The Student's Motley. The Rise of the Dutch Republic ... Condensed, with introduction and notes and an historical sketch of the Dutch people from 1584 to 1897, by W. E. Griffis ... Illustrated

Front matter

WILLIAM THE SILENT, PRINCE OF OKANGE THE STUDENT'S MOTLEY THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC BY JOHN1 LOTHROP MOTLEY, D.C.L., LCD., Etc . . CONDENSED, WITH INTRODUCTION1 AND NOTES AND AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE DUTCH PEOPLE FROM 15S4 TO 1897 BV WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS Member of the American Historical Association and of the Society of Netherlandish Literature of Leyden PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED LONDON AND NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1S96, by Hap.pki: & Brothers. All rightt reserved. I',iM,d in -V.,. IV*, 11. & /.

Preface

The present work consists of two parts — an abridg ment of the late Mr. John Lothrop Motley's three vol umes, entitled The Rise of the Dutch Republic, and an independent sketch of Dutch history, from a.d. 1584 to 1897. With the brief introduction, a few notes, illus trations, and references have been added. The original divisions and numbering of Mr. Motley's chapters have been retained, though their headings are new. Correc tions of clerical mistakes, misprints, and errors in gram mar and ecclesiastical detail have been made. This has been done, however, with but little alteration of the brilliant historian's rhetoric, style, and spelling. In Part VII., which rapidly outlines Dutch history, from the death of William the Silent to Queen Wilhel mina, the author has given his own interpretation of facts, events, and tendencies.

He has taken advantage of the fruits of research made by Dutch scholars since Mr. Motley's decease, besides showing the many points of contact between Netherlandish and British and be tween Dutch and American history. Besides many Dutch friends beyond sea who have aided my studies and answered my inquiries, I have especially to thank three scholarly gentlemen — Mr. Adrian van Hel-

PREFACE.

IV den, of Philadelphia, whose collection of Barneveldia is unique in America; the Rev. Maurice G. Hansen, D.D., of East Orange, N. Y., author of a History of the Re formed Church in the Netherlands ; and William Nelson Noble, Esq., of Ithaca, whose criticisms and suggestions have been of great value. W. E. G. Ithaca, N. Y., December 10, 1897. CONTENTS PAGE Historical Introduction. From Cæsar to Charles V xi Biographical Notes six

Part I

chapter PH*LIP THE SECOND IN THE NETHERLANDS (1665-1559) I. The Abdication of the Emperor 3 II. Egmont at St. Quentin and Gravelines 16 III. The Spanish King Leaves the Netherlands 43

Part II Administration Of Toe Duchess Margaret

(1569-1507) I. The Sister of Philip 61 II. King, Regent, Cardinal, Elector, and Patriot .... 85 III. Church Discipline — The Inquisition 103 IV. Cardinal Granvelle Retired 123 V. A Nation Condemned to Death 140 VI. The Nobles' Compromise and " The Beggars " . . . 159 VII. The Image-Storm 187 VIII. Field-preaching and the King's Wrath 199 IX. Orange, Brederode, Horn, and Egmont 213 X. Valenciennes Falls— The Great Exodus 238

Part III Alva

(1507-1573) I. The Council of Blood ... 251 II. The Execution of Egmont and Horn CONTENTS VI CHAPTER PAGE III. The War ot Independence Begun 294 IV. Orange Takes the Field 301 V. Alva's Experiments in Finance 314 VI. The Beggars of the Sea Capture Brill 330 VII. Count Louis, the Huguenots, and St. Bartholomew . . 347 VIII. The Massacres at Zutphen, Naarden, and Haarlem . . 359 IX. Alkmaar and Dutch Victories on the Zuyder Zee . . . 380

Part IV Administration Of The Grand Commander

(1573-1676) I. The Doleful Defeat at Mookerheyde 397 II. Siege and Relief of Leyden 413 III. The First UnioD of the Dutch States 431 IV. Orange's Toleration — Spanish Mutiny 449 V. The Pacification of Ghent 461

