DEUX ARTICLES SUR LA HOLLANDE
ËCRITS PAR UN FRANQAIS ET UN ANGLAIS r
PUBLIES
par
D. C. HESSELING
Professeur h 1'Université de Leyde
Leyde,
SÖCIÉTÉ D'ÉDITIONS A. W. SIJTHOFF 1919















DEUX ARTICLES SUR : LA HOLLANDE
ÉCRITS PAR UN FRANCAIS ET UN ANGLAIS
PUBLIÉS
par
D. C. HESSELING
Professeur h 1'Université de Leyde
Leyde,
SOCIÉTÉ D'ÉDITIONS A. W. SIJTHOFF <H 1919







PRÈFACE
A 1'heure actuelle la Hollande ne peut pas se vanter d'avoir dans les pays alliés ce qu'on appelle „une bonne presse". Les causes en sont multiples. Pendant la guerre un nombre trés restreint mais trés actif de germanophiles ont fait une propagande dont les résultats ont été nuls, mais qui était de nature a offenser les peuples alliés, les Anglais surtout; d'autre part certains journaux hollandais n'ont cessé d'accuser de germanophilie les ministres qui pendant ces temps difficiles ontgouverné notre pays ; or, les étrangers qui admettaient le bien-fondé de ces accusations injustes ont dü se dire que, dans un pays démocratique tel que le nötre, il y a nécessairement conformité d'opinions politiques entre gouvernement et gouvernés. Des malentendus survenus après 1'armistice ont risqué de troubler nos relations amicales avec la Belgique et même un instant avec la France. II existe d'autres raisons encore.
On a quelque pudeur a affirmer ses sympathies pour les alliés maintenant que leurcauseatriomphé; unefiertéquetout homme d'honneur comprendra nous rend difficile de tendre les mains a des vainqueurs. Cependant cette réserve n'est plus excusable lorsque les intéréts de la patrie en souffrent, et celui qui pendant toutes les péripéties de lalutten'a jamaismanqué de professer hautement sa foi dans la justice de la cause des alliés a peut-être le droit de citer après la victoire des témoignages en faveur de ses compatriotes.



PRÉFACE
Nous t|cherons de-défendre notre cause par la bouche de deux étrangers qui, tous les deux, ont fait un séjour prolongé dans notre pays durant les années de guerre. Ils connaissent bien la Hollande, ils ont vécu parmi nous et ils savent oü vont les sympathies de la trés grande majorité du peuple hollandais. Les articles qu'ils ont gracieusement mis a notre disposition, et que nous reproduisons intégralement, n'ont pas été écrits' a notre demande; le premier a paru dans une publicatión francaise [la „Mode Pratique"], 1'autre a été offert par son auteur avec la permission d'en faire 1'usage que nous désirerions.
L'article francais est de la main de M. Henry Asselin, le distingué directeur de 1'Office Francais des Pays-Bas a la Haye, qui a rendu des services éminents tant a la France qu'a la Hollande en s'efforcant d'étendre les relations de toute nature qui lient les deux pays. L'auteur de l'article anglais est M. A. C. Ford, ancien prisonnier de guerre de Ruhleben, professeur de littérature francaise, qui a résidé plusieurs mois a Leiden.
Nous n'avons rien a ajouter a ces deux articles. Certes.^sur quelques détails on peut avoir une opinion différente, de même qu'on pourrait douter de la justesse de quelques-unes des expressions, mais cela n'empêchera pas a peu prés tous les Hollandais de se joindre a nous pour remercier chaleureusement les deux auteurs qui ont si bien plaidé notre cause.
Leiden, mai 1919.
D. C. Hesseling.



