a truce for twelve years was agreed upon. On 'all 'points the Dutch demands were granted. The treaty was concluded with The the Provinces, “in the quality of free States over YY

rwegve whom the archdukes made no pretensions. The un Years' posszdetzs as regards territorial possession was recog-T'"""°° nized Neither the granting of freedom of worship to Roman Catholics nor the word “ Indies ” was mentioned, but in a secret treaty King Philip undertook to place no hindrance in the way of Dutch trade, wherever carried on. One of the immediate results of this triumph of his policy was the increase of Oldenbarneveldt's influence and authority in the Thaw government of the Republic But though Maurice 103131 and his other o onents had reluctantly ielded to PP Y Y

Srflfv 111 the advocate's skilful diplomacy and persuasive "””""d' arguments, a soreness remained between the statesman and the s tad holder which was destined never to be healed. The country was no sooner relieved from the pressure of external war than it was torn by internal discords. After a brief interference in the affairs of Germany, where the intricate question of the Cleves-]ul1ch succession was already preparing the way for the Thirty Years' War, the United Provinces became immersed and absorbing theological struggle with which were mixed up important political issues. The province in a hot

"""'""" of Holland was the arena in which it was fought out. sud . . .

a, ,, ,, ,, ,, s Two professors of theology at Le1den, Jacobus Arm1n1us (see ARMINIUS) and Franciscus Gomarus, became the leaders of two parties, who differed from one another upon certain tenets of the abstruse doctrine of predestination. supported the orthodox Calvinist view; Arminius Gomarus

assailed it The Arminians appealed to the States of Holland (1610) in a Remonstrance in which their theological position Remo.” was defined. They were henceforth known as “ Res¢, , ¢s, ,,4monstrants”; their opponents were styled “Contra-Contrs- Remonstrants.” The advocate and the States of § *i ';"f;' Holland took sides with the Remonstrants, Maurice and the majority of the States-General (four provinces out of seven) supported the Contra-Remonstrants. It became a question of the extent of the rights of sovereign princes under the Union. The States-General wished to summon a national synod, the States of Holland refused their assent, and made levies of local m1l1tia(waard-gelders) for the maintenance of older The States-General (9th of July 1618) took up the challenge, and the prince of Orange, as captain-general, was placed at the head of a commission to go in the first place to Utrecht, which supported Oldenbarneveldt, and then to the various cities of W“' d Holland to insist on the disbanding of the waardzeldem gelders. On the side of Maurice, whom the army obeyed. was the power of the sword. The opposition collapsed; the recalcitrant provincial states were purged, and the leaders of the party of state rights-the advocate himself, Hugo de Groot (see GRoT1Us), pensionary of Rotterdam, and Hoogerbeets, pensionary of Leiden, were arrested and thrown into prison The whole proceedings were illegal, and the illegality was consummated by the prisoners being brought before a 0, dm special tribunal of 24 judges, nearly all of whom were bsme- personal enemies of the accused. The trial was "Wi merely a preliminary to condemnation. The advocate “°°"'°d' was sentenced to death, and executed (13th of May 1619) in the Binnenhof at the Hague. The sentences of Grotius and Hoogerbeets were commuted to perpetual imprisonment. Meanwhile the National Synod had been summoned and had met at Dort on the 13th of November 1618. One hundred Synod", members, many of them foreign divines, composed Dm, this great assembly, who after 154 sittings gave their seal to the doctrines of the Netherlands Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. The Arminians were condemned, their preachers deprived, and the Remonstrant party placed under a ban (6th of May 1619).

In 1621 the Twelve Years' Truce came to an end, and war broke out once more with Spain Maurice, after the death of Oldenbarneveldt, was supreme in the land, but he missed sorely the wise counsels of the old statesman whose tragic end he had been so largely instrumental in bringing about. He and Spinola found themselves once more at the head of the armies in the field, but the health of the stad- fff;;V:, f, , holder was undermined, and his military genius was under a cloud. Deeply mortified by his failure to relieve Breda, which was blockaded by Spinola, Maurice fell seriously ill, and died on the 23rd of April 1625 He was Zeaffgczf succeeded in his dign1t1es by his younger brother Frederick Henry (see FREDERICK HENRY, prince of Orange), who was appointed s tad holder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Overyssel and Gelderland, captain and adjutant-general of the Union and head of the Council of State Frederick Henry was as a general scarcely i'nfer1or to Maurice, and a far more able statesman. The moderation of his views and his conciliatory temper did much to heal the Wounds left b civil and reli ious st1ife ~ Y g 1

and during his time the pow er and influence of the s tad holder ate attained their highest point. Such was his popularity The and the confidence he inspired that 1n 1631 his great pe, -10,1 gf offices of state were declared hereditary, in favour of Frvderivk his five-year-old son, by the Actc de Survwance. He ”""'3" did much to justify the trust placed in him, for the period of Frederick Henry is the most brilliant in the history of the Dutch Republic. During h1s time the East India Company, which had founded the town of Batavia in Java as their adminis- The East trative capital, under a succession of able governor- .md Wes; generals almost monopolized the trade of the entire lndif C0111-Orient, made many conquests and established a net- '”'”'“ work of factories and trade posts stretching from the Cape of Good Hope to ]apan (see DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY). The West India Company, erected in 1621, though framed on the same model, aimed rather at waging war on the enemies' commerce than in developing their own. Their fleets for some years brought vast booty into the company's coffers. The Mexican treasure ships fell into the hands of Piet Heyn, the boldest of their admirals, in 1628; and they were able to send armies across the ocean, conquer a large part of Brazil, and set up a flourishing Dutch dominion in South America (see DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY). The operations of these two great chartered companies occupy a place among memorable events of Frederick Henry's s tad holder ate, they are therefore mentioned here, but for further details the special articles must be consulted. When Frederick Henry stepped into his brother's place, he found the United Provinces in a position of great danger and of critical importance. The Protestants of Germany were on the point of being crushed by the forces of the ggffdza Austrian Habsburgs and the Catholic League. It lay' He, ,, y with the Netherlands to create a diversion in the favour of their co-relig1onists by keeping the forces of the Spanish Habsburgs fully occupied. But to do so with their flank exposed to imperialist attack from the east, was a task involving grave r1sks and possible disaster. In these circumstances, Frederick Henry saw the necessity of securing French aid. It was secured by the skilful diplomacy of Francis van Aarssens (qv) but on hard conditions. Richelieu required the assistance of the Dutch fleet to enable h1m to overcome the resistance of the Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle. The far-sighted s tad holder, despite popular opposition, by his powerful personal influence induced the States-General to grant the naval aid, and thus obtain the French alliance on which the safety of the republic depended.

The first great military success of Frederick Henry was in 1629. His capture of Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-duc), hitherto supposed to be impregnable, after a siege of five SI f

months was a triumph of engineering skill. Wesel H5530 also was taken by surprise this same year. In 1631 a 3211508611 large Spanish fleet carrying a picked force of 6000 fg$$"""" soldiers, for the invasion of Zeeland, was completely destroyed by the Dutch in the Slaak and the troops made prisoners. The campaign of the following yea1 was made memorable by the siege of Maestricht. This important frontier town lying on both sides of the river Meuse was taken by the

pr1nce of Orange in the teeth of two relieving armies, Spanish