The Belgian traveller, or, A complete guide through the United Netherlands, containing a full description of every town

Front matter

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London, friblijktd by Samutl Leigh, id Strand.

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and venerable character in the estimation of the literary and patriotic traveller.

In no country will the tourist be presented with so complete and wonderful a triumph of human industry over the apparently insuperable obstacles of nature. Holland is fairly wrested from the empire of the sea. The power which can truly, and in its full extent, be attributed to divinity alone, has been here exerted by mortal energy ; and the inhabitants of the northern provinces have dared to say, and have said with effect to the raging ocean, u Hitherto shalt thou go and no farther, and " here shall thy proud waves be stayed." A strangely mingled feeling of admiration, pleasure, and fear pervades the mind of the spectator, when he walks at the foot of some of the immense dykes, and hears on the other side, and only a few feet from him, the surges dashing above his head ; and thinks that on the stability of this embankment, depends the existence of many a flourishing town and some hundred thousand souls.

In the southern provinces the traveller will witness the triumphs of human industry in a less imposing but not less pleasing point 01 view. He will here be presented with the absolute perfection of agriculture. The fertility of a soil naturally poor, the luxuriance, the productiveness, the uninterrupted sue-

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cession of crops, are unparalleled in the agricultural history of the world.

The kingdom of the Netherlands is not however, destitute of the real beauties of nature. The voyage up the Meuse, from Maestricht to Namur,is only excelled by some parts of the scenery of the Rhine ; and the hills of Luxemburg exhibit all the wild and romantic views of Switzerland on a smaller scale.

The author will not dwell on the temptations which many parts of Belgium, and especially the vicinity of Brussels, offer to induce families possesed of a moderate competence to take up their temporary or constant residence there. He will not insist on the salubrity of the air, the beauty of the scenery, the pleasantness of the society, and the cheapness of the provisions, because he is too much an Englishman not to feel that, except in the last particular, no country can vie with his own native land. He laments the mania for emigration which now seems to rage ; and he is thoroughly convinced that if an Englishman is dissatisfied with the constitution and the society of Britain, he will in vain seek for happiness in any other region.

The author has nevertheless laboured to do justice to the real merits of a country which he has traversed with pleasure, and which he a 3 vi

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now endeavours to describe ; and he is constrained to acknowledge that it possesses every requisite to interest and delight the tourist, and sometimes to tempt him to loiter awhile from the land of his nativity.

Recent events have given to the Netherlands a deeper and a warmer interest in the estimation of the English traveller. The unrivalled skill of the British general, and the unconquerable valour of the British soldier, were eminently displayed in the battle of Waterloo. That engagement, whether we consider the sanguinary obstinacy with which it was contested, the utter rout of the enemy, or its glorious and decisive results, is unequalled in the military annals of Europe. The fields of Waterloo will in every future age be reckoned a kind of classic ground by the British tourist.

The reader w ill find an accurate description of the scene of this memorable conflict, and the work is enriched by a correct and valuable map.

It has been the earnest wish of the author to render the present volume what it professes to be, — -a complete guide through the kingdom of the United Netherlands.

In addition to extensive and careful personal observation, he as availed himself of every authentic source of intelligence, and gratefully acknowledges considerable obligation to

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Mr. Syphorien's " Voyage Historique et Pittoresque dans les Pays Bas," and the " Itineraire Complet deTEmpire Frangois."

On the real merits of his work he leaves, with some anxiety, the liberal and discerning to decide ; but he does flatter himself, that, it will not add another to the numerous and flagrant instances of book-making, by which the public is so often deluded, and the literary character of the age so much disgraced.

The author has first given a concise history of the Netherlands, their constitution, religion^ commerce, productions, character, and manners, that the tourist may be enabled to form some general and correct idea of the people and country which he intends to visit. He then conducts his reader, by the most practicable and pleasant routes, through the various provinces of the kingdom, noticing every object of curiosity, and even the most inconsiderable towns.