LA HOLLANDE PENDANT LA GUERRE
Les Pays-Bas ont une mauvaise presse en France: on juge sévèrement ce petit*pays en raison de sa politique de guerre; on 1'accuse de n'avoir pas été sincèrement, loyalement neutre; on lui reproche d'avoir trop souvent servi la cause de 1'Allemagne; d'avoir — suprème grief — contribué pour une large part au ravitaillement de la grande ennemie bloquée. II y a la un procés d'histoire qui s'instruira sans doute un jour : la situation véritable de la Hollande sera alors exposée publiquement; les nécessités qui la liaient a 1'Allemagne, qui la lient malheureusement encore, seront révélées au grand public et celui-ci verra qu'il a mal jugé et trop vite accusé.
Sans aller jusqu'a soulever ces graves questions, un Francais, qui a résidé pendant trois années de guerre aux Pays-Bas et qui s'est efforcé d'y entretenir les Hens d'une amitié traditionnelle, est heureux de profiter de 1'occasion que lui offre aujourd'hui ce journal pour faire connaltre a des milliers de femmes francaises quelques aspects de la sympathie active de la Hollande pour la France. Reconnaltre est un témoignage de gratitude: il a toujours été dans nos traditions d'accueillir largement les appels de 1'amitié: 1'étranger ne comprendrait pas que sa voix, quand elle nous parle d'amour, ne rencontrat plus 1'écho habituel. Et si la critique est notre force et notre vice, 1'amour est un de nos charmes.
Nous ne parierons pas ici des hommes: nous ne parierons que des oeuvres. Les sympathies individuelies que nous rencontrons aux Pays-Bas sont innombrables. En dépit de 1'in-



LA HOLLANDE PENDANT LA GUERRE
fluence allemande qui date de longtemps; malgré la prophétie de ce grand homme qui n'était pas un grand psychologue, nous avons nommé Bismarck, qui n'a pas craint de dire : „La Hollande s'annexera d'elle-même", malgré enfin une pröpagande de guerre acharnée, made in Germany, la France est restée 1'idéal le mieux porté et le plus porté en Hollande. La France est la fleur que 1'immense majorité du pays arbore a la boutonnière. Dans les cercles militaires et universitaires, on rencontre des amis de 1'Allemagne parmi ceux qui ont été éduqués a Berlin • dans les milieux de la Co'ur, dans la société aristocratique, les „Jongheer" qui s'apparentent a la clique vaniteuse des grands seigneurs de Prusse, ne manquent pas. Mais dans 1'armée, dans 1'université, dans la presse, dans le monde ïntellectuel, dans la marine et dans le peuple, oü se rencontrent — c'est une loi générale - le désintéressement, la clairvoyance et 1'impartialité, c'est la France qui est partout la grande préférée. C'est elle qu'on acclame, elle qu'on célèbre et ceux-la mêmes qui aiment ou admirent 1'Allemagne ne se nsquent point a attaquer la France. Mais ce n'est la que penchants sentimentaux, et, en parlant des oeuvres nées pendant la guerre, au service de la France, nous voulons nous attacher a des faits.
L'une des premières en date est celle qui s'est occupée des prisonniers francais en Allemagne. Un Comité s'est constitué, a La Haye; il s'agissait de récolter de 1'argent; de faire des paquets de vivres ; de les adresser a des soldats malheureux, dans les camps de 1'Allemagne. Les débuts ont été modestes. Dans un grenier, quelques dames de la meilleure société ont fabriqué et ficelé des colis. Le premier mois, on en expédia 80. Cinq mois plus tard, on en avait expédié635. Pour Noël 1915,300 paires de sabots remplies de vivres f ranchissaient lafrontière.
En 1916 les revenus montèrent de 5,198 francs a 38,626, sans parler'd'une somme de 28,000 francs recueillis aux EtatsUnis par un Hollandais ami de la France, M. Rooseboom. Deux représentations théatrales, données a La Haye au profit de



