Contemporary Literature. 231 Dutch Commonwealth and the Spanish Monarchy was blended, until the great European struggle was ended by the peace of Westphalia. Dr. Motley accordingly has printed fresh title-pages for Vols. I. and II. The whole work presents the reader with a remarkably comprehensive view of the sixteenth century, and of the revolution which was then commencing in the civil and religious relations of Europe, based on records in the State Paper Offices of England, Holland, Belgium, and France. Nothing can exceed the value of the materials collected; and the form in which they have been exhibited is equally judicious and eloquent. Dr. Motley's sympathies are with the Protestant side of the question, and he has a thorough detestation of the attempted Romanist reaction prompted by Philip of Spain. If, in all this, he is not thoroughly impartial, he is at least on the winning side; his arguments are a vindication of the actual dealings of Providence with mankind, and not in favour of a mere theory, which might require that events should have been other than they really were. But ere the triumph of the Protestant cause, there was a long series of troubles to be surmounted, and order had to be educed out of a state of anarchy scarcely conceivable. Dr. Motley has, for the most part, to describe the chaos out of which the new creation was slowly emerging. In the material weakness of the provinces, was their real strength;-for, depending upon that, Philip left them, and spent his force where he believed the opposition was stronger: and thus they were permitted to gain time; during the interval, chances turned up in their favour, and heroic men were generated. A conflict, unequal at first, became gradually more equal, until the scales at last turned in favour of what had originally the least weight in the balance. The religious question lay at the bottom of the strife of the sixteenth century, and until the consciences of men were satisfied, peace was impossible. But the politicians of the day did not see the absolute dependence of events on this mysterious motive, and thought more of the balance of power than of the interests of truth. This was clearly the case with Henry of Navarre, who, though he indorsed the religious motive, had a royal indifference to creeds, and changed his own as soon as it was expedient for his personal establishment. Writing after the fact, Dr. Motley sees the shortcomings of individuals, who, not being prophets, could not act in the full light of the intelligence which he possesses. Accordingly, he condemns many for misconduct, which was merely the fruit of their blindness. To be sure, faith might have substituted the information wanted; and we have reason to regret that so many great causes have suffered delay and inconvenience from the want of this divine principle. Dr. Motley describes the battle of Ivry with all the enthusiasm of Lord Macaulay, but he has not the same warmth of feeling for the hero. He describes the Béarnese as having been the hope of a considerable portion of the Catholic nobility of his realm, while acting the part of an excommunicated heretic; and the mainstay of Calvinism, while secretly bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with the Pope.Henry,' says Dr. Motley, was also the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical, while himself a model of profligacy; the leader of the earnest and the 'true, although false as water himself in every relation in which human 'beings can stand to each other; a standard-bearer of both great 'branches of the Christian Church in an age when religion was the 'atmosphere of men's daily lives, yet, finding his sincerest admirer, and one of his most faithful allies, in the Grand Turk; the representative of national liberty and human rights against regal and sacerdotal abso lutism, while himself a remorseless despot by nature and education, and ' a believer in no rights of the people save in their privilege to be ruled by himself. Here we fear that Dr. Motley has confounded the character of the king with the circumstances by which his action was too much ruled and directed. What he was by necessity should be distinguished from what he was by disposition. By the former he was a possible king; by the latter, a soldier, a wit, a consummate politician,' as Dr. Motley himself admits. With these good points in his character, the genius of history, and popular appreciation have generally sympathised; and hence it is that, for centuries,' Henry of Navarre has been so heroic and 'popular an image.' Dr. Motley is fond of tracing events to individual influence or exertion. The hero of his third and fourth volumes is Prince Maurice of OrangeNassau. Here, indeed, we have a man of genius, whose course is patiently and admiringly traced by the historian's pen. In the year 1590, we first find him at an important crisis making himself felt as a practical soldier. At the age of twenty, he devoted himself to the study of pure mathematics for the purpose of saving his country. A strange resolution to the men of his time, but which in the long run sufficiently explained itself. In the Netherlands, engineering, hydrostatics, and kindred branches of natural science and art were habitually cultivated and opposed to the elements that threatened the very existence of the country; young Maurice of Nassau conceived the idea of making them as potent against a human foe. He tried successfully his prentice-hand on the city of Breda, a patrimonial possession which he was desirous of recovering from the Spaniard. A skipper, in the habit of supplying the castle with fuel, undertook to convey therewith a sufficient number of men, and, though he subsequently left the scheme to be carried out by others, lent his vessel for the purpose. Sixty-eight were selected, who were separated by only a sliding trap-door from the rest, when an officer of the guard came on board, to survey the turf with which the barque was apparently laden. Those inside could hear and see his every move'ment. Had there been a single cough or sneeze from within, the true 'character of the cargo then making its way into the castle would have 'been discovered, and