently involved by their rulers or their turbulent | neighbours, we shall devote our remaining space to the | view which Mr. McCullagh's interesting volume gives | of the social and political condition of the Dutch at | different periods of their history. | It was now the fifteenth century. Philip ruled in | Holland; silent change was at work; feudalism was | undermined, and had done homage to industry by the | institution of the Order of the Golden Fleece; and, in | spite of the exasperating policy of England and other | nations, the enlightened Dutch had ever clung to the | principles of Free Trade and fair and open competition. | But the hostility or bitter personal hatred perpetuated | from generation to generation between the | Hooks and | Kabeljauws, was not yet eradicated. Let us see | the methods taken permanently to restore social order | and good-will among classes. If England needs the | lesson at the present hour, how much more Ireland! | | The religious conflicts in which the people of Holland | were frequently involved, both during that progress of | the Reformation and after its accomplishment, form an | important and interesting feature in their political and | industrial history. | On no occasion have the Netherlanders and the Dutch | shown more of their steadfast and earnest, and, it may | be, obstinate and dogged character, than in maintaining | their religious right to hold whatever creed, or no creed, | they might choose. It was religious zeal that in Holland | first powerfully evoked the spirit of nationality. On this | subject Mr. McCullagh speaks like a philosopher, and a | profound student of history and of man's higher nature | and attributes, when he says, | | | | The spirit of religious toleration, by which the Dutch | have been honourably distinguished at different periods | of their annals, has been no mean element in their social | advancement. They had indulgence and welcome even | for the abhorred Jews, when that people were | relentlessly persecuted in every other European state. | says one of Holland's greatest men, De Witt, | . In the silent progress of time and change, | many causes contributed to the fusion of the classes of | nobles and wealthy burghers; and the factions of | Hooks and | Kabeljauws were gradually disappearing when, as | the principles of the Reformation spread, and Charles V. | attempted to lord it over the consciences and purses of | his subjects in the Netherlands, either a common danger | or strong religious sympathies united all orders in the | defence of their common rights. | | The protracted conflicts of the Emperor with his | disaffected subjects, his resignation of the scepter, and | the accession of his bigoted, sullen, and despotic son, | Philip, are briefly noticed, before that eloquent passage | occurs which, to men of the present time, embodies an | emphatic lesson. Religious animosity, mutual | intolerance, mutual exasperation, and the spirit of | retaliation, have not been more active and embittered, | in the British isles, since the era of the civil wars, than | in the passing years. | | We need not remind our readers how much more than | we have pointed out the world owes to the | Netherlanders and the Dutch; nor speak of their | memorable maritime enterprises and discoveries; of the | art of printing; or the origin of periodical popular | literature; of a distinguished school of painting; the art | of painting on glass; and of many inventions, and a | variety of manufactures, subservient to the comfort and | luxury of refined life: but how the admirable | institutions of Holland directly promoted the well-being | and comfort of the great mass of the people, and were | seen reflected in the condition of every class, is worth | studying; especially when it is remembered that this | was a country having few or no natural resources, ~~ | that , stimulated by wise government. There | were good land tenures, sound principles of inheritance; | and ~~ | | | | Other realms contained more arable land, and more | numerous inhabitants; but it was the just boast of De | Witt, ~~ that in proportion to its population and extent, | none contained so many ingenious and industrious | workmen. But to what good purpose do we hear of this | wonderful skill and industry, though extending, | flourishing, and enduring for ever, if the people were | only to toil on without reward: , as our author | says, ~~ in brief, though our author does not | use the words, in the condition of too many of the | equally ingenious, skilled, and industrious workmen of | our present England. , continues our author ~~ | | Holland, even during the troubled period of Charles V. | continued to increase in wealth; and is described as | possessing an amount of opulence and comfort | unrivalled in other countries. | >/q> | With this golden catalogue of what is needful to the | prosperity of every nation, we shall close our extracts; | almost envying those writers in the expensive and | voluminous Reviews, who have an opportunity of | entering into details, where we can merely indicate the | general spirit and admirable uses of this History of the | Dutch. It is, as we have stated, pre-eminently History | for the Instruction of the People ~ the people of every | class ~~ in the nature and maintenance of their rights, | and in the promotion and security of their best interests; | namely, entire, industrial, political, and religious | freedom. Many passages might be cited from this | volume, and also from the more ambitious one, devoted | to the Greeks, to illustrate Mr. McCullah's power as an | historical writer. Readers may be directed to characters | of William of Nassau, or the Pensionary De Witt, who | is an especial object of our author's admiration, of | Queen Elizabeth, Peter the Great, and to many other | passages as remarkable for truth of sentiment as for | force and elegance of style. | We take leave of this excellent work with feelings of | grateful respect, and a hope that the author may yet | work out at least as much of his own plan as relates to | Great Britain and the United States of America.