1'oeuvre, rapportaient, la première 7,500 francs, la seconde 16,000 francs. Au cours de cette année-la, on expédiait 15,000 colis,-non seulement de vivres, mais encoredevêtementset de lainages.
En 1917,1'encaisse était de 70,000 francs, mais le blocus qui étreignait 1'Allemagne, la Hollande en souffrait également: les restrictions devenaient extrêmement sévères et le peuple hollandais, on peut bien le dire, commencait a ne plu* manger a sa faim. Dans ces conditions, faute de vivres disponibles, il fallut cesser les envois. L'oeuvre düt y renoncer, en dépit des faveurs qui lui furent longtemps accordées par le Gouvernement pour ses exportations. Elle f erma un jour le grenier devenu une maison, après avoir inscrit sur ses livres ces deux jolis totaux: 46,700 colis en 390,388 francs. Un nom entre cent s'attache a cette oeuvre généreuse et f éconde, celui de la Baronne Taets van Amerongen.
Dès 1915, Raemakers commencait sa campagne de dessins vengeurs ; le Telegraaf d'Amsterdam accablait 1'Allemagne ; le Professeur van Hamel, dans 1' Amsterdammer, défendait les droits de 1'Entente ; M. Boissevain, dans 1' Algemeen Handelsblad, glorifiait la France; la Gazette de Hollande défendait notre cause, en francais; le Docteur Frédérik van Eeden, signait la préface de la version hollandaise de „J'accuse"; le Pasteur Krop entrait en croisade au service de la France; le sénateur van Kol s'indignait du martyre beige. Des noms, des exemples s'aligneraient ainsi a 1'infini.... M.M. Dunlop et Ryke lah$aient le courageux petit journal Onze Zelfstandigheid qui, tout de suite, entrait ouvertement en hitte contre 1'AUemagne et menait le bon combat pour 1'idéal francais; la Société d'Editions A. W. Sijthoff, de Leyde, publiait une série de volumes sur nos artistes et nos écrivains, publication que dirige le Professeur P. Valkhoff. Et 1'un des hommes les plus éminents de ce pays, le Professeur Salverda de Grave, fondait le Comité Hollande-France.



Ce Comité a réuni plus de 1.000 membres. En 1916—17, il a organisé, avec notre concours, une exposition d'art francais qui s'est promenée dans toutes les grandes villes, que la Reine a honorée de sa présence et qui a été un triomphe. II a publié une brochure sur la situation du livre francais en Hollande et sur les moyens propres a le répandre ; il a organisé et soutenu de nombreuses conférences ; il prépare des catalogues de livres francais, par spécialités, qu'il éditera et répandra a ses frais; on lui doit des séries de concerts de musique francaise qui ont remporté le plus grand succès, et une fort jolie" exposition du livre francais qui vient d'avoir lieu : Mlle Nelly Duys s'est dépensée en tout cela avec activité et intelligence, comme M. Zilcken, le Docteur van der Hoeven Léonhard, le Professeur Barrau, MMmes van Wijngaarden, Quix et MarkusPoels, M. Westendorp et tant d'autres.
En 1917, s'est créé le Comité d'Hospitalisation des Enfants Francais réfugiés en Hpllande. Les Allemands, sur la demande de nos amis Hollandais, avaient consenti a confier a ces derniers quelques-uns de nos petits martyrs du Nord. 1,000 enfants vinrent ainsi en Hollande. Ils apportaient, avec leur petit air crane et leur sourire épuisé, quelque chose de la France héroïqueet douloureuse : ils furent accueillis avec une vraie tendresse; on les hébergea, on les habilla, on les nourrit, on les entretint jusqu'a ces temps derniers, avec la plus grande sollicitude: Même leur instruction et, pour ceux qui étaient en age de travailler, leur apprentissage, ne furent pas délaissés ; on pourvut a tout. Les dévouements les plus nobles et les plus généreux s'exercèrent la surtout; le Président de/oeuvre, M. Voute, le comte de Bylandt, M. van der Schalk, M. Mesrits ont mérité la reconnaissance francaise; et il faut remercier du fond du coeur Mlle Mathon qui, religieusement, renoncant au monde, entra dans un de ces centres d'hospitalisation comme au couvent, et baiser avec respect les mains de Mme Loudon, femme de 1'ancien Ministre des Affaires étrangères,



