(^140) THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS
Jews, Calvinists—all left. Also Catholics, who understood that even
the faithful had no business future in a world of arrogant caballeros and
prying friars.
The southern counties yielded; the northern persisted, and by 1609
effectively won their independence. They were not yet Calvinist in
their majority, but the Protestants had led the revolt. In the beginning,
the Spanish put down these insolent rebels with a sword swipe and a
few cannonades. But in those days the Dutch were made of tough
metal. They bent but did not break, and they learned the art of war.
And like the Flemish burghers of medieval Courtrai and the Swiss peas
antry at Morgarten, Sempach, Murat, Dornach, and other battle
venues; like the English longbowmen of Agincourt and the Japanese
peasantry against the samurai of Satsuma, they taught the prideful
heirs of martial tradition that little people too can fight.
Amsterdam brought up the rear—cautious, collaborationist. Not
until the war was won did it come over to the side of independence.
For all its prudence, however, and perhaps because of it, Amsterdam
straightway became the capital of the confederation, the business cen
ter. What it lacked in virtue, it made up in good sense. Sometimes lack
of principle pays.
The same for colonial adventure. The Dutch would have preferred
to let the Portuguese and Spanish have the blood and glory, while
they served as middlemen, agents, processors, distributors, and the
like. But when Spain virtually annexed Portugal and closed the ports
of Seville and Lisbon to Dutch vessels in 1585, it forced these sober
fladanders to become fighting seamen in alien seas.
The Hollanders learned by espionage. The key figures were Cornells
de Houtman, seaman and captain, and Jan Huyghen van Linschoten,
clerk, traveler, and geographer. Both men spent some years in Por
tuguese service, because the Portuguese needed all the help they could
get and did not understand that Dutchmen were a security risk. When
our expatriates returned to Holland, they brought precious informa
tion about eastern lands and seas: the shores, rocks, and reefs; the is
lands and harbors; the routes, winds, and currents; seasonal storms
and calms; latitudes and compass bearings; the birds that fly and signal
the land; the friends and enemies; the strengths and weaknesses of the
Portuguese.
Then the Dutch set sail. A half-dozen ships went out and came back,
some empty, some laden. The main point—it could be done. A half-
dozen companies, then four more, were formed, all determined to
take the spices and treasures of the Indies. That clearly would not do.
nora
(Nora)
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