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 HOLLAND

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HOLLAND

especially in foreign wines. To these commercial centres may be added some thirty smaller cities and four hundred very prosperous villages. Thus Hol- lantl properly so called, comprised about one million inhabitants of the republic. Here, above all, was the heart of its commerce. The herring fisheries brought enormous riches. The Rhine traffic was es- timated at a hundred millions annually. Besides this the commerce on the Mediterranean overshadowed that of all other nations.

Agriculture also advanced. A great deal of terri- tory was gained by drainage. The Dutch painters, wood-carvers, and scholars of that period are famous. Holland had five universities: Leyden (1575), Fran- eker (1585), Harderwijck (1600), Groningen (1614), and Utrecht (1636). Besides there were famous schools in Amsterdam, Middleburg, Breda, and Deventer. But many among the lower classes were illiterate. On the other hand piety did not increase; the simplicity of former times gave place to luxury, and this pro- duced indifference in matters of religion among the Protestants, while among the Catholics there were throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many defections. In the year 1623 the vicar Apos- tolic estimated the number of Catholics at four hun- dred thousand; Codde (1700) held the number to be 333,000, while the census of ISIO showed 374,8.56.

Thus far there has been question of the mission of the north only. In the southern provinces, Brabant and Limburg, the administration of the Church was subject to many vicissitudes. The bishops of Roer- mond succeeded one another regularly from 1562 to 1801, when Bishop Van Velde van Melroy resigned his bishopric, the jurisdiction of which covered French territory and was joined ecclesiastically to Li^ge. After 1713 the territory of the Diocese of Roermond belonged partly to Austria and partly to Prussia. Not long after, the Dutch Republic received Venlo and Stevensweert, with the understanding that Catholic worship should remain free, which agreement was adhered to. Brabant did not fare so well. After the capture of Bois-le-Duc (1629), the celebration of the Mass was forbidden, and the churches were turned over to the Reformed. Although (he (iovern- ment became somewhat more lenient, the inimical laws remained on the statute-books until the revolu- tion put an end to the tyranny. By all this Brabant had not only been impoverished, but its morals and culture had dropped to a very low level.

II. The French Period. — French ideas of liberty penetrated into Holland, and, in 1795, a revolution took place as a result of which the "Batavian Repub- lic" came into existence (1795-1S06), and restored to the oppressei-1 Catholics liberty of worship, equal civil and state rights with the Protestants. The latter were disposed to be tolerant, and the more thoughtful among them were of the opinion that "for dominant Churches to enjoy civil rights beyond any others is in violation of the equality of all." Neither was the orthodox party unfavourably disposed, cherishing the glad expectation that the revolution would end "with the overthrow of the already violently shaken Roman Church". The Constitution of the Batavian Republic was not yet proclaimed when the Catholics took the first step towards securing from the Govern- ment their rights to re-establish the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In the name of all the clergy, H. F. ten Hulscher, Archpriest of Holland, addressed a petition to the provisional representatives of Holland request- ing permission to elect a bishop. The reasons advanced for the request were that the Htates-General, while oppressing the Church, had, nevertheless, tolerated a vicar .\postolic; that the Jansenists had their bishops, and that Catholics were deprived of the Sacrament of Confirmation except under extraordinary circum- stances, as when, in 1792 and 1794, the papal nuncio, Brancadoro, had received permission to administer

it. The delegates decided favourably, and, after an interval of two long centuries, the Catholics were once more at liberty to have their hierarchy.

Unfortunately, the unrest of the times did not permit the Catholics to make use of their recovered right. For the time being, the question of bishops remained undecided. In the meantime freedom of worship was more and more firmly established. The Government of the Batavian Republic, on 8 April, 1800, decreed that "the State, from now on, would no longer meddle with the organization of the Church". Complete freedom lunl at last arrived But the pope, under the pressure of Napoleon, was unable to pro- vide for the needs which had accumulated in two centuries. For the time, matters remained in statu quo. In 1806 the Batavian Republic ceased to exist, and Louis Napoleon, the brother of the mighty emperor, became King of Holland. In the same year the Constitution was promulgated. In relation to the Church, article six was of special importance. It read : "The king and the law extend protection to all forms of worship which are practised in the state; by their authority will be determined evervthing which may be judged necessary for the organization, protection, and exercise of all cults." However much the Catholics might long for a regular administration of the Church, they had a well-founded fear of state interference; all the more liecause of certain rumours concerning plans entertained by some counsellors of the Crown. The organization commission which was appointed did not meet with tlie approval of the higher clergy; nevertheless, the commission, as well as King Louis, seemed well disposed. But the report of the com- mission did not please the minister of worship. He considered that there were too many bishoprics, and he opposed separate preparatory seminaries for Catholics. In addition, there was the plan of the commission on studies to abandon the theological seminaries of Haider, Warmond, 's Ileerenberg, and Groote Ypelaar, and to establish in their stead a Catholic academy at one of the universities.

All this was state interference and met, therefore, with disapproval and opposition from the Catholics. It was not put into execution. As has already been stated, popular education was not in a flourishing condition. The Batavian Repulilic, in 1801 and 1S03, had passed school laws which brought about some improvement. Somewhat more was accom- plished by the law of 1806, but the good features it contained were almost nullified by the odious re- strictions on the erection of separate schools and the use of school books. Under the administration of King Louis a number of churches were restored to the Catholics. They almost forgot the former oppression in their happiness at having a prince who professed their own religion. The King of Holland was unable to satisfy the demands of his brother, who first, on 6 March, 1810, annexed Brabant, the southern part of Gelderland, and Zeeland, and, on 9 July, after Louis Napoleon had left, the whole country. After the Netherlands had been divided into ten departments the Emperor Napoleon began to rule the Church in Holland with nothing less than tyranny. The ^"icar Apostolic of Bois-le-Duc, who forbaile public prayers for the excommunicated emperor, was imprisoned at Vincennes. The despotic decree of 26 April, 1810, prescribed the division of the dioceses; one of 10 May, 1810, ordered that the whole ecclesiastical adminis- tration be controlled by a commissioner and by the prefects. The supervision of the seven Dutch de- partments was discussed in a somewhat milder tone in a regulation of 18 October, 1810, which simply declared: "Article two hundred. — The organization of the Catholic an<_l the Protestant clergy will be con- tinued as it exists at present. Article two hundred and seven. — Our minister of worship will report to us as to the needs of churches and their ministers, so