State universities, and were founded respectively in 1575, 1624, and 1636. In 1877 the city of Amsterdam transformed its Athenæum into a municipal university.

The universities are alike in constitution and methods, the subjects to be taught and the examinations to be held in the various faculties being laid down by statute. Instruction of the most thorough and upto-date character is given by professors, who are mostly men distinguished for their learning and attainments. The system is non-residential, and there is no pretence of discipline of any kind. The student can attend any or all of the courses of lectures by paying the small fees, but he need not attend any. No student can obtain the degree of "doctor," however, unless he has first passed the final examination at a gymnasium and obtained a certificate from a State jury composed of professors of faculties. The course is a long one, varying from four to six years. A "doctorate" in law may be obtained in four years, a doctorate in medicine rarely under seven or eight years. The possession of this degree is necessary for magistrates, advocates, physicians, and for teachers' posts in the gymnasia and higher burgher schools.

III.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

(i) Period from 1814 to 1839

Holland, when the country regained its independence in 1814, was burdened with a very heavy debt. During the half-century before the French conquest the United Provinces, by maladministration, longcontinued civil discord, and the war with England, had been continually adding to an indebtedness which already in 1747-8 was threatening the Republic with bankruptcy. Such was the financial condition of the country that Napoleon in 1810 had decreed the suppression of two-thirds of the debt. William I on his accession considered it a point of honour not to repudiate the national liabilities. He was an able financier. He divided the total obligations, amounting to two milliards of florins, into two categories 800 million florins of active, 1,200 million florins of deferred debt. This deferred portion was to be converted gradually into active stock by a series of annual drawings. The Dutch Budget of 1814 showed a deficit of 16 million florins, that of 1815 (after Waterloo) of 40 million florins. One of the objections raised by the Belgians to the VIII Articles accepted by the Allied Sovereigns in the Protocol of June 21, 1814, as the basis of union between Holland and Belgium, was that by Article VI the latter country, whose debt only amounted to 32 million florins, had to bear half the joint liabilities' of the newly created kingdom of the Netherlands. Its unfairness was, however, to a considerable degree com

1About 1,800 million florins.

pensated by the freeing of the Scheldt and the opening of commercial access to the Dutch colonies.

In 1814 it had been the intention of the Dutch Government to reduce very greatly all duties that were a hindrance to freedom of trade. But the union with Belgium brought into relief the fundamental differences between North and South in this as in so many other respects. Holland at that time had no mineral resources, grew little corn, and had few manufactures; her chief interest lay in her sea-borne commerce. Belgium, on the other hand, was essentially an industrial and agricultural country, and while building up her industries afresh she called for Protection. The result was a compromise. The tariff introduced in 1816 was, on the whole, Protectionist, but the duties were kept low. Export premiums were given for some home products, and export of raw materials was forbidden. In 1822, and again in 1824, the corn duties were raised, and in 1835 a sliding-scale system was introduced.

(ii) Period since 1839. Free Trade Policy

The complete separation from Belgium in 1839 was followed by financial and commercial distress. King William, by keeping his army on a war footing for eight years, had largely increased the Dutch National Debt; and the treaty of April 19, 1839 had fixed the share of Belgium at an annual payment of 5,000,000 florins, which was but a small relief at a time when trade and commerce were suffering greatly and were steadily on the decline." The Public Debt stood at 2,200 millions, and the burden of interest had become intolerable. William II confided the task of dealing with the matter to F. A. van Hall, who as Minister of Finance in 1843-44 was successful in restoring the country's solvency. He offered the Dutch people the choice between raising by voluntary subscription a loan

1

1 See D. A. Portielje, De handel in Nederland in 1844.

of 127 million florins, at 3 per cent., or submitting to an oppressive income-tax. The loan was raised. By this means and by capitalising a large part of the annual Belgian payment of five million florins, Van Hall was able to clear off the preceding four years' deficits and to convert the 5 and 4 per cent. Stock into 4 per cent. These measures and the large profits which began at this time to flow into the Dutch Exchequer from the East Indian colonies through the application of what was known as the Cultuur-Stelsel eased the situation, and enabled the receipts to balance the expenditure.

After the revision of the Constitution in 1848, and during the long ascendancy of the Liberal party, under the leadership of Thorbecke, the policy of the country moved steadily in the direction of Free Trade. In 1850 transit and navigation dues ceased to be levied; some other duties were also lowered; and a further reduction was made in 1854. Thorbecke in 1862 to a great extent superseded indirect taxation by direct, and removed, as far as possible, all restrictions pressing upon trade and industry. The new tariff imposed a duty of 5 per cent. on fully manufactured goods, and of only 2 to 3 per cent. on partly finished articles for industrial purposes. Raw materials were admitted free. In 1863 communal dues were abolished. In 1877 duties on grain, seeds, and flour were extinguished. The 5 per cent. duty of 1862 was still retained, but entirely for revenue purposes.

Various unsuccessful attempts have been made in more recent years to impose Protectionist duties, e.g., in 1895 and 1899. In 1905 it was proposed by the Ministry of Dr. Kuyper to raise the 5 per cent. duty on manufactured goods to 10 or 12 per cent. ; but the Bill introduced by the Finance Minister, Harte van Tecklenburg, was not carried, and the Ministry were defeated at the General Election in that year. The

1 The "Cultivation System," by which the native cultivators were compelled to pay a proportion of the products of the land to the Government as rent.

quadrennial election of 1909 again returned the Christian-Coalition party, of which Dr. Kuyper was the leading spirit, with a large majority; and Dr. Th. Heemskerk formed a new Ministry, in which Dr. M. J. Kolkman was Finance Minister. To meet the cost of carrying out the social reforms promised by the party,' the Government announced its intention of increasing considerably the amount of the existing duties, and of largely extending the list of dutiable imports. The Bill was introduced on August 1, 1911. It is needless to state its provisions, for it gave rise to many petitions and a widespread agitation in the country; it was finally withdrawn, and the elections of 1913 led to the resignation of the Heemskerk Ministry. Holland remains thus a free-trading country, duties being paid on a very much smaller number of articles than in Great Britain, and intended for revenue purposes only.

1 See ante, p. 64.