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HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS
From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce—1609
By John Lothrop Motley
MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Volume 37
History of The United Netherlands, 1584
The indulgence with which the History of the Rise of the Dutch Republicwas received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewedindustry.
A single word seems necessary to explain the somewhat increasedproportions which the present work has assumed over the original design.The intimate connection which was formed between the Kingdom of Englandand the Republic of Holland, immediately after the death of William theSilent, rendered the history and the fate of the two commonwealths for aseason almost identical. The years of anxiety and suspense during whichthe great Spanish project for subjugating England and reconquering theNetherlands, by the same invasion, was slowly matured, were of deepestimport for the future destiny of those two countries, and for the causeof national liberty. The deep-laid conspiracy of Spain and Rome againsthuman rights deserves to be patiently examined, for it is one of thegreat lessons of history. The crisis was long and doubtful, and thehealth—perhaps the existence—of England and Holland, and, with them, ofa great part of Christendom, was on the issue.
History has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come fromsuperstition and despotism, and the blessings which flow from themaintenance of religious and political freedom, as those afforded by thestruggle between England and Holland on the one side, and Spain and Romeon the other, during the epoch which I have attempted to describe. It isfor this reason that I have thought it necessary to reveal, as minutelyas possible, the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priestagainst the people, and to show how it was baffled at last by the strongself-helping energy of two free nations combined.
The period occupied by these two volumes is therefore a short one, whencounted by years, for it begins in 1584 and ends with the commencement of1590. When estimated by the significance of events and their results forfuture ages, it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examinationwhich it has received. With the year 1588 the crisis was past; Englandwas safe, and the new Dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized. It ismy design, in two additional volumes, which, with the two now published,will complete the present work, to carry the history of the Republic downto the Synod of Dort. After this epoch the Thirty Years' War broke outin Germany; and it is my wish, at a future day, to retrace the history ofthat eventful struggle, and to combine with it the civil and militaryevents in Holland, down to the epoch when the Thirty Years' War and theEighty Years' War of the Netherlands were both brought to a close by thePeace of Westphalia.
The materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundantthat it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller compasswithout doing injustice to the subject. It was desirable to throw fulllight on these prominent points of the history, while the law ofhistorical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in thesucceeding portions, in which less important objects may be more slightlyindicated. Th