med was maintained, in fact
as well as in name, for over half a century.

Within one twelvemonth then are seen, setting forward upon a new stage
of national life, after a period of confusion more or less prolonged,
the two States which, amid whatever inequalities, have had the first
places in the sea history of modern Europe and America, indeed, of the
world at large. Sea history, however, is but one factor in that
general advance and decay of nations which is called their history;
and if sight be lost of the other factors to which it is so closely
related, a distorted view, either exaggerated or the reverse, of its
importance will be formed. It is with the belief that that importance
is vastly underrated, if not practically lost sight of, by people
unconnected with the sea, and particularly by the people of the United
States in our own day, that this study has been undertaken.

The date taken, 1660, followed closely another which marked a great
settlement of European affairs, setting the seal of treaty upon the
results of a general war, known to history as the Thirty Years' War.
This other date was that of the Treaty of Westphalia, or Munster, in
1648. In this the independence of the Dutch United Provinces, long
before practically assured, was formally acknowledged by Spain; and it
being followed in 1659 by the Treaty of the Pyrenees between France
and Spain, the two gave to Europe a state of general external peace,
destined soon to be followed by a series of almost universal wars,
which lasted as long as Louis XIV. lived,--wars which were to induce
profound changes in the map of Europe; during which new States were to
arise, others to decay, and all to undergo large modifications, either
in extent of dominion or in political power. In these results maritime
power, directly or indirectly, had a great share.

We must first look at the general condition of European States at the
time from which the narrative starts. In the struggles, extending over
nearly a century, whose end is marked by the Peace of Westphalia, the
royal family known as the House of Austria had been the great
overwhelming power which all others feared. During the long reign of
the Emperor Charles V., who abdicated a century before, the head of
that house had united in his own person the two crowns of Austria and
Spain, which carried with them, among other possessions, the countries
we now know as Holland and Belgium, together with a preponderating
i