If sometimes, and especially in his progress through Belgium, he seems to be too minute, and even tedious in his enumeration of the places through and near which the road passes, his apology is this, that he wished to accompany and to guide the traveller through almost every step of his tour, and to render his book a constant and necessary compagnon du voyage.

Every traveller has experienced how much

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more pleasantly he pursues his course, when he is acquainted with even the names of the villages through which he passes, or which are seen on either side. His attention is then continual!}* kept alive, he knows what objects he is to expect, and he feels himself no longer a stranger in a foreign country. No map could supply the information which is here given. No map extant contains one-fourth of the names.

The author had two classes of readers to please. In his history of the country, and the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and his description of the principal towns, he hopes that he may interest the general reader ; and for the minuteness of his Itinerary, however dull it may appear to others, he expects the cordial thanks of the actual traveller.

The account of the various modes of travelling, the necessary cautions on the road, the principal inns at each town, the time at which the different stages and vessels start, the productions, manufactures, and commerce, of every place, and the complete table of coins, are important features of the work.

Some inaccuracies will doubtless be found. The author does not profess to have visited every town ; and where his own observation failed, he had to compare the different, and sometimes contradictory accounts of other

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m travellers. But on the general correctness of the work, the reader may place the most implicit reliance. The notice of any omission or mis-statement will be thankfully received, addressed to the publisher. No. 18, Strand,

ADVERTISEMENT

TO

THE THIRD EDITION.

Grateful for the very kind reception which the first edition of the " Belgian Traveller" has experienced, the author felt it to be his duty again to visit the country which he described. His former routes have all been retraced; fresh scenes have been explored; and new and interesting and accurate sources of information have been opened to him. The work has, therefore, undergone a complete revision. It has been considerably augmented, and almost re-written ; and the author flatters himself that it will be found a complete guide through the kingdom of the United Netherlands.

Contents

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Boundaries, Extent, and Climate of the Netherlands . . 1

History of the Netherlands 2

CHAP. I, The Boundaries, Extent, and Climate of the Netherlands

THE kingdom of the Netherlands, containing " the Old United Provinces, and the former u Belgic Provinces, together with the Grand * Duchy of Luxemburg/' extends from 49* 20' to 53° 30' north latitude, and from 2° 30' to 7° 0' east longitude. It is about 270 miles in length, and 180 in breadth, containing 17,200 square miles, and 4,600,000 inhabitants.

Belgium contains 252 inhabitants on every square mile, and Holland no less than 274.

The Netherlands are bounded on the north and west by the north sea, and the German ocean ; on the south by France, and on the east by Prussia and Hanover.

Holland may be considered as little more than a large marsh drained by human industry. This, with its proximity to the sea, renders its' climate cold and damp. The climate of the Netherlands is more genial, yet too chilly and humid.

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Holland presents a perfectly level plain, intersected by innumerable rivers and canals. Not a mountain is to be seen in the whole of the northern provinces, and the only inequalities of the ground consist of the diminutive sand-hills on the coast, and some gentle undulations of hillock and dale, in the province of Utrecht, and on the borders of Prussia.

The surface of Belgium is likewise generally level, except towards the east, and particularly in the duchy of Luxemburgh, where are some inequalities which perhaps deserve the name of hills, but can seldom be considered as mountains. In picturesque and romantic scenery, however, these districts will scarcely yield to the wildest and most mountainous region of Europe.

The soil of Holland, rich with alluvial remains, is admirably suited for pasturage. The soil of the Netherlands is a rich sandy loam, sometimes interspersed with clay, but oftener with unmixed sand.

CHAP. II. History of the Netherlands

The early history of the Netherlands is enveloped in complete obscurity, and we can trace little with certainty before the time of Julius Cresar. When that conqueror invaded Gaul, this country was inhabited by various warlike tribes.

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The Menapii, the Tungri, the Nervii, and the Morini, possessed Belgium. Holland and the northern provinces were peopled by the Batavi. The original population was doubtless Celtic, but the Scythians or Goths, from the inhospitable regions of northern Asia, had gradually expelled the Celts towards the west, and ' had seized on almost the whole of Germany and Gaul. The tribes, which on the arrival of Caesar inhabited the provinces of the Netherlands, were different families of the Belgae.

