Holland - The History of the Netherlands | Page 9

Antwerp, Breda and Bois-le-duc. All the nations
that had been subjugated by the Roman power appear to have taken
arms on this occasion and opposed the intruders. But the Menapians
united themselves with these newcomers, and aided them to meet the
shock of the imperial armies. Carausius, originally a Menapian pilot,
but promoted to the command of a Roman fleet, made common cause
with his fellow-citizens, and proclaimed himself emperor of Great
Britain, where the naval superiority of the Menapians left him no fear
of a competitor. In recompense of the assistance given him by the
Franks, he crossed the sea again from his new empire, to aid them in
their war with the Batavians, the allies of Rome; and having seized on
their islands, and massacred nearly the whole of its inhabitants, he there
established his faithful friends the Salians. Constantius and his son
Constantine the Great vainly strove, even after the death of the brave
Carausius, to regain possession of the country; but they were forced to
leave the new inhabitants in quiet possession of their conquest.
CHAPTER II
FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FRANKS TO THE
SUBJUGATION OF FRIESLAND
A.D. 250--800
From this epoch we must trace the progress of a totally new and
distinct population in the Netherlands. The Batavians being annihilated,
almost without resistance, the low countries contained only the free
people of the German race. But these people did not completely

sympathize together so as to form one consolidated nation. The Salians,
and the other petty tribes of Franks, their allies, were essentially
warlike, and appeared precisely the same as the original inhabitants of
the high grounds. The Menapians and the Frisons, on the contrary, lost
nothing of their spirit of commerce and industry. The result of this
diversity was a separation between the Franks and the Menapians.
While the latter, under the name of Armoricans, joined themselves
more closely with the people who bordered the Channel, the Frisons
associated themselves with the tribes settled on the limits of the
German Ocean, and formed with them a connection celebrated under
the title of the Saxon League. Thus was formed on all points a union
between the maritime races against the inland inhabitants; and their
mutual antipathy became more and more developed as the decline of
the Roman empire ended the former struggle between liberty and
conquest.
The Netherlands now became the earliest theatre of an entirely new
movement, the consequences of which were destined to affect the
whole world. This country was occupied toward the sea by a people
wholly maritime, excepting the narrow space between the Rhine and
the Vahal, of which the Salian Franks had become possessed. The
nature of this marshy soil, in comparison with the sands of Westphalia,
Guelders, and North Brabant, was not more strikingly contrasted than
was the character of their population. The Franks, who had been for a
while under the Roman sway, showed a compound of the violence of
savage life and the corruption of civilized society. They were covetous
and treacherous, but made excellent soldiers; and at this epoch, which
intervened between the power of imperial Rome and that of Germany,
the Frank might be morally considered as a borderer on the frontiers of
the Middle Ages. The Saxon (and this name comprehends all the tribes
of the coast from the Rhine as far north as Denmark), uniting in himself
the distinctive qualities of German and navigator, was moderate and
sincere, but implacable in his rage. Neither of these two races of men
was excelled in point of courage; but the number of Franks who still
entered into the service of the empire diminished the real force of this
nation, and naturally tended to disunite it. Therefore, in the subsequent
shock of people against people, the Saxons invariably gained the final

advantage.
They had no doubt often measured their strength in the most remote
times, since the Franks were but the descendants of the ancient tribes of
Sicambers and others, against whom the Batavians had offered their
assistance to Cæsar. Under Augustus, the inhabitants of the coast had in
the same way joined themselves with Drusus, to oppose these their old
enemies. It was also after having been expelled by the Frisons from
Guelders that the Salians had passed the Rhine and the Meuse; but, in
the fourth century, the two peoples, recovering their strength, the
struggle recommenced, never to terminate--at least between the direct
descendants of each. It is believed that it was the Varni, a race of
Saxons nearly connected with those of England (and coming, like them,
from the coast of Denmark), who on this occasion struck the decisive
blow on the side of the Saxons. Embarking on board a numerous fleet,
they made a descent in the ancient isle of the Batavians, at