Part V Don John Of Austria

(1576-1578) I. The Hero of Lepanto 481 II. Three Parties — The Anabaptists Protected 496 III. Don John Foiled by Orange 507 IV. The Ru-vard of Brabant in Brussels 524 V. Inactive Armies — Patriotic Amsterdam 549

Part VI Alexander Of Parma

(1578-1684) I. The Reconciled Provinces — The Union of Utrecht . . 571 II. Massacre at Maastricht — Turbulence at Ghent .... 591 III. Treason and Intrigues 603 IV. The Dutch Declaration of Independence 612 V. The Duke of Anjou — Orange Offered the Sovereignty . 633 VI. The French Fury— Death of Anjou 653 VII. The Father of his Country Assassinated CONTENTS VII

Part VII History Of The Dutch Nation

(1584-1897) CHAPTER PAGE I. The Orphan Republic 693 II. The English Allies 705 III. The Model Army 719 IV. Nieuport and Ostend 740 V. Looking to the Great Truce 755 VI. Calvinist and Arminian 764 VII. Maurice and Barneveldt 777 VIII. State Right and National Sovereignty 796 IX. The Bloom of the Republic 812 X. Naval Wars with England 832 XI. Movements of Thought 848 XII. The Shadow of a Republic 867 XIII. Stadholder and Patriots 878 XIV. The French Occupation 899 XV. The Kingdom of the Netherlands 907 Index ILLUSTKATIONS WILLIAM THE SILENT, PRINCE OF ORANGE .... Frontispiece CHARLES V Facing p. 8 PHILIP AND MART " 18 ADMIRAL COLIGNT , " 28 MARGARET OF PARMA " 62 CARDINAL GRANVELLE " 72 EGMONT " 92 ANNE OF SAXONY " 100 PHILIP II. OF SPAIN " 134 SAINTE - ALDEGONDE " 160 HORN " 206 DUKE OF ALVA " 252 PLACE DE L'HOTEL DE VILLE, BRUSSELS " 274 STATUES OF EGMONT AND HORN, BRUSSELS ....

" 292 QUEEN ELIZABETH " 332 SEA-BEGGARS CAPTURING BRILL, 1572 " 340 MODELS OF SHIPS IN GROOTE KERK, HAARLEM ... " 374 DE REQUESEN8 " 398 UNIVERSITY OF LEYDEN " 428 ATTACK ON A FORTRESS " 456 DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA " 482 HOTEL DE VILLE, LOUVAIN " 494 THE PORTE DE HAL, BRUSSELS " 526 THE ARCHDUKE MATTHIAS " 534 THE SPANISH GOVERNORS AND CATHOLIC PRIESTS BAN- ISHED FROM AMSTERDAM, 1578 " 554 ALEXANDER FARNE8E, DUKE OF PARMA " 574 PRISON GATE, THE HAGUE " 608 ALENCON " 638 LOUISE DE COLIGNY " 670 TOMB OF WILLIAM THE SILENT " X ILLUSTRATIONS MAURICE OF NASSAU Facing p. 694 SIR PHILIP SIDNEY " 708 DEVENTER BETRAYED TO THE SPANIARDS, 1587 ... " 712 FIGHT BETWEEN THE ARMADA AND THE ENGLISH FLEET OFF THE ISLE OF WIGHT " 716 CAPTURE OF BREDA, 1590 " 722 ERASMUS " 768 JAMES ARMINIUS " 772 JOHAN VAN OLDEN- BARNEVELDT " 780 THE EXECUTION OF BARNEVELDT " 802 GROTIUS " 806 FREDERICK HENRY, PRINCE OF ORANGE " 816 TROMP " 824 DE RUYTER " 836 JOHN DE WITT " 838 THE MURDER OF THE DE WITTS " 844 WILLIAM III. OF ENGLAND " 862 VIEW OF THE VYVERBERG A£.yJiE;fiAGUE .... " 886 DORT CATHEDRAL . . . ftf"; „ "."'I " HISTOKICAL