In the course of ; two campaigns, the Romans had overrun the whole of Gaul to the frontiers of Belgium. Caesar had profited by the weakness and dissensions of the various tribes, and, attacking them separately, had found them an easy conquest. But the Belgae, learning wisdom from the misfortunes of others, formed a solemn and powerful confederacy to defend themselves from the wanton and unprovoked attack of lawless ambition.

On the borders of the Sambre, not far from Namur, they made their last stand for the independence of their country. The Roman approached with an army more numerous than he had commanded in any former period of the campaign, and strengthened by those who should have fought in a better cause. He encamped on the banks of the river. The Belgae, eager to chase the invader from their land, passed the Sambre in the dead of the night, unexpectedly attacked the intrenchments of Caesar, and penetrated into the very heart of his camp. The b 2

Romans were thrown into momentary confusion, and the auxiliary horse fled to Treves, bearing the report that their army had been defeated and cut to pieces. But the Belgae had to contend with the star of Caesar, and the best disciplined troops in the world. The irresistible phalanxes of the legions were soon formed, and led against them. In vain they opposed their osier shields to the impenetrable armour of the invaders. In vain they fought with all the courage which patriotism could inspire, and all the fury of despair. The fortune of the Romans prevailed, and, out of more than 60,000 warriors who rushed on to the attack, only 500 survived.

The Batavi, who had not joined the confederacy, were alarmed, and adopted a prudent, if not a patriotic plan. They immediately despatched ambassadors to Caesar, tendering, not exactly their submission, but their alliance, and offering to assist him with a considerable body of troops in the prosecution of his conquests. The proposal was gladly accepted, and this tribe alone became the ally of the Romans, without a previous struggle for their liberty.

The services which they rendered Caesar, and the honourable mention that for some centuries is made of them by the Roman historians, prove that they were not actuated by cowardice, though we should have been better pleased to have seen them joining the ranks of the brave and virtuous, though unsuccessful defenders of their country.

Tacitus gives a long account of them, and of their peculiar manners and customs, which the

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limits of my work will not permit me to quote. He relates one circumstance at which the modem traveller will smile, that the head-dress of the Batavian women was so becoming, that it was universally imitated by the polished and fastidious dames of Rome. The tourist of the present day, will scarcely expect the costume of the descendants of the Batavians to be fashionable either at London or at Paris.

The assistance of the Batavi was of such eminent use to Caesar in his contest with Pompey, and so soon did they rival their masters in discipline and bravery that Augustus chose them for his bodyguard. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Holland were under considerable obligations to the Romans. Claudius Drusus, in the year A. C. 10, began the noble canal from Zutphen to the Yssel, which yet bears his name. It is likewise said, that he elevated the first bank against the encroachment of the sea, and thus may be considered as the founder of those immense dykes which are justly the pride of the Netherlands, and the admiration of the world.

The History of the Low Countries now affords, for many centuries, little worthy of notice. Under the reign of Vitellius, the Batavi attempted to throw off the Roman yoke. Their first efforts were crowned with success. They defeated and sunk the Roman fleet on the Rhine, and repulsed the land-forces which were sent against them: but they were unable long to withstand the overwhelming power of an empire then almost universal. , B 3

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Animated by the energy of despair, they burned their principal city (Nimeguen) and broke down the dyke of Drusus ; but at length, finding all resistance useless, they once more submitted to wear the chain.

About the end of the second century, numerous hordes of Saxons broke in upon them, and expelled or destroyed most of the Batavi, and the other Belgas. In the 7th century, the Frisians, the next adjacent people in the north, overran the Netherlands, and extended themselves as far as the Scheldt. These were in their turn subdued by the Franks under Charles M artel, in the 8th century, so that the present Belgians may be considered as the mingled descendants of the Belgae, the Frisians, and the Franks.