qui allumèrent des arbres de Noël et tricotèrent des bas pour nos petits.
L'Alliance Francaise, association pacifique, d'une si grande utilité, véritable ilot de pensée francaise a 1'étranger, a fait sa guerre, elle aussi. Elle réunit plus de 2,000 membres et, dans les principales villes de la Hollande, elle a continué, comme en temps ordinaire, a organiser des conférences, des soirées théatrales, trés suivies. Grace a elle et au Comité HollandeFrance, le Professeur Rocheblave et le Pasteur Soulier ont pu parler de la France, longuement et ardemment, au public hollandais. Quand ces deux Francais éminents ont quitté la Hollande, c'était en 1917, les Hollandais amis de la France leur offrirent un banquet, a La Haye; 150 personnes chantèrent ce soir-la la Marseillaise avec un enthousiasme qui ne se devinait pas sous les brumes alourdies des polders.
En 1918, un Comité encore se fonde. C'est le Comité de Verdun : au moment oü notre victoire semble plus que jamais compromise, il se trouve de fidèles admirateurs de notre glorieuse défense qui se groupent, réunissent des sommes importantes et décident d'offir a la ville de Verdun un monument commémoratif dont la maquette est aussi tot commandée au maitre Rodin.
En pleine guerre, sou? 1'égide de M. Treub, ancien minL-tre des Finances, qui d'ailleurs le redevint, et qui est un des hommes politiques les plus en vue de ce pays, s'est formée une „Commission pour le Commerce Franco-N éerlandais" qui travaille activement a développer les relations économiques entre la France et la Hollande.
Enfin pendant les derniers mois de 1918, lumineux pour nous qui y trouvions la victoire, troubles pour les Hollandais qui songeaient avec effroi a leur ravitaillement de plus en plus difficile, les frontières de la Hollande s'ouvrirent pour donner asile a 40,000 francais évacués du Nord. Cruel problème, quand la maison est petite et le grenier vide, que de loger et de nour-



rir 40,000 hötes inattendus. On s'organisa dans 1'improvisation. Les centres d'hospitalisation se multiplièrent: les camps abandonnés par les Beiges furent utilisés; dans les villes, on mit la raain sur des maisons vides, sur des usines désaffectées et sur les écoles. Car, il faut le dire trés haut et sans commentaires inutiles, le gouvernement néerlandais donna ses écoles.
Les réfugiés ne furent pas partout également bien. II y eut des centres plus favorisés que d'autres; néanmoins le gtte et le couvert furent partout assurés, et ce provisoire dura prés de trois longs mois pendant lesquels 1'administration et les Comités locaux, par sympathie ou par esprit de devoir, s'ingénièrent a bien faire, a tirer le meilleur partipossible de moyens extrêmement réduits. Et ce fut la, pour la générosité privée, une occasion de plus de se manifester en faveur de la France: les riches versèrent des sommes d'argent importantes, et nombreuses furent les dames de la bourgeoisie qui, abandonnant leurs occupations ordinaires, se transformèrent en infirmières pour soigner les hommes, les femmes et les petits enfants chassés de chez eux par la brute allemande, venus de France par les grand'routes et dont les pieds saignaient.
Ainsi s'inscrit la page de 1'amitié hollandaise. Quand nos braves soldats, captifs en Allemagne et rapatriés par les PaysBas, sont entrés dans ce pays sur les péniches lentes qui les libéraient, beaucoup d'entre eux, dressés vers le ciel et humant le vent du large, ontcrié : „Vive la Hollande !" Ils ont bien fait.
HENRY ASSELIN