Introduction

The early ages, from a hundred years before Christ to the tenth century of the Christian era, form the pre-his toric era of the Dutch people. These are the days of Frisians, Batavians, Romans, Saxons, and Franks. The Roman dominion falls and vanishes in the fifth century. Then paganism passes away, and Christianity enters the lowlands of northwestern Europe. The new Cæsar, Charles the Great, re-establishes civilization and solidarity. His weak son cannot wield the sceptre. The three grand sons of Charlemagne divide,-,- western Europe between themselves, by the compact of Vfe_dun, August 8, a.d. 843. Thenceforward there are Germans, Frenchmen, and Italians. '•••; ,'■:... ,./:/ The Netherlands are not assigned to Louis the German to be identified with the German Empire, but become part of Lotharingia, or the domain of Lothair.

For several centuries after the Verdun compact, the fortunes of the Low Countries, and especially of the Belgic portion, are closely connected with the shifting political struct ures lying southward, rather than with either the great Gallic domain on the west or the Teutonic realm on the east. For centuries the Rhine's delta lands and the interior regions reached by the three rivers flowing from France and Germany, the Scheldt, the Maas, and the Rhine, are harried and devastated by the Norsemen. This outward pressure of enemies, together with equally potent causes from within, compels the development of feudalism. Under this system there is no unity of government, but only a great variety and complexity of functions and methods of administration. Society is roughly divided into two classes — the owners of land, who are few, and those who own no land, who are many.

The age of the dukes and counts begins, lasting from the tenth to the sixteenth century. The townships and dukedoms be come " Staatjes," as the Dutch say — little states which, jealous and aspiring, begin those petty civil wars that seem to be the necessary phenomena of feudalism in every country of the world. The great movement, called the Crusades, saves society from stagnation, moves hosts of ignorant men towards the old seats of light and culture, causes commerce to spring up, helps, powerfully, first to mitigate and after wards to abolish slavery, promotes the rise of cities, and develops a merchant and middle class that steadily wins from the lords of the soil privileges, rights, and charters. Along with the wealth and refinement of feudal courts, and of noble families destined to become historic, there proceeds also the growth of a common public sentiment.

This reveals itself in new phases of politics, which, how ever grotesque when viewed in the abounding light of our age, show a struggle for the rights of humanity. Though full of travail, these movements mean life and progress. So must we interpret the uproar, riot, aud bloodshed between the rival and hostile parties, the Hooks and the Cods, with their curious head-gear and their strange banners. States, in the political development of which others besides the armed leaders and shorn priests are interested, are being shaped and their features become clear. We see in Utrecht, Gelderland, Friesland, Bra bant, and Flanders communities of people who have ever increasing unity in common hopes and fears, in language and traits of character, which are ever molded and inten sified by physical environment.

Through marriage and diplomacy it comes to pass that the House of Burgundy rises to be paramount over most of the Netherlands ; and, again, through marriage, Maxi milian of Austria makes himself master of many cities and ends the strife of the Hooks and Cods. A brilliant period of prosperity is ushered in. Agriculture, com merce, art, and literature are cultivated, and the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, from the month of the Ems to the fountains of the Maas, form one of the richest and most populous portions in Europe. The languages spoken — Frisian, Dutch or Flemish, and French — are now well established, and find enthusiastic cultiva tors who mold their speech into forms of strength and beauty. The Renaissance stimulates art, makes the can vas bloom, uprears cathedrals and town-halls, and covers the land with churches that, imposing to the outward view, are within made glorious with statuary, jewels, and the spoils of the sea.

Within these brick and stone temples it seems as though forest and grotto and fabled pal ace under the sea were transfigured and brought to the service of religion. The wealth, the spices, the rare and curious products of the East pour into the lap of the Netherlands, and strange seeds and oriental fruits fall upon her soil. Grander than the golden-fleece of fable are the flocks of sheep and the fields of flax, making these delta lands richer than those reached by the Argonauts. With the needle and the pillow, the printing-press and the loom, there arise in this home of industry wonderful schools of lace-makers, printers and illustrators of books, and weavers whose webs astonish the world. The build ers and decorators of lordly facades and daring spires, aud of arches and columns and ceilings, seem to vie with the nimble weavers, makers of lace, and beautifiers of books.