The Netherlands had long been divided into various provinces, belonging to different families* and governed by different constitutions. These petty sovereigns began now to be known by the names of Dukes, Marquises, and Counts. Pepin, the first duke of Brabant, and founder of the Carlovingian race of kings, held his court at Landen, and died in 647. The ruins of his palace are yet to be traced.

The earldoms of Flanders, Hainault, and Holland were successively established, and often exercised considerable influence on the affairs of Europe. Under the counts of Flanders, the southern provinces attained an eminence of splendour and power, of which few traces now remain. Philip the Good, Count of Flanders, displayed at

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Bruges a magnificence which not many sovereigns could rival, and possessed a power which none of them dared to provoke.

The princes among whom the Low Countries were divided, were engaged in perpetual wars with the neighbouring potentates, and with each other. In these contests their personal and hereditary revenues were frequently exhausted, and they were compelled to have recourse to the benevolence of their subjects. The people, feeling their power, judiciously refused the requisite supplies, except on certain conditions favourable to their liberty ; and they gradually extorted from the monarch so many concessions, that the provinces partook more of the nature of republics, than of regal governments.

The supreme authority was nominally lodged in the person of the magistrate, but actually in the assembly of the representatives of the people. This assembly met whenever the members deemed it expedient, independent of, or even contrary to the pleasure of the sovereign. Without the concurrence of this assembly no war could be undertaken, no taxes could be imposed, no new laws enacted; and no prince, although the government was hereditary, was allowed to assume the sceptre until he had solemnly sworn to observe and maintain the fundamental laws of the country.

In this situation the provinces of the Netherlands long remained ; yet notwithstanding they gradually increased in power, in commerce, and in civilization, nothing occurs for many ages sufficiently distinct and important to be related in the slight s sketch to which I am now limited, At length, by intermarriages, by conquest, arid by the failure of the male line in some of the reigning families, they all fell under the dominion of the house of Burgundy, about the middle of the 15th century. After this event, the provinces continued to enjoy their ancient privileges, and to be governed according to their own laws.

Under the administration of the princes of Burgundy, and even long before, trade and manufactures flourished in the Netherlands more than in any other European state. No city, except Venice, possessed such extensive traffic as Antwerp. It was the great mart of the commerce of the world. It contained 200,000 inhabitants, Bruges nearly as many, and Ghent boasted a more numerous population than the metropolis of France. More than 100,000 artificers were employed there in the woollen manufacture, long before the art was known to the English.

It is interesting and important to inquire into the cause of this unequalled prosperity. The Netherlands were undoubtedly much indebted to their situation, and the nature of the country. They lay in the centre of Europe, commanding the entrance and navigation of several of the great rivers of Germany, and they were almost every where intersected by these rivers, or by canals, or branches of the sea, admirably fitting them for foreign and inland trade. But these advantages would never have enabled the Flemings to leave the other European nations so far behind them, if the form of their government had not

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been peculiarly favourable to their exertions. The greatest advantages which nature affords for improvement in commerce or in the arts of life* will be rendered useless by an injudicious or tyrannical exercise of the civil power. When the person is insecure, or the fruits of many a long year's economy and industry may be seized by the ra<- pacious hands of a despotic prince, it is folly to expect that men will apply themselves with vigour to commercial pursuits. Happily for the inhabitants of the Low Countries, the small extent of the different principalities, and the constant necessities of their princes, rendered it both impolitic and impossible for the sovereign to execute any plan of tyranny against the people. The princes were perfectly aware of this> and, with a good grace, sanctioned those fundamental laws, which indeed somewhat abridged their prerogative, but greatly augmented their power and resources, by means of the prosperity which their moderate government enabled their subjects to attain. In no country in the world were the; sovereigns so powerful in proportion to the extent of their territory : in no country in the world did the people exhibit such ardent attachment to the prince, or cheerfully submit to greater sacrifices.

