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Rh and state which had been established by the synod of Dort (1618) and the organization of the Low-Dutch Reformed Church (Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk) as the national Protestant church, practically came to an end in the revolution of 1795, and in the revision of the Constitution in 1848 the complete religious liberty and equality of all persons and congregations was guaranteed. The present organization of the Reformed Church dates from 1852. It is governed by a general assembly or “synod” of deputies from the principal judicatures, sitting once a year. The provinces are subdivided into “classes,” and the classes again into “circles” (ringen), each circle comprising from 5 to 25 congregations, and each congregation being governed by a “church council” or session. The provincial synods are composed of ministers and elders deputed by the classes; and these are composed of the ministers belonging to the particular class and an equal number of elders appointed by the local sessions. The meetings of the circles have no administrative character, but are mere brotherly conferences. The financial management in each congregation is entrusted to a special court (kerk-voogdij) composed of “notables” and church wardens. In every province there is besides, in the case of the Reformed Church, a provincial committee of supervision for the ecclesiastical administration. For the whole kingdom this supervision is entrusted to a common “collegium” or committee of supervision, which meets at the Hague, and consists of 11 members named by the provincial committee and 3 named by the synod. Some congregations have withdrawn from provincial supervision, and have thus free control of their own financial affairs. The oldest secession from the Orthodox Church is that of the Remonstrants, who still represent the most liberal thought in the country, and have their own training college at Leiden. Towards 1840 a new congregation calling itself the Christian Reformed Church (Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk) arose as a protest against the government and the modern tendencies of the Reformed Church; and for the same reason those who had founded the Free University of Amsterdam (1880) formed themselves in 1886 into an independent body called the Nederlandsche Gereformeerde Kerk. In 1892 these two churches united under the name of the Reformed Churches (Gereformeerde Kerken) with the doctrine and discipline of Dort. They have a theological seminary at Kampen. Other Protestant bodies are the Walloons, who, though possessing an independent church government, are attached to the Low-Dutch Reformed Church; the Lutherans, divided into the main body of Evangelical Lutherans and a smaller division calling themselves the Re-established or Old Lutherans (Herstelde Lutherschen) who separated in 1791 in order to keep more strictly to the Augsburg confession; the Mennonites founded by Menno Simons of Friesland, about the beginning of the 16th century; the Baptists, whose only central authority is the General Baptist Society founded at Amsterdam in 1811; the Evangelical Brotherhood of Hernhutters or Moravians, who have churches and schools at Zeist and Haarlem; and a Catholic Apostolic Church (1867) at the Hague. There are congregations of English Episcopalians at the Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and German Evangelicals at the Hague (1857) and Rotterdam (1861). In 1853 the Roman Catholic Church, which before had been a mission in the hands of papal legates and vicars, was raised into an independent ecclesiastical province with five dioceses, namely, the archbishopric of Utrecht, and the suffragan bishoprics of Haarlem, Breda, ’s Hertogenbosch and Roermond, each with its own seminary. Side by side with the Roman Catholic hierarchy are the congregations of the Old Catholics or Old Episcopalian Church (Oud Bisschoppelijke Clerezie), and the Jansenists (see ). The Old Catholics, with whom the Jansenists are frequently confused, date from the 17th century. Besides an archbishop at Utrecht, the Old Catholics have bishops at Deventer and Haarlem, and a training college at Amersfoort. They numbered in 1905 about 9000 (see ). The large Jewish population in Holland had its origin in the wholesale influx of Portuguese Jews at the end of the 16th, and of German Jews in the beginning of the 17th century. In 1870 they were reorganized under the central authority of the Netherlands Israelite Church, and divided into head and “ring” synagogues and associated churches. The Roman Catholic element preponderates in the southern provinces of Limburg, and North Brabant, but in Friesland, Groningen and Drente the Baptists and Christian Reformed are most numerous.

