1648 - Peace of Westphalia
The ambassadors of England and of France did not altogether despair of succeeding in bringing about tranquility. The king of Spain and the archduke wished for a temporary repose, but, being strongly disliked by Maurice and his powerful party, they were compelled apparently to give way. A new congress having been agreed upon, was assembled at Antwerp; and the states-general removed from the Hague to Bergen-op Zoom, to be within reach, and ready to co-operate in the negotiation. It did not appear so easy to make a peace as to effect a temporary truce; and, working in that direction, the two representatives of England and France, with the aid of Barnevelt, in opposition to Maurice, who resigned in disgust all his employments, but afterwards resumed them, succeeded in concluding a truce, which was at length signed by all parties on the 9th April 1609.
By this treaty hostilities were to cease for twelve years. The terms were vague and inconclusive in many parts; but as it was desirable to all parties, it became durable. The united states were declared free and independent. Each party was to retain the places they respectively held at the commencement of the armistice. In terms very obscure, the right to navigate the Indian Seas was granted to the Dutch. The article which respected religion was so expressed as to be differently interpreted; but it practically gave toleration to the Catholics in Holland, with some restrictions. The other articles settled points relative to boundaries, custom—houses, and some other internal matters. The treaty was guaranteed by the kings of France and England.
This treaty was received in both the divisions of the Netherlands with rapturous acclamation, and the most sincere demonstrations of joy. The northern division, during all the tempestuous visitations it had endured from hostilities, had risen to opulence, power, and weight, in the rank of European nations. Belgium was now permanently fixed under the sovereignty of the house of Austria, but still left in possession of some of those ancient privileges which had been transmitted to the people from the earlier times, when they composed part of the duchy of Burgundy.
The general treaty of Westphalia, by which peace was established in the whole of Europe, was definitively signed on the 24th of October 1648, to the satisfaction of all the powers except France, which complained of the Dutch having neglected to afford the stipulated support, and of the pope, who made a formal protest against the confiscation of the ecclesiastical property, and against the freedom granted to the Protestant princes to appropriate the revenues of the church to other than Catholic ecclesiastical purposes.
With the revival of industry, both in agriculture and in manufactures, the fine arts also made their appearance. Painting was cherished, and the Flemings established that school which furnished works of their peculiar style, that rival the best productions of Italian art. The decoration of their religious edifices was the chief object of the artists; but in the representations of country scenery, of rural groups, of peasants, of cattle, and of domestic life, their skill has never been exceeded. Neither architecture, statuary, nor music, seem to have made much progress; and learning appears to have been almost kept out of sight, or to have passed the boundary, and taken up its residence amongst the Dutch, who in that age produced the most eminent scholars in antiquities and classics, as well as the most able cultivators of natural history and of medical science. Their theology was in a great measure confined to the dogmas of the infallible church, and their moral science to the discussions of the schoolmen.
Belgium, now fixed as a Spanish province, enjoyed a long course of tranquility. Whilst England and the Dutch, during the existence of the commonwealth and under Charles II. were carrying on hostilities, and fighting tremendous battles at sea, the provinces of the Netherlands were not in the least affected by the contest. In one instance, indeed, in the year 1672, when the united forces of France and of England were assailing the united states, the king of Spain gave orders to his governor of the Belgian provinces, Monterey, to collect an army of 10,000, and march to the relief of the Dutch. But before this force reached the scene of the war,of the king of France was compelled, by the movements of a body of troops of Leopold, emperor of Germany, and Orange, to abandon with great rapidity the conquests he. had made; and England, withdrawing from his alliance, concluded a treaty of peace with the Dutch.
Spain, however, in alliance with the Dutch and the emperor, continued the war with France. That power had an army in Brabant, with which William, prince of Orange,who had recently married the Princess Mary of England, and ultimately ascended the throne along with her, attacked the French under Condé, and in the battle of Senef first displayed his military talents. This battle was fierce and bloody, but indecisive, and was chiefly remarkable as the last action of Condé and the first of William.
