the only land above sea-level is the summit of the dikes. In the
polders or hollow places below the sea, and saved from destruction
only by the dikes, is some of the richest and most productive land in
Europe. Here prospered a teeming and industrious population.
Agriculture, the parent of national prosperity, flourished as nowhere
else. Manufactures and trade had followed in its train, until the
hollow lands had become the beehive of Europe. The direction of the
most vast commercial enterprises had been transferred from the lagoons
of Venice to the cities of the dikes.

9. This country for centuries had constituted a part of the German
Empire. At one side of the great lines of communication, and moored so
far out to sea, it had been overlooked and neglected to a certain
degree by the reigning dynasties; and out of this neglect grew its
prosperity. While the rule of the central government was nearly
nominal, the feudal lords never obtained a strong foothold in the
country, and the order and peace of the communities were preserved by
municipal officers chosen by suffrage. In process of time wealthy
burgher families fairly divided political influence with princes, acid
dictated a policy at once wise and humane. Extortioners were
suppressed, industries fostered, and peace maintained.

10. In the religious controversies which followed the preaching of
Luther, the eastern provinces of the hollow land almost exclusively
espoused the new religion, while the western provinces clung as
tenaciously to the old. While this difference in religious opinions
gave rise to disputes, and tended toward the disruption of social
relations, for many years toleration was practiced and peace
preserved.