HOLLAND AND THE DUTCH
A PERSONAL APPRECIATION
But a month or two ago the writer was a prisoner-of-war guest in Holland. In the course of his stay there he met many Dutch people, both officially and in ordinary social intercourse; and he was also privileged to enter Dutch homes on terms of happy personal friendship. Of Holland and its people he retains not only an affectionate remembrance, but he retains also an enduring inspiration as to the basic principles of true civilisation — those principles in fact whose security was the object of the Grand Alliance in the war.
And so it is with keen regret that he remarks in the current daily press not a few strong, disparaging criticismsof the Dutch. „Opportunists" is the comment of one paper: another expresses concern at the „too tender regard" of the Foreign Office f or Holland, while yet a third hardly veils its threats of economie or naval pressure. The criticisms are as unjust as the threats are uncalled for: both are made in ignorance of the essential qualities and conditions of Dutch national life, or are the unjustifiable statements of irresponsible journalism.
Taking for instance the latest cause of criticism, the reception of the ex-kaiser. Surely of such an incident England should be the last country to speak ill! a f ree asylum for political refugees has always been one of our institutions. How many



of our neighbours have feit deep resentment against us on this score! But convinced though we may be that the execution of this great criminal has every moral sanction, yet, there is no law in Holland by which he could be convicted; if he is extradited it will be extralegally. Had the Kaiser fled by aeroplane and landed in England, our own authorities would have been gravely embarrassed as to a proper course of action.
But as in this so in other matters Holland's role during the war has been most literally — between the devil and the deep sea. The mines of both Germans and Allies have been found within Dutch territorial waters: the Germans have torpedoed Dutch fishing boats and the Allies have „borrowed" Dutch mercantile shipping; while on the Limburg Railway question Holland has stood between a year long cross-fire of protest notes. Of the Devil they expected devilishness, but from those whose pride it is to sail the deep they expected the voice of sympathy, — for the Dutch too are of those that go down to the sea in ships.
And here, immediately to hand, is a most practical reason for our sustainment of Dutch sympathy. If the League of Nations is to be a real task for British statesmen, it will be well for them to work hand in hand with Holland. No matter how good may be the acting relationship between ourselves and France or America, yet there is no nation, save the Dutch, that will approach the problem of a League of Nations from a point of view so similar to our own. Like ourselves, the origin and seat of their nation is in Western Europe — their Colonies lie far across the seas. Like ourselves, their national activities are most vitally and most substantially connected with shipping. With ourselves, they are one of the two free-trade nations; like ourselves, the real and essential freedom of the seas is the fundamental of the problem ; like ourselves, their interpretation of that freedom must lie in the ready and obvious facts;



it must not depend upon debatable general principles. So that at this juncture, if ever, the path of right coincides with that of practical expediency. For British journalism to wound the susceptibilities of Holland is manifest unwisdom and a sin against international comity.
To thousands of our fellow countrymen the spontaneous and cordial reception of British prisoners of war in Holland was so keenly a boon, that it will be a life-long pleasure to us to recall it. From German Camps we came where incredible brutalities had been the fate of many, and oppression of spirit the inevitable lot of all. To pass thence and live among the Dutch in freedom was to change harsh discord for the tuneful music of the spheres. Whether sick in body or sick in mind we mended at once: we healed, as the doctors say, by first intention. The laugh of defiance, derisive yet nervous, which was the note in British Camps in Germany was replaced by the quieter laugh that tells of a refound harmony in life.
That change was illustrated in the fine humour of the international situation. The evident happy freedom which the British found in Holland was the cause of characteristically tactless protest in the Berlin press ; that the British prisoners should feel the boon of freedom, while the German prisoners did not, was a „difference of treatment" and a cause for complaint. The words of official welcome to both sides were of course similar; officials of a neutral government could not do otherwise. But declarations of official neutrality could not restrain the Dutch natural feelings. The Berlin press in substance was correct; the treatment of the British was, utterly different. While the presence of the Germans was hardly endured — often resented — the British were made welcome with a wonderful hospitality. If error there was, it was on the side of excess : even pro-English people spoke laughingly of the „Engelsche ziekte" — the English malady. The interned themselves began to realise, when the novelty of social entertain-