every man would within ten minutes have been 'butchered.' This time, they escaped; but in the evening, while there were crowds on board, the dreaded danger arose, for the party getting wet through the foundering of the vessel, they all began sneezing and coughing. One man, Lieutenant Held, unable to control the violence 'of his cough, drew his dagger and eagerly implored his next neighbour 'to stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should lead to the discovery of the whole party. All danger was eventually overcome, and at night they stole out of the ship, got within the precincts of the castle, and carried all before them. Soon after Prince Maurice himself marched into the town, and the city and fortress of Breda surrendered to the authority of the States-General, and of his Excellency. The time at length arrived when Maurice could apply his theories and studies on a larger scale. Martial science was defective, and he had to invent improvements. He saw the necessity for providing a special education for engineers, and established a course of instruction in this profession at the University of Leyden, according to a system drawn up by the celebrated Stevinus. He first introduced the use of the spade, as a needful auxiliar of the sword; and set himself against the peculation and corruption by which military success was impeded. While thus measuring himself against the first captains of his age, he was founding Contemporary Literature. 233 the great modern school of military science. The campaigns and sieges of Maurice are accordingly of great importance, and Dr. Motley has treated them with abundance of detail. On one occasion, when a siege which had lasted forty-four days was over, men came out of the town to examine at leisure the prince's camp and his field of operations, and were astounded at the amount of labour performed in so short a time. The oldest campaigners confessed that they never before had understood what a siege really was, and they began to conceive a higher respect for the art of the engineer than they had ever done before. Even those who were wont to rail at science and labour,' said one who was present in the camp of Maurice, declared that the siege would have been a far 'more arduous undertaking had it not been for those two engineers, 'Joost Matthes of Alost, and Jacob Kemp of Gorcum.' It was ultimately proposed that Maurice should be elevated to the sovereignty of the Netherlands. man. Dr. Motley is not very favourably disposed towards Queen Elizabeth, and the part she took in these affairs. After so much fighting and negotiating, her Majesty thought it unreasonable that these republican Calvinists-meaning the Netherlanders-should refuse to return to the dominion of their old tyrant, Philip of Spain, and of the Pope. We see now that it would have been no more to the interest of England than to that of the Hague that such an illogical conclusion should have been admitted. But the future was then a sealed book, and it was as dark to Elizabeth as to Henry IV. of France. Dr. Motley has also given us his portrait of Philip of Spain, painted of course in the darkest colours. Scarcely any could be too dark. The monarch was unfortunately a self-righteous In his last confession he declared that, in all his life, he had never consciously done wrong to any one. If he had ever committed an act of injustice, it was unwittingly, or because he had been deceived in the circumstances. He bore the horrible sufferings of his death with patience and resignation. His behaviour was altogether remarkable, so signal was his self-deception. He left directions as to the manner of his funeral, and a written document for his son, from which he was to learn how to govern his kingdoms. Finally, he wrote to his confessor, 'You are in the place of God, and I protest thus before His presence that I will do 'all that you declare necessary for my salvation. Thus upon you will 'be the responsibility for my omissions, because I am ready to do all.' Thus, having shifted his burthen on to the shoulders of poor Diego de Yepes, he made the final arrangements for his departure, as minute and curious as they were self-willed and superstitious, and died in a state of pious exaltation, which even to Diego appeared sincere. So died the man whose nefarious movements were the means by which the Republic of the United Netherlands arrived at its birth, and the assailed independence of France and England became consolidated. The result of Philip's efforts to establish a universal monarchy was to hasten the decline of the empire which he had inherited, by aggravating the evils 'which had long made that downfall inevitable.' Yet the monarch died unconscious that his life had been a failure, and congratulating himself on the purity of his motives and the propriety of his conduct. A failure, yes! and yet his power had been absolute in extent as well as in idea. He made war or peace at will with foreign nations. He had power of 'life and death over all his subjects. He had unlimited control of their 'worldly goods. As he claimed supreme jurisdiction over their religious 'opinions also, he was master of their minds, bodies, and estates. As a ' matter of course, he nominated and removed at will every executive functionary, every judge, every magistrate, every military or civil offi'cer; and moreover, he not only selected, according to the license tacitly 'conceded to him by the pontiff, every archbishop, bishop, and other 'church dignitary, but through his great influence at Rome, he named 'most of the cardinals, and thus controlled the election of the popes.' It was the fortune of Maurice, in 1600, to defeat the Spanish army at the battle of Nieuport. The victory was all the more glorious, inasmuch as the enemy had vaunted their prowess and means beforehand, and thought that the rebels were planning their escape. Great, too, were the difficulties of Maurice; for his brother Ernest was defeated, his command cut to pieces, and the foe rapidly advancing. Nevertheless, with apparent cheerfulness and calmness, he continued his directions, and was ready to meet the Archduke Albert with an undaunted mien. A great struggle