History of the United Netherlands, 1598-99

History of the United
Netherlands, 1598-99

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Title: History of the United Netherlands, 1598-99
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4871] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 9,
2002]

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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY
UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1598-99 ***

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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, Vol. 71
History of the United Netherlands, 1598-1599

CHAPTER XXXVI
.
Commercial prospects of Holland--Travels of John Huygen van
Linschoten Their effect on the trade and prosperity of the
Netherlands--Progress of nautical and geographical science--Maritime
exploration--Fantastic notions respecting the polar regions--State of
nautical science--First arctic expedition--Success of the
voyagers--Failure of the second expedition--Third attempt to discover
the north-east passage--Discovery of Spitzbergen-- Scientific results of
the voyage--Adventures in the frozen regions-- Death of William
Barendz--Return of the voyagers to Amsterdam-- Southern expedition

against the Spanish power--Disasters attendant upon it--Extent of
Dutch discovery.
During a great portion of Philip's reign the Netherlanders, despite their
rebellion, had been permitted to trade with Spain. A spectacle had thus
been presented of a vigorous traffic between two mighty belligerents,
who derived from their intercourse with each other the means of more
thoroughly carrying on their mutual hostilities. The war fed their
commerce, and commerce fed their war. The great maritime discoveries
at the close of the fifteenth century had enured quite as much to the
benefit of the Flemings and Hollanders as to that of the Spaniards and
Portuguese, to whom they were originally due. Antwerp and
subsequently Amsterdam had thriven on the great revolution of the
Indian trade which Vasco de Gama's voyage around the Cape had
effected. The nations of the Baltic and of farthest Ind now exchanged
their products on a more extensive scale. and with a wider sweep across
the earth than when the mistress of the Adriatic alone held the keys of
Asiatic commerce. The haughty but intelligent oligarchy of
shopkeepers, which had grown so rich and attained so eminent a
political position from its magnificent monopoly, already saw the
sources of its grandeur drying up before its eyes, now that the world's
trade--for the first time in human history-- had become oceanic.
In Holland, long since denuded of forests, were great markets of timber,
whither shipbuilders and architects came from all parts of the world to
gather the utensils for their craft. There, too, where scarcely a pebble
had been deposited in the course of the geological transformations of
our planet, were great artificial quarries of granite, and marble, and
basalt. Wheat was almost as rare a product of the soil as cinnamon, yet
the granaries of Christendom, and the Oriental magazines of spices and
drugs, were found chiefly on that barren spot of earth. There was the
great international mart where the Osterling, the Turk, the Hindoo, the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean traders stored their wares and
negotiated their exchanges; while the curious and highly-prized
products of Netherland skill--broadcloths, tapestries, brocades, laces,
substantial fustians, magnificent damasks, finest linens--increased the
mass of visible wealth piled mountains high upon that extraordinary
soil which produced nothing and teemed with everything.
After the incorporation of Portugal with Spain however many obstacles

were thrown in the way of the trade from the Netherlands to Lisbon and
the Spanish ports. Loud and bitter were the railings uttered, as we know,
by the English sovereign and her statesmen