Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/12

 custom had not rendered stale—an imperial abdication. The crown which had begun to press too heavily upon the ambitious head of Charles the Fifth, emperor of Germany and king of Spain, was now formally laid aside and the sceptre was confided to younger hands. It was a rich and powerful kingdom which the abdication of Charles had placed in the hands of Philip the Second. The Netherlands comprised seventeen of the most flourishing provinces in Europe. For commercial pursuits, their situation in close proximity to the sea was unrivalled. The soil, which the industry and perseverance of the thrifty people had wrested from old ocean, was fertile and yielded rich harvests. The Netherlanders themselves were an honest, peaceable folk, yet when aroused they were the most belligerent and excitable population on the continent. The reformed religion, which had been crushed in Spain by the Inquisition, had developed in the Netherlands a kind of sacred patriotism, and freedom both of speech and of conscience was an established fact among all classes of society. The policy which had worked like magic in Spain, was a dismal failure in the Netherlands. Spain might be lurid with the flames of the auto da fé, and one by one the gentle voices of her noble Protestant martyrs might be silenced; in the Netherlands the love of religious liberty had taken fast root, and neither Philip's commands, the