At the death of Charles the Bold, in 1477, the government of the Netherlands descended to his daughter Mary, while the duchy of Burgundy became united to the crown of France. Mary, or rather her evil counsellors who took advantage of her youth and inexperience, shewed too evident a disposition to encroach on the liberties of the Flemings ; and being detected in a correspondence with her father to effect this purpose, two of her ministers were impeached by the States-General, convicted of treason against their country, and condemned to die. In vain the princess resorted to entreaties and threatenings to save them from death : in vain, she even rushed upon the scaffold, and, dissolved in tears, supplicated their pardon : — the executioner inflicted the fatal blow in her very presence.

In the autumn of the same year she married Maximilian, son of Frederick III. emperor of Germany, and, by this union, the Netherlands passed under tlie dominion of Austria. . Under this new dynasty, the Flemings shewed their invariable determination to preserve the privileges which they had so long enjoyed. Maximilian had been educated in the belief of the divine right of kings, and soon shewed no equivocal symptoms of a wish to reduce the Belgians to the degraded state of his other subjects. Finding that remonstrances were of no avail, that foreign troops were fast pouring in upon them, and that Ghent had been pillaged and almost destroyed, they resolved to make one desperate effort to maintain their freedom. As Maximilian entered the city of Bruges with a numerous train of attendants, the populace surrounded him in the market-place, seized upon his person, hurried him to the castle, and kept him prisoner for many months. The intercession and the menaces of the Pope and the Emperor were unavailing, nor could he obtain his release, until he had submitted to the humiliating condition of taking

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a solemn oath, that he would respect the privileges and the liberties of the Belgians.

Many years now passed with the marked desire of despotic power, and the frequent artful attempt at encroachment on one side, and watchful jealousy and steady resistance on the other, until Charles V., the grandson of Maximilian, assumed the reins of administration. He perhaps might easily have subdued them had he been inclined to use his power ungenerously, and his arbitrary temper had sufficiently appeared in his government of Spain and Germany; in both of which countries he had trampled on the dearest and most valuable rights of the people. But he was born in the Netherlands, and had passed there his happiest days. He loved the people, for their manners, less reserved and stately than those of the Spaniards, accorded with his habits and taste. He therefore restrained his love of despotic rule, and permitted them to enjoy unmolested the freedom which they so highly prized. The Flemings were grateful for his kindness. They liberally assisted him in the wars in which he was almost continually engaged, and, except the insurrection of the people of Ghent, no considerable disturbance happened in the Netherlands during his reign. The eloquent historian of Charles V. scarcely found one opportunity of mentioning them in all the busy period of that monarch's administration.

Charles would gladly have transmitted to his son Philip the affection which he bore towards the Netherlands, and the warm attachment and unvaried Joyalty which they had displayed towards him. For this purpose, he caused him to spend some time in Flanders ; and when he formed the romantic resolution of retiring from the world, this constituted a prominent feature in the pathetic and admirable exhortation which he addressed to him. But Philip could not enter into his father's views, nor love a people whose manners were so different from his own.

The protestant religion had lately been widely and rapidly diffused through Belgium. It had been imported by the French and German and English refugees, who had escaped from the persecutions carried on against them in their native countries. Charles had endeavoured to extirpate this growing heresy. He had had recourse to the faggot and the sword. But when numbers of the most industrious and valuable of his subjects fled from his power ; when he saw his noblest provinces beginning to be depopulated ; when the trade and commerce which distinguished his beloved country were enriching other lands, he wisely recalled his cruel orders, and permitted the Flemings to worship their God as their consciences dictated.

Philip was the child of superstition and bigotry. He had scarcely seated himself on the throne, ere he revived every inhuman edict, and commanded the magistrates to carry them into rigorous execution. He was even heard to declare, that if executioners were wanted to give full effect to the bloody decrees of the inquisition, he would himself become one : and that he would rather be without subjects than reign over heretics. Every man who

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taught heretical doctrines, every man who was even present at a meeting of heretics, was ordered to be put to death by the sword, and every woman buried alive. A peculiar tribunal was established for the suppression of heresy. Persons were committed to prison on bare suspicion. They were tortured on the slightest evidence. The accused were not confronted with their accusers. They were not even made acquainted with the crimes for which they suffered. Their possessions were confiscated, and their families reduced to beggary.

