nation itself.

Thus government was involved, fold within fold, in successive and
concentric municipal layers. The States-General were the outer husk, of
which the separate town-council was the kernel or bulb. Yet the number of
these executive and legislative boards was so large, and the whole
population comparatively so slender, as to cause the original
inconveniences from so incomplete a system to be rather theoretic than
practical. In point of fact, almost as large a variety of individuals
served the State as would perhaps have been the case under a more
philosophically arranged democracy. The difficulty was rather in
obtaining a candidate for the post than in distributing the posts among
candidates.

Men were occupied with their own affairs. In proportion to their numbers,
they were more productive of wealth than any other nation then existing.
An excellent reason why the people were so, well governed, so productive,
and so enterprising, was the simple fact that they were an educated
people. There was hardly a Netherlander--man, woman, or child--that could
not read and write. The school was the common property of the people,
paid for among the municipal expenses. In the cities, as well as in the
rural districts, there were not only common schools but classical
schools. In the burgher families it was rare to find boys who had not
been taught Latin, or girls unacquainted with French. Capacity to write
and speak several modern languages was very common, and there were many
individuals in every city, neither professors nor pedants, who had made
remarkable progress in science and classical literature. The position,
too, of women in the commonwealth proved a high degree of civilization.
They are described as virtuous, well-educated, energetic, sovereigns in
their households, and accustomed to direct all the business at home. "It
would be ridiculous," said Donato, "to see a man occupying himself with
domestic house-keeping. The women do it all, and command absolutely." The
Hollanders, so rebellious against Church and King, accepted with meekness
the despotism of woman.

The great movement of emancipation from political and ecclesiastical
tyranny had brought with it a general advancement of the human intellect.
The foundation of the Leyden university in memory of the heroism
displayed by the burghers during the siege was as noble a monument as had
ever been raised by a free people jealous of its fame. And the scientific