Education.—Every grade of education in the Netherlands is under the control and supervision of the state, being administered by a special department under the ministry for the interior. In 1889 the state recognized private denominational schools, and in 1900 passed a law of compulsory attendance. Infant schools, which are generally in the hands of private societies or the municipal authorities, are not interfered with by the state. According to the law of 1889 primary education is carried on in the ordinary and in continuation schools for boys and girls (co-education having been long in vogue). These schools are established in every commune, the state contributing aid at the rate of 25% of the total expenditure. The age of admission is six; and the course is for six years, 7-13 being the legal age limits; the fee, from which poverty exempts, is almost nominal. Nature-study, continued in the secondary schools, is an essential part in the curriculum of these schools, and elementary general history, English, French and German are among the optional subjects. While the boys are instructed in woodwork, needlework is taught to the girls, its introduction in 1889 having been the first recognition of practical instruction in any form. Continuation schools (herhalingsscholen) must be organized wherever required, and are generally open for six months in winter, pupils of twelve to fourteen or sixteen attending. Secondary schools were established by the law of 1863 and must be provided by every commune of 10,000 inhabitants; they comprise the Burgher-Day-and-Evening schools and the Higher-Burgher schools. The first named schools being mainly intended for those engaged in industrial or agricultural pursuits, the day classes gradually fell into disuse. The length of the course as prescribed by law is two years, but it is usually extended to three or four years, and the instruction, though mainly theoretical, has regard to the special local industries; the fees, if any, may not exceed one pound sterling per annum. Special mention must be made in this connexion of the school of engineering in Amsterdam (1878) and the Academy of Plastic Arts at Rotterdam. The higher-burgher schools have either a three or a five years’ course, and the fees vary from £2, 10s. to £5 a year. The instruction given is essentially non-classical and scientific. In both schools certificates are awarded at the end of the course, that of the higher-burgher schools admitting to the natural science and medical branches of university education, a supplementary examination in Greek and Latin being required for other branches. The gymnasia, or classical schools, fall legally speaking under the head of higher education. By the law of 1876, every town of 20,000 inhabitants, unless specially exempted, must provide a gymnasium. A large proportion of these schools are subsidized by the state to the extent of half their net cost. The curriculum is classical and philological, but in the two upper classes there is a bifurcation in favour of scientific subjects for those who wish. The fees vary from £5 to £8 a year, but, owing to the absence of scholarships and bursaries, are sometimes remitted, as in the case of the higher-burgher schools. Among the schools which give specialized instruction, mention must be made of the admirable trade schools (ambachtsscholen) established in 1861, and the corresponding industrial schools for girls; the fishery schools and schools of navigation; the many private schools of domestic science, and of commerce and industry, among which the municipal school at Enschedé (1886) deserves special mention; and the school of social work, “Das Huis,” at Amsterdam (1900). For the education of medical practitioners, civil and military, the more important institutions are the National Obstetrical College at Amsterdam, the National Veterinary School at Utrecht, the National College for Military Physicians at Amsterdam and the establishment at Utrecht for the training of military apothecaries for the East and West Indies. The organization of agricultural education under the state is very complete, and includes a state professor of agriculture for every province (as well as professors of horticulture in several cases), “winter schools” of agriculture and horticulture, and a state agricultural college at Wageningen (1876) with courses in home and colonial agriculture. The total fees at this college, including board and lodging, are about £50 a year. According to the law of 1898, the state also maintains or subsidizes experimental or testing-stations. Other schools of the same class are the Gerard Adriaan van Swieten schools of agriculture, gardening and forestry in Drente, the school of instruction in butter and cheese making (zuivelbereiding) at Bolsward and the state veterinary college at Utrecht.

There are three state universities in Holland, namely, Leiden (1575), Groningen (1585) and Utrecht (1634). The ancient athenaeums of Franeker (1585) and Harderwyk (1603) were closed in 1811, but that of Amsterdam was converted into a municipal university in 1877. In each of these universities there are five faculties, namely, law, theology, medicine, science and mathematics, and literature and philosophy, the courses for which are respectively four, five, eight, and six or seven years for the two last named. The fees amount to 200 florins (£16, 13s. 4d.) per annum and are payable for four years. Two kinds of degrees are conferred, namely, the ordinary (candidaats) and the “doctor’s” degrees. Pupils from the higher-burgher schools are only eligible for the first. There is also a free (Calvinistic) university at Amsterdam founded in 1880 and enjoying, since 1905, the right of conferring degrees. It has, however, no faculties of law or science. The state polytechnic school at Delft (1864) for the study of engineering in all its branches, architecture and naval construction, has a nominal course of four years, and confers the degree of “engineer.” The fees are the same as those of the universities, and as at the universities there are bursaries. A national institution at Leiden for the study of languages, geography and ethnology of the Dutch Indies has given place to communal institutions of the same nature at Delft and at Leiden, founded in 1864 and 1877. The centre of Dutch university life, which is non-residential, is the students’ corps, at the head of which is a “senate,” elected annually from among the students of four years’ standing. Membership of the corps is gained after a somewhat trying novitiate, but is the only passport to the various social and sports societies.

All teachers in the Netherlands must qualify for their profession by examination. Under the act of 1898 they are trained either in the state training-colleges, or in state-aided municipal, and private