To enforce this diabolical persecution, the country was inundated with Spanish soldiers. These lived at free quarters on the inhabitants, and committed with impunity every kind of outrage. The Flemings at first offered no resistance, but they refused to work at the dykes, saying that they had rather be swallowed up by the ocean, than remain a prey to the terrors of the Inquisition,and the licentiousness of the soldiery. TheStatesgeneral remonstrated against these oppressive proceedings ; but Philip, who was naturally haughty and unyielding,— who considered the liberties claimed by the Protestants in religious matters, as utterly incompatible with his thirst for despotic power, and who had taken a solemn oath to devote his reign to the defence of the Popish faith, and the extirpation of heresy, was immoveable.

Driven to absolute despair, the people rose tumultuously against their oppressors in many places ; but being undisciplined and unarmed, they were easily subdued. These insurrections afforded Philip new pretexts to give free licence to his c bigotry and revenge. The duke of Alva was despatched to the Netherlands with unlimited power to torture and destroy. He was an agent well calculated to execute the savage designs of his master ; and he entered on his execrable office with a demoniacal zeal. No age, sex, or condition, was spared. Many, who had only once been present at a protestant assembly, even though they declared their faith in the catholic religion to be firm and unshaken, were hanged or drowned : while those who professed themselves protestants were put to the rack, to force them to discover their associates ; they were then dragged by horses to the place of execution, their bodies committed to the flames, and their sufferings prolonged with ingenious cruelty.

Many of these noble martyrs bore unshaken testimonies to the truth in the very extremity of their tortures. To prevent the effect of this good confession on the surrounding spectators, the tongues of some were torn out ; others had them burned with a glowing iron; and others were screwed into a machine contrived to produce the most excruciating pain. Wives were put to death for affording shelter to their husbands ; children for performing the like kind offices to their parents ; and a father was executed for allowing his son, who had returned from banishment, to lodge under his roof for a single night. During the administration of this monster in human shape, eighteen thousand persons suffered by the hands of the public executioner.

Resistance was ineffectual, and seldom attempted, for the partial insurrections which took place were

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easily suppressed, and furnished an excuse for more aggravated cruelty. Their only safety consisted in flight, and thousands of refugees carried toother countries the industry and the skill for which the Netherlands had, during so many ages, been distinguished. It is said that more than 100,000 houses were abandoned. The population of the principal cities was evidently thinner, while many of the smaller towns were almost desolate. A great proportion of those who fled from persecution sought refuge in England, where they were kindly received by Elizabeth. That princess was well rewarded by the introduction into her kingdom of many branches of manufacture with which her people had before been unacquainted. From this period we may date the origin and rapid progress of English manufacture.

Many of these exiles could not, however, forget the land which gave them birth, and which was endeared to them by a thousand ties. Under the Prince of Orange, and assisted by some auxiliary troops from the German protestant princes, they determined on one noble effort to deliver their country; but they were soon defeated and dispersed by the duke of Alva.

The cause of freedom and humanity now seemed desperate. All attempt at insurrection had ceased. They who were best capable of defending their country's liberties had either perished on the scaffold, or submitted to voluntary banishment ; and those who remained, brooded over their miseries in silent despair : when Alva, adding absurdity and folly to oppression and tyranny, roused the c 2 dormant spirit of resistance, and excited a universal rebellion, which gave employment to the arms of Spain during half a century, exhausted the vigour, and ruined the reputation of that monarchy, and terminated in the acknowledged freedom and independence of the United Provinces.

The people of the Low Countries had never been accustomed to be taxed by their princes. The power of imposing taxes belonged to the assembly of the states ; and when the prince had occasion for money, he had, from the earliest times, petitioned the states for a supply ; which they either granted or refused as they were satisfied or displeased with the reasons for demanding it. But Alva, without any previous application to the assembly, and of his own simple authority, now proceeded to levy taxes more oppressive than the people could have borne in their most flourishing condition ; and he enforced the payment of them with a rigour absolutely unexampled. This caused general discontent, spirited remonstrances, and at length universal insurrection.