ensued ;-'a splendid tournament, a great duel for life and 'death between the champions of the Papacy and of Protestantism, of 'the republic and of absolutism, that was to be fought out that midsum'mer's day.' Dr. Motley has described the battle grandly, together with the scene of the conflict,-the hard, level, sandy beach by the German Ocean. Nature fought with the Netherlanders. The wind was at the back of the States' army, blowing sand and smoke into the faces of its antagonists, while the already westering sun glared fiercely in their eyes. Nevertheless, it was ultimately left to the personal valour of Maurice to determine the fate of the battle. But for him all had been lost. Indeed, to use the words of our author, he 'plucked a splendid victory out of the very jaws of death.' There was yet a necessity for further fighting, and notwithstanding that Dutch commerce increased, the question at issue remained unsettled. Meanwhile the Universal East India Company was organised and the death of Elizabeth took place. Both England and Spain were now under very different rulers; the latter fatally declining, the former struggling forward to new developments. A change, too, gradually took place in the popularity of Maurice, and at Lochem the garrison surrendered to the celebrated Spinola; but the advantage was small and unproductive, and Maurice still continued faithful to himself. Recapturing Lochem, and besieging Groll, he was brought into contact with Spinola; but confident that the object of the campaign was won, he refused further combat. Freedom and independence were established by what had been done. The Stadtholder's reputation suffered from his misunderstood reticence in not taking advantage of the favourable moment; but the heroic man had sacrificed his military renown to his sense of duty. There was now a general desire for peace. A naval victory obtained by the Netherlanders over the Spanish war fleet served to expedite negotiations for an armistice. Peace deliberations followed, to which Maurice was opposed; and at last the peace project was abandoned and a general rupture ensued. The wisdom of this resistance to the demands of Spain soon became apparent. Negotiations for a truce between the States and that country followed; and ultimately an agreement of the States to accept a truce for twelve years was signed and duly ratified. Religious liberty was the fruit of these long and many contests. The story of them as told in these volumes is one of the most significant in the world. It is one eminently symbolic-a partial representation of a larger whole, comprising the entire circle of European thought and action. The moral it reads is, that Science and Labour are the two factors, without which no modern State can be prosperous ;-with them, any State may secure its independence. Contemporary Literature. 235 History of the Commonwealth of England from the death of Charles Mr. Bisset completes in this volume the task he undertook, which was to write a history of England during the time of the administration of its affairs by the Rump and the Long Parliament-the period extending from the 1st of February, 1648-9, immediately after the death of King Charles, to the expulsion of the remnant of the Parliament by Cromwell, on the 20th of April, 1653. The history of this period Mr. Bisset says, has 'never before been written.' He alleges a weighty reason for writing it, and he has availed himself of some hitherto unknown original materials for its composition. It appears,' he remarks in the preface to this volume, a duty to truth to make the limits of the duration of the 'Government called the Commonwealth, thoroughly understood, inas'much as that Government having been confounded with the usurped 'military despotism of Cromwell, nearly all the English historians have 'thus given to Cromwell all the credit due to the good government of the 'statesmen of the Commonwealth, and to the statesmen of the Commonwealth all the discredit due to the bad Government of Cromwell.' The new materials for his work consist of forty manuscript volumes of the draft order books of the Council of State. These materials Mr. Bisset has well wrought to his purpose. He has brought prominently forward the facts which he deems to have been hitherto neglected, and zealously points out the laurels on the brows of Sir Harry Vane and his coadjutors, hitherto, he thinks, too little noticed. The judgment of Warburton, however, which is repeatedly cited by Mr. Bisset, to the effect that these men were a set of the greatest geniuses ' for Government the world ever saw embarked together in one common 'cause,' shows that their merits have not so far failed of recognition as he suggests. The great works of the Commonwealth narrated in this volume were the creation of a powerful navy, the choice of Blake as a naval commander, and the successful conduct of the Dutch war. Of these matters Mr. Bisset gives a full account, and also of the battle of Worcester; and he successfully disproves the charges of pusillanimity and incapacity -shown immediately before that battle-which Mrs. Hutchinson brings against the Council of State. But Mr. Bisset is not content with telling favourably the story of his client's Government. He has something to say on the great political topics of oligarchy and despotism; and much that he writes is very admirable in its advocacy of the great principles of law and liberty, and in its denunciations of servility and lawless force; and it must be sadly admitted that such advocacy and denunciation are still needed. The growth and prevalence of the idea of the Divine right of kings, and its influence, and such a curious inquiry as that of the nature and kinds of personal courage, are also among Mr. Bisset's collateral topics; while before, among, and after all, appears the wickedness of Cromwell, who is the object of our author's especial detestation. The room occupied by these and other matters might probably have been more fruitfully used in sustaining the main purpose of the work. As it is, both the principal and minor topics are inadequately treated; and on the whole we think that a full description of the contents of the |