ment began to wear off, that nationality alone was not satisfactory basis for social entertainment, and began to long for social intercourse based upon more personal considerations. And this took place. Many stimulating friendships were developed on the basis of personal affinities. Not a few AngloDutch marriages were celebrated: and if the prudent minded are sceptical as to the rapidity of suchdevelopments,thismuch at least may be confidently affirmed—that the Anglo-Dutch marriage in itself gives no shock of unnaturalness: for the Dutch social conventions, mental habits, and racial qualities are so similar to the English, that no prima facie objection can be raised against such unions.
But it was little by little, and first in little things that We discovered ourselves to be living with a people that was akin to our own. When once the primary difficulty of spelling was got over, the Dutch newspapers were easy to read.
When some of the more casual of us however repeated the German chauvinism that the Dutch language is a dialect of German, it was resented. „Oh don't say that", was the quick plea of a Dutch friend. „Moreover," she added, „it isn't true. The distance that separates English from Dutch is much less than that which separates Dutch from German". And the best linguistic opinion fully confirms her statement.
So that not only was the vocabulary of the Dutch newspapers easy to understand, but also their attitude and general tone found grateful readers among the English prisoner guests. Few of us who read our first account of the Zeebrugge landing in the Dutch „Telegraaf" will forget its fine sympathy, the keen zest with which it was written, the exultant ring of joy in the phrase. Again every British reader of the „Haagsche Post" endorsed the fine tribute to the French Generalissimo, beginning „Bravo Foch", which formed a leading article in August last. Also it was in the „Telegraaf" that many of truth-revealing Raemaekers cartoons first appeared, of which



it would not be easy to over-state the effect upon the German mind : from Raemaekers the Hun knew himself as a criminal. The general attitude, style and tone of that paper reminded one very much of the London „Daily Mail". Some newspapers held a more purely Dutch point of view: the „Rotterdamsche Courant" and the „Algemeen Handelsblad" both expressed lively dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Allies in the matter of Dutch shipping; but both denounced the torpedoing of Dutch fishing boats, as dastardly acts of piracy; and if the early glitter of German military process hypnotised their military critics, yet writers in these two papers pointed out the duplicity of the German treaties with Russia and Roumania, and those writers spoke frankly of the danger of German autocracy towards the democracies of modern Europe. In general the Dutch press has a freedom like that enjoyed by our own press. Most of it was pro-Entente! practically all of it was anti-German.. The fact is that pro-Gerroan feeling exists only where special personal conditions prevail. If the Boer War destroyed some pro-English tendency, it did little to lessen the anti-German feeling; and it left untouched the strong sympathy for France, which is perhaps thestrongest link that unites Dutch feeling with the Entente. The pro-Germans are found amongst war profiteers, amongst the small section surrounding the Prince Consort, and amongst the higher army officers, many of whom made their military studies in Germany. The unpopularity of these three groups is however as undoubted as it is significant.
A second vista in Dutch national.life opened out from an apparently trivial social point: we found that the Dutch drank tea. Real tea : none of that more soda-than-whisky, and drunkin-a-glass concoction that belies its name in the Cafés of Berlin. And though the Englishman may drink „five o' clock" in many a Paris teashop, and suffer no less of self-respect, still „five o' clock" is none the less a foreign importation,