To the glory of God stone becomes tracery or blooms with the flowers of the chisel, and oaken ceilings blossom in color like parterres. In ordinary life, costume of the richest kind adorns the person. The nobles vie with each other in brilliancy of colors, rich stuffs, jewels, and decorations for man, woman, and horse. Even the burghers or citizens become oriental in the splendor of their apparel. So it was that this land, lying between the slopes and the sea-coast of western Europe, was the fairest and most promising part of Europe, even as its people were the richest, when, in 1500, the new history of the Netherlands began, and Charles the Fifth, born a Netherlander, entered upon his career. It was he who gave possibilities of union to the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands. Whether his motive was noble or base, his aim from the first was to annul, as far as possible, the disintegrating and divi sive influences which would prevent those provinces from the attainment of solidarity.

Even in his terrible mis takes and in the crudest of those acts most condemned by modern historians, Charles the Fifth had but one idea and purpose — the unity of the Netherlands. With this end in view he became an intelligent and personally active ruler. He was as fierce an advocate of uniformity in belief and ritual as was Queen Elizabeth. Like all princes of that age, he maintained the doctrine that the people must be of the same religion with their ruler. Even his advocacy of the inquisition was inspired by the same motive. With all his faults, he was popular among the people of the Netherlands. Philip the Second, the son of Charles, while inheriting his father's idea of keeping the Netherlands intact, was controlled by a desire to make the Low Countries a mere annex of Spain. In those days such a project was centuries too late, and it is doubtful whether this could have been accomplished even in the Middle Ages before na tionality had been wrought out.

Being not merely an advocate, but, indeed, the very embodiment of that kind of religion which is based on brute force, Philip the Second was aided in his plans, first by Cardinal Granvelle, and then by the Duke of Alva. He sent this soldier, who quailed at nothing, backed by the finest army in Europe, to melt these "men of butter," as he supposed them to be, into obedience to his will. He imagined that he could shape the Netherlanders into submissive Spanish subjects, with consciences moulded from Rome. A new era of history began in the year 1568, with a war lasting for eighty years, during which the events at Heiligerlee, Brill, Alkmaar, Haarlem, and Leyden show that, in the northern provinces at least, butter was not the chief ingredient in the com position of the Netherlander. Confronting and surmounting the figures of Philip, Granvelle, Alva, and his successors was the German-born William of Orange.

With him were three brothers, not, indeed, equalling the Silent One in ability, but ready to pour out their generous blood and their gold in freedom's cause. Adolph found a grave at Heiligerlee, Louis on the heath at Mook, while John, the constructive statesman, lived to see wrought out that Union of Utrecht which made the Dutch Republic. William of Orange became the true Father of the Dutch Fatherland, and with true ' paternal love gave his all to save it. He appealed first to the nobles. The nobles were selfish, suspicious, turbulent, and failed both him and their country. Then William appealed to the burgh ers ; but the burghers were jealous, narrow-minded, ab sorbed in local and petty interests, and unable to rise to the needs of the hour and of true nationality, and, except a few who were faithful, they too failed him, and by them the salvation of the country was not wrought.

Then Will iam the Silent appealed to the common people, and they, with an instinct truer than that of noble or burgher, re sponded. They perceived what the hard-drinking, spoils seekiDg, luxury-loving seigniors could not see ; what town magistrate, rich merchant, local politician, and slave of legal precedent could not discern — that a nation had been born. The common people proved to be the prophets. They beheld union, and they resolved that it should be preserved. They hailed William as the Father of their country. "In Netherland story, the people is ever the true hero," wrote Mr. Motley, and this is as true at the end of the nineteenth as it was in the sixteenth century. Mr. Motley begins his story of "The Rise of the Dutch Republic" with the abdication of Charles the Fifth. A survey of the previous rulers of the Dutch nation shows that these belonged to six dynasties, or " Stamhuizen," as the Dutch call them, as follows : 1.

