The north-western corner of the vast plain which extends from the German Ocean to the Ural Mountains is occupied by the countries called the Netherlands.  The history of the development of the Netherland nation from the time of the Romans during sixteen centuries is ever marked by one prevailing characteristic, one master passion—­the love of liberty, the instinct of self-government.  Largely compounded of the bravest Teutonic elements—­Batavian and Frisian—­the race has ever battled to the death with tyranny, and throughout the dark ages struggled resolutely towards the light, wresting from a series of petty sovereigns a gradual and practical recognition of the claims of humanity.  With the advent of the Burgundian family, the power of the commons reached so high a point that it was able to measure itself, undaunted, with the spirit of arbitrary power.  Peaceful in their pursuits, phlegmatic by temperament, the Netherlanders were yet the most belligerent and excitable population in Europe.

For more than a century the struggle for freedom, for civic life, went on, Philip the Good, Charles the Bold, Mary’s husband Maximilian, Charles V., in turn assailing or undermining the bulwarks raised age after age against the despotic principle.  Liberty, often crushed, rose again and again from her native earth with redoubled energy.  At last, in the sixteenth century, a new and more powerful spirit, the genius of religious freedom, came to participate in the great conflict.  Arbitrary power, incarnated in the second Charlemagne, assailed the new combination with unscrupulous, unforgiving fierceness.  In the little Netherland territory, humanity, bleeding but not killed, still stood at bay, and defied the hunters.  The two great powers had been gathering strength for centuries.  They were soon to be matched in a longer and more determined combat than the world had ever seen.

On October 25, 1555, the Estates of the Netherlands were assembled in the great hall of the palace at Brussels to witness amidst pomp and splendour the dramatic abdication of Charles V. as sovereign of the Netherlands in favour of his son Philip.  The drama was well played.  The happiness of the Netherlands was apparently the only object contemplated in the great transaction, and the stage was drowned in tears.  And yet, what was the Emperor Charles to the inhabitants of the Netherlands that they should weep for him?  Their interests had never been even a secondary consideration with their master.  He had fulfilled no duty towards them; he had committed the gravest crimes against them; he was in constant conflict with their ancient and dearly-bought political liberties.

Philip II., whom the Netherlands received as their new master, was a man of foreign birth and breeding, not speaking a word of their language.  In 1548 he had made his first appearance in the Netherlands to receive homage in the various provinces as their future sovereign, and to exchange oaths of mutual fidelity with them all.