even though an honoured one. But your Dutch hostess will invite the afternoon caller to drink a cup of tea with a naturalness so evident as to provoke the involuntary thought „Is this England ?" While the quality of your cup inevitably leads to the discovery that the Dutch „India" (i. e. Java and Sumatra) is a rich source of the world's tea supply, that in peace times thousands and thousands of tons of tea, conveyed in Dutch ships, not only supply Holland, but form a very considerable item in the tea markets of London. And theyoung Dutchman of enterprise looks to Java as a field of ad venture and fortune, as many a young Englishman sets out for the hillsides of Ceylon or the torrential heights of Darjeeling.
This overseas activity is not confined to private commercial enterprise alone. Even more official recognition than in our British Universities is given to Dutch students in their courses of study preparatio fnor Indian Civil Service Examinations. To those acquainted with this aspect of English university work, the arrangements at Leiden, for instance, come so unexpectedly familiar that one seems once more at the Varsity. Again, Dutch medical students look to „India" as they call it, as a field of work: there are those who wish to specialise in tropical medicine and also those who wish to becomeattached to the Dutch „Indian" Army. That army is maintained on a somewhat similar basis to the British Indian Army— European Officers and native troops: it exists for similar purpose and has waged similar wars. The Dutch democrats have a similar sensitiveness about the Dutch position in Java even as our ultra-democrats ; the Dutch Government is faced like our own Indian Office with the problem of the native share in Administration. Again the Javanese students at Leiden are as noticeable a feature of student life there as are our Indian students at Oxford, Cambridge or Edinburgh. And in as much as the Dutch are a somewhat more democratie people than we are, so have they adopted more readilya liberal Indian policy;



just as their latest Franchise Reform, establishing adult suffrage and political rights to women, has preceded ours by a few months.
For the political student a most interesting quality of -Dutch national thought is seen in a comparison between the Dutch and the Swiss. There is between them a natural bond of sympathy and an essential similarity of outlook : both regard themselves as „petit peuple" — with powerful neighbours. In both countries liberty has become native to the soil; and by both national service is adopted as a means of defending their liberty. And again, to both countries commerce with their neighbours is of ever present importance. But the Swiss have the limitation that they are peculiarly European in their views, whereas~the Dutch inevitably look across the oceans. The further limits of industrial enterprise at Bale are the Baltic and the Mediterranean j but the threads of commerce that centre in Rotterdam draw cargoes from the remotest quarters of the globe. Geneva has the qualities of a centre of European culture and thought, but Amsterdam bears unmistakably the stamp of a world-city. In short the Dutch are distinguished by a breath of national outlook that is no less to-day than it was in the centuries of national effort upon which their free civilisation is based.
Their free civilisation is the only one in the world that can be compared with our own, whether as to sustained effort or breadth of foundation ; and how mingled is their history with our own ! How inevitably too are they associated in principle with the Allied Powers in their present fight for freedom! If in the past the question of sea-power has been f ought between England and Holland and hard blows have been exchanged, yet on the other hand our land forces have fought side by side with Dutch troops in the cause of freedom. Upon both sides of the North Sea the two powers have acted and re-acted for national liberty. In two cases prominantly in our struggle



for freedom Holland was our helper. In the first case, the Pilgrim Fathers driven into exile by Stuart intolerance found freedom in Leiden ; and a Church still stands thére, though rebuilt, as a witness of their effort for liberty of conscience. In the second case, the far reaching precedent to the Revolution in 1688, William of Orange and Dutch forces were our effectual help. And if at times under stress of faction that great King had to seek refréshment in his native land, yet most certainly the most important part of his lifework was accomplished for England. English liberty in every aspect owes to him an immemorial debt.
From the consideration of Dutch political effort to the culture founded upon it, is an easy step for those who have had the privilege of a stay in time-honoured Leiden. That city compactly built and encircled by canals gives immediate evidence of both effort and culture. The great Moorish and Doric portals still stand at which, upon many a stem assault, the citizens of Leiden fought and won their independence. Haec libertatis ergo is the motto on one gateway. The encircling canals though their wide banks are now in part laid out in gardens, formed the old city. moat and defence. The University itself, which forms so prominent a part in the city life, is founded upon a charter > granted as a royal mark of sturdy effort in the war for liberty. And although but little of the old 16th century building now exists, yet the present erection has acquired an air of serene révérence which may be attributed to university life of much distinction. Boerhaave, the botanist and physician, first laid out the University Botanical Gardens: whilst amongst distinguished professors may be noted Kuenen, the philosopher and theologian, and de Vries, some time Rector and strenuous promoter of University and civic activities. The portraits of such men, preserved in the Senate Chamber, give an atmosphere of continued study, upon which alone can culturesecurely rest.



