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Chancellor Bacon wrote: "He who rules the sea has many advantages. He can, at his option, interfere in any war, while the greatest land powers are often in straits." From the discovery of this fact dates the aim of the English to gain the supremacy at sea and to destroy all rivals who might dare to enter into competition with them, on the ocean.
England, the Destroyer of Holland's Greatness.
When England had annihilated Spain's supremacy on the seas it turned against Holland. After her separation from the German Empire, Holland had by dint of indefatigable industry and the intelligence and energy of her inhabitants during the 16th and the 17th centuries reached a state of extraordinary prosperity. She maintained many flourishing industries which were distributed over her various cities. Haarlem was famous for its excellent linens, its beautiful flowers and its extensive trade in tulip-bulbs; Leyden furnished the finest broadcloth; Delft had gained a reputation for its hardware and its excellent brews; Zaandam was celebrated for its shipbuilding; Enkhuizen had an extensive fish trade, mainly in herrings. At the same time Holland had secured a large part of the worlds commerce. Middelburg was the principal export harbor for French wines; Dordrecht traded with England; Terweer with Scotland; Friesland with Iceland and Greenland; Flushing with the West Indies; Amsterdam with Spain, the countries bordering the Mediterranean and with East India. Besides, Holland possessed many valuable colonies; in Asia, for instance, Ceylon, Celebes, Java and several others of the Sunda Islands. In Hindostan it maintained trading stations which supplied Europe with valuable spices and products from China and Japan. In the Western hemisphere the Dutch had, in 1614, founded the Colony New Netherland, the chief trading post of which, Niew Amsterdam, had been raised to high prosperity by Peter Minnewit, a German in Dutch service. In South America Holland possessed Curacao and Surinam. At the South end of Africa, Dutch colonists had laid the foundation of those Boer settlements which afterward became important as the Free States. About 1650, Holland had reached the zenith of her power. Her commerce was five times larger than Englands; her merchant marine constituted four- fifths of the entire European mercantile fleet. Her national wealth was much greater than that of England. Arts and sciences flourished.
All through the nation pulsated that virile and joyful life.