The Holland dynasty (Het Hollandsche Huis), which was founded in the year 923 by Count Dirk I., to whom Charles the Simple granted some lands in fee, situated in Holland. Of this dynasty, sixteen counts and one countess ruled for 376 years, and with the death, in 1299, of Jan (John) I., who left no issue, it became extinct, and the land was inherited by — 2. The dynasty of Hainault (Het Huis van Henegouwen). Three counts and one countess of this dynasty were rulers during half a century only ; Margaretha, wife of Louis of Bavaria, having abdicated in favor of her son, William V. of Bavaria, in the year 1349. 3. The dynasty of Bavaria (Het Huis van Beijeren) ruled for 79 years by three counts and one countess, Jacoba (the unfortunate Jacqueline). The latter trans ferred her rights to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1428. 4.

The dynasty of Burgundy (Het Huis van Bourgon die) ruled for 50 years. From this dynasty two counts and one countess issued. The latter was Maria, wife of Maximilian, Emperor of Austria, and after her death, in 1482, the dynasty of Burgundy passed over by inheritance to— 5. The dynasty of Austria (Het Oostenrijksche Huis). From this dynasty, for a period of 86 years, ruled Philip the Fair, King of Castile, who died in 1529 ; Charles V., Emperor of Germany and King of Spain, who abdicated in 1555, and his son, Philip II., King of Spain, against whom the Low Countries revolted, and commenced their war of independence in 1568. 6. The dynasty of Orange - Nassau (Het Huis van Oranje- Nassau), of which, as far as regards the Nether lands, William of Orange, surnamed The Silent, is the founder, and who, in 1568, took up arms against Philip IL, Count of Holland, and became the head and leader of the revolt.

Mr. Motley closes his own historical introduction of ninety-two pages with this graphic summary : "Within the little cirde which encloses the seventeen provinces are 208 walled cities, many of them among the most stately in Christendom ; 150 chartered towns, 6300 villages, with their watch-towers and steeples, besides numerous other more insignificant hamlets ; the whole guarded by a belt of sixty fortresses of surpassing strength. " In this rapid sketch of the course and development of the Netherland nation during sixteen centuries, we have seen it ever marked by one prevailing characteristic, one master-passion — the love of liberty, the instinct of self-government. Largely compounded of the bravest Teutonic elements, Batavian and Frisian, the race ever battles to the death with tyranny, organizes extensive revolts in the age of Vespasian, maintains a partial inde pendence even against the sagacious dominion of Char lemagne, refuses in Friesland to accept the papal yoke or feudal chain, and, throughout the dark ages, struggles resolutely towards the light, wresting from a series of petty sovereigns a gradual and practical recognition of the claims of humanity.

With the advent of the Burgun dian family, the power of the commons has reached so high a point that it is able to measure itself, undaunted, with the spirit of arbitrary rule, of which that engrossing and tyrannical house is the embodiment. For more than a century the struggle for freedom, for civic life, goes on ; Philip the Good, Charles the Bold, Mary's husband, Max imilian, Charles V., in turn assailing or undermining the bulwarks raised, age after age, against the despotic princi ple. The combat is ever renewed. Liberty, often crushed, rises again and again from her native earth with redoubled energy. At last, in the sixteenth century, a new and more powerful spirit, the genius of religious freedom, comes to participate in the great conflict. Arbitrary power, incarnated in the second Charlemagne, assails the new combination with unscrupulous, unforgiving fierce ness.