But it is not alone the formal side of Leiden's culture that is interesting. What attracts the stranger who is permitted to see something of the private side of the University life there, is the fine sense of establishing contact with the product of generations of culture. There is no pretentiousness to these people: their culture gives a quite unconscious graciousness to their most perfunctory remarks, to their most trifling actions. It is no newly assumed garb like that paraded beyond the Rhine. It is a culture of character, instinctive, spontaneous in its manifestations. It showed itself even physically: the neat well placed ear, the well set eye, whose quick play and sparkle reflected every phase of conversation and bespoke a mind of delicate sensitivenes in constant and lively contact with the unceasing changes of life. Or again — a silvered temple, a gracious brow, a clear profile were the sure index to intellectual alertness and graciousness of heart. Remarkable was the number of elderly people whom life had not spoiled, but who still retained in age something of the gentle charm of childhood : it seemed that from here grasping greed and mean ambition were banished away, that life was so organised as to enable men and women to fulfil in age the happy promise of their youth.
If the cheap cynic smiles and refers to the smugness of the round Dutch cheese, we care not. We prisoner guests got the benefit of the round Dutch cheese and were grateful. It may be frankly stated that the solid work of the Dutch cheese is significant of the people. But the statement contains no contradiction to the life of culture as seen in Holland. For it is no exclusive exotic growth: it pervades life generally, alike in the busy cafés, in the charming canal-side inns, and on the water. For these cultured Dutch are people who love the ópen air. It is a culture of natural growth. It was first bought with the sweat of toil: for while fortune may be sought in „India", yet the most of Holland's wealth is redeemed



by necessary labour from land or sea. In all classes the Dutch are bred of the soil or sea and the writer fancies that in the varying aspects of the Dutch landscapes there may be seen the forces upon which Dutch character has been built. The great stretches of green daisied meadow, bright with buttercups, the sleek kine, the redroofed farmstead, the cheerful flapping of the windmill sail, and overhead a' sky, deep blue, with fleecy clouds of white t such a countryside makes it inevitable that the Dutch will know the virtue of Mother Earth's good gifte. The windswept dunes of sand, the long uabroken stretch of beach, the grey green waters of the sea over which the Northwind 'sweeps „most feelingly" : these conviitce »us that the Dutch are stout of heart, else had they never been a race of riders on the sea. The tranquil canals that wend their way, lily strewn, from farm to farm — whose clear waters lave a wondrous shadowland of fairy plants, whose marges are thickset with sedge, and bunches of bright forgetmenot: such a scène suggests that people dwelling there might well develop a deep feeling of joy in all that is beautiful. Indeed the particular canal the writer has in mind runs within a few yards of the mill-house where Rembrandt was born. And lastly when the northwind keenly blows across the waters of the reedbegirdled mere, its wan surface with white spots of foam ; where a solitary tree—leafless—stretches its gaunt arms imploringly to warmer south, and the scuttling water fowl seeks sudden shelter in the wind-tossed reeds, when your boat heels over as it meets the sudden squall and uncomplaining meets the ceaseless buffets of the waves — then, then you understand and feel something of the real spirit of the Dutch : their restraiat in joy, their sense of the tragic in life ; but also the steadfastness that has enabled them to meet all life's vicissitudes, their sense of loyalty, their fine'faith in the ultimate triumph of the things of the spirit,.











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