Venerable civic magistrates, haltered, grovel in sackcloth and ashes ; innocent religious reformers burn in holocausts. By the middle of the century the battle rages more fiercely than ever. In the little Netherland territory, Humanity, bleeding but not killed, still stands at bay and defies the hunters. The two great powers have been gathering strength for centuries. They are soon to be matched in a longer and more determined com bat than the world had ever seen. The emperor is about to leave the stage. The provinces, so passionate for na tionality, for municipal freedom, for religious reforma- HISTORICAL

INTRODUCTION.

tion, are to become the property of an utter stranger ; a prince foreign to their blood, their tongue, their religion, their whole habits of life and thought. " Such was the political, religious, and social condition of a nation who were now to witness a new and momentous spectacle." Sidney Smith's sneering question, "Who reads an American book ?" was very quickly answered in 1855, when Mr. John Lothrop Motley published his three octavo volumes on The Rise of the Dutch Republic. Trans lated into Dutch, French, and German, this old story, told in new style and with surprising freshness, was read all over Europe and in the Dutch and English colonies throughout the world. After this auspicious beginning, though with intervals of some years, Mr. Motley followed with four volumes on The History of the United Nether lands and two volumes on The Life and Death of John of Barneveld.

These nine volumes told in brilliant detail and with masterly insight the story of the heroic period of Netherlandish history, from 1555 to 1619. At the beginning of his work, Mr. Motley was comj.ara tively unknown. Before his death he was a leading Ameri can man of letters, an acknowledged master of histori ography, and an honored plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the capitals of the Austro-Hungarian and British empires. The story of his life has been told by his friend, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes,* and in his own letters, edited by George William Curtis, f Descended from Irish and Non conformist English ancestry, John Lothrop Motley, named * John Lothrop Motley: A Memoir, by Oliver Wendell Holmes. New York, 1891, Harper & Brothers. \ Tlie Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley, with portrait.

New York, 1889, Harper & Brothers. XX after his maternal grandfather, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, now a part of Boston, on the loth of April, 1814. Of delicate organization he was fond of few out door sports. He delighted in reading Scott and Cooper. The novelists and the poets were his favorite authors. Among his playmates were Thomas Gold Appleton and Wendell Phillips. Among his teachers was George Ban croft, the historian. Young Motley "had a remarkable facili ty for acquiring languages, excelled as a reader and as a writer, and was the object of general admiration for his many gifts." At eleven he began a novel, writing, at least, two chapters. At thirteen he entered Harvard College. After graduation, he spent a year of reading and travel in Europe. Returning to America he studied law, married, on the 2d of March, 1837, Miss Mary Benjamin, daughter of Mr. Park Benjamin.

In 1839 he published his first novel, Morton's Hope, which is now a rare literary curiosity. Appointed Secretary to the Legation of the United States of America in St. Petersburg, he spent a few months in Russia during 1841 and 1842. Three years later, in the North American Review for October, 1844, he published his first serious effort in historical composition. In this essay on "Peter the Great and Russia," "he showed in epitome his qualities as a historian and biographer." A critical essay on "Balzac "and another on the "Polity of the Puritans " followed in the same periodical. He wrote : " We enjoy an inestimable advantage in America. One can be a Republican, a Democrat, without being a radical. A radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous to society. Here is but little to uproot.

The trade cannot flourish. All classes are conservative by ne cessity, for none can wish to change the structure of our polity." Mr. Motley served one term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and then wrote his second novel, Merry Mount, a Romance of the Massachusetts Colony. This, though not lacking appreciative literary notices at the time of its appearance, is a rarity even in Boston libraries. " The half historical ground he had chosen had already led him to the entrance into the broader domain of history." While engaged in collecting materials for his history, the future author of The Rise of the Dutch Republic learned that Mr. W. H. Prescott contemplated writing A History of Philip the Second. The young aspirant called upon the veteran scholar and frankly stated his own desire and purpose.

With hearty personal encouragement, and later with a complimentary notice of Motley's forthcoming work in the Preface of his own, Prescott showed a rare example of disinterested kindness. After several years of preparatory reading and research, Mr. Motley went to Europe and spent five years in investi gating the archives of Berlin, Dresden, the Hague, and Brussels, finding everywhere courtesy and kindness from librarians and archivists. When his mass of manuscript was ready, he could find no publisher willing to risk capital on its publication ; so the author issued it at his own risk and charges. Its reception was most gratifying. He spent a year in America and then returned to England. Titles and honors began to pour upon him, and his wel come into English society was warm and sincere. The first two volumes of his History of the United Nether lands appeared in 1860.

When the slave-holder's rebellion precipitated civil war in America, he became one of the first defenders of union and the flag by writing a remarkable letter to the London Times, which cleared the situation to the British mind and was powerfully effective in setting forth the real cause of the war and the mighty issues at stake. He paid a visit to America in 1861, and visited the camps on the Potomac. He was appointed by President Lincoln Minister to Vienna. After serving six years, he sent his resignation to President Johnson. By this time his two concluding volumes of the History of the United Netherlands were ready for the press. They appeared in 1868, and, like his former writings, won high encomiums from Dutch scholars. Returning once more to America, and living at 2 Park Street, Boston, he took an active in terest in the election of General Grant to the Presidency, and delivered an address on the Historic Progress of American Democracy before the New York Historical Society.

He was appointed Minister to Great Britain and charged with BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES the especial business of settling the Alabama claims, but was recalled by President Grant ; becoming, it is now gen erally believed, the innocent victim of the personal hostility between the chief executive and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. Mr. Motley then went to live in the Hague, occupying the house of which the great Pensionary, John de Witt, had been the former tenant. Here he wrote his last work, which he had origin ally intended to be " the natural sequel to the first works — viz, The Thirty Years' War." In pursuit of his purpose he was able to carry out only a portion of his programme, and to issue two volumes entitled John of Barneveld, which brought the narrative of events only to 1619, instead of 1648.

The death of his wife on the last day of 1874 was a crushing blow to the historian, and one from which he never recovered. After another visit to his native land, he returned to Europe, dying near Dorchester, England, May 29, 1877. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, just outside of London. His tomb is inscribed, at his own request, with his name, with dates and place of birth and death, and the Scripture, "In God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." Beside the honors most appropriate and gratifying to an author — wide public recognition of his labors, as shown in the reading of his books by whole nations, and their translation into tongues other than his own — Mr. Motley was honored with direct recognition and praise from eminent scholars and critics on both sides of the Atlantic, and election into the membership of many learned historical societies in Europe and America.

Honorary degrees were awarded him by the leading universities of England, Netherlands, and the United States. The highest degree as Foreign Associate of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences was also conferred upon him, only one other American having received it. In person Mr. Motley was strikingly handsome, having inherited much of his mother's almost regal beauty. His portraits and the marble bust in the Boston Public Library show this. The qualities of his mind — an inheritance of Celtic fire and wit blended with Teutonic calm and thoroughness — are apparent in his works. His industry was prodigious, astonishing even the Dutchmen. To have read Bor, Brandt, Hooft, Van Meteren, Orlers, Strada, Gachard, Kluit, and Van Prinsterer, besides immense masses of Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, and English correspondence — all in the involved and stilted idiom of former days and often in the most hideous and repulsive handwriting — required an iron will, heroic perseverance, and giant industry.

Of the very worst script — that of Olden-Barneveldt, copies were indeed made, but those familiar with the Netherlandish archives — admirably as they are kept, are divided in their admiration, not knowing which to admire the more, Motley's genius or his patience. Busken Huet, the leading modern critic, praises the Amer ican for succeeding where Schiller failed — in making the Netherlands story interesting. Dr. T. Blom Coster, the family physician of Queen Sophia and of Mr. Motley, told me that the author of De Opkomst van de Nederlandsche Republiek had read through Wagenaar's Vaderlandsche Historie nine times. My copy of Wagenaar contains seventy-eight closely-printed volumes. Motley's favorite Dutch author was Hooft, whose love of truth and superb style fascinated his American admirer, who knew much of the